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 #	Genesis	Gen	The Book of Genesis
 Genesis	Gen	1	1	1	God, at the beginning of time, created heaven and earth.
 Genesis	Gen	1	1	2	Earth was still an empty waste, and darkness hung over the deep; but already, over its waters, stirred the breath of God.
 Genesis	Gen	1	1	3	Then God said, Let there be light; and the light began.
 Genesis	Gen	1	1	4	God saw the light, and found it good, and he divided the spheres of light and darkness;
 Genesis	Gen	1	1	5	the light he called Day, and the darkness Night. So evening came, and morning, and one day passed.
 Genesis	Gen	1	1	6	God said, too, Let a solid vault arise amid the waters, to keep these waters apart from those;
 Genesis	Gen	1	1	7	a vault by which God would separate the waters which were beneath it from the waters above it; and so it was done.
 Genesis	Gen	1	1	8	This vault God called the Sky. So evening came, and morning, and a second day passed.
 Genesis	Gen	1	1	9	And now God said, Let the waters below the vault collect in one place to make dry land appear. And so it was done;
 Genesis	Gen	1	1	10	the dry land God called Earth, and the water, where it had collected, he called the Sea. All this God saw, and found it good.
 Genesis	Gen	1	1	11	Let the earth, he said, yield grasses that grow and seed; fruit-trees too, each giving fruit of its own kind, and so propagating itself on earth. And so it was done;
 Genesis	Gen	1	1	12	the earth yielded grasses that grew and seeded, each according to its kind, and trees that bore fruit, each with the power to propagate its own kind. And God saw it, and found it good.
 Genesis	Gen	1	1	13	So evening came, and morning, and a third day passed.
 Genesis	Gen	1	1	14	Next, God said, Let there be luminaries in the vault of the sky, to divide the spheres of day and night; let them give portents, and be the measures of time, to mark out the day and the year;
 Genesis	Gen	1	1	15	let them shine in the sky’s vault, and shed light on the earth. And so it was done.
 Genesis	Gen	1	1	16	God made the two great luminaries, the greater of them to command the day, and the lesser to command the night; then he made the stars.
 Genesis	Gen	1	1	17	All these he put in the vault of the sky, to shed their light on the earth,
 Genesis	Gen	1	1	18	to control day and night, and divide the spheres of light and darkness. And God saw it, and found it good.
 Genesis	Gen	1	1	19	So evening came, and morning, and a fourth day passed.
 Genesis	Gen	1	1	20	After this, God said, Let the waters produce moving things that have life in them, and winged things that fly above the earth under the sky’s vault.
 Genesis	Gen	1	1	21	Thus God created the huge sea-beasts, and all the different kinds of life and movement that spring from the waters, and all the different kinds of flying things; and God saw it, and found it good.
 Genesis	Gen	1	1	22	He pronounced his blessing on them, Increase and multiply, and fill the waters of the sea; and let there be abundance of flying things on earth.
 Genesis	Gen	1	1	23	So evening came, and morning, and a fifth day passed.
 Genesis	Gen	1	1	24	God said, too, Let the land yield all different kinds of living things, cattle and creeping things and wild beasts of every sort; and so it was done.
 Genesis	Gen	1	1	25	God made every sort of wild beast, and all the different kinds of cattle and of creeping things; and God saw it, and found it good.
 Genesis	Gen	1	1	26	And God said, Let us make man, wearing our own image and likeness; let us put him in command of the fishes in the sea, and all that flies through the air, and the cattle, and the whole earth, and all the creeping things that move on earth.
 Genesis	Gen	1	1	27	So God made man in his own image, made him in the image of God. Man and woman both, he created them.
 Genesis	Gen	1	1	28	And God pronounced his blessing on them, Increase and multiply and fill the earth, and make it yours; take command of the fishes in the sea, and all that flies through the air, and all the living things that move on the earth.
 Genesis	Gen	1	1	29	Here are all the herbs, God told them, that seed on earth, and all the trees, that carry in them the seeds of their own life, to be your food;
 Genesis	Gen	1	1	30	food for all the beasts on the earth, all that flies in the air, all that creeps along the ground; here all that lives shall find its nourishment. And so it was done.
 Genesis	Gen	1	1	31	And God saw all that he had made, and found it very good. So evening came, and morning, and a sixth day passed.
 Genesis	Gen	1	2	1	Thus heaven and earth and all the furniture of them were completed.
 Genesis	Gen	1	2	2	By the seventh day, God had come to an end of making, and rested, on the seventh day, with his whole task accomplished.
 Genesis	Gen	1	2	3	That is why God gave the seventh day his blessing, and hallowed it, because it was the day on which his divine activity of creation finished.
 Genesis	Gen	1	2	4	Such origin heaven and earth had in the day of their fashioning. When heaven and earth God made,
 Genesis	Gen	1	2	5	no woodland shrub had yet grown, no plant had yet sprung up; the Lord God had not yet sent rain upon the ground, that still had no human toil to cultivate it;
 Genesis	Gen	1	2	6	there was only spring-water which came up from the earth, and watered its whole surface.
 Genesis	Gen	1	2	7	And now, from the clay of the ground, the Lord God formed man, breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and made of man a living person.
 Genesis	Gen	1	2	8	God had planted a garden of delight, in which he now placed the man he had formed.
 Genesis	Gen	1	2	9	Here, at the bidding of the Lord God, the soil produced all such trees as charm the eye and satisfy the taste; and here, in the middle of the garden, grew the tree of life, and the tree which brings knowledge of good and evil.
 Genesis	Gen	1	2	10	The garden was watered by a river; it came out from Eden, and went on to divide into four branches.
 Genesis	Gen	1	2	11	One is called Phison; it is the river which surrounds all the country of Hevilath, a gold-producing country;
 Genesis	Gen	1	2	12	no gold is better; bdellium is found there too, and the onyx-stone.
 Genesis	Gen	1	2	13	The second river is called Gehon, and is the river which surrounds the whole country of Ethiopia.
 Genesis	Gen	1	2	14	The third river, which flows past the Assyrians, is called Tigris, and the fourth is the river Euphrates.
 Genesis	Gen	1	2	15	So the Lord God took the man and put him in his garden of delight, to cultivate and tend it.
 Genesis	Gen	1	2	16	And this was the command which the Lord God gave the man, Thou mayest eat thy fill of all the trees in the garden
 Genesis	Gen	1	2	17	except the tree which brings knowledge of good and evil; if ever thou eatest of this, thy doom is death.
 Genesis	Gen	1	2	18	But the Lord God said, It is not well that man should be without companionship; I will give him a mate of his own kind.
 Genesis	Gen	1	2	19	And now, from the clay of the ground, all the beasts that roam the earth and all that flies through the air were ready fashioned, and the Lord God brought them to Adam, to see what he would call them; the name Adam gave to each living creature is its name still.
 Genesis	Gen	1	2	20	Thus Adam gave names to all the cattle, and all that flies in the air, and all the wild beasts; and still Adam had no mate of his own kind.
 Genesis	Gen	1	2	21	So the Lord God made Adam fall into a deep sleep, and, while he slept, took away one of his ribs, and filled its place with flesh.
 Genesis	Gen	1	2	22	This rib, which he had taken out of Adam, the Lord God formed into a woman; and when he brought her to Adam,
 Genesis	Gen	1	2	23	Adam said, Here, at last, is bone that comes from mine, flesh that comes from mine; it shall be called Woman, this thing that was taken out of Man.
 Genesis	Gen	1	2	24	That is why a man is destined to leave father and mother, and cling to his wife instead, so that the two become one flesh.
 Genesis	Gen	1	2	25	Both went naked, Adam and his wife, and thought it no shame.
 Genesis	Gen	1	3	1	Of all the beasts which the Lord God had made, there was none that could match the serpent in cunning. It was he who said to the woman, What is this command God has given you, not to eat the fruit of any tree in the garden?
 Genesis	Gen	1	3	2	To which the woman answered, We can eat the fruit of any tree in the garden
 Genesis	Gen	1	3	3	except the tree in the middle of it; it is this God has forbidden us to eat or even to touch, on pain of death.
 Genesis	Gen	1	3	4	And the serpent said to her, What is this talk of death?
 Genesis	Gen	1	3	5	God knows well that as soon as you eat this fruit your eyes will be opened, and you yourselves will be like gods, knowing good and evil.
 Genesis	Gen	1	3	6	And with that the woman, who saw that the fruit was good to eat, saw, too, how it was pleasant to look at and charmed the eye, took some fruit from the tree and ate it; and she gave some to her husband, and he ate with her.
 Genesis	Gen	1	3	7	Then the eyes of both were opened, and they became aware of their nakedness; so they sewed fig-leaves together, and made themselves girdles.
 Genesis	Gen	1	3	8	And now they heard the voice of the Lord God, as he walked in the garden in the cool of the evening; whereupon Adam and his wife hid themselves in the garden, among the trees.
 Genesis	Gen	1	3	9	And the Lord God called to Adam; Where art thou? he asked.
 Genesis	Gen	1	3	10	I heard thy voice, Adam said, in the garden, and I was afraid, because of my nakedness, so I hid myself.
 Genesis	Gen	1	3	11	And the answer came, Why, who told thee of thy nakedness? Or hadst thou eaten of the tree, whose fruit I forbade thee to eat?
 Genesis	Gen	1	3	12	The woman, said Adam, whom thou gavest me to be my companion, she it was who offered me fruit from the tree, and so I came to eat it.
 Genesis	Gen	1	3	13	Then the Lord God said to the woman, What made thee do this? The serpent, she said, beguiled me, and so I came to eat.
 Genesis	Gen	1	3	14	And the Lord God said to the serpent, For this work of thine, thou, alone among all the cattle and all the wild beasts, shalt bear a curse; thou shalt crawl on thy belly and eat dust all thy life long.
 Genesis	Gen	1	3	15	And I will establish a feud between thee and the woman, between thy offspring and hers; she is to crush thy head, while thou dost lie in ambush at her heels.
 Genesis	Gen	1	3	16	To the woman he said, Many are the pangs, many are the throes I will give thee to endure; with pangs thou shalt give birth to children, and thou shalt be subject to thy husband; he shall be thy lord.
 Genesis	Gen	1	3	17	And to Adam he said, Thou hast listened to thy wife’s counsel, and hast eaten the fruit I forbade thee to eat; and now, through thy act, the ground is under a curse. All the days of thy life thou shalt win food from it with toil;
 Genesis	Gen	1	3	18	thorns and thistles it shall yield thee, this ground from which thou dost win thy food.
 Genesis	Gen	1	3	19	Still thou shalt earn thy bread with the sweat of thy brow, until thou goest back into the ground from which thou wast taken; dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
 Genesis	Gen	1	3	20	The name which Adam gave his wife was Eve, Life, because she was the mother of all living men.
 Genesis	Gen	1	3	21	And now the Lord provided garments for Adam and his wife, made out of skins, to clothe them.
 Genesis	Gen	1	3	22	He said, too, Here is Adam become like one of ourselves, with knowledge of good and evil; now he has only to lift his hand and gather fruit to eat from the tree of life as well, and he will live endlessly.
 Genesis	Gen	1	3	23	So the Lord God drove him out from that garden of delight, to cultivate the ground from which he came;
 Genesis	Gen	1	3	24	banished Adam, and posted his Cherubim before the garden of delight, with a sword of fire that turned this way and that, so that he could reach the tree of life no longer.
 Genesis	Gen	1	4	1	And now Adam had knowledge of his wife, Eve, and she conceived. She called her child Cain, as if she would say, Canithi, I have been enriched by the Lord with a man-child.
 Genesis	Gen	1	4	2	Then she bore a second time; this child, his brother, she called Abel. Abel became a shepherd, while Cain tilled the ground.
 Genesis	Gen	1	4	3	Time passed, and Cain brought the Lord an offering out of the crops the land had given him;
 Genesis	Gen	1	4	4	Abel, too, brought an offering, and his offering was out of the first-born of his flock, with their fat. On Abel, and on his offering, the Lord looked with favour,
 Genesis	Gen	1	4	5	but not upon Cain, or his offering; so that Cain was much enraged, and his looks were lowering.
 Genesis	Gen	1	4	6	But the Lord asked Cain, What does this anger mean, this frowning face of thine?
 Genesis	Gen	1	4	7	If thy actions are good, canst thou doubt they will be rewarded? If not, canst thou doubt that guilt, thenceforward, will lie at thy door? Meanwhile he is at thy mercy, and thou canst have thy way with him.
 Genesis	Gen	1	4	8	Then Cain said to his brother, Let us go out together; and while they were out in the open, Cain turned upon his brother Abel and killed him.
 Genesis	Gen	1	4	9	Then the Lord said to Cain, Where is thy brother Abel? I cannot tell, said he; is it for me to keep watch over my brother?
 Genesis	Gen	1	4	10	But the answer came, What is this thou hast done? The blood of thy brother has found a voice that cries out to me from the ground.
 Genesis	Gen	1	4	11	Henceforward thou shalt be an outlaw from this ground, that has opened to drink in thy brother’s blood, shed by thy hand.
 Genesis	Gen	1	4	12	Till that ground, and it will yield thee its fruit no longer; thou shalt be a wanderer, a fugitive on earth.
 Genesis	Gen	1	4	13	Then Cain said to the Lord, Guilt like mine is too great to find forgiveness.
 Genesis	Gen	1	4	14	And now thou art robbing me of the ground, and I shall be cut off from thy protection, and wander over the earth, a fugitive; anyone I meet will slay me.
 Genesis	Gen	1	4	15	But the Lord told him, It shall not be so; whoever kills Cain shall pay for it sevenfold. And the Lord gave Cain such token of his protection as should warn the chance-comer not to kill him.
 Genesis	Gen	1	4	16	So Cain was banished from God’s presence, and lived as a fugitive, east of Eden.
 Genesis	Gen	1	4	17	And now Cain had knowledge of his wife, and she conceived. She called her child Henoch; and Cain built a city which he called Henoch, after his son’s name.
 Genesis	Gen	1	4	18	This Henoch was the ancestor, through Irad, Maviael, and Mathusael, of Lamech.
 Genesis	Gen	1	4	19	Lamech married two wives, the one called Ada and the other Sella.
 Genesis	Gen	1	4	20	It was Ada that gave birth to Jabel, the first founder of all those who live in tents and herd sheep;
 Genesis	Gen	1	4	21	and he had a brother called Jubal, the founder of all those who play music, on the harp or the pipe.
 Genesis	Gen	1	4	22	Sella gave birth to Tubalcain, who became a smith, skilled in every kind of brass and iron work; and Tubalcain had a sister called Noema.
 Genesis	Gen	1	4	23	It was to his wives, Ada and Sella, that Lamech uttered the saying, Listen to these words of mine, you wives of Lamech, note my saying well. The man that wounds me, the stripling who deals me a blow, I reward with death.
 Genesis	Gen	1	4	24	For Cain, sevenfold vengeance was to be taken; for Lamech, it shall be seventy times as much.
 Genesis	Gen	1	4	25	And once more Adam had knowledge of his wife, and she bore a son; Seth was the name she gave him, as if she would say, Seth, the Lord has secured a line of issue for me in place of Abel, now that Cain has murdered him.
 Genesis	Gen	1	4	26	Seth, too, had a son whom he called Enos; and he began to call upon the name of the Lord.
 Genesis	Gen	1	5	1	This is the record of Adam’s posterity. When God created human kind, he made them in his own image.
 Genesis	Gen	1	5	2	Man and woman both, he created them, and gave them his blessing; and Adam was the name by which he called them at the time when they were first created.
 Genesis	Gen	1	5	3	Adam was a hundred and thirty years old when he begot in his image, his likeness, the son whom he called Seth.
 Genesis	Gen	1	5	4	He lived eight hundred years more,
 Genesis	Gen	1	5	5	and lived to be nine hundred and thirty.
 Genesis	Gen	1	5	6	Seth was a hundred and five years old when he begot Enos,
 Genesis	Gen	1	5	8	and lived to be nine hundred and twelve.
 Genesis	Gen	1	5	9	Enos was ninety years old when he begot Cainan,
 Genesis	Gen	1	5	11	and lived to be nine hundred and five.
 Genesis	Gen	1	5	12	Cainan was seventy years old when he begot Malaleel,
 Genesis	Gen	1	5	14	and lived to be nine hundred and ten.
 Genesis	Gen	1	5	15	Malaleel was sixty-five years old when he begot Jared,
 Genesis	Gen	1	5	17	and lived to be eight hundred and ninety-five.
 Genesis	Gen	1	5	18	Jared was a hundred and sixty-two years old when he begot Henoch,
 Genesis	Gen	1	5	20	and lived to be nine hundred and sixty-two. All these had other sons and daughters besides.
 Genesis	Gen	1	5	21	This Henoch was sixty-five years old when he begot Mathusala.
 Genesis	Gen	1	5	22	For three hundred years after the birth of Mathusala, Henoch lived as God’s close friend, and he had other sons and daughters besides;
 Genesis	Gen	1	5	23	thus Henoch lived altogether three hundred and sixty-five years,
 Genesis	Gen	1	5	24	the close friend of God; then God took him to himself, and he was seen no more.
 Genesis	Gen	1	5	25	Mathusala was a hundred and eighty-seven years old when he begot Lamech;
 Genesis	Gen	1	5	26	he lived for seven hundred and eighty-two years more, and had other sons and daughters besides;
 Genesis	Gen	1	5	27	he died at the age of nine hundred and sixty-nine.
 Genesis	Gen	1	5	28	And Lamech was a hundred and eighty-two years old when he begot a son,
 Genesis	Gen	1	5	29	whom he called Noe, as if he would say, Nahem, He will console us, that have toiled and laboured with our hands so long on ground which the Lord has cursed.
 Genesis	Gen	1	5	30	He lived for five hundred and ninety-five years more, and had other sons and daughters besides;
 Genesis	Gen	1	5	31	he died at the age of seven hundred and seventy-seven. And Noe was five hundred years old when he became the father of Sem, Cham, and Japheth.
 Genesis	Gen	1	6	1	Time passed, and the race of men began to spread over the face of earth, they and the daughters that were born to them.
 Genesis	Gen	1	6	2	And now the sons of God saw how beautiful were these daughters of men, and took them as wives, choosing where they would.
 Genesis	Gen	1	6	3	But God said, This spirit of mine shall not endure in man for ever, he is but mortal clay; his life-time shall be a hundred and twenty years.
 Genesis	Gen	1	6	4	Giants lived on the earth in those days, when first the sons of God mated with the daughters of men, and by them had children; these were the heroes whose fame has come down to us from long ago.
 Genesis	Gen	1	6	5	And now God found that earth was full of men’s iniquities, and that the whole frame of their thought was set continually on evil;
 Genesis	Gen	1	6	6	and he repented of having made men on the earth at all. So, smitten with grief to the depths of his heart,
 Genesis	Gen	1	6	7	he said, I will blot out mankind, my creature, from the face of the earth, and with mankind all the beasts and the creeping things and all that flies through the air; I repent of having made them.
 Genesis	Gen	1	6	8	Only on Noe did God look with favour.
 Genesis	Gen	1	6	9	And these were the children of Noe, the man who was accepted as faultless in such a generation, the close friend of God;
 Genesis	Gen	1	6	10	Noe begot three sons, Sem, Cham, and Japheth.
 Genesis	Gen	1	6	11	There lay the world, corrupt in God’s sight, full of oppression;
 Genesis	Gen	1	6	12	and God, seeing the world so corrupt (no creature on earth but had lost its true direction),
 Genesis	Gen	1	6	13	said to Noe, The time has come for me to make an end of all mankind; their coming has filled the earth with oppression; I mean to destroy them, and earth with them.
 Genesis	Gen	1	6	14	Make thyself an ark from planks of wood; in that ark make cabins, and give it a coat of pitch within and without.
 Genesis	Gen	1	6	15	These are to be the measurements; three hundred cubits of length, fifty cubits of breadth, and thirty cubits of height.
 Genesis	Gen	1	6	16	The ark is to have a course of windows, which thou wilt make a cubit in height; and thou wilt make a door in its side; and it is to have a hold, and a lower and upper deck.
 Genesis	Gen	1	6	17	Thou must know that I mean to bring a flood of waters over the earth, and destroy every creature that lives and breathes under heaven; all that earth holds must perish.
 Genesis	Gen	1	6	18	But with thee this covenant of mine shall stand; thou shalt take refuge in the ark, thou and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives with thee.
 Genesis	Gen	1	6	19	And take with thee into the ark, to preserve them, a pair of each kind of living creature, male and female,
 Genesis	Gen	1	6	20	all the different birds, all the different beasts, all the creeping things of earth; two of each shall go in with thee, so that all may survive.
 Genesis	Gen	1	6	21	And it is for thee to provide thyself with all that is eaten as food, and store it up, so that thou and they may have food to eat.
 Genesis	Gen	1	6	22	All this Noe did, at God’s bidding.
 Genesis	Gen	1	7	1	And now the Lord said to him, Take refuge in the Ark, with all thy household; looking upon this generation of thine, I find thee only guiltless.
 Genesis	Gen	1	7	2	Take seven pairs of all the clean animals with thee, male and female,
 Genesis	Gen	1	7	3	and two pairs of all the animals that are unclean, and of all the birds that fly in the air, seven pairs; no breed must vanish from the earth.
 Genesis	Gen	1	7	4	In seven days from this, I mean to send down rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and blot out this whole world of living things, my own creatures, from the face of the earth.
 Genesis	Gen	1	7	5	All this Noe did, at God’s bidding;
 Genesis	Gen	1	7	6	he was six hundred years old when the waters of the flood covered the earth.
 Genesis	Gen	1	7	7	Noe and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him took refuge in the Ark from the waters of the flood;
 Genesis	Gen	1	7	8	of all the beasts, clean and unclean, of all the birds, and all the creeping things of earth,
 Genesis	Gen	1	7	9	pairs took refuge with Noe in the Ark, male and female, as God had commanded him.
 Genesis	Gen	1	7	10	Seven days passed, and then the waters of the flood covered the earth.
 Genesis	Gen	1	7	11	It was the seventeenth day of the second month of Noe’s six hundredth year, when all the springs of the great depth beneath broke through, and the flood-gates of heaven were opened;
 Genesis	Gen	1	7	12	and it rained for forty days and forty nights on the earth.
 Genesis	Gen	1	7	13	That very day, Noe and his sons, Sem, Cham and Japheth, his wife, and the three wives of his sons, took refuge in the Ark;
 Genesis	Gen	1	7	14	and with them all the different kinds of wild beasts, of cattle, of the creeping things of earth, and of things that fly, birds and winged creatures;
 Genesis	Gen	1	7	15	there was refuge with Noe in the Ark for pairs of all mortal things that live and breathe.
 Genesis	Gen	1	7	16	Into the Ark they went, males and females, as God had commanded; and the Lord shut him in.
 Genesis	Gen	1	7	17	For forty days that flood came down on the earth, and the water grew deep, till it lifted the Ark up from the ground;
 Genesis	Gen	1	7	18	full the tide flowed, covering the whole face of the earth, but still the Ark rode safe on the waters.
 Genesis	Gen	1	7	19	Higher and higher the waters rose above the ground, till all the high mountains under heaven disappeared;
 Genesis	Gen	1	7	20	the flood stood fifteen cubits higher than the mountains it covered.
 Genesis	Gen	1	7	21	All mortal things that moved on earth were drowned, birds and cattle and wild beasts, and all the creeping things of earth, and all mankind;
 Genesis	Gen	1	7	22	all that lived and moved on the earth perished together.
 Genesis	Gen	1	7	23	God wiped out the whole world of earthly creatures, man and beast, creeping things and all that flies through the air, so that they vanished from the earth; only Noe and his companions in the Ark were left.
 Genesis	Gen	1	7	24	And the waters held their own over the land for a hundred and fifty days.
 Genesis	Gen	1	8	1	Then God bethought him of Noe, and of all the wild beasts and the cattle that went with him in the Ark; so he set a wind stirring over the earth, and with that, the waters abated.
 Genesis	Gen	1	8	2	The springs of the great depth closed up again; so, too, did the flood-gates of heaven, and rain fell from heaven no longer;
 Genesis	Gen	1	8	3	more and more the waters receded from the land, beginning to abate, now that the hundred and fifty days were over.
 Genesis	Gen	1	8	4	And now, on the twenty-seventh day of the seventh month, the Ark came to rest upon the mountains of Armenia.
 Genesis	Gen	1	8	5	Inch by inch the waters abated, until the tenth month came; on the first day of the tenth month, the hill tops began to shew.
 Genesis	Gen	1	8	6	Noe let forty days pass, and then undid the window he had made in the Ark, and sent out one of the ravens,
 Genesis	Gen	1	8	7	which went this way and that, and had not come back to him when the waters dried up over the earth.
 Genesis	Gen	1	8	8	Then to make sure whether the waters had become shallow over all the surface of the ground, he sent out one of the doves.
 Genesis	Gen	1	8	9	But the dove came back to the Ark and its master, finding never a resting-place to perch on; and he put out his hand to catch it, and took it back into the Ark.
 Genesis	Gen	1	8	10	Seven days more he waited, and then sent the dove out from the Ark again;
 Genesis	Gen	1	8	11	this time, it came back to him at night-fall, with a twig of olive in its mouth, the leaves still green on it; and then Noe could not doubt that the waters had become shallow all over the ground.
 Genesis	Gen	1	8	12	But still he waited another seven days, and now, when he sent it out, it came back to him no more.
 Genesis	Gen	1	8	13	It was the first day of the first month of his six hundred and first year when the waters ebbed away from the land, and Noe, withdrawing the covering of the Ark, looked round him and found that the whole surface of the ground was clear.
 Genesis	Gen	1	8	14	And by the twenty-seventh day of the second month, the land itself was dry.
 Genesis	Gen	1	8	15	Then God’s word came to Noe,
 Genesis	Gen	1	8	16	telling him, Come out of the Ark, with thy wife and thy sons and their wives.
 Genesis	Gen	1	8	17	Bring out with thee all the living creatures thou hast there, of all kinds, birds and beasts and creeping things that creep on the earth; occupy this earth, increase and multiply upon it.
 Genesis	Gen	1	8	18	So Noe came out, and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives with him;
 Genesis	Gen	1	8	19	and the living creatures came out of the Ark, beasts and all creeping things that roam on the earth, in all their various kinds.
 Genesis	Gen	1	8	20	Thereupon Noe built an altar to the Lord, and chose out beasts that were clean and birds that were clean, and made burnt-offerings there.
 Genesis	Gen	1	8	21	And the Lord, smelling such a scent as pleased him, made the resolve, Never again will I plague the earth on man’s account, that has all the thoughts and imaginations of his heart, even in youth, so bent towards evil; never again will I send affliction such as this upon all living creatures.
 Genesis	Gen	1	8	22	While the earth stands, seed-time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night shall keep their course unaltered.
 Genesis	Gen	1	9	1	And God pronounced his blessing on Noe and his sons; Increase, he said, and multiply, and fill the earth.
 Genesis	Gen	1	9	2	All the beasts of earth, and the winged things of the sky, and the creeping things of earth, are to go in fear and dread of you, and I give you dominion over all the fishes of the sea.
 Genesis	Gen	1	9	3	This creation that lives and moves is to provide food for you; I make it all over to you, by the same title as the herbs that have growth.
 Genesis	Gen	1	9	4	Only, you must not eat the flesh with the blood still in it.
 Genesis	Gen	1	9	5	The shedder of your own life-blood shall be held to account for it, whether man or beast; whoever takes the life of his brother-man shall answer for it to me.
 Genesis	Gen	1	9	6	Man was made in God’s image, and whoever sheds a man’s blood must shed his own blood in return.
 Genesis	Gen	1	9	7	And now, increase and multiply; occupy and fill the earth.
 Genesis	Gen	1	9	8	This, too, God said to Noe, and to Noe’s sons:
 Genesis	Gen	1	9	9	Here is a covenant I will observe with you and with your children after you,
 Genesis	Gen	1	9	10	and with all living creatures, your companions, the birds and the beasts of burden and the cattle that came out of the Ark with you, and the wild beasts besides.
 Genesis	Gen	1	9	11	Never more will the living creation be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again a flood to devastate the world.
 Genesis	Gen	1	9	12	This, God said, shall be the pledge of the promise I am making to you, and to all living creatures, your companions, eternally;
 Genesis	Gen	1	9	13	I will set my bow in the clouds, to be a pledge of my covenant with creation.
 Genesis	Gen	1	9	14	When I veil the sky with clouds, in those clouds my bow shall appear,
 Genesis	Gen	1	9	15	to remind me of my promise to you, and to all the life that quickens mortal things; never shall the waters rise in flood again, and destroy all living creatures.
 Genesis	Gen	1	9	16	There, in the clouds, my bow shall stand, and as I look upon it, I will remember this eternal covenant; God’s covenant with all the life that beats in mortal creatures upon earth.
 Genesis	Gen	1	9	17	Such was the pledge God gave to Noe of his promise to all living things.
 Genesis	Gen	1	9	18	These, then, were the names of Noe’s three sons, who came out of the Ark with him, Sem, Cham and Japheth; and of these, Cham was the ancestor of Chanaan.
 Genesis	Gen	1	9	19	All three were Noe’s sons, and from them the race of mankind overspread the earth.
 Genesis	Gen	1	9	20	And now Noe turned farmer, and on the ground he tilled, he grew a vine.
 Genesis	Gen	1	9	21	So he came to drink wine, and, drunk with it, lay all naked in his tent.
 Genesis	Gen	1	9	22	And Cham, Chanaan’s ancestor, saw how his father’s body lay naked, and went out to tell his two brothers of it;
 Genesis	Gen	1	9	23	whereupon Sem and Japheth spread a cloak over their shoulders, and walked in backwards to cover their father’s nakedness, their faces turned away, so that they never caught sight of his naked body.
 Genesis	Gen	1	9	24	When Noe had slept off his wine, he found out how his younger son had treated him;
 Genesis	Gen	1	9	25	Cursed be Chanaan, he said, he shall be the slave and drudge of his brethren.
 Genesis	Gen	1	9	26	He said, too, Blessed be the Lord God of Sem; may Chanaan be a slave to him.
 Genesis	Gen	1	9	27	May God give Japheth dwelling-space, and let him share the tents of Sem, but let Chanaan be his slave.
 Genesis	Gen	1	9	28	And Noe lived three hundred and fifty years after the flood,
 Genesis	Gen	1	9	29	so that his lifetime, when he came to die, had filled the measure of nine hundred and fifty years.
 Genesis	Gen	1	10	1	These were the descendants of Noe’s children, Sem, Cham and Japheth, through the sons that were born to them after the flood.
 Genesis	Gen	1	10	2	These were the sons of Japheth; Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Thubal, Mosoch and Thiras.
 Genesis	Gen	1	10	3	And these were Gomer’s sons, Ascenez, Riphath and Thogorma.
 Genesis	Gen	1	10	4	And these were Javan’s sons, Elisa, Tharsis, Cetthim and Dodanim;
 Genesis	Gen	1	10	5	who divided up the islands of the Gentiles, region by region. Each of these became separate nations, distinct in speech and in blood.
 Genesis	Gen	1	10	6	These were Cham’s sons; Chus, Mesraim, Phuth and Chanaan.
 Genesis	Gen	1	10	7	And these were the sons of Chus; Saba, Hevila, Sabatha, Regma and Sabatacha. And these were Regma’s sons, Saba and Dadan.
 Genesis	Gen	1	10	8	Chus was also the father of Nemrod, who was the first great warrior;
 Genesis	Gen	1	10	9	bold, too, by God’s grace, at the hunt, whence the proverb arose, By God’s grace, a huntsman bold as Nemrod.
 Genesis	Gen	1	10	10	His empire began with Babylon, Arach, Achad and Chalanne, in the country of Sennaar.
 Genesis	Gen	1	10	11	It was from that country Assur went out to build Nineve and its suburbs, and Chale;
 Genesis	Gen	1	10	12	and between Nineve and Chale he built the great city of Resen.
 Genesis	Gen	1	10	13	Mesraim was the father of the Ludim, the Anamim, the Laabim, and the Nephthuim;
 Genesis	Gen	1	10	14	the Phetrusim, too, and the Chasluim (from whom the Philistines sprang) and the Caphtorim.
 Genesis	Gen	1	10	15	Chanaan was the father of Sidon; this was his first-born son. From him, too, come Hethites,
 Genesis	Gen	1	10	16	Jebusites, Amorrhites, Gergesites,
 Genesis	Gen	1	10	17	Hevites, Aracites, Sinites,
 Genesis	Gen	1	10	18	Aradians, Samarites and Amathites; so, in later times, the Chanaanite peoples spread this way and that.
 Genesis	Gen	1	10	19	That Chanaanite territory, beginning at Sidon, reached as far as Gaza on the road to Gerara, and as far as Lesa on the road to Sodom, Gomorrha, Adama and Seboim.
 Genesis	Gen	1	10	20	These were the descendants of Cham; such were the tribes, the tongues, the branches, the countries, the peoples that came from him.
 Genesis	Gen	1	10	21	Sem, too, Japheth’s elder brother, had children; he is father of all who claim descent from Heber.
 Genesis	Gen	1	10	22	His sons were called Aelam, Assur, Arphaxad, Lud and Aram.
 Genesis	Gen	1	10	23	These were Aram’s sons, Us, Hul, Gether and Mes.
 Genesis	Gen	1	10	24	Arphaxad was the father of Sale, and Sale of Heber.
 Genesis	Gen	1	10	25	Heber had two sons; one was called Phaleg, Division, because in his time the territory was divided up, and his brother’s name was Jectan.
 Genesis	Gen	1	10	26	This Jectan was the father of Elmodad, Saleph, Asarmoth, Jare,
 Genesis	Gen	1	10	27	Aduram, Uzal, Decla,
 Genesis	Gen	1	10	28	Ebal, Abimael, Saba,
 Genesis	Gen	1	10	29	Ophir, Hevila and Jobab. All these were Jectan’s sons,
 Genesis	Gen	1	10	30	and their territory reached from Messa to mount Sephar in the east.
 Genesis	Gen	1	10	31	These were the sons of Sem; such were their tribes and tongues and countries and peoples.
 Genesis	Gen	1	10	32	These were the descendants that sprang from Noe, divided according to their peoples and their races; this was how the nations were scattered over the earth after the flood.
 Genesis	Gen	1	11	1	Hitherto, the world had only one way of speech, only one language.
 Genesis	Gen	1	11	2	And now, as men travelled westwards, they found a plain in the land of Sennaar, and made themselves a home there;
 Genesis	Gen	1	11	3	Here we can make bricks, they said to one another, baked with fire; and they built, not in stone, but in brick, with pitch for their mortar.
 Genesis	Gen	1	11	4	It would be well, they said, to build ourselves a city, and a tower in it with a top that reaches to heaven; we will make ourselves a great people, instead of scattering over the wide face of earth.
 Genesis	Gen	1	11	5	But now the Lord came down to look at the city, with its tower, which Adam’s children were building;
 Genesis	Gen	1	11	6	and he said, Here is a people all one, with a tongue common to all; this is but the beginning of their undertakings, and what is to prevent them carrying out all they design?
 Genesis	Gen	1	11	7	It would be well to go down and throw confusion into the speech they use there, so that they will not be able to understand each other.
 Genesis	Gen	1	11	8	Thus the Lord broke up their common home, and scattered them over the earth, and the building of the city came to an end.
 Genesis	Gen	1	11	9	That is why it was called Babel, Confusion, because it was there that the Lord confused the whole world’s speech, and scattered them far away, over the wide face of earth.
 Genesis	Gen	1	11	10	These were the descendants of Sem; Sem was a hundred years old when he begot Arphaxad, two years after the flood.
 Genesis	Gen	1	11	11	He lived five hundred years more.
 Genesis	Gen	1	11	12	Arphaxad was thirty-five years old when he begot Sale,
 Genesis	Gen	1	11	13	and lived three hundred and three years more.
 Genesis	Gen	1	11	14	Sale was thirty years old when he begot Heber,
 Genesis	Gen	1	11	15	and lived four hundred and three years more.
 Genesis	Gen	1	11	16	Heber was thirty-four years old when he begot Phaleg,
 Genesis	Gen	1	11	17	and lived four hundred and thirty years more.
 Genesis	Gen	1	11	18	Phaleg was thirty years old when he begot Reu,
 Genesis	Gen	1	11	19	and lived two hundred and nine years more.
 Genesis	Gen	1	11	20	Reu was thirty-two years old when he begot Sarug,
 Genesis	Gen	1	11	21	and lived two hundred and seven years more.
 Genesis	Gen	1	11	22	Sarug was thirty years old when he begot Nachor,
 Genesis	Gen	1	11	23	and lived two hundred years more.
 Genesis	Gen	1	11	24	Nachor was twenty-nine years old when he begot Thare,
 Genesis	Gen	1	11	25	and lived a hundred and nineteen years more. All these had other sons and daughters besides.
 Genesis	Gen	1	11	26	And Thare, after reaching the age of seventy, became the father of Abram, of Nachor, and of Aran.
 Genesis	Gen	1	11	27	These are the descendants of Thare; Thare’s sons were called Abram, Nachor and Aran, and Aran had a son called Lot.
 Genesis	Gen	1	11	28	This Aran died before his father Thare, in Ur of the Chaldees, the country of his birth.
 Genesis	Gen	1	11	29	Abram and Nachor married; Abram’s wife was called Sarai, and Nachor’s wife was called Melcha. Her father Aran had two children, Melcha herself and Jescha.
 Genesis	Gen	1	11	30	Sarai was barren, and had no children.
 Genesis	Gen	1	11	31	And now Thare, with his son Abram, and his grandson Lot, son of Aran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, who had married his son Abram, left Ur of the Chaldees and set out for the land of Chanaan. They went as far as Haran, and there they settled.
 Genesis	Gen	1	11	32	At Haran, at the age of two hundred and five, Thare died.
 Genesis	Gen	1	12	1	Meanwhile, the Lord said to Abram, Leave thy country behind thee, thy kinsfolk, and thy father’s home, and come away into a land I will shew thee.
 Genesis	Gen	1	12	2	Then I will make a great people of thee; I will bless thee, and make thy name renowned, a name of benediction;
 Genesis	Gen	1	12	3	those who bless thee, I will bless, those who curse thee, I will curse, and in thee all the races of the world shall find a blessing.
 Genesis	Gen	1	12	4	So Abram went out, as the Lord bade him, and with him went his nephew, Lot. Abram was seventy-five years old at the time when he left Haran,
 Genesis	Gen	1	12	5	took his wife Sarai and his nephew Lot with him, all the possessions they had acquired in Haran, and all the retainers born in their service there, and set out for the land of Chanaan. When they reached it,
 Genesis	Gen	1	12	6	Abram went across country as far as Sichem and the Valley of Clear Seeing. Those were the days when the Chanaanites still dwelt in the land.
 Genesis	Gen	1	12	7	Here the Lord appeared to Abram, promising to give the whole land to his posterity; and this appearance he commemorated by building the Lord an altar there.
 Genesis	Gen	1	12	8	Then he moved on from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, where he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Hai on the east; here too he built an altar to the Lord, and invoked his name before it.
 Genesis	Gen	1	12	9	Thus Abram journeyed on, travelling always further south.
 Genesis	Gen	1	12	10	And now the country was stricken with famine; and Abram made his way into Egypt, to take refuge there, so grievous was the famine all over the country.
 Genesis	Gen	1	12	11	And when he had nearly reached Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, I have it in mind that thou art a woman fair to see;
 Genesis	Gen	1	12	12	and it may be that when the Egyptians catch sight of thee, they will say to themselves, She is a wedded woman, this is her husband; and they will kill me, and keep thee for themselves.
 Genesis	Gen	1	12	13	Tell them, I entreat thee, that thou art my sister; so, for thy sake, I shall be well used, and I shall owe my life to thee.
 Genesis	Gen	1	12	14	And sure enough, as soon as Abram set foot in Egypt, the Egyptians remarked the great beauty of his wife,
 Genesis	Gen	1	12	15	and Pharao was told of her by his courtiers, who sang her praises to him. So Sarai was carried off to Pharao’s court,
 Genesis	Gen	1	12	16	and Abram, for her sake, was well treated; he had no lack of sheep, oxen, and asses, of men and maid servants, of she-asses, too, and camels.
 Genesis	Gen	1	12	17	But the Lord smote Pharao and his court with great calamities, because of Abram’s wife Sarai,
 Genesis	Gen	1	12	18	till at last he sent for Abram, and asked him, What is this trick thou hast played on me? Why didst thou not own to me that she was thy wife?
 Genesis	Gen	1	12	19	How is it that thou didst call her thy sister, and let me wed her? Enough; here is thy wife, take her and begone.
 Genesis	Gen	1	12	20	And Pharao gave Abram an escort to see him on his way, with his wife and all his possessions.
 Genesis	Gen	1	13	1	So Abram came back from Egypt into the south country, with his wife and all that belonged to him; Lot, too, went in his company.
 Genesis	Gen	1	13	2	Abram was by now the master of rich possessions, with abundance of gold and silver.
 Genesis	Gen	1	13	3	He took the same road northwards by which he had come, and reached Bethel, and the place between Bethel and Hai where he had pitched his tent before,
 Genesis	Gen	1	13	4	with the altar still standing there, as he had built it, commemorating the Lord’s name.
 Genesis	Gen	1	13	5	Lot, his companion, had flocks and herds and a camp of his own,
 Genesis	Gen	1	13	6	so that there was no room for them to live together on the same land; they could not share a camping-ground, with such great possessions,
 Genesis	Gen	1	13	7	and already a quarrel had broken out between Abram’s shepherds and Lot’s. In those days, there were Chanaanites and Pherezites living all around,
 Genesis	Gen	1	13	8	and Abram said to Lot, Pray let us have no strife between us two, between my shepherds and thine; are we not brethren?
 Genesis	Gen	1	13	9	See, here is the whole land before thee; come, our ways must part. Turn leftwards, and I will keep to the right, or choose the right, and I will go leftwards.
 Genesis	Gen	1	13	10	Whereupon Lot looked about him, and the great hollow of Jordan met his eye, well watered, in those days before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrha, like the garden of the Lord itself, or the land of Egypt approached by way of Segor.
 Genesis	Gen	1	13	11	So Lot chose the hollow of Jordan, and went away to the east, and the two kinsmen parted company.
 Genesis	Gen	1	13	12	Abram made his dwelling in the land of Chanaan, while Lot found a home among the cities round Jordan, camping at Sodom.
 Genesis	Gen	1	13	13	They were evil folk that lived at Sodom, wicked in the Lord’s sight beyond all measure.
 Genesis	Gen	1	13	14	When Abram had parted from Lot, the Lord said to him, Look about thee, turn thy eyes from where thou art to north and south, to east and west.
 Genesis	Gen	1	13	15	All the land thou seest I make over to thee, and to thy posterity for ever.
 Genesis	Gen	1	13	16	And to that posterity I will grant increase, till it lies like dust on the ground, past all counting.
 Genesis	Gen	1	13	17	Up, then, and journey through the land at thy ease, the length and breadth of it; to thee I will give it.
 Genesis	Gen	1	13	18	So Abram moved his tent, and went to live by the valley of Mambre, at Hebron, and there he built an altar to the Lord.
 Genesis	Gen	1	14	1	It chanced at this time that Amraphel, the king of Sennaar, and Arioch, King of Pontus, and Chodorlahomor, king of Elam, and Thadal, king of the barbarians,
 Genesis	Gen	1	14	2	went out to war. And their enemies were Bara, king of Sodom, Bersa, king of Gomorrha, Sennaab, king of Adama, Semeber, king of Seboim, and the king of Bala (or Segor).
 Genesis	Gen	1	14	3	All these joined their forces in the Valley of the Forests, where the Salt Sea is now;
 Genesis	Gen	1	14	4	they had been tributary to Chodorlahomor for twelve years, and in the following year they had revolted from him.
 Genesis	Gen	1	14	5	So, in this fourteenth year, Chodorlahomor and the kings allied with him came out to battle. They had defeated the Raphaim, in Astaroth-Carnaim, and the Zuzim in their company; the Emim, too, in Save-Cariathaim,
 Genesis	Gen	1	14	6	and the Horrites in the hills of Seir, right up to the plains of Pharan, out in the desert.
 Genesis	Gen	1	14	7	And now, returning, they had reached the spring of Misphat (or Cades), where they fell upon all the Amalecite country, and the Amorrhites that lived by Asason-Thamar.
 Genesis	Gen	1	14	8	So the kings of Sodom, Gomorrha, Adama, Seboim and Bala (or Segor) came out to meet them, and prepared to do battle with them in the Valley of the Forests.
 Genesis	Gen	1	14	9	Chodorlahomor, king of Elam, and Thadal, king of the barbarians, and Amraphel, king of Sennaar, and Arioch, king of Pontus, these were the four kings those five kings had to meet.
 Genesis	Gen	1	14	10	The Valley of the Forests contained many pools of asphalt, and among these the Kings of Sodom and Gomorrha were overcome and routed; those who survived took refuge in the hill country.
 Genesis	Gen	1	14	11	All the wealth of Sodom and Gomorrha, and all their supply of food, was carried off by the victors as they went;
 Genesis	Gen	1	14	12	so, too, was Abram’s nephew Lot, who dwelt at Sodom, with all the wealth that was his.
 Genesis	Gen	1	14	13	And now word came, by one of those who had escaped, to the Hebrew chieftain Abram, where he lived in the valley of Mambre the Amorrhite, brother of Escol and Aner; all these were confederate with Abram.
 Genesis	Gen	1	14	14	Abram himself, as soon as he heard that his kinsman Lot was a prisoner, mustered the men he had in arms, all of his own household, to the number of three hundred and eighteen, and went in pursuit all the way to Dan.
 Genesis	Gen	1	14	15	Here he divided his confederates into companies, and fell upon the enemy by night, routing them and driving them in their flight as far as Hoba, to the left of Damascus;
 Genesis	Gen	1	14	16	and he brought back all that wealth with him, Lot, too, and the wealth that was his, and the women, and the common folk.
 Genesis	Gen	1	14	17	Thus he defeated Chodorlahomor, and the kings who were with him. And as he came back, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Savé, which is the same as the Royal Valley;
 Genesis	Gen	1	14	18	Melchisedech, too, was there, the king of Salem. And he, priest as he was of the most high God, brought out bread and wine with him,
 Genesis	Gen	1	14	19	and gave him this benediction, On Abram be the blessing of the most high God, maker of heaven and earth,
 Genesis	Gen	1	14	20	and blessed be that most high God, whose protection has brought thy enemies into thy power. To him, Abram gave tithes of all he had won.
 Genesis	Gen	1	14	21	As for the king of Sodom, he said to Abram, Give me these living souls; all the rest thou mayest take for thyself.
 Genesis	Gen	1	14	22	But Abram answered, By this hand, which I lift up to the Lord God, the prince of heaven and earth,
 Genesis	Gen	1	14	23	I will take nothing of thine, though it were but a thread from the woof or the strap of a shoe. Never shalt thou say, Abram got his wealth from me.
 Genesis	Gen	1	14	24	Take all, except the food my men have already eaten, and the share that falls to the three who came out with me, Aner, Escol, and Mambre; let them have their part.
 Genesis	Gen	1	15	1	It was after this that the Lord sent word to Abram in a vision, Have no fear, Abram, I am here to protect thee; thy reward shall be great indeed.
 Genesis	Gen	1	15	2	But Abram answered, Lord God, what can this gift of thine be? I must go the way of childless men; Damascus here, the son of Eliezer, is but the son of my steward;
 Genesis	Gen	1	15	3	to me (Abram added) thou hast given no children, so that all the heir I have is a slave born in my house.
 Genesis	Gen	1	15	4	Whereupon the Lord sent word to him, This man shall not succeed thee; thou shalt have an heir sprung from thy own body.
 Genesis	Gen	1	15	5	Then he took him out of doors, and said to him, Look up at the sky, and count, if thou canst, the stars in it; thy race, like these, shall be numberless.
 Genesis	Gen	1	15	6	So Abram put his faith in God, and it was reckoned virtue in him.
 Genesis	Gen	1	15	7	And now God said to him, I am the Lord, who brought thee out from Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee possession of this land instead.
 Genesis	Gen	1	15	8	And when he asked, Lord God, what assurance may I have, that it is mine?
 Genesis	Gen	1	15	9	the Lord answered, Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old she-goat, and a three-year-old ram, and a turtle-dove, and a pigeon.
 Genesis	Gen	1	15	10	All these he brought to him, and cut them in half, laying the two halves of each on opposite sides, except the dove and the pigeon; he did not divide these.
 Genesis	Gen	1	15	11	The whole day long Abram stood there, driving away the carrion-birds as they swooped down on the carcases;
 Genesis	Gen	1	15	12	but when the sun set, deep sleep fell upon him, and in the darkness a great dread assailed him.
 Genesis	Gen	1	15	13	So a voice came to him, This thou must know, that thy race will live as strangers in a land not their own, reduced to slavery and ill-used for four hundred years.
 Genesis	Gen	1	15	14	But I am there to pass judgement on the nation which enslaves them; and when this is done, they shall come back rich in possessions.
 Genesis	Gen	1	15	15	For thyself, thou shalt be buried with thy fathers, grown old in comfort;
 Genesis	Gen	1	15	16	but the fourth generation will have come before these return hither; the wickedness of the Amorrhites has not reached its full term.
 Genesis	Gen	1	15	17	So the sun went down, and when the darkness of night came on, a smoking furnace was seen, a torch of fire that passed between the pieces of flesh.
 Genesis	Gen	1	15	18	And the Lord, that day, made a covenant with Abram; I will grant this land, he told him, to thy posterity, with its borders reaching up to the river of Egypt, and the great river Euphrates;
 Genesis	Gen	1	15	19	the land of the Cinites, and the Cenezites, and the Cedmonites,
 Genesis	Gen	1	15	20	the Hethites and the Pherezites, the Raphaim, too,
 Genesis	Gen	1	15	21	and the Amorrhites, and the Chanaanites, and the Gergesites, and the Jebusites.
 Genesis	Gen	1	16	1	And still Abram’s wife Sarai bore him no children. But she had an Egyptian maid-servant, called Agar;
 Genesis	Gen	1	16	2	and now she said to her husband, The Lord, as thou seest, denies me motherhood; betake thyself to this maid of mine, in the hope that I may at least have children through her means. So Abram consented to the wish of his wife,
 Genesis	Gen	1	16	3	and she brought this Egyptian maid-servant of hers, Agar, and gave her to her husband as his mate, ten years after they had taken up their abode in the land of Chanaan.
 Genesis	Gen	1	16	4	Abram, then, had knowledge of her, and she, finding herself with child, began to look on her mistress with scorn.
 Genesis	Gen	1	16	5	And Sarai complained to Abram, I am being wronged, through thy fault; here is this maid-servant of mine, whom I bade thee take in thy arms, treating me scornfully, now that she has conceived. May the Lord do justice between us.
 Genesis	Gen	1	16	6	To this, Abram made answer, Is she not in thy power, thy own maid-servant? Do what thou wilt with her. Thus it was that Sarai used her cruelly, and she took refuge in flight.
 Genesis	Gen	1	16	7	She was sitting by a well out in the wilderness, on the desert road to Sur, when an angel of the Lord found her.
 Genesis	Gen	1	16	8	Whence comes Agar, he asked, and whither does she go, that was Sarai’s maid-servant? And she answered, It is from the threats of my mistress, Sarai, that I have fled.
 Genesis	Gen	1	16	9	Then the angel of the Lord said to her, Go back to thy mistress, and submit to her will.
 Genesis	Gen	1	16	10	Still will I grant increase, he said, to the race that shall spring from thee, till its numbers cannot be counted.
 Genesis	Gen	1	16	11	And he added, Now thou art with child; it is a son that will be born to thee, and thou shalt call him Ismael (that is, God hears), in token that God has listened to thee in thy affliction.
 Genesis	Gen	1	16	12	His shall be a nature none can tame; hating all and hated by all, he shall pitch his camp eastwards of his brethren.
 Genesis	Gen	1	16	13	Thus the Lord spoke to her, and thus she named him, Thou art God, that hast looked on me; for indeed, she said, there was one who looked on me here, and I saw him as he left me.
 Genesis	Gen	1	16	14	So she called that well, the Well of him who lives and looks on me; it is between Cades and Barad.
 Genesis	Gen	1	16	15	Agar, then, bore a son to Abram, and called him Ismael;
 Genesis	Gen	1	16	16	Abram was eighty-six years old at the time of Ismael’s birth.
 Genesis	Gen	1	17	1	It was when he reached the age of ninety-nine that the Lord was revealed to him with the words, I am God Almighty; live as in my sight, and be perfect.
 Genesis	Gen	1	17	2	Then, on my part, I will make a covenant with thee, to give thy posterity increase beyond measure.
 Genesis	Gen	1	17	3	At this, Abram fell prostrate before him.
 Genesis	Gen	1	17	4	And God said to him; I AM, and here is the covenant I make with thee, thou shalt be the father of a multitude of nations.
 Genesis	Gen	1	17	5	No longer shall thy name be Abram, thou shalt be called Abraham, the father of a throng, such is the multitude of nations I will give thee for thy children.
 Genesis	Gen	1	17	6	I will make thee fruitful beyond all measure, so that thou shalt count among the nations; from thy issue, kings shall rise.
 Genesis	Gen	1	17	7	I will honour this covenant of mine with thyself and with the race that shall follow thee, generation after generation; an eternal covenant that pledges me to be thy God, and the God of the race which follows thee.
 Genesis	Gen	1	17	8	To thee, and to that race, I will give the land in which thou dwellest now as a stranger, the whole land of Chanaan; their inheritance for ever, and I their God.
 Genesis	Gen	1	17	9	Then God said to Abraham, Thou, too, shalt observe this covenant of mine, thou and the race that shall follow thee, generation after generation.
 Genesis	Gen	1	17	10	This is the covenant you shall keep with me, thou and thine; every male child of yours shall be circumcised;
 Genesis	Gen	1	17	11	you shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskins, in token of the covenant between me and you.
 Genesis	Gen	1	17	12	Generation after generation, every male child shall be circumcised when it is eight days old. And this law shall be binding on your slaves, both those born in your households, and those you have bought, though these be of alien breed.
 Genesis	Gen	1	17	13	So my covenant shall have its seal in your flesh, ratified to all time.
 Genesis	Gen	1	17	14	If any male person has the flesh of his foreskin uncircumcised, there is no place for him among his people; he has violated the covenant between us.
 Genesis	Gen	1	17	15	This, too, God said to Abraham, Thou shalt call thy wife Sarai not Sarai but Sara, the princess.
 Genesis	Gen	1	17	16	Her I will bless, giving thee a son by her; and him, too, I will bless, giving him whole nations for his posterity; kings with their peoples shall take their origin from him.
 Genesis	Gen	1	17	17	At this, Abraham fell prostrate before him; but in his heart he said, laughing at the thought, Shall I have a son when I am a hundred years old? Will Sara, with all her ninety years, become a mother?
 Genesis	Gen	1	17	18	And this was what he asked of God, If only thou wilt grant life to Ismael!
 Genesis	Gen	1	17	19	But God said to Abraham, Thou shalt have a son by thy wife Sara, and shalt give him the name of Isaac; it is to him and to the race which shall follow him that I will make good my promise, ratified for ever.
 Genesis	Gen	1	17	20	As for Ismael, for him too I grant thy prayer; be sure that I will bless him, and make him fruitful, and grant him increase beyond all measure, so that he will be the father of twelve chieftains. From him, too, a great nation shall arise;
 Genesis	Gen	1	17	21	but when I make good this promise of mine, it will be for Isaac, the son thou wilt have, at this time next year, by thy wife Sara.
 Genesis	Gen	1	17	22	So God finished speaking to Abraham, and went up out of his sight.
 Genesis	Gen	1	17	23	And Abraham sent for his son Ismael, and for all the slaves born in his house and those, too, whom he had bought, every male child that belonged to any of his household, and on that very day he circumcised the flesh of their foreskins, in obedience to the Lord’s bidding.
 Genesis	Gen	1	17	24	Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he circumcised the flesh of his foreskin,
 Genesis	Gen	1	17	25	and Ismael, at the time of his circumcision, had reached the age of thirteen.
 Genesis	Gen	1	17	26	On this same day all were circumcised, Abraham, and his son Ismael,
 Genesis	Gen	1	17	27	and the men of his household, slaves born in the house and aliens that were his by purchase, all alike.
 Genesis	Gen	1	18	1	He had a vision of the Lord, too, in the valley of Mambre, as he sat by his tent door at noon.
 Genesis	Gen	1	18	2	He looked up, and saw three men standing near him; and, at the sight, he ran from his tent door to meet them, bowing down to the earth.
 Genesis	Gen	1	18	3	Lord, he said, as thou lovest me, do not pass thy servant by;
 Genesis	Gen	1	18	4	let me fetch a drop of water, so that you can wash your feet and rest in the shade.
 Genesis	Gen	1	18	5	I will bring a mouthful of food, too, so that you can refresh yourselves before you go on further; you have not come this way for nothing. And when they had agreed to what he proposed,
 Genesis	Gen	1	18	6	Abraham hastened into the tent to find Sara. Quick, he said, knead three measures of flour, and make girdle-cakes.
 Genesis	Gen	1	18	7	Meanwhile, he ran to the byre, and brought in a calf, tender and well-fed, and gave it to a servant, who made haste to cook it.
 Genesis	Gen	1	18	8	Then he brought out butter and milk with the calf he had cooked for them, and laid their meal ready, and stood there beside them in the shade of the trees.
 Genesis	Gen	1	18	9	When they finished eating, they asked, Where is thy wife Sara? She is here, he answered, in the tent.
 Genesis	Gen	1	18	10	I will come back, said he who was speaking to him, next year without fail; and, live she till then, thy wife Sara shall have a son. Sara, behind the tent door, overheard it and laughed;
 Genesis	Gen	1	18	11	both were old, and past their prime, so that Sara was no longer subject to the lot of womanhood.
 Genesis	Gen	1	18	12	What, she said, laughing to herself at the thought, am I to have dalliance with this lord of mine, grown old as I too have grown old?
 Genesis	Gen	1	18	13	Whereupon the Lord said to Abraham, Why does Sara laugh, and ask whether she is indeed to become a mother in her old age?
 Genesis	Gen	1	18	14	Can any task be too difficult for the Lord? At this time of year, the time I have appointed, I will come back to thee; live she till then, Sara shall have a son.
 Genesis	Gen	1	18	15	And when Sara, overcome with terror, denied the charge of laughing, Ah, he said, but thou didst laugh.
 Genesis	Gen	1	18	16	And now the men rose up, and turned towards Sodom, Abraham going with them to put them on their way.
 Genesis	Gen	1	18	17	And the Lord said, Should I hide my purpose from Abraham,
 Genesis	Gen	1	18	18	this man who is destined to give birth to a people so great and so powerful? This man through whom all the nations of the world are to find a blessing?
 Genesis	Gen	1	18	19	Have I not chosen him as one who will teach his children and all his race after him to follow the paths which the Lord shews them, and to do what is just and right, winning him the fulfilment of all the Lord has promised him?
 Genesis	Gen	1	18	20	So the Lord told him, The ill repute of Sodom and Gomorrha goes from bad to worse, their sin is grievous out of all measure;
 Genesis	Gen	1	18	21	I must needs go down to see for myself whether they have deserved the ill report that has reached me or not; I must know for certain.
 Genesis	Gen	1	18	22	And Abraham stood there in the Lord’s presence, as the men turned and went on towards Sodom.
 Genesis	Gen	1	18	23	Abraham drew close to him, and asked, Wilt thou, then, sweep away the innocent with the guilty?
 Genesis	Gen	1	18	24	Suppose there are fifty innocent men in the city, must they too perish? Wilt thou not spare the place to save fifty such innocent men that dwell there?
 Genesis	Gen	1	18	25	Never that, thou wilt not destroy the innocent with the guilty, as if innocence and guilt were all one; that is not thy way, that is not how the Judge of the whole earth executes justice!
 Genesis	Gen	1	18	26	And the Lord told him, If I find fifty innocent citizens in Sodom, I will spare the whole place to save them.
 Genesis	Gen	1	18	27	And Abraham answered, Dust and ashes though I be, I have taken it upon me to speak to my Lord, and speak I will.
 Genesis	Gen	1	18	28	What if there should be five wanting to make up the tale of fifty innocent men? Wilt thou bring the whole city to ruin because there are five less than fifty? No, he said, if I meet with forty-five such, I will not bring it to ruin.
 Genesis	Gen	1	18	29	But he plied him once more, What wilt thou do, then, if forty are found there? I will hold my hand, said he, to save forty.
 Genesis	Gen	1	18	30	Then he said, Lord, do not be angry with me for pleading thus; what if thirty are found there? If I find thirty, he said, I will not do it.
 Genesis	Gen	1	18	31	I have taken it upon me, said he, to speak to my Lord, and speak I will; what if twenty are found there? I will grant it life, he said, to save twenty.
 Genesis	Gen	1	18	32	And he said, Do not be angry with me, Lord, I entreat thee, for making one more plea still; what if ten are found there? I will spare it from destruction, he said, to save ten.
 Genesis	Gen	1	18	33	So God finished speaking to Abraham, and left him, and Abraham turned and went home.
 Genesis	Gen	1	19	1	It was evening when the two angels reached Sodom, and Lot was sitting at the town gate. He rose up when he saw them, and went to meet them, bowing down his face to the earth.
 Genesis	Gen	1	19	2	Pray, sirs, he said, turn in to my house and spend the night there; wash your feet now, and go on your journey to-morrow. And when they said, No, we will stay here in the open square,
 Genesis	Gen	1	19	3	he would take no denial, they must needs lodge with him. So they went to his house, and he baked unleavened bread for them, which they ate.
 Genesis	Gen	1	19	4	And before ever they had gone to rest, the townspeople laid siege to the house, old and young, from every quarter of the city,
 Genesis	Gen	1	19	5	calling for Lot, and crying out, Where are thy evening visitors? Bring them out here, to minister to our lust.
 Genesis	Gen	1	19	6	So Lot went out, shutting the door behind him, and said,
 Genesis	Gen	1	19	7	No, brethren, I entreat you, do not be guilty of such a wrong.
 Genesis	Gen	1	19	8	I have two daughters here, that have as yet no knowledge of man; these I will bring out, and you shall have your will with them, but do these men no harm; are they not guests under my roof?
 Genesis	Gen	1	19	9	What, said they, wouldst thou come here as a stranger, and then set thyself up as a judge? Stand back, or it will be worse for thee than for them. And they pushed Lot aside with great violence, trying to break the door in.
 Genesis	Gen	1	19	10	So the two men reached out and pulled Lot back into the house, shutting the door after him;
 Genesis	Gen	1	19	11	and they put a ban of blindness on the folk without, so that never a man of them could find the entry.
 Genesis	Gen	1	19	12	And now the two men asked Lot, Is there any here besides thyself, son-in-law, or son, or daughter of thine? If so, take them out of the city, all that are thine.
 Genesis	Gen	1	19	13	Our intent is to destroy this place; the ill repute of it goes from bad to worse, and the Lord knows of it, and has sent us to destroy them.
 Genesis	Gen	1	19	14	So Lot went out, and spoke to the suitors who were betrothed to his daughters; Up, he said, leave this place; the Lord means to destroy the city. But they thought he was speaking in jest.
 Genesis	Gen	1	19	15	Then morning came, and the angels were urgent with him; Up, they said, take thy wife with thee, and the two daughters who are still at home, or else thou too wilt perish with the offending city.
 Genesis	Gen	1	19	16	And when they found that he hung back, they pulled him away, with his wife and his two daughters, so resolved was the Lord to spare him;
 Genesis	Gen	1	19	17	led him out, and set him clear of the city. Here they said to him, Flee for thy life, never once looking behind thee, never lingering once in all the plain round about thee; take refuge in the hills, or thou, too, wilt perish.
 Genesis	Gen	1	19	18	But now Lot pleaded with them, My Lord, he said, I entreat thee,
 Genesis	Gen	1	19	19	as thou lovest thy servant, as thou hast shewn me signal mercy in saving this life of mine, bethink thee that I have no strength to reach the safety of the hills; calamity will overtake me first, and I must die.
 Genesis	Gen	1	19	20	But there is a city close by that I may reach in safety, a little city, but I can find refuge there. So small a city, and wilt thou not grant me life if I go there?
 Genesis	Gen	1	19	21	Once again, said he, I yield to thy entreaty; I will not overthrow the city thou pleadest for.
 Genesis	Gen	1	19	22	Only make haste, and take refuge there; I can do nothing till thou hast reached it. That is how it came to be called the little city, Segor.
 Genesis	Gen	1	19	23	Into Segor Lot entered as the sun rose over the earth;
 Genesis	Gen	1	19	24	and thereupon the Lord rained down brimstone and fire out of heaven, the Lord’s dwelling-place,
 Genesis	Gen	1	19	25	and overthrew these cities, with all the plain about them, and all those who dwelt there, and all that grew from their soil.
 Genesis	Gen	1	19	26	And Lot’s wife, because she looked behind her as she went, was turned into a pillar of salt.
 Genesis	Gen	1	19	27	That morning, Abraham rose up early, and from the place where but now he had stood talking to the Lord,
 Genesis	Gen	1	19	28	he looked out over Sodom and Gomorrha, and all the plain where they stood, and saw nothing but smoke going up from the land, like the smoke of a furnace.
 Genesis	Gen	1	19	29	So it was that when he overthrew the cities in that plain God remembered Abraham, and rescued Lot from the ruins of his chosen dwelling-place.
 Genesis	Gen	1	19	30	But Lot left Segor, and went up to live in the hills, taking his two daughters with him; he was afraid to live at Segor, and took up his abode in a cave. There his two daughters dwelt with him,
 Genesis	Gen	1	19	31	and the elder of these said to the younger, Our father grows old, and as for us, there is no one in the land to mate with us, after the wont of human kind.
 Genesis	Gen	1	19	32	Why then, let us give him wine and make him drunk, and so sleep with him, to preserve our father’s posterity.
 Genesis	Gen	1	19	33	So that night they gave their father wine to drink; and the elder went in and slept with her father, lying down beside him and rising up without his knowledge.
 Genesis	Gen	1	19	34	And next day, the elder said to the younger, Last night it was I that slept with our father; let us give him wine again to-night, and thou shalt sleep with him, to preserve our father’s posterity.
 Genesis	Gen	1	19	35	So that night too they gave their father wine to drink, and the younger went in and slept with him, and still he knew nothing of it when she lay down, or when she rose up.
 Genesis	Gen	1	19	36	Thus the two daughters of Lot were got with child by their father,
 Genesis	Gen	1	19	37	and the elder bore a son whom she called Moab, the ancestor of the Moabite race that still survives;
 Genesis	Gen	1	19	38	the younger, too, had a son, whom she called Ammon, as if she would say Ben-ammi, the son of my people; his descendants still survive as the Ammonites.
 Genesis	Gen	1	20	1	There was a time when Abraham made his way from there into the southern country, first settling down between Cades and Sur, then living as a wanderer in Gerara.
 Genesis	Gen	1	20	2	And of his wife Sara he gave out, She is my sister; whereupon Abimelech, king of Gerara, sent and took her for himself.
 Genesis	Gen	1	20	3	But God visited Abimelech in a dream by night, and told him, Thy life is forfeit, on account of this woman thou hast taken for thyself; she is wedded to a husband.
 Genesis	Gen	1	20	4	Abimelech, as yet, had had no intercourse with her. What, Lord, he said, must a nation perish that has done no wrong, except through ignorance?
 Genesis	Gen	1	20	5	Did he not tell me himself, She is my sister? And she, did not she herself claim him as her brother? My conscience has been clear, my actions honourable, in all I have done.
 Genesis	Gen	1	20	6	And God said to him, I know that thou hast acted with a clear conscience; that is why I preserved thee from sinning against me, and would not let thee have intercourse with her.
 Genesis	Gen	1	20	7	But now thou must give her back to her husband; he is a prophet, and will intercede for thy life; if thou dost not restore her, I give thee good warning, thou and thine must perish.
 Genesis	Gen	1	20	8	So Abimelech rose up at once before dawn of day, and summoned the whole company of his servants to let them hear all this; whereupon they were all overcome with terror.
 Genesis	Gen	1	20	9	Then Abimelech sent for Abraham too, and asked him, What is this trick thou hast played on us? What wrong have we done thee, that thou shouldst involve me and my kingdom in such guilt? Thou hast treated us amiss.
 Genesis	Gen	1	20	10	And still he plied him with reproaches; What was in thy mind, that thou shouldst act thus?
 Genesis	Gen	1	20	11	I thought to myself, answered Abraham, This may be a place where they have no fear of God, and then they will kill me on my wife’s account.
 Genesis	Gen	1	20	12	Besides, she is indeed my sister, on the father’s side but not on the mother’s, though she is none the less my wedded wife.
 Genesis	Gen	1	20	13	When God bade me leave my father’s house and go on my travels, I said to her, Do me this kindness; give it out, wherever we go, that I am thy brother.
 Genesis	Gen	1	20	14	So Abimelech made Abraham a present, of sheep and oxen, of men and maid servants, and gave his wife Sara back to him.
 Genesis	Gen	1	20	15	Here is my land, he said, at your disposal, dwell where thou wilt.
 Genesis	Gen	1	20	16	And to Sara he added, See, I am giving this brother of thine a thousand silver pieces; such amends will enable thee to look the world in the face, wherever thou goest; only, do not forget that thy pretence was discovered.
 Genesis	Gen	1	20	17	And now, at Abraham’s intercession, God restored health to Abimelech, to his wife and to his servant women;
 Genesis	Gen	1	20	18	up to now, on account of Abraham’s wife Sara, the Lord had made all Abimelech’s household barren.
 Genesis	Gen	1	21	1	And now, true to his undertaking, the Lord visited Sara and fulfilled his promise;
 Genesis	Gen	1	21	2	old as she was, she conceived and bore a son at the very time God had foretold.
 Genesis	Gen	1	21	3	To this son whom Sara had borne him, Abraham gave the name of Isaac,
 Genesis	Gen	1	21	4	and circumcised him, as God had commanded, when he was eight days old.
 Genesis	Gen	1	21	5	He himself was then a hundred years old; so great an age had he reached before Isaac was born to him.
 Genesis	Gen	1	21	6	And Sara cried out, God has made me laugh for joy; whoever hears of this will laugh (Isaac) with me.
 Genesis	Gen	1	21	7	Who would have thought, she added, that Abraham would ever be told, Sara is nursing a son, born to thee in thy old age?
 Genesis	Gen	1	21	8	The boy grew, and was weaned; on the day of his weaning, Abraham made a great feast,
 Genesis	Gen	1	21	9	and Sara found the son of the Egyptian woman, Agar, mocking her own son Isaac. Whereupon she said to Abraham,
 Genesis	Gen	1	21	10	Rid thyself of this slave-woman and her son; it cannot be that the son of a slave should divide the inheritance with my own son, Isaac.
 Genesis	Gen	1	21	11	At this Abraham was greatly distressed on his son’s behalf;
 Genesis	Gen	1	21	12	but God said to him, Do not take it to heart so, the boy’s lot and the lot of thy slave; attend to all Sara’s bidding, for indeed it is through Isaac that thy posterity shall be traced.
 Genesis	Gen	1	21	13	As for the slave’s child, I will make him, too, the founder of a great nation; he too is thy son.
 Genesis	Gen	1	21	14	So, when he rose next morning, Abraham fetched some bread and a bottle of water, which he put on her shoulder, and bade her take the boy and begone. Thus she left him, and soon she was wandering to and fro in the desert of Bersabee.
 Genesis	Gen	1	21	15	At last all the water in the bottle was spent, and she left the boy under one of the trees there,
 Genesis	Gen	1	21	16	while she went and sat down opposite where he was, at a bow-shot’s distance; I cannot bear to see my child die, she said. And there, sitting opposite him, she wept aloud.
 Genesis	Gen	1	21	17	But God had listened to the child’s crying, and now his angel called to Agar out of heaven. Agar, he said, what ails thee? Do not be afraid, God has listened to the crying of thy child, where he lies yonder.
 Genesis	Gen	1	21	18	Up, and take thy child with thee, hold him fast by the hand; I will make him the founder of a great nation yet.
 Genesis	Gen	1	21	19	With that, God gave clear sight to her eyes, and she saw a well that had water in it; to this she went, and filled her bottle, and gave the boy drink.
 Genesis	Gen	1	21	20	Thenceforward, God was with him; he grew up, and made his dwelling there in the wilderness, and became a great archer.
 Genesis	Gen	1	21	21	It was in the desert of Pharan that he dwelt, and the wife his mother chose for him was an Egyptian.
 Genesis	Gen	1	21	22	It was at this same time that Abimelech, with Phicol the commander of his army, said to Abraham, God goes with thee in all thou doest;
 Genesis	Gen	1	21	23	swear to me, then, in the name of God, that thou wilt do no injury to me, to those who follow after me, or to my race; that thou wilt repay the kindness I have shewn thee by like kindness shewn to me, and to this land where thou hast dwelt as a stranger.
 Genesis	Gen	1	21	24	That oath, Abraham said, I will take;
 Genesis	Gen	1	21	25	but meanwhile, he had a complaint to bring against Abimelech over a well where he used to draw water, that Abimelech’s servants had seized by violence.
 Genesis	Gen	1	21	26	I have no knowledge, said Abimelech, who has done it; thou hast never told me of it, and I never heard of it till to-day.
 Genesis	Gen	1	21	27	So Abraham brought sheep and oxen, and gave them to Abimelech, and they made a treaty there between them.
 Genesis	Gen	1	21	28	There were seven ewe-lambs that Abraham set apart from the rest of the flock;
 Genesis	Gen	1	21	29	and when Abimelech asked what was the meaning of the seven lambs he had set apart,
 Genesis	Gen	1	21	30	he answered, Thy acceptance of these seven lambs shall be my witness, that it was I who dug this well.
 Genesis	Gen	1	21	31	That is why the place was called Bersabee, the well of the oath, because the two men swore friendship there.
 Genesis	Gen	1	21	32	Thus they made their treaty over the Well of the Oath,
 Genesis	Gen	1	21	33	and then Abimelech rose, and went back with Phicol, the commander of his army, to the country of the Philistines. At Bersabee, Abraham made a plantation, and invoked there the name of the Lord God eternal.
 Genesis	Gen	1	21	34	And for a long time he dwelt on alien soil, in the country of the Philistines.
 Genesis	Gen	1	22	1	After this, God would put Abraham to the test. So he called to him, Abraham, Abraham; and when he said, I am here, at thy command,
 Genesis	Gen	1	22	2	God told him, Take thy only son, thy beloved son Isaac, with thee, to the land of Clear Vision, and there offer him to me in burnt-sacrifice on a mountain which I will shew thee.
 Genesis	Gen	1	22	3	Rising, therefore, at dawn, Abraham saddled his ass, bidding two of the men-servants and his son Isaac follow him; he cut the wood needed for the burnt-sacrifice, and then set out for the place of which God had spoken to him.
 Genesis	Gen	1	22	4	It was two days later when he looked up and saw it, still far off;
 Genesis	Gen	1	22	5	and now he said to his servants, Wait here with the ass, while I and my son make our way yonder; we will come back to you, when we have offered worship there.
 Genesis	Gen	1	22	6	Then he took the wood for the sacrifice, and gave it to his son Isaac to carry; he himself carried the brazier and the knife. As they walked along together
 Genesis	Gen	1	22	7	Isaac said to him, Father. What is it, my son? he asked. Why, said he, we have the fire here and the wood; where is the lamb we need for a victim?
 Genesis	Gen	1	22	8	My son, said Abraham, God will see to it that there is a lamb to be sacrificed. So they went on together
 Genesis	Gen	1	22	9	till they reached the place God had shewn him. And here he built an altar, and set the wood in order on it; then he bound his son Isaac and laid him down there on the altar, above the pile of wood.
 Genesis	Gen	1	22	10	And he reached out, and took up the knife, to slay his son.
 Genesis	Gen	1	22	11	But now, from heaven, an angel of the Lord called to him, Abraham, Abraham. And when he answered, Here am I, at thy command,
 Genesis	Gen	1	22	12	the angel said, Do the lad no hurt, let him alone. I know now that thou fearest God; for my sake thou wast ready to give up thy only son.
 Genesis	Gen	1	22	13	And Abraham, looking about him, saw behind him a ram caught by the horns in a thicket; this he took, and offered it as a burnt-sacrifice, instead of his son.
 Genesis	Gen	1	22	14	So Abraham called that spot, The Lord’s Foresight; and the saying goes to this day, On the mountain top, the Lord will see to it.
 Genesis	Gen	1	22	15	Once more the angel of the Lord called to Abraham out of heaven; and he said,
 Genesis	Gen	1	22	16	This message the Lord has for thee: I have taken an oath by my own name to reward thee for this act of thine, when thou wast ready to give up thy only son for my sake.
 Genesis	Gen	1	22	17	More and more will I bless thee, more and more will I give increase to thy posterity, till they are countless as the stars in heaven, or the sand by the sea shore; thy children shall storm the gates of their enemies;
 Genesis	Gen	1	22	18	all the races of the world shall find a blessing through thy posterity, for this readiness of thine to do my bidding.
 Genesis	Gen	1	22	19	Then Abraham went back to his servants, and took them with him to Bersabee; it was at Bersabee that Abraham made his dwelling.
 Genesis	Gen	1	22	20	It was after this Abraham had news that his brother Nachor, too, had had sons by his wife Melcha.
 Genesis	Gen	1	22	21	Hus was the name of his first-born, and the next brother was called Buz; then Camuel from whom the Syrians are sprung,
 Genesis	Gen	1	22	22	and Cased and Azau, Pheldas too and Jedlaph,
 Genesis	Gen	1	22	23	and then Bathuel, the father of Rebecca; all these eight sons were born to Nachor, Abraham’s brother, by his wife Melcha.
 Genesis	Gen	1	22	24	He had, too, a concubine called Roma; she bore him Tabee, and Gaham, and Tahas, and Maacha.
 Genesis	Gen	1	23	1	Sara reached the age of a hundred and twenty-seven;
 Genesis	Gen	1	23	2	then she died, at the town of Arbee (that is, Hebron) in the land of Chanaan. And there Abraham came, to make lamentation and to mourn for her.
 Genesis	Gen	1	23	3	When the last rites were paid, he rose up and said to the Hethite folk,
 Genesis	Gen	1	23	4	Here am I, a newcomer and a stranger among you; will you grant me rights of burial among you, to bury my dead?
 Genesis	Gen	1	23	5	And this was the answer the Hethites gave him,
 Genesis	Gen	1	23	6	Sir, as a heaven-sent chieftain thou hast come to dwell among us; bury thy dead in the choicest of all our graves; no man among us but shall grant thee his own tomb, to bury thy dead in.
 Genesis	Gen	1	23	7	So Abraham rose up, and made obeisance to the people of the land, the Hethites.
 Genesis	Gen	1	23	8	If you have a mind, said he, to grant my dead burial, do me this favour; plead for me with Ephron, the son of Seor,
 Genesis	Gen	1	23	9	to give the double cave at the end of his lands. Let him make it over to me for a just price, here in your presence, as my burial-ground.
 Genesis	Gen	1	23	10	Ephron had his place there among the Hethites; so, in the hearing of all those who came in by the gate of his native town, he gave Abraham this answer:
 Genesis	Gen	1	23	11	My lord, that must not be. Do but listen to me; it is my gift to thee, both the field and the cave in it; in the presence of these, my fellow-countrymen, I give it to thee; bury thy dead there.
 Genesis	Gen	1	23	12	Whereupon Abraham made obeisance before the people of the land;
 Genesis	Gen	1	23	13	and said to Ephron, in the presence of the whole assembly, Pray listen, rather, to me; I must make payment for the land, and thou must accept it, before I will bury my dead in it.
 Genesis	Gen	1	23	14	And Ephron answered,
 Genesis	Gen	1	23	15	My lord, listen to me; the land for which thou art asking is worth four hundred pieces of silver, but what is such a price between thee and me? Bury thy dead.
 Genesis	Gen	1	23	16	Upon hearing this, Abraham paid Ephron the sum which he had named before the Hethites, four hundred silver pieces of current money;
 Genesis	Gen	1	23	17	so the field that had been Ephron’s, with the double cave in it facing towards Mambre, not only the cave but the field itself, with all the surrounding trees that were in the confines of it, changed hands;
 Genesis	Gen	1	23	18	and Abraham took possession of it, with the Hethites to witness it, and all those who came in by the gate of Ephron’s native town.
 Genesis	Gen	1	23	19	And so, in the double cave there that looks towards Mambre, Abraham buried his wife Sara; Mambre is the Chanaanite city now called Hebron.
 Genesis	Gen	1	23	20	Both cave and field were made over to Abraham by the Hethites for a burying-ground.
 Genesis	Gen	1	24	1	Abraham was old now, and his life was near its end; and still, in all his doings, the Lord had blessed him.
 Genesis	Gen	1	24	2	So now he called the oldest servant in his house, one who had charge of all his possessions, and said to him, Put thy hand here under my thigh,
 Genesis	Gen	1	24	3	and let me take an oath of thee. Swear to me by the Lord God of heaven and earth that when thou findest a wife for my son, it shall not be some daughter of these Chanaanites, among whom I dwell;
 Genesis	Gen	1	24	4	that thou wilt make thy way to my own country and my own kindred, and find a wife for my son Isaac there.
 Genesis	Gen	1	24	5	What then, said the servant, if the woman of my choice refuses to come back to this land with me? Must I then take thy son back instead to the place that was once thy home?
 Genesis	Gen	1	24	6	Beware of that, Abraham said; never take this son of mine back there.
 Genesis	Gen	1	24	7	It was the Lord God of heaven that called me away from my father’s house and from the land of my birth; and he has spoken with me, swearing to make over this land to my posterity. His angel will go before thee, enabling thee to find a wife for my son there.
 Genesis	Gen	1	24	8	If the woman will not accompany thee, then thou art quit of this oath of thine, but never must thou take my son back there instead.
 Genesis	Gen	1	24	9	So, putting his hand under his master Abraham’s thigh, the servant pledged himself to fulfil this errand.
 Genesis	Gen	1	24	10	He brought out ten of the camels in his master’s herd, and took part of all his master’s treasure with him; thus he set out, and made his way to the city where Nachor dwelt, in Mesopotamia.
 Genesis	Gen	1	24	11	He was resting his camels by a well close to the town, just at the time of evening when women go out to draw water, and he prayed thus:
 Genesis	Gen	1	24	12	O Lord, who art the God of my master Abraham, speed my errand to-day, and shew kindness to my master Abraham.
 Genesis	Gen	1	24	13	I have taken up my post by this well, and the daughters of the citizens will be coming out to draw water.
 Genesis	Gen	1	24	14	It may be that one of them, when I ask her to let down her pitcher and give me drink, will say, Here is drink for thee, and I will water thy camels as well. Let this be the bride thou hast chosen for thy servant Isaac; if it proves so, I shall know that thou art shewing kindness to my master.
 Genesis	Gen	1	24	15	Before he had finished praying thus in his heart, Rebecca, the daughter of Bathuel, came out with a pitcher on her shoulder. (Bathuel was one of the sons of Melcha, who married Abraham’s brother Nachor.)
 Genesis	Gen	1	24	16	A maiden most beautiful, fair of face, and a virgin that had no knowledge of man; and now she had gone down to the well, and filled the pitcher, and was on her way back,
 Genesis	Gen	1	24	17	when the servant went to meet her. Give me a drop of water to drink, he said, from that pitcher of thine.
 Genesis	Gen	1	24	18	Drink, sir, she answered, and quickly let down the pitcher on to her arm, to give him drink.
 Genesis	Gen	1	24	19	Then she added, when he had finished drinking, Now I will draw water for thy camels, too, till they have had their fill.
 Genesis	Gen	1	24	20	And with that she emptied her pitcher into the troughs, and ran back to the well to draw water again, and gave what she drew for all his camels to drink.
 Genesis	Gen	1	24	21	He, meanwhile, watched her in silence, wondering whether God had sped his errand or no.
 Genesis	Gen	1	24	22	Then, when the camels had drunk, he took out two golden ear-rings, that weighed ten pennyweights, and two bracelets, weighing five ounces;
 Genesis	Gen	1	24	23	and he said, Tell me, who is thy father? And can thy father’s house give us lodging for the night?
 Genesis	Gen	1	24	24	Bathuel is my father, she answered, the son of Nachor by Melcha;
 Genesis	Gen	1	24	25	and she added, We have no lack of straw or of hay, and it is a roomy house to lodge in.
 Genesis	Gen	1	24	26	At this the servant bowed low and praised God;
 Genesis	Gen	1	24	27	Blessed be the Lord, he said, the God of my master Abraham, still so merciful, still keeping his word to this master of mine, and guiding me straight to his brother’s house!
 Genesis	Gen	1	24	28	So the girl ran back home, and told her mother all that had been said to her.
 Genesis	Gen	1	24	29	She had a brother called Laban; and he hastened out to meet the servant at the well.
 Genesis	Gen	1	24	30	Full of the sight of those ear-rings, and the bracelets on his sister’s arms, and of the words she had reported, he went to look for the man, and found him still standing by the camels, close to the well.
 Genesis	Gen	1	24	31	Come in, he said; why dost thou stand without, so high in the Lord’s favour as thou art? I have made the house ready, and found stabling for the camels.
 Genesis	Gen	1	24	32	So he brought the servant home, and unharnessed the camels for him, and brought straw and hay for them; water, too, so that the servant and his companions could wash their feet.
 Genesis	Gen	1	24	33	Then they put food before him, but he said, I cannot eat until I have delivered my message. So Laban gave him leave to speak,
 Genesis	Gen	1	24	34	and he said, I am one of the servants of Abraham.
 Genesis	Gen	1	24	35	The Lord has blessed my master abundantly and made him great, giving him sheep and cattle, silver and gold, men-servants and maid-servants, camels and asses.
 Genesis	Gen	1	24	36	And now Sara, my master’s wife, has borne him a son in her old age, the heir of all his property.
 Genesis	Gen	1	24	37	So my master took an oath of me to do his bidding; When thou findest a wife for my son, he said, it shall not be some daughter of these Chanaanites, among whom I dwell;
 Genesis	Gen	1	24	38	thou must make thy way to my father’s house, and find a wife for my son among my own kindred.
 Genesis	Gen	1	24	39	What then, I answered, if the woman of my choice refuses to come back with me?
 Genesis	Gen	1	24	40	And he said, The Lord, in whose sight I live and move, will send his angel with thee, to guide thee on thy journey and enable thee to find a wife for my son among my own kindred, my own father’s household.
 Genesis	Gen	1	24	41	And if, when thou reachest them, these kinsmen of mine will not give her up to thee, no curse of mine shall light upon thee.
 Genesis	Gen	1	24	42	So I found myself, to-day, at the well; and my prayer was, O Lord, who art the God of my master Abraham, wilt thou speed this present errand of mine?
 Genesis	Gen	1	24	43	I have taken up my post by this well; it may be that some maiden, when I ask her to let me drink a drop of water from her pitcher,
 Genesis	Gen	1	24	44	will say, Here is drink for thee, and I will draw water for thy camels as well. Let this be the bride the Lord has chosen for my master’s son.
 Genesis	Gen	1	24	45	I was still praying thus in the silence of my own heart, when I saw Rebecca coming down to the well with a pitcher on her shoulder, and drawing water there; and I asked her for a drop of water to drink.
 Genesis	Gen	1	24	46	And she, without waiting, let down the pitcher from her shoulder; Do thou drink, she said, and I will water thy camels as well. So I drank, and she gave the camels their drink.
 Genesis	Gen	1	24	47	Then, when I questioned her, asking who her father was, she said, Bathuel is my father, the son of Nachor by Melcha. And with that I hung these ear-rings upon her, to deck her face, and put these bracelets on her arms;
 Genesis	Gen	1	24	48	and I fell down to worship the Lord, blessing him, the God of my master Abraham, for guiding me where my master’s niece waited for my master’s son.
 Genesis	Gen	1	24	49	And now, if you are ready to shew love and loyalty to my master, tell me your mind; if you have other thoughts, tell me your mind none the less, so that I may know where my course lies, to right or to left.
 Genesis	Gen	1	24	50	Laban and Bathuel had but one answer; This comes from the Lord; when his will is made known, it is not for us to say Yes or No.
 Genesis	Gen	1	24	51	Rebecca stands before thee, take her and go on thy way; she must wed thy master’s son at the Lord’s bidding.
 Genesis	Gen	1	24	52	Upon hearing this, Abraham’s servant bowed down to earth and gave the Lord worship;
 Genesis	Gen	1	24	53	then he took out cups of silver and gold, and garments, too, as a present for Rebecca, and gave precious gifts to her brethren and her mother besides.
 Genesis	Gen	1	24	54	So the feasting began, and they ate and drank and passed the night there; but when morning came, the servant rose up and said, Now give me leave to go back to my master.
 Genesis	Gen	1	24	55	And when her mother and her brethren would have kept her with them for ten days, at least, before her departure, he begged them,
 Genesis	Gen	1	24	56	Do not detain me, now that the Lord has sped my errand so well, let me go back to my master at once.
 Genesis	Gen	1	24	57	Then they said, Let us send for the maiden herself, and find out what her will is.
 Genesis	Gen	1	24	58	So they fetched her, and when she came in, they asked, Art thou ready to go with this man? And she told them, I am ready.
 Genesis	Gen	1	24	59	So they let her go, and her nurse with her, and Abraham’s servant, and his companions,
 Genesis	Gen	1	24	60	wishing their sister good fortune as she went: Sister of ours, may thousands of thousands spring from thee, and may thy posterity storm the gates of their enemies.
 Genesis	Gen	1	24	61	So Rebecca and her maids mounted their camels and followed the servant, who went back to his master with all speed.
 Genesis	Gen	1	24	62	At this time, Isaac, who now lived in the South country, used to walk along a certain road, leading to the well called, God lives and looks on me.
 Genesis	Gen	1	24	63	And one evening he had gone out of doors, to meditate there, when suddenly, looking up, he saw camels coming towards him from a distance.
 Genesis	Gen	1	24	64	As for Rebecca, when she saw Isaac, she alighted from her camel,
 Genesis	Gen	1	24	65	and asked the servant, Who is this coming towards us across the fields? When he said, It is my master, she quickly took up her veil, and veiled herself.
 Genesis	Gen	1	24	66	And now the servant told Isaac of all that he had done,
 Genesis	Gen	1	24	67	and Isaac led her to the tent which had been his mother Sara’s, and made her his wife, and found comfort over the loss of his mother in his love for her.
 Genesis	Gen	1	25	1	Abraham, too, married again; his second wife’s name was Cetura,
 Genesis	Gen	1	25	2	and his children by her were Zamran, Jecsan, Madan, Madian, Jesboc and Suë.
 Genesis	Gen	1	25	3	Jecsan was the father of Saba and Dadan, and Dadan’s children were the Assurim, the Latusim and the Loömim.
 Genesis	Gen	1	25	4	From Madian came Epha, Opher, Henoch, Abida and Eldaa. All these were descended from Cetura.
 Genesis	Gen	1	25	5	Abraham left Isaac the heir to all he possessed
 Genesis	Gen	1	25	6	and made gifts to the children he had by his concubines. These children of his he bade journey eastwards, while he was still alive, to keep them apart from his son Isaac.
 Genesis	Gen	1	25	7	Abraham lived a hundred and seventy-five years;
 Genesis	Gen	1	25	8	then his strength failed him, and he died, content in late old age, his tale of years complete, and he became a part of his people.
 Genesis	Gen	1	25	9	His sons, Isaac and Ismael, buried him; buried him in the double cave, on the land opposite Mambre that had once belonged to Ephron, son of Seor, the Hethite.
 Genesis	Gen	1	25	10	Abraham himself had bought this land from the Hethites, and there he was buried, like his wife Sara before him.
 Genesis	Gen	1	25	11	And now that he was dead, God’s blessing passed to his son Isaac, who had made his home close to the well that is called, God lives and looks on me.
 Genesis	Gen	1	25	12	This was the lineage that came down from Ismael, Abraham’s son by Agar, the Egyptian, Sara’s waiting-woman;
 Genesis	Gen	1	25	13	these are the names of his sons, arranged by the order of their birth. Ismael’s eldest son was Nabaioth, then came Cedar, Adbeel, Mabsam,
 Genesis	Gen	1	25	14	Masma, Duma, Massa,
 Genesis	Gen	1	25	15	Hadar, Thema, Jethur, Naphis and Cedma.
 Genesis	Gen	1	25	16	These were Ismael’s sons, and these the names they left to their villages and towns; each of the twelve was chieftain of a tribe.
 Genesis	Gen	1	25	17	As for Ismael, he lived a hundred and thirty-seven years; then his strength failed and he died, and became a part of his people.
 Genesis	Gen	1	25	18	The country where he lived reaches from Hevila to Sur, at the gate of Egypt, where the way to Assur lies; and he died with all his kindred about him.
 Genesis	Gen	1	25	19	And this was how the race of Abraham’s son Isaac continued; Abraham was the father of Isaac,
 Genesis	Gen	1	25	20	and Isaac was forty years old when he married Laban’s sister Rebecca, daughter of Bathuel the Syrian, who lived in Mesopotamia.
 Genesis	Gen	1	25	21	At first she was barren, but he prayed to the Lord for her, and his prayer was answered; Rebecca conceived.
 Genesis	Gen	1	25	22	But the children fell to struggling in her womb; How am I the better for conceiving, she asked, if this is to befall me? And she went to ask counsel from the Lord.
 Genesis	Gen	1	25	23	The answer he gave was this: There are two nations in thy womb; in thy body the separation of two peoples has begun; here is a victory of people over people, and it is the elder that shall be subject to the younger.
 Genesis	Gen	1	25	24	And now the time came for her giving birth, and it was found that there had been twins in her womb.
 Genesis	Gen	1	25	25	The first to come was of a red complexion, and hairy all over as if he had worn a coat of skin; this one was called Esau. Then the second came, with his hand clutching his brother’s heel; and she called him, for that reason, Jacob, the Supplanter.
 Genesis	Gen	1	25	26	It was when Isaac was sixty years old that these sons were born to him.
 Genesis	Gen	1	25	27	When the twins grew up, Esau turned into a skilful huntsman, that loved the open plains; Jacob was a tent-dweller and a man of peace.
 Genesis	Gen	1	25	28	All Isaac’s love was for Esau, who brought him game to eat; Rebecca’s favourite was Jacob.
 Genesis	Gen	1	25	29	One day, when Esau was coming back tired from the chase, he found Jacob making broth,
 Genesis	Gen	1	25	30	and said to him, Let me have a mouthful, pray, of that red broth of thine; I am full weary. (That is why he came to be called Edom, the Red.)
 Genesis	Gen	1	25	31	First then, Jacob answered, make over to me thy birthright.
 Genesis	Gen	1	25	32	Why, surely, said he; I shall have little profit of my birthright, if I am to die of hunger as I stand here.
 Genesis	Gen	1	25	33	Give me thy oath, saith Jacob; and Esau gave his oath, and made over his birthright.
 Genesis	Gen	1	25	34	Then Jacob gave him bread, and some of the lentil broth, and he ate and drank and came away, as if the loss of his birthright were a thing of little moment.
 Genesis	Gen	1	26	1	When a famine came upon the land again, like the famine which had visited it in Abraham’s time, Isaac was for leaving it; and he had reached the court of Abimelech, king of the Philistines, in Gerara,
 Genesis	Gen	1	26	2	when the Lord appeared to him and said, No, do not take refuge in Egypt; thou art to remain in the land of my choice.
 Genesis	Gen	1	26	3	Dwell in that land, though it be alien soil, and I will be with thee and bless thee; I mean to give all this land to thee and to thy race after thee, in fulfilment of the oath I took to thy father Abraham.
 Genesis	Gen	1	26	4	I will make that race plentiful as the stars in heaven, and grant the whole of this land to thy descendants; in thy posterity all the nations of the world shall find a blessing.
 Genesis	Gen	1	26	5	Such reward shall Abraham have for obeying me, for keeping every command and charge I gave him, following observance and decree of mine.
 Genesis	Gen	1	26	6	So Isaac remained where he was, at Gerara.
 Genesis	Gen	1	26	7	And now, when certain of the inhabitants asked him about his wife, he told them, She is my sister; he was afraid to own that she was his wedded wife, thinking they might be tempted by her beauty to kill him.
 Genesis	Gen	1	26	8	And one day, when he had already spent a long time in the country, the Philistine king, Abimelech, looked out of a window and saw Isaac and his wife in dalliance together.
 Genesis	Gen	1	26	9	Whereupon he summoned him, and said, It is plain enough, now, that she is thy wife, why didst thou pretend she was thy sister? I was afraid, he answered, that she might be the cause of my death.
 Genesis	Gen	1	26	10	What is this trick thou hast played on us? said Abimelech. One of my people might easily have dishonoured thy wife, and so thou wouldst have led us into grievous guilt. Then he issued his command to all his people,
 Genesis	Gen	1	26	11	If anyone touches this man’s wife, his life must pay for it.
 Genesis	Gen	1	26	12	In this country, Isaac began growing crops; and in that first year they yielded a hundredfold; such was the Lord’s blessing on him.
 Genesis	Gen	1	26	13	Thus he became rich, and went on prospering more and more, until he rose to great influence;
 Genesis	Gen	1	26	14	flocks of sheep were his, and herds of cattle, and a great retinue. And now the Philistines, out of envy,
 Genesis	Gen	1	26	15	stopped up all the wells which the servants of his father Abraham had dug there, filling them in with earth.
 Genesis	Gen	1	26	16	At last Abimelech himself said to Isaac, Separate from us; thou hast become altogether too powerful for us.
 Genesis	Gen	1	26	17	So he went to live in the valley of Gerara.
 Genesis	Gen	1	26	18	Here he opened afresh other wells, dug by his father Abraham’s servants, and stopped up long since by the Philistines, when Abraham died; calling them by the old names his father had given them.
 Genesis	Gen	1	26	19	While they were thus digging in the valley, they came upon running water;
 Genesis	Gen	1	26	20	but here, too, the herdsmen of Gerara disputed the rights of Isaac’s herdsmen, and claimed the water as their own. So he called the well, in memory of what had happened, the False Claim.
 Genesis	Gen	1	26	21	Then they dug another, and this, too, was a cause of contention, so he called this well the Feud.
 Genesis	Gen	1	26	22	And at last, when he had gone further on and dug another well, over which they did not dispute with him, he called it Freedom; Now at last, he said, the Lord has given us freedom to spread over the land.
 Genesis	Gen	1	26	23	From there he went to Bersabee;
 Genesis	Gen	1	26	24	and here, the same night, he had a vision of the Lord, who said to him, I am the God of thy father Abraham; fear nothing, I am with thee. I mean to bless thee, and give increase to thy posterity, in reward of Abraham’s true service.
 Genesis	Gen	1	26	25	So he built an altar, and invoked the Lord’s name, and pitched his tent there, and bade his servants dig a well.
 Genesis	Gen	1	26	26	When Abimelech came from Gerara to visit him there, with Ochozath, his counsellor, and Phicol, the commander of his army,
 Genesis	Gen	1	26	27	Isaac asked them, What means your visit? Here is a man you have treated as an enemy, and driven him away from you.
 Genesis	Gen	1	26	28	But they answered, We have seen how all this while the Lord is with thee; and our thought was, It is time there was an oath between us. Let us make a covenant
 Genesis	Gen	1	26	29	that thou wilt do us no wrong; we never laid hands on thee, never did thee anything but good; we parted from thee peaceably, and the Lord’s blessing was thine.
 Genesis	Gen	1	26	30	So he made them a feast, and they ate and drank with him;
 Genesis	Gen	1	26	31	then, when they rose up in the morning, they bound themselves by oath each to the other, and so Isaac took leave of them, and they went home in peace.
 Genesis	Gen	1	26	32	It was on that very day that Isaac’s servants came to him and brought word of the latest well they had been digging; We have found water, they told him.
 Genesis	Gen	1	26	33	So he called it Abundance; that is how the city came to be called Bersabee, as it is to this day.
 Genesis	Gen	1	26	34	Esau, who was by this time forty years old, married two wives, Judith the daughter of Beëri, the Hethite, and Basemath, the daughter of another Hethite, Elon.
 Genesis	Gen	1	26	35	Both of these distressed the hearts of Isaac and Rebecca.
 Genesis	Gen	1	27	1	And now Isaac was old, and his eyes had grown so dim that he saw nothing. One day he called to his elder son Esau, My son! and when he answered, I am here, at thy command,
 Genesis	Gen	1	27	2	See, his father said, how old a man I have grown; there is no telling how soon I may be overtaken by death.
 Genesis	Gen	1	27	3	Come, fetch that armoury of thine, thy quiver and thy bow, and go out hunting; when thou hast slain thy quarry,
 Genesis	Gen	1	27	4	make me a roast dish, such as I love well, and bring it me to eat. And so thou shalt have my blessing, against the time of my death.
 Genesis	Gen	1	27	5	To all this, Rebecca listened; and when Esau had gone out hunting, to do as his father had bidden him,
 Genesis	Gen	1	27	6	she said to her son Jacob, I heard thy father talking to thy brother Esau, and thus he spoke to him;
 Genesis	Gen	1	27	7	Bring my venison from the chase, and make me a dish of meat; so thou shalt have my blessing, with the Lord to witness it, against the time of my death.
 Genesis	Gen	1	27	8	Nothing remains for thee, my son, but to fall in with this plan of mine.
 Genesis	Gen	1	27	9	Make thy way to the herd, and bring me two choice kids; of these I will make such a dish as thy father loves to eat,
 Genesis	Gen	1	27	10	and thou shalt take it in to him; so, when he has eaten it, his dying benediction shall be thine instead.
 Genesis	Gen	1	27	11	Bethink thee, answered Jacob, how hairy my brother Esau’s skin is, and mine how smooth!
 Genesis	Gen	1	27	12	What if my father should feel it? He will think that I have been trying to make game of him, and it is a curse, not a blessing, I shall win.
 Genesis	Gen	1	27	13	A curse, my son? said his mother. Let it fall on me; do but attend to my bidding, and fetch me what I ask for.
 Genesis	Gen	1	27	14	So he went and brought them to his mother, and she made a dish of meat, such as she knew his father loved.
 Genesis	Gen	1	27	15	She had fine clothes of Esau’s by her in the house, and she dressed Jacob in these;
 Genesis	Gen	1	27	16	enclosed his hands, too in skin he had taken from the kids, and covered his bare neck with it;
 Genesis	Gen	1	27	17	then she gave him the dish, and some loaves which she had cooked, to carry with him.
 Genesis	Gen	1	27	18	So he brought them in, and said, Father. Yes, my son, he said; who is it?
 Genesis	Gen	1	27	19	I am Esau, said Jacob, Esau, thy first-born; I have done thy bidding. Rise up, I pray thee, sit at table, and eat this venison of mine, and give me a father’s blessing.
 Genesis	Gen	1	27	20	Why, answered Isaac, how didst thou come to find thy quarry in so short a time, my son? It was God’s pleasure, said he, to send it in my way.
 Genesis	Gen	1	27	21	Then Isaac said, Come near, and let me feel thee, to make sure whether thou art my son Esau or not.
 Genesis	Gen	1	27	22	So he went close to his father; and he, upon feeling the touch of him, said, The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.
 Genesis	Gen	1	27	23	There was no recognizing Jacob, since his hands were hairy like Esau’s hands, and he must needs give his blessing.
 Genesis	Gen	1	27	24	Thou art my son, he said, my son Esau? Yes, he answered, I am.
 Genesis	Gen	1	27	25	Why then, said he, bring it here; let me eat my son’s venison, and give him a father’s blessing. So he ate what was brought him, and Jacob offered him wine too, and he drank.
 Genesis	Gen	1	27	26	Then he said to Jacob, Come here, my son, and kiss me.
 Genesis	Gen	1	27	27	And when he came near, and kissed him, all at once Isaac caught the smell of his garments, and this was the blessing he gave him: How it breathes about this son of mine, the fragrance of earth when the Lord’s blessing is on it!
 Genesis	Gen	1	27	28	God give thee dew from heaven and fruitful soil, corn and wine in plenty.
 Genesis	Gen	1	27	29	Let nations serve thee, and peoples bow before thee; mayst thou be lord over thy brethren, receive obeisance from thy own mother’s sons; a curse on those who curse, a blessing on those who bless thee!
 Genesis	Gen	1	27	30	Scarcely had Isaac finished speaking, and Jacob gone out, when Esau returned.
 Genesis	Gen	1	27	31	And now he brought his father a dish of venison; Rise up, father, he said, eat thy son’s venison, and give me a father’s blessing.
 Genesis	Gen	1	27	32	Why, who art thou? Isaac asked. I am thy son, he answered, thy first-born son Esau.
 Genesis	Gen	1	27	33	At this, quite overcome with dread, astonished past belief, Isaac cried out, Why then, who is it that has already brought me venison from the chase? Before ever thou camest back to me, I have eaten my fill and to him given my blessing; on him the blessing will come.
 Genesis	Gen	1	27	34	Esau, on hearing his father’s words, broke out into a loud cry of anguish; Thy blessing, father, for me also thy blessing!
 Genesis	Gen	1	27	35	Thy brother, it seems, Isaac answered, came in disguised; he has snatched thy blessing from thee.
 Genesis	Gen	1	27	36	Why, said Esau, he is well named Jacob, the Supplanter; first he took away my birthright, and now he has stolen my blessing. And then, turning to his father, he asked, Hast thou no blessing left, then, a blessing for me too?
 Genesis	Gen	1	27	37	Nay, answered Isaac, I have designated him thy master; I have condemned all his brethren to do him service; I have assured him of corn and wine; what claim have I left myself to make for thee, my son?
 Genesis	Gen	1	27	38	But Esau pleaded still, Hast thou only one blessing to give, father? I pray thee, bless me too. And he could not control his voice, but wept aloud.
 Genesis	Gen	1	27	39	Then Isaac said, greatly moved, All thy blessing shall come from earth’s fruitfulness, and from the dew of heaven.
 Genesis	Gen	1	27	40	Thy sword shall be the breath of life to thee, but thou shalt be subject to thy brother, until the day comes when thou wilt rebel, and wilt shake off his yoke from thy neck.
 Genesis	Gen	1	27	41	But ever Esau bore Jacob a grudge over the blessing he had won from their father. Soon, he thought, the days will come when we shall be mourning for my father’s death; that is the time to kill my brother.
 Genesis	Gen	1	27	42	News of this reached Rebecca; so she sent for her son Jacob, and told him, Thy brother Esau is threatening thy life.
 Genesis	Gen	1	27	43	Thou must needs do what I bid thee, my son; bestir thyself, and take refuge in Haran with thy uncle, Laban.
 Genesis	Gen	1	27	44	There thou must dwell for a short while, till thy brother’s anger dies down.
 Genesis	Gen	1	27	45	Soon his rage will cool, and he will forget the wrong thou hast done him; then I will send there, and bring thee back home; only begone; shall I let one day’s work rob me of both my sons?
 Genesis	Gen	1	27	46	And to Isaac Rebecca said, I am weary of life, with these Hethite women about me; if Jacob weds a bride of this native stock, may I not live to see it!
 Genesis	Gen	1	28	1	So Isaac summoned Jacob to him, and gave him his blessing, and laid this charge upon him: It is not for thee to marry a woman of Chanaanite stock;
 Genesis	Gen	1	28	2	rather bestir thyself, and make thy way to Mesopotamia of the Syrians; there dwelt thy mother’s father, Bathuel, there thou mayest wed one of the daughters of thy uncle Laban.
 Genesis	Gen	1	28	3	God Almighty bless thee, and make thy posterity thrive and increase, so that a multitude of nations may spring from thee.
 Genesis	Gen	1	28	4	May he grant to thee, and to thy race after thee, the blessing which he promised to thy grandfather Abraham; possession of the land in which thou dwellest now as a stranger.
 Genesis	Gen	1	28	5	Jacob took leave of him, and set out on his journey to Mesopotamia of the Syrians, to the home of his uncle Laban, son of Bathuel, the Syrian.
 Genesis	Gen	1	28	6	An ill day for Esau; here was Jacob sent with his father’s blessing to find himself a wife in Syria; forbidden, as he would win that blessing, to marry a Chanaanite;
 Genesis	Gen	1	28	7	here was Jacob gone all the way to Mesopotamia in obedience to his parents’ whim!
 Genesis	Gen	1	28	8	These women of Chanaan, Esau thought, are little to my father’s liking;
 Genesis	Gen	1	28	9	so he betook himself to Ismael, and married a third wife, Maheleth, daughter to Abraham’s son Ismael, and sister to Nabaioth.
 Genesis	Gen	1	28	10	Meanwhile Jacob had left Bersabee, and was on his way to Haran.
 Genesis	Gen	1	28	11	There was a place he reached as nightfall overtook him, so that he must lie down and rest; so he took one of the stones that lay around him, to make a pillow of it, and went to sleep.
 Genesis	Gen	1	28	12	He dreamed that he saw a ladder standing on the earth, with its top reaching up into heaven; a stairway for the angels of God to go up and come down.
 Genesis	Gen	1	28	13	Over this ladder the Lord himself leaned down, and spoke to Jacob, I am the Lord, he said, the God of thy father Abraham, the God of Isaac; this ground on which thou liest sleeping is my gift to thee and to thy posterity.
 Genesis	Gen	1	28	14	Thy race shall be countless as the dust of the earth; to west and east, to north and south thou shalt overflow thy frontiers, till all the families on earth find a blessing in thee, and in this race of thine.
 Genesis	Gen	1	28	15	I myself will watch over thee wherever thou goest, and bring thee back to this land again; before I have done with thee, all my promises to thee shall be fulfilled.
 Genesis	Gen	1	28	16	When he awoke from his dream, Jacob said to himself, Why, this is the Lord’s dwelling-place, and I slept here unaware of it!
 Genesis	Gen	1	28	17	And he shuddered; What a fearsome place is this! said he. This can be nothing other than the house of God; this is the gate of Heaven.
 Genesis	Gen	1	28	18	So it was that, when he rose in the morning, Jacob took the stone which had been his pillow, and set it up there as a monument, and poured oil upon it;
 Genesis	Gen	1	28	19	and he called the place Bethel, the House of God, that was called Luza till then.
 Genesis	Gen	1	28	20	And there he took a vow; If God will be with me, he said, and watch over me on this journey of mine, and give me bread to eat and clothes to cover my back,
 Genesis	Gen	1	28	21	till at last I return safe to my father’s house, then the Lord shall be my God.
 Genesis	Gen	1	28	22	This stone, too, which I have set up as a monument, shall be called the House of God. And of all the gifts thou sendest me, a tenth part shall be the offering I make thee.
 Genesis	Gen	1	29	1	Then Jacob went on his way, and reached the eastern country.
 Genesis	Gen	1	29	2	Here, in the open plain, he found a well, with three flocks of sheep lying down beside it. It was here that the flocks were watered; but the mouth of the well was closed by a great stone,
 Genesis	Gen	1	29	3	and it was not the custom to roll this stone away till all the flocks were assembled. When these had had their fill, the stone was put back on the well mouth.
 Genesis	Gen	1	29	4	Whence come you, brethren? he asked the shepherds. From Haran, they answered.
 Genesis	Gen	1	29	5	And his next question was, whether they knew Laban, son of Nachor. Yes, they said, we know him.
 Genesis	Gen	1	29	6	Is all well with him? asked Jacob. Yes, said they, all is well with him. That is his daughter, Rachel, yonder, coming towards us with her flock.
 Genesis	Gen	1	29	7	Then Jacob said, The sun is still high, and it is a long time before the flocks need to be folded; why do you not water the sheep at once, and take them back to their pasture again?
 Genesis	Gen	1	29	8	That cannot be done, they answered, until all the herds have assembled here; we wait till then, before we move the stone from the well mouth and water our flocks.
 Genesis	Gen	1	29	9	The words were scarcely spoken, when Rachel came up with her father’s sheep; Rachel herself was their shepherdess.
 Genesis	Gen	1	29	10	Jacob watched her as she came; this was his cousin, these were his uncle Laban’s sheep; so he moved away the stone by which the well was shut in.
 Genesis	Gen	1	29	11	Then, when she had watered her flock, he went up and kissed her, weeping aloud;
 Genesis	Gen	1	29	12	and he told her that he was her father’s kinsman, Rebecca’s son; whereupon she went quickly home to tell her father the news.
 Genesis	Gen	1	29	13	No sooner did Laban hear of his nephew Jacob’s arrival, than he ran out to meet him, embraced him, covered him with kisses, and brought him back home. He listened to the reasons that had brought him there,
 Genesis	Gen	1	29	14	and said, Thou art my own flesh and blood. And he waited till a month had passed;
 Genesis	Gen	1	29	15	then he said, Because thou art my kinsman, that is no reason why thou shouldst work for me free of charge; tell me what reward thou wouldst have.
 Genesis	Gen	1	29	16	Laban had two daughters; Rachel was the younger and her elder sister was called Lia.
 Genesis	Gen	1	29	17	But Lia was dull-eyed, whereas Rachel had beauty both of form and face,
 Genesis	Gen	1	29	18	and on her Jacob’s love had fallen. So he answered, I will work seven years for thee to win thy younger daughter Rachel.
 Genesis	Gen	1	29	19	Better thou, said Laban, than any other husband I could find for her; stay, then, at my side.
 Genesis	Gen	1	29	20	So Jacob worked seven years to win Rachel, and they seemed to him only a few days, because of the greatness of his love.
 Genesis	Gen	1	29	21	Then he said to Laban, Give me my bride; the time has come now for me to wed her.
 Genesis	Gen	1	29	22	So Laban invited a great company of his friends to the wedding feast;
 Genesis	Gen	1	29	23	but that night he matched Jacob with his daughter Lia instead,
 Genesis	Gen	1	29	24	giving her a maid called Zelpha to wait on her. So, with all due ceremony, Jacob took her to his bed, and it was not till morning he found out that it was Lia.
 Genesis	Gen	1	29	25	Whereupon he said to Laban, What meanest thou? Did not I work for thee to win Rachel? What is this trick thou hast played on me?
 Genesis	Gen	1	29	26	And Laban answered, It is not the custom of our country to wed our younger daughters first.
 Genesis	Gen	1	29	27	Celebrate this wedding of thine for a full week, and I will give thee Rachel too, and thou shalt work for me another seven years to earn her.
 Genesis	Gen	1	29	28	To this Jacob agreed, and when the week was over he made Rachel his wife;
 Genesis	Gen	1	29	29	the waiting-maid her father gave to Rachel was called Bala.
 Genesis	Gen	1	29	30	So, at last, he won the bride he had longed for, and loved her better than he had loved her sister; meanwhile, he spent another seven years in Laban’s service.
 Genesis	Gen	1	29	31	And now, seeing Lia thus despised, the Lord gave her issue, while Rachel must remain barren.
 Genesis	Gen	1	29	32	So she conceived and bore a son, whom she called Ruben, as if she would say, the Lord has looked on my lowliness, Raa-beoni. Now, she thought, my husband will love me.
 Genesis	Gen	1	29	33	Then she conceived again, and again bore a son; Fresh gift, said she, is fresh proof the Lord has come to hear of the despite done me; so she called him Simeon, Hearing.
 Genesis	Gen	1	29	34	Then she conceived a third time, and bore another son; This time, she thought, my husband will be closely knit to me, now that I have borne him three sons, and she called him Levi, Knit together.
 Genesis	Gen	1	29	35	And when she conceived a fourth time, and bore a son, she said, Now I may praise the Lord, and she called him Juda, Praise. Then, for a while, she had no more children.
 Genesis	Gen	1	30	1	Rachel, meanwhile, when she found she remained barren, looked with envy on her sister; Thou must needs give me children, said she to her husband, or it will be my death.
 Genesis	Gen	1	30	2	What, answered Jacob, angry at her mood, Must I stand in the place of God to thee? It is he that has denied thee motherhood.
 Genesis	Gen	1	30	3	Here is Bala, she said, my maid-servant; get her with child instead, and it shall be born on my knees; thus, through her means, I shall have a family of my own.
 Genesis	Gen	1	30	4	So she gave him Bala as his mate;
 Genesis	Gen	1	30	5	and Bala, got with child by Rachel’s husband, bore a son.
 Genesis	Gen	1	30	6	Whereupon Rachel said, God has pronounced judgement for me, and listened to my plea, by giving me a son; and she called the boy Dan, as if she would say, He has pronounced judgement.
 Genesis	Gen	1	30	7	Afterwards Bala conceived again and bore a second son;
 Genesis	Gen	1	30	8	of him Rachel said, God has matched me like a wrestler against my sister, and I have won the bout, so she called him Nephthali, Wrestling.
 Genesis	Gen	1	30	9	Lia, too, finding that she was not having any more children, gave her maid-servant Zelpha to her husband for his mate;
 Genesis	Gen	1	30	10	and when Zelpha conceived and bore a son,
 Genesis	Gen	1	30	11	Lia said, Good fortune has come to me, and called the boy Gad, Fortune.
 Genesis	Gen	1	30	12	Zelpha, too, bore Jacob a second son,
 Genesis	Gen	1	30	13	and Lia said, Here is a blessing for me; women must needs call me blessed now; so she gave him the name of Aser, Blessedness.
 Genesis	Gen	1	30	14	Once, at the time of the wheat harvest, Ruben went out and found some mandrakes, which he brought back to his mother Lia; and Rachel said to Lia, Give me some of the fruit thy son has found.
 Genesis	Gen	1	30	15	What, answered she, art thou not content with stealing my husband from me? Must thou have my son’s mandrake fruit as well? And Rachel said, Jacob shall sleep with thee to-night, if I may have some of thy son’s mandrake-fruit.
 Genesis	Gen	1	30	16	So, when Jacob came back from work at evening, Lia went out to meet him; Thou art to share my bed to-night, she told him; I have paid thy hire with the mandrake fruit which my son found. So he slept with her that night;
 Genesis	Gen	1	30	17	and now God listened to her prayers, so that she conceived again and bore a fifth son.
 Genesis	Gen	1	30	18	Whereupon she said, God has paid me too my hire, for the maid-servant I lent to my husband, and she called the boy Issachar, Reward.
 Genesis	Gen	1	30	19	And again Lia conceived, and bore a sixth son;
 Genesis	Gen	1	30	20	This is a fair dowry, she said, God has endowed me with; once more my husband will dwell with me, now that I have borne him six sons; and she called the boy Zabulon, Dwelling.
 Genesis	Gen	1	30	21	She had one more child after this, a daughter called Dina.
 Genesis	Gen	1	30	22	Meanwhile, the Lord had not forgotten Rachel; her prayer was answered, and she, too, had issue.
 Genesis	Gen	1	30	23	When she conceived and bore a son, her thought was, God has taken away my disgrace.
 Genesis	Gen	1	30	24	And she called him Joseph, Increase; If only, she thought, God would increase my household with another son.
 Genesis	Gen	1	30	25	After Joseph’s birth, Jacob said to his father-in-law, Give me leave to go back home, to my own country.
 Genesis	Gen	1	30	26	And when I go, let me take with me the wives and the children I have earned in thy service; how hard I have worked for thee, none knows better than thou.
 Genesis	Gen	1	30	27	Let me ask a favour of thee, said Laban. Proof needs none that it is for thy sake God has made me prosper so.
 Genesis	Gen	1	30	28	Work for me still, and name thy own hire.
 Genesis	Gen	1	30	29	None knows better than thou, answered Jacob, how hard I have worked for thee, and how these herds of thine have increased under my care.
 Genesis	Gen	1	30	30	It was little enough thou hadst before I came to thy house, and now thou hast become rich; the Lord has blessed thee from the day when I came hither. Now it is time that I should think of my own household too.
 Genesis	Gen	1	30	31	What shall I give thee? Laban asked. Give me nothing, said he; but I will consent to feed and tend thy herds still on this condition.
 Genesis	Gen	1	30	32	Go round all thy flocks, now, and remove from them every sheep that is speckled, or has a blotched fleece. And the hire thou art to pay me shall be all the lambs that are born, even so, grey or spotted or speckled; and so with the kids.
 Genesis	Gen	1	30	33	So, later, when our agreement is fulfilled, my honesty shall be on its trial; if I keep for myself any beast except those which are speckled or spotted or grey, whether it be lamb or kid, call me a thief.
 Genesis	Gen	1	30	34	Thy request, said Laban, is granted;
 Genesis	Gen	1	30	35	and, that same day, he set aside she-goats and ewes, he-goats and rams, that were speckled and spotted; all those, too, that were of one colour, white (among the goats) or black (among the sheep); and these he gave in charge of his own sons.
 Genesis	Gen	1	30	36	And he put a distance of three days’ journey between himself and his son-in-law.
 Genesis	Gen	1	30	37	Jacob, then, left in charge of the rest of the flocks, did this. He took green branches of poplar, and almond, and plane, and partly peeled them; so that (now the bark had gone) the white shewed through where they had been stripped, whereas the parts he had left untouched remained green; everywhere the colour was varied.
 Genesis	Gen	1	30	38	These branches he fitted into the troughs where his flocks were watered, so that when they came to drink, they should have these speckled branches before their eyes, and the dams would conceive in full view of them.
 Genesis	Gen	1	30	39	Looking at the branches at the very heat of their coupling, the dams bore spotted and speckled and piebald young.
 Genesis	Gen	1	30	40	There, then, were the two flocks divided, and there were Jacob’s branches set up before the very eyes of the rams. All the white (sheep) and all the black (goats) were to be Laban’s, the rest Jacob’s, when the flocks were sorted afresh.
 Genesis	Gen	1	30	41	And this was his plan; at the earlier breeding-season he fitted the branches into the troughs, before the eyes of ram and ewe, so that the dams might be looking at them when they conceived;
 Genesis	Gen	1	30	42	but when the later breeding happened, and the time for conceiving was at an end, he put the branches there no longer. So all the late-bred (weaklings) belonged to Laban, and all the (strong) early-bred belonged to Jacob.
 Genesis	Gen	1	30	43	Thus he became rich beyond measure; many were the herds, the men-servants and maid-servants, the camels and asses that were his.
 Genesis	Gen	1	31	1	Meanwhile, Laban’s sons were complaining, Our father has been robbed of all his goods by Jacob, who has become rich at his expense.
 Genesis	Gen	1	31	2	Jacob was aware of this; he found, too, that Laban looked on him more coldly than hitherto.
 Genesis	Gen	1	31	3	But what moved him most was that the Lord had bidden him, Return to the land of thy fathers, to thy own kindred, and I will be with thee.
 Genesis	Gen	1	31	4	So he sent word to Rachel and Lia to meet him on the pasture-ground where he was feeding his flocks,
 Genesis	Gen	1	31	5	and said to them, I find that your father looks on me more coldly than hitherto; and all because the God of my father has prospered me.
 Genesis	Gen	1	31	6	You know well that I have worked for your father with all my might,
 Genesis	Gen	1	31	7	whereas he has defrauded me, altering, time and again, his bargain with me; it was only God’s mercy that prevented him doing me an injury.
 Genesis	Gen	1	31	8	As it was, whenever he said, The speckled beasts shall be thy wages, it was to speckled lambs that all my ewes gave birth; when he changed about, and said, Thou shalt have all the white lambs for thy pay, all my flocks bore white.
 Genesis	Gen	1	31	9	That is how God has taken away your father’s wealth and given it to me.
 Genesis	Gen	1	31	10	I had a dream at the time when my ewes were mating; as I looked round, I could see none but speckled and spotted and blotched rams coupling with the ewes.
 Genesis	Gen	1	31	11	And in my dream, an angel of God called me by name, and when I answered, I am here, at thy command,
 Genesis	Gen	1	31	12	he said, Look about thee, and mark well that all the sires coupling with the dams are speckled, spotted, or blotched; that is because I have taken good note of all Laban’s dealings with thee.
 Genesis	Gen	1	31	13	I am the God who dwells at Bethel, where thou didst anoint the stone, and didst take a vow to me. It is time for thee, now, to bestir thyself, to leave this country, and go back to the country of thy birth.
 Genesis	Gen	1	31	14	Why, answered Rachel and Lia, we have no reversion left to us in all our father’s wealth and possessions.
 Genesis	Gen	1	31	15	He has treated us as if we were no kindred of his, putting us up for sale, and keeping the price for himself.
 Genesis	Gen	1	31	16	And now, it seems, God has taken away our father’s wealth from him, and given it to us and to our children. Why then, do as the Lord has bidden thee.
 Genesis	Gen	1	31	17	Upon this, Jacob waited no longer; he mounted his children and wives on the camels, and set out on his journey;
 Genesis	Gen	1	31	18	taking with him all his possessions, his cattle and all the wealth he had gained in Mesopotamia; he would return to his father Isaac, and the land of Chanaan.
 Genesis	Gen	1	31	19	Meanwhile, in the absence of her father Laban, who had gone to shear his sheep, Rachel stole his household gods from him.
 Genesis	Gen	1	31	20	Jacob had given his father-in-law no warning of his flight,
 Genesis	Gen	1	31	21	and it was not till he and all that belonged to him had gone away, and crossed the Euphrates, and were making for the hills of Galaad,
 Genesis	Gen	1	31	22	that a message came to Laban, three days too late, Jacob has fled.
 Genesis	Gen	1	31	23	So now he took his kinsmen with him and gave chase; and he had been on the road seven days before he overtook him on the hills of Galaad.
 Genesis	Gen	1	31	24	Here, in his sleep, he had a vision of God warning him, Have a care thou dost not speak to Jacob harshly.
 Genesis	Gen	1	31	25	Jacob had already pitched his tent on the hills, and now Laban, coming up with his kinsmen in pursuit, encamped in these same hills of Galaad.
 Genesis	Gen	1	31	26	What meanest thou, he asked Jacob, by thus tricking me, and carrying off my daughters as if they were prisoners of war?
 Genesis	Gen	1	31	27	Why wouldst thou run away when my back was turned, instead of warning me of it, so that I could have sped thee on thy way with good cheer, with singing, and music of timbrel and harp?
 Genesis	Gen	1	31	28	But no, thou wouldst not even let me part from my own grandsons and daughters with a kiss. This was a rash act of thine, and see where it has brought thee.
 Genesis	Gen	1	31	29	Thou art in my power, and I could repay the injury if I would; but the God who protects thy father’s race warned me yesterday, Have a care thou dost not speak harshly to Jacob.
 Genesis	Gen	1	31	30	Thou wert hastening to return to thy own kindred? Thou wert longing for thy home? Tell me then, why hast thou carried away my household gods with thee?
 Genesis	Gen	1	31	31	To this Jacob answered, If I left thee unawares, it was because I was afraid thou wouldst rob me of thy daughters by violence.
 Genesis	Gen	1	31	32	But as for thy charge of theft, whoever is found with these gods of thine in his possession shall pay for it with his life. Make search in the presence of thy kinsmen and mine, and take away with thee all thou findest here that belongs to thee. Of Rachel’s carrying off the images, Jacob knew nothing.
 Genesis	Gen	1	31	33	So Laban went into Jacob’s tent, and Lia’s, and the tents of both the serving-women, but found nothing. At last he came to Rachel’s tent;
 Genesis	Gen	1	31	34	and Rachel, who had quickly hidden the images among the harness of her camel, now sat down upon the harness. As her father looked in vain all through the tent,
 Genesis	Gen	1	31	35	she said, Forgive me, sir, if I do not rise to greet thee; the common lot of women has come upon me; and so the anxious search came to nothing.
 Genesis	Gen	1	31	36	And now Jacob broke out into angry reproaches against Laban. For what fault, what guilt of mine, hast thou so hotly pursued me,
 Genesis	Gen	1	31	37	and made this search of all my goods? What treasure hast thou found here, of all the treasures in thy house? Bring it out here, before my brethren and thine, and let them judge between us.
 Genesis	Gen	1	31	38	Was it for this that I spent twenty years in thy service? All that time, thy ewes and she-goats were never barren, no wether lamb of thine did I take for my own eating.
 Genesis	Gen	1	31	39	If wild beasts preyed on them, I made good the damage, instead of bringing it to shew thee; I must needs give account to thee of all that was lost by theft.
 Genesis	Gen	1	31	40	Burning heat by day, and biting frost at nights, till my eye-lids lost the power of sleep;
 Genesis	Gen	1	31	41	thus it was that I spent twenty years as a servant in thy household, fourteen years for thy daughters, and six for thy flocks; time and again thou didst alter thy bargain with me.
 Genesis	Gen	1	31	42	Why, if the God of my father Abraham, the God before whom Isaac trembles, had not prospered me, thou wouldst have sent me away penniless; as it is, God has taken account of my wretchedness, and the toil these hands have borne; that is why he gave thee, yesterday, his warning.
 Genesis	Gen	1	31	43	And Laban answered, These are my daughters, these boys are mine, as thy flocks, and all thou seest before thee, are mine; something I must do to protect my own daughters, my own grandchildren.
 Genesis	Gen	1	31	44	Come, let us make a covenant, which shall stand on record between us.
 Genesis	Gen	1	31	45	So Jacob took a stone, and set it up there as a monument;
 Genesis	Gen	1	31	46	he said, too, to his kinsmen, Bring stones here. And they gathered stones, and made them into a heap; and over that heap they took food together.
 Genesis	Gen	1	31	47	Laban called it the Cairn of Record, and Jacob called it the Witness-heap, each according to the usage of his own tongue.
 Genesis	Gen	1	31	48	Laban had said Let this heap bear record of our covenant to-day; that is how it came to be called Galaad, the Witness-heap.
 Genesis	Gen	1	31	49	Let the Lord keep watch, he said, and see justice done between us, when our ways have parted.
 Genesis	Gen	1	31	50	If thou dost treat these daughters of mine amiss, and bringest home other wives instead of them, there will be no one else to bear witness of what we have said, but God will bear witness; he is here to see us.
 Genesis	Gen	1	31	51	He said further to Jacob, Look at this heap, this stone which I have set up between us;
 Genesis	Gen	1	31	52	these shall be witnesses, heap and stone shall be there to accuse us, if I pass by them on my way to thee, or thou on thy way to me, with harmful intent.
 Genesis	Gen	1	31	53	May the God who is Abraham’s God and Nachor’s, the God of their common father see justice done between us. Then Jacob swore by the God his father Isaac held in reverence,
 Genesis	Gen	1	31	54	and summoned his kinsmen, when sacrifice had been done on the hill, to take food there. So they took their meal, and remained there,
 Genesis	Gen	1	31	55	while Laban rose up at daybreak, kissed his grandsons and his two daughters, and blessed them, and went back to his home.
 Genesis	Gen	1	32	1	Jacob, too, set out to continue his journey, and as he went, God’s angels met him.
 Genesis	Gen	1	32	2	This is God’s encampment, he said when he saw them, and called the place Mahanaim, which means a Camp.
 Genesis	Gen	1	32	3	And now he sent messengers of his own on before him, to greet his brother Esau in the country of Seir, which is Edom’s territory.
 Genesis	Gen	1	32	4	These were his directions, You are to tell my lord Esau this, from his brother Jacob: I have been living abroad, on a visit to Laban, and am but just returned.
 Genesis	Gen	1	32	5	I have brought back oxen and asses and sheep, men-servants and women-servants with me. And now, my lord, I have sent these envoys to thee, to secure thy good will.
 Genesis	Gen	1	32	6	And this was the news the messengers brought back with them, We found thy brother Esau; even now he comes hastening to meet thee, with four hundred men.
 Genesis	Gen	1	32	7	At this, Jacob was overcome with terror, and in his extremity he divided up his followers, the flocks of sheep, too, and the cattle, and the camels, into two companies;
 Genesis	Gen	1	32	8	If Esau, he thought, should meet with one company, and fall upon it, at least the other will come through safely.
 Genesis	Gen	1	32	9	And now Jacob said, O God of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, thou, Lord, who hast bidden me return to my own country, the land of my birth, and hast offered to bless me,
 Genesis	Gen	1	32	10	I, thy servant, am not worthy of all the mercies thou hast shewn me, the faithful observance of thy promises. I had nothing but this staff with me, when I crossed the Jordan, and now I have come back with two companies behind me.
 Genesis	Gen	1	32	11	Save me now from the power of my brother Esau; I fear grievously that when he comes he will spare neither women nor children.
 Genesis	Gen	1	32	12	Hast thou not promised me thy continued favour, and a posterity spread wide as the sand by the sea, that is beyond all counting?
 Genesis	Gen	1	32	13	When he had slept the night there, he chose out of all his possessions a present for his brother Esau,
 Genesis	Gen	1	32	14	two hundred she-goats and twenty buck-goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams,
 Genesis	Gen	1	32	15	thirty camels in milk with their colts, forty cows and twenty bulls, and twenty she-asses with ten colts.
 Genesis	Gen	1	32	16	All these he sent on, with their drivers; Go on in front of me, he told his men, and leave a space between one herd and the next.
 Genesis	Gen	1	32	17	And to the first of these, his directions were, If thou shouldst encounter my brother Esau, and he should ask, Whose man art thou? or Whither goest thou? or Whose are these beasts thou tendest?
 Genesis	Gen	1	32	18	thy answer is to be, They belong to thy servant Jacob, who is sending them as a present to my lord Esau; and he himself follows behind us.
 Genesis	Gen	1	32	19	Then he bade the second do the like, and the third, and all the drovers in turn; these same words you are to use, he said, when you fall in with Esau,
 Genesis	Gen	1	32	20	and be sure to add, Thy servant Jacob follows on behind us. I will not see him, he thought, until I have disarmed his anger with the gifts I have sent before me; then perhaps he will be well disposed towards me!
 Genesis	Gen	1	32	21	So the gifts went on in advance of him, and he waited in the camp all night.
 Genesis	Gen	1	32	22	But before dawn he rose, and took his two wives, their serving-women, and his eleven sons, across the ford of Jaboc.
 Genesis	Gen	1	32	23	And now he had set down all that was his on the further side,
 Genesis	Gen	1	32	24	and he was left there alone. And there one appeared to him who wrestled with him until the day broke.
 Genesis	Gen	1	32	25	At last, finding that he could not get the better of Jacob, he touched the sinew of his thigh, which all at once withered;
 Genesis	Gen	1	32	26	then he said, Let me go, the dawn is up. But Jacob answered, I will not let thee go until thou givest me thy blessing.
 Genesis	Gen	1	32	27	What is thy name? asked the other, and when he heard that it was Jacob,
 Genesis	Gen	1	32	28	Jacob, he said, is no name for thee, thou shalt be called Israel, one that prevails with God. If thou hast held thy own with God, how wilt thou prevail over men!
 Genesis	Gen	1	32	29	Tell me, asked Jacob, what is thy own name? Why wouldst thou know my name? he answered, and gave him there and then, his blessing.
 Genesis	Gen	1	32	30	So Jacob called the place Phanuel, the Face of God; I have seen God face to face, he said, and my life was not forfeit.
 Genesis	Gen	1	32	31	As soon as he passed beyond Phanuel, the sun rose, and he went limping on one foot;
 Genesis	Gen	1	32	32	that is why the race of Israel, to this day, will not eat the sinew of the thigh, in which Jacob’s strength failed him, the sinew of his thigh that withered when it was touched.
 Genesis	Gen	1	33	1	And now Jacob looked in front of him, and there was Esau coming towards him, with four hundred men at his back. So he divided up his children into families, Lia’s sons and Rachel’s and those of the two serving-women.
 Genesis	Gen	1	33	2	He put these first, with their children, and Lia second with hers; Rachel and Joseph came last of all.
 Genesis	Gen	1	33	3	He himself, as he came up, prostrated himself seven times before his brother reached him.
 Genesis	Gen	1	33	4	Seeing this, Esau ran to meet his brother, embraced him, clung to his neck and kissed him, in tears.
 Genesis	Gen	1	33	5	Then, as he looked round him and saw the women with their sons, he asked, What are these? Are they part of thy company? And he was told, They are the children God has granted to thy servant.
 Genesis	Gen	1	33	6	So the serving-women and their children came up first, and made their obeisance,
 Genesis	Gen	1	33	7	then Lia with her children; and when they had done the like, Joseph and Rachel made theirs last of all.
 Genesis	Gen	1	33	8	And when Esau asked, What of those companies I met on my way? Jacob answered, A gift, my lord, to secure me thy good will.
 Genesis	Gen	1	33	9	I have abundance, said he; keep what is thine.
 Genesis	Gen	1	33	10	But Jacob said, No, I entreat thee; do me the favour to accept this present of mine; to gain audience with thee is like gaining audience with God himself. Assure me of thy favour
 Genesis	Gen	1	33	11	by receiving the offering I have brought thee, God’s gift to me, who has given me all I have. So at last Esau consented, overcome by his brother’s persuasions;
 Genesis	Gen	1	33	12	then he said, Let us travel on together, so that I can be the companion of thy journey.
 Genesis	Gen	1	33	13	But Jacob answered, My lord, bethink thee that I have young children with me; that I have ewes here in lamb, and cows in calf, so that I may lose a whole herd if I overdrive them.
 Genesis	Gen	1	33	14	Pass on, my lord, in advance of thy servant; I will follow slowly, at whatever pace suits these children of mine, and meet thee again, my lord, in Seir.
 Genesis	Gen	1	33	15	Pray then, said Esau, take some of my followers to escort thee on thy journey. No need for that, answered Jacob; enough for me, my lord, that I should have thy good will.
 Genesis	Gen	1	33	16	So that day, Esau went back to Seir the way he had come;
 Genesis	Gen	1	33	17	Jacob went as far as Socoth, and there built himself a house, with sheds for his cattle; that is why he called the place Socoth, which means Sheds.
 Genesis	Gen	1	33	18	He passed on from there to Salem, a city belonging to Sichem, thus returning to Chanaan after his journey to Mesopotamia of the Syrians. Here he dwelt near the town;
 Genesis	Gen	1	33	19	he bought the piece of ground where he encamped from the men of Hemor’s clan, that was father to Sichem, at the price of a hundred lambs.
 Genesis	Gen	1	33	20	And here he built an altar, and dedicated it to the almighty God, the God of Israel.
 Genesis	Gen	1	34	1	A time came when Dina, Lia’s daughter, went out to visit some of the women who dwelt in that country.
 Genesis	Gen	1	34	2	And one of the chieftains, Sichem, son of Hemor the Hevite, cast longing eyes at her; then seized her and mated with her, violating her virginity.
 Genesis	Gen	1	34	3	And indeed his heart was set on her, so he comforted her sorrow,
 Genesis	Gen	1	34	4	and went to his father Hemor, asking him to demand the girl’s hand in marriage.
 Genesis	Gen	1	34	5	When Jacob was told of it, his sons were away, engaged in feeding their cattle; so he kept silence, awaiting their return.
 Genesis	Gen	1	34	6	But even as Hemor, Sichem’s father, was on his way to confer with Jacob,
 Genesis	Gen	1	34	7	Jacob’s sons came back from the plains and heard what had befallen. They fell into a great rage; Sichem had dishonoured the whole race of Israel, and done great wrong, by violating their father’s daughter.
 Genesis	Gen	1	34	8	And now Hemor began to plead with them, My son Sichem has set his heart on this maid of yours; grant him her hand in marriage.
 Genesis	Gen	1	34	9	It is well that we should intermarry, that you should give us your daughters, and wed ours,
 Genesis	Gen	1	34	10	and settle down amongst us. Our country is yours; you may till and trade and have your dwelling here.
 Genesis	Gen	1	34	11	Sichem, too, said to her father and her brethren, Grant my request, and I will pay whatever price you name.
 Genesis	Gen	1	34	12	Increase the sum of the dowry, ask for presents in addition, you shall have what you will so you will let me make the girl my wife.
 Genesis	Gen	1	34	13	But the sons of Jacob, enraged at their sister’s disgrace, made a treacherous answer to Sichem and his father:
 Genesis	Gen	1	34	14	We cannot grant your request, if it means bestowing our sister’s hand on a husband who is not circumcised; that is a forbidden thing, abominable to us.
 Genesis	Gen	1	34	15	But we can enter into a treaty with you, if you will consent to be like ourselves, and have every male among you circumcised;
 Genesis	Gen	1	34	16	then we will give our daughters to you in marriage, and accept yours; we will share your country, and form one people with you.
 Genesis	Gen	1	34	17	If you refuse to be circumcised, we must take the girl with us and be gone.
 Genesis	Gen	1	34	18	This offer of theirs commended itself to Hemor and his son Sichem;
 Genesis	Gen	1	34	19	nor did the young man lose any time in having their request fulfilled, such was his love for the girl, and such was the influence he had with all his father’s kindred.
 Genesis	Gen	1	34	20	They both went to the city gate, and there made it known to the people:
 Genesis	Gen	1	34	21	These are peaceable folk, ready to share our country with us; let us allow them to trade here and to till the land, wide and open as it is, and in need of farming; let us marry their daughters, and give them ours in exchange.
 Genesis	Gen	1	34	22	There is but one thing that stands in the way of this happy agreement. We must adopt the custom of their race, and have all the males among us circumcised.
 Genesis	Gen	1	34	23	Then their wealth and these cattle of theirs and all they have will be ours too; we have only to humour them in this, to make them form one people with us.
 Genesis	Gen	1	34	24	To this everyone agreed, and all their men folk were circumcised.
 Genesis	Gen	1	34	25	The third day came, which is the day on which the pain of the wound is most felt. Then, two of Jacob’s sons, who were brothers to Dina, Simeon and Levi, took up their swords, and made their way boldly into the city, where they killed all the men folk;
 Genesis	Gen	1	34	26	making an end of Hemor and Sichem with the rest, and carrying off their sister Dina from Sichem’s house.
 Genesis	Gen	1	34	27	When they had left the city, the rest of Jacob’s sons broke in, to find the men already slain; so they plundered the city to avenge the wrong done;
 Genesis	Gen	1	34	28	making spoil of their sheep and oxen and asses and all they found in houses or in fields,
 Genesis	Gen	1	34	29	and seizing their children and their wives as captives.
 Genesis	Gen	1	34	30	Recklessly the deed was done; in vain did Jacob protest to Simeon and Levi, You have much injured me, to Chanaanite and Pherezite all around making my name abominable; see how few we are! If they make common cause against me, I and mine will perish.
 Genesis	Gen	1	34	31	What, they answered, should we allow him to treat our sister like a harlot?
 Genesis	Gen	1	35	1	In the meanwhile, too, God had said to Jacob, Bestir thyself, go up to Bethel, and make thy dwelling there; there build an altar to the God who revealed himself to thee when thou wast in flight from thy brother Esau.
 Genesis	Gen	1	35	2	Whereupon Jacob summoned all his household; Cast away, he told them, whatever images of alien gods you have among you, purify yourselves, and put on fresh garments.
 Genesis	Gen	1	35	3	We must leave this, and go up to Bethel; there we must build an altar to the God who listened to me in time of trouble, and escorted me on my journey.
 Genesis	Gen	1	35	4	So they gave him all the images of alien gods that were in their possession, the rings, too, which they wore on their ears, and he buried them under the mastic-tree, close to the town of Sichem.
 Genesis	Gen	1	35	5	Thus they set out on their journey, and God inspired terror into the hearts of all who dwelt around them, so that they durst not pursue them as they went.
 Genesis	Gen	1	35	6	Jacob, then, with all his clan, made their way to Luza, which is now called Bethel,
 Genesis	Gen	1	35	7	and built an altar there. It was he who called the place Bethel, the house of God, because it was there God appeared to him when he was in flight from his brother.
 Genesis	Gen	1	35	8	It was at this time that Debora, Rebecca’s nurse, died; she was buried under an oak, by the spur of the hills where Bethel is, and the place came to be called, The Oak of Mourning.
 Genesis	Gen	1	35	9	Once again God revealed himself to Jacob, after his return from Mesopotamia of the Syrians, blessing him,
 Genesis	Gen	1	35	10	and assuring him, Thou shalt not be called Jacob any longer; Israel is to be thy name.
 Genesis	Gen	1	35	11	So, calling to him by this name of Israel, he said to him, I am God all-powerful, and I bid thee increase and multiply; peoples shall descend from thee, whole families of nations, and kings shall be born of thy stock;
 Genesis	Gen	1	35	12	and that land, which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give to thee and to thy posterity after thee.
 Genesis	Gen	1	35	13	Then God went away out of his sight;
 Genesis	Gen	1	35	14	and he built a monument of stone at the place where God had spoken to him, offering libations there and pouring oil upon it.
 Genesis	Gen	1	35	15	Bethel was the name he gave to the place,
 Genesis	Gen	1	35	16	and when he left it, in the spring, he journeyed into the country that lies towards Ephrata. Here Rachel was in travail,
 Genesis	Gen	1	35	17	and the difficult labour she had was endangering her life; but the midwife said to her, Do not be afraid; this time, too, thou wilt give birth to a son.
 Genesis	Gen	1	35	18	But her life was ebbing away in her pangs; she saw that she was close to death, and called her son Benoni, the child of my distress. His father’s name for him was Benjamin, the child of his right hand.
 Genesis	Gen	1	35	19	So Rachel died, and was buried on the way that leads to Ephrata (the same as Bethlehem).
 Genesis	Gen	1	35	20	Over her tomb, Jacob raised a monument; it is called, to this day, the Pillar of Rachel’s Tomb.
 Genesis	Gen	1	35	21	And he went on from there, and pitched his tent on the further side of the Sheep-tower.
 Genesis	Gen	1	35	22	It was while he was living there that Ruben betook himself to his own father’s concubine, the one who was called Bala, and slept with her; nor did he contrive to keep Jacob in ignorance of it. Jacob had twelve sons altogether:
 Genesis	Gen	1	35	23	by Lia, this first-born son, Ruben, as well as Simeon, Levi, Juda, Issachar, and Zabulon;
 Genesis	Gen	1	35	24	by Rachel, Joseph and Benjamin;
 Genesis	Gen	1	35	25	by Bala, Rachel’s serving-woman, Dan and Nephthali;
 Genesis	Gen	1	35	26	by Zelpha, Lia’s serving-woman, Gad and Aser. These were Jacob’s sons, and Mesopotamia of the Syrians was their birth-place.
 Genesis	Gen	1	35	27	He went, too, to visit his father Isaac at Mambre, the city of Arbee, also called Hebron; here, as strangers, Abraham and Isaac had dwelt.
 Genesis	Gen	1	35	28	And now Isaac finished his life, of a hundred and eighty years;
 Genesis	Gen	1	35	29	he died at last, worn out with age, his tale of years complete. He too became a part of his people; and his two sons, Esau and Jacob, gave him burial.
 Genesis	Gen	1	36	1	Here is a list of the descendants of Esau (or Edom).
 Genesis	Gen	1	36	2	Esau’s Chanaanite wives were Ada, daughter of Elon the Hethite, Oölibama, who was daughter of Ana and grand-daughter of Sebeon the Hevite,
 Genesis	Gen	1	36	3	and Basemath, who was daughter of Ismael and sister of Nabaioth.
 Genesis	Gen	1	36	4	Ada became the mother of Eliphaz, Basemath of Rahuel,
 Genesis	Gen	1	36	5	and Oölibama of Jehus, Ihelon and Core; all of these were born while their father still lived in the land of Chanaan.
 Genesis	Gen	1	36	6	Afterwards Esau removed to another region, with wives and sons and daughters and all his household, with his wealth and his cattle and all that Chanaan had given him. He must needs part from his brother Jacob,
 Genesis	Gen	1	36	7	now that they had become too rich to live side by side; the country in which they lived as strangers hitherto could no longer give feed for all their cattle.
 Genesis	Gen	1	36	8	So Esau (or Edom) dwelt thenceforward in the hill country of Seir.
 Genesis	Gen	1	36	9	Thus Esau is the father of those Edomites who live in the hill country of Seir,
 Genesis	Gen	1	36	10	and this was the line that came from him through those two sons of his, Eliphaz who was his son by his wife Ada, and Rahuel, his son by his wife Basemath.
 Genesis	Gen	1	36	11	The sons of Eliphaz were called Theman, Omar, Sepho, Gatham, and Cenez.
 Genesis	Gen	1	36	12	He also had a concubine called Thamna, by whom he became the father, and Esau the grandfather, of Amalec. All these were descended from Esau’s wife Ada.
 Genesis	Gen	1	36	13	And Rahuel’s sons were called Nahath, Zara, Samma, and Meza; these were descended from Esau’s wife Basemath.
 Genesis	Gen	1	36	14	Esau’s other three sons, Jehus, Ihelon and Core, were borne to him by his wife Oölibama, daughter of Ana and grand-daughter of Sebeon.
 Genesis	Gen	1	36	15	These, then, were the Edomite chieftains: of the family of Eliphaz, Esau’s first-born, Theman, Omar, Sepho, Cenez,
 Genesis	Gen	1	36	16	Core, Gatham, Amalec, all Edomite chieftains descended from Eliphaz, and so through Ada.
 Genesis	Gen	1	36	17	Of the family of Esau’s son Rahuel, the chieftains called Nahath, Zara, Samma and Meza, all Edomite chieftains descended from Rahuel, and so through Esau’s wife Basemath.
 Genesis	Gen	1	36	18	And three chieftains, Jehus, Ihelon and Core, were sons of Esau’s wife Oölibama, who was daughter of Ana.
 Genesis	Gen	1	36	19	So the descendants of Esau (or Edom) are named, after the chieftains who ruled them.
 Genesis	Gen	1	36	20	There were other chieftains native to the land, descended from Seir, the Horrite. Their names were Lotan, Sobal, Sebeon, Ana,
 Genesis	Gen	1	36	21	Dison, Eser, and Disan; all Edomite chieftains, but Horrite by race and descended from Seir.
 Genesis	Gen	1	36	22	Lotan had a sister called Thamna, and the names of his two sons were Hori and Heman.
 Genesis	Gen	1	36	23	The names of Sobal’s sons were Alvan, Manahat, Ebal, Sepho, and Onam.
 Genesis	Gen	1	36	24	Sebeon had two sons, Aia and Ana. It was this Ana who was feeding his father’s asses, when he came upon hot springs, out in the desert.
 Genesis	Gen	1	36	25	He had a son called Dison, and a daughter, Oölibama.
 Genesis	Gen	1	36	26	Dison’s sons were called Hamdan, Eseban, Jethram, and Charan;
 Genesis	Gen	1	36	27	Eser’s were called Balaan, Zavan, and Acan;
 Genesis	Gen	1	36	28	Disan’s were called Hus and Aram.
 Genesis	Gen	1	36	29	Thus the Horrites had for their chieftains Lotan, Sobal, Sebeon, and Ana,
 Genesis	Gen	1	36	30	Dison, Eser, and Disan. These were the Horrite chieftains who bore rule in the land of Seir.
 Genesis	Gen	1	36	31	There were kings ruling in the Edomite country before the Israelites had kings of their own; these are their names;
 Genesis	Gen	1	36	32	Bela the son of Beor reigned in Denaba,
 Genesis	Gen	1	36	33	and after his death Jobab son of Zara, from Bosra,
 Genesis	Gen	1	36	34	who was succeeded by Husam from the Themanite country;
 Genesis	Gen	1	36	35	his successor was Adad, son of Badad, who defeated Madian in the territory of Moab; he ruled at Avith.
 Genesis	Gen	1	36	36	Adad was succeeded by Semla from Masreca,
 Genesis	Gen	1	36	37	and Semla by Saul from the river Rohoboth,
 Genesis	Gen	1	36	38	and Saul by Balanan, son of Achobor,
 Genesis	Gen	1	36	39	and Balanan by Adar, who ruled at Phau; his wife’s name was Meëtabel, daughter of Matred, who was daughter of Mezaab.
 Genesis	Gen	1	36	40	And these chieftains of Esau’s race have clans and territories called after the names; Thamna, Alva, Jetheth,
 Genesis	Gen	1	36	41	Oölibama, Ela, Phinon,
 Genesis	Gen	1	36	42	Cenez, Theman, Mabsar,
 Genesis	Gen	1	36	43	Magdiel, and Hiram. Such were the chieftains of Edom, each bearing rule over the territory about him; and the father of the Edomite race was Esau.
 Genesis	Gen	1	37	1	Jacob, meanwhile, had settled in the land of Chanaan, where his father lived a wanderer’s life before him;
 Genesis	Gen	1	37	2	and this is the record of Jacob’s line. By now, Joseph was sixteen years old, and helped his brethren to feed the flocks, young though he was. He worked with the sons of his father’s wives, Bala and Zelpha; and against these brothers of his he told his father ill tales.
 Genesis	Gen	1	37	3	Among his children, Jacob loved Joseph best, as old men love the sons old age has brought them; and he dressed him in a coat that was all embroidery.
 Genesis	Gen	1	37	4	Whereupon his brethren, who saw that he was his father’s favourite, bore him a grudge, and never had a good word for him.
 Genesis	Gen	1	37	5	They hated him the more, when he recounted to them a dream of his;
 Genesis	Gen	1	37	6	Listen, he said, to this dream I have had.
 Genesis	Gen	1	37	7	I dreamt that we were all binding sheaves in a field, and my sheaf seemed to lift itself up and stand erect, while all your sheaves stood about it and did reverence to mine.
 Genesis	Gen	1	37	8	What, said his brethren, art thou to be our king? Are we to be thy subjects? So this talk about his dream fed the fires of their envious anger.
 Genesis	Gen	1	37	9	Then he had another dream which he disclosed to his brethren; In this dream of mine, he said, it seemed to me that the sun and the moon and eleven stars did reverence to me.
 Genesis	Gen	1	37	10	When he reported this to his father and his brethren, his father said, in reproof, What means this dream of thine? Must I and thy mother and thy brethren bow down to earth before thee?
 Genesis	Gen	1	37	11	So his brethren eyed him with jealousy, while his father pondered over the story in silence.
 Genesis	Gen	1	37	12	One day, when his brethren were away at Sichem, feeding their father’s flocks,
 Genesis	Gen	1	37	13	Israel said to him, Thy brethren are pasturing the sheep at Sichem; I have an errand for thee there. And when Joseph answered,
 Genesis	Gen	1	37	14	I am here, at thy command, he said to him, Go and see whether all is well with thy brethren, and with the flock, then come back and tell me their news. So he set out from Hebron valley and reached Sichem,
 Genesis	Gen	1	37	15	where a stranger found him wandering on the open plain, and asked what was his errand.
 Genesis	Gen	1	37	16	I am looking for my brethren, he said; Canst thou tell me where they are feeding their flocks?
 Genesis	Gen	1	37	17	They have left this part, the man answered; I heard them say, Let us go to Dothain. So Joseph went on in search of his brethren, and it was at Dothain he found them.
 Genesis	Gen	1	37	18	Before he came up to them, they caught sight of him in the distance, and began plotting against his life.
 Genesis	Gen	1	37	19	They said to one another, Here comes the dreamer;
 Genesis	Gen	1	37	20	how if we kill him, and throw his body into a dry well? We can pretend he has fallen a prey to some wild beast. Now we shall see what good these dreams of his can do him!
 Genesis	Gen	1	37	21	Upon this, Ruben began scheming to save Joseph from their violence; No, he said,
 Genesis	Gen	1	37	22	do not take his life, there must be no bloodshed. Throw him down into this well here, far from all help, and so keep clear of any murderous act. His meaning was to rescue Joseph out of their hands, and restore him safe to his father.
 Genesis	Gen	1	37	23	As soon, then, as Joseph reached his brethren, they stripped him of his long, embroidered coat,
 Genesis	Gen	1	37	24	and threw him into a disused well, which had no water left in it.
 Genesis	Gen	1	37	25	And now, as they sat down to take their meal, they saw a company of Ismaelites mounted on camels, who were on their way from Galaad to Egypt, with a load of spices, balm, and myrrh.
 Genesis	Gen	1	37	26	Whereupon Juda said to his brethren, What shall we gain by killing our brother, and concealing his murder?
 Genesis	Gen	1	37	27	Far better sell him to these Ismaelites, and keep our hands clean of crime; remember that he is our brother, our own flesh and blood. His brethren fell in with the plan;
 Genesis	Gen	1	37	28	so, when the merchants from Madian passed by, they dragged Joseph up out of the well, and sold him for twenty pieces of silver to these Ismaelites, who carried him off with them to Egypt.
 Genesis	Gen	1	37	29	In vain did Ruben go back to the well, there was no sign of Joseph there.
 Genesis	Gen	1	37	30	For grief he tore his garments, then he went back to his brethren, crying, The boy is not to be seen; what is left for me? Where can I betake myself now?
 Genesis	Gen	1	37	31	Meanwhile, they killed a goat, and dipped Joseph’s coat in its blood;
 Genesis	Gen	1	37	32	then they sent a message to their father, We have found this coat; satisfy thyself, whether it is thy son’s or not.
 Genesis	Gen	1	37	33	And their father recognized it, It is my son’s coat, he said; past doubt, some wild thing has devoured him, my son Joseph, the prey of a wild beast!
 Genesis	Gen	1	37	34	And he tore his garments, and put on sackcloth; and long he mourned for his son.
 Genesis	Gen	1	37	35	Vainly did all his children conspire to solace their father’s grief; he would admit no consolation. I will go down mourning, he said, to keep my son company in the grave; and would not dry his tears.
 Genesis	Gen	1	37	36	Meanwhile, the Madianites had sold Joseph in Egypt, to Putiphar, one of Pharao’s courtiers, and captain of his guard.
 Genesis	Gen	1	38	1	A time came when Juda left his brethren up in the hill country, and went to lodge with a man called Hiras, at Odollam.
 Genesis	Gen	1	38	2	Here he cast his eyes on the daughter of one Suë, a Chanaanite, and wedded and bedded her.
 Genesis	Gen	1	38	3	She conceived, and bore a son, whom she named Her;
 Genesis	Gen	1	38	4	then conceived again, and called her second son Onan;
 Genesis	Gen	1	38	5	then bore a third, whom she called Sela, and after that had no more children.
 Genesis	Gen	1	38	6	Juda found for his eldest son, Her, a wife whose name was Thamar;
 Genesis	Gen	1	38	7	but this first-born son of his was a sinner, and God saw it and cut him off in his prime.
 Genesis	Gen	1	38	8	Whereupon Juda bade his son Onan mate with the widow, and do a husband’s duty by her, so as to beget children in his brother’s name;
 Genesis	Gen	1	38	9	but Onan, who knew that they would not be reckoned as his, frustrated the act of marriage when he mated with her, sooner than breed sons in his brother’s name.
 Genesis	Gen	1	38	10	Him, too, for this abominable deed of his, the Lord punished with death.
 Genesis	Gen	1	38	11	And now Juda said to Thamar, his daughter-in-law, Go back to thy father’s house, and there support thy widowed state until my son Sela has grown up. The truth was, he was afraid the same doom might overtake Sela. Thamar, then, went back to live at her father’s house.
 Genesis	Gen	1	38	12	Time passed, and Suë’s daughter, the wife of Juda, died. And when his grief for her was assuaged, he went with his friend Hiras of Odollam, who was a shepherd, to see the men who were shearing his flock at Thamnas.
 Genesis	Gen	1	38	13	When she heard that her father-in-law was going up to Thamnas for the sheep-shearing,
 Genesis	Gen	1	38	14	Thamar laid aside her widow’s weeds, put a veil on, and disguised herself; then she went and sat at the cross roads on the way to Thamnas. She knew well that Sela had grown up, and still no husband was given her.
 Genesis	Gen	1	38	15	Juda saw her without recognizing her as his daughter-in-law (for she kept her face veiled) and took her for a harlot;
 Genesis	Gen	1	38	16	so he accosted her, and asked for her favours. What wilt thou give me, she asked, as the price of enjoying them?
 Genesis	Gen	1	38	17	I will send thee a goat, he answered, from my herd. And when she told him he might have his will, on condition that he gave her a pledge, to hold until he kept his promise,
 Genesis	Gen	1	38	18	What wilt thou have, asked Juda, for a pledge? Thy ring, she answered, and thy bracelet, and the staff thou carriest. At this single mating she conceived;
 Genesis	Gen	1	38	19	and now she rose up and was gone, took off her disguise, and was back in her widow’s weeds again.
 Genesis	Gen	1	38	20	Then Juda bade his shepherd at Odollam take the woman a goat, so as to recover the pledge he had given her. But the shepherd could not find her;
 Genesis	Gen	1	38	21	and when he asked the townsfolk, What has become of the harlot that used to sit at the cross-roads? they said, There was never a harlot there.
 Genesis	Gen	1	38	22	So he went back to Juda, and told him, I could not find her; and what is more, the townsfolk would have it there was never harlot sitting there at all.
 Genesis	Gen	1	38	23	Let her keep what she has, said Juda; she cannot call us dishonest, now that I have sent the kid as I promised, and she was not to be found.
 Genesis	Gen	1	38	24	So three months passed; and then word came to Juda, Thamar, thy daughter-in-law, has proved a light woman; she is big with child for all to see. Whereupon Juda said, Bring her here, then; she must be burned alive.
 Genesis	Gen	1	38	25	But she, on the way to her place of punishment, sent a message to her father-in-law to say, These belong to the man who got me with child; satisfy thyself, whose are this ring, this bracelet, and this staff.
 Genesis	Gen	1	38	26	And Juda, recognizing his own gifts, said, She is in the right, not I; why did I not give her my son Sela in marriage? Yet would he never mate with her again.
 Genesis	Gen	1	38	27	When she was near her time, it proved she had twins in her womb. And at the very moment of her delivery, one of the children put his hand out; so the midwife tied a red cord round it, thinking to herself,
 Genesis	Gen	1	38	28	This one is the first-born.
 Genesis	Gen	1	38	29	But he drew his hand in again, and the other was born first. Whereupon the woman said, Wouldst thou break thy way out? And so he was called Phares, which means, A breach in the wall.
 Genesis	Gen	1	38	30	And when his brother was brought to birth after him, with the red cord round his hand, he was called Zara, the Dawn.
 Genesis	Gen	1	39	1	Meanwhile, Joseph had been taken away into Egypt, where his Ismaelite owners sold him to an Egyptian called Putiphar, one of Pharao’s courtiers, and captain of his guard.
 Genesis	Gen	1	39	2	The Lord was with him, so that he prospered in all he undertook; and he was given a lodging in the house of his master,
 Genesis	Gen	1	39	3	who saw clearly enough how God was with him, giving him success in all he turned his hand to.
 Genesis	Gen	1	39	4	Thus Joseph became his master’s favourite servant, and had the management of all his affairs, and of all the property that was entrusted to him.
 Genesis	Gen	1	39	5	For Joseph’s sake, the Lord blessed the household of this Egyptian, and gave him large revenues of stock and store;
 Genesis	Gen	1	39	6	he ate what was put before him, and could not tell how he came by it.
 Genesis	Gen	1	39	7	Joseph had beauty of form and face, and after a while his mistress cast longing eyes at him, and bade him share her bed.
 Genesis	Gen	1	39	8	But he would have nothing to do with such wickedness; My master, he said, entrusts everything to my care, and keeps no count of his belongings;
 Genesis	Gen	1	39	9	there is nothing of his but I, by his appointment, have the keeping of it, save thee only, his wedded wife. How canst thou ask me to wrong him so grievously, and offend my God?
 Genesis	Gen	1	39	10	Such was the talk between them day after day, she ever more importunate, and he still resisting her shameful desire.
 Genesis	Gen	1	39	11	A day came at last when Joseph must needs be within doors, busy with some task when no one else was by;
 Genesis	Gen	1	39	12	and she caught him by the hem of his garment, inviting him to her bed. Whereupon he went out, leaving his cloak still in her hand.
 Genesis	Gen	1	39	13	And now, finding herself alone with his garment in her hands, and all her advances spurned,
 Genesis	Gen	1	39	14	she summoned the men of the household; Look, she said, what comes of bringing in a Hebrew to insult us! Joseph came in, and would have dishonoured me, but I cried out,
 Genesis	Gen	1	39	15	and at the sound of my voice he ran out, leaving his cloak in my grasp.
 Genesis	Gen	1	39	16	She kept the cloak in support of her story, and shewed it to her husband when he came back home;
 Genesis	Gen	1	39	17	This Hebrew slave, she told him, whom thou hast brought into the house to insult me, offered me violence;
 Genesis	Gen	1	39	18	and it was only upon hearing me cry for help that he ran out, leaving me with this cloak in my hand.
 Genesis	Gen	1	39	19	Upon this Joseph’s master, too easily convinced by what his wife told him, broke into a rage,
 Genesis	Gen	1	39	20	and committed him to the prison in which the king’s prisoners were kept. There lay Joseph, then, a captive,
 Genesis	Gen	1	39	21	but the Lord was still with him, and by the Lord’s mercy he became a favourite with the chief gaoler,
 Genesis	Gen	1	39	22	who put all the prisoners detained there in his charge, and would have nothing done save at his discretion.
 Genesis	Gen	1	39	23	Thus the chief gaoler, in his turn, knew nothing of what went forward, but left all to Joseph, well knowing that the Lord was with him, and prospered all he did.
 Genesis	Gen	1	40	1	Soon after this, it chanced that two of the king of Egypt’s courtiers, his cup-bearer and his pastrycook, fell into disgrace with their master.
 Genesis	Gen	1	40	2	The one was chief of all his cup-bearers, the other of all his pastrycooks, and Pharao, angry with both of them,
 Genesis	Gen	1	40	3	handed them over to the captain of the guard, to share Joseph’s prison.
 Genesis	Gen	1	40	4	So the gaoler put them in Joseph’s charge, and he saw to their needs. They had not been long in captivity
 Genesis	Gen	1	40	5	when, on a single night, either of them had a dream, portending what it portended to each.
 Genesis	Gen	1	40	6	Joseph, when he visited them next morning, found both of them downcast,
 Genesis	Gen	1	40	7	and enquired why they looked sadder than their wont.
 Genesis	Gen	1	40	8	We have been dreaming, they said, and we can find no interpreter. Why, said Joseph, it is God who interprets our dreams for us; tell me what it was you saw.
 Genesis	Gen	1	40	9	The chief cup-bearer related his dream first; I saw in front of me, he said, a vine,
 Genesis	Gen	1	40	10	which had three shoots. First they budded, and then, when they had flowered, grapes grew upon them.
 Genesis	Gen	1	40	11	I had Pharao’s cup in my hand; so I took the grapes and pressed them out into the cup I held, and gave Pharao the draught.
 Genesis	Gen	1	40	12	This, answered Joseph, is what thy dream meant; the three shoots stand for three days which have yet to pass,
 Genesis	Gen	1	40	13	after which Pharao will bethink himself that he has need of thee, and will restore thee to thy old office; then thou wilt hand the cup to him by right of thy office as thou ever didst.
 Genesis	Gen	1	40	14	Pray do not forget me, in that day of thy prosperity; as thou lovest me, win from Pharao my release from this prison of ours.
 Genesis	Gen	1	40	15	It was treachery brought me here, when I left the land of the Hebrews, and now I am in this dungeon for no fault of mine.
 Genesis	Gen	1	40	16	Hereupon the chief cook, finding that Joseph could interpret the first dream so well, reminded them that he had dreamt too; I was carrying three baskets of loaves on my head, said he,
 Genesis	Gen	1	40	17	and the top basket contained pastry of every kind; but the birds came and ate it.
 Genesis	Gen	1	40	18	Thy dream, answered Joseph, means this; the three baskets stand for three days which have yet to pass,
 Genesis	Gen	1	40	19	after which Pharao will take away thy life, and so hang thee on a gibbet, for the birds to come and prey on thy flesh.
 Genesis	Gen	1	40	20	The third day after was Pharao’s birthday, and he made a great feast for his servants. And as he sat feasting, he remembered the chief cup-bearer and the chief pastrycook.
 Genesis	Gen	1	40	21	The one he restored to his office of putting the cup in his hand;
 Genesis	Gen	1	40	22	the other he hung on a gallows, to prove the truth of the prophecy that had been made.
 Genesis	Gen	1	40	23	But the chief cup-bearer, in his new good fortune, thought no more of the man who had interpreted his dream.
 Genesis	Gen	1	41	1	Then, two years afterwards, Pharao himself had a dream. He thought that he was standing by the Nile,
 Genesis	Gen	1	41	2	and out of its channel there came up seven heifers, sleek and well fattened, which began feeding on the river bank, among the reeds.
 Genesis	Gen	1	41	3	Then seven others came up, also out of the river, ill-favoured and ill-nourished; and these too stood grazing where it was green, close to the river.
 Genesis	Gen	1	41	4	And it seemed as if they ate up those other seven, that were so fine and well fed. With that Pharao awoke,
 Genesis	Gen	1	41	5	and when he slept again, it was to dream a second dream. This time, there were seven ears of corn growing from a single stalk, all plump and fair,
 Genesis	Gen	1	41	6	and another seven ears, all shrunken and blighted, came up in their turn,
 Genesis	Gen	1	41	7	to eat up the fair promise of the other seven. Pharao, then, awoke from his dream,
 Genesis	Gen	1	41	8	and as soon as it was daylight, he sent in great confusion of mind for all the diviners and all the wise men of Egypt. When they answered his summons, he told them of his dream, without finding anyone who could interpret it.
 Genesis	Gen	1	41	9	And now, at last, the chief cup-bearer remembered; I am much to blame, he said.
 Genesis	Gen	1	41	10	When thou, my lord, wast vexed with thy servants, thou didst commit me and thy chief cook to prison, with the captain of thy guard in charge of us;
 Genesis	Gen	1	41	11	and there, on a single night, either of us had a dream which foretold what was to become of us.
 Genesis	Gen	1	41	12	One of our fellow-prisoners, a Hebrew slave, belonging to this same captain, heard what our dreams were,
 Genesis	Gen	1	41	13	and gave us an account of them which the event proved right, when I was restored to my office, and that other was hung on a gibbet.
 Genesis	Gen	1	41	14	With that, the king sent to have Joseph released from prison and brought before him, with his beard shaved and new clothes to wear.
 Genesis	Gen	1	41	15	I have had certain dreams, he said, and no one can tell me the meaning of them; I have heard of thee as one who can interpret such things with sovereign skill.
 Genesis	Gen	1	41	16	No skill of mine is needed, said Joseph; the Lord will give Pharao his answer, and a favourable one.
 Genesis	Gen	1	41	17	So Pharao described what he had seen; I thought I was standing on the river bank,
 Genesis	Gen	1	41	18	and seven heifers came up out of the stream, sleek and well fed, that grazed on the rushes, there in the marsh-land.
 Genesis	Gen	1	41	19	Then, on a sudden, seven other heifers followed them, so pinched and starved that in all this land of Egypt I never saw the like.
 Genesis	Gen	1	41	20	These ate up the first seven, wholly consuming them,
 Genesis	Gen	1	41	21	and yet they shewed no sign of having had their fill; they languished there, as gaunt and wretched as ever. Then I woke up, but was soon plunged in sleep again;
 Genesis	Gen	1	41	22	and this time I dreamed that seven ears of corn, plump and fair, were growing from a single stalk,
 Genesis	Gen	1	41	23	until seven others, all shrunken and blighted, sprang up out of the stubble near by
 Genesis	Gen	1	41	24	and devoured all the fair promise of the first seven. This is the dream I have told to these diviners of mine, and none of them can tell me what it means.
 Genesis	Gen	1	41	25	My lord, answered Joseph, the two dreams are all one, God is warning my lord Pharao of what he intends to do.
 Genesis	Gen	1	41	26	The seven sleek cattle, the seven plump ears, have the same sense in the two dreams; they stand for seven years of plenty.
 Genesis	Gen	1	41	27	Whereas the seven gaunt, starved cattle which came up after them, and the seven shrunken, blighted ears of corn, prophesy seven years of famine.
 Genesis	Gen	1	41	28	And they will come about in this order;
 Genesis	Gen	1	41	29	first, there will be seven harvests of great abundance all over this land of Egypt,
 Genesis	Gen	1	41	30	and they will be followed by seven years of such drought as will efface the memory of the good times that went before them. Famine will ravage the whole country,
 Genesis	Gen	1	41	31	till the evil effect of the drought does away with all the good effect of those abundant harvests.
 Genesis	Gen	1	41	32	That thou shouldst have dreamed twice to the same purpose, is proof that God’s decree stands firm; what he foretells will come about, and there will be no delay in its fulfilment.
 Genesis	Gen	1	41	33	It is for thee, my lord king, to find some man that has the wisdom and the skill for it, and put the whole of Egypt under his charge.
 Genesis	Gen	1	41	34	He must appoint a commissioner for each region, to collect a fifth of the harvest during the seven years of plenty which are now upon us, and store it up in barns.
 Genesis	Gen	1	41	35	All this reserve of corn must be held at the royal disposition, and kept in the various cities,
 Genesis	Gen	1	41	36	to make provision for the seven years’ famine by which Egypt will be overtaken; if not, the whole land will perish for want of it.
 Genesis	Gen	1	41	37	The plan commended itself to Pharao and to all his courtiers.
 Genesis	Gen	1	41	38	And now he asked them, Where are we to find another man such as this, so full of God’s inspiration?
 Genesis	Gen	1	41	39	Then he turned to Joseph, and said, Every word thou hast spoken comes to thee revealed by God, and shall I look for some other whose wisdom can match thine?
 Genesis	Gen	1	41	40	Thou shalt have charge of my household and all my people shall obey thy word of command; thou shalt share all I have, except this royal throne.
 Genesis	Gen	1	41	41	Hereby, Pharao said to Joseph, I put the whole land of Egypt under thy care.
 Genesis	Gen	1	41	42	And with that, he took off the signet-ring from his own hand, and put it on Joseph’s hand instead; gave him robes, too, of lawn, and hung a gold chain about his neck;
 Genesis	Gen	1	41	43	then bade him mount on a chariot that was next in honour to his own, and would have a herald proclaim that all must do him reverence, and acknowledge him as ruler of the whole land of Egypt.
 Genesis	Gen	1	41	44	And he gave Joseph this assurance, On the word of Pharao, no one in all Egypt shall be free to move hand or foot without thy permission.
 Genesis	Gen	1	41	45	He gave him a new name, calling him in Egyptian Saviour of the World; and bestowed on him the hand of Aseneth, daughter of Putiphare, that was priest at Heliopolis. So Joseph set out on his mission to the land of Egypt,
 Genesis	Gen	1	41	46	having thus won the favour of king Pharao when he was only thirty years old; and there was no part of Egypt he did not visit.
 Genesis	Gen	1	41	47	Seven years of abundance came, and the corn was bound in sheaves and taken away to all the storehouses that could be found in Egypt;
 Genesis	Gen	1	41	48	all that could be spared of the crops was thus stored away in the various cities.
 Genesis	Gen	1	41	49	And indeed the yield of wheat was so rich that it might have been sand by the sea-shore; there was no measuring the amount of it.
 Genesis	Gen	1	41	50	In these years before the famine came, Joseph’s wife Aseneth, daughter of Putiphare that was priest at Heliopolis, bore him two sons.
 Genesis	Gen	1	41	51	He called his first-born Manasses, Oblivion; God has bidden me forget all my troubles, said he, forget my home.
 Genesis	Gen	1	41	52	The second he called Ephraim, as if he would say of God, Hiphrani, he has made me fruitful, in this land where I was once so poor.
 Genesis	Gen	1	41	53	So the first seven years passed, years of plenty for Egypt;
 Genesis	Gen	1	41	54	and now, as Joseph had prophesied, seven years of scarcity began; famine reigned all over the world, but everywhere in Egypt there was bread to be had.
 Genesis	Gen	1	41	55	When food grew scarce, there was ever a cry made to Pharao for bread, and still he would answer, Betake yourselves to Joseph, do what he bids you.
 Genesis	Gen	1	41	56	And Joseph, as the famine grew daily worse everywhere, opened the storehouses and made the Egyptians, too, buy their corn, for they were as hungry as the rest.
 Genesis	Gen	1	41	57	Soon the whole world was coming to Egypt and buying food to relieve its want.
 Genesis	Gen	1	42	1	The news that there was corn to be bought in Egypt reached Jacob among the rest; and he said to his sons, What means this lethargy?
 Genesis	Gen	1	42	2	They tell me there is corn for sale in Egypt; why do you not go down there, and buy enough for us to live on, instead of waiting till we starve?
 Genesis	Gen	1	42	3	So ten of Joseph’s brethren went down into Egypt to buy corn there;
 Genesis	Gen	1	42	4	only Benjamin his father kept at home, saying to the others, Some harm might befall him on the way.
 Genesis	Gen	1	42	5	So they made their way into Egypt with others who were going there to buy; the whole of Chanaan was by now famine-stricken.
 Genesis	Gen	1	42	6	Egypt was under the control of Joseph: it was at his discretion that corn was sold to foreign nations. And when his brethren came and did him reverence,
 Genesis	Gen	1	42	7	he recognized them; but he treated them as strangers, and talked roughly to them. Whence come you? he asked. From the land of Chanaan, they said, to buy food.
 Genesis	Gen	1	42	8	Well as he knew them, his brethren did not know him again,
 Genesis	Gen	1	42	9	and his mind went back to the dreams he had had, long ago. You are spies, he told them; you have come to find out where our country’s defences are weak.
 Genesis	Gen	1	42	10	No, my lord, they said, we are thy servants, come here to buy food,
 Genesis	Gen	1	42	11	sons of one father, all of us, sent on an errand of peace; thy servants know nothing of any evil intent.
 Genesis	Gen	1	42	12	I know better, he answered; you have come to spy out where our country is ill defended.
 Genesis	Gen	1	42	13	We are all brethren, they said; our father, in the land of Chanaan, is the father of twelve sons; the youngest is still with him, and one of us no longer lives.
 Genesis	Gen	1	42	14	I was sure of it, said he; you are spies, all of you.
 Genesis	Gen	1	42	15	I will put you to the test; your youngest brother must come here, or, by the life of Pharao, none of you shall leave this land.
 Genesis	Gen	1	42	16	One of you must go and fetch him, the rest shall be my prisoners, until you give me proof whether your story is true or not. If you refuse this, as sure as Pharao lives, you are spies.
 Genesis	Gen	1	42	17	So he committed them to prison, and kept them there for three days.
 Genesis	Gen	1	42	18	When the third day came, they were released, and now he said to them, Do what I bade you, and I will spare your lives; I am a man that fears God.
 Genesis	Gen	1	42	19	To prove whether your errand is peaceful, one of you must be kept here in prison; the rest shall go home, taking with them the corn they have bought.
 Genesis	Gen	1	42	20	Then you must bring your youngest brother here into my presence; when you have done that, I shall know that your story is true, and your lives shall be spared.
 Genesis	Gen	1	42	21	And they bowed to his will, saying to one another, It is no more than we deserve, we, who so wronged our brother, and looked on without pity when he pleaded, in anguish, for his life. That is what has brought all this trouble upon us.
 Genesis	Gen	1	42	22	And Ruben said to the rest, I pleaded with you not to do the boy such wrong, and you would not listen to me; we are being punished, now, for his murder.
 Genesis	Gen	1	42	23	All this Joseph understood, although they did not suspect it (he always spoke to them through an interpreter);
 Genesis	Gen	1	42	24	so that he withdrew from them for a little, and gave himself up to tears. Then he went back and spoke to them,
 Genesis	Gen	1	42	25	taking Simeon, and fastening chains upon him, there in their presence. Meanwhile, he had bidden his servants fill their sacks with corn, enclosing in each sack the money its owner had paid, and providing them with victuals for their journey as well. All this was done,
 Genesis	Gen	1	42	26	and now they loaded their asses with the corn, and were on their homeward journey,
 Genesis	Gen	1	42	27	when one of them opened his sack, to feed his beast at a halting-place. And there, in the mouth of the sack, he found his money.
 Genesis	Gen	1	42	28	Look, he said to his brethren, my money has been restored to me; here it is, in the sack. And their minds misgave them; they said to one another in bewilderment, What is this God has done to us?
 Genesis	Gen	1	42	29	When they came back to their father Jacob, in Chanaan, they told him of all that had happened;
 Genesis	Gen	1	42	30	how the regent of the country had spoken to them roughly, taking them for spies,
 Genesis	Gen	1	42	31	and how they had answered, Ours is an errand of peace, we have no mischievous intent;
 Genesis	Gen	1	42	32	there were twelve of us, all born of one father; one is no longer alive, and the youngest is with our father in Chanaan.
 Genesis	Gen	1	42	33	And then, the test of their honesty he had proposed; that they should go home with what they needed, leaving one of them behind; that he should remain a prisoner,
 Genesis	Gen	1	42	34	until they cleared themselves of suspicion by coming back with their youngest brother; then they should be restored, and they should be free to buy as they would.
 Genesis	Gen	1	42	35	When they had finished their story, they began unloading the corn, and were filled with dismay at finding the money each had paid enclosed there in his sack.
 Genesis	Gen	1	42	36	As for their father Jacob, he told them, You have made a childless man of me; Joseph is dead, Simeon a prisoner, and you would rob me of Benjamin too; it is I who have to bear all this trouble.
 Genesis	Gen	1	42	37	Whereupon Ruben answered, Kill my own two sons in requital of it, if I do not restore Benjamin to thee in safety; give me charge of him, and I will bring him back.
 Genesis	Gen	1	42	38	No, said he, I will not let this son of mine go with you; his brother is dead, and he is all I have left; if any harm should befall him in the country of your travels, you would send an old man sorrowing to the grave.
 Genesis	Gen	1	43	1	But still the land was famine-stricken
 Genesis	Gen	1	43	2	and all the food they had brought with them from Egypt was used up. Go back, said Jacob to his sons, and bring us all a mouthful of food.
 Genesis	Gen	1	43	3	Why, answered Juda, this man we told thee of warned us with a solemn oath he would not give us audience, unless our youngest brother came back with us.
 Genesis	Gen	1	43	4	If thou wilt send him in our company, we will all go together, and buy what thou needest;
 Genesis	Gen	1	43	5	not otherwise. How often must we tell thee that the man gave us solemn warning, You shall have no audience without this youngest brother of yours?
 Genesis	Gen	1	43	6	This was great unkindness you did me, Israel said, to tell him you had a brother at all.
 Genesis	Gen	1	43	7	Why, they answered, the man asked news of all our family in turn, whether our father was still alive, and whether we had any brother besides; we told him no more than he asked, and how were we to know he would demand to have our brother brought into his presence?
 Genesis	Gen	1	43	8	Let the boy go with me, Juda said to his father; let us go and find something to support life with, or we shall all die, and our children with us.
 Genesis	Gen	1	43	9	I take the boy under my charge, and make myself answerable for his safety; never forgive me if I do not bring him back and restore him to thee.
 Genesis	Gen	1	43	10	If there had not been this delay, we might have gone to Egypt and been back again by now.
 Genesis	Gen	1	43	11	And their father Israel said to them, Since it must be so, have your way. Only, take gifts with you in your packs, the most precious this land yields, a little balm, and honey, and storax, and myrrh, and mastic, and almonds.
 Genesis	Gen	1	43	12	Take a double amount of money with you, and restore what you found in your sacks; it may have been an oversight.
 Genesis	Gen	1	43	13	And so go back to the man, taking your brother with you.
 Genesis	Gen	1	43	14	May the almighty God I serve secure you his favour, so that he will send back that brother of yours who is now his hostage, and Benjamin as well. Meanwhile, I shall be like a man bereft of children.
 Genesis	Gen	1	43	15	With such gifts, and a double amount of money, they took Benjamin down into Egypt, and presented themselves before Joseph.
 Genesis	Gen	1	43	16	As soon as he saw them, and Benjamin in their company, he said to his steward, Take these men home, and kill victims, and make a feast; they will eat with me at noon.
 Genesis	Gen	1	43	17	The steward did as he was bidden, taking them all to Joseph’s house,
 Genesis	Gen	1	43	18	where they stood dismayed; We have been brought in here because of the money, they said to one another, the money we took home in our sacks. He means to trump a charge against us, and to hold us here in pawn, and our beasts along with us.
 Genesis	Gen	1	43	19	So, in the very doorway of the house, they approached the steward,
 Genesis	Gen	1	43	20	Pray, sir, listen, they said. We came here some while since, to buy food,
 Genesis	Gen	1	43	21	and buy it we did; but when we reached our halting-place we found the money lying in the mouths of our sacks. And now we have brought back the same amount,
 Genesis	Gen	1	43	22	over and above the sum that is to defray our fresh needs; we cannot guess who it was put the money back in our purses.
 Genesis	Gen	1	43	23	Set your mind at rest, he said; you have nothing to fear. Your own God, the God your father serves, must have enriched those sacks of yours; I have the money you paid me accounted for. Then he fetched Simeon out to meet them,
 Genesis	Gen	1	43	24	and took them into the house, where he brought water for them to wash their feet; he also gave their beasts fodder.
 Genesis	Gen	1	43	25	There then they waited, with the gifts ready, till Joseph should come home at noon; they had been told that they would be his guests.
 Genesis	Gen	1	43	26	And as soon as Joseph entered his house, they offered him the gifts they carried, and bowed down to earth.
 Genesis	Gen	1	43	27	And he, returning their greeting with courtesy, asked how their father was, the old man of whom they had spoken to him. Was he still living?
 Genesis	Gen	1	43	28	Yes, my lord, they said, our father still lives. And they bent to do him reverence.
 Genesis	Gen	1	43	29	Then Joseph looked round, and saw Benjamin there, his own mother’s son; Is this, he asked, the younger brother you told me of? And he added, God be merciful to thee, my son.
 Genesis	Gen	1	43	30	After this he could wait no more; his heart went out to this, his own brother, and the tears began to come. He withdrew into his private room, and there wept;
 Genesis	Gen	1	43	31	then washed his face and came out again, master of himself; Serve the meal, he said.
 Genesis	Gen	1	43	32	So food was brought, with separate portions for Joseph, for his brethren, and for the Egyptians who kept them company; the Egyptians are not allowed to eat with men of Hebrew blood, and would think it foul disgrace to share a meal with them.
 Genesis	Gen	1	43	33	There they sat in his presence, ranged in order from the eldest, with his birthright, to the youngest in age. And they were not a little surprised
 Genesis	Gen	1	43	34	when they received the portions he sent them, for the greatest share of all came to Benjamin, six times as large as the others. So they drank and made merry with him.
 Genesis	Gen	1	44	1	And Joseph gave orders to his steward; Fill their sacks with corn, as full as they can hold, and enclose in each man’s sack the money he has paid.
 Genesis	Gen	1	44	2	And when it comes to the youngest, enclose in his sack not only the money he paid for his corn, but my silver cup as well. His command was obeyed;
 Genesis	Gen	1	44	3	and now morning came, and they were given leave to depart, with their asses.
 Genesis	Gen	1	44	4	They had left the city and passed on a little further, when Joseph summoned his steward; Bestir thyself, he said, and go in pursuit of these men. When thou overtakest them, say, This is a poor return to make for the kindness you have received;
 Genesis	Gen	1	44	5	you have stolen my master’s cup, the one from which he drinks, and takes omens; you have done him a great wrong.
 Genesis	Gen	1	44	6	The steward obeyed, and as soon as he overtook them, delivered his message by rote.
 Genesis	Gen	1	44	7	What a charge is this, my lord, they answered, to bring against thy servants! That we should have been guilty of such a shameful deed!
 Genesis	Gen	1	44	8	When we found our money enclosed in the mouths of our sacks, we brought it back to thee all the way from Chanaan; is it likely we would rob thy master’s house of gold or silver?
 Genesis	Gen	1	44	9	If the cup that is missing should be found in possession of any of us, let him pay for it with his life; and we, too, will be slaves in our lord’s service.
 Genesis	Gen	1	44	10	I accept this test of yours, said he; the man in whose possession it is found, shall be my slave, and the rest of you go clear.
 Genesis	Gen	1	44	11	So, with all haste, they lowered their sacks to the ground, and began opening them one by one.
 Genesis	Gen	1	44	12	And he began with the eldest, and examined each in turn, till at last he found the cup in Benjamin’s sack.
 Genesis	Gen	1	44	13	And now they tore their garments about them, loaded their asses again, and went back to the city.
 Genesis	Gen	1	44	14	Joseph was awaiting them there, and Juda led his brethren into Joseph’s presence, where they all bowed face to the earth before him.
 Genesis	Gen	1	44	15	What moved you, said he, to do this? Surely you must know that I have powers of divining such as no other man has?
 Genesis	Gen	1	44	16	My lord, said Juda, what answer can we make? What plea can we offer in our defence? We are guilty men, and God would not let it pass unnoticed; and now all of us, not only he in whose possession the cup was found, will be thy slaves.
 Genesis	Gen	1	44	17	God forbid I should ask that, answered Joseph; no, the thief who stole the cup shall be my slave; the rest of you may go back to your father as free men.
 Genesis	Gen	1	44	18	At this, Juda made bold to draw nearer him; My lord, he said, let thy servant speak a word for thy own hearing, without earning thy displeasure, Pharao’s viceroy though thou art, and my sovereign lord.
 Genesis	Gen	1	44	19	When thou didst ask us whether we had a father or a brother living,
 Genesis	Gen	1	44	20	our answer was, My lord, we have a father well advanced in years, and one of his sons is still with him, the youngest, who was born to him in his old age. There was another son by the same mother, but he is dead, and now only this one recalls his mother’s memory, so that his father loves him dearly.
 Genesis	Gen	1	44	21	Upon this, thou didst bid us bring the boy to thee and let thee have sight of him.
 Genesis	Gen	1	44	22	My lord, we urged, our father cannot do without the boy; the parting would kill him.
 Genesis	Gen	1	44	23	But thou didst warn thy servants, You shall never have audience of me again, unless you bring your youngest brother with you.
 Genesis	Gen	1	44	24	Then we went back to our father, and told him of the warning which thou, his master and ours, hadst given us.
 Genesis	Gen	1	44	25	And when our father bade us come here again and buy a little bread,
 Genesis	Gen	1	44	26	we told him we could not, unless our youngest brother was allowed to come down with us. In his company, we said, we will go willingly enough, but we dare not face the man we told thee of without him.
 Genesis	Gen	1	44	27	You know, he answered, that my own wife only bore me two sons;
 Genesis	Gen	1	44	28	I let one of them go out of my sight, and your news was, that some beast had made a prey of him; he was never seen again.
 Genesis	Gen	1	44	29	If you take this one too, and any harm befalls him on the way, you will send an old man sorrowing to the grave.
 Genesis	Gen	1	44	30	My lord, shall I present myself before my father, and the boy not with me? His life is bound up with his son’s,
 Genesis	Gen	1	44	31	and if he finds we have not brought him with us, it will be the death of him; must we bring an old man to the grave in sorrow?
 Genesis	Gen	1	44	32	Enslave me instead; with full justice, I made myself answerable for him. If I do not bring him back, I said, I will never claim my own father’s forgiveness.
 Genesis	Gen	1	44	33	I, therefore, my lord, would be left here as thy servant, to wait upon thee in his stead; let the boy go home with his brethren.
 Genesis	Gen	1	44	34	Should I go back to my father without him, and witness the blow that strikes my father down?
 Genesis	Gen	1	45	1	Joseph could contain himself no longer, and there were many standing by. So he gave orders that all these should leave his presence; there must be no strangers to see it, when he made himself known.
 Genesis	Gen	1	45	2	But when he spoke, he burst into such a fit of weeping that these Egyptians, and all Pharao’s household, could not but hear it.
 Genesis	Gen	1	45	3	I am Joseph, said he to his brethren; is my father yet alive? But his brethren were so overcome with fear that they could not answer him,
 Genesis	Gen	1	45	4	and he must needs use gentleness; Come closer, he said, and then, when they had drawn close to him, I am Joseph, that brother of yours whom you sent away to be sold as a slave in Egypt.
 Genesis	Gen	1	45	5	And now, do not take it to heart; waste no regrets over the bargain that brought me here; if I came to Egypt first, it was on God’s errand, to be your protector.
 Genesis	Gen	1	45	6	It is two years now since famine came to these parts, and there will be no ploughing, no reaping harvests, for five years more;
 Genesis	Gen	1	45	7	so God would have me here in readiness to preserve your race, by giving you food to live on.
 Genesis	Gen	1	45	8	It was not your design, then, it was God’s will that sent me here; he it is that has put Pharao himself under my tutelage, made me regent of all his domains, with the whole of Egypt under my care.
 Genesis	Gen	1	45	9	Make haste, go back to my father and give him this message from his son Joseph: God has made me ruler of all Egypt; make thy way here with all speed.
 Genesis	Gen	1	45	10	Thou shalt have the land of Gessen for thy dwelling-place, so that thou canst live close to me, with thy children and thy grandchildren, thy sheep and cattle and all that is thine.
 Genesis	Gen	1	45	11	And there, since there are still five years of famine to come, I will maintain thee and keep thee from starving, with that household of thine and all thou hast.
 Genesis	Gen	1	45	12	You and my brother Benjamin here can assure him from the witness of your own eyes, that it was Joseph who spoke to you.
 Genesis	Gen	1	45	13	Tell my father of all these honours I enjoy, and of all you saw in Egypt, and bring him back to me here with all speed.
 Genesis	Gen	1	45	14	With that, he threw his arms round Benjamin’s neck, in tears; Benjamin, too, wept as he clung to him.
 Genesis	Gen	1	45	15	Then Joseph kissed all his brethren in turn, and wept over them, till at last they found courage to speak to him.
 Genesis	Gen	1	45	16	And now the news was in everybody’s mouth, and all Pharao’s court heard that Joseph’s brethren were there. Pharao rejoiced heartily over it, and all his courtiers with him;
 Genesis	Gen	1	45	17	and these were the orders he would have Joseph give to his brethren, Pack your beasts, and go back to Chanaan,
 Genesis	Gen	1	45	18	bring your father here, and all your family, to share the blessings of Egypt with me, and live on the best the land can give.
 Genesis	Gen	1	45	19	And they might borrow waggons from Egypt, to carry their wives and children back. Take your father with you (he was to tell them) and make haste over your return;
 Genesis	Gen	1	45	20	and leave none of your farm stock behind you; all the wealth of Egypt awaits you here.
 Genesis	Gen	1	45	21	The sons of Israel did as they were bidden; Joseph providing them with waggons at Pharao’s command, and with food for the journey.
 Genesis	Gen	1	45	22	He also had two new garments brought out for each, and gave Benjamin three hundred silver pieces and five new garments of the choicest sort;
 Genesis	Gen	1	45	23	sending his father a like gift in both kinds, as well as ten asses laden with the best merchandise of Egypt, and ten she-asses with corn and bread to last him over his travels.
 Genesis	Gen	1	45	24	Thus he sent his brethren home, and his last word, as they set out, was Be sure there is no quarrelling on the way.
 Genesis	Gen	1	45	25	So they left Egypt, and when they reached their father Jacob in Chanaan,
 Genesis	Gen	1	45	26	they gave him their news, Thy son Joseph is still alive, and it is he that rules the whole land of Egypt. Jacob heard it, with the look of one just awoken from a heavy sleep, but at first he would not believe them,
 Genesis	Gen	1	45	27	and they must tell him the whole story from first to last. Then, when he had seen for himself the waggons and all the gifts, he could breathe again.
 Genesis	Gen	1	45	28	If my son Joseph, he said, is still alive, that is all I ask; I will go with you, and have sight of him again before I die.
 Genesis	Gen	1	46	1	So Jacob set out with all his possessions, and when he reached the Well of the Oath, he offered sacrifice there to the God of his father Isaac.
 Genesis	Gen	1	46	2	That night, in a vision, he heard God calling to him, Jacob, Jacob! and when he answered, I am here, at thy command,
 Genesis	Gen	1	46	3	God said to him, I am the almighty God thy father worshipped. Betake thyself to Egypt without fear; I mean to make thy descendants into a great nation there.
 Genesis	Gen	1	46	4	I will go down there with thee; and when the time comes to return, it shall be under my guidance still; and Joseph shall stand by thee to close thy eyes in death.
 Genesis	Gen	1	46	5	So Jacob left the Well of the Oath behind him, and his sons took him on further in the waggons which Pharao had provided, to ease an old man’s travel.
 Genesis	Gen	1	46	6	With him were their own wives and children, and all the possessions he had in Chanaan, and so he reached Egypt with the whole of his family,
 Genesis	Gen	1	46	7	sons and grandsons and daughters with them, the whole of his race.
 Genesis	Gen	1	46	8	These are the names of Israel’s descendants who made their way into Egypt. He had his sons with him, of whom Ruben was the first-born,
 Genesis	Gen	1	46	9	and Ruben’s own sons were called Henoch, Phallu, Hesron, and Charmi.
 Genesis	Gen	1	46	10	Simeon’s were called Jamuel, Jamin, Ahod, Jachin, and Sohar; he had another, called Saul, by a Chanaanite.
 Genesis	Gen	1	46	11	Levi’s were called Gerson, Caath, and Merari.
 Genesis	Gen	1	46	12	Juda’s were called Her, Onan, Sela, Phares and Zara, but of these, Her and Onan had already died in Chanaan; Phares had two sons, Hesron and Hamul.
 Genesis	Gen	1	46	13	Issachar’s were called Thola, Phua, Job and Semron;
 Genesis	Gen	1	46	14	Zabulon’s were called Sared, Elon and Jahelel.
 Genesis	Gen	1	46	15	So much for the sons Lia bore in Mesopotamia of the Syrians, with one daughter, Dina; the whole count of these, sons and daughters, was thirty-three.
 Genesis	Gen	1	46	16	Gad’s sons were called Sephion, Haggi, Suni, Esebon, Heri, Arodi and Areli.
 Genesis	Gen	1	46	17	Aser’s were called Jamne, Jesua, Jessui and Beria, and they had a sister called Sara; Beria had two sons, Heber and Melchiel.
 Genesis	Gen	1	46	18	All these were descended from Zelpha, the woman-servant Laban gave to his daughter Lia; thus Jacob counted sixteen descendants through her.
 Genesis	Gen	1	46	19	Jacob’s wife Rachel had two children, Joseph and Benjamin;
 Genesis	Gen	1	46	20	Joseph’s two sons, Manasses and Ephraim, were borne to him in Egypt by Aseneth, daughter of Putiphare that was priest at Heliopolis;
 Genesis	Gen	1	46	21	Benjamin’s were called Bela, Bechor, Asbel, Gera, Naaman, Echi, Ros, Mophim, Ophim and Ared.
 Genesis	Gen	1	46	22	These were descended from Jacob’s wife Rachel, fourteen in all.
 Genesis	Gen	1	46	23	Dan was the father of Husim,
 Genesis	Gen	1	46	24	Nephthali of Jasiel, Guni, Jeser and Sallem;
 Genesis	Gen	1	46	25	these were descended from Bala, whom Laban gave as a serving-woman to his daughter Rachel; through her, Jacob had seven descendants in all.
 Genesis	Gen	1	46	26	Thus Jacob went into Egypt with sixty-six companions all sprung from his stock, not reckoning his son’s wives.
 Genesis	Gen	1	46	27	Meanwhile, Joseph had had two sons born to him in Egypt; so that Jacob’s whole clan, when they found a home in Egypt, reached the number of seventy.
 Genesis	Gen	1	46	28	He had sent Juda on before him to tell Joseph of his coming, so that they could meet in Gessen;
 Genesis	Gen	1	46	29	and upon his arrival, Joseph had horses put in his chariot and drove there to meet his father. At the first sight of him, he threw his arms about his neck, and embraced him, in tears.
 Genesis	Gen	1	46	30	Now, his father said to him, I can die happy; I have seen thee face to face, and know that my son survives me.
 Genesis	Gen	1	46	31	Then Joseph said to his brethren and to his family, I must go and tell Pharao that my brethren and my family have come here from Chanaan.
 Genesis	Gen	1	46	32	They are shepherds, I shall say, and all their skill is in tending flocks; those flocks, and their herds, and all they possess, they have brought with them.
 Genesis	Gen	1	46	33	So when he summons you and asks you what is your trade,
 Genesis	Gen	1	46	34	your answer must be, Thy servants are shepherds; to that trade we have been brought up from youth, as our fathers were before us. This profession will win you a home in the land of Gessen; the Egyptians hold all shepherd-folk in abhorrence.
 Genesis	Gen	1	47	1	So Joseph approached Pharao with the news that his father and his brethren had brought their sheep and cattle and all they possessed away from Chanaan, and were there in the land of Gessen.
 Genesis	Gen	1	47	2	He also presented his five youngest brethren to the king,
 Genesis	Gen	1	47	3	and these, when the king asked what their employment was, answered, Thy servants are shepherds, as their fathers were before them.
 Genesis	Gen	1	47	4	We have come to seek hospitality in this land of thine, my lord, because the drought lies heavy on Chanaan, and there is no pasture for our flocks; our plea is, that thou wouldst grant thy servants a home in the country of Gessen.
 Genesis	Gen	1	47	5	So the king told Joseph, Now that thy father and thy brethren have come here to bear thee company,
 Genesis	Gen	1	47	6	the whole land of Egypt is at thy disposal; bid them dwell where they are best able to dwell, occupying the country of Gessen. And if thou knowest any of their number to be skilful at their craft, give them charge of my own herds.
 Genesis	Gen	1	47	7	Afterwards, Joseph brought his father in, and presented him to the king, to whom he gave his blessing.
 Genesis	Gen	1	47	8	And when the king asked him, what was his age?
 Genesis	Gen	1	47	9	I have lived a wanderer’s life, said he, these hundred and thirty years; no long life, and no happy one, compared with the years my fathers spent, roaming the world before me.
 Genesis	Gen	1	47	10	So he gave the king his blessing, and left him.
 Genesis	Gen	1	47	11	Joseph obeyed Pharao’s bidding, and gave his father and his brethren lands in the most favoured part of Egypt, at Ramesses;
 Genesis	Gen	1	47	12	and there he maintained them, with all his father’s kindred, giving an allowance of food to each.
 Genesis	Gen	1	47	13	All the world over, bread was still scarce, and the drought bore hardest on Egypt and on Chanaan,
 Genesis	Gen	1	47	14	till at last Joseph had amassed all the money either land possessed in the royal treasury, through his sales of wheat.
 Genesis	Gen	1	47	15	So, when they had nothing left to buy with, the Egyptians all came to Joseph asking to have bread given them for nothing; Wilt thou watch us starve, they asked, now that we have no more money left?
 Genesis	Gen	1	47	16	If you cannot pay, he answered, bring your cattle here, and you shall have food in return for these.
 Genesis	Gen	1	47	17	So they brought them and he bartered corn for horses and sheep and cattle and asses, feeding them the whole of that year and taking their beasts as the price.
 Genesis	Gen	1	47	18	By the next year, they came to him and said, My lord, we must needs be open with thee; we have come to the end of our cattle, as well as our money; thou canst see for thyself that nothing is left us except our lives and our lands.
 Genesis	Gen	1	47	19	Do not watch us starve; thou shalt have the disposal of our lands and of ourselves, making both of these the king’s property, and giving us seed-corn in return; if not, the land will become a wilderness for want of tillage.
 Genesis	Gen	1	47	20	So Joseph bought the whole land of Egypt, one and all selling their possessions to him because the famine was so grievous; and he made it Pharao’s property,
 Genesis	Gen	1	47	21	with all the inhabitants of it from one end of Egypt to the other;
 Genesis	Gen	1	47	22	except the land which the king had assigned to the priests. These had a fixed allowance of food made to them from the royal store-houses, and there was no occasion for them to sell their lands.
 Genesis	Gen	1	47	23	Joseph said to the people, You can see for yourselves now that Pharao is lord of your lives and lands; you shall have seed-corn to sow your fields with,
 Genesis	Gen	1	47	24	and when harvest-time comes you shall give up a fifth of your crops to the king; the other four-fifths I will grant you for the next sowing, and to feed your households and your children.
 Genesis	Gen	1	47	25	Our lives are in thy hand, they said; as long as we enjoy my lord’s favour, we will gladly be the king’s servants.
 Genesis	Gen	1	47	26	All over Egypt, from that day to this, the payment of the fifth is a custom which has the force of law, except in the priests’ lands, which are bound by no such conditions.
 Genesis	Gen	1	47	27	Thus Israel began to find a home in Egypt, that is, in the land of Gessen, took possession of it, and flourished, and grew great.
 Genesis	Gen	1	47	28	Jacob himself lived on seventeen years there, so that he reached altogether the age of a hundred and forty-seven.
 Genesis	Gen	1	47	29	And when he saw the day of his death approaching, he sent for his son Joseph; Do me this favour, he said, put thy hand under my thigh, and swear, in love and loyalty, that thou wilt not bury me here in Egypt.
 Genesis	Gen	1	47	30	I would sleep where my fathers sleep; take me far away from this land and bury me in the burial-place of my kindred. I will do thy bidding, answered Joseph;
 Genesis	Gen	1	47	31	but Jacob would have him bind himself by an oath. So he gave his oath; and then Israel turned his eyes towards the top of his bed, and gave praise to God.
 Genesis	Gen	1	48	1	Soon after this, Joseph was told that his father had fallen sick, and took his two sons, Ephraim and Manasses, to visit him.
 Genesis	Gen	1	48	2	When the old man heard that Joseph had come to see him, he found strength to sit up in bed,
 Genesis	Gen	1	48	3	and greeted him thus, The almighty God revealed himself to me at Luza in Chanaan, and gave me his blessing there.
 Genesis	Gen	1	48	4	I will make thy posterity increase and multiply, he said, so that a host of nations shall spring from thee; and I will give this land to thee and to thy race after thee, to be their possession eternally.
 Genesis	Gen	1	48	5	Thy two sons were born to thee in Egypt, before my coming, but they shall be counted as sons of mine; Ephraim and Manasses shall take rank with Ruben and Simeon.
 Genesis	Gen	1	48	6	Whatever children thou shalt beget after this shall be thine, not mine, and they shall hold whatever possession they hold under the title of these brothers of theirs.
 Genesis	Gen	1	48	7	It was when I was on my way back from Mesopotamia that I lost Rachel, there in Chanaan, while we were on our journey, in spring time, and when I reached Ephrata I buried her there, by the road which leads to Ephrata; Bethlehem is another name they call it by.
 Genesis	Gen	1	48	8	Then he saw Joseph’s two sons there, and asked, Who are these?
 Genesis	Gen	1	48	9	The sons God has given me, said he, while I have been living here. Bring them close to me, he answered, and let me give them my blessing;
 Genesis	Gen	1	48	10	by now, Israel’s eyes were failing through his great age, and he could not see clearly. So they were brought close to him, and he kissed them;
 Genesis	Gen	1	48	11	then he said to his son, Once I never thought to see thee again; that fear was groundless, and now God has given me sight of thy children too.
 Genesis	Gen	1	48	12	And Joseph took them from his father’s embrace, and bowed low,
 Genesis	Gen	1	48	13	putting Ephraim on his right, by Israel’s left hand, and Manasses on his left, at Israel’s right hand, and holding them both close to him.
 Genesis	Gen	1	48	14	But Jacob stretched out his right hand, and put it on the head of Ephraim, the younger, and put his left on the head of Manasses, the elder, changing his hands round.
 Genesis	Gen	1	48	15	And this is the blessing which Jacob gave to Joseph’s sons; May that God, in whose presence my fathers, Abraham and Isaac, once lived and moved, that God who has guided me like a shepherd from my youth till now,
 Genesis	Gen	1	48	16	that angel of God, who has rescued me from all my troubles, bless these sons of thine. Let them inherit my name, and the names of my fathers, Abraham and Isaac; may their posterity spread wide over the earth.
 Genesis	Gen	1	48	17	Joseph took it amiss when he saw his father put his right hand on the head of Ephraim, and would have raised it up from Ephraim’s to put it on Manasses’ instead;
 Genesis	Gen	1	48	18	No, father, said he, thou art wide of the mark; here is the eldest, upon whom thy right hand should rest.
 Genesis	Gen	1	48	19	But Jacob would not be persuaded; I know it, my son, said he, I know it; Manasses too shall give birth to a people, and spread far; but this younger brother shall outdo him, and beget a multitude of nations.
 Genesis	Gen	1	48	20	So then and there he blessed them; When men give a blessing in Israel, he said, the words they use shall be, God make thee like Ephraim and Manasses. So he put Ephraim before Manasses.
 Genesis	Gen	1	48	21	He said, too, to Joseph, I must die, but God be with you, and bring you back to the land of your fathers.
 Genesis	Gen	1	48	22	And there I bequeath thee one portion to which thy brethren shall have no claim, the land I won from the Amorrhite with my sword and my bow.
 Genesis	Gen	1	49	1	Then Jacob summoned all his sons to him; Gather about me, he said, to hear what awaits you in the days still to come;
 Genesis	Gen	1	49	2	gather about me, sons of Jacob, and listen; it is Israel, your father, who speaks.
 Genesis	Gen	1	49	3	Thou, Ruben, art my first-born, my pride, my manhood’s first-fruits; thine was the privilege, thine the right to rule,
 Genesis	Gen	1	49	4	but all went to waste like water. Never mayst thou thrive, thou who wouldst lie between thy father’s sheets, and defile his bed.
 Genesis	Gen	1	49	5	Simeon and Levi are brothers indeed, warriors both, and ready tools of violence.
 Genesis	Gen	1	49	6	Never may this soul of mine take part in their conspiracy, this heart be of their company; raging, they slew their enemy, recklessly they broke down a city wall.
 Genesis	Gen	1	49	7	A curse on this unrelenting rage of theirs, this bitter spite! I will distribute them here and there in Jacob, I will scatter them throughout Israel.
 Genesis	Gen	1	49	8	But thou, Juda, shalt win the praise of thy brethren; with thy hand on the necks of thy enemies, thou shalt be reverenced by thy own father’s sons.
 Genesis	Gen	1	49	9	Juda is like a lion’s whelp; on the hills, my son, thou roamest after thy prey; like a lion couched in his lair, a lioness that none dares provoke.
 Genesis	Gen	1	49	10	Juda shall not want a branch from his stem, a prince drawn from his stock, until the day when he comes who is to be sent to us, he, the hope of the nations.
 Genesis	Gen	1	49	11	To what tree will he tie his mount; the ass he rides on? The vine for him, the vineyard for him; when he washes his garments, it shall be in wine, all his vesture shall be dyed with the blood of grapes.
 Genesis	Gen	1	49	12	Fairer than wine his eyes shall be, his teeth whiter than milk.
 Genesis	Gen	1	49	13	Zabulon shall dwell by the sea shore, where the ships find harbour, at Sidon’s gates.
 Genesis	Gen	1	49	14	Issachar lies secure within its own confines, like some beast of burden that has great strength;
 Genesis	Gen	1	49	15	so pleasant he finds his resting-place, so fair his land, that he is willing to bow under the yoke, and pay tribute to others.
 Genesis	Gen	1	49	16	But Dan shall administer his own laws, like any other tribe of Israel;
 Genesis	Gen	1	49	17	Dan is like a snake by the road side, an adder on the path, to bite the horse’s heels, and make him throw the rider backwards.
 Genesis	Gen	1	49	18	I will wait patiently, Lord, for the deliverance thou canst bring me.
 Genesis	Gen	1	49	19	Gad shall be at the mercy of armed men, till he goes armed in his turn.
 Genesis	Gen	1	49	20	Rich in wheat shall Aser’s lands be; he shall send out delicacies for the tables of kings.
 Genesis	Gen	1	49	21	Nephthali is like a roe-deer that goes free, bringing a message of gladness.
 Genesis	Gen	1	49	22	Joseph grows upward, upward still, fair to view; see how the maidens pass to and fro on the city walls!
 Genesis	Gen	1	49	23	Sorely his enemies harass him with the darts they throw, unrelenting in their hatred,
 Genesis	Gen	1	49	24	but his bow rests in the strength that does not fail him; the power of the God who rules in Jacob gives free play to hand and arm. From Joseph one shall arise, who will be the shepherd and the corner-stone of Israel.
 Genesis	Gen	1	49	25	The God of thy father shall bring thee aid; the Almighty shall bless thee with all the blessings that lie stored in heaven above, or in the depth beneath us, all the blessings that enrich breast and womb.
 Genesis	Gen	1	49	26	This blessing which thy father gives thee draws strength from all the blessings which his own fathers bequeathed; they shall not cease till he comes, whom the everlasting hills await. May they all rest on Joseph’s head, rest on his brow, who is separated, like a Nazirite, from his brethren.
 Genesis	Gen	1	49	27	As for Benjamin, he is like a ravening wolf, that must devour his own prey in the morning, and have plunder still to divide at nightfall.
 Genesis	Gen	1	49	28	All these names are perpetuated in the twelve tribes of Israel; and these are the words in which their father blessed them one by one, giving each the blessing that was due to him.
 Genesis	Gen	1	49	29	Then he laid a charge upon them; I must die, he said, and become a part of my people; bury me with my fathers in the double cave on the land that belonged once to Ephron the Hethite,
 Genesis	Gen	1	49	30	the cave that looks towards Mambre, in the land of Chanaan. It was this cave that Abraham bought, with the ground it stands in, from Ephron the Hethite, to make his tomb there.
 Genesis	Gen	1	49	31	There they buried him, and his wife Sara with him; there, too, Isaac lies buried with his wife Rebecca; there Lia, too, was laid.
 Genesis	Gen	1	49	32	So he made an end of giving the directions he would have his sons observe; then lay his full length on the bed, and died, and became a part of his people.
 Genesis	Gen	1	50	1	Joseph, when he saw this, threw himself down at his father’s side, weeping and covering his face with kisses.
 Genesis	Gen	1	50	2	And now he would have the doctors who were in his service embalm his father with spices.
 Genesis	Gen	1	50	3	Forty days went by, and they were still at their task; that is the custom of the embalmers in Egypt; and for seventy days the whole of Egypt mourned him.
 Genesis	Gen	1	50	4	Then, when the time of mourning was over, Joseph said to Pharao’s courtiers, Do me a favour, and prefer this request of mine to Pharao.
 Genesis	Gen	1	50	5	My father has left me bound by an oath; I am dying, said he, and I charge thee to bury me in the tomb I dug for myself in Chanaan. I would go back there to bury my father, and so return.
 Genesis	Gen	1	50	6	And Pharao told him, Go back, and bury thy father in fulfilment of thy oath.
 Genesis	Gen	1	50	7	So he went, and with him went all Pharao’s senators and all the elders of Egypt;
 Genesis	Gen	1	50	8	Joseph’s brethren too and all his household, except the children and the flocks and herds; these were left behind in the land of Gessen.
 Genesis	Gen	1	50	9	He had chariots and horsemen with him, so it was a great retinue that accompanied him.
 Genesis	Gen	1	50	10	When they reached Atad’s Threshing-floor, on the further side of Jordan, they spent seven days over the funeral rites, mourning long and bitterly;
 Genesis	Gen	1	50	11	till the Chanaanites, watching it, said This is great lamentation the men of Egypt are making, and the place came to be called, The Lament of the Egyptians.
 Genesis	Gen	1	50	12	Thus Jacob’s sons carried out his command,
 Genesis	Gen	1	50	13	by taking his body to Chanaan, and burying it in the double cave opposite Mambre, that Abraham bought, with the ground it stands in, from Ephron the Hethite, to be his burial-place.
 Genesis	Gen	1	50	14	And Joseph, when the funeral rites were done, went back to Egypt with his brethren and all his retinue.
 Genesis	Gen	1	50	15	His brethren, now that their father was dead, grew afraid of Joseph; what if he should remember his wrongs, they asked one another, and punish us for our ill deeds?
 Genesis	Gen	1	50	16	So they sent a message to him, Our father, before he died, laid a charge on us.
 Genesis	Gen	1	50	17	We were to say to thee in his name, Forget, I pray thee, the crime which thy brethren committed, the cruel wrong they did thee. And it is our prayer too that thou wouldst grant forgiveness to us, the servants of the God thy father served. Joseph wept upon hearing it;
 Genesis	Gen	1	50	18	and when his brethren came and bowed to the ground before him, owning themselves his servants,
 Genesis	Gen	1	50	19	his answer was, Do not be afraid; who am I, that I should oppose my will to God’s will?
 Genesis	Gen	1	50	20	You thought to do me harm, but God turned it all to good account; I was to be raised up to greatness, as you see, for the saving of a multitude of people.
 Genesis	Gen	1	50	21	Do not be afraid; both you and your children shall still have maintenance from me. With such kindly words he comforted them.
 Genesis	Gen	1	50	22	So, with all his father’s household, he continued to dwell in Egypt, and reached the age of a hundred and ten. He lived to see Ephraim a grandfather, and Machir, son of Manasses, had children whom he took on his knees.
 Genesis	Gen	1	50	23	After this he said to his kindred, When I am dead, God will have mercy on you, and enable you to return from this country to the home which he promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
 Genesis	Gen	1	50	24	And he bound them by an oath, When God shews you this mercy, you must take my bones out of this land with you.
 Genesis	Gen	1	50	25	So he died, a hundred and ten years old, and they embalmed him with spices, and laid him to rest in a coffin, there in Egypt.
 Exodus	Ex	2	1	1	Here are the names of Israel’s sons; these were the men who betook themselves to Egypt, each with his family, when Jacob went there;
 Exodus	Ex	2	1	2	Ruben, Simeon, Levi, Juda,
 Exodus	Ex	2	1	3	Issachar, Zabulon and Benjamin,
 Exodus	Ex	2	1	4	Dan and Nephthali, Gad and Aser.
 Exodus	Ex	2	1	5	There were seventy souls altogether that came from Jacob’s stock, but of these, Joseph was in Egypt already.
 Exodus	Ex	2	1	6	When he and his brethren and all their next descendants were dead,
 Exodus	Ex	2	1	7	the race of Israel grew into a teeming multitude, in such strength that the whole land was peopled with them.
 Exodus	Ex	2	1	8	Meanwhile, a new king of Egypt had arisen, who knew nothing of Joseph.
 Exodus	Ex	2	1	9	See, he said to his people, how the race of the Israelites has grown, till they are stronger than we are.
 Exodus	Ex	2	1	10	We must go prudently about it and keep them down, or their numbers will grow; what if war threatens, and they make common cause with our enemies? They will get the better of us, and leave our country altogether.
 Exodus	Ex	2	1	11	So he made them answerable to officers of the public works, who laid crushing burdens on them, using them to build the store-cities of Phithom and Ramesses;
 Exodus	Ex	2	1	12	but the more they were ill-treated, the more they bred and multiplied.
 Exodus	Ex	2	1	13	The Egyptians, in their abhorrence for the Israelites, oppressed and insulted them,
 Exodus	Ex	2	1	14	making their lives a burden with drudgery in the clay-pit and the brick-kiln, drudgery, too, of all kinds in the cultivation of the land.
 Exodus	Ex	2	1	15	Then the king of Egypt gave orders to Sephora and Phua, the midwives who attended the Hebrews;
 Exodus	Ex	2	1	16	When you are called in, he said, to attend the Hebrew women, and their time comes, kill the child if it is a boy; if it is a girl keep it alive.
 Exodus	Ex	2	1	17	But these midwives feared the Lord, and would not carry out the commands of the king of Egypt; they kept the boys safe;
 Exodus	Ex	2	1	18	and when the king summoned them and asked, What do you mean by sparing the boys too?
 Exodus	Ex	2	1	19	they answered, The Hebrew women are not like those of Egypt; they are skilled in midwifery, and contrive to give birth before we reach them.
 Exodus	Ex	2	1	20	For this, God rewarded the midwives; while his people grew and attained great strength,
 Exodus	Ex	2	1	21	he gave the midwives, too, families of their own, as women who feared God.
 Exodus	Ex	2	1	22	And at last Pharao made a proclamation to the whole of his people: Whenever a male child is born, cast it into the river, keep only the girls alive.
 Exodus	Ex	2	2	1	And now one of the descendants of Levi wooed and married a woman of his own clan,
 Exodus	Ex	2	2	2	who conceived and bore him a son. So winning were the child’s looks, that for three months she kept him hidden away;
 Exodus	Ex	2	2	3	then, unable to conceal him any longer, she took a little basket of reeds, which she smeared with clay and pitch, and in this put her baby son down among the bulrushes on the river bank.
 Exodus	Ex	2	2	4	The boy’s sister waited at a distance, to see what would happen.
 Exodus	Ex	2	2	5	Just then, Pharao’s daughter came down to bathe in the river, while her maid-servants walked along the bank. She caught sight of the basket among the rushes, and sent one of her attendants to fetch it;
 Exodus	Ex	2	2	6	and when she opened it, and saw the baby crying, her heart was touched. Why, she said, this must be one of the Hebrew children.
 Exodus	Ex	2	2	7	And at that, the boy’s sister asked, Wouldst thou have me go and fetch one of the Hebrew women, to nurse the child for thee?
 Exodus	Ex	2	2	8	Go by all means, she said; and the girl went and fetched her mother.
 Exodus	Ex	2	2	9	Take this boy, Pharao’s daughter said, and nurse him for me; I will reward thee for it. So the woman took the boy and nursed him till he was grown; then she handed him over to Pharao’s daughter,
 Exodus	Ex	2	2	10	who adopted him as her own son, and gave him the name of Moses, the Rescuer; I had to rescue him, she said, from the river.
 Exodus	Ex	2	2	11	A time came when Moses, now a grown-up man, went out among his brethren the Hebrews, and saw how ill they were treated, saw one of these brethren of his being beaten by an Egyptian;
 Exodus	Ex	2	2	12	whereupon, after looking this way and that to see that no one was near, he killed the Egyptian and buried him there in the sand.
 Exodus	Ex	2	2	13	When he went out next day, he found two Hebrews that had come to blows, and asked the aggressor what he meant by offering violence to a friend.
 Exodus	Ex	2	2	14	Why, said he, who made thee a ruler and a judge over us? Hast thou a mind to kill me, as thou didst kill that Egyptian yesterday? And Moses was terrified to find that his action had so strangely come to light.
 Exodus	Ex	2	2	15	When Pharao heard of it, he was for putting Moses to death; and Moses, to avoid his scrutiny, took refuge in the country of Madian. Here he sat down to rest by the side of a well.
 Exodus	Ex	2	2	16	And it chanced that seven maids, daughters to the priest of Madian, came out and began drawing water, to fill the troughs and water their father’s sheep.
 Exodus	Ex	2	2	17	But now came shepherds, and would have turned the maidens away, until Moses stood up for them, and himself watered their sheep.
 Exodus	Ex	2	2	18	When they reached home their father, Raguel, asked them why they were earlier than their wont;
 Exodus	Ex	2	2	19	and they told him, There was an Egyptian there, who took our part against the shepherds, and then drew water for us himself, for our sheep to drink.
 Exodus	Ex	2	2	20	Upon which he asked, What has become of this man? Why did you part from his company? Bid him come in and eat.
 Exodus	Ex	2	2	21	So it came about that Moses bound himself by an oath to live there with Raguel, and wedded his daughter Sephora.
 Exodus	Ex	2	2	22	The first son she bore him he called Gersam, as if he would say, I have been a stranger, Ger, in an alien land. And when she bore another son, Moses called him Eliezer, Help from God; the God of my father (said he) has helped me to escape from the power of Pharao.
 Exodus	Ex	2	2	23	Then, after a long while, the king of Egypt died, and the cry of the Israelites, still groaning aloud in their drudgery, went up to God, who took pity on this drudgery of theirs,
 Exodus	Ex	2	2	24	and listened to their complaint; he had not forgotten the covenant which he made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
 Exodus	Ex	2	2	25	So it was that the Lord looked down in mercy on the Israelites, and took heed of them.
 Exodus	Ex	2	3	1	Moses, in the meanwhile, had married the daughter of Jethro, priest of Madian, and was doing shepherd’s work for him. Deep into the desert he led his flock, till he reached God’s own mountain of Horeb.
 Exodus	Ex	2	3	2	And here the Lord revealed himself through a flame that rose up from the midst of a bush; it seemed that the bush was alight, yet did not burn.
 Exodus	Ex	2	3	3	Here is a great sight, said Moses, I must go up and see more of it, a bush that does not waste by burning.
 Exodus	Ex	2	3	4	But now, as he saw him coming up to look closer, the Lord called to him from the midst of the bush, Moses Moses; and when he answered, I am here, at thy command,
 Exodus	Ex	2	3	5	he was told, Do not come nearer; rather take the shoes from thy feet, thou art standing on holy ground.
 Exodus	Ex	2	3	6	Then he said, I am the God thy father worshipped, the God of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob. And Moses hid his face; he dared not look on the open sight of God.
 Exodus	Ex	2	3	7	I have not been blind, the Lord told him, to the oppression which my people endures in Egypt, I have listened to their complaints about the cruelty of the men who are in charge of their work.
 Exodus	Ex	2	3	8	I know what their sufferings are, and I have come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians; to take them away into a fruitful land and large, a land that is all milk and honey, where the Chanaanites dwell, and the Hethites, and the Amorrhites, and the Pherezites, and the Hevites, and the Jebusites.
 Exodus	Ex	2	3	9	Yes, the cry of Israel’s race has reached my ears, I have watched how their Egyptian oppressors ill-treat them.
 Exodus	Ex	2	3	10	Up, I have an errand for thee at Pharao’s court; thou art to lead my people, the sons of Israel, away out of Egypt.
 Exodus	Ex	2	3	11	At this, Moses said to God, Ah, who am I, that thou shouldst send me to Pharao? Who am I that I should lead the sons of Israel out of Egypt?
 Exodus	Ex	2	3	12	I will be with thee, God said to him. And here is a sign for thee, that thy mission comes from me; when thou hast brought my people out of Egypt, thou wilt find thyself offering sacrifice to God on this mountain.
 Exodus	Ex	2	3	13	But Moses still pleaded with God: How if I appear before the Israelites with the message that the God of their fathers has sent me to them, and they ask me, What is his name? What answer shall I make?
 Exodus	Ex	2	3	14	And God said to Moses, I am the God who IS; thou shalt tell the Israelites, THE GOD WHO IS has sent me to you.
 Exodus	Ex	2	3	15	And he charged Moses again, That is what thou shalt tell the sons of Israel, that he who bears this name, the God of their fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob has sent thee to them, and this is the name he will be known by for ever; it shall stand recorded, age after age.
 Exodus	Ex	2	3	16	Go then, and summon the elders of Israel to meet thee. Tell them that the Lord, the God of their fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob has appeared to thee, with this message: Day after day I have watched, and seen all that has befallen you in Egypt.
 Exodus	Ex	2	3	17	And now I mean to take you away from Egypt, where it goes so hard with you, into the land of the Chanaanites, the Hethites, the Amorrhites, the Pherezites, the Hevites, and the Jebusites; a land that is all milk and honey.
 Exodus	Ex	2	3	18	The elders of Israel will give thee a good hearing; and with them thou shalt make thy way into the king of Egypt’s presence. The Lord God of the Hebrews, thou shalt tell him, has summoned us to go out three days’ march into the desert, and there we must offer sacrifice to the Lord our God.
 Exodus	Ex	2	3	19	I know well enough that the king of Egypt will not let you go, except under strong compulsion;
 Exodus	Ex	2	3	20	I must needs exert my power, and smite the Egyptians with all the portents I mean to do among them, before he will give you leave.
 Exodus	Ex	2	3	21	And I will let you have your way with the Egyptians; when you go you shall not go empty-handed.
 Exodus	Ex	2	3	22	Each woman shall claim from her neighbour, or from some woman that lodges with her, gold and silver trinkets, and clothes to dress your sons and daughters in; such toll you shall take of the Egyptians.
 Exodus	Ex	2	4	1	But Moses still had his answer; What if they will not believe me, he said, or give a hearing? What if they tell me to my face that I never had any vision of the Lord?
 Exodus	Ex	2	4	2	What is that in thy hand? the Lord asked him. A staff, he said.
 Exodus	Ex	2	4	3	So the Lord bade him cast it on the ground, and when he did so, it turned into a serpent, and Moses shrank away.
 Exodus	Ex	2	4	4	Now put out thy hand, the Lord said, and catch it by the tail. He did so, and it turned to a staff in his hand.
 Exodus	Ex	2	4	5	And the word came to him, Will they still doubt that the Lord God of their fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob has appeared to thee?
 Exodus	Ex	2	4	6	And now the Lord had a fresh command for him, Put thy hand into thy bosom; and, doing so, he found that it came out a leper’s hand, white as snow.
 Exodus	Ex	2	4	7	Now, said he, put it back in thy bosom again; so he put it back, and this time, when he brought it out, the skin on it was no different from the rest of his skin.
 Exodus	Ex	2	4	8	And the Lord said, If credence and hearing thou canst not gain, with the first sign for thy warrant, the evidence of this second sign will make them believe thee.
 Exodus	Ex	2	4	9	And if even two signs are not enough to convince them and make them listen to thee, thou hast but to take water from the river and pour it out on the ground; the water thou hast drawn out of the river will turn into blood.
 Exodus	Ex	2	4	10	Then Moses said, Lord, have patience with me; but all my life I have been a man of little eloquence, and now that thou, my Master, hast spoken to me, I am more faltering, more tongue-tied than ever.
 Exodus	Ex	2	4	11	Why, the Lord said to him, who was it that fashioned man’s mouth? Who is it that makes a man dumb or deaf, clear-sighted or blind, if not I?
 Exodus	Ex	2	4	12	Go as thou art bidden; I will speak with thy mouth, telling thee what words to utter.
 Exodus	Ex	2	4	13	But still he said, Lord have patience with me; wilt thou not choose some fitting emissary?
 Exodus	Ex	2	4	14	And now the Lord was angry with Moses; What of thy brother Aaron (the Levite)? he asked. I know him to be a man of ready speech. He is even now on his way to meet thee, and will give thee a joyful welcome when he finds thee.
 Exodus	Ex	2	4	15	To him thou shalt repeat my message, entrusting it to his lips; through his lips I will speak, and through thine, telling you what I would have you do.
 Exodus	Ex	2	4	16	He shall be thy spokesman, giving out thy message to the people, and thou shalt be his representative with God.
 Exodus	Ex	2	4	17	And take this staff of thine with thee; thou hast portents to bring about by means of it.
 Exodus	Ex	2	4	18	Then Moses made his way back to his father-in-law, Jethro; Give me leave, he said, to return to Egypt, and see whether my brethren there are still living. And Jethro said, Go in peace.
 Exodus	Ex	2	4	19	From Madian, then, the Lord bade Moses return to Egypt; all those who had threatened his life were dead.
 Exodus	Ex	2	4	20	So Moses took his wife and children, with his ass to carry them, and returned to Egypt, with the staff, divinely appointed, in his hand.
 Exodus	Ex	2	4	21	And as he went back to Egypt, the Lord said to him, Thy part is to do all the wonders I put it in thy power to do, in Pharao’s presence. But I mean to harden his heart, so that he refuses to let my people go;
 Exodus	Ex	2	4	22	and then thou shalt give him this message: Israel, says the Lord, is my first-born son,
 Exodus	Ex	2	4	23	and when I bade thee give this son of mine leave to go and worship me, that leave was refused; I come to claim the life of thy first-born in return.
 Exodus	Ex	2	4	24	On this journey, at one of his halting-places, the Lord came in his path and threatened him with death,
 Exodus	Ex	2	4	25	until Sephora took a sharp stone, and circumcised her son with it; then, touching her husband’s feet with the flesh, she said, Now we are betrothed in blood.
 Exodus	Ex	2	4	26	And as she said the words, Betrothed in blood, after the circumcision, the Lord consented to spare him.
 Exodus	Ex	2	4	27	Meanwhile the Lord had told Aaron to go out and meet Moses in the desert; so he set out and met him at God’s mountain, and greeted him with a kiss.
 Exodus	Ex	2	4	28	And Moses told Aaron all the message the Lord had entrusted to him, and the wonders he had commissioned him to perform.
 Exodus	Ex	2	4	29	So together they went and summoned all the elders of the Israelite race to meet them;
 Exodus	Ex	2	4	30	and when Aaron told them all the Lord had said to Moses, and shewed the people the appointed signs,
 Exodus	Ex	2	4	31	the people were convinced. At last the Lord had come to enquire after the sons of Israel, and had witnessed their affliction; they would bow down and worship.
 Exodus	Ex	2	5	1	After this, Moses and Aaron obtained audience with Pharao, and said to him, We have a message to thee from the Lord God of Israel, Give my people leave to go and offer me sacrifice in the desert.
 Exodus	Ex	2	5	2	Why, he answered, who is this Lord, that I must obey his command, and let Israel go free? I know no such Lord as that; I will not let Israel go.
 Exodus	Ex	2	5	3	It is the God of the Hebrews, they told him, who has summoned us to go out into the desert, a matter of three days’ journey, and offer sacrifice to him; he, the Lord, is our God, what if he should bring sickness or war upon us?
 Exodus	Ex	2	5	4	Nay, said the king of Egypt, it is two men, Moses and Aaron, enticing the people away from their work; go back to your duties.
 Exodus	Ex	2	5	5	These folk, Pharao complained, have outgrown their territory already: see how their numbers have increased! And it will be worse still if you ease them of their burdens.
 Exodus	Ex	2	5	6	So he gave orders, that very day, to overseer and foreman alike:
 Exodus	Ex	2	5	7	Do not give them any more straw to make bricks with, as your custom has been; let them go and find straw for themselves.
 Exodus	Ex	2	5	8	Meanwhile, you must give them the same tale of bricks to make as before; there must be no lessening of it. They are idle; that is what has led to this outcry about going and offering sacrifice to their God.
 Exodus	Ex	2	5	9	Give them heavier work to do; then they will pay no more attention to these lying tales.
 Exodus	Ex	2	5	10	So overseer and foreman gave it out to the people as a message from Pharao, You shall have no more straw from me;
 Exodus	Ex	2	5	11	go and gather it for yourselves where you can find it; meanwhile, there is to be no lessening of the work done.
 Exodus	Ex	2	5	12	And the people found themselves scattered all over Egypt gathering straw;
 Exodus	Ex	2	5	13	and still the overseers were urgent with them: Finish those daily tasks of yours, as you did when the straw was found.
 Exodus	Ex	2	5	14	The foremen, who were Israelites, must undergo a beating, now, from Pharao’s overseers, who asked them why the full tale of bricks had not been made up these two days past, as it was formerly.
 Exodus	Ex	2	5	15	So the Israelite foremen went and complained to Pharao; Master, they cried, why dost thou treat us so?
 Exodus	Ex	2	5	16	The straw is not being found for us any longer, and never a brick less demanded of us. Here are we, thy servants, beaten for it; there is no justice for this people of thine.
 Exodus	Ex	2	5	17	You are idlers, said he, idlers all, or you would not be asking leave to go and sacrifice to this Lord of yours.
 Exodus	Ex	2	5	18	Off with you to your work; no straw shall you have; and as for the bricks, you must make up the same tale as before.
 Exodus	Ex	2	5	19	When they heard that the same tale of bricks was to be demanded each day, the Israelite foremen saw that it would go hard with them;
 Exodus	Ex	2	5	20	and meeting Moses and Aaron face to face, as they came away from Pharao’s audience,
 Exodus	Ex	2	5	21	they said to them, The Lord take note of it, and be your judge; you have made our name stink in the nostrils of Pharao and his court, put a weapon in his hand that will be our doom.
 Exodus	Ex	2	5	22	So that Moses had recourse to the Lord again, and asked him, Lord, why dost thou treat thy people so cruelly? Why didst thou ever send me on such an errand?
 Exodus	Ex	2	5	23	I gained audience with Pharao, and spoke to him in thy name; and since then he does nothing but ill-use thy people; is this the deliverance thou hast sent them?
 Exodus	Ex	2	6	1	But the Lord said to Moses, Thou hast yet to see what I have in store for Pharao, such constraint as will make him let them go; he shall have no choice but to drive them away out of his country.
 Exodus	Ex	2	6	2	And now the Lord sent his word to Moses: I am the same Lord
 Exodus	Ex	2	6	3	who revealed myself to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; but although I revealed myself as God the Almighty, my name Adonai I did not make known to them.
 Exodus	Ex	2	6	4	And the covenant I made with them was that I would give them the land of Chanaan, their dwelling-place then, but not their home.
 Exodus	Ex	2	6	5	And now the complaints of the Israelites under their Egyptian oppressors have reached my ears, and I am reminded of this covenant.
 Exodus	Ex	2	6	6	Tell the sons of Israel, I am the Lord, and I mean to release you from your prison-house in Egypt, to set you free from your slavery, to buy you back for myself, with my arm uplifted in signal acts of redress.
 Exodus	Ex	2	6	7	Then I will make you my own people, and will be your God; you will learn to acclaim the Lord as your God, that Lord who has brought you out of your Egyptian prison-house,
 Exodus	Ex	2	6	8	that Lord who made good his promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, led you back to your dwelling-place, and made it your home.
 Exodus	Ex	2	6	9	All this Moses repeated to the Israelites, but they, in their bitterness of heart and the misery of their bondage, would not listen to him.
 Exodus	Ex	2	6	10	And when the Lord sent Moses
 Exodus	Ex	2	6	11	to bid Pharao, king of Egypt, let the sons of Israel go,
 Exodus	Ex	2	6	12	Moses told the Lord to his face, The Israelites will not listen to me; what hope is there that Pharao will listen to me? A man, moreover, so tongue-tied.
 Exodus	Ex	2	6	13	When the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, giving them a message to the Israelites and to the Egyptian king, Pharao, and bidding them lead the sons of Israel away out of Egypt,
 Exodus	Ex	2	6	14	these were the heads of families that had left their names to clans. From Ruben, Israel’s first-born, came Henoch, Phallu, Hesron and Charmi.
 Exodus	Ex	2	6	15	From Simeon came Jamuel, Jamin, Ahod, Jachin, Soar, and Saul (the son of a Chanaanite woman).
 Exodus	Ex	2	6	16	From Levi came the three clans of Gerson, Caath, and Merari. (Levi lived to the age of a hundred and thirty-seven.)
 Exodus	Ex	2	6	17	From Gerson, the two families of Lobni and Semei.
 Exodus	Ex	2	6	18	From Caath, Amram, Isaar, Hebron and Oziel. (Caath lived to the age of a hundred and thirty-three.)
 Exodus	Ex	2	6	19	From Merari, Moholi and Musi. Such were the families descended from Levi.
 Exodus	Ex	2	6	20	Amram married a kinswoman of his called Jochabed, who bore him two sons, Aaron and Moses. (Amram lived to the age of a hundred and thirty-seven.)
 Exodus	Ex	2	6	21	From Isaar came Core, Nepheg, and Zechri,
 Exodus	Ex	2	6	22	from Oziel, Misael, Elisaphan and Sethri.
 Exodus	Ex	2	6	23	Aaron’s wife was Elisabeth, daughter to Aminadab and sister to Nahasson, and the sons she bore him were called Nadab, Abiu, Eleazar and Ithamar.
 Exodus	Ex	2	6	24	And Core’s sons were called Aser, Elcana and Abiasaph; those were the divisions of the Corite clan.
 Exodus	Ex	2	6	25	Meanwhile Aaron’s son Eleazar married one of the daughters of Phutiel, and become the father of Phineës. Such were the heads of the Levite families that gave their names to clans.
 Exodus	Ex	2	6	26	It was these two, Aaron and Moses, who had orders from the Lord to lead the Israelites away, in their full muster, out of Egypt;
 Exodus	Ex	2	6	27	and it was these two, Moses and Aaron, who bade Pharao, king of Egypt, let them leave his country, at the time we are speaking of.
 Exodus	Ex	2	6	28	It was to Moses the Lord said, there in Egypt,
 Exodus	Ex	2	6	29	I am the Lord, repeat to Pharao king of Egypt all this message of mine,
 Exodus	Ex	2	6	30	but Moses hung back and asked the Lord to his face, How should Pharao listen to me, tongue-tied as I am?
 Exodus	Ex	2	7	1	And the Lord said to Moses, It is my will that thou shouldst be a divine oracle to Pharao, with thy brother for spokesman;
 Exodus	Ex	2	7	2	Aaron will receive my commands from thee, and repeat them to him, bidding him let the Israelites depart from his country;
 Exodus	Ex	2	7	3	but I, meanwhile, will harden Pharao’s heart. Many signs, many portents will I give in this land of Egypt,
 Exodus	Ex	2	7	4	and still he will not listen. Then Egypt shall feel the weight of my hand, and I will deliver the Israelites, my army, my people, out of Egypt, with signal acts of redress.
 Exodus	Ex	2	7	5	All Egypt shall know that it was I, the Lord, who raised my hand against it, and brought out the sons of Israel from its midst.
 Exodus	Ex	2	7	6	This command of the Lord was faithfully carried out by Moses and Aaron; they did all he bade them do.
 Exodus	Ex	2	7	7	Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron eighty-three, when they gave Pharao their message.
 Exodus	Ex	2	7	8	And now the Lord said to Moses and Aaron,
 Exodus	Ex	2	7	9	When Pharao asks you to shew him signs of your mission, thou, Moses, shalt bid thy brother take up his staff and cast it down in Pharao’s presence; it will turn into a serpent.
 Exodus	Ex	2	7	10	So Moses and Aaron gained Pharao’s audience and did as the Lord had bidden them; Aaron brought out his staff in the presence of Pharao and his court, and it turned into a serpent.
 Exodus	Ex	2	7	11	At this, Pharao summoned his diviners and magicians, who, in their turn, uttered secret spells in the Egyptian language and did the like;
 Exodus	Ex	2	7	12	each man’s staff, when he cast it down, turned into a serpent; but the staff of Aaron devoured them.
 Exodus	Ex	2	7	13	Meanwhile, Pharao’s heart was hardened, so that he would not obey the Lord’s will and heed their warning.
 Exodus	Ex	2	7	14	Then the Lord said to Moses, Pharao’s heart is still obdurate, he does not mean to let my people go.
 Exodus	Ex	2	7	15	Betake thyself to him to-morrow morning; thou wilt find that he is walking by the water side, and there on the bank of the river, thou shalt meet him. Thou wilt be carrying the staff which turned into a serpent,
 Exodus	Ex	2	7	16	and this shall be thy message to him: The Lord God of the Hebrews sent me to bid thee let his people go and offer him sacrifices in the desert, and hitherto thou hast refused to listen.
 Exodus	Ex	2	7	17	And now the Lord has a new message for thee, to convince thee that he is indeed the Lord. When I strike the water of the river with this staff I carry, it will turn into blood;
 Exodus	Ex	2	7	18	the fishes in the river will die, till its waters are full of corruption; it will go hard with the Egyptians if they are for drinking river water.
 Exodus	Ex	2	7	19	Then the Lord gave Moses a message for Aaron, Take up thy staff, and stretch thy hand out over the waters of Egypt; all their rivers and channels and marshes and pools of water. All must turn into blood; blood in every bucket and pitcher, all over Egypt.
 Exodus	Ex	2	7	20	So Moses and Aaron did as the Lord had bidden them; Aaron lifted up his staff and struck the waters of the river in the presence of Pharao and his court, and the river turned to blood.
 Exodus	Ex	2	7	21	All the fishes in the river died, and its waters stank, so that the Egyptians could not drink river water any longer, and there was blood all over the land of Egypt.
 Exodus	Ex	2	7	22	But the Egyptian magicians did as much with spells of their own; and Pharao’s heart was still hardened, still he would not obey the Lord’s will and heed their warning.
 Exodus	Ex	2	7	23	He turned away and went home, paying no more attention to them than before.
 Exodus	Ex	2	7	24	Meanwhile, all the Egyptians had to dig wells round about the banks, since they could not drink any water from the river itself.
 Exodus	Ex	2	7	25	So passed the first week after the Lord smote the river.
 Exodus	Ex	2	8	1	Then the Lord bade Moses present himself before Pharao with this message from him, Give my people leave to go and offer me sacrifice;
 Exodus	Ex	2	8	2	if thou dost refuse, I mean to plague thy whole country with frogs.
 Exodus	Ex	2	8	3	The river shall swarm with frogs, which will come up out of it and find their way into thy palace, into thy bed-chamber, into thy bed itself; and so with all thy servants and all thy people, with thy ovens and thy larders;
 Exodus	Ex	2	8	4	neither thou nor thy servants nor thy people will be able to keep the frogs out.
 Exodus	Ex	2	8	5	Then the Lord would have Moses tell Aaron to stretch out his hand over river and channel and marsh, and bring up frogs all over Egypt;
 Exodus	Ex	2	8	6	so Aaron stretched out his hand over all the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up till the whole land of Egypt was full of them.
 Exodus	Ex	2	8	7	But the magicians, too, did as much with their spells; to fill Egypt with frogs was not beyond their powers.
 Exodus	Ex	2	8	8	So Pharao summoned Moses and Aaron, and bade them entreat the Lord to rid him and his people of the frogs, promising that he would let the Israelites go and offer God sacrifice.
 Exodus	Ex	2	8	9	Appoint a time, then, Moses said to him at which I shall pray for thee and thy servants and thy people, asking that the frogs may be driven away from thee and them, and no longer be found anywhere but in the river.
 Exodus	Ex	2	8	10	To-morrow, said he, and Moses answered, I will do what thou hast said, to let thee know that there is no other God like this Lord of ours;
 Exodus	Ex	2	8	11	thou and thy palace and thy servants and thy people shall be rid of the frogs, and they will remain in the river, nowhere else.
 Exodus	Ex	2	8	12	So Moses and Aaron went out from Pharao’s presence, and Moses asked the Lord to grant what he had promised Pharao about the frogs.
 Exodus	Ex	2	8	13	His prayer was answered; in house and farm and countryside all the frogs died,
 Exodus	Ex	2	8	14	and must be collected in great heaps; the whole land stank with them.
 Exodus	Ex	2	8	15	As soon as Pharao found that a respite was granted him, he steeled his heart against the Lord’s will, and would not heed their warning.
 Exodus	Ex	2	8	16	So the Lord would have Moses tell Aaron to hold out his staff and strike the dust on the ground with it, to bring gnats upon the whole land of Egypt.
 Exodus	Ex	2	8	17	The command was obeyed; and when Aaron stretched out his hand, with the staff in it, and smote the dust on the ground, gnats settled on man and beast; all over Egypt the dust on the ground turned to gnats.
 Exodus	Ex	2	8	18	When the magicians tried to do as much with their spells, they found they could not, but still the gnats came and settled on man and beast,
 Exodus	Ex	2	8	19	till the magicians told Pharao, This is God’s handiwork; but Pharao’s heart was hardened, and still he would not listen to them, or obey the Lord’s will.
 Exodus	Ex	2	8	20	So the Lord said to Moses, Rise up early, and present thyself before Pharao; thou wilt find he has gone out to the water side. Give him this message from the Lord, Let my people go and offer me sacrifice;
 Exodus	Ex	2	8	21	if thou dost not send them on their way, I will send on thee, thy servants, thy people, and the houses in thy land, flies of all sorts; flies of every kind shall swarm in the houses of the Egyptians, and all over the land in which they dwell.
 Exodus	Ex	2	8	22	But I will shew signal favour to the land of Gessen, where my own people dwell, sparing it from the flies; am I not Lord in every part of the earth?
 Exodus	Ex	2	8	23	My people shall not fare as thine; to-morrow shall see this portent happen.
 Exodus	Ex	2	8	24	And the Lord carried out his threat; into the houses of Pharao and his servants and upon all the land of Egypt came a grievous swarm of flies, such a swarm as tainted the whole land by its presence.
 Exodus	Ex	2	8	25	Then Pharao summoned Moses and Aaron to him; Go and sacrifice to your God, he said, but here, in this land.
 Exodus	Ex	2	8	26	That may not be, said Moses; do we not sacrifice to the Lord what the Egyptians worship? If we are seen slaughtering the very beasts which the Egyptians hold sacred, they will stone us.
 Exodus	Ex	2	8	27	We will do what the Lord bade us do, go out three days’ march into the desert and offer him sacrifice there.
 Exodus	Ex	2	8	28	Then Pharao said, You shall go and sacrifice to the Lord your God in the desert, provided it is no long distance away; now go and use your prayers on my behalf.
 Exodus	Ex	2	8	29	When I leave thy presence, said Moses, I will pray to the Lord, and to-morrow Pharao and his servants and his people shall be rid of the flies; only do not play us false again by holding the people back from their sacrifice.
 Exodus	Ex	2	8	30	So Moses left Pharao’s presence, and prayed to the Lord,
 Exodus	Ex	2	8	31	and what he had promised, the Lord granted, ridding Pharao and his servants and his people of the flies, until not one was left.
 Exodus	Ex	2	8	32	But the heart of Pharao was still obdurate, and once more he would not let the people go.
 Exodus	Ex	2	9	1	Then the Lord bade Moses present himself before Pharao with this message from the Lord, the God of the Hebrews; Give my people leave to go and offer me sacrifice.
 Exodus	Ex	2	9	2	If thou dost still refuse, wouldst still keep them in thy power,
 Exodus	Ex	2	9	3	then my hand shall be felt all through this countryside; a most grievous plague shall fall upon horse and ass and camel, on oxen and sheep.
 Exodus	Ex	2	9	4	And I will make a signal difference between the lands of Israel and the lands of the Egyptians; the Israelites will not lose any of their possessions at all.
 Exodus	Ex	2	9	5	And the Lord has appointed his own time for it; To-morrow, he says, the Lord will carry out this threat against thy land.
 Exodus	Ex	2	9	6	So, next day, the Lord did as he had threatened; everywhere the beasts belonging to the Egyptians died, and the Israelites did not lose one.
 Exodus	Ex	2	9	7	Pharao himself sent to make enquiry, and found that no beast belonging to the Israelites had died. But still Pharao’s heart was obdurate, and he would not let the people go.
 Exodus	Ex	2	9	8	So the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, Take handfuls of ashes from the oven, and let Moses sprinkle them in the air in Pharao’s presence.
 Exodus	Ex	2	9	9	They will turn to a dust that falls everywhere in the land of Egypt, and everywhere ulcers and boils shall break out on man and beast.
 Exodus	Ex	2	9	10	So they took ashes from the oven into Pharao’s presence, and Moses sprinkled them in the air; and ulcers and boils broke out on man and beast,
 Exodus	Ex	2	9	11	so that even the magicians could not present themselves before Pharao, such pain they had, like all Egypt, from the ulcers.
 Exodus	Ex	2	9	12	But the Lord hardened Pharao’s heart so that he would not listen to them; all fell out as the Lord had prophesied to Moses.
 Exodus	Ex	2	9	13	And now the Lord bade Moses rise up early in the morning, and present himself before Pharao with this message from the Lord, the God of the Hebrews: Let my people go and offer me sacrifice.
 Exodus	Ex	2	9	14	I am taking occasion now to send all my plagues upon thy person, and thy servants, and thy people, to shew thee that none on earth has power like mine.
 Exodus	Ex	2	9	15	Were I to stretch out my hand and smite thee and thy people with pestilence, earth would see no more of thee.
 Exodus	Ex	2	9	16	But no, this is the very reason why I have made thee what thou art, so as to give proof, in thee, of my power, and to let my name be known all over the earth.
 Exodus	Ex	2	9	17	So thou wouldst still play the tyrant with my people, and refuse them leave to go away?
 Exodus	Ex	2	9	18	To-morrow, then, at this hour, I will pour down such a fierce storm of hail as Egypt has never known, from the first day of her existence to this.
 Exodus	Ex	2	9	19	Lose no time in sending word to have thy cattle brought in, and all that thou hast out of doors; men and cattle and all else that is left in the open, not brought under shelter, will die when the hail falls upon it.
 Exodus	Ex	2	9	20	Some of Pharao’s servants were struck with awe at the Lord’s threat, and made their servants and their cattle take refuge within doors;
 Exodus	Ex	2	9	21	others paid no heed to the message the Lord had sent, and left their servants and their cattle in the open.
 Exodus	Ex	2	9	22	Then the Lord said to Moses, Stretch out thy hand towards heaven, so that hail may fall all over the land of Egypt, on man and beast and every growing thing the soil of Egypt produces.
 Exodus	Ex	2	9	23	So Moses lifted up his staff towards heaven, and the Lord sent thunder and hail and fire that ran along the ground; all over the land of Egypt the Lord showered down hail.
 Exodus	Ex	2	9	24	The hail drove on, and fire mingled with the hail; never was such hail seen anywhere in Egypt since its people became a people.
 Exodus	Ex	2	9	25	And throughout the land this hail smote all that was left in the open, man or beast; smote upon all the soil yielded, and broke down every wild tree.
 Exodus	Ex	2	9	26	Only in the land of Gessen, where the Israelites dwelt, no hail fell.
 Exodus	Ex	2	9	27	So Pharao had Moses and Aaron summoned to his presence; Thus far, he said, I have done wrong; the Lord has justice on his side, the guilt lies with me and my people.
 Exodus	Ex	2	9	28	Pray to the Lord that these heavenly thunders, this hail, may cease; then I will let you go, and not keep you waiting here any longer.
 Exodus	Ex	2	9	29	And Moses answered, When I leave the city I will spread out my hands in prayer to the Lord; the thunders will cease, and there will be no more hail, to prove to thee that the Lord rules the earth.
 Exodus	Ex	2	9	30	But thou and thy people, I know it well, have not learned to fear the Lord God even now.
 Exodus	Ex	2	9	31	(The flax and the barley had been spoiled; the barley was ripening, and the flax already in the pod.
 Exodus	Ex	2	9	32	But no harm was done to the late crops, the wheat and the spelt.)
 Exodus	Ex	2	9	33	When Moses left Pharao and the city, he stretched out his hands to the Lord; whereupon the thunder and the hail ceased, and no more rain fell on the land.
 Exodus	Ex	2	9	34	And Pharao, seeing that rain and hail and thunder were past, added sin to sin;
 Exodus	Ex	2	9	35	his heart and those of his servants were dull and hardened beyond belief, and he would not let the Israelites go; the Lord’s warning through Moses went unheeded.
 Exodus	Ex	2	10	1	So the Lord said to Moses, Gain admission, now, to Pharao’s presence; I have hardened both his own heart and the hearts of his servants, so that he shall be a signal proof of my power.
 Exodus	Ex	2	10	2	It is a story thou shalt repeat in the hearing of thy children and thy children’s children, how I crushed the Egyptians, what portents I did amongst them, and you shall know, all of you, what manner of God you serve.
 Exodus	Ex	2	10	3	So Moses and Aaron gained Pharao’s audience, and brought him this message from the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, Wilt thou never learn to bow to my will? Give my people leave to go and offer me sacrifice.
 Exodus	Ex	2	10	4	If thou dost refuse to let them go, then to-morrow I am sending the locust to invade thy territory,
 Exodus	Ex	2	10	5	covering the face of the ground till it is lost to sight, devouring all that the hail has left, eating away all the trees that grow in the countryside.
 Exodus	Ex	2	10	6	Locusts shall lie thick in all the houses that belong to thee, and thy servants, and all the Egyptians; such a swarm as father or grandfather of thine has never seen in all their time. With that, Moses turned away, and left Pharao’s presence.
 Exodus	Ex	2	10	7	And now Pharao’s servants said to him, Shall we never be rid of this thorn in our sides? Let the men go, and sacrifice to the Lord their God if they will. Canst thou not see for thyself that Egypt is a ruined country?
 Exodus	Ex	2	10	8	So they brought Moses and Aaron back into the presence of Pharao, who said to them, Go and sacrifice to the Lord your God if you will. How many will you take with you?
 Exodus	Ex	2	10	9	We must take our children with us, answered Moses, and the old as well; our sons and daughters, our flocks and our herds; it is a solemn festival of the Lord our God.
 Exodus	Ex	2	10	10	As you hope for the Lord’s mercy, cried Pharao, you shall not go thus, taking your children with you. Who can doubt there is mischief brewing here?
 Exodus	Ex	2	10	11	That will not serve; you that are grown men shall go and sacrifice to the Lord; that is all you asked for. And with that they were driven away from Pharao’s presence.
 Exodus	Ex	2	10	12	Then the Lord bade Moses stretch out his hand over Egypt, to make the locusts swarm over it and devour all the growing things that had outlived the hail.
 Exodus	Ex	2	10	13	So Moses stretched out his staff over Egypt; and the Lord made a sirocco blow all that day and that night. When morning came, the sirocco carried locusts with it;
 Exodus	Ex	2	10	14	and these invaded all the land of Egypt, settling upon its whole extent in such numbers as had never been seen before, nor shall be hereafter.
 Exodus	Ex	2	10	15	They covered the whole face of the ground, laying everything waste; devoured all the growing things which the soil produced, and all the fruit which the hail had left on the trees; no green was to be found on tree or plant all over Egypt.
 Exodus	Ex	2	10	16	Upon this, Pharao sent for Moses and Aaron with all haste; I have wronged you, he said, you and this Lord of yours;
 Exodus	Ex	2	10	17	but forgive me this once, and pray the Lord your God to rid me of this deadly plague.
 Exodus	Ex	2	10	18	So Moses went out from Pharao’s presence, and prayed to the Lord;
 Exodus	Ex	2	10	19	who thereupon sent a violent west wind, that caught up the locusts and swept them away into the Red Sea; not one was left in the whole land of Egypt.
 Exodus	Ex	2	10	20	But still the Lord hardened Pharao’s heart, and he would not let the Israelites go.
 Exodus	Ex	2	10	21	So the Lord said to Moses, Stretch out thy hand towards heaven, to bring darkness over the land of Egypt, darkness so thick that it can be felt.
 Exodus	Ex	2	10	22	And when Moses stretched out his hand towards heaven, all over the land of Egypt utter darkness fell; for three days
 Exodus	Ex	2	10	23	no one caught sight of his neighbour’s face, or moved from where he was. But wherever sons of Israel dwelt, the light shone.
 Exodus	Ex	2	10	24	Then Pharao had Moses and Aaron summoned; Go and sacrifice to the Lord, he said, and take your children with you, only leave your flocks and herds behind.
 Exodus	Ex	2	10	25	But Moses said, Nay, thou must let us take victims with us, if we are to offer the Lord our God burnt-sacrifice.
 Exodus	Ex	2	10	26	All our flocks must go with us, not a hoof but shall take the road; we shall need them for the worship of the Lord our God. We cannot tell what kind of offering we must make, until we reach the place itself.
 Exodus	Ex	2	10	27	But the Lord hardened Pharao’s heart, and he would not let them go.
 Exodus	Ex	2	10	28	Depart from me, Pharao said to Moses, and take good care thou dost not come into my presence any more; if I see thee again, that day shall be thy last.
 Exodus	Ex	2	10	29	It shall be as thou sayest, Moses answered; I will not come into thy presence any more.
 Exodus	Ex	2	11	1	The Lord had told Moses, I mean to send one more plague on Pharao, and Egypt with him; after that he will let you go, nay, he will drive you out with all eagerness.
 Exodus	Ex	2	11	2	Give the word, then, to all the people, men and women alike, that they are to claim gold and silver trinkets from their neighbours;
 Exodus	Ex	2	11	3	the Lord will let you have your way with the Egyptians. Sore adread of Moses the Egyptians were, both Pharao’s servants and all the people.
 Exodus	Ex	2	11	4	And now he said, The Lord sends you this message: At midnight I will make my way through the midst of Egypt,
 Exodus	Ex	2	11	5	and with that every first-born thing in the land of Egypt will die, whether it be the first-born of Pharao, where he sits on his throne, or the first-born of the slave-woman working at the mill; all the first-born, too, of your cattle.
 Exodus	Ex	2	11	6	All over the land of Egypt there shall be loud lament, such as never was yet, never shall be again.
 Exodus	Ex	2	11	7	But where the Israelites dwell, all shall be still, man and beast, not a dog shall howl; you will know at last how signal a difference the Lord makes between Egypt and Israel.
 Exodus	Ex	2	11	8	Then all these servants of thine shall come bowing down to me in entreaty, praying to be rid of me, and of all the people under my command; and when that happens, we will depart.
 Exodus	Ex	2	11	9	So he left Pharao’s presence, full of anger. It was a true word the Lord had said to Moses, Pharao will refuse you a hearing, to give occasion for those many signs I mean to do in Egypt.
 Exodus	Ex	2	11	10	Moses and Aaron had done all the miracles here recorded, all in Pharao’s presence, and still the Lord hardened Pharao’s heart, and he would not let the Israelites leave his country.
 Exodus	Ex	2	12	1	It was while they were still in the land of Egypt that the Lord said to Moses and Aaron,
 Exodus	Ex	2	12	2	For you, this month is to lead in all the months, to be the first month of the year.
 Exodus	Ex	2	12	3	Make this proclamation to the whole assembly of Israel: On the tenth day of this month, each family, each household, is to choose out a yearling for its own use.
 Exodus	Ex	2	12	4	Or, if there are not enough of them to eat a whole lamb, the head of the family must call in some neighbour who lives close by, so that a lamb shall not be too much for their needs.
 Exodus	Ex	2	12	5	It must be a male yearling lamb, or a male yearling kid, that you choose, with no blemish on it.
 Exodus	Ex	2	12	6	These victims must be kept ready till the fourteenth day of the month, and on the evening of that day the whole people of Israel must immolate.
 Exodus	Ex	2	12	7	They must take some of the blood, and sprinkle it on the doorway, jambs and lintel alike, of the house in which the lamb is being eaten.
 Exodus	Ex	2	12	8	Their meat that night must be roasted over the fire, their bread unleavened; wild herbs must be all their seasoning.
 Exodus	Ex	2	12	9	No part must be eaten raw, or boiled, it must be roasted over the fire; head, feet, and entrails, all must be consumed,
 Exodus	Ex	2	12	10	so that nothing remains till next day; whatever is left over, you must put in the fire and burn it.
 Exodus	Ex	2	12	11	And this is to be the manner of your eating it; your loins must be girt, your feet ready shod, and every man’s staff in his hand; all must be done in haste. It is the night of the Pasch, the Lord’s passing by;
 Exodus	Ex	2	12	12	the night on which I will pass through the land of Egypt, and smite every first-born thing in the land of Egypt, man and beast alike; so I will give sentence on all the powers of Egypt, I, the Lord.
 Exodus	Ex	2	12	13	The blood on the houses that shelter you will be your badge; at sight of the blood, I will pass you by, and there shall be no scourge of calamity for you when I smite the land of Egypt.
 Exodus	Ex	2	12	14	You are to observe this day as a memorial of the past, a day when you keep holiday in the Lord’s honour, generation after generation; a rite never to be abrogated.
 Exodus	Ex	2	12	15	For a whole week you will eat unleavened bread; from the first day of it, yeast is to disappear from your houses, and the man who eats any leavened thing between the first day and the seventh, is lost to Israel.
 Exodus	Ex	2	12	16	That first day shall be solemnly set apart, and the seventh observed with no less honour; on neither of them shall you do any work, except to prepare your food.
 Exodus	Ex	2	12	17	Mark well this day of unleavened bread; for this is the day on which I will lead your whole muster away out of Egypt, and you are to observe it, generation after generation, a rite never to be abrogated.
 Exodus	Ex	2	12	18	From evening on the fourteenth day of the first month to evening on the twenty-first day of it, the bread you eat must be unleavened;
 Exodus	Ex	2	12	19	no yeast to be found in any house for a whole week. If anyone, stranger or native, eats leavened bread during that time, there is one soul lost to Israel.
 Exodus	Ex	2	12	20	There must be no food cooked with yeast; there must be no house in which leavened bread is eaten.
 Exodus	Ex	2	12	21	Thereupon Moses called the elders of Israel together, and gave them the command: Set about choosing victims for each family to immolate at the paschal feast.
 Exodus	Ex	2	12	22	Take bunches of hyssop, too, and dip them in the blood which stands at your doors, and sprinkle it over the doorway, lintel and jambs alike. None of you must cross the threshold of his house till morning comes.
 Exodus	Ex	2	12	23	The Lord will pass on his way smiting down the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lintel and the jambs of a doorway he will pass by that house, and will not let the destroying angel enter your homes to do them injury.
 Exodus	Ex	2	12	24	And this command is to be kept as an observance by you and your sons for ever.
 Exodus	Ex	2	12	25	When you reach the land which the Lord will give you in accordance with his promise, you are to keep these ceremonies alive;
 Exodus	Ex	2	12	26	and if your children ask, What is the meaning of this rite?
 Exodus	Ex	2	12	27	then you shall tell them, This is the victim that marked the Lord’s passing-by, when he passed by the houses of the Israelites in Egypt, smiting only the Egyptians, and leaving our homes exempt. Upon hearing this, the whole people bowed down in worship,
 Exodus	Ex	2	12	28	and the Israelites went away to carry out the divine commands which Moses and Aaron had received.
 Exodus	Ex	2	12	29	Then, at midnight, the Lord’s stroke fell; fell on every first-born thing in the land of Egypt, whether it were the first-born of Pharao, where he sat on his throne, or the first-born of some captive woman where she lay in her dungeon; all the first-born, too, of their cattle.
 Exodus	Ex	2	12	30	So Pharao and all his servants and all Egypt rose up at dead of night, and all over Egypt there was loud lament; in every house a man lay dead.
 Exodus	Ex	2	12	31	And it was still night when Pharao sent for Moses and Aaron, and said to them, Up, out of my kingdom, you and all the people of Israel with you; go and offer this Lord of yours the sacrifice you spoke of.
 Exodus	Ex	2	12	32	You shall have your way, and take your flocks and herds with you; leave me only your blessing, and begone.
 Exodus	Ex	2	12	33	The Egyptians, too, urged the people to hasten their departure; We are dead men else, they said.
 Exodus	Ex	2	12	34	So the Israelites carried away the dough in their kneading-troughs before they had time to leaven it, tying it up in cloths and carrying it on their shoulders.
 Exodus	Ex	2	12	35	Nor did they forget to do what Moses had bidden them; they asked the Egyptians for gold and silver trinkets, and a great store of garments.
 Exodus	Ex	2	12	36	And the Lord let his people have their way with the Egyptians, claiming as they would; so they took toll of Egypt.
 Exodus	Ex	2	12	37	The Israelites, then, set out from Ramesses to Socoth, about six hundred thousand men on the march, not reckoning in the children;
 Exodus	Ex	2	12	38	and with them a mingled array of other folk, past counting; they had flocks and herds, too, and beasts of all kinds, in great numbers.
 Exodus	Ex	2	12	39	For cooking they used the dough which they had brought with them all the way from Egypt, making girdle-cakes without any yeast in them; they had had no time to leaven it, no chance of making provision for their journey, with the Egyptians eagerly bidding them begone, and allowing them no respite.
 Exodus	Ex	2	12	40	It was four hundred and thirty years since the Israelites had first dwelt in Egypt;
 Exodus	Ex	2	12	41	at the end of that time, the whole muster of the Lord’s people left Egypt in a single day.
 Exodus	Ex	2	12	42	It is a night for keeping vigil in the Lord’s honour, this night when he led them away out of the land of Egypt; the sons of Israel, age after age, must needs observe it.
 Exodus	Ex	2	12	43	And these are the rules for keeping the Pasch, as the Lord gave them to Moses and Aaron. No alien is to partake of it;
 Exodus	Ex	2	12	44	a slave acquired by purchase may do so, if he will be circumcised,
 Exodus	Ex	2	12	45	but not a foreign resident, not a hired servant.
 Exodus	Ex	2	12	46	All of it must be eaten under the same roof; you must not take any of the victim’s flesh elsewhere, or break it up into joints.
 Exodus	Ex	2	12	47	Every Israelite is bound to keep the observance.
 Exodus	Ex	2	12	48	If any stranger that lives among you wishes to be of your company, and to eat the pasch, all the males of his household must be circumcised before he can lawfully celebrate the rite. That done, he takes rank as an inhabitant of the country; whereas the uncircumcised are not allowed to partake of it.
 Exodus	Ex	2	12	49	Native-born, or foreign resident, the same rules are binding on everyone.
 Exodus	Ex	2	12	50	So all the sons of Israel carried out the divine commands Moses and Aaron had received;
 Exodus	Ex	2	12	51	and that same day the Lord led them away out of the land of Egypt, company by company.
 Exodus	Ex	2	13	1	And this was another command the Lord gave to Moses:
 Exodus	Ex	2	13	2	Dedicate to me every first-born thing that Israel yields, whether it be man or beast, the first-fruits of every womb; all these are forfeit to me.
 Exodus	Ex	2	13	3	And now Moses said to the people, To-day you have left Egypt, your prison-house, and it is the Lord’s constraining power that has won you your freedom; mark out this day by eating no bread that has leaven in it,
 Exodus	Ex	2	13	4	this day of early spring which sees your departure.
 Exodus	Ex	2	13	5	When the Lord has given thee a home in the land of Chanaanite and Hethite, the Amorrhite, Hevite and Jebusite, that land, all milk and honey, which he promised thy fathers he would give thee, thou shalt keep alive, this month, the old custom.
 Exodus	Ex	2	13	6	For a whole week thou shalt eat unleavened bread, and the seventh day of it shall be kept as a feast in the Lord’s honour.
 Exodus	Ex	2	13	7	During those seven days you shall eat, all of you, bread without yeast in it; nothing leavened shall be seen anywhere within the frontiers of thy domain.
 Exodus	Ex	2	13	8	And thou shalt tell thy children in those after times all the Lord did for thee when thou madest thy escape from Egypt.
 Exodus	Ex	2	13	9	This custom is to endure like a mark branded on the hand, to be kept in view like a badge worn on the forehead; the law of the Lord shall be continually on thy lips; was it not the Lord’s constraining power that rescued thee from Egypt?
 Exodus	Ex	2	13	10	Thou shalt keep it alive, year after year, when the appointed time comes round.
 Exodus	Ex	2	13	11	And when the Lord has made good his promise to thee and to thy fathers, by bringing thee into the Chanaanite land and giving it to thee for thy own,
 Exodus	Ex	2	13	12	thou shalt dedicate to the Lord the first-born of every womb, the first-fruits of all thy cattle; every such thing, if it be of the male sex, is forfeit to him.
 Exodus	Ex	2	13	13	When an ass has its first foal, thou shalt offer a sheep in payment of its ransom; if not, it must be killed. And every first-born man child of thy own race shall have a price paid for his ransom.
 Exodus	Ex	2	13	14	When, in after times, thy sons ask thee what is the meaning of this, thou shalt tell them how the Lord’s constraining power rescued you from your prison-house in Egypt;
 Exodus	Ex	2	13	15	how Pharao’s heart was hardened, and he would not let you go free, until the Lord slew every first-born male thing, man or beast, in the land of Egypt. That (thou shalt say) is why I immolate to the Lord every first-born thing, the first-fruits of every womb, except among my own children; and for these I must pay ransom;
 Exodus	Ex	2	13	16	this custom is to endure like a mark branded on the hand, to be kept in view like a badge worn on the forehead, to remind you, too, how the Lord’s constraining power rescued us from Egypt.
 Exodus	Ex	2	13	17	Thus the people had Pharao’s leave to go on their way; but God did not lead them by the nearest road, the road through Philistia. Here they would have found themselves met by armed resistance, and perhaps, in despair of their enterprise, returned to Egypt.
 Exodus	Ex	2	13	18	He took them round, instead, through the desert which borders on the Red Sea; and yet the Israelites left Egypt in war-like array.
 Exodus	Ex	2	13	19	Nor did Moses forget to take with him the body of Joseph, who had bound the sons of Israel by an oath to carry his bones away with them when God shewed mercy to them.
 Exodus	Ex	2	13	20	Their first encampment after leaving Socoth was at Etham, on the very frontier of the desert.
 Exodus	Ex	2	13	21	And the Lord went on before, to guide them on their journey; by day, in a pillar of cloud, by night, in a pillar of fire; he was their guide at all times;
 Exodus	Ex	2	13	22	every day a pillar of cloud, every night a pillar of fire moved on before the people.
 Exodus	Ex	2	14	1	Then the word of the Lord came to Moses,
 Exodus	Ex	2	14	2	bidding him give the Israelites fresh orders. They were to turn back and encamp round Phihahiroth, between Magdal and the sea, opposite Beelsephon, pitching their tents close to the western shore of the sea.
 Exodus	Ex	2	14	3	Pharao (the Lord told them) will think that the Israelites have no room to move, caught there in the desert;
 Exodus	Ex	2	14	4	and I will harden his heart, so that he will give pursuit. Then I will win victory over Pharao and all his armies, and Egypt will learn to know me, the Lord, for what I am. The people did as they were bidden.
 Exodus	Ex	2	14	5	And now, when the news of their escape reached the Egyptian court, Pharao and his servants changed their minds about the Israelites; What madness was this, they said, to let our slaves go free!
 Exodus	Ex	2	14	6	So Pharao harnessed his chariot, and took all his troops with him;
 Exodus	Ex	2	14	7	not only his best chariots, six hundred in number, but all that were to be found in Egypt, and all the captains of his army.
 Exodus	Ex	2	14	8	Thus the Lord hardened the heart of Pharao, king of Egypt, and he pursued the Israelites in the hour of their triumphant escape.
 Exodus	Ex	2	14	9	All Pharao’s horses and chariots, and the whole of his army, followed close on the track of the fugitives, and came upon them where they lay encamped by the sea, at Phihahiroth, opposite Beelsephon.
 Exodus	Ex	2	14	10	What fear fell upon the Israelites, how they cried out to the Lord, when they looked round at Pharao’s approach, and saw the Egyptians close behind them!
 Exodus	Ex	2	14	11	Were there no graves for us in Egypt, they asked Moses, that thou hast brought us here, to die in the desert? Was it not ill done, to bring us away from Egypt at all?
 Exodus	Ex	2	14	12	And did we not tell thee as much while we were still there? Leave us, we said, to our Egyptian bondage; better slavery here, than death in the desert.
 Exodus	Ex	2	14	13	But Moses said to the people, Have no fear; wait patiently; the Lord means to do a miracle to-day under your eyes. The Egyptians you see now, you are seeing for the last time; they will disappear from your sight for ever.
 Exodus	Ex	2	14	14	It is the Lord that will do battle for you; your part is silence.
 Exodus	Ex	2	14	15	And the Lord’s word came to Moses, No need to cry to me for aid; bid the Israelites march on.
 Exodus	Ex	2	14	16	And do thou, meanwhile, lift up thy staff, and stretch out thy hand over the sea, parting it this way and that, so that the Israelites can walk through the midst of the sea dry-shod.
 Exodus	Ex	2	14	17	Then I will harden Pharao’s heart, so that he will give pursuit, and I will win victory over Pharao and all his army, over his chariots and horsemen.
 Exodus	Ex	2	14	18	Vain the chariot, vain the horseman; I will teach the Egyptians to know me, the Lord, for what I am.
 Exodus	Ex	2	14	19	And with that, God’s angel, that went on before the host of Israel, moved to their rear; the pillar of cloud, too, left its place in the van and came behind them.
 Exodus	Ex	2	14	20	It stood there between the Egyptian camp and the camp of Israel, a cloud that shed light in the darkness, yet was itself deep mist, so that neither army could approach the other all that night.
 Exodus	Ex	2	14	21	Meanwhile, Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord cleared it away from their path. All night a fierce sirocco blew, and the Lord turned the sea into dry land, the waters parting this way and that.
 Exodus	Ex	2	14	22	So the Israelites went through the midst of the sea dry-shod, with its waters towering up like a wall to right and left.
 Exodus	Ex	2	14	23	And the Egyptians, still in pursuit, pressed on after them, all Pharao’s mounted troops, his chariots and horsemen, driving on through the midst of the sea.
 Exodus	Ex	2	14	24	It was already the first watch of the morning, when suddenly, through the pillar of fire and mist, the Lord looked down upon the Egyptians, and brought their army to its doom.
 Exodus	Ex	2	14	25	He turned the wheels of their chariots aside, so that they drove through deep places, and the Egyptians began to say, Back, back! There is no facing Israel; the Lord is fighting on their side against us.
 Exodus	Ex	2	14	26	Then the Lord said to Moses, Stretch out thy hand over the sea, so that its waters shall recoil on the Egyptians, on all their chariots and their horsemen.
 Exodus	Ex	2	14	27	And when Moses stretched out his hand towards the sea, at early dawn, it went back to its bed, so that its waters met the Egyptians in their flight, and the Lord drowned them amid the waves.
 Exodus	Ex	2	14	28	Back came the water, overwhelming all the chariots and horsemen of Pharao’s army that had entered the sea in their pursuit; not a man escaped.
 Exodus	Ex	2	14	29	But the sons of Israel made their way through the midst of the sea where it had parted, its waters towering like a wall to right and left.
 Exodus	Ex	2	14	30	So the Lord rescued Israel that day from the assault of the Egyptians;
 Exodus	Ex	2	14	31	and when they saw the dead Egyptians washed up on the shore, and the great defeat the Lord had inflicted upon them, the people learned to fear the Lord, putting their trust in him and in his servant Moses.
 Exodus	Ex	2	15	1	Then Moses and the Israelites sang praise to the Lord, and this was their song: A psalm for the Lord, so great he is and so glorious; horse and rider hurled into the sea!
 Exodus	Ex	2	15	2	Who but the Lord is my protector, the pride of my song; who but the Lord has brought me deliverance? Shall I not praise him, my own God; shall I not extol him, the God of my father before me?
 Exodus	Ex	2	15	3	The Lord, the warrior God, whose very name tells of omnipotence!
 Exodus	Ex	2	15	4	That power could hurl Pharao’s chariots, Pharao’s army, into the sea; drowned in the Red Sea, the flower of all his chivalry;
 Exodus	Ex	2	15	5	the depths closed over them, and they sank to the bottom like a stone.
 Exodus	Ex	2	15	6	How magnificent, Lord, is the strength of thy right hand; that right hand which has shattered the enemy!
 Exodus	Ex	2	15	7	Against such majesty rose they but to fall; the hot breath of thy anger burnt them up like stubble.
 Exodus	Ex	2	15	8	The waters were piled high through the blast of thy fury; the waves were still, at the sea’s heart the depths congealed.
 Exodus	Ex	2	15	9	After them, seize them! the enemy cried; there will be spoils for all, to our heart’s content; now to unsheathe my sword, and deal the fatal blow!
 Exodus	Ex	2	15	10	A breath from thee, and the sea closed over them; they sank in the raging waters like lead.
 Exodus	Ex	2	15	11	What power is there, Lord, that can match thee? Who, as thou art, is august in holiness, who so worthy of fear and of praise, who so wonderful in his doings?
 Exodus	Ex	2	15	12	Thou hadst but to stretch out thy hand, and the earth swallowed them up.
 Exodus	Ex	2	15	13	Thy mercy had delivered Israel; thy mercy should be their guide; thy strong arms should carry them to the holy place where thou dwellest.
 Exodus	Ex	2	15	14	The heathen raged in their hill-fastnesses; anguish came upon Philistia’s citizens,
 Exodus	Ex	2	15	15	the chieftains of Edom were dismayed, the warriors of Moab overcome with fear; a numbness seized upon all that dwelt in Chanaan.
 Exodus	Ex	2	15	16	Terror and dread must needs fall upon them; still as a stone, under the threat of thy powerful arm, they must watch thy people go by, thy ransomed people, Lord, go by unharmed.
 Exodus	Ex	2	15	17	Entry thy people should have, and a home on the mountain thou claimest for thy own, the inviolable dwelling-place, Lord, thou hast made for thyself, the sanctuary thy own hands have fashioned!
 Exodus	Ex	2	15	18	The reign of the Lord will endure for ever and ever.
 Exodus	Ex	2	15	19	To horse! cried Pharao, and swept chariots and horsemen on into the sea; and the Lord brought the waters of the sea back over them, while the sons of Israel went through the midst of it dry-shod.
 Exodus	Ex	2	15	20	Hereupon Mary the prophetess, Aaron’s sister, went out with a tambour in her hand, and all the women-folk followed her, with tambour and with dances,
 Exodus	Ex	2	15	21	and took up from her the refrain, A psalm for the Lord, so great he is and so glorious; horse and rider hurled into the sea!
 Exodus	Ex	2	15	22	And now Moses led Israel away from the Red Sea, and they went out into the desert of Sur, where they found no water in three days’ marching over waste ground.
 Exodus	Ex	2	15	23	So they came to Mara, and even here they could not drink the water, so brackish it was to the taste; it was with good reason he called it Mara, for Mara means Bitterness.
 Exodus	Ex	2	15	24	Here the people were loud in their complaints against Moses; What shall we do for water? they said.
 Exodus	Ex	2	15	25	Whereupon he cried out to the Lord, and the Lord shewed him a tree whose wood turned the waters sweet when it was thrown into them. Here, too, he gave them laws and decrees to live by, and issued this challenge to them:
 Exodus	Ex	2	15	26	If thou wilt listen to the voice of the Lord thy God, his will doing, his word obeying, and all he bids thee observe, observing faithfully, never shall they fall on thee, the many woes brought on Egypt; I am the Lord, and it is health I bring thee.
 Exodus	Ex	2	15	27	After this the Israelites came to Elim, where they found twelve springs of water and seventy palm-trees, and pitched their tents beside the water.
 Exodus	Ex	2	16	1	Then, leaving Elim, the Israelite people marched to the desert of Sin, between Elim and Sinai. It was now the fifteenth day of the second month since they had left Egypt,
 Exodus	Ex	2	16	2	and the Israelites, one and all, there in the desert, were loud in their complaints against Moses and Aaron.
 Exodus	Ex	2	16	3	It would have been better, they told them, if the Lord had struck us dead in the land of Egypt, where we sat down to bowls of meat, and had more bread than we needed to content us. Was it well done to bring us out into this desert, and starve our whole company to death?
 Exodus	Ex	2	16	4	But the Lord said to Moses, I mean to rain down bread upon you from heaven. It will be for the people to go out and gather enough for their needs day by day; and so I shall have a test, whether they are ready to follow my orders or not.
 Exodus	Ex	2	16	5	Only when the sixth day comes must they lay in a store twice as large as they gathered on any of the others.
 Exodus	Ex	2	16	6	So Moses and Aaron told all the people of Israel, This night shall bring proof it was the Lord that rescued you from Egypt,
 Exodus	Ex	2	16	7	and to-morrow you shall witness his glory. He has heard your complaints against himself—not against us, we are nothing.
 Exodus	Ex	2	16	8	The Lord (said Moses) means to give you meat for your food this evening, and bread tomorrow to your heart’s content. Not unheard, the complaints you have brought against him; we count for nothing, it is the Lord’s dealings you complain of, not ours.
 Exodus	Ex	2	16	9	And Moses would have Aaron summon the whole people into the Lord’s presence, that had heard them talk so rebelliously.
 Exodus	Ex	2	16	10	Even as Aaron was speaking to the assembled Israelites, they looked round towards the desert, and saw the glory of the Lord revealed there in a cloud.
 Exodus	Ex	2	16	11	And the Lord said to Moses,
 Exodus	Ex	2	16	12	This be thy answer to the rebel talk I hear: This evening you shall have meat, and bread to-morrow to your hearts’ content; will you doubt, then, that I am the Lord your God?
 Exodus	Ex	2	16	13	Evening came, and brought with it a flight of quails, that settled in every part of the camp. And at morning, all about the camp, dew was lying;
 Exodus	Ex	2	16	14	dew that covered the earth’s surface, there in the desert, powdered fine as if it had been brayed by a pestle, lying on the ground like hoar-frost.
 Exodus	Ex	2	16	15	The Israelites could not tell what it was when they went to look at it; Man-hu, they said to one another, What is it? And Moses told them, This is the bread which the Lord has sent for your eating.
 Exodus	Ex	2	16	16	And this is the command the Lord gives you; everyone is to gather enough for his needs; a gomor a head is the measure he is to take up, just so much for each person living in his tent.
 Exodus	Ex	2	16	17	So the children of Israel did as they were bidden, gathering up one more, another less,
 Exodus	Ex	2	16	18	and each of them measuring it by the measure of a gomor. The man who gathered more did not gather too much for his household, or the man who gathered less too little; each gathered according to the number of mouths that must be filled.
 Exodus	Ex	2	16	19	None of you, Moses told them, must keep any of it for the morrow.
 Exodus	Ex	2	16	20	Little heed they gave him, but when some of them left part of it over till morning, it bred worms and corrupted, and Moses rebuked them for their disobedience.
 Exodus	Ex	2	16	21	So, every morning, each man gathered what would suffice for his needs; whatever was left till the sun grew hot, melted away.
 Exodus	Ex	2	16	22	When the sixth day came, they gathered a double allowance of two gomors a head. And when this was reported to Moses by those who were in command of the people,
 Exodus	Ex	2	16	23	he told them, Why, that is the direction the Lord has given us. To-morrow is the sabbath, a day of rest consecrated to the Lord; prepare all you need to prepare, cook all you need to cook, for to-day, and leave what is over for to-morrow.
 Exodus	Ex	2	16	24	And when they did as Moses had bidden them, they found that what they had left overnight did not corrupt or breed worms at all.
 Exodus	Ex	2	16	25	That is your food for to-day, Moses told them, because it is the Lord’s sabbath; go out to-day, and you will find nothing.
 Exodus	Ex	2	16	26	You have only six days to gather it in; you will find none on the seventh, the Lord’s day of rest forbids it.
 Exodus	Ex	2	16	27	And sure enough, when some of the people went out to gather it on the seventh day, they could find none.
 Exodus	Ex	2	16	28	Hereupon the Lord said to Moses, Will you never learn to do as my law commands you?
 Exodus	Ex	2	16	29	Can you not see that the sabbath is the Lord’s gift to you, and if he gives you a double allowance on the sixth day, it is because you must all stay within doors, not leaving your homes, on the seventh?
 Exodus	Ex	2	16	30	So on the seventh day the people kept the sabbath rest.
 Exodus	Ex	2	16	31	This food, which the Israelites called Mán, was white in colour and looked like coriander seed; its taste was like that of flour mixed with honey.
 Exodus	Ex	2	16	32	And now Moses told them a fresh command he had had from the Lord; he was to fill a gomor with it, and this was to be kept, so that later generations might know what kind of nourishment it was I gave them in the desert, when they had been rescued from the land of Egypt.
 Exodus	Ex	2	16	33	Take a jar, Moses said to Aaron, put into it as much of the manna as a gomor measure will contain, and leave it to lie in the presence of the Lord, as a treasure for after ages to keep.
 Exodus	Ex	2	16	34	Such was the Lord’s command to Moses; so Aaron left the jar to lie in the tabernacle, where it was to be kept.
 Exodus	Ex	2	16	35	The Israelites fed on this manna for forty years, while they were far from the haunts of men; this was their nourishment until they reached the frontiers of Chanaan.
 Exodus	Ex	2	16	36	(Note that the gomor measures a tenth of a bushel.)
 Exodus	Ex	2	17	1	Then the whole people of Israel left the desert of Sin, moving on from stage to stage as the Lord directed them, and encamped at Raphidim. But here they had no water to drink,
 Exodus	Ex	2	17	2	so they turned upon Moses crying out, We have nothing to drink; find water for us. Why do you turn upon me? asked Moses. Will you challenge the Lord?
 Exodus	Ex	2	17	3	But the people, thirsting for lack of water, grew loud in their complaints against Moses; Didst thou bring us away from Egypt, they said, only to let as die here, with our children and our cattle, of thirst?
 Exodus	Ex	2	17	4	Moses had recourse to the Lord; What can be done with them? he asked. A little more of this, and they will begin stoning me.
 Exodus	Ex	2	17	5	So the Lord bade Moses march out at the head of the people, taking some of the elders of Israel with him; and as he went, he was to carry in his hand the staff which he had used to smite the river.
 Exodus	Ex	2	17	6	I will meet thee, he said, at the rock of Horeb; thou hast but to smite that rock, and water will flow out of it, to give the people drink. All this Moses did, with the elders of Israel to witness it;
 Exodus	Ex	2	17	7	and the name he gave to that place was Challenge, because it was there the Israelites turned on him and challenged the Lord, by asking whether the Lord still went with them or not.
 Exodus	Ex	2	17	8	And while they were at Raphidim, the Amalecites came and offered the Israelites battle.
 Exodus	Ex	2	17	9	So Moses said to Josue, Muster me an army, and go out to fight against Amalec; I will take my stand to-morrow on the hill top, with the miraculous staff in my hand.
 Exodus	Ex	2	17	10	And Josue did as Moses bade him, going out to do battle with Amalec, while Moses, Aaron and Hur went up to the hill top.
 Exodus	Ex	2	17	11	Whenever Moses lifted up his hands, Israel had the better of it; only when he rested for a little did the victory go to Amalec.
 Exodus	Ex	2	17	12	But now Moses’ arms grew weary; so they found him a stone to sit on and bade him be seated on it; then, one on each side, Aaron and Hur kept his hands lifted up. In this way, the strength of his arms held out until set of sun,
 Exodus	Ex	2	17	13	while Josue routed Amalec, and all the forces Amalec could rally, at the sword’s point.
 Exodus	Ex	2	17	14	Put this on record in writing, the Lord said to Moses, and recite it in Josue’s hearing: I mean to efface the very name of Amalec from this earth.
 Exodus	Ex	2	17	15	Moses, too, built an altar there, and called it The Lord raises me up; and he cried out,
 Exodus	Ex	2	17	16	Lift up your hands to the Lord’s throne! The Lord declares war against Amalec, for all ages to come.
 Exodus	Ex	2	18	1	And now news reached Jethro, priest of Madian, Moses’ father-in-law, of all that God had done for Moses and for his people Israel, and how the Lord had rescued Israel from Egypt.
 Exodus	Ex	2	18	2	So he brought Moses his wife Sephora (for Moses had sent her back home),
 Exodus	Ex	2	18	3	and his two sons. The elder of these was called Gersam, because his father said, I have been a stranger, Ger, in an alien land,
 Exodus	Ex	2	18	4	and the younger Eliezer, Help from God, because, said Moses, the God of my father has helped me to escape from the power of Pharao.
 Exodus	Ex	2	18	5	So, here in the desert, where he lay encamped close to God’s mountain, Moses was visited by his father-in-law Jethro, and his sons, and his wife.
 Exodus	Ex	2	18	6	Jethro had sent word on to tell Moses who it was that came, and that he had Sephora and her two sons with him;
 Exodus	Ex	2	18	7	so Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, bowing low and greeting him with a kiss, and words of peaceful welcome passed between them. Then, within the shelter of his tent,
 Exodus	Ex	2	18	8	Moses told his father-in-law how the Lord had avenged Israel on Pharao and the Egyptians; what hardships they had met on the journey, and how the Lord had sent them relief.
 Exodus	Ex	2	18	9	The story of the Lord’s mercies to an oppressed people in delivering them from the power of Egypt rejoiced Jethro’s heart;
 Exodus	Ex	2	18	10	Blessed be the Lord, he said, who has brought you deliverance when you lay in the power of Pharao and of the Egyptians! Blessed be the Lord, who has put an end to your slavery in Egypt!
 Exodus	Ex	2	18	11	Now I know for certain that the Lord is greater than all other gods! An ill day for the Egyptians when they wronged you!
 Exodus	Ex	2	18	12	So Moses’ father-in-law Jethro brought offerings and sacrificed to God; and Aaron, with all the elders of Israel, came to sit at meat with him, there in God’s presence.
 Exodus	Ex	2	18	13	Next day, Moses was in his place deciding disputes among the people, who must stand there from morning till evening waiting for an audience with him;
 Exodus	Ex	2	18	14	and when Jethro saw how he busied himself over the people’s needs, he asked, What makest thou here among the people? Why dost thou sit there alone, with all the people waiting upon thee from morning till evening?
 Exodus	Ex	2	18	15	They come to me, answered Moses, to find out what God’s decision is.
 Exodus	Ex	2	18	16	Some dispute arises among them, and they come to me so that I may make a just award between them, telling them of the decrees which God issues, and of his law.
 Exodus	Ex	2	18	17	It is ill conceived, said Jethro, this practice of thine.
 Exodus	Ex	2	18	18	Thou wilt wear out thy own strength, and the patience of this people that goes with thee, and to no purpose; it is beyond thy powers to sustain this office all alone.
 Exodus	Ex	2	18	19	Here is a word of advice for thee; do but listen, and God will speed thee. Thy part is to be the representative of this people with God, referring all their affairs to him,
 Exodus	Ex	2	18	20	prescribing to them rite and observance, custom to be kept and duty to be done.
 Exodus	Ex	2	18	21	Meanwhile, choose out here and there among the people able men, God-fearing, lovers of truth and haters of gain ill won; put each of these in charge of a tribe, or of a hundred families, or fifty families, or ten.
 Exodus	Ex	2	18	22	These will administer justice to the people from day to day, referring graver matters to thee, but deciding for themselves all that is of less moment. Share thy burden with others, and find relief;
 Exodus	Ex	2	18	23	so thou wilt be able to carry out God’s commands, and endure the weight of all his claims upon thee, and yet all these folk will go home satisfied.
 Exodus	Ex	2	18	24	Moses listened to all that he proposed, and carried it into effect.
 Exodus	Ex	2	18	25	He chose out here and there among the Israelites active men, and made them rulers of the people, with the charge of a tribe, or a hundred families, or fifty families, or ten;
 Exodus	Ex	2	18	26	and these administered justice to the people day after day, referring graver matters to him, and deciding for themselves all that was of less moment.
 Exodus	Ex	2	18	27	And so he took leave of his father-in-law, who now went back to his own country.
 Exodus	Ex	2	19	1	The third new moon was rising since they left the land of Egypt, on the day when the Israelites reached the wilderness of Sinai.
 Exodus	Ex	2	19	2	They set out from Raphidim, and marched all the way to the Sinai desert before they encamped, pitching their tents there in full view of the mountain.
 Exodus	Ex	2	19	3	Here Moses went up to meet God, and the voice of God came to him from the mountain, A message to the race of Jacob; to Israel’s sons proclaim it:
 Exodus	Ex	2	19	4	You have seen for yourselves what I did to the Egyptians, how I carried you as if on eagle’s wings, and took you up into my care.
 Exodus	Ex	2	19	5	Listen, then, to my voice, and keep your covenant with me; and I, to whom all the earth belongs, will single you out among its peoples to be my own.
 Exodus	Ex	2	19	6	You shall serve me as a royal priesthood, as a consecrated nation; tell the Israelites this.
 Exodus	Ex	2	19	7	So, when Moses came back, he summoned the elders of the people, and told them what message it was the Lord had entrusted to him;
 Exodus	Ex	2	19	8	whereupon the whole people answered with one voice, We will do all the Lord has said. Moses went back to the Lord with this promise from the people,
 Exodus	Ex	2	19	9	and the Lord said to him, The time has come now when I mean to visit thee, wrapped in a dark cloud, so that all the people may hear me talking with thee, and obey thee without question henceforward. And when Moses had told him of the people’s promise,
 Exodus	Ex	2	19	10	he said, Go back to the people, and spend to-day and to-morrow ridding them of defilement. Let them wash their clothes,
 Exodus	Ex	2	19	11	and hold themselves in readiness for the third day; two days from now, the Lord will come down on to mount Sinai in the presence of all the people.
 Exodus	Ex	2	19	12	Keep them within bounds along the whole circle of it, and bid them beware of going up on to the mountain, or touching even the fringes of it; if anyone touches the mountain, his life must pay for it.
 Exodus	Ex	2	19	13	No hand must be laid on him, he must be stoned, or shot down with javelins; beast or man that touches the mountain is to die. All this, until they hear a blast on the ram’s horn; then let them go up on to the mountain.
 Exodus	Ex	2	19	14	So Moses went down again to the people, and rid them of defilement. First they must wash their clothes;
 Exodus	Ex	2	19	15	then he bade them hold themselves in readiness for the third day, and have no commerce with their wives.
 Exodus	Ex	2	19	16	And now the third day had come. Morning broke, and all at once thunder was heard, lightning shone out, and the mountain was covered with thick mist; loud rang the trumpet-blast, and the people in the camp were dismayed.
 Exodus	Ex	2	19	17	But Moses brought them out from the camp itself to meet the Lord, and they stood there close by the spurs of the mountain.
 Exodus	Ex	2	19	18	The whole of mount Sinai was by now wreathed in smoke, where the Lord had come down with fire about him, so that smoke went up as if from a furnace; it was a mountain full of terrors.
 Exodus	Ex	2	19	19	Louder yet grew the noise of the trumpet, longer its blast; and then Moses spoke to the Lord, and the Lord’s voice was heard in answer.
 Exodus	Ex	2	19	20	It was on the very top of mount Sinai that the Lord had come down, and now he called Moses up to the summit. When he had climbed up there
 Exodus	Ex	2	19	21	he was bidden go down again, and warn the people not to pass beyond their bounds in their eagerness to see the Lord; or it might be that a great multitude of them would incur death.
 Exodus	Ex	2	19	22	Even the priests who came into the Lord’s presence were to come sanctified, for fear he should smite them.
 Exodus	Ex	2	19	23	But, Lord, said Moses, the common folk will be in no danger of climbing up on to Sinai; thou thyself hast warned them, and bidden us set bounds, to keep the mountain inviolable.
 Exodus	Ex	2	19	24	Go down, the Lord said to him, and come back with Aaron alone; neither priests nor people are to go beyond their bounds, and come into the Lord’s presence, or he will slay them.
 Exodus	Ex	2	19	25	So Moses went back to the people, and told them all he was bidden.
 Exodus	Ex	2	20	1	And now God spoke all these words which follow.
 Exodus	Ex	2	20	2	I, the Lord, am thy God (he said); I, who rescued thee from the land of Egypt, where thou didst dwell in slavery.
 Exodus	Ex	2	20	3	Thou shalt not defy me by making other gods thy own.
 Exodus	Ex	2	20	4	Thou shalt not carve images, or fashion the likeness of anything in heaven above, or on earth beneath, or in the waters under the earth,
 Exodus	Ex	2	20	5	to bow down and worship it. I, thy God, the Lord Almighty, am jealous in my love; be my enemy, and thy children, to the third and fourth generation, for thy guilt shall make amends;
 Exodus	Ex	2	20	6	love me, keep my commandments, and mercy shall be thine a thousandfold.
 Exodus	Ex	2	20	7	Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God lightly on thy lips; if a man uses that name lightly, the Lord will not acquit him of sin.
 Exodus	Ex	2	20	8	Remember to keep the sabbath day holy.
 Exodus	Ex	2	20	9	Six days for drudgery, for doing all the work thou hast to do;
 Exodus	Ex	2	20	10	when the seventh day comes, it is a day of rest, consecrated to the Lord thy God. That day, all work shall be at an end, for thee and every son and daughter of thine, thy servants and serving-women, thy beasts, too, and the aliens that live within thy gates.
 Exodus	Ex	2	20	11	It was six days the Lord spent in making heaven and earth and sea and all that is in them; on the seventh day he rested, and that is why the Lord has blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
 Exodus	Ex	2	20	12	Honour thy father and thy mother; so thou shalt live long to enjoy the land which the Lord thy God means to give thee.
 Exodus	Ex	2	20	13	Thou shalt do no murder.
 Exodus	Ex	2	20	14	Thou shalt not commit adultery.
 Exodus	Ex	2	20	15	Thou shalt not steal.
 Exodus	Ex	2	20	16	Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
 Exodus	Ex	2	20	17	Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, or set thy heart upon thy neighbour’s wife, or servant or hand-maid or ox or ass or anything else that is his.
 Exodus	Ex	2	20	18	All the people stood watching while thunder rolled and lightning flashed, while the trumpet sounded and the mountain was wreathed in smoke, terrified and awe-stricken so that they kept their distance,
 Exodus	Ex	2	20	19	and cried out to Moses, Do thou tell us the message; we are ready to obey thee. Do not let us hear the Lord speaking; it will cost us our lives.
 Exodus	Ex	2	20	20	But Moses said to the people, Do not be afraid; God has come here to make trial of your obedience; he would have you possessed with the fear of him, to preserve you from sin.
 Exodus	Ex	2	20	21	So the people stood their ground far off, while Moses went up into the darkness where God was.
 Exodus	Ex	2	20	22	And the Lord gave Moses this further message for the Israelites: You stood watching while I spoke to you out of heaven;
 Exodus	Ex	2	20	23	it is not for you to make yourselves gods of silver or of gold.
 Exodus	Ex	2	20	24	It is enough to build me an altar of turf, on which to present burnt sacrifices and welcome-offerings, of sheep or oxen, wherever my name is honoured; so I will come to thee, and give thee my blessing.
 Exodus	Ex	2	20	25	Even if thou shouldst make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stones; to use any tool in the making of it is to profane it.
 Exodus	Ex	2	20	26	And when thou goest up to my altar, thou shalt not mount by steps, for fear of exposing thy body’s nakedness.
 Exodus	Ex	2	21	1	And these laws, he said, thou shalt promulgate to them.
 Exodus	Ex	2	21	2	If thou dost buy a slave that is a Hebrew by race, he shall do thee six years’ service, and in the seventh year, without any ransom paid, he shall go free.
 Exodus	Ex	2	21	3	He shall leave thy service in the same guise in which he entered it; if he came to thee married, his wife shall go free with him.
 Exodus	Ex	2	21	4	But if his master has assigned a wife to him, and she has borne sons and daughters, this woman and her children shall belong to the master; the slave shall go free in the same guise as before.
 Exodus	Ex	2	21	5	It may be that the slave, for love of his master, and of his own wife and children, will refuse to take his leave;
 Exodus	Ex	2	21	6	if so, his master shall bring him before the judgement-seat, and then fasten his ear with an auger to door or door-post, in token that the man is his slave in perpetuity.
 Exodus	Ex	2	21	7	If anyone sells his daughter into a man’s service, she is not to go free on the same conditions as a slave.
 Exodus	Ex	2	21	8	The master to whom she has been made over may send her away, if he has no liking for her, but he may not sell her to foreign masters; he has done her despite enough already.
 Exodus	Ex	2	21	9	He may betroth her, if he will, to his son; but if he does that, he must treat her as his daughter;
 Exodus	Ex	2	21	10	and if he finds his son another wife instead, he must marry the girl off, and give her clothes, and make all amends for the loss of her virginity.
 Exodus	Ex	2	21	11	If he is not prepared to do these three things, then she must go free, with no ransom paid for her.
 Exodus	Ex	2	21	12	Whoever kills a man with intent to kill, must pay for it with his life.
 Exodus	Ex	2	21	13	But where there was no malice aforethought, and God provides the occasion, he shall be allowed to find refuge in such place as I shall appoint for thee.
 Exodus	Ex	2	21	14	One who lies in wait on purpose to kill his neighbour shall be torn away even from my altar to die.
 Exodus	Ex	2	21	15	Death is the penalty for one who kills his father or his mother;
 Exodus	Ex	2	21	16	death is the penalty when a man is shewn to have carried off his fellow-man and sold him;
 Exodus	Ex	2	21	17	death is the penalty for one who curses father or mother.
 Exodus	Ex	2	21	18	Two fall out, and one is struck with a stone, or with the fist, not fatally, but so that he must take to his bed;
 Exodus	Ex	2	21	19	must the man who struck the blow be held guilty? Only till the other is well enough to get up and walk abroad with a stick; but he must compensate him for his loss of work, and for the doctor’s charges.
 Exodus	Ex	2	21	20	When a man beats his servant or his handmaid to death, if death follows at once, he must pay the full penalty;
 Exodus	Ex	2	21	21	but if they survive for a day or more, he shall go unpunished; the loss is his.
 Exodus	Ex	2	21	22	If men fall out, and one of them strikes a woman who is pregnant, so that the child is still-born, but she herself lives, he must pay whatever sum the woman’s husband demands, and the judges agree to;
 Exodus	Ex	2	21	23	if her death follows, then life must pay for life.
 Exodus	Ex	2	21	24	So it is to be; an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot;
 Exodus	Ex	2	21	25	burning for burning, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.
 Exodus	Ex	2	21	26	If anyone gives servant or handmaid a blow on the eye, so that the sight of it is lost, he must set them free in return for the sight he robbed them of;
 Exodus	Ex	2	21	27	or if he knocks out a tooth, he must let servant or handmaid go free by the same title.
 Exodus	Ex	2	21	28	If an ox gores a man or woman to death, it shall be stoned, and the flesh of it is not to be eaten. But the owner of the ox shall be held innocent,
 Exodus	Ex	2	21	29	unless the ox has been using its horns for some time past, and he has refused to shut it away when appeal was made to him. Then, if the ox gores man or woman, it shall be stoned, and he too shall be put to death,
 Exodus	Ex	2	21	30	unless a fine is imposed on him instead; if so, he shall pay whatever ransom is demanded for his life.
 Exodus	Ex	2	21	31	The parents shall have the same claim upon him, whether it be a son or daughter of theirs the ox has gored;
 Exodus	Ex	2	21	32	if it has attacked man-servant or woman-servant, the owner must pay thirty silver pieces, and the ox must be stoned.
 Exodus	Ex	2	21	33	If a man who has opened an old well, or is digging a new one, does not cover it up, and ox or ass falls into it,
 Exodus	Ex	2	21	34	the owner of the well shall pay the full value of the beasts; the carcase he may keep for himself.
 Exodus	Ex	2	21	35	If one man’s ox is wounded by another’s, and dies of it, they shall sell the live ox and share the price of it, dividing the carcase of the dead ox between them;
 Exodus	Ex	2	21	36	unless it has been known for some time past that the live ox was using its horns, and the owner has not kept it under control. If so, he shall restore ox for ox, and keep the whole carcase for himself.
 Exodus	Ex	2	22	1	The man who steals ox or sheep and slaughters or sells it, must make restitution at the rate of five oxen for one, and four sheep for one.
 Exodus	Ex	2	22	2	When a thief is caught breaking into a house, or digging under the walls of it, the man who deals him a fatal wound is not guilty of murder, unless the deed was done after sun-rise.
 Exodus	Ex	2	22	3	If the sun be risen, there is murder done, and life must pay for life. The thief who has no money to make restitution with, must himself be sold as a slave.
 Exodus	Ex	2	22	4	If something stolen, ox or ass or sheep, is found alive in the possession of the thief, he shall make restitution twofold.
 Exodus	Ex	2	22	5	If anyone damages field or vineyard by letting some beast of his feed on another man’s property, he must make good the estimated loss out of the best crop in his own field or vineyard.
 Exodus	Ex	2	22	6	If a fire breaks out and catches among thorn-bushes, setting light to heaps of grain or to corn standing in the fields, the man who lit the fire must make good the loss.
 Exodus	Ex	2	22	7	Where money or goods entrusted to a friend’s keeping have been stolen, the thief, if he is found, must make twofold restitution.
 Exodus	Ex	2	22	8	If he cannot be found, the owner of the house where they lay in keeping shall be brought before the judgement-seat. He must swear that he laid no hands on his neighbour’s property with malicious intent.
 Exodus	Ex	2	22	9	Be there a loss of ox or ass or sheep or clothing or any other kind of property, the two parties shall come before the judgement-seat, and the defendant, if he is found guilty, shall make twofold restitution.
 Exodus	Ex	2	22	10	If a man entrusts his neighbour with ass or ox or sheep or any other beast for safe keeping, and it is killed or wounded or carried off by enemies, with no witness to the fact,
 Exodus	Ex	2	22	11	the matter shall be settled by an oath, which the owner shall accept, that the other did not lay hands on his property; there is no restitution to be made.
 Exodus	Ex	2	22	12	But where the loss is due to theft, the owner shall be compensated.
 Exodus	Ex	2	22	13	If it has been killed by a wild beast, the carcase must be brought before the owner, and no amends made.
 Exodus	Ex	2	22	14	Where a man has borrowed any such beast of his neighbour, and it is maimed or killed in the owner’s absence, compensation must be made to him;
 Exodus	Ex	2	22	15	but not if the owner himself was present, and especially if hire was being paid for the work the beast did.
 Exodus	Ex	2	22	16	One who seduces a virgin not yet betrothed, and beds with her, must give her a dowry and marry her,
 Exodus	Ex	2	22	17	unless the father will not give her in marriage; then amends must be made, equivalent to the dowry which a virgin customarily receives.
 Exodus	Ex	2	22	18	Sorcerers must not be allowed to live.
 Exodus	Ex	2	22	19	The man who is guilty of bestiality must pay for it with his life.
 Exodus	Ex	2	22	20	Sacrifice is for the Lord alone; he who offers it to other gods must be put to death.
 Exodus	Ex	2	22	21	There must be no harrying or oppression of the aliens that dwell among you; time was when you too dwelt as aliens in the land of Egypt.
 Exodus	Ex	2	22	22	You must not wrong the widow and the orphan;
 Exodus	Ex	2	22	23	wronged, they will cry out to me for redress, and their cry will be heard.
 Exodus	Ex	2	22	24	My anger will blaze out against you, and I will smite you with the sword, making widows of your own wives, orphans of your own children.
 Exodus	Ex	2	22	25	If thou dost lend money to some poorer neighbour among my people, thou shalt not drive him hard as extortioners do, or burden him with usury.
 Exodus	Ex	2	22	26	If thou takest thy neighbour’s garment for a pledge, thou shalt give it back to him by set of sun;
 Exodus	Ex	2	22	27	it is all he has to cover himself with, his body’s protection, all he has to sleep under. He has but to cry for redress, and I, the ever merciful, will listen to him.
 Exodus	Ex	2	22	28	Thou shalt not revile the powers above thee, or speak ill of him who rules thy people.
 Exodus	Ex	2	22	29	There must be no delay in paying tithes and first-fruits. Thou shalt make me an offering of the first son that is born to thee,
 Exodus	Ex	2	22	30	and with thy oxen and sheep thou shalt do the like; for seven days the dam may keep her first-born, after that it must be offered to me.
 Exodus	Ex	2	22	31	You are to be men marked out for my service. Meat that has once been tasted by wild beasts shall not be used for food; it must be thrown to the dogs.
 Exodus	Ex	2	23	1	Never must thou take up a false cry, or join hands with the guilty by giving false witness in their favour.
 Exodus	Ex	2	23	2	Never must thou follow with the crowd in doing wrong, or be swayed by many voices so as to give false judgement;
 Exodus	Ex	2	23	3	even pity for the poor must not sway thee when judgement is to be given.
 Exodus	Ex	2	23	4	If thou hast an enemy, and findest his ox or his ass going astray, take it back to him.
 Exodus	Ex	2	23	5	Here is one that hates thee, and his ass has fallen under its burden; do not pass by, help him to lift it up.
 Exodus	Ex	2	23	6	Do not give false judgement when the cause of the poor is tried.
 Exodus	Ex	2	23	7	Keep clear of untruth. Do not bring death on an innocent man that has justice on his side; I give no countenance to the wrong-doer.
 Exodus	Ex	2	23	8	Beware of accepting bribes; they blind even the prudent, and disturb the judgement even of just men.
 Exodus	Ex	2	23	9	Do not oppress the alien; you know what it is to be an alien, since you yourselves were exiles in the land of Egypt.
 Exodus	Ex	2	23	10	For six years together thou mayst sow thy land, and gather the crop from it;
 Exodus	Ex	2	23	11	in the seventh year leave it alone, to lie fallow, and give thy poorer neighbours food; all that is left, the wild beasts may eat. And thou shalt do the like with thy vineyard and thy oliveyard.
 Exodus	Ex	2	23	12	For six days together thou shalt do the tasks thou hast to do, and on the seventh leave off working; so shall ox and ass of thine have rest, home-born slave and alien that works for thee revive their spirits.
 Exodus	Ex	2	23	13	Observe all these commandments of mine, and never take an oath by the names of alien gods, or let such names be heard on your lips.
 Exodus	Ex	2	23	14	Thrice a year keep holiday in my honour.
 Exodus	Ex	2	23	15	There is the feast of unleavened bread to be observed; for seven days, in the first month of spring, the month of thy rescue from Egypt, thou shalt eat unleavened bread in obedience to my command. Then thou shalt present thyself before me with gifts.
 Exodus	Ex	2	23	16	And there is the feast of harvest, when the fields thou hast sown reward thy labour with first-fruits; and another feast at the end of the year, when the last of thy crops has been gathered in.
 Exodus	Ex	2	23	17	Thrice, then, in the year all thy men folk must present themselves before the Lord thy God.
 Exodus	Ex	2	23	18	When thou offerest living things in sacrifice to me, the bread that goes with them shall not be leavened, nor shalt thou leave the fat of my victims unconsumed till the morrow.
 Exodus	Ex	2	23	19	The first-fruits of thy land must be brought to the house of the Lord thy God. Seething a kid in its dam’s milk is a rite forbidden thee.
 Exodus	Ex	2	23	20	And now I am sending my angel to go before thee and guard thee on thy way, and lead thee to the place I have made ready for thee.
 Exodus	Ex	2	23	21	Give him good heed, and listen to his bidding; think not to treat him with neglect. He will not overlook thy faults, and in him dwells the power of my name.
 Exodus	Ex	2	23	22	If thou wilt listen to his warnings, and do all I bid thee, then thy enemies shall find an enemy in me, and those who shew thee no mercy shall find me merciless.
 Exodus	Ex	2	23	23	So this angel of mine will go on before thee, leading thee on into the land of Amorrhite and Hethite, Pherezite and Chanaanite, Hevite and Jebusite; and all these I will destroy.
 Exodus	Ex	2	23	24	Do not bow down to their gods and worship them, or follow their customs; sweep them away, and break down their monuments.
 Exodus	Ex	2	23	25	All your loyalty must be for the Lord your God. So I will enrich thee with the bread and the water thou needest, and keep sickness far away from thy company;
 Exodus	Ex	2	23	26	there shall be no unfruitfulness in thy land, no barrenness; and I will grant thee a full span of days.
 Exodus	Ex	2	23	27	I mean to make the fear of me go in front of thee, bringing destruction upon the whole people thou goest to meet; all thy enemies shall turn their backs before thee.
 Exodus	Ex	2	23	28	I will send in hornets first, to make cowards of Hevite and Chanaanite and Hethite before ever thou goest in.
 Exodus	Ex	2	23	29	Only I will not drive them out before thee all in one year; that would make a wilderness of the land, and the wild beasts in it would multiply, to thy harm.
 Exodus	Ex	2	23	30	I will make them yield little by little before thy onset, so that thou wilt have time to increase, and populate the land.
 Exodus	Ex	2	23	31	The frontiers I give thee are the Red Sea and the sea of the Philistines, the desert and the river Euphrates. All the inhabitants of the land shall be at your mercy, and I will drive them out before you.
 Exodus	Ex	2	23	32	Thou shalt make no treaty with them, nor with their gods.
 Exodus	Ex	2	23	33	They must not share thy territory, or they would persuade thee to commit sin against me, by worshipping their gods; no doubt of it, they will ensnare thee.
 Exodus	Ex	2	24	1	Then Moses was told, Do thou and Aaron and Nadab and Abiu, with seventy elders of Israel, come up to meet the Lord, and worship from afar.
 Exodus	Ex	2	24	2	Only Moses must enter the Lord’s presence, the rest are not to draw near, and none of the people are to come up with him.
 Exodus	Ex	2	24	3	So Moses went and told the people all the Lord had said, all the commands he had given; and the whole people answered with one voice, We will do all that the Lord has bidden us.
 Exodus	Ex	2	24	4	Then Moses committed everything the Lord had said to writing; and when he rose next morning, he built an altar close to the spurs of the mountain, and twelve memorial stones answering to the twelve tribes of Israel.
 Exodus	Ex	2	24	5	And he directed some of the younger Israelites to make burnt-sacrifice there and bring welcome-offerings to the Lord, with bullocks for their victims.
 Exodus	Ex	2	24	6	After this Moses took half of the blood, and set it aside in bowls; the other half he poured out on the altar.
 Exodus	Ex	2	24	7	Then he took up the book in which the covenant was inscribed, and read it aloud to the people. We will do all the Lord has bidden us, said they; we promise obedience;
 Exodus	Ex	2	24	8	and Moses took the blood and sprinkled it over the people, crying out, Here is the blood of the covenant which the Lord makes with you, in accordance with all these words of his.
 Exodus	Ex	2	24	9	Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abiu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up the mountain,
 Exodus	Ex	2	24	10	and had a vision of the God of Israel, with a pavement about his feet that might have been made of sapphire, bright as the fashioning of the heavens.
 Exodus	Ex	2	24	11	There they stood, far removed from the rest of Israel, and the hand of the Lord never smote them down; they had sight of him, and lived to eat and drink like mortal men.
 Exodus	Ex	2	24	12	And the Lord said to Moses, Come up to the mountain and abide with me there; I have still to give thee tablets of stone on which I have written down the law and the commandments thou art to teach them.
 Exodus	Ex	2	24	13	At that, Moses rose up, and his servant Josue with him; and Moses, as he began climbing God’s mountain,
 Exodus	Ex	2	24	14	said to the elders, Wait here till we come back to you. You have Aaron and Hur with you; to them refer all matters of dispute.
 Exodus	Ex	2	24	15	When Moses had gone, the mountain was veiled in cloud;
 Exodus	Ex	2	24	16	for six days the glory of the Lord abode there on Sinai, wrapping it in cloud, and on the seventh day, from the heart of that darkness, the Lord called to him.
 Exodus	Ex	2	24	17	To the Israelites, as they looked upon it, this glory of the Lord wore the semblance of a fire, burning there on the summit of the mountain.
 Exodus	Ex	2	24	18	So Moses climbed higher up the mountain, into the heart of the cloud; for forty days and forty nights the mountain was his home.
 Exodus	Ex	2	25	1	And now the Lord gave Moses this message,
 Exodus	Ex	2	25	2	Bid the Israelites bring me gifts in kind, each man offering what his heart prompts him to offer, for your acceptance.
 Exodus	Ex	2	25	3	And these are the gifts you will declare to be acceptable, gold, silver and bronze;
 Exodus	Ex	2	25	4	threads of blue and purple and scarlet twice-dyed, and lawn, and goats’ hair,
 Exodus	Ex	2	25	5	and rams’ fleeces dyed red, and skins dyed violet; acacia wood,
 Exodus	Ex	2	25	6	and oil to feed lamps, spices for the anointing-oil, and sweet-smelling incense;
 Exodus	Ex	2	25	7	onyx-stones, too, and jewels, to be set in the priestly mantle and burse.
 Exodus	Ex	2	25	8	I mean them to build me a sanctuary, so that I can dwell among them;
 Exodus	Ex	2	25	9	this tabernacle-dwelling itself and the appurtenances to be used in it must be of the pattern which I will now shew thee. Listen, then, to the fashion of it.
 Exodus	Ex	2	25	10	Make me an ark of acacia wood, two and a half cubits long, with a breadth and height of one and a half cubits.
 Exodus	Ex	2	25	11	Give it a covering and a lining of pure gold, and put a coping of gold all round the top of it;
 Exodus	Ex	2	25	12	a ring of gold, too, at each of the four corners, two on either of the flanks.
 Exodus	Ex	2	25	13	Then make poles of acacia wood, gilded over,
 Exodus	Ex	2	25	14	and pass them through the rings on the sides of the ark, so as to carry it;
 Exodus	Ex	2	25	15	these poles are to remain in the rings, never taken out.
 Exodus	Ex	2	25	16	In this ark thou wilt enshrine the written law I mean to give thee.
 Exodus	Ex	2	25	17	Make a throne, too, of pure gold, two and a half cubits long, one and a half cubits broad,
 Exodus	Ex	2	25	18	and two cherubs of pure beaten gold for the two ends of this throne,
 Exodus	Ex	2	25	19	one to stand on either side of it;
 Exodus	Ex	2	25	20	with their wings outspread to cover the throne, guardians of the shrine. They are to face one another across the throne. And this throne is to be the covering of the ark,
 Exodus	Ex	2	25	21	and the ark’s contents, the written law I mean to give thee.
 Exodus	Ex	2	25	22	Thence will I issue my commands; from that throne of mercy, between the two cherubs that stand over the ark and its records, my voice shall come to thee, whenever I send word through thee to the sons of Israel.
 Exodus	Ex	2	25	23	Make a table, too, of acacia wood, two cubits long, a cubit broad, and a cubit and a half in height;
 Exodus	Ex	2	25	24	gild it with pure gold, and make a rim of gold about its edge,
 Exodus	Ex	2	25	25	with an embossed coping four inches high, and a second coping of gold over that.
 Exodus	Ex	2	25	26	Make four rings of gold, and fix them to the four corners of the table, one by each leg of it.
 Exodus	Ex	2	25	27	The rings must be below the coping, to let poles pass through, that will carry the table;
 Exodus	Ex	2	25	28	these poles too thou shalt make of acacia wood, and gild them over; so the table shall be carried.
 Exodus	Ex	2	25	29	So with the cups, too, and the bowls, and the dishes, and the goblets for pouring out libations; all of them must be of pure gold.
 Exodus	Ex	2	25	30	The table is to hold the loaves of bread which are to be set out continually in my presence.
 Exodus	Ex	2	25	31	Make a lamp-stand, too, of pure beaten gold, stem and branches, cups and bosses, and fleurs-de-lis that spring from them.
 Exodus	Ex	2	25	32	Six branches are to come out of the stem, three on each side;
 Exodus	Ex	2	25	33	and on each branch there are to be three cups shaped like almond-flowers, then a boss, then a fleur-de-lis, balanced by three cups and a boss and a fleur-de-lis on the opposite branch; such is to be the fashion of all the six branches that come out of the stem.
 Exodus	Ex	2	25	34	But the stem itself is to have four cups, shaped like almond-flowers, each with its boss and its fleur-de-lis;
 Exodus	Ex	2	25	35	there will be six branches altogether coming out of a single stem, and under each pair of them there will be an additional boss.
 Exodus	Ex	2	25	36	The bosses and the branches must be of a piece with the main stem, and all alike must be of pure beaten gold.
 Exodus	Ex	2	25	37	Make seven lamps, too, and mount them on the lamp-stand, so as to throw their light on the opposite wall.
 Exodus	Ex	2	25	38	Even the snuffers, and the trays for the burnt wick, must be made of pure gold.
 Exodus	Ex	2	25	39	The whole weight of the lamp-stand, together with its appurtenances, must be a talent of pure gold.
 Exodus	Ex	2	25	40	Look well, and make everything in due accord with the pattern which has been shewn to thee on the mountain.
 Exodus	Ex	2	26	1	And this is how the tabernacle is to be fashioned. Make ten curtains of twisted linen thread, worked in threads of blue and purple and scarlet twice-dyed, with all the embroiderer’s art.
 Exodus	Ex	2	26	2	All the curtains are to be of the same size, twenty-eight cubits in length and four in width.
 Exodus	Ex	2	26	3	Five of these must be joined to each other, and then the remaining five in the same way;
 Exodus	Ex	2	26	4	the sides, the extreme edges of the curtains must be fitted with loops of blue cord, to fasten one to the next,
 Exodus	Ex	2	26	5	fifty loops at the edge of either set of curtains, so let in that loop meets loop and can be fastened to it.
 Exodus	Ex	2	26	6	Then make fifty gold clasps, and join the two widths of curtain together, to make a single tent of them.
 Exodus	Ex	2	26	7	Next, make eleven coverings of goats’ hair, to protect the tapestry over the tabernacle.
 Exodus	Ex	2	26	8	The measurements of all these coverings are to be the same; each will be thirty cubits long and four cubits wide.
 Exodus	Ex	2	26	9	Join together first five of the coverings, then the other six; the sixth of these is to hang double over the front of the tapestry.
 Exodus	Ex	2	26	10	Make fifty loops at the edge of the first set of coverings, then fifty at the edge of the other, to join them together,
 Exodus	Ex	2	26	11	and fifty brazen clasps, to hold these loops together, so that the whole may form a single protecting roof.
 Exodus	Ex	2	26	12	Since there is one more of these coverings than is needed for the protection of the tapestry, fold it double and use it to protect the back of the tabernacle.
 Exodus	Ex	2	26	13	The coverings are a cubit longer on the north and south than the tapestry, and this additional cubit will hang down, to protect the tabernacle itself on either side.
 Exodus	Ex	2	26	14	Then make another canopy over the roof, of rams’ fleeces dyed red, and yet another, of skins dyed violet.
 Exodus	Ex	2	26	15	Then make upright frames of acacia wood to support the tabernacle.
 Exodus	Ex	2	26	16	Each must be ten cubits high, and a cubit and a half wide;
 Exodus	Ex	2	26	17	and at the sides of it, two tenon-pieces must jut out, so that each frame can be mortised to the next; all the frames are to be made in this manner.
 Exodus	Ex	2	26	18	Twenty of these will be on the south, facing the midday sun,
 Exodus	Ex	2	26	19	with forty silver sockets, two at the foot of each frame, close to the corners;
 Exodus	Ex	2	26	20	and twenty more on the opposite side, that looks northwards;
 Exodus	Ex	2	26	21	these again will have forty silver sockets, two at the foot of each frame.
 Exodus	Ex	2	26	22	And for the western end of the tabernacle there will be six frames,
 Exodus	Ex	2	26	23	and two in addition, which must be set up in the corners at the extreme end of the tabernacle.
 Exodus	Ex	2	26	24	All these will be joined together, from bottom to top, with a single kind of fastening to hold them all; the two frames which are to be set up in the corners will be joined in the same way as the others.
 Exodus	Ex	2	26	25	Thus there will be eight frames in all, with sixteen silver sockets, two to each frame.
 Exodus	Ex	2	26	26	Then make five poles of acacia wood, to hold the frames together on one side of the tabernacle,
 Exodus	Ex	2	26	27	and five more to hold it together on the other side, and the same number for the western end;
 Exodus	Ex	2	26	28	these will be passed right along the frames from end to end.
 Exodus	Ex	2	26	29	Gild the frames themselves, and furnish them with gold rings, by which the poles can hold the frames together; these poles, too, must be plated with gold.
 Exodus	Ex	2	26	30	So must thou set up the tabernacle, in conformity with the pattern that has been shewn to thee on the mountain.
 Exodus	Ex	2	26	31	Make a veil, too, out of twisted linen thread, worked in threads of blue and purple and scarlet twice-dyed, with all the embroiderer’s art,
 Exodus	Ex	2	26	32	and let it hang down from four posts of acacia wood, gilded and with gilt capitals, but set in silver sockets.
 Exodus	Ex	2	26	33	This veil will be held up by rings. The ark is to be set down behind it, and thus it will be a division between the sanctuary and the inner sanctuary.
 Exodus	Ex	2	26	34	The throne, too, which rests above the ark and its records, will be in the inner sanctuary;
 Exodus	Ex	2	26	35	on the outer side of the veil, the table will stand on the north, and the lamp-stand on the south side of the tabernacle, opposite the table.
 Exodus	Ex	2	26	36	Make a screen, too, out of twisted linen thread, embroidered with threads of blue and purple and scarlet twice-dyed, for the entrance of the tabernacle;
 Exodus	Ex	2	26	37	it must hang from five gilded posts of acacia wood, with gilt capitals and sockets of bronze.
 Exodus	Ex	2	27	1	Make an altar, too, of acacia wood, with a surface five cubits square, and a height of three cubits.
 Exodus	Ex	2	27	2	It must have horns at the corners, all of a piece with it, and it must be plated with bronze.
 Exodus	Ex	2	27	3	Provide it with ash-pans, tongs, forks, and braziers, making all its appurtenances of bronze;
 Exodus	Ex	2	27	4	and make a bronze grating, of network, with bronze rings at its four corners,
 Exodus	Ex	2	27	5	sunk in the hearth of the altar; this grating must reach to half the altar’s height.
 Exodus	Ex	2	27	6	Then make two poles of acacia wood, plated with bronze,
 Exodus	Ex	2	27	7	which can be put through the rings on either side of the altar, so as to carry it.
 Exodus	Ex	2	27	8	The altar is not to be made solid, but to have a hollow space within, after the manner shewn thee on the mountain.
 Exodus	Ex	2	27	9	Make a court, too, round the tabernacle. At the south side of this, towards the mid-day sun, there will be hangings made of twisted linen thread, a hundred cubits long on this side,
 Exodus	Ex	2	27	10	and twenty posts, each with its socket made of bronze, its engraved capital of silver.
 Exodus	Ex	2	27	11	So, too, on the north side, hangings a hundred feet long, twenty posts with bronze sockets and engraved silver capitals.
 Exodus	Ex	2	27	12	On the short side, westwards, the line of hangings will be only fifty cubits long, and there will be only ten posts in ten sockets.
 Exodus	Ex	2	27	13	The side which looks eastward will also be fifty cubits in length;
 Exodus	Ex	2	27	14	of these, fifteen at one end will be protected by a line of hangings fifteen cubits long, with three posts and as many sockets,
 Exodus	Ex	2	27	15	and there will be fifteen cubits’ length of hangings, with three posts and as many sockets, at the other end too;
 Exodus	Ex	2	27	16	in between, at the gateway of the court, there will be hangings of twisted linen thread, embroidered with threads of blue and purple and scarlet twice-dyed, twenty cubits in length; these will have four posts, and as many sockets.
 Exodus	Ex	2	27	17	All the posts of the court must be plated with silver, and have capitals of silver, and sockets of bronze.
 Exodus	Ex	2	27	18	Thus the court will occupy a space a hundred cubits long and fifty wide, and the enclosure, of twisted linen thread with bronze sockets underneath, will be five cubits in height.
 Exodus	Ex	2	27	19	All the appurtenances the tabernacle needs for its various purposes and ceremonies, and all the pegs for making the enclosure and the tabernacle itself fast, must be made of bronze.
 Exodus	Ex	2	27	20	Bid the Israelites supply thee with olive oil, pure as when the pestle brayed it, so that there may be a lamp burning perpetually
 Exodus	Ex	2	27	21	in the tabernacle that bears record of me, before the veil that hides the place of record. Aaron and his sons are to set it out there, so that it may burn in the Lord’s presence till daybreak. This is a custom the Israelites are to observe in every generation.
 Exodus	Ex	2	28	1	And now, that I may have priests to serve me among the sons of Israel, summon thy brother Aaron, with his sons, Nadab, Abiu, Eleazar and Ithamar, to thy presence.
 Exodus	Ex	2	28	2	Thou shalt have sacred vestments made for thy brother Aaron, to his honour and adornment,
 Exodus	Ex	2	28	3	bidding all those cunning workmen, whose art is the gift of my spirit, so clothe him as to set him apart for my service.
 Exodus	Ex	2	28	4	And these are the vestments they shall make; a burse, a mantle, a tunic, a pleated robe, a mitre, and a girdle. Such sacred vestments must be made for thy brother Aaron and his sons, before they can minister as my priests.
 Exodus	Ex	2	28	5	The workmen must provide themselves with gold, with threads of blue and purple and scarlet twice-dyed, and with linen thread.
 Exodus	Ex	2	28	6	Of gold, of blue and purple and scarlet twice-dyed, and of twisted linen thread, the mantle is to be made, all embroidered work.
 Exodus	Ex	2	28	7	At the top, on either side, it shall have the two shoulder-pieces joined together so as to make one garment.
 Exodus	Ex	2	28	8	The whole of its embroidered texture shall be of gold, blue, purple, scarlet twice-dyed, and twisted linen thread.
 Exodus	Ex	2	28	9	Then thou shalt take two onyx-stones, and inscribe them with the names of Israel’s twelve sons,
 Exodus	Ex	2	28	10	six on one stone and six on the other, in the order of their birth;
 Exodus	Ex	2	28	11	and these stones, graven with all the skill of the gem-carver, and set in clasps of gold,
 Exodus	Ex	2	28	12	thou shalt let into the mantle, one on either side, to perpetuate the memory of Israel’s sons. Aaron shall carry those names on his two shoulders, when he goes into the Lord’s presence, and so remind him of them.
 Exodus	Ex	2	28	13	Then make two golden hooks,
 Exodus	Ex	2	28	14	and two chains of pure gold, with closely fitted links, which thou wilt fasten to the hooks.
 Exodus	Ex	2	28	15	And make a burse, from which thou wilt take counsel; it is to be of the same texture as the mantle itself, embroidered work of gold, and threads of blue and purple and scarlet twice-dyed, and twisted linen threads.
 Exodus	Ex	2	28	16	It is to be made double, and either part of it square, a palm’s length by a palm’s breadth.
 Exodus	Ex	2	28	17	And thou shalt set in it four rows of stones; in the first row will be a sardius, a topaz, and an emerald;
 Exodus	Ex	2	28	18	in the second, a carbuncle, a sapphire, and a jasper-stone;
 Exodus	Ex	2	28	19	in the third, a jacynth, an agate, and an amethyst;
 Exodus	Ex	2	28	20	in the fourth, a chrysolite, an onyx-stone, and a beryl; each row is to be set in gold.
 Exodus	Ex	2	28	21	And they will contain the names of the sons of Israel, each stone being engraved with the name of one of the twelve tribes, in their order.
 Exodus	Ex	2	28	22	The burse, then, must have two chains of pure gold, their links closely fitted,
 Exodus	Ex	2	28	23	and two rings of gold, attached to its two edges;
 Exodus	Ex	2	28	24	with these two rings at the edges thou wilt couple the two chains,
 Exodus	Ex	2	28	25	making fast the other ends of the chains to the two hooks, which will be fixed on either side of the mantle, where it faces towards the burse.
 Exodus	Ex	2	28	26	Then make two gold rings, which must be attached to the edges of the burse, to that part of its lining which looks towards the mantle, that is, inwards;
 Exodus	Ex	2	28	27	and two other gold rings, which must be attached to either side of the mantle underneath, facing the lower point where burse meets mantle, so that the two can be tied together.
 Exodus	Ex	2	28	28	Thou shalt use blue cords to make the rings of the burse fast to the rings of the mantle; thus the two will be joined in a workmanlike fashion, and will never come apart.
 Exodus	Ex	2	28	29	And whenever Aaron goes into the sanctuary, he will carry on his breast, on the burse that gives counsel, the names of Israel’s sons, putting the Lord in mind of them eternally.
 Exodus	Ex	2	28	30	And within the burse that gives counsel thou wilt put the touchstones of wisdom and of truth. These shall be on Aaron’s breast, when he enters the Lord’s presence; as long as he is there, he will be carrying on his breast the arbitrament of the sons of Israel.
 Exodus	Ex	2	28	31	The tunic that goes with the mantle is to be made all of blue,
 Exodus	Ex	2	28	32	and in the middle of it there is to be an opening for the head, with a woven border round it, such as is commonly put round the edges of garments, to prevent tearing.
 Exodus	Ex	2	28	33	Underneath, round the skirt of this tunic, thou shalt hang ornaments of blue thread and purple, and of scarlet twice-dyed, pomegranate-shaped, with bells between them;
 Exodus	Ex	2	28	34	a golden bell, then a pomegranate, then another golden bell, then another pomegranate.
 Exodus	Ex	2	28	35	In this Aaron shall ever be clothed when he performs his priestly office; with the ringing of bells he must announce his comings and goings in the sanctuary, there in the Lord’s presence, on pain of death.
 Exodus	Ex	2	28	36	And thou shalt make a plate of pure gold, inscribed with all the engraver’s skill, with the words, Set apart for the Lord.
 Exodus	Ex	2	28	37	This is to be bound with a blue cord on to the mitre,
 Exodus	Ex	2	28	38	and will hang over the priest’s forehead. Whatever fault is found in offering and gift, by Israel’s sons dedicated and hallowed, Aaron must charge himself with it; and the Lord will overlook it, so long as the plate hangs ever on Aaron’s forehead.
 Exodus	Ex	2	28	39	The robe must be of pleated linen, the mitre also of linen, and the girdle of embroidered work.
 Exodus	Ex	2	28	40	For Aaron’s sons, too, thou shalt make linen robes and girdles and mitres; to their honour and adornment;
 Exodus	Ex	2	28	41	in all these vestments Aaron thy brother shall be clad, and his sons with him. And thou shalt consecrate their hands, and set them apart to serve me in the priestly office.
 Exodus	Ex	2	28	42	Breeches of linen, too, shall be made for them, to cover all that must not be seen naked, from loin to thigh;
 Exodus	Ex	2	28	43	these Aaron and his sons shall wear whenever they enter the tabernacle that bears record of me, or draw near the altar to do me service in the sanctuary, on pain of death. Such observance Aaron, and his sons after him, shall maintain perpetually.
 Exodus	Ex	2	29	1	And there is more for thee to do, before they can be my consecrated priests. Choose a bullock out of the herd, and two rams without blemish.
 Exodus	Ex	2	29	2	Then make unleavened bread, and unleavened pastry baked with oil, and unleavened cakes soaked in oil, all of pure wheat flour,
 Exodus	Ex	2	29	3	and put them in a basket ready to be offered up. The bullock and the two rams
 Exodus	Ex	2	29	4	thou shalt drive to the door of the tabernacle which bears record of me. Thither, too, thou shalt bring Aaron and his sons; and when thou hast washed them, father and sons in water,
 Exodus	Ex	2	29	5	clothe Aaron in his vestments, the robe, the tunic, the mantle, and the burse made fast to his mantle’s band,
 Exodus	Ex	2	29	6	and put the mitre on his head, and the holy plate over the mitre.
 Exodus	Ex	2	29	7	And then anoint his head with oil; so shall he be consecrated.
 Exodus	Ex	2	29	8	Then it is the turn of his sons to approach, and be clothed in their linen robes, and have their girdles tied
 Exodus	Ex	2	29	9	and their mitres put on, like Aaron himself; so they shall be my priests, hallowed eternally. When thou hast consecrated their hands,
 Exodus	Ex	2	29	10	bring out the bullock in front of the tabernacle that bears record of me; there, when Aaron and his sons have laid their hands upon its head,
 Exodus	Ex	2	29	11	thou shalt slay it in the Lord’s presence, at the tabernacle door.
 Exodus	Ex	2	29	12	Some of its blood thou shalt smear, with thy hand, upon the horns of the altar; the rest thou shalt pour out at the altar’s foot.
 Exodus	Ex	2	29	13	Then take all the fat about its entrails, the membrane of its liver, and the two kidneys with the fat on them and offer them as a burnt-sacrifice on the altar;
 Exodus	Ex	2	29	14	the flesh, skin and dung of the bullock thou shalt burn beyond the confines of the camp, as an offering for sin.
 Exodus	Ex	2	29	15	Take one of the rams, too, and bid Aaron and his sons lay their hands upon its head;
 Exodus	Ex	2	29	16	then kill it, and pour out some of its blood round the altar.
 Exodus	Ex	2	29	17	Cut up the ram itself into pieces; put these and the head underneath, the entrails (when thou hast washed them) and the feet above,
 Exodus	Ex	2	29	18	and so make a burnt-sacrifice of the whole ram upon the altar; the scent of the victim so offered to the Lord will find acceptance with him.
 Exodus	Ex	2	29	19	Then take the other ram, Aaron and his sons laying their hands on its head meanwhile;
 Exodus	Ex	2	29	20	and when thou hast killed this ram, put some of the blood on the tip of Aaron’s right ear, the thumb of his right hand, and the great toe of his right foot, and do the same by his sons. Pour blood, too, all round the surface of the altar,
 Exodus	Ex	2	29	21	and then sprinkle with this, and with the oil used for anointing, Aaron and his sons, and the vestments they wear.
 Exodus	Ex	2	29	22	So hallowing all alike, take the fat, the tail, the covering of the entrails, the membrane of the liver, the two kidneys with the fat on them, and the right shoulder from this ram, the victim of their consecration;
 Exodus	Ex	2	29	23	take a loaf of bread, too, a piece of pastry cooked in oil, and one of the cakes, out of the basket that lies there before the Lord;
 Exodus	Ex	2	29	24	and put all this in the hands of Aaron and his sons. Then raise it aloft in the Lord’s presence, and by that act they shall be consecrated, Aaron and his sons both.
 Exodus	Ex	2	29	25	Then take all the offerings out of their hands again, and make a burnt-sacrifice of them upon the altar; the scent of them will be acceptable to the Lord, in whose honour they are offered up.
 Exodus	Ex	2	29	26	The breast of the ram that is used in Aaron’s hallowing thou shalt remove, and sanctify it by holding it up in the Lord’s presence; this shall be thy own share.
 Exodus	Ex	2	29	27	Thou shalt set apart this consecrated breast and shoulder, taken from the ram
 Exodus	Ex	2	29	28	by which Aaron and Aaron’s line are hallowed, to be their lot, a fixed privilege the people of Israel will grant to them; these are the earnest and the first-fruits of those welcome-offerings which they make to the Lord.
 Exodus	Ex	2	29	29	The sacred vestments which Aaron wore shall be worn by his sons after him when they are anointed and consecrated;
 Exodus	Ex	2	29	30	whatever son of his shall succeed him, entering the tabernacle that bears record of me and ministering before me in the sanctuary, shall wear them for seven days continuously.
 Exodus	Ex	2	29	31	As for the ram with which they were hallowed, it must be taken away and cooked in a holy place;
 Exodus	Ex	2	29	32	and so Aaron and his sons will eat it. They, too, will eat the bread from the basket, in the porch of the tabernacle that bears record of me,
 Exodus	Ex	2	29	33	so that the sacrifice of it may atone for them, and their hands be hallowed by the offering of it; these things are too holy to be eaten by anyone not of their family.
 Exodus	Ex	2	29	34	Whatever remains till morning of the consecrated meat or bread must be burnt in the fire; it is too holy to be eaten.
 Exodus	Ex	2	29	35	All this that I have told thee must be done to Aaron and his sons; thou art to spend seven days in consecrating their hands,
 Exodus	Ex	2	29	36	and on each of those days a bullock must be sacrificed as a sin-offering to atone for them. So offering a victim to make atonement, thou wilt cleanse the altar, and sanctify it by anointing.
 Exodus	Ex	2	29	37	Seven whole days thou must spend in winning favour for the altar and consecrating it; so it shall be all holiness, and whoever touches it shall become holy thereby.
 Exodus	Ex	2	29	38	On this altar thou shalt sacrifice two lambs day by day, with no intermission;
 Exodus	Ex	2	29	39	one is to be offered in the morning, the other in the evening.
 Exodus	Ex	2	29	40	One lamb each morning, with a tenth of a bushel of flour, kneaded in three pints of pure oil, and as much wine for a libation;
 Exodus	Ex	2	29	41	and another offered in the evening with the same rite and all the additional offerings aforesaid, a fragrance acceptable to the Lord.
 Exodus	Ex	2	29	42	This is his sacrifice, to be performed day after day, by one generation of you after another, in the Lord’s presence, there at the door of the tabernacle that bears record, the appointed place where I will give thee audience.
 Exodus	Ex	2	29	43	There I will issue my commands to the sons of Israel; that altar shall be hallowed by my glorious presence.
 Exodus	Ex	2	29	44	Hallowed it shall be, and hallowed the tabernacle that bears record of me; hallowed shall Aaron be and his sons, for their priestly office.
 Exodus	Ex	2	29	45	And I will dwell in the midst of the Israelites, and be their God;
 Exodus	Ex	2	29	46	and they shall know me for the Lord God that rescued them from the land of Egypt, so as to abide among them, their Lord and their God.
 Exodus	Ex	2	30	1	For burning incense, thou shalt make an altar of acacia wood,
 Exodus	Ex	2	30	2	a cubit square in surface, and two cubits high; it must have horns going out of it.
 Exodus	Ex	2	30	3	The whole must be covered with pure gold, the grate and the walls around it and the horns too. It is to have a rim of gold about it,
 Exodus	Ex	2	30	4	and close under the rim two gold rings on either side, with poles in them, so that the altar can be carried;
 Exodus	Ex	2	30	5	these poles, too, must be of acacia wood, gilded over.
 Exodus	Ex	2	30	6	Its position is to be facing the veil that hides the ark and its records, facing, too, the throne that overshadows them, my trysting-place with thee.
 Exodus	Ex	2	30	7	Aaron, when he trims the lamps each morning, shall burn fragrant incense on it,
 Exodus	Ex	2	30	8	and again when he lights them at evening he shall burn incense in the Lord’s presence; a custom you are to preserve age after age.
 Exodus	Ex	2	30	9	You are to offer no incense there but what is of my own prescription; there is to be no sacrifice, no victim, no pouring of libations.
 Exodus	Ex	2	30	10	Once a year Aaron shall make intercession at the horns of it, with the blood that is offered in atonement for sin, winning pardon for you there, age after age; it shall be all holiness in the Lord’s honour.
 Exodus	Ex	2	30	11	This, too, was the Lord’s word to Moses:
 Exodus	Ex	2	30	12	When thou dost pass the Israelites in review and count their number, each shall pay the Lord a forfeit for his life, to avert all plague at the time of their numbering.
 Exodus	Ex	2	30	13	As each man is added to the count, he must pay half a sicle by sanctuary reckoning (note that the sicle, half of which must be paid to the Lord, is worth thirty pence).
 Exodus	Ex	2	30	14	The forfeit must be paid by all those, above the age of twenty, who are registered,
 Exodus	Ex	2	30	15	the rich giving no more than half a silver piece, and the poor no less.
 Exodus	Ex	2	30	16	The money taken up in this contribution from the Israelites is to be devoted to the needs of the tabernacle which bears record of me, to put the Lord in mind of them, and win ransom for their lives.
 Exodus	Ex	2	30	17	This, too, was the Lord’s word to Moses:
 Exodus	Ex	2	30	18	Make a washing-basin of bronze, with a stand, and set it between the tabernacle that bears record of me and the brazen altar. Water shall be poured into it
 Exodus	Ex	2	30	19	for Aaron and his sons to wash their hands and feet
 Exodus	Ex	2	30	20	before they enter the tabernacle that bears record of me, or approach the altar to kindle their sacrifice before the Lord.
 Exodus	Ex	2	30	21	This they must do on pain of death; it is an observance that must be kept alive by him and by all his sons that succeed him.
 Exodus	Ex	2	30	22	This, too, was the Lord’s word to Moses:
 Exodus	Ex	2	30	23	Provide thyself with spices, a stone of the best and choicest myrrh, and half a stone of cinnamon, and half a stone of scented cane,
 Exodus	Ex	2	30	24	a stone, too, of cassia, all reckoned by sanctuary weights; and with these, three quarts of olive oil.
 Exodus	Ex	2	30	25	And so make the holy oil to be used for anointing, an ointment mixed with all the perfumer’s art.
 Exodus	Ex	2	30	26	This thou must use to anoint the tabernacle that bears record of me, and the ark where that record lies;
 Exodus	Ex	2	30	27	the table with its appurtenances, the lamp-stand with its appurtenances, the altar used for incense,
 Exodus	Ex	2	30	28	and that used for burnt-sacrifice, and all the instruments belonging to them.
 Exodus	Ex	2	30	29	All these thou shalt sanctify, and they shall be all holiness; whoever touches them shall become holy thereby.
 Exodus	Ex	2	30	30	Aaron himself and his sons thou shalt anoint and hallow, before they can minister as my priests.
 Exodus	Ex	2	30	31	This, too, tell the Israelites: The oil used for anointing is a thing you must keep set apart for me, age after age.
 Exodus	Ex	2	30	32	It is not to be used for anointing the flesh of man; nor are you to compound oil for yourselves as this is compounded; it is a thing set apart, and you must keep it holy.
 Exodus	Ex	2	30	33	Whoever compounds such, though it be to give it to a stranger for his use, is lost to his people.
 Exodus	Ex	2	30	34	This, too, was the Lord’s word to Moses: Provide thyself with spices, storax, and burnt shell, and sweet-smelling galbanum, and pure frankincense, all in equal weight,
 Exodus	Ex	2	30	35	and make incense compounded with all the perfumer’s art, well tempered together, unadulterate, fit for hallowing.
 Exodus	Ex	2	30	36	All this thou shalt beat into fine powder, and keep a store of it before the tabernacle that bears record of me, my trysting-place with thee. For you, this incense shall be all holiness;
 Exodus	Ex	2	30	37	you must not compound it so for your own use, it is set apart for the Lord.
 Exodus	Ex	2	30	38	Whoever compounds the like, to make perfume for his own enjoyment, is lost to his people.
 Exodus	Ex	2	31	1	And now the Lord said to Moses,
 Exodus	Ex	2	31	2	Here is the name of the man I have singled out to help thee, Beseleel, son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Juda.
 Exodus	Ex	2	31	3	I have filled him with my divine spirit, making him wise, adroit, and skilful in every kind of craftsmanship;
 Exodus	Ex	2	31	4	so that he can design whatever is to be designed in gold, silver, and bronze,
 Exodus	Ex	2	31	5	carve both stone and jewel, and woods of all sorts.
 Exodus	Ex	2	31	6	I have found a partner for him in Oöliab, son of Achisamech, of the tribe of Dan; and I have inspired the hearts of all the craftsmen with skill to carry out the commands which I have given thee.
 Exodus	Ex	2	31	7	The tabernacle which attests my covenant, the ark that bears record of me, the throne above it, and all the appurtenances of the tabernacle,
 Exodus	Ex	2	31	8	the table with its appurtenances, the lamp-stand of pure gold and all that goes with it, the altar for incense
 Exodus	Ex	2	31	9	and the altar for burnt-sacrifice, and all that goes with these, the basin and its stand,
 Exodus	Ex	2	31	10	the sacred vestments to be worn by the high priest Aaron and his sons when they perform their holy office,
 Exodus	Ex	2	31	11	the oil for anointing, and the incense that is to perfume the sanctuary, all that I have bidden thee make, shall be made through their workmanship.
 Exodus	Ex	2	31	12	This, too, was the Lord’s word to Moses:
 Exodus	Ex	2	31	13	Give the sons of Israel a warning from me, Be sure that you observe the sabbath day. It is a token between us, that is to last all through the ages which lie before you, reminding you that I am the Lord, and you are set apart for me.
 Exodus	Ex	2	31	14	Keep my sabbath; it has a binding claim on you, on pain of death for all who violate it. The man who does any work on that day is lost to his people.
 Exodus	Ex	2	31	15	You have six days to work in; the seventh is the sabbath, a day of rest set apart for the Lord, and if anybody works on that day, his life must pay for it.
 Exodus	Ex	2	31	16	It is for the sons of Israel to observe my sabbath and honour it among themselves, age after age. It is an undying covenant,
 Exodus	Ex	2	31	17	a perpetual token between me and the Israelites; the Lord spent six days making heaven and earth, and on the seventh he rested from his labours.
 Exodus	Ex	2	31	18	Then, at the end of all this converse with Moses on mount Sinai, the Lord gave him two stone tablets, with laws inscribed on them by the very finger of God.
 Exodus	Ex	2	32	1	Meanwhile, finding that Moses’ return from the mountain was so long delayed, the people remonstrated with Aaron. Bestir thyself, they said; fashion us gods, to be our leaders. We had a man to lead us, this Moses, when we came away from Egypt; but there is no saying what has become of him.
 Exodus	Ex	2	32	2	Take out the gold ear-rings, said Aaron, that your wives and sons and daughters wear, and bring them to me.
 Exodus	Ex	2	32	3	The people, then, brought him their ear-rings as he had bidden them,
 Exodus	Ex	2	32	4	and he melted down what they had given him and cast them into the figure of a calf. And all cried out, Here are thy gods, Israel, the gods that rescued thee from the land of Egypt.
 Exodus	Ex	2	32	5	Aaron, finding them so minded, built an altar in front of it, and bade the crier give out that there would be a solemn feast next day in the Lord’s honour.
 Exodus	Ex	2	32	6	So when they awoke on the morrow, they offered burnt-sacrifice and welcome-offerings; and with that, the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to take their pleasure.
 Exodus	Ex	2	32	7	And now the Lord said to Moses, Away, down with thee; they have fallen into sin, this people thou didst bring out of Egypt with thee.
 Exodus	Ex	2	32	8	They have been swift to leave the way thou didst mark out for them, by making a molten calf and falling down to worship it; brought victims to it, and cried out, Here are thy gods, Israel, the gods that rescued thee from the land of Egypt.
 Exodus	Ex	2	32	9	And the Lord said to Moses, I know them now for a stiff-necked race;
 Exodus	Ex	2	32	10	spare me thy importunacy, let me vent my anger and destroy them; I will make thy posterity into a great nation instead.
 Exodus	Ex	2	32	11	But Moses would still plead with the Lord his God; What, Lord, said he, wilt thou vent thy anger on thy people, the people thou didst rescue from Egypt so imperiously, with so strong a hand?
 Exodus	Ex	2	32	12	Wilt thou let the Egyptians say it was but a treacherous deliverance; that thou hadst marked them out for death, here in the mountains, and no trace left of them on earth? Oh let the storm of thy anger pass; pardon thy people’s guilt!
 Exodus	Ex	2	32	13	Remember thy servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, and the oath thou didst swear by thy own name: I will make your posterity countless as the stars in heaven, and give them all this land of which I spoke to you, to be their everlasting home.
 Exodus	Ex	2	32	14	So the Lord relented, and spared his people the punishment he had threatened.
 Exodus	Ex	2	32	15	With that, Moses came down from the mountain, carrying in his hand the two tablets of the law, with writing on either side,
 Exodus	Ex	2	32	16	God’s workmanship; a divine hand had traced the characters they bore.
 Exodus	Ex	2	32	17	And now, as the noise of shouting reached him, Josue said to Moses, I hear the cry of battle in the camp.
 Exodus	Ex	2	32	18	No, said he, this is no sound of triumph or of rout; it is the sound of singing that I hear.
 Exodus	Ex	2	32	19	Then they drew nearer the camp, and he saw the calf standing there, and the dancing. And so angry was he that he threw down the tablets he held, and broke them against the spurs of the mountain;
 Exodus	Ex	2	32	20	then he took the calf they had made and threw it on the fire, and beat it into dust; this dust he sprinkled over water, which he made the Israelites drink.
 Exodus	Ex	2	32	21	And he asked Aaron, What harm has this people done thee, that thou hast involved them in such guilt?
 Exodus	Ex	2	32	22	Do not be angry with me, my lord, said he; thou knowest how the whole bent of this people is towards wrong-doing,
 Exodus	Ex	2	32	23	and it was they who said to me, Fashion us gods to be our leaders. We had a man to lead us, this Moses, when we came away from Egypt, but there is no saying now what has become of him.
 Exodus	Ex	2	32	24	So I asked them, Which of you has any gold in his possession? And they brought what they had, and gave it to me; I cast it into the fire, and this calf was the issue of it.
 Exodus	Ex	2	32	25	Moses saw, too, that the people went all unarmed; Aaron had let them strip, in their shameless debauchery, so that they were defenceless against attack.
 Exodus	Ex	2	32	26	So he stood there at the gate of the camp, and said, Rally to my side, all that will take the Lord’s part. Then the whole tribe of Levi gathered round them,
 Exodus	Ex	2	32	27	and he said, A message to you from the Lord God of Israel. Gird on your swords, and pass to and fro through the middle of the camp, from gate to gate, killing your own brothers, your own friends, your own neighbours.
 Exodus	Ex	2	32	28	So the sons of Levi did as Moses bade them, and that day some twenty-three thousand men fell slain.
 Exodus	Ex	2	32	29	To-day, said Moses, at war with your own flesh and blood, you have dedicated your hands to the Lord’s service, and earned his blessing.
 Exodus	Ex	2	32	30	When the morrow came, Moses told the people, You have sinned heinously; I will go up into the Lord’s presence, and see if I can make amends for your guilt.
 Exodus	Ex	2	32	31	And so, having recourse to the Lord again, he prayed thus: Thy people have sinned heinously, in making themselves gods of gold. I entreat thee, pardon this offence of theirs;
 Exodus	Ex	2	32	32	or else blot out my name too from the record thou hast written.
 Exodus	Ex	2	32	33	Whoever sins against me, the Lord answered, shall be blotted out from my record.
 Exodus	Ex	2	32	34	But do thou march on, and lead this people into the land I told thee of, and my angel shall still go before thee. But when the time comes for vengeance, this sin of theirs shall not be forgotten.
 Exodus	Ex	2	32	35	The Lord, then, made the people suffer for their wickedness in the matter of the calf Aaron made for them.
 Exodus	Ex	2	33	1	And now a new message came to Moses from the Lord, March on, then, with the people thou hast led out of Egypt; make thy way hence to the land I promised Abraham, Isaac and Jacob should be the home of their race.
 Exodus	Ex	2	33	2	I am ready to send an angel who will go before thee, so as to cast out Chanaanite, Amorrhite, Hethite, Pherezite, Hevite and Jebusite,
 Exodus	Ex	2	33	3	and bring thee into the land that is all milk and honey. But I will not go with thee myself, stiff-necked people as thou art, or I might be moved to destroy thee on the way.
 Exodus	Ex	2	33	4	The people, on hearing this bitter reproach, went mourning, and none wore his ornaments, as custom bade;
 Exodus	Ex	2	33	5	the Lord’s word came through Moses to the Israelites, You are a stiff-necked people, and if once I set out on the march among you, I would be moved to destroy you. Take off, here and now, your ornaments, and wait till I have resolved what to do with you.
 Exodus	Ex	2	33	6	So there, at mount Horeb, the sons of Israel laid their ornaments aside.
 Exodus	Ex	2	33	7	Moses, too, removed his tent, and pitched it far off, away from the camp, calling it, The tent which bears witness to the covenant; to this, all who had disputes to settle must betake themselves, away from the camp.
 Exodus	Ex	2	33	8	And when Moses repaired to this tent of his, all the people rose up and stood at the doors of their own tents, following Moses with their eyes till he went in.
 Exodus	Ex	2	33	9	And, once he was within the tent that bore witness of the covenant, the pillar of cloud would come down and stand at the entrance of it, and there the Lord spoke with Moses,
 Exodus	Ex	2	33	10	while all watched the pillar of cloud standing there, and rose up and worshipped, each at his own tent door.
 Exodus	Ex	2	33	11	Thus the Lord spoke with Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. And when he returned to the camp, Josue, son of Nun, the young man who served him, never left the tent unguarded.
 Exodus	Ex	2	33	12	Then Moses complained to the Lord, Thou biddest me lead this people on the march, but thou wilt not tell me who it is thou art sending me for my guide. And this is the man whom thou callest thy familiar friend, assuring him of thy favour!
 Exodus	Ex	2	33	13	Nay, if indeed thou dost look upon me with favour, make thy own presence known to me; let me know thee, and know that thy favour is with me. Have more regard for this folk, thy own people.
 Exodus	Ex	2	33	14	My presence, the Lord said, shall go before thee, and bring thee to thy resting-place.
 Exodus	Ex	2	33	15	It must be thyself, said Moses, going before us; otherwise do not bid us leave the place where we are.
 Exodus	Ex	2	33	16	How am I and thy people to know that thou dost look upon us with favour, if thou wilt not journey with us; such a privilege as no other people in the world can boast?
 Exodus	Ex	2	33	17	And the Lord told Moses, I will grant this request of thine; such favour thou hast with me, thou, my familiar friend.
 Exodus	Ex	2	33	18	Give me, then, said Moses, the sight of thy glory.
 Exodus	Ex	2	33	19	And he answered, All my splendour shall pass before thy eyes, and I will pronounce, in thy presence, my own divine name, the name of the Lord who shews favour where he will, grants pardon where he will.
 Exodus	Ex	2	33	20	But, my face, he said, thou canst not see; mortal man cannot see me, and live to tell of it.
 Exodus	Ex	2	33	21	Then he said, There is a place here, close by me, where thou mayst stand on a rock;
 Exodus	Ex	2	33	22	there I will station thee in a cleft of the rock, while my glory passes by, and cover thee with my right hand until I have gone past.
 Exodus	Ex	2	33	23	So, when I take my hand away, thou shalt follow me with thy eyes, but my face thou canst not see.
 Exodus	Ex	2	34	1	After this the Lord said to him, Carve two tablets of stone, like those others, and I will write on them the same words as I wrote on the tablets thou didst break.
 Exodus	Ex	2	34	2	Be ready to come up on to mount Sinai in the morning, and there thou shalt stand before me on the mountain top.
 Exodus	Ex	2	34	3	No one else is to climb up with thee, no one else is to be in sight on any part of the mountain; even the cattle and the sheep must not be allowed to graze within view.
 Exodus	Ex	2	34	4	So Moses carved two tablets of stone, like the others; and he rose at dawn and went up mount Sinai at the Lord’s bidding, with the tablets in his hand.
 Exodus	Ex	2	34	5	The Lord came down to meet him, hidden in cloud, and Moses stood with him there, calling on the Lord’s name.
 Exodus	Ex	2	34	6	Thus the Lord passed by, and he cried out, It is the Lord God, the ruler of all things, the merciful, the gracious; slow to take vengeance, rich in kindness, faithful to his promises.
 Exodus	Ex	2	34	7	He is true to his promise of mercy a thousand times over; shame or sin or guilt is none but he forgives it; yet, before him, none can claim innocence in his own right, and when he punishes, the son must make amends for the father’s guilt, to the third and the fourth generation.
 Exodus	Ex	2	34	8	Then, without more ado, Moses fell prostrate with his face to the ground in worship.
 Exodus	Ex	2	34	9	Lord, he said, if thou dost look on me with favour, I entreat thee to go with us on our journey, stiff-necked as this people is; guilt of our sins do thou pardon, and keep us for thy own.
 Exodus	Ex	2	34	10	And the Lord answered, Here is my covenant, to which I am pledged. In the presence of you all I will do such marvels as were never yet seen on earth by any nation; the people among whom thou dwellest shall see for themselves what the Lord can do, and be terrified at the sight.
 Exodus	Ex	2	34	11	Thy part is to keep all the commandments I am now giving thee. When I dispossess Amorrhite, Chanaanite, Hethite, Pherezite, Hevite and Jebusite at thy coming,
 Exodus	Ex	2	34	12	make no treaty of friendship with any inhabitant of the land, or it will be thy ruin;
 Exodus	Ex	2	34	13	destroy their altars, break their images, cut down their forest shrines.
 Exodus	Ex	2	34	14	Never pay worship to any alien god; the very name of the Lord bespeaks jealous love, he will endure no rival.
 Exodus	Ex	2	34	15	Do not ally yourselves, then, with those who dwell there; those faithless hearts will be set on their own gods, and when they do sacrifice to their idols, someone will bid thee come and feast upon the meat so offered.
 Exodus	Ex	2	34	16	Nor must thou find wives for thy sons among their daughters; faithless themselves, they will make thy sons, too, faithless, and worshippers of their own gods.
 Exodus	Ex	2	34	17	Cast no metal to make thyself idols.
 Exodus	Ex	2	34	18	Observe the feast of unleavened bread. For seven days, in the first month of spring, thou shalt eat thy bread without leaven, as I bade thee; it was in that spring month thou didst escape from Egypt.
 Exodus	Ex	2	34	19	The first male thing that comes from every womb is forfeit to me; every such living thing, be it ox or ass, is mine by right.
 Exodus	Ex	2	34	20	When an ass has her first foal, thou shalt offer a sheep in payment of its ransom; or, if thou hast no mind to ransom it, let it be killed. The first-born of thy own sons thou must ransom, presenting thyself before me with an offering.
 Exodus	Ex	2	34	21	Thou hast six days to work in; on the seventh, both ploughing and reaping must cease.
 Exodus	Ex	2	34	22	Thou shalt keep the feast of the seven weeks, with the first-fruits of thy wheat harvest, and another feast at the end of the year, when all is gathered in.
 Exodus	Ex	2	34	23	Thrice in the year all thy men folk shall present themselves before the Lord, the almighty God of Israel.
 Exodus	Ex	2	34	24	And so, when I have dispossessed the nations at thy coming, and given thee wide lands to dwell in, three times a year present thyself before the Lord thy God, and thy lands none shall invade by treachery.
 Exodus	Ex	2	34	25	When thou offerest living things in sacrifice to me, the bread that goes with them shall not be leavened, nor shalt thou leave any of the paschal victim till the morrow.
 Exodus	Ex	2	34	26	Bring the first-fruits of thy land as an offering to the house of the Lord thy God. Seething a kid in its dam’s milk is a rite forbidden thee.
 Exodus	Ex	2	34	27	Then the Lord said to Moses, Put these words in writing, as terms of the covenant I am making with thee and with Israel.
 Exodus	Ex	2	34	28	So, for forty days and nights, without food or drink, he remained there with the Lord; and he wrote down on the tablets the ten precepts of the covenant.
 Exodus	Ex	2	34	29	Moses came down, after this, from Mount Sinai, bearing with him the two tablets on which the law was written; and his face, although he did not know it, was all radiant after the meeting at which he had held speech with God.
 Exodus	Ex	2	34	30	The sight of that radiance made Aaron and the sons of Israel shrink from all near approach to him;
 Exodus	Ex	2	34	31	he must call out to Aaron and the leaders of the people before they would gather round him. To these he spoke first;
 Exodus	Ex	2	34	32	then all the Israelites came to greet him, and he passed on to them all the commands he had received on mount Sinai.
 Exodus	Ex	2	34	33	When he had finished speaking, he put a veil over his face,
 Exodus	Ex	2	34	34	which he only laid aside when he went into the Lord’s presence and had speech with him. Afterwards he would come out, and tell the Israelites what commands had been given him;
 Exodus	Ex	2	34	35	so they saw his face, as he came out, still radiant, but always, when he spoke to them, he veiled his face as before.
 Exodus	Ex	2	35	1	And now he called the whole assembly of the Israelites into his presence, and told them, Here are the Lord’s commands.
 Exodus	Ex	2	35	2	You have six days before you now to work in; when the seventh comes, you must keep it holy, since it is the sabbath, the Lord’s day of rest; no one must do any work that day, on pain of death,
 Exodus	Ex	2	35	3	you must not even light a fire in any of your dwelling-places on the sabbath day.
 Exodus	Ex	2	35	4	Then Moses went on to tell all the Israelites what prescriptions the Lord had given him,
 Exodus	Ex	2	35	5	how they were to set apart contributions, to be offered to the Lord freely and with a ready heart; contributions of gold and silver and bronze,
 Exodus	Ex	2	35	6	threads of blue and purple and scarlet twice-dyed, and lawn, and goats’ hair,
 Exodus	Ex	2	35	7	and rams’ fleeces dyed red, and skins dyed violet; acacia wood,
 Exodus	Ex	2	35	8	and oil to feed lamps, spices for the anointing-oil, and sweet-smelling incense;
 Exodus	Ex	2	35	9	onyx-stones, too, and jewels, to be set in the priestly mantle and its burse.
 Exodus	Ex	2	35	10	If any of you is a skilled a craftsman, he said, let him come forward to carry out the Lord’s bidding.
 Exodus	Ex	2	35	11	There is a tabernacle to be made, with its covering and its canopy, rings and boards and poles and pegs and sockets;
 Exodus	Ex	2	35	12	an ark with poles to carry it, a throne over it, and a veil to hang in front of it;
 Exodus	Ex	2	35	13	a table with its poles and its appurtenances, bread, too, to be set forth there;
 Exodus	Ex	2	35	14	a lamp-stand on which the lights are to rest, with its lamps and its other appurtenances, and oil to keep the light burning;
 Exodus	Ex	2	35	15	an altar for offering incense, with its poles; oil for anointing, and incense made from spices; a screen for the tabernacle entrance;
 Exodus	Ex	2	35	16	an altar for burnt-sacrifice, with its grating of bronze, its poles and other appurtenances; a basin with its stand;
 Exodus	Ex	2	35	17	curtains for the court, with the posts they hang from and their sockets, a hanging for the door of the court,
 Exodus	Ex	2	35	18	pegs and ropes to make fast both the tabernacle and its enclosure;
 Exodus	Ex	2	35	19	the vestments that are worn in the service of the sanctuary, and those sacred vestments in which Aaron and his sons will perform their priestly office before the Lord.
 Exodus	Ex	2	35	20	No sooner had the sons of Israel left Moses’ presence, than all alike began making their contributions to the Lord,
 Exodus	Ex	2	35	21	with readiness and devotion of heart, to help build the tabernacle that should bear record of him. Whatever was needed for the performance of worship, or for sacred vestments,
 Exodus	Ex	2	35	22	men and women made haste to give; armlets and ear-pendants, rings and bracelets; all the gold ware they had was set apart to be given to the Lord.
 Exodus	Ex	2	35	23	And whoever had thread of blue or purple or scarlet twice-dyed, lawn or goats’ hair, rams’ fleeces dyed red, or skins dyed violet,
 Exodus	Ex	2	35	24	or silver, or bronze, offered them to the Lord; and acacia wood for all its manifold uses.
 Exodus	Ex	2	35	25	There were women, too, skilled in spinning, who had their own contribution to make of blue, or purple, or scarlet, or lawn,
 Exodus	Ex	2	35	26	or goats’ hair, and made them of their own accord.
 Exodus	Ex	2	35	27	It was the rulers who gave onyx-stones and jewels for the mantle and its burse,
 Exodus	Ex	2	35	28	and the spices and oil for feeding the lamps, and preparing the ointment, and making the sweet-smelling incense.
 Exodus	Ex	2	35	29	All alike, men and women, devoutly brought their gifts, so as to speed on the work which the Lord, through Moses, had enjoined on them; there was not one Israelite that did not freely consecrate his offerings to the Lord’s service.
 Exodus	Ex	2	35	30	And now Moses said to the sons of Israel, Here is the name of the man the Lord has singled out to help me, Beseleel, son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Juda.
 Exodus	Ex	2	35	31	The Lord has filled this man with his divine spirit, making him wise, adroit, and skilful in every kind of craftsmanship,
 Exodus	Ex	2	35	32	so that he can design and execute whatever is needed, in gold, silver, bronze,
 Exodus	Ex	2	35	33	and sculptured gems, and carpenter’s work. All the craftsman’s wit can discover
 Exodus	Ex	2	35	34	the Lord has put into his heart. Here is Oöliab, too, son of Achisamech, of the tribe of Dan;
 Exodus	Ex	2	35	35	both of these he has endowed with skill, to carry out woodwork, and tapestry, and embroidery, with threads of blue and purple and scarlet twice-dyed and lawn; the weaving shall be theirs, and they shall find out new devices.
 Exodus	Ex	2	36	1	And so the work was begun, by Beseleel, and Oöliab, and all the craftsmen to whom the Lord had given skill in their craft, so that they should know how to make workmanlike provision for the sanctuary’s needs, according to the prescriptions the Lord had given.
 Exodus	Ex	2	36	2	Moses summoned them, all these trained workmen who had been endowed by the Lord with skill, and had offered their services freely;
 Exodus	Ex	2	36	3	and he handed over to them the contributions which the sons of Israel made. Eagerly they set about their work, and every morning the people brought their gifts,
 Exodus	Ex	2	36	4	till at last the workmen must needs come to Moses,
 Exodus	Ex	2	36	5	and tell him, The people are offering more than is needed.
 Exodus	Ex	2	36	6	So Moses bade the crier give out that no man or woman should offer any more for the needs of the sanctuary; thus he put an end to the bringing of gifts,
 Exodus	Ex	2	36	7	because the contribution had already given them enough and to spare.
 Exodus	Ex	2	36	8	So, to carry out the fashioning of the tabernacle, all these skilful workmen made ten curtains, of twisted linen thread, embroidered with threads of blue and purple and scarlet twice-dyed,
 Exodus	Ex	2	36	9	all of the same size, twenty-eight cubits in length and four in width.
 Exodus	Ex	2	36	10	Then Beseleel joined five of these to each other, and the remaining five in the same way.
 Exodus	Ex	2	36	11	And on the sides of one set of curtains, at its extreme edge, he made loops of blue cord, and so with the other,
 Exodus	Ex	2	36	12	so that loop could meet loop and be fastened to it.
 Exodus	Ex	2	36	13	Afterwards he made fifty gold clasps, to catch the loops on the curtains, so as to make a single tent of them.
 Exodus	Ex	2	36	14	Next, he made eleven coverings of goats’ hair, to protect the tapestry over the tabernacle.
 Exodus	Ex	2	36	15	The measurements of all these coverings were the same; each was thirty cubits long and four cubits wide.
 Exodus	Ex	2	36	16	He joined together first five of these coverings, then the other six in their turn.
 Exodus	Ex	2	36	17	And he made fifty loops at the edge of the first set of coverings, then fifty at the edge of the other, to join them together,
 Exodus	Ex	2	36	18	and fifty brazen clasps, so that the coverings would be tied together, and the whole would form a single protecting roof.
 Exodus	Ex	2	36	19	He made a canopy, too, over the tabernacle, of rams’ fleeces dyed red, and another canopy over that of skins dyed violet.
 Exodus	Ex	2	36	20	He made upright frames, too, of acacia wood to support the tabernacle.
 Exodus	Ex	2	36	21	Each board was ten cubits high, and had a width of a cubit and a half;
 Exodus	Ex	2	36	22	and at the sides of it, two tenon-pieces jutted out, so that each might be mortised to the next; all the framework of the tabernacle he made in this way.
 Exodus	Ex	2	36	23	Twenty frames were on the south, facing the midday sun,
 Exodus	Ex	2	36	24	with forty silver sockets, two to each frame, fitting on each side at the corners, where the mortising finished.
 Exodus	Ex	2	36	25	There were twenty frames, too, on the side of the tabernacle which looked north,
 Exodus	Ex	2	36	26	with forty silver sockets, two to each frame.
 Exodus	Ex	2	36	27	For the western side of the tabernacle, looking towards the sea, he made six frames,
 Exodus	Ex	2	36	28	and two in addition, for the corners at the extreme end of the tabernacle.
 Exodus	Ex	2	36	29	These were joined together, from bottom to top, with a single kind of fastening; it was the same with the corners at each side,
 Exodus	Ex	2	36	30	so that altogether there were eight frames, with sixteen silver sockets, two at the foot of each.
 Exodus	Ex	2	36	31	Then he made five poles of acacia wood, to hold the frames together on one side of the tabernacle,
 Exodus	Ex	2	36	32	and five more to connect the frames on the opposite side, and on the western side of the tabernacle, looking seawards, five more still.
 Exodus	Ex	2	36	33	And one pole he made that should reach right along the frames from end to end.
 Exodus	Ex	2	36	34	The sockets he made of cast silver; the frames themselves he gilded over, and made rings of gold through which the poles, those too plated with gold, could pass.
 Exodus	Ex	2	36	35	He made a veil, too, out of twisted linen thread, worked in threads of blue and purple and scarlet twice-dyed, with all the embroiderer’s art,
 Exodus	Ex	2	36	36	and four posts of acacia wood, gilded and with gilt capitals, but set in silver sockets.
 Exodus	Ex	2	36	37	And he made a screen out of twisted linen thread, embroidered with threads of blue and purple and scarlet twice-dyed, for the entrance of the tabernacle,
 Exodus	Ex	2	36	38	and five posts of acacia wood which he gilded over, capitals and all, fitting into sockets of moulded bronze.
 Exodus	Ex	2	37	1	Besellel also made an ark of acacia wood, two and a half cubits long, with a breadth and height of one and a half cubits, and gave it a covering and a lining of pure gold,
 Exodus	Ex	2	37	2	putting a coping of gold all round the top of it,
 Exodus	Ex	2	37	3	and four rings, cast in gold, at its four corners, two on each of the flanks.
 Exodus	Ex	2	37	4	Then he made poles of acacia wood, gilded over,
 Exodus	Ex	2	37	5	and passed them through the rings on the sides of the ark, so as to carry it.
 Exodus	Ex	2	37	6	He made a throne, too, or shrine, of pure gold, two and a half cubits long, one and a half cubits broad,
 Exodus	Ex	2	37	7	and two cherubs of pure beaten gold, which he set up on either side of the throne, each of them at its extreme edge.
 Exodus	Ex	2	37	8	And these two cherubs that stood at the extreme edges of the throne
 Exodus	Ex	2	37	9	overshadowed it with their outspread wings, facing towards it and towards each other.
 Exodus	Ex	2	37	10	And he made a table of acacia wood, two cubits long, a cubit broad, and a cubit and a half in height;
 Exodus	Ex	2	37	11	this he gilded with pure gold, and made a rim of gold about its edge,
 Exodus	Ex	2	37	12	with an embossed coping four inches high, and a second coping of gold over that.
 Exodus	Ex	2	37	13	Then he cast four rings and fixed them to the four corners of the table, one by each leg
 Exodus	Ex	2	37	14	close to the coping; and he put poles through them, that would carry the table;
 Exodus	Ex	2	37	15	these poles, too, he made of acacia wood, and gilded them over.
 Exodus	Ex	2	37	16	So with the appurtenances of the table, cups, and bowls, and dishes, and goblets for pouring out libations; all were of pure gold.
 Exodus	Ex	2	37	17	And he made a lamp-stand of pure beaten gold, with branches coming out from its stem, all with their cups and bosses and fleurs-de-lis.
 Exodus	Ex	2	37	18	Six branches stood about the stem, three on either side;
 Exodus	Ex	2	37	19	and on each branch there were three cups shaped like almond-flowers, then a boss, then a fleur-de-lis, balanced by three cups and a boss and a fleur-de-lis on the opposite branch; such was the fashion of all the six branches that came out of the stem.
 Exodus	Ex	2	37	20	But the stem itself had four cups, shaped like almond-flowers, each with its boss and its fleur-de-lis;
 Exodus	Ex	2	37	21	there were six branches altogether coming out of a single stem, and under each pair of them there was an additional boss.
 Exodus	Ex	2	37	22	The bosses and the branches were all of a piece with the main stem, and all alike were of pure beaten gold.
 Exodus	Ex	2	37	23	He made seven lamps, too, with snuffers and trays for the burnt wick, all of pure gold.
 Exodus	Ex	2	37	24	The whole weight of the lamp-stand, together with its appurtenances, was a talent of gold.
 Exodus	Ex	2	37	25	And he made an altar of acacia wood for burning incense, a cubit square, with a height of two cubits; it had horns at the corners.
 Exodus	Ex	2	37	26	And he covered the whole with pure gold, the grate and the walls around it and the horns too.
 Exodus	Ex	2	37	27	It had a rim of gold about it, and close under the rim two gold rings on either side, for putting poles in, so that the altar could be carried.
 Exodus	Ex	2	37	28	These poles, too, were of acacia wood, gilded over.
 Exodus	Ex	2	37	29	And he made oil for the hallowing ointment, and incense of pure spices, with all the art of a perfumer.
 Exodus	Ex	2	38	1	He made another altar, too, of acacia wood, for burnt-sacrifice, with a surface five cubits square, and a height of three cubits;
 Exodus	Ex	2	38	2	it had horns at the corners, and it was plated with bronze.
 Exodus	Ex	2	38	3	And he provided it with appurtenances all of bronze, ash-pans, tongs, forks, hooks and braziers;
 Exodus	Ex	2	38	4	and made it a bronze grating of network, and a hearth under this, in the middle of the altar.
 Exodus	Ex	2	38	5	He also cast four rings, to go at the four extreme ends of the grating; through these, poles were to be passed, to carry the altar.
 Exodus	Ex	2	38	6	The poles themselves he made of acacia wood, covered with a plating of bronze,
 Exodus	Ex	2	38	7	and set them in the rings that stood out from the sides of the altar. This altar was not solid, but hollow, made of frames with an empty space between them.
 Exodus	Ex	2	38	8	Then he made a washing-basin and a stand for it, out of bronze from the mirrors of the women who used to keep watch at the door of the tabernacle.
 Exodus	Ex	2	38	9	He made a court, too, at the south side of which there were hangings of twisted linen thread, a hundred cubits long,
 Exodus	Ex	2	38	10	and twenty posts, with brazen sockets, with their capitals and all their chased work of silver.
 Exodus	Ex	2	38	11	On the north side, too, there were hangings, and posts with their sockets and capitals, all of the same measurement, workmanship, and material.
 Exodus	Ex	2	38	12	But on the side which looked westwards the hangings were only fifty cubits long, and the posts, with their brazen sockets, their silver capitals, and chased work, were only ten in number.
 Exodus	Ex	2	38	13	For the eastern side, it was fifty cubits long;
 Exodus	Ex	2	38	14	fifteen cubits occupied the space at one end, in which there were three sockets and three posts,
 Exodus	Ex	2	38	15	and at the other end (leaving room in between for the entrance which led to the tabernacle) there were again hangings fifteen cubits long, three posts, and three sockets.
 Exodus	Ex	2	38	16	All these hangings for the court he had made out of twisted linen thread.
 Exodus	Ex	2	38	17	The sockets for the posts were of bronze; the capitals were of silver, in chased work; the posts of the court he plated with silver.
 Exodus	Ex	2	38	18	At the entrance, he made a hanging of twisted linen threads, embroidered with threads of blue and purple and scarlet twice-dyed, twenty cubits long, and, like all the hangings of the court, five cubits high.
 Exodus	Ex	2	38	19	There were four posts at the entrance, with sockets of bronze and capitals of chased silver.
 Exodus	Ex	2	38	20	The pegs which kept the tabernacle and the court in place, all round, were made of bronze.
 Exodus	Ex	2	38	21	Here is an account, drawn up at Moses’ command by the priest Ithamar, son of Aaron, with the help of the Levites. It shews what was spent on the tabernacle that bears record of the Lord,
 Exodus	Ex	2	38	22	when all the work was completed, at the Lord’s command given through Moses, by Beseleel, son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Juda.
 Exodus	Ex	2	38	23	(He had Oöliab, too, son of Achisamech, of the tribe of Dan, to help him; he too was a famous craftsman in wood, he too could make tapestry and embroidery from threads of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and lawn.)
 Exodus	Ex	2	38	24	The sum of gold spent in building the sanctuary, provided by the contribution, was twenty-nine talents and seven hundred and thirty sicles, by sanctuary reckoning.
 Exodus	Ex	2	38	25	Offerings, too, were made by those who were registered, six hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty men under arms, from the age of twenty upwards;
 Exodus	Ex	2	38	26	thus there were also a hundred talents of silver, from which they made the sockets of the holy place, and those of the entrance, where the veil hangs;
 Exodus	Ex	2	38	27	a hundred sockets were made out of a hundred talents, one talent for each socket.
 Exodus	Ex	2	38	28	They used besides a thousand seven hundred and seventy-five sicles over the capitals of the posts, and the posts themselves where these were plated with silver.
 Exodus	Ex	2	38	29	Seventy-two thousand talents and four hundred sicles of bronze were offered,
 Exodus	Ex	2	38	30	and of these they made the sockets of the approach to the tabernacle that bears record of the Lord, and the brazen altar with its grating, and all the appurtenances used at it;
 Exodus	Ex	2	38	31	and the sockets round the court and at the entrance to the court, and the pegs which held up the tabernacle and the enclosure round about.
 Exodus	Ex	2	39	1	Besellel made vestments, too, of blue and purple, scarlet and lawn, for Aaron to wear when he ministered in the holy place, as the Lord had prescribed them to Moses.
 Exodus	Ex	2	39	2	He made a mantle of gold and blue and purple and scarlet twice-dyed, and of twisted linen thread,
 Exodus	Ex	2	39	3	all embroidered work; to do this, he must needs cut up gold leaf and spin it into threads, so that it could be worked into the rest of the coloured woof.
 Exodus	Ex	2	39	4	At the top, on either side, he made two shoulder-pieces joined together,
 Exodus	Ex	2	39	5	and a band of the same colours, as the Lord had prescribed to Moses.
 Exodus	Ex	2	39	6	He also provided two onyx-stones, closely set in gold, and inscribed by a gem-carver with the names of Israel’s sons;
 Exodus	Ex	2	39	7	these, according to the prescription which the Lord had given Moses, he let into the sides of the mantle, to keep the sons of Israel in memory.
 Exodus	Ex	2	39	8	He made a burse, too, of embroidered work, of the same pattern as the mantle itself, of gold and blue and purple and scarlet twice-dyed, and twisted linen thread,
 Exodus	Ex	2	39	9	a folded square of a palm’s breadth either way.
 Exodus	Ex	2	39	10	And he set in it four rows of stones; in the first row a sardius, a topaz, and an emerald;
 Exodus	Ex	2	39	11	in the second, a carbuncle, a sapphire, and a jasper-stone;
 Exodus	Ex	2	39	12	in the third, a jacynth, an agate, and an amethyst;
 Exodus	Ex	2	39	13	in the fourth, a chrysolite, an onyx-stone, and a beryl; all the rows were closely set in gold.
 Exodus	Ex	2	39	14	And these stones were inscribed with the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, one on each.
 Exodus	Ex	2	39	15	On the burse, they put chains of pure gold, fastened together,
 Exodus	Ex	2	39	16	and two hooks, and two rings, all of gold. The rings they set on either side of the burse,
 Exodus	Ex	2	39	17	so that the two gold chains could hang from them, and these fitted the hooks which stood out from the corners of the mantle.
 Exodus	Ex	2	39	18	They met before and behind in such a way that mantle and burse were linked together,
 Exodus	Ex	2	39	19	tied to the strongly fastened rings of the band by a blue cord, so that they should not hang loose, and come apart; so the Lord had prescribed to Moses.
 Exodus	Ex	2	39	20	They made a tunic, too, to go with the mantle, all of blue,
 Exodus	Ex	2	39	21	with an opening in the middle of it at the top, that had a woven border round it.
 Exodus	Ex	2	39	22	Underneath, round the skirt of it, there were ornaments of blue thread and purple and scarlet, and twisted linen thread, pomegranate-shaped;
 Exodus	Ex	2	39	23	bells, too, of pure gold, which they put in between the pomegranates all round, at the edge of the tunic;
 Exodus	Ex	2	39	24	first a golden bell, then a pomegranate. Such, according to the prescription the Lord had given Moses, was to be the dress of the priest when he went in to perform his sacred office.
 Exodus	Ex	2	39	25	They made, too, woven robes of lawn for Aaron and his sons,
 Exodus	Ex	2	39	26	and mitres of lawn with rings about them,
 Exodus	Ex	2	39	27	breeches, too, woven of fine linen thread,
 Exodus	Ex	2	39	28	and a girdle of twisted linen thread, embroidered with threads of blue and purple and scarlet twice-dyed, as the Lord had prescribed to Moses.
 Exodus	Ex	2	39	29	They also made a plate of pure gold, a thing most sacred, inscribed with all the engraver’s skill, with the words, Set apart for the Lord;
 Exodus	Ex	2	39	30	and this, according to the prescription the Lord gave Moses, they fastened with a blue cord to the mitre.
 Exodus	Ex	2	39	31	So the sons of Israel finished making the tabernacle, and all that covered in the sacred record, carrying out all the prescriptions the Lord had given to Moses.
 Exodus	Ex	2	39	32	And they brought the tabernacle to Moses, the tent itself and all its furniture, rings, frames, poles, posts and sockets;
 Exodus	Ex	2	39	33	the canopy of rams’ fleeces dyed red, and the other canopy of skins dyed violet;
 Exodus	Ex	2	39	34	the veil, the ark with its poles, and the throne;
 Exodus	Ex	2	39	35	the table with its appurtenances and the loaves that were to be set out on it;
 Exodus	Ex	2	39	36	the lamp-stand, with its lamps and its other appurtenances, and the oil for it;
 Exodus	Ex	2	39	37	the golden altar, the ointment, and the incense made from spices;
 Exodus	Ex	2	39	38	the hanging for the tabernacle approach;
 Exodus	Ex	2	39	39	the brazen altar, with its grate, its poles, and all its appurtenances; the basin with its stand; the hangings for the court, and the posts with their sockets;
 Exodus	Ex	2	39	40	the hanging for the entrance of the court, its ropes and its pegs. Nothing was missing of all the appurtenances that had been prescribed for the needs of the tabernacle, the shrine of the covenant.
 Exodus	Ex	2	39	41	The vestments, too, that were to be worn by the priests, both Aaron himself and his sons, in the sanctuary,
 Exodus	Ex	2	39	42	were brought to Moses by the Israelites, in fulfilment of the Lord’s command.
 Exodus	Ex	2	39	43	And when Moses saw that they had completed all their task, he gave them his blessing.
 Exodus	Ex	2	40	1	And now the Lord said to Moses,
 Exodus	Ex	2	40	2	When the first day of the first month comes, set up the tabernacle that is to bear record of me,
 Exodus	Ex	2	40	3	and put the ark in it, and screen the ark with the veil.
 Exodus	Ex	2	40	4	Then bring in the table, and set out due offerings there; the lamp-stand, too, must be in its place, with lamps on it,
 Exodus	Ex	2	40	5	and the golden altar upon which incense is burnt, there before the ark that bears record of me. Stretch out the hanging at the entrance to the tabernacle,
 Exodus	Ex	2	40	6	and set down before it the altar for burnt-sacrifice,
 Exodus	Ex	2	40	7	with the basin there, full of water, between altar and tabernacle;
 Exodus	Ex	2	40	8	and screen off the court and its entrance with the hangings.
 Exodus	Ex	2	40	9	Then bring out the anointing-oil, and hallow by unction with it the tabernacle and its appurtenances;
 Exodus	Ex	2	40	10	the altar for burnt-sacrifice and all that belongs to it,
 Exodus	Ex	2	40	11	and the washing-basin with its stand; all must be consecrated with the anointing-oil, to be holiness itself.
 Exodus	Ex	2	40	12	Bring Aaron, too, and his sons to the doors of the tabernacle that bears record of me, and, when they have washed,
 Exodus	Ex	2	40	13	clothe them with the sacred vestments in which they are to minister to me, and anoint them to be my priests for ever.
 Exodus	Ex	2	40	14	Moses did as the Lord bade him;
 Exodus	Ex	2	40	15	and on the first day of the first month, in this second year of wandering, the tabernacle was set up.
 Exodus	Ex	2	40	16	To set it up, Moses must first dispose the frames, with their sockets and poles, and erect the posts;
 Exodus	Ex	2	40	17	then he spread the tapestry over the tabernacle, and covered it, as the Lord bade him, with the canopy.
 Exodus	Ex	2	40	18	He put the tablets of the law in the ark, and passed the poles through at the base of it, and fixed the throne above it.
 Exodus	Ex	2	40	19	Then, bringing the ark into the tabernacle, he spread the veil in front of it, in fulfilment of the Lord’s command.
 Exodus	Ex	2	40	20	In front of the veil, at the northern end of the tabernacle that bore record of the Lord, he put down the table,
 Exodus	Ex	2	40	21	and on it, as the Lord bade him, he set out the consecrated loaves.
 Exodus	Ex	2	40	22	On the south side of the tabernacle, opposite the table, he set up the lamp-stand,
 Exodus	Ex	2	40	23	with all its lamps in position as the Lord bade him.
 Exodus	Ex	2	40	24	And before the veil, still under the tabernacle roof, he placed the golden altar,
 Exodus	Ex	2	40	25	on which, at the Lord’s command, he burnt incense made from spices.
 Exodus	Ex	2	40	26	And now he must hang the screen at the entrance of the tabernacle,
 Exodus	Ex	2	40	27	and by the door of the tabernacle must stand the altar for burnt-sacrifice, on which he offered the victims and sacrificial gifts which the Lord had prescribed.
 Exodus	Ex	2	40	28	He put the basin, too, between the tabernacle and the altar, filling it with water,
 Exodus	Ex	2	40	29	so that Moses and Aaron and Aaron’s sons could wash their hands and feet
 Exodus	Ex	2	40	30	whenever they would enter the tabernacle that bore record of the covenant, or approach the altar, as the Lord had commanded him.
 Exodus	Ex	2	40	31	He also set up the court round the tabernacle and the altar, and hung the screen at the entrance to it. When all was done,
 Exodus	Ex	2	40	32	a cloud covered the tabernacle, and it was filled with the brightness of the Lord’s presence;
 Exodus	Ex	2	40	33	nor could Moses enter the tabernacle that bore record of the covenant, so thick the cloud that spread all about it, so radiant was the Lord’s majesty; all was wrapped in cloud.
 Exodus	Ex	2	40	34	Whenever the cloud lifted from the tabernacle, the Israelites would muster and set out on the march,
 Exodus	Ex	2	40	35	and while it hung there, they halted.
 Exodus	Ex	2	40	36	The divine cloud by day, the divine fire by night, still brooded over the tabernacle for all Israel to see it, wherever they halted on their journey.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	1	1	The Lord summoned Moses, and, from the tabernacle that bore record of him made known his will.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	1	2	These rules the Israelites were to follow, when any of them would offer the Lord a beast as a victim, from herd or from flock.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	1	3	The man who would win the Lord’s favour with burnt-sacrifice of cattle must bring a male beast, without blemish, to the door of the tabernacle,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	1	4	and lay his hand on the beast’s head, and so it will be accepted, and will serve to make atonement for him.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	1	5	Then he will immolate the calf in the Lord’s presence, and the priests of Aaron’s line will make an offering of its blood, which they will pour round the altar at the tabernacle door.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	1	6	Then they will skin the victim and cut its limbs into joints;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	1	7	and, lighting a fire on the altar, where a pile of wood lies ready,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	1	8	they will lay on it the joints, the head and the fat round the liver.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	1	9	The entrails and feet must first be washed with water. So the priest will make a burnt-sacrifice of it all, there on the altar, and the smell of its burning will be acceptable to the Lord.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	1	10	As with the herd, so with the flock; if he would offer sacrifice, sheep or goat, let him bring a male without blemish,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	1	11	and immolate it at the northern side of the altar; and the priests of Aaron’s line will pour its blood round about,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	1	12	and will separate the limbs, the head, and the fat round the liver, and lay them upon the wood over the fire;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	1	13	the entrails and the feet first washed in water. So the priest will burn the whole offering as a burnt-sacrifice, and the Lord will accept the smell of its burning.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	1	14	If a bird is offered to the Lord as a burnt-sacrifice, it will be a turtle-dove, or a young pigeon.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	1	15	And the priest will bring it to the altar, where he will wring its neck and slit it open; then he will let the blood run over the foot of the altar,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	1	16	casting away the crop and feathers near by on the eastern side, where the ashes are poured out.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	1	17	He will break the bird’s wings, but will not cut it up into joints with a knife; he will burn it whole over wood kindled on the altar. So it will be a burnt-sacrifice, and the smell of its burning will be acceptable to the Lord.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	2	1	If anyone would bring the Lord a bloodless offering, his gift must be of flour; over this he will pour oil, and lay incense on it,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	2	2	and so he will bring it to the priests of Aaron’s line; one of whom will take up a handful of the wheat and oil, with all the incense, and cast it on the altar as a token-sacrifice, acceptable to the Lord in its fragrance.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	2	3	All that is left of this sacrifice shall belong to Aaron and his sons; the remnant of the Lord’s own offering, it is set apart for holy uses.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	2	4	If this bloodless offering of thine is cooked in the oven, it shall be of unleavened wheaten loaves, kneaded with oil, and unleavened cakes with oil poured over them;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	2	5	if it is cooked in the pan, it shall be of unleavened flour kneaded with oil,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	2	6	cut up into small pieces, with oil poured over them;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	2	7	if it is cooked on the gridiron, it must still be of flour mingled with oil.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	2	8	Thy gift to the Lord, it shall be put into the priest’s hands;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	2	9	and he, in offering it, will separate the token-sacrifice, which he will burn there on the altar, acceptable to the Lord in its fragrance;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	2	10	the rest shall belong to Aaron and his sons; the remnant of the Lord’s offering, it is set apart for holy uses.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	2	11	All such offerings must be made to the Lord unleavened; no leaven or honey must be burnt with the Lord’s sacrifice.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	2	12	Of such things, you may offer first-fruits, or bring gifts, but they shall not be put on the altar, to give out fragrance there.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	2	13	Whatever sacrifice thou offerest is to be seasoned with salt; thou shalt not grudge thy God the salt which his covenant demands; salt shall be a part of every offering.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	2	14	If thou makest the Lord a gift of thy first-fruits, thou shalt roast the ears, while they are still fresh, over the fire and bruise them as flour is bruised, and so offer the Lord thy first-fruits.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	2	15	Thou shalt pour oil on them, too, and lay incense on them, to shew that they are an offering made to the Lord;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	2	16	and the priest, for a token-sacrifice, shall burn part of the bruised grain and the oil, with all the incense.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	3	1	The man who would make a welcome-offering of cattle, must bring to the Lord a beast without blemish, bullock or heifer as he will.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	3	2	He is to lay his hand on the head of the victim, and it is to be immolated at the entrance of the tabernacle that bears record of me, the priests who represent Aaron’s family pouring its blood about the altar.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	3	3	The parts of the victim that must be given to the Lord in a welcome-offering are the fat enclosing the entrails and the fat on the entrails,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	3	4	the two kidneys and the fat round the flanks, and with the kidneys the caul of the liver.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	3	5	All these, once the wood is kindled, they shall offer on the altar as a burnt-sacrifice, and the Lord will accept the smell of their burning.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	3	6	As with the herd, so with the flock; the victim can be male or female, as long as it is without blemish.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	3	7	If it is a lamb that he offers to the Lord,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	3	8	he will lay his hand upon the head of the victim, and it will be immolated in front of the tabernacle that bears record, the sons of Aaron pouring its blood about the altar.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	3	9	And the parts of the victim sacrificed to the Lord in this welcome-offering will be the tail with all the fat on it,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	3	10	the kidneys, all the fat which encloses belly and entrails. Both kidneys are to be offered with the fat round the flanks, and with the kidneys the caul of the liver.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	3	11	All these the priest will burn on the altar, to feed its fire and to give the Lord his offering.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	3	12	So, too, if the victim he brings to the Lord is a goat,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	3	13	he will lay his hand upon its head, and immolate it in front of the tabernacle that bears record, the sons of Aaron pouring its blood about the altar.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	3	14	The same parts must be cut away to feed the fire of the Lord’s sacrifice; the fat which covers belly and entrails,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	3	15	the two kidneys, and with the kidneys the caul and the fat of the liver, close to the flanks;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	3	16	these are for the priest to burn on the altar, feeding the flame and giving out acceptable fragrance. All that is fat shall belong to the Lord;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	3	17	this rule you must observe continually, age after age, wherever you dwell; neither fat nor blood are for your eating.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	4	1	And now the Lord spoke to Moses again,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	4	2	making known his will to the sons of Israel: It may be that a man has transgressed through inadvertence, disobeyed, without thinking to disobey, some one of the Lord’s precepts.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	4	3	Such a transgression, if it be committed by the high priest then in office, brings guilt upon the whole people, and he must make amends for it by offering to the Lord a young bullock without blemish.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	4	4	He will bring it into the Lord’s presence, at the door of the tabernacle, and, laying his hands on its head, will immolate it to the Lord.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	4	5	Then he will draw off some of its blood, which he will take with him into the tabernacle;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	4	6	and there he will dip his finger in the blood, and sprinkle it in the Lord’s presence, before the sanctuary veil, seven times.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	4	7	Some of this blood he will smear on the horns of the altar; that altar within the tabernacle, on which the fragrant incense is burnt for the Lord’s acceptance; the rest he will pour away at the foot of the sacrificial altar, near the tabernacle door.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	4	8	And now, to make amends for his fault, he will cut away the bullock’s fat, the fat enclosing the entrails and all else that is found within it,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	4	9	the two kidneys, and with the kidneys the caul and fat of the liver, close to the flanks,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	4	10	as if it were the victim of a welcome-offering, and burn these on the sacrificial altar.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	4	11	The skin and all the flesh, with the head, the feet, the entrails and the dung,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	4	12	and all the rest of its carcase, he will carry away from the camp to the place you have hallowed for pouring the ashes away, and burn them over a wood fire, there on the ash-pit.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	4	13	Or perhaps the whole people of Israel has been betrayed into a fault, transgressing the Lord’s command unwittingly.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	4	14	If so, when they find out their error, they will bring a young bullock to the tabernacle door in amends.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	4	15	There, in the Lord’s presence, the elders of the people will lay their hands on its head; and when the bullock has been immolated before him,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	4	16	some of its blood will be taken into the tabernacle by the high priest then in office,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	4	17	who will dip his finger and sprinkle it before the veil seven times,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	4	18	smear with it the horns of the altar that stands within the tabernacle in the Lord’s presence, and pour away the rest about the foot of the sacrificial altar, by the tabernacle door.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	4	19	He will separate the fat and burn it on the altar,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	4	20	treating it like the bullock aforementioned; and at the priest’s intercession, the Lord will have mercy.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	4	21	The bullock itself he will take away from the camp, as before; and so amends will be made for the general transgression.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	4	22	Be it one of the rulers that has transgressed by breaking some one of the laws inadvertently,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	4	23	and later has recognized his fault, he must offer to the Lord a he-goat, without blemish, as his victim.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	4	24	He will lay his hands on its head, and immolate it, in amends for his fault, where the Lord’s burnt-sacrifices are immolated;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	4	25	and the priest will dip his finger in the blood of this transgression-victim, smearing some of it on the horns, this time, of the sacrificial altar, and pouring the rest away about its foot.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	4	26	On this altar, too, he will burn the fat, as the fat of the welcome-offering is burnt; and so, at the priest’s intercession, the ruler’s fault will be forgiven.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	4	27	Be it one of the common folk that has transgressed through inadvertence; the law has been broken nevertheless, and guilt incurred.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	4	28	Such a man, when he becomes aware of his fault, must offer a she-goat without blemish,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	4	29	lay his hand on the head of this transgression-victim, and immolate it where the burnt-sacrifices are immolated.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	4	30	The priest will smear the sacrificial altar with some of the blood, and pour the rest away at its foot;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	4	31	then separate the fat, as if this were a welcome-offering, and burn it on the altar, where the smell of its burning will be acceptable to the Lord. And so, at the priest’s intercession for him, the guilty man will be pardoned.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	4	32	Or he may choose, as his transgression-victim, a ewe-lamb without blemish from his flock,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	4	33	lay his hand on its head, and immolate it where the burnt-sacrifices are immolated.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	4	34	The priest will use the victim’s blood as before,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	4	35	separate the fat, as if this were the ram of the welcome-offering, and burn it on the altar, offer it to the Lord by fire; so, at the priest’s intercession, the guilty man will be pardoned.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	5	1	Here is a sin men commit; a man hears the call that puts him under oath, and can bear witness of what he has seen or known, yet witness he bears none; he must pay the penalty.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	5	2	A man may have touched what has been killed by a wild beast or has fallen dead, or the carcase of a reptile, or some other unclean thing, unaware of his defilement at the time; yet he has incurred guilt by the fault.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	5	3	Or he has touched some defilement of the human body; there are many such; he may be unaware of it till afterwards, but he has incurred guilt.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	5	4	Or he has taken an oath, pronounced with the lips, to do this or that; he has given his pledged word, and then forgotten that he gave it, but remembers it afterwards.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	5	5	For all such faults as these a man must do penance,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	5	6	offering up a ewe-lamb or a she-goat from his flock; so the priest will make intercession to have his fault pardoned.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	5	7	If he has no beast to give, he must offer two turtle-doves, or two young pigeons to the Lord instead, one in amends for his fault, and the other as a burnt-sacrifice.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	5	8	The priest, when these are brought to him, will offer the first as a transgression-victim, bending its head right back to the wings, but so that it is still attached to the neck, not completely severed,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	5	9	and sprinkling some of its blood on the side of the altar; the rest he will allow to drip down at the altar’s foot, to make amends for the transgression.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	5	10	Of the other he will make a burnt-sacrifice, in the customary way, and, at the priest’s intercession, the man will be pardoned.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	5	11	If he cannot even lay his hand on two turtle-doves, or two young pigeons, the transgression-offering must be a tenth of a bushel of flour; but he will not mix oil with it, or lay incense on it; this is an offering for transgression.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	5	12	He will hand it to the priest, who will take a handful and burn it on the altar, as a token-sacrifice for the man who brought it,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	5	13	praying and making atonement on his behalf; the rest of it the priest will keep as his own offering.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	5	14	And this, too, was a commandment which the Lord gave Moses:
 Leviticus	Lev	3	5	15	If anyone commits a fault by inadvertence, defrauding the Lord of his due over things consecrated, he must make amends for his guilt by offering a ram without blemish out of his flock, such a ram as is worth two silver pieces by sanctuary reckoning.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	5	16	He must also make restitution of the sum that is lacking, and a fifth part of it besides, handing this to the priest, who will make intercession for him when he offers up the ram, and win him pardon.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	5	17	Or, if the fault of inadvertence lies only in disobeying the law, it is enough that, when he becomes aware of his guilt,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	5	18	he should bring the priest a ram without blemish out of his flock, of greater or less worth as the fault demands. And the priest shall intercede for the unwitting transgressor, winning him pardon
 Leviticus	Lev	3	5	19	because he did the Lord a wrong inadvertently.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	6	1	And the Lord said to Moses,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	6	2	There are faults, too, committed in the Lord’s despite, when a man defrauds his neighbour of some loan that was entrusted to him for safe keeping, or extorts money by violence, or wrongs him at law,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	6	3	or perjures himself in denying that he has found something lost, or is guilty of some other offence such as men are prone to commit.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	6	4	If he is found guilty, he must make restitution,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	6	5	giving back in full all that he hoped to gain by his knavery, and a fifth part besides, to the owner whom he has wronged.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	6	6	He must make amends, too, for his fault by bringing to the priest a ram without blemish out of his flock, of greater or less worth as the wrong demands.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	6	7	The priest will make intercession for him before the Lord, and win pardon for all his wrongful deeds.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	6	8	The Lord also spoke to Moses
 Leviticus	Lev	3	6	9	giving him a commandment for Aaron and his sons: This is the rule which governs burnt-sacrifice. It is to be burnt on the altar all night till morning comes, with the altar’s own fire.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	6	10	The priest, clothed in his robe and linen breeches, will take away the ashes left by the fire which consumes it, and lay these down by the altar.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	6	11	Then, taking off the clothes he wears and putting on others, he will take the ashes away from the camp to a place already purified, and there calcine them.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	6	12	The fire on the altar must burn continually; each morning the priest will feed it with fresh logs, on which he will lay first the burnt-sacrifice, then the fat taken from the welcome-offering.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	6	13	Never must the altar be empty of this perpetual fire.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	6	14	And this is the rule that governs the bloodless offering which Aaron and his sons will make before the altar in the Lord’s presence.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	6	15	The priest will take a handful of the flour mingled with oil, and all the grains of incense that are laid on it; and these he will burn on the altar as a token-sacrifice, whose fragrance the Lord will accept.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	6	16	The rest of the flour, still with no leaven in it, Aaron and his sons will eat, upon hallowed ground within the court of the tabernacle that bears record of me.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	6	17	No leaven must be put into it, shared as it is with the Lord’s burnt-sacrifice; it is set apart for holy uses, like the offerings that are made for a fault or for a wrong done.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	6	18	Only the male descendants of Aaron may eat it. This is the rule to be observed continually, age after age, in offering the Lord sacrifice; whoever touches it becomes holy thereby.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	6	19	The Lord also said to Moses,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	6	20	This is the offering Aaron and his sons must make to the Lord when they are anointed; one tenth of a bushel of flour for a continuous offering, half of it in the morning and half in the evening,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	6	21	mingled with oil and fried in a pan.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	6	22	It shall be offered still warm, acceptable to the Lord in its fragrance, by each priest succeeding to his father’s office, and the whole of it must be burnt on the altar.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	6	23	Every sacrifice made by the priests themselves must be altogether destroyed by fire; no one must eat any part of it.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	6	24	And the Lord spoke to Moses again,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	6	25	giving him a message for Aaron and his sons: This is the rule that governs the offering of a victim for transgression; it must be immolated before the Lord in the same place where burnt-sacrifices are offered; it is set apart for holy uses.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	6	26	The priest who offers it must eat his share on hallowed ground in the tabernacle court;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	6	27	whatever touches the flesh of it becomes holy thereby, and if his clothing is stained by its blood, it must be washed on hallowed ground.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	6	28	Even the earthenware pot in which it was cooked must be broken; or, if it is cooked in a pan of bronze, the pan must be scraped clean and washed in water.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	6	29	The flesh is set apart for holy uses, but it may be eaten by any male person belonging to the priestly family,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	6	30	except that of the transgression-victim whose blood has been taken into the tabernacle, to make atonement in the sanctuary; such a victim is not to be eaten, it must be destroyed by burning.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	7	1	And this is the rule which governs the offering of a victim for wrong done. Such a victim is set apart for holy uses,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	7	2	and must be immolated where burnt-sacrifices are immolated; its blood must be poured round the altar.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	7	3	The parts which must be offered are the tail, and the fat which covers the entrails,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	7	4	the two kidneys and the fat that is close to them, and with the kidneys the caul of the liver.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	7	5	All these the priest will burn on the altar, as a burnt-sacrifice to the Lord in amends for the wrong done;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	7	6	the flesh of the victim is set apart for holy uses, but it may be eaten by any male person belonging to the priestly family.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	7	7	Victims are to be offered for a wrong done just as they are for a fault; the rule is the same for either, and either victim belongs to the priest who offers it.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	7	8	The priest who offers a victim in burnt-sacrifice, may keep the skin for himself;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	7	9	and every offering of flour cooked in the oven, or prepared with gridiron or pan, is made over to the priest who offers it;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	7	10	kneaded with oil or dry, such gifts must be divided equally between all the men of Aaron’s race.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	7	11	And this is the rule which governs the welcome-offerings that are brought to the Lord.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	7	12	If it is a thank-offering, there must be loaves of unleavened bread kneaded with oil, unleavened cakes with oil poured over them, pastry kneaded with oil,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	7	13	and loaves, too with leaven in them. All these must go with the victim which is immolated as a welcome-offering in thanksgiving;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	7	14	and one of each must be offered to the Lord as first-fruits, so that it will belong to the priest who sheds the victim’s blood.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	7	15	The flesh of the victim must be eaten the same day, none of it left till the morrow.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	7	16	If the offering is made in performance of a vow, or simply from devotion, it should be eaten on the same day; but if any is left till the morrow, it may still be eaten;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	7	17	whatever the third day finds still unfinished must be destroyed by fire.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	7	18	If any such flesh is eaten on the third day, the offering will be null and void, and the giver will have no advantage from it; indeed, whoever contaminates himself by eating such food is guilty of an offence.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	7	19	If it has touched anything unclean, it must be destroyed by fire, not eaten. Only one who is free from defilement may partake of it;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	7	20	the man who eats any of the victim for a welcome-offering, when he is himself defiled, is lost to his people;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	7	21	and he, too, who eats such flesh after touching any defilement left by man or beast, or anything that makes him unclean.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	7	22	And the Lord spoke to Moses,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	7	23	giving him this message for the sons of Israel: You are not to eat the fat of sheep or ox or goat;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	7	24	but you may keep the fat of anything that falls dead or is killed by a wild beast, for various uses.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	7	25	Anyone who eats the fat which ought to be offered, as part of the Lord’s burnt-sacrifice, is lost to his people.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	7	26	Nor must you use the blood of any living thing, bird or beast, as food;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	7	27	whoever consumes the blood, is lost to his people.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	7	28	And the Lord spoke to Moses
 Leviticus	Lev	3	7	29	giving him this message, too, for the sons of Israel: The man who brings the Lord a welcome-offering must surrender, in doing so, his sacrificial due, the choice portions of the victim.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	7	30	He will carry with him the fat and the breast of the victim, and both these, when they have been held up in sign of consecration to the Lord, he will hand over to the priest,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	7	31	who will burn the fat on the altar, while the breast belongs, as their due, to Aaron and his sons.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	7	32	The right shoulder of the victim slain in welcome-offering is also the priest’s prerogative;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	7	33	whichever of Aaron’s sons offers the blood and the fat, is to have the right shoulder for his portion.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	7	34	The breast that is held up in sign of consecration, the shoulder that is separated from the rest, are the portions of the welcome-offering which I demand of the Israelites; making them over to Aaron, my priest, and to his descendants, as a right due to them at all times from the sons of Israel.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	7	35	Such are the privileges Aaron and his sons enjoy in the worship offered to the Lord, ever since the day when Moses presented them to him to be his priests;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	7	36	such gifts the Lord bade the Israelites bestow upon them by a right unalterable, age after age.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	7	37	Thus far the rules which govern burnt-sacrifice, and sacrifices for a fault or a wrong done, for the hallowing of priests, and for the victims used in welcome-offering,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	7	38	as the Lord prescribed them to Moses on mount Sinai, when he commanded the sons of Israel, there in the desert of Sinai, to bring him their offerings.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	8	1	And now the Lord said to Moses,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	8	2	Bring with thee Aaron and his sons, and their sacred vestments, and the oil for anointing, and a young bullock such as is offered for a fault, and two rams, and a basket of unleavened bread,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	8	3	and gather the whole assembly of the people at the tabernacle door.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	8	4	Moses did as the Lord had bidden him; and when all the people had gathered before the entrance to the tabernacle,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	8	5	he told them, I do this at the Lord’s express command.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	8	6	With that, he presented Aaron and his sons; and when they had been duly washed,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	8	7	he clothed the new high priest in the linen robe, and girded him with the girdle, and put the blue tunic on him, and the mantle over that,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	8	8	binding it close with its band, and attaching to it the burse in which were the touchstones of wisdom and of truth.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	8	9	He covered his head, too, with the mitre, and put in front of it the golden plate, sacred and set apart, as the Lord had bidden him.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	8	10	Then he took the oil used for anointing, and with it he anointed the tabernacle and all its furniture;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	8	11	anointed the altar, too, after consecrating it seven times by sprinkling, with all its appurtenances, and consecrated the basin and its stand with oil.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	8	12	Then, pouring oil over Aaron’s head, he anointed and hallowed him.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	8	13	Aaron’s sons, too, he brought forward, dressed them in linen robes, girded them with girdles, and put mitres on them, as the Lord had bidden him.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	8	14	Then he offered a young bullock for their faults; Aaron and his sons laid their hands on its head,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	8	15	and Moses immolated it, drawing off its blood. In this he dipped his finger, and smeared it round the horns of the altar, till all was cleansed and hallowed; the rest he poured away at the altar’s foot.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	8	16	The fat on the entrails, the caul of the liver, and the two kidneys with their fat, he sacrificed on the altar,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	8	17	burning the carcase, skin and flesh and dung, away from the camp, as the Lord had bidden him.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	8	18	He offered a ram, too, as a burnt-sacrifice; Aaron and his sons laid their hands on its head,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	8	19	and so he immolated it, pouring away its blood round the altar.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	8	20	This ram he cut into joints, and sacrificed it, head and limbs and fat, upon the altar,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	8	21	first washing its entrails and its feet; so he burnt the whole ram on the altar, a sacrifice such as the Lord had commanded, to please him with the smell of its burning.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	8	22	Another ram he offered for the hallowing of the priests; Aaron and his sons laid their hands on its head
 Leviticus	Lev	3	8	23	and now, after immolating it, Moses took some of its blood and put it on the tip of Aaron’s right ear, the thumb of his right hand, and the great toe of his right foot.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	8	24	Then he brought forward Aaron’s sons, smeared them, ear and thumb and toe, with the ram’s blood, and poured away what was left of it about the altar.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	8	25	He set on one side the fat of the tail, and all the fat that covered the entrails, the caul of the liver, the two kidneys with their fat, and the right shoulder.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	8	26	Then he added to the fat and the shoulder an unleavened loaf, a cake made with oil, and a piece of pastry, from the basket of unleavened bread that lay there before the Lord;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	8	27	and he gave all these to Aaron and his sons, who lifted them up in the Lord’s presence.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	8	28	So they were handed back to Moses, and he burnt them on the sacrificial altar as an offering for their consecration, a smell of burning for the Lord to accept.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	8	29	The breast of this ram they were hallowed with, he took, as the Lord bade him, for his own portion, after lifting it up in the Lord’s presence.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	8	30	Then he took the holy oil, and the blood from the altar, and sprinkled them over Aaron and his sons, and the vestments they wore.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	8	31	And now that they were hallowed, vestments and all, he told them, Cook the flesh before the tabernacle door, and eat it there; the bread, too, that is offered for your hallowing, that lies there in the basket; such was the Lord’s command to me, Aaron and his sons shall eat it.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	8	32	If any is left over, of the meat or of the bread, it must be destroyed by fire.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	8	33	But you must not leave the entrance of the tabernacle for seven days, till the time of your hallowing is complete; for seven days your hallowing must continue
 Leviticus	Lev	3	8	34	with all to-day’s solemnities, before the rite of your consecration takes full effect.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	8	35	Night and day you must make the tabernacle your home, on pain of death, keeping vigil in the Lord’s honour; this was the command given to me.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	8	36	Such was the Lord’s bidding through Moses, and Aaron and his sons faithfully observed it.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	9	1	And now, when the eighth day came, Moses summoned Aaron and his sons, with the elders of Israel, and said to Aaron,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	9	2	Choose out a young bullock to atone for your faults, and a ram for burnt-sacrifice, both without blemish, and offer them to the Lord.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	9	3	And bid the sons of Israel choose out a goat to atone for their faults, with a bullock and a lamb, both one year old, both without blemish, for their burnt-sacrifice;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	9	4	an ox, too, and a ram, by way of welcome-offering. They must immolate them here before the Lord, and offer up flour kneaded with oil to accompany each sacrifice; this day, the Lord means to appear among you.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	9	5	So they brought to the tabernacle door all that Moses bade them bring; and to the whole multitude there assembled
 Leviticus	Lev	3	9	6	Moses proclaimed, Here is a command laid upon you by the Lord; fulfil it, and his glory will be revealed to you.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	9	7	Then he said to Aaron, Go up to the altar, and immolate the victim that is to atone for thy faults; offer burnt-sacrifice, to win pardon for thyself and for the people; the people too, have a victim thou must immolate, making intercession for them as the Lord bids thee.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	9	8	With that, Aaron came up to the altar, and immolated the bullock that was to atone for his own faults.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	9	9	His sons held out the blood before him, and he dipped his finger and smeared the horns of the altar with it, pouring the rest away at the altar’s foot.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	9	10	Then, obedient to the command which the Lord had given Moses, he sacrificed on the altar the fat, the kidneys, and the liver-caul of this transgression-victim,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	9	11	taking its flesh and skin away from the camp to be destroyed by fire.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	9	12	After this, he immolated the victim of the burnt-sacrifice, his sons holding out first the blood, which he poured away round the altar;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	9	13	then the carcase, cut up into joints, with its head and all its limbs complete, which he burnt on the altar,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	9	14	first washing its entrails and its feet in water.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	9	15	Next, he immolated the goat, as an offering for the people’s faults, and, purifying the altar,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	9	16	went on to the burnt-sacrifice,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	9	17	to which he added, burning them on the altar, the customary gifts, over and above all the ceremonies of the morning sacrifice.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	9	18	Then he immolated the ox and the ram, by way of welcome-offering for the people. His sons held out the blood, and he poured it round the altar;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	9	19	the fat of the ox, and the ram’s tail, and the kidneys with their fat, and the cauls of the livers,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	9	20	they laid on the breasts of the victims, and when the fat had been burnt on the altar,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	9	21	Aaron set apart the two breasts and the two right shoulders, which he lifted up in the Lord’s presence, as Moses had bidden him.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	9	22	Then he stretched out his hands over the people, and blessed them; and so, the sacrifice done, the atonement for faults, the burnt-sacrifice, and the welcome-offering, he came down from the altar.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	9	23	After this, both Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle that bears record and blessed the people as they came out. Whereupon the glory of the Lord shone out upon the whole multitude,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	9	24	and suddenly the Lord sent down fire, which consumed the burnt-sacrifice, and all the fat that lay on the altar. At the sight, the whole people raised a cry of praise, and fell face to ground in worship.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	10	1	There were two of Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abiu, who took up their censers and put coals and incense into them, to burn unhallowed fire in the Lord’s presence, not in accordance with his command;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	10	2	whereupon the Lord sent down fire which devoured them, and they died there in the Lord’s presence.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	10	3	And Moses told Aaron, The Lord gave us warning of this when he said: I mean to vindicate my holiness among those who come near me, win reverence in the eyes of the whole people. And with that, Aaron kept silence.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	10	4	Meanwhile, Moses summoned Misael and Elisaphan, sons of Oziel that was Aaron’s uncle, and said to them, Go and remove the bodies of your brethren from the tabernacle door, and carry them away from the camp.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	10	5	So they went without more ado and took them up just as they lay there, still clothed in their robes of linen; and they carried them away as he bade them.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	10	6	Then Moses said to Aaron and his sons Eleazar and Ithamar, Do not bare your heads or rend your garments, on pain of death, and such vengeance as may overtake the whole people; let your brethren, and all the race of Israel bewail this fresh kindling of the Lord’s fire.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	10	7	You must not, on pain of death, leave the tabernacle door, with the oil of your consecration still upon you. So they did as Moses bade them.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	10	8	The Lord, too, said to Aaron,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	10	9	When you are for entering the tabernacle, thou and thy sons, drink neither wine nor strong drink, on pain of death; such is the commandment you must observe, age after age.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	10	10	It is your task to distinguish between what is holy and what is profane, what is defiled and what is clean;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	10	11	and to teach the sons of Israel all these commandments of mine, the Lord’s word to them through Moses.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	10	12	And now Moses said to Aaron, and to his surviving sons, Eleazar and Ithamar, You must take up what is left of the bloodless sacrifice offered to the Lord, and eat it, still unleavened, near the altar; it is set apart for holy uses,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	10	13	and on holy ground it must be eaten, as the share given to thee and to thy sons in the Lord’s own offering; such was the Divine command.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	10	14	The breast, too, that was held up in worship, and the shoulder that was set apart, you must eat in a place that is clean of all defilement, thou and thy sons and thy daughters, too, with thee. This share of the welcome-offerings the sons of Israel bring is kept for thee and thy children;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	10	15	priestly hands have lifted up, in the Lord’s presence, the shoulder and the breast and the fat which was afterwards burnt on the altar, and it is the Lord’s bidding that they should belong to thee and thy sons, by right perpetual.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	10	16	Meanwhile, when Moses went to look for the goat that was their transgression-victim, he found its body all consumed by fire, and angered by this, he asked Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron’s two surviving sons,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	10	17	Why did you not eat, on holy ground, this transgression-victim, all holiness, which was handed over to you so that you might take the faults of the people on yourselves, and make intercession for them in the Lord’s presence?
 Leviticus	Lev	3	10	18	Its blood had not been carried within the sanctuary; you should have eaten it on holy ground, in obedience to the commandment that was given me.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	10	19	But Aaron’s answer was, Why, this very day transgression-victim and burnt-sacrifice have been offered to the Lord, and thou seest what has befallen me in spite of it. How could I find acceptance with the Lord in eating my share of it, with a heart so mournful?
 Leviticus	Lev	3	10	20	And with that, Moses was content.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	11	1	This was a message the Lord gave to Moses and Aaron
 Leviticus	Lev	3	11	2	for the sons of Israel: Among all the living creatures on earth, these only are to be your food.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	11	3	Among the beasts, those which chew the cud and have cloven hoofs.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	11	4	Such beasts as the camel, ruminants with their hoofs single, you must hold unclean, not to be eaten;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	11	5	the rock-rabbit, too, is unclean, a ruminant without cloven hoofs,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	11	6	and the hare in the same way.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	11	7	The sow for the opposite reason; it has cloven hoofs but does not chew the cud.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	11	8	You are not to eat the flesh of these animals, or touch their carcases; you must regard them as unclean.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	11	9	Everything that lives in the water is food for your eating as long as it has fins and scales, whether it be sea or river or lake fish.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	11	10	Creatures that live and move in the water without scales or fins you must hold in abomination,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	11	11	so abominable that you will not eat their flesh or even touch their carcases;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	11	12	there is defilement in all that lacks fins and scales.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	11	13	Of the birds, you must avoid these as forbidden food, the eagle, the griffon, the osprey,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	11	14	the falcon and the vulture with all else of their kind,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	11	15	anything that belongs to the raven tribe,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	11	16	the ostrich, the night-owl, the sea-mew, every kind of hawk,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	11	17	the horned owl, the cormorant, the ibis,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	11	18	the swan, the pelican, the coot,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	11	19	the stork, birds of the curlew kind, the hoopoe and the bat.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	11	20	The winged things that are four-footed you must hold in abomination,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	11	21	except those which have the hinder legs longer, and leap from one spot to another;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	11	22	these you may eat, the locust and all its kindred, bruchus or attacus or ophiomachus.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	11	23	But winged creatures that must walk on four feet you are to hold in detestation;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	11	24	no one that touches their carcases but is defiled thereby, and must count himself unclean till the evening comes;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	11	25	even if necessity bids him carry such a carcase, he must wash his clothes afterwards, and count himself unclean till set of sun.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	11	26	Any beast that has hoofs, but not cloven hoofs, and does not chew the cud, is to be unclean, and the man who touches it, defiled.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	11	27	Any four-footed beast that walks on its paws is to be unclean, and to touch its carcase is to be defiled till evening comes;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	11	28	whoever carries such a carcase must wash his clothes, and count himself unclean till set of sun; all these things you must hold contaminated.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	11	29	And there are things that creep along the ground which you must hold unclean, every weasel and mouse and skink,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	11	30	shrew-mouse and chameleon and newt and lizard and mole.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	11	31	All these are unclean; the man who touches one when it is dead is defiled till evening comes.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	11	32	Let such a carcase fall on a bucket or a garment or a skin or a piece of sackcloth or anything else that is in use, and it is defiled; it must be washed in water, and not counted as clean even then till set of sun.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	11	33	If it defiles an earthenware pot by falling into it, the pot must be broken.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	11	34	Whatever you drink out of such a vessel, and even the food you eat, if water out of such a vessel is poured over it, becomes unclean.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	11	35	Wherever such a carcase falls it brings uncleanness; oven or chafing dish that is contaminated by it must be destroyed.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	11	36	Springs or cisterns in which water is collected remain undefiled by it, but anyone who touches the carcase itself becomes unclean.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	11	37	So, too, if it falls on seed-corn, there is no defilement,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	11	38	unless someone has first watered the seed-corn, and then the carcase falls on it; if so, it becomes unclean at once.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	11	39	Whoever touches the carcase of an animal that falls dead, though it be one of those you are allowed to eat, is defiled till evening comes;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	11	40	and anyone who eats of it, or carries it, must wash his clothes, and until evening comes count himself unclean.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	11	41	All that creeps along the ground must be held in abomination, and never used for food;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	11	42	whether it walks on four feet with its belly close to the ground, or has many feet, or glides along, it is no food for you, you must hold it abominable.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	11	43	Keep your persons undefiled, touching no such thing, for fear of contamination.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	11	44	I am the Lord your God; you must be set apart, the servants of a God who is set apart. Do not contaminate yourselves with any of these beasts that creep along the ground.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	11	45	I am the Lord your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	11	46	I am set apart and you must be set apart like me. Such is the rule that governs the use of beast and bird, and all the life that moves through the water or creeps along the ground,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	11	47	teaching you the difference between clean and unclean, what food you may eat and what food you must reject.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	12	1	And the Lord spoke to Moses,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	12	2	giving him this message for the Israelites: If a woman conceives, and gives birth to a boy, she will be unclean for seven days, as she is unclean at her monthly times.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	12	3	On the eighth day, the child must be circumcised,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	12	4	and after that she must wait for thirty-three days more to be purified after her loss of blood, touching nothing that is hallowed, never entering the sanctuary, until the time is up.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	12	5	If she gives birth to a girl, she will be unclean as at her monthly times, for fourteen days, and she will wait for sixty-six days more to be purified after her loss of blood.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	12	6	When the days needed for her purification, after the birth of boy or girl, have run out, she must bring a lamb of one year old as a burnt-sacrifice, and a young pigeon or a turtle-dove by way of amends, to the tabernacle door. These she will hand over to the priest,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	12	7	who will offer them to the Lord and intercede for her, to win purification for her after the blood-losing. Such is the rule governing the birth of boy or girl.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	12	8	If she cannot lay her hand on a lamb fit to be offered, she must bring two turtle-doves or two young pigeons, one as a burnt-sacrifice and one by way of amends; these will suffice, and at the priest’s intercession she will be purified.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	13	1	This, too, the Lord said to Moses and Aaron,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	13	2	If there should appear on anyone’s skin, the change of colour or the scab or the shiny patches that betoken the scourge of leprosy, he must be brought before the high priest Aaron, or one of his sons.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	13	3	If the priest, looking at the place on his skin, finds that the hairs have turned white, and the skin of the part affected seems shrunken compared with the rest of the skin round it, this is the scourge of leprosy; and when the priest so pronounces, the man must be segregated from his fellows.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	13	4	If the skin is marked by a shiny white patch, but is not shrunken, and the hairs have kept their colour, the priest will keep him shut away for a week,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	13	5	and on the seventh day examine him. If, by now, the infection has not grown worse or spread, he will shut him away for a week more.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	13	6	And now, if he finds on the seventh day that the infection is less marked, and has not spread further in the skin, he will declare the man clean; it is only a scab, and he will be clean once he has washed his garments.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	13	7	If the infection begins to grow worse, after he has been examined and pronounced clean, he must be brought back to the priest,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	13	8	and pronounced unclean after all.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	13	9	When a man is brought to the priest bearing the marks of infection,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	13	10	and he, upon examination, finds a white swelling that has turned the hair white, and shews the raw, live flesh,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	13	11	then it must be pronounced leprosy inveterate, deeply rooted in the skin, and the priest must pronounce him unclean without being at pains to shut him away; his uncleanness is manifest.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	13	12	But if the infection has broken out all over his skin, covering it from head to foot, wherever it is observed,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	13	13	the priest who examines him will decide that his infection is no defilement; when it shews white all over him, he is to be declared clean.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	13	14	But whenever the raw flesh shews,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	13	15	the priest will declare him contaminated, and he is to be reckoned unclean; the raw flesh betokens leprosy and uncleanness.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	13	16	If, afterwards, the skin turns white all over his body,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	13	17	the priest, examining him again, will pronounce him clean.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	13	18	When an ulcer formed in flesh or skin heals up
 Leviticus	Lev	3	13	19	and leaves a white or reddish scar behind it, the man so marked must be taken to the priest;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	13	20	and if the priest sees that this part of the skin has shrunk compared with the rest, and the hairs have turned white, he will pronounce him defiled; the scourge of leprosy has broken out in the ulcer.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	13	21	But if the hair keeps its old colour, and the scar is dark, and there is no shrinking of the skin, he will shut the man away for a week;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	13	22	and then, if it has spread, he will declare him a leper,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	13	23	but if it is still confined to the same spot, it is but the scar of the ulcer, and the man is clean.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	13	24	So, too, if flesh and skin that have been injured by a burn shew a white or reddish scar,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	13	25	and the priest who examines it finds that it has turned the hair white and is shrunken, he will declare such a man unclean; leprosy has broken out in the burn.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	13	26	But if the hair has kept its colour and there is no shrinking, and the look of the place itself is dark, he will shut the man away for a week,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	13	27	and if in that time he finds that infection has spread in the skin, he will pronounce the man unclean;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	13	28	but if the whiteness has not spread, and shews less plain, the burn is the cause of it, and the man is clean; it is only the scar of a burn.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	13	29	Man or woman suffering from an infection of the head or chin must be examined by the priest,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	13	30	and if the skin has shrunk and the hair gone yellow and thinner than it was, they must be pronounced unclean; there is leprosy in the head or beard.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	13	31	But if he finds the skin level and the hair still dark, they must be shut away for a week,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	13	32	and if he finds that the disfigurement has not spread, and the hair keeps its colour, and the skin is level,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	13	33	the hair must be shaved all round the infected part. For a week more they must be shut away,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	13	34	and if then he finds that the infection is confined to the same spot, and there is no shrinking of the skin, he will declare them clean, and they will be free from defilement when their clothes have been washed.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	13	35	If, after they have been pronounced clean, the infection spreads in the skin,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	13	36	he need not look to see whether the hair has gone yellow; the uncleanness is manifest.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	13	37	But if the infection remains where it was, and the hair is black, he may be sure that the man is healed, and pronounce him clean without scruple.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	13	38	When whiteness appears on the skin of man or woman,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	13	39	and the priest, examining them, finds it is only a dull whiteness that shews there, he will recognize that it is not leprosy, but ring-worm, and the man or woman is clean.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	13	40	A man may lose the hair on his crown, and still be clean;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	13	41	may lose the hair on his forehead, and still be clean, despite his baldness.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	13	42	But if in the bald patch on crown or forehead a white or reddish tinge is shewing,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	13	43	the priest who finds it there will hold him unclean beyond all doubt; the bald patch is leprous.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	13	44	The man who is infected with leprosy, and segregated at the priest’s bidding,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	13	45	must go with rent garments and bared head, his face veiled, crying out, Unclean, unclean.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	13	46	And still, as long as he remains unclean through leprosy, he must dwell away from the camp, alone.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	13	47	A garment of wool or linen, that is infected
 Leviticus	Lev	3	13	48	in warp or woof, or a skin, or anything made of leather,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	13	49	if it is stained with white or reddish spots, is suspect of leprosy and must be shewn to the priest.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	13	50	He will examine it, and shut it away for a week;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	13	51	and if, looking at it again at the end of that time, he finds that the patch has spread, it is malignant leprosy; he will pronounce the garment, or whatever else is infected, unclean,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	13	52	and it must be destroyed by fire accordingly.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	13	53	But if he finds that the patch has not spread,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	13	54	he will give orders for the infected thing to be washed, and so he will shut it away for a week more.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	13	55	If it shews the same as before, although the patch may not have spread, he will pronounce it unclean and destroy it by fire, as a thing infected, whether outwardly or all through with leprosy.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	13	56	But if the infected patch is less marked after the washing, he will cut it away and separate it from the rest.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	13	57	And if, after that, patches begin to shew where all was once unspotted, it is leprosy spreading this way and that, and the thing must be burnt.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	13	58	If, on the contrary, the infection ceases, the part that is left uncontaminated must be washed in water again, and now it is clean.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	13	59	Such are the rules for pronouncing judgement of cleanness or uncleanness upon infection in any garment of wool or linen, its warp or its woof, as well as any piece of leather-work.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	14	1	The Lord also told Moses,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	14	2	This is the ceremonial to be used when a leper is to be pronounced no longer unclean. He must needs present himself before the priest;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	14	3	the priest, therefore, will go out of the camp to find him, and if it appears that leprosy no longer defiles him,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	14	4	he will tell him what offerings to make by way of purgation for himself. These are, two living birds, of such a kind as may be used for food, cedar-wood, and scarlet stuff, and hyssop.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	14	5	One of the birds must have its blood shed over spring water held in an earthenware pot;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	14	6	the one which is left alive must be dipped (together with the cedar-wood, the scarlet stuff, and the hyssop) into the dead bird’s blood,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	14	7	and with this the priest must sprinkle the defiled man seven times, to effect his due cleansing. Then the living bird must be allowed to fly away into the open.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	14	8	And now the man must wash his clothes, shave the hair on his body, and bathe in water; so purified, he will enter the camp, but on the condition that he does not go into his tent for a whole week.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	14	9	On the seventh day he must shave all his hair, head and beard and eyebrows and all, and he must wash again, both his clothes and his body.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	14	10	On the eighth day he will take two lambs and a yearling ewe, all without blemish, three tenths of a bushel of flour, kneaded with oil, for a bloodless offering, and a pint of oil besides.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	14	11	The priest who is pronouncing him clean will bring him into the divine presence, together with these gifts of his, at the door of the tabernacle which bears record of me;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	14	12	and there he will take one of the lambs and offer it as a victim for wrong done. He will take the pint of oil, too, and all the rest, and hold them up in the Lord’s presence.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	14	13	The lamb must be immolated on holy ground, where the offerings for faults and the burnt-sacrifices are offered; and the victim for wrong done, like the victim for a fault, becomes the property of the priest; it is set apart for holy uses.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	14	14	The priest will take some of the blood from this victim which is offered for wrong done, and set a mark with it on the man he is pronouncing clean; on the tip of his right ear, his right thumb, and the great toe of his right foot.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	14	15	Then he will take some of the oil in his left hand,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	14	16	dip a finger of his right hand in it, and sprinkle it seven times in the Lord’s presence.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	14	17	The rest of the oil in his left hand he will use to anoint the man he is cleansing; over the victim’s blood smeared on ear and finger and toe,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	14	18	and finally on his head.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	14	19	So he will intercede for him in the Lord’s presence, and offer, first a sacrifice for his fault, then a burnt-sacrifice;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	14	20	this he will put on the altar, with its accompanying gifts, and so the man will be duly declared clean.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	14	21	If he is poor, and cannot lay his hand on all the victims aforesaid, he must bring a lamb by way of offering for wrong done, with which the priest will make intercession for him, the tenth of a bushel of flour, kneaded with oil, for a bloodless offering, and a pint of oil,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	14	22	and two turtle-doves or two young pigeons, one by way of offering for his fault, and the other as a burnt-sacrifice.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	14	23	These he will bring before the priest at the tabernacle door in the divine presence, on the eighth day of the cleansing.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	14	24	The priest will take the lamb, the offering for wrong done, and the pint of oil, and hold them up together;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	14	25	then he will immolate the lamb, and set a mark with its blood on the man he is pronouncing clean, on the right ear, the right thumb, the great toe of the right foot.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	14	26	Then he will take some of the oil in his left hand,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	14	27	dip in his right hand, sprinkle the oil seven times in the Lord’s presence,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	14	28	anoint the stains on ear, thumb and toe,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	14	29	and pour the rest of the oil in his hand over the head of the man who is being cleansed, to win him the Lord’s favour again.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	14	30	Finally he will offer the two birds, whether turtle-dove, or young pigeon;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	14	31	one of them as for a fault and one by way of burnt-sacrifice, together with the gifts that accompany it.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	14	32	Such is the offering to be made by a leper who cannot afford the full price of his cleansing.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	14	33	This was a further message the Lord gave to Moses and Aaron:
 Leviticus	Lev	3	14	34	When you reach the home I mean to give you in the land of Chanaan, it may be that a house will suffer infection.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	14	35	If so, the owner of it will go and tell the priest that his house is suspect of leprosy;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	14	36	and the priest, before going to ascertain whether it is leprous or not, will have everything taken out of the house, for fear that all its contents might become defiled. Then he will go in to examine the infection in the house;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	14	37	and if he sees dents in the surface of the walls that are pale or reddish in colour,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	14	38	he will go out of doors and shut the house up for a week.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	14	39	And if, when he comes back to examine it on the seventh day, he finds that the infection has spread,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	14	40	he will order the stones that are infected to be prised out, and thrown into a refuse pit, away from the city;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	14	41	the inside of the house, too, must be scraped all round, and the dust scraped from it must also be scattered over the refuse pit.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	14	42	Then other stones will be put in, in place of the old, and the house will be plastered afresh.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	14	43	If, after the removal of the stones, and the scraping, and the new plastering,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	14	44	the priest comes in and finds that the infection has returned, and the walls are still disfigured with spots, this is malignant leprosy, and the house is unclean.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	14	45	It must be destroyed at once, stone and wood and plaster alike must be thrown into a refuse pit, away from the town.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	14	46	Anyone who has entered it since the priest shut it up will be unclean till evening comes,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	14	47	and anyone who has slept or eaten there must wash his clothes.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	14	48	But if the priest finds that the infection has not spread in the house after the new plastering, he will cleanse it, in token that it is now free of disease.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	14	49	To effect this cleansing, he will take two birds, some cedar-wood, and scarlet stuff, and hyssop,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	14	50	shed the blood of one bird into spring water in an earthenware pot,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	14	51	dip the cedar-wood, the scarlet stuff, the hyssop, and the living bird into the water stained with the dead bird’s blood, and sprinkle it over the house seven times.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	14	52	So, by the use of blood and water and a living bird and cedar-wood and hyssop and scarlet stuff, the cleansing will be effected;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	14	53	and letting the bird fly away into the open, the priest will make intercession for the house, and it will be duly declared clean.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	14	54	Such are the rules for all leprosy and scab,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	14	55	for the infection that breaks out in garments or in houses,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	14	56	for scars and ulcers, and for shiny patches on the skin that change their colour;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	14	57	such are the means for ascertaining when it is time to declare anything clean or unclean.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	15	1	And the Lord gave Moses and Aaron
 Leviticus	Lev	3	15	2	this message for the Israelites: The man who has a running of the reins is unclean.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	15	3	And he must still be considered unclean, even though his defilement, at certain times, dries up and causes a stoppage.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	15	4	Any bed he lies on, anything he sits on, becomes unclean.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	15	5	The man who touches his bed, must wash his garments and bathe, and hold himself unclean till sundown;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	15	6	and there is the same washing, and bathing, and uncleanness for the man who sits where he sat;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	15	7	the same washing, and bathing, and uncleanness, for the man who touches him;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	15	8	the same washing, and bathing, and uncleanness for the man on whom his spittle falls.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	15	9	Unclean the saddle on which he has ridden,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	15	10	unclean, till evening comes, everything on which the man so afflicted may rest; the same washing, and bathing, and uncleanness for anyone who carries it in his hands;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	15	11	the same washing, and bathing, and uncleanness for anyone whom he touches, unless he washes his hands first.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	15	12	Any earthen pot he touches must be broken, any bucket of wood he touches, rinsed with water.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	15	13	If a man so afflicted is healed, he must count seven days from the time of his healing, and then, when he has washed his clothes and his whole body in spring water, he is clean.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	15	14	On the eighth day, he must bring two turtle-doves, or two young pigeons, to the door of the tabernacle that bears record of me, and give them to the priest.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	15	15	The priest will sacrifice one as a victim for his fault, and the other as a burnt-sacrifice, and so make intercession for him in the Lord’s presence, that he may be clean from the defilement of his body.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	15	16	The man who loses the seed of procreation must wash his whole body in water, and remain unclean till evening comes;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	15	17	wash, too, in water his garment of stuff or of leather, and that too, till evening comes, is unclean.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	15	18	If he has had commerce with a woman, she too must wash, and she too, till evening comes, is unclean.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	15	19	The woman who loses blood, because her monthly time has come round, must remain a whole week apart;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	15	20	whoever touches her is unclean till sundown,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	15	21	and all she lies upon or sits upon during this time of separation, becomes defiled thereby.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	15	22	The man who touches her bed, must wash his garments, and bathe, and hold himself unclean till evening;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	15	23	and there is the same washing, and bathing, and uncleanness for anyone who touches any piece of furniture on which she has sat down to rest.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	15	24	If a man has commerce with her at her monthly time, he remains unclean for a whole week; unclean, too, is any bed on which he lies.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	15	25	A woman who loses blood continually at other times, or when her monthly time is over, must be considered unclean in the same way, as long as her affliction lasts;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	15	26	unclean the bed she sleeps on, and all that she rests on,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	15	27	unclean, till evening comes, everyone who has touched her, and meanwhile he must wash his garments and bathe in water.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	15	28	If the issue of her blood dries up, she must count seven days from the time of her healing,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	15	29	and on the eighth day she will bring two turtle-doves, or two young pigeons, to the priest at the door of the tabernacle.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	15	30	The priest will sacrifice one as a victim for her fault, and the other as a burnt-sacrifice, and so make intercession for her in the Lord’s presence over the issue of blood that has defiled her.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	15	31	You must teach the sons of Israel to be on their guard against uncleanness; or they may be punished with death for the irreverence which has profaned my tabernacle, here in their midst.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	15	32	Such are the rules which concern men who are defiled by a running of the reins, or by intercourse with woman,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	15	33	and for women who must remain apart because of their monthly time, women who have a continuous issue of blood, and men with whom such women have commerce.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	16	1	After the death of Aaron’s two sons, that were punished for offering up unhallowed fire, the Lord spoke to Moses
 Leviticus	Lev	3	16	2	giving him a message for his brother Aaron: He must never present himself without due preparation within the sanctuary, behind the veil, where the throne stands above the ark. If he does so, the penalty is death; it is over this shrine that I mean to reveal myself in cloud.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	16	3	And this is the preparation he must make; he must offer a young bullock as a victim for his faults, and a ram by way of burnt-sacrifice.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	16	4	He must be clad in the linen robe, with linen breeches for decency, and must be girt with a linen girdle, and wear the linen mitre on his head; these are the sacred vestments he must put on, after washing himself.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	16	5	And the whole people of Israel must provide him with two goats as victims for their faults, and a ram for burnt-sacrifice.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	16	6	He will offer the bullock to make intercession for himself and for his family.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	16	7	The two goats he will present before the Lord, at the door of the tabernacle that bears record of me,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	16	8	and will cast lots between them; one is to be the Lord’s due, the other is for discharge.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	16	9	The one chosen by lot to be the Lord’s due must be offered for their faults;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	16	10	the one chosen for their discharge must be presented before the Lord alive, to let intercession fall upon it, and then be turned loose in the desert.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	16	11	So, with due ceremony, he will offer the bullock, making intercession for himself and his family, and immolate it.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	16	12	And now, filling his censer with coals from the altar, and taking a handful of beaten spices for incense, he will pass beyond the veil into the inner sanctuary,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	16	13	putting incense on the coals, so that a cloud of smoke may hide that shrine over the ark, which none may see and live.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	16	14	He will take some of the bullock’s blood, too, and sprinkle it with his finger seven times over the eastern end of the sanctuary, opposite the throne.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	16	15	And afterwards, when he has immolated the goat for the faults of the people, he will carry some of its blood, too, within the veil, and sprinkle it there opposite the shrine, like the bullock’s blood.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	16	16	So he will purify the sanctuary from all the faults the sons of Israel have committed, their transgressions and their uncleanness. With the same ceremony he shall purify the tabernacle that bears the Lord’s record, pitched there amongst them, with all the defilement of their dwellings round about.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	16	17	No one must be there in the tabernacle from the time when the high priest enters the inner sanctuary, to make intercession for himself and his family and the whole people of Israel, till the time when he comes out again.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	16	18	And when he comes out to the altar that stands there in the Lord’s presence, he must make intercession for himself, pouring the blood of bullock and goat all round the horns of it;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	16	19	and so, sprinkling it with his finger seven times, he must make expiation, and cleanse it from all the defilement incurred by the sons of Israel.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	16	20	Sanctuary, and tabernacle, and altar so cleansed, he has still to offer up the goat that is left alive.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	16	21	He must put both hands on its head, confessing all the sins and transgressions and faults Israel has committed, and laying the guilt of them on its head. And there will be a man standing ready to take it into the desert for him;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	16	22	so the goat will carry away all their sins into a land uninhabited, set at large in the desert.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	16	23	Then Aaron will come back to the tabernacle, and take off the vestments he wore when he entered the sanctuary, and leave them there;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	16	24	he will wash on holy ground, and put on his own garments instead. He will come out, and offer his own burnt-sacrifice, and that of the people, making intercession for himself and for the people both at once,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	16	25	and burn the fat of the transgression-victim on the altar.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	16	26	The man who let loose the goat that was discharged must wash his clothes and bathe before he returns to the camp.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	16	27	As for the transgression-victims, the bullock and the goat, whose blood was carried into the sanctuary to make expiation there, the carcases must be taken away from the camp and destroyed by fire, skin and flesh and dung together.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	16	28	And the man who burns them, before he returns to the camp, must wash his clothes and bathe like the other.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	16	29	This ceremony you are to observe for all time. On the tenth day of the seventh month you will keep a fast; no work is to be done by citizen or by alien that day.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	16	30	It is a day of atonement on your behalf, to cleanse you from all fault, and make you clean in the Lord’s sight;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	16	31	it must be all repose; so that you can observe the fast, year after year.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	16	32	He who then holds the office of high priest, duly anointed to serve in place of his father, will make atonement, clad in linen robe and sacred vestments;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	16	33	purify sanctuary, tabernacle, altar, priests and people.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	16	34	You will continue for all time to make intercession, once a year, for the children of Israel, and for all the faults they have committed. And Aaron carried out the commands which the Lord had given to Moses.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	17	1	And the Lord spoke to Moses,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	17	2	bidding him tell Aaron and his sons and all Israel, Here is a commandment the Lord has for you.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	17	3	Any Israelite who kills sheep or ox or goat, within the camp or without,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	17	4	and does not make an offering to the Lord at the tabernacle door, shall pay for it with his life; blood has flowed, and the shedder of it is lost to his people.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	17	5	Whatever beasts they kill on their farms, the sons of Israel must bring to the priests as victims, consecrating them to the Lord’s honour at the tabernacle door, and immolating them as welcome-offerings to him.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	17	6	And the priest will pour out the blood at the altar which stands before the tabernacle, and burn the fats for the Lord to accept the smell of its burning.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	17	7	You have prostituted yourselves to the worship of false gods; to them you must offer victims no longer. Such is the law they and their descendants must obey for all time;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	17	8	tell them that if any Israelite or any alien living among them offers burnt-sacrifice or victim
 Leviticus	Lev	3	17	9	without bringing it to the door of the tabernacle which bears record of me, and offering it to the Lord, he is lost to his people.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	17	10	Any Israelite, or alien dwelling among you, who consumes the blood when he eats, becomes my enemy; I will sever him from my people.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	17	11	It is the blood that animates all living things, and I have destined it to make atonement for your souls upon the altar, blood for the purgation of your souls.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	17	12	That is why I have warned the sons of Israel that neither they nor the aliens who dwell among them must consume the blood when they eat.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	17	13	Any Israelite, or alien living among you, who hunts down a beast or snares a bird, such as you are allowed to eat, must drain its blood and cover it with earth.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	17	14	Because it animates all living things, I give the sons of Israel this warning: Never, on pain of death, turn it to your own use, the blood that holds the life.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	17	15	Anyone, citizen or alien, who eats what has fallen dead or been the prey of a wild beast, must wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be reckoned unclean till sun-down. Then he will be clean again;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	17	16	but if he does not wash his clothes and bathe himself, he will be held to account for it.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	18	1	And the Lord spoke to Moses
 Leviticus	Lev	3	18	2	bidding him give the sons of Israel this message: I am the Lord your God;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	18	3	it is not for you to live by the customs of that Egyptian land in which you once dwelt, or to imitate the men of Chanaan, the new home I am giving you, and follow their observances.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	18	4	It is my decrees you will execute, my commands you will obey, following them closely; am I not the Lord your God?
 Leviticus	Lev	3	18	5	It is my laws, my decrees you must keep; they give life to the man who lives by them; am I not the Lord?
 Leviticus	Lev	3	18	6	And it is I, the Lord, who tell you that no man is to betake himself to a woman who is near of kin to him, and mate with her.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	18	7	Thou shalt not come between thy father’s sheets, and mate with her that bore thee; wouldst thou mate with thy own mother?
 Leviticus	Lev	3	18	8	Thou shalt not mate with her that is thy father’s wife; her shame is his.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	18	9	Thou shalt not mate with thy sister by either parent, born in the same house or born elsewhere.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	18	10	Thou shalt not mate with the daughter of thy own son or daughter; her shame is thine.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	18	11	Thou shalt not mate with any daughter thy father’s wife bears him; she is thy sister.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	18	12	Thou shalt not mate with thy father’s sister, thy own father’s flesh and blood;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	18	13	nor with thy mother’s sister, thy own mother’s flesh and blood.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	18	14	Thou shalt not come between thy uncle’s sheets and mate with his wife; she is bound to thee by affinity.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	18	15	Thou shalt not mate with thy daughter-in-law; wouldst thou mate with the wife of thy own son?
 Leviticus	Lev	3	18	16	Thou shalt not mate with thy brother’s wife; her shame is his.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	18	17	Thou shalt not mate with a woman and also with her daughter, no, nor with any grand-daughter of hers; they are flesh and blood of hers, and all such commerce is incestuous.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	18	18	Thou shalt not make a concubine of thy wife’s sister, mating with her while thy wife still lives.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	18	19	Thou shalt not come nigh a woman and mate with her during her monthly time.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	18	20	Thou shalt not defile thyself by bedding with thy neighbour’s wife.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	18	21	Thou shalt not yield up any child of thine to be devoted to the false god Moloch, doing dishonour to the name of thy God; am I not the Lord?
 Leviticus	Lev	3	18	22	Thou shalt not have commerce with a man as if it had been with a woman; such commerce is abominable.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	18	23	Thou shalt not defile thyself by commerce with a beast; nor shall a woman allow any beast to have commerce with her; it is foully done.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	18	24	Do not defile yourselves like the nations I am dispossessing to make room for you;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	18	25	the whole land is contaminated by their presence, and I am calling it to account for these ill deeds, till it vomits out its own inhabitants.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	18	26	Citizens alike and aliens, that dwell among you, must observe these laws and decrees I am giving you, and keep clear of all such abominations;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	18	27	the very abominations by which the former inhabitants of the land have contaminated it.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	18	28	Be sure that it will vomit you out like those others, if you do as they did.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	18	29	Whoever is guilty of any such abomination is lost to his people.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	18	30	Keep my commandments, and do not defile yourselves by imitating your forerunners; am I not the Lord your God?
 Leviticus	Lev	3	19	1	The Lord, too, spoke to Moses,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	19	2	bidding him give the whole company of Israel this message: You must be men set apart, as I am set apart, I, the Lord your God.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	19	3	Worshippers of such a God, you must reverence father and mother, and keep my day of rest;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	19	4	worshippers of such a God, you must not betake yourselves to idols, make molten images at your pleasure.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	19	5	If you immolate a victim by way of welcome-offering, to win the Lord’s favour,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	19	6	eat it on the day of its immolation, or the day after; whatever remains on the third day must be destroyed by fire.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	19	7	The man who eats of it when two days have passed defiles it and displeases me;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	19	8	he will be held to account for profaning what is consecrated to the Lord; he shall be lost to his people.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	19	9	When thou reapest the crops on thy land, do not rase all to the level of the ground, or pick up the scattered ears;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	19	10	do not hoard up the clusters or the grapes that have fallen. Leave something for poor men and wanderers to glean; remember what God you worship.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	19	11	Do not steal, and lie, and deceive one another.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	19	12	Do not violate the honour of thy God by swearing falsely in my name; the Lord’s name.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	19	13	Do not wrong thy neighbour or despoil him by violence; do not withhold the wages of thy hired servants till morning comes.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	19	14	Do not miscall the deaf, or put a stumbling-block in the blind man’s way; thou hast the vengeance of thy God to fear; the Lord’s vengeance.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	19	15	Do not pervert justice by giving false awards, whether by taking a man’s poverty into account, or by flattering the great; give every man his just due.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	19	16	Do not whisper calumnies in the public ear, and swear away thy neighbour’s life; the Lord hears thee.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	19	17	Do not nurse resentment against thy brother; put thyself in the right by confronting him with his fault.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	19	18	Do not seek revenge, or bear a grudge for wrong done to thee by thy fellow-citizens; thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself; thy Lord is his.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	19	19	Keep true to my commandments; do not mate any beast of thine with one of another sort, or sow thy field with a mixed crop, or wear garments woven of two different fabrics.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	19	20	If a man has commerce with a slave-woman promised in marriage, but not yet redeemed or set free, both shall be beaten, but they shall not be put to death, as if she were a free woman.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	19	21	The man must offer a ram to the Lord at the tabernacle door for wrong done,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	19	22	and so the priest will make intercession before the Lord for the fault he has committed, and the Lord will be merciful, and pardon his fault.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	19	23	When you reach your own country and plant fruit-trees there, you must strip them of the fruit they bear, as something unclean, not for your eating,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	19	24	till the fourth year; then you must offer the whole crop to the Lord as an acceptable sacrifice.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	19	25	You must not gather the fruit on them for your own eating till the fifth year; the Lord your God comes first.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	19	26	Do not eat anything that has the blood still in it. Do not consult omens, or pay regard to dreams.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	19	27	There must be no tonsuring of heads and mutilating of beards,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	19	28	no gashing your bodies when a man dies, no branding them with marks and designs; the Lord forbids it.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	19	29	Do not expose any daughter of thine to dishonour; so thou wilt bring dishonour on the whole land, and fill it with lewdness.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	19	30	Keep your observance for my sabbaths, your reverence for my sanctuary.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	19	31	Do not betake yourselves to sorcerers, or consult wizards, to your defilement; you are the Lord’s worshippers.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	19	32	Rise up from thy seat in reverence for grey hairs; honour the aged, as thou dost fear God, the Lord thy God.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	19	33	If an alien comes to dwell in your land, and settles down among you, do not treat him disdainfully;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	19	34	welcome him as if he were native born, and do him kindness as if he were one of yourselves, remembering that you were aliens once, in the land of Egypt; the Lord your God remembers.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	19	35	There must be no tampering with justice, with the rule or the weight or the measure you employ;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	19	36	an even scale, a true balance, a full bushel, a full pint-measure; ever just the Lord your God is, that rescued you from Egypt.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	19	37	Remember all these laws, all these decrees of mine, and live by them; the Lord’s decrees.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	20	1	And the Lord spoke to Moses,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	20	2	giving him this message for the sons of Israel: If any Israelite, or alien living among you, sacrifices a child of his to the false god Moloch, his life must pay for it; he must be stoned publicly.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	20	3	On such a man my ban rests, and I will not let him live among my people any longer, once he has outraged my sanctuary, dragged my holy name in the dust, by sacrificing his child to Moloch.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	20	4	Does the people neglect its duty, defy my commandments? Does it condone the sacrifice, and refuse to kill him?
 Leviticus	Lev	3	20	5	Then shall my ban rest upon all his kindred too, and I will rid my people of the man who played the wanton with Moloch, and all who consented to it.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	20	6	If anyone betakes himself to sorcerers and wizards, on him too my ban shall rest for prostituting himself to such arts, and I will rid my people of him.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	20	7	Keep yourselves apart, and be a holy people; remembering what God you worship.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	20	8	Keep these commandments of mine and live by them; I, the Lord, have set you apart.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	20	9	If a man curses father or mother, his life must pay for it; he has put himself beyond hope of pardon, in cursing father or mother.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	20	10	If a man commits adultery by having commerce with his neighbour’s wife, the lives of both, adulterer and adulteress, must pay for it.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	20	11	If a man has commerce with his step-mother, coming between his own father’s sheets, the lives of both must pay for it; they must find no mercy.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	20	12	No mercy must be shewn when a man has commerce with his daughter-in-law; order has been violated, and both must die.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	20	13	No mercy, either, when a man has commerce with another man as if he had been a woman; either is guilty of a foul deed, and both must die.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	20	14	The man who mates with daughter and mother both, is guilty of a foul deed; he and they must be burnt alive, and such guilt as theirs be found in your midst no longer.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	20	15	If a man has commerce with a beast, his life must pay for it; the beast too must be killed;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	20	16	and the woman who allows a beast to have commerce with her, must die with the beast; no mercy must be shewn to any such.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	20	17	If a man takes his own sister to his bed, whether she is his father’s daughter or his mother’s, to her shame and his, it is great disgrace; both must be held to account for it, and be put to death publicly, for bringing shame on one another.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	20	18	If a man has commerce with a woman in her monthly time, and intrudes upon the flowing of her blood, both must be lost to their people.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	20	19	Thou shalt not mate with any sister of thy father or thy mother; the man who does this dishonours his own flesh and blood, and both will be held to account for it.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	20	20	If a man has commerce with the wife of his father’s brother, or his mother’s brother, bringing shame on his own kindred, man and woman will be held to account; they shall not live to breed children.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	20	21	The man who takes his brother’s wife in marriage does a forbidden thing, bringing shame on his own brother; children they shall have never.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	20	22	Remember these laws and decrees of mine, and live by them, or you too will be vomited up again by the land you are soon to invade and occupy;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	20	23	it is not for you to imitate the practices of the nations I am driving out to make room for you. Was it not these very practices that made me their enemy?
 Leviticus	Lev	3	20	24	And now, if I bid you take possession of their land, a land all milk and honey, and make it your home, it is because I, the Lord your God, have set you apart among all the nations of the world;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	20	25	and you too must set what is clean apart from what is unclean, whether beast or bird; you are not to incur defilement over such beasts and birds and other living things as I have bidden you hold abominable.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	20	26	You must be set apart for my service, as I am set apart, I, your God, who have chosen you out among all the nations of the world, to belong to me.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	20	27	If man or woman is possessed by a spirit of witchcraft or divination, their lives must pay for it by stoning; they have put themselves beyond hope of pardon.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	21	1	The Lord also spoke to Moses giving him a message for the priests, the sons of Aaron: When a fellow-citizen dies, a priest is not to expose himself to defilement,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	21	2	unless it be the funeral of one of his near kin, father or mother, son or daughter, a brother of his
 Leviticus	Lev	3	21	3	or a sister that is a virgin unwed.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	21	4	Nay, he must not expose himself to defilement even for the ruler among the people.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	21	5	Priests are not to shave their heads or beards, or make gashes in their skin for mourning.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	21	6	They are men set apart for their God, and must never bring reproach on his name; they burn incense to the Lord, offer their God his consecrated loaves, and shall they not be holy?
 Leviticus	Lev	3	21	7	They must not wed harlots, or women dishonoured, or those whom their husbands have rejected, these men vowed to the service of their God,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	21	8	who set out the consecrated loaves before him. They must be set apart, as I, the Lord, am set apart, the Lord that hallows them.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	21	9	If the daughter of a priest is convicted of playing the harlot, and bringing dishonour on her father’s name, she must be given to the flames.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	21	10	The high priest, that one who is chief among his brethren, whose brow has been anointed with the holy oil, and his hands consecrated for the priestly office, who wears the sacred vestments, may never bare his head, or rend his garments,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	21	11	or go near a dead body upon any occasion. Though it be his father or mother, he must not expose himself to defilement,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	21	12	but keep within the Lord’s holy precincts, so as not to bring defilement on them, a man consecrated to his God by the holy oil that anointed him; the Lord’s own priest.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	21	13	And when he marries, he must marry a virgin;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	21	14	not a widow, or a rejected wife, or a harlot, or a woman dishonoured; she must be a virgin of his own clan,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	21	15	so that the stock of his family is not debased by the blood of common folk; I, the Lord, have set him apart.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	21	16	The Lord, too, spoke to Moses,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	21	17	bidding him tell Aaron: No descendant of thine that has any blemish shall be allowed to offer his God the consecrated loaves,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	21	18	nor to come forward and do him service. Such are the blind, the lame, one whose nose is deformed in size or twisted awry,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	21	19	one who has a crushed hand or foot,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	21	20	is hunch-backed or blear-eyed, or wall-eyed, has a continual scab or itch on him, or a rupture.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	21	21	No one of the priestly line of Aaron who has such a blemish must come forward to sacrifice to the Lord, or offer his God the consecrated loaves.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	21	22	He is allowed to eat the bread which is offered in the sanctuary,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	21	23	but he must have no access to the veil, must not go near the altar; my sanctuary must not be profaned by any blemish. I, the Lord, have set priests apart for myself.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	21	24	All these commands Moses handed on to Aaron, and to his sons, and to the people of Israel.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	22	1	And the Lord spoke to Moses
 Leviticus	Lev	3	22	2	giving him this command for Aaron and his sons: They must beware what use they make of the offerings brought by Israel; they must not profane the honour of these consecrated things; of things consecrated to the Lord.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	22	3	Tell them, tell all who follow, that if any of their race comes near these sacred offerings in a state of defilement, he is lost to my service; the service of the Lord.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	22	4	Any of Aaron’s race who is a leper, or has a running at the reins, must cease to have any share of the hallowed food, until he is cured. Anyone of them who has touched a thing defiled by death, or has lost the seed of procreation,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	22	5	or perhaps has touched some creeping animal, or anything whose touch defiles,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	22	6	remains unclean till sundown, so that he must not share the holy food. Not till he has bathed in water,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	22	7	and waited for the sun to go down, may he enjoy his privilege of sharing in it.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	22	8	The priests must not defile themselves by eating anything that falls dead, or has been a prey of a wild beast; they are the Lord’s priests.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	22	9	They must observe my commands, and commit no fault; death shall overtake them, there in my sanctuary, if they profane it. It is I, the Lord, who have set them apart.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	22	10	No one that is not of their family may share the holy food, no guest the priest entertains, no hired servant of his;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	22	11	only a slave bought with his money or born in his house has the privilege.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	22	12	If a priest’s daughter marries out of her clan, she loses her right to these hallowed offerings;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	22	13	but if she becomes a widow, or is rejected by her husband and comes home childless, she may eat with her family as when she was still a maid. It is only those who belong to another clan that may not share it.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	22	14	If anyone partakes of the holy food through inadvertence, he must go to the sanctuary and make restitution to the priest of the same quantity, with a fifth part added.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	22	15	There must be no profaning what the sons of Israel have offered to their God;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	22	16	they will be held to account for it, if they eat this holy food. It is I, the Lord, who have set my priests apart.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	22	17	And the Lord spoke to Moses
 Leviticus	Lev	3	22	18	bidding him tell Aaron and his sons and all Israel: When any Israelite, or any alien dwelling among you, would offer the Lord burnt-sacrifice, either in payment of a vow, or out of devotion,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	22	19	and must present it through your hands, it must be a male victim, ox or sheep or goat, without blemish.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	22	20	If it has any blemish, it is unacceptable, and must not be offered.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	22	21	And anyone who makes the Lord a welcome-offering, either in payment of a vow or out of devotion, must offer an ox or a sheep that is without blemish, if it is to be acceptable. It must have no blemish of any sort;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	22	22	if it is blind, or crippled, or scarred, disfigured by blisters or scab or mange, you must not offer it to the Lord, or burn it on the Lord’s altar.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	22	23	Ox or sheep that has ears or tail cut off may be offered out of devotion, but not in payment of a vow.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	22	24	No beast that has suffered crushing or bruising or gelding may be offered to the Lord; there must be no such custom in your country.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	22	25	You must not offer to your God either bread or any other gift that comes from an alien; such gifts are tainted, there is a blemish in them, they shall find no acceptance with you.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	22	26	And the Lord gave Moses this message:
 Leviticus	Lev	3	22	27	Calf, or lamb, or kid, when it is newly born, must be allowed to suck for a whole week; only on the eighth day and afterwards may it be offered to the Lord.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	22	28	Cow or ewe, the dam must not be slaughtered on the same day as its young.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	22	29	When you sacrifice a victim to the Lord by way of welcome-offering, to win his favour,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	22	30	you must eat it the same day, none must be left over till the morrow; the Lord will have his precepts observed.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	22	31	Remember these commandments of mine, and live by them; the Lord’s commandments.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	22	32	Do not dishonour my holy name; it is among the sons of Israel that I would vindicate my holiness, I, the Lord, who have set you apart for myself,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	22	33	and rescued you from the land of Egypt, so as to be your God; am I not the Lord?
 Leviticus	Lev	3	23	1	The Lord also spoke to Moses,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	23	2	bidding him tell the sons of Israel: These are the feasts which the Lord will have you proclaim as specially set apart.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	23	3	You have six days to work in; the seventh day must be kept set apart as a day that is all repose; you must refrain from all work that day, and there must be repose in every dwelling-place of yours, in the Lord’s honour.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	23	4	And these are the feasts you must observe as consecrated to the Lord when certain times of year come round.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	23	5	On the evening of the fourteenth day of the first month, the Lord’s Pasch begins;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	23	6	and with the fifteenth day of the month comes the feast of unleavened bread; for a whole week you will eat your bread without leaven.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	23	7	This first day you shall hold in great honour and reverence, doing no servile work on it;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	23	8	you will offer burnt-sacrifice to the Lord, and these sacrifices shall continue all through the week. The seventh day, too, is one which is to be kept with special honour and reverence, and no servile work is to be done.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	23	9	And next, the Lord spoke to Moses,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	23	10	bidding him give this message to the Israelites: When you have reached the land I mean to make yours, you will have a harvest to gather in. You must bring sheaves of corn, the first-fruits of your crop, to the priest,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	23	11	and he, the day following the sabbath, will consecrate each sheaf, lifting it up in the Lord’s presence to win his favour for you.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	23	12	The same day on which the sheaf is hallowed, a yearling lamb without blemish must be offered to the Lord as a burnt-sacrifice;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	23	13	and with it, as a bloodless offering, a peck of flour, kneaded with oil, to burn before the Lord and please him with the smell of its burning. And you must add a quart of wine by way of libation.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	23	14	You must not eat bread or pearl-barley or porridge made from the new crop until you have brought your God this offering. This is a law you must observe at all times and everywhere.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	23	15	From that day, the next after the sabbath, when the sheaf of first-fruits was offered, you will count seven full weeks;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	23	16	and on the day after the end of the seventh week, that is, on the fiftieth day, you will offer the Lord a sacrifice out of your new harvesting.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	23	17	Each household must provide two loaves by way of first-fruits; a peck of flour cooked with leaven as first-fruits given to the Lord.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	23	18	With the loaves, you will offer seven yearling lambs without blemish, a calf chosen from the herd, and two rams; a burnt-sacrifice with your gifts to accompany it, for the Lord to accept the smell of its burning.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	23	19	And you must sacrifice a goat as a transgression-victim, and two yearling lambs by way of welcome-offering.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	23	20	These the priest will lift in the Lord’s presence together with the first-fruits, and they shall be for his own use.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	23	21	You must keep this day with great honour and reverence, doing no servile work on it; that is a law you must observe at all times and everywhere.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	23	22	And when you reap your land, you will not rase all to the ground, or gather the stray ears; you will leave them for the poor man and the wanderer to glean; remember what God you worship.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	23	23	And next, the Lord spoke to Moses,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	23	24	bidding him tell the Israelites: You must keep the first day of the seventh month as a day of rest; it shall be proclaimed holy with blowing of trumpets, to keep the Lord in mind of you.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	23	25	You must cease from all work, and offer the Lord burnt-sacrifice.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	23	26	And moreover (so ran the Lord’s word to Moses)
 Leviticus	Lev	3	23	27	the tenth day of this seventh month is the day you are to honour by making atonement; it will be proclaimed holy, and you will fast on it, as well as offering the Lord burnt-sacrifice.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	23	28	During this day you are to do no servile work; it is a day of atonement, to win the Lord’s mercy for you.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	23	29	If anyone does not fast that day, he is lost to his people;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	23	30	and I will rid the people, too, of anyone who does any work on it.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	23	31	It must be an unalterable rule with you at all times and everywhere to cease work on that day;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	23	32	it is to be all repose. The fast will begin on the evening of the ninth day, and from evening to evening you will rest.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	23	33	And the Lord also spoke to Moses
 Leviticus	Lev	3	23	34	giving him this message for the Israelites: From the fifteenth day of this seventh month onwards, you will keep, for a whole week, the feast of Tent-dwelling.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	23	35	The first day is to be held in all honour and reverence; you will do no servile work on it. On each of the seven days you will offer the Lord burnt-sacrifice,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	23	36	and the eighth day too you must keep with all honour and reverence, with burnt-sacrifices to the Lord; the people must assemble together, and no servile work is to be done.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	23	37	These are the Lord’s feasts, which you must proclaim with honour and reverence, bringing the Lord your offerings, burnt-sacrifice and the gifts that go with it, as the rite of each day prescribes;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	23	38	to make no mention of the sabbath, and of those offerings which you will make to the Lord in performance of a vow, or out of devotion.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	23	39	This is how you will celebrate your week of feasting in the Lord’s honour, at the time when the last of your crops have been gathered in, from the fifteenth day of the seventh month onwards. The first and the eighth days will be all repose.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	23	40	And on the first day you will pluck fruit from some favourite tree, and branches of palm, leafy boughs, and osiers from the river banks, and so keep holiday in the presence of the Lord your God.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	23	41	For a whole week every year you will honour this observance, making it a law at all times and everywhere. It is to be kept in the seventh month,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	23	42	and for seven days you will live in arbours; the whole race of Israel will become tent-dwellers,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	23	43	to remind those who come after you that I bade the sons of Israel dwell in tents when I rescued them from the land of Egypt; I, the Lord your God.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	23	44	So Moses gave word to the Israelites about the feasts they were to celebrate in the Lord’s honour.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	24	1	And the Lord said to Moses,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	24	2	Bid the sons of Israel bring thee oil of the olive, pure and clear, to feed at all times the lamps
 Leviticus	Lev	3	24	3	before the veil, where the ark bears record of me in the tabernacle that attests my covenant. Aaron shall set them there to burn before the Lord from evening to morning; a rite you shall observe continually, age after age.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	24	4	They shall be set there always in the Lord’s presence, on the lamp-stand that is of pure gold.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	24	5	Take flour, too, and bake twelve loaves of it, a peck of flour to each of them;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	24	6	these must be set on the table of pure gold that stands there before the Lord, six on each side of it.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	24	7	And put grains of fine incense on them; the bread is to be a token-sacrifice to the Lord.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	24	8	Every sabbath day new loaves shall be set there, Israel’s covenanted gift in perpetuity;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	24	9	the old will be for the use of Aaron and his sons, who are to eat them on holy ground; they are set apart for holy uses, reserved out of the Lord’s offerings as the prerogative of the priests for ever.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	24	10	There was a man who had been born in the camp of Israel, his mother an Israelite, his father an Egyptian; and this man, quarrelling there with a true-born Israelite,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	24	11	blasphemed the Lord’s name in heaping curses upon him. So they brought him before Moses. (His mother’s name was Salumith, daughter to Dabri, of the tribe of Dan.)
 Leviticus	Lev	3	24	12	And he was put under guard, while they waited to know the Lord’s mind concerning him.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	24	13	And this was the word the Lord gave Moses:
 Leviticus	Lev	3	24	14	Take the blasphemer beyond the confines of the camp; let all those who were listening lay their hands on his head, and let the whole people put him to death by stoning.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	24	15	Tell the Israelites this: The man who curses his God will be held to account for it;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	24	16	he blasphemed the Lord’s name, and he must die. Be he citizen or stranger, he must be stoned by the whole people; death for the blasphemer.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	24	17	Death, too, for anyone who smites a man and kills him.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	24	18	If he injures a beast, he can make it good; one beast will do as well as another;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	24	19	but if he causes injury to one of his fellow-countrymen, he must pay for it in the same coin,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	24	20	making amends for broken limb with broken limb, for eye with eye, for tooth with tooth; the loss he inflicted, he must undergo.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	24	21	Restitution for harm done to a beast; for harm done to a man, punishment.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	24	22	Your award must be the same, whether it was citizen or stranger that did the wrong; it is a just God you worship.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	24	23	So Moses gave word to the Israelites, and they, obedient to the Lord’s command, took the blasphemer beyond the confines of the camp, and there stoned him.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	25	1	And there, on mount Sinai, the Lord spoke to Moses,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	25	2	bidding him give these commands to the sons of Israel. When you reach the land I mean to make yours, there will be times of repose to be kept in the Lord’s honour.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	25	3	For six years thou mayest sow thy land, for six years thou mayest prune thy vineyard, and gather in its fruit;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	25	4	in the seventh year the land must have rest, lie fallow in the Lord’s honour; no field must be sown, no vineyard pruned.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	25	5	Thou shalt not make a harvest of the land’s aftergrowth, or hoard up, at vintage time, the dedicated grapes, in this year when all is repose;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	25	6	thou shalt leave them to be sustenance, as need arises, for thyself, thy slaves and slave-women, thy hired labourers, and the aliens in thy household;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	25	7	for thy beasts of burden, too, and for thy cattle, the aftergrowth shall provide food enough.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	25	8	Of these cycles of seven years thou shalt count seven, forty-nine years in all,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	25	9	and then, on the tenth day of the seventh month, the day of atonement, there shall be sounding of trumpets all through the land.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	25	10	The fiftieth year thou shalt set apart, by proclaiming release to all that dwell in thy country; it is the year of jubilee, in which every man comes into his own lands again, and is restored to his old home.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	25	11	In this fiftieth year, the year of jubilee, thou shalt neither sow crops nor make a harvest of the aftergrowth, nor gather in the dedicated grapes;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	25	12	that would profane the jubilee; all must be eaten as it comes to hand.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	25	13	In the year of jubilee, everyone will come into his own lands again.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	25	14	If, then, thou art selling land to one of thy fellow-countrymen, or buying it from him, do not drive a hard bargain with him. If thou art buying, take into account the number of years since the jubilee,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	25	15	and pay him according to what value there is in the remaining harvests.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	25	16	If many years are still to run before the next jubilee, the price will be higher; if few, the price must be brought down. It is but the succession of so many harvests that he is selling thee.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	25	17	Do not take advantage of your own fellow-countrymen; each of you has a divine vengeance to reckon with; the vengeance of the Lord, your God.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	25	18	Do my bidding, remember the decrees I make, and carry them out; so you shall remain secure in your possession of the land;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	25	19	such crops it will bear as shall give you food to your hearts’ content, shall deliver you, come what enemy may, from fear of famine.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	25	20	Would you ask, how you are to live in the seventh year, since you have neither sowed nor gathered in crops?
 Leviticus	Lev	3	25	21	Be assured that in the sixth year my blessing shall be upon the land, and it will yield food for three years to come;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	25	22	you will still be enjoying the old harvest, when you sow in the eighth year, still be enjoying the old harvest, when the ninth year comes and you can reap the new.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	25	23	The land must not be sold in perpetuity; it is mine, and you come into it as strangers whom I have settled there.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	25	24	Nothing that is yours must be sold but on the condition that it can be redeemed.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	25	25	If thy brother-Israelite falls on evil days, and must sell thee his little plot of ground, his next of kin, if he will, may redeem what was sold.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	25	26	Or, if he has no near kinsman, but is able to find the money himself,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	25	27	let him pay the sale price, less the value of the crops since the time of the sale, and so recover possession.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	25	28	If he cannot find the money, then the buyer will remain in possession till the year of jubilee comes; that year, all which has been sold comes back to its true master, who held it in earlier days.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	25	29	The man who sells a house within the walls of a city, is free to effect its redemption till a year has passed;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	25	30	if it remains unredeemed at the end of the year, it passes into the possession of the man who bought it, and of his heirs in perpetuity; there is no redeeming it now, even in the year of jubilee.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	25	31	But if the house stands in some unwalled village, there is the same right of redemption as if it were land; it will return to its true master in the year of jubilee, if he has not redeemed it first.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	25	32	The houses which the Levites own in their cities can always be redeemed,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	25	33	and if they are not redeemed they return to their masters in the jubilee year; that is because the Levites have been granted their cities in lieu of lands such as their brethren enjoy.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	25	34	The land round their cities must never be sold; it is their inalienable property.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	25	35	If thy brother-Israelite falls on evil days, or his strength fails him, and thou givest him lodging as if he were some alien guest of thine,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	25	36	thou shalt not claim interest over and above what thou hast spent on him. Thou hast the vengeance of thy God to fear; see to it that thy brother has freedom to lodge with thee.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	25	37	It is not for thee to receive interest on what thou spendest, and entertain him to thy own profit.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	25	38	Bethink you how I, the Lord your God, rescued you from Egypt and gave you a home in Chanaan, to make you mine.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	25	39	And if thy brother-Israelite is brought by poverty to sell his own liberty to thee, do not submit him to bondage with thy slaves;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	25	40	let him work in thy household as if he were a hired servant or a free alien, till the year of jubilee comes.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	25	41	Then, with his children, he must be restored to his kindred and to his ancestral lands.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	25	42	The Israelites know no master but me, their rescuer from Egypt; they must not be bought and sold like slaves;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	25	43	do not use thy power over him, then, to treat him ill, as thou fearest God’s vengeance.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	25	44	Your men-slaves and women-slaves must come from the nations round about you;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	25	45	or they must be aliens who have come to dwell among you, or children of theirs born on your soil; these you may hold as chattels,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	25	46	passing them on to your children by right of inheritance, as belonging to you in perpetuity; but you must not lord it over your brother-Israelites.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	25	47	If an alien comes to dwell among you and grows rich, and one of thy brother-Israelites sells his liberty to this man, or to some descendant of his,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	25	48	there is still opportunity for him to be redeemed after the sale. He may be redeemed by any of his clan,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	25	49	uncle or cousin or kinsman by blood or kinsman by affinity. Nay, if he can lay hands on the money, he may redeem himself.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	25	50	In doing so, he will reckon up the number of years from the time of his sale to the next jubilee, and divide the price he was sold for by the number of years, as if he was a hireling paid yearly wages.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	25	51	If there are many years to run before the jubilee, he must pay the full price for them;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	25	52	if there are few, he will settle his account by paying his master the value of those few years’ work.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	25	53	Full allowance must be made for the years he has served already; thou shalt not stand by and see him treated unjustly.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	25	54	And if, even so, he cannot find the price of his redemption, in the year of jubilee he and his children shall go free.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	25	55	They are no one’s servants but mine, these sons of Israel whom I rescued from the land of Egypt.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	26	1	I am the Lord your God; and if I, the Lord, am your God, you must not make yourselves idols or carved figures, or set up monuments or engraved stones in any part of your country, so as to pay them worship.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	26	2	It is for you to observe my sabbaths, to reverence my sanctuary; the Lord’s sanctuary.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	26	3	If you live by my law, if you remember my commands and obey them, rain shall fall on you when fall it should;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	26	4	the land will yield its increase, and the trees will be bowed with fruit,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	26	5	threshing not done with by vintage time, or vintage by seed-time; you shall have food to your hearts’ content. Securely you shall hold your lands;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	26	6	sleep safe in your beds, with peace on all your frontiers. I will rid you, too, of ravenous beasts, and never the sword shall lay your country waste.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	26	7	You shall rout your enemies, and beat them down before you;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	26	8	five of you putting a hundred aliens to flight, and a hundred of you ten thousand; so shall your enemies bite the dust at your approach.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	26	9	Under the eye of my favour you shall increase and multiply, all my promises to you I will make good;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	26	10	ever the old harvest shall suffice, till you rid yourselves of it to make room for the new.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	26	11	I will make my dwelling among you, and never shall my love cast you off,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	26	12	still coming and going in the midst of you, I your God, and you my people.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	26	13	Was it not I, the Lord your God, that rescued you from your masters in Egypt, struck the chains from your necks, and gave you the upright carriage of free men?
 Leviticus	Lev	3	26	14	Will you refuse me a hearing? Will you leave all my commands unfulfilled?
 Leviticus	Lev	3	26	15	Will you defy my laws, let my decrees go for nothing, neglect my bidding, annul my covenant with you?
 Leviticus	Lev	3	26	16	If so, this shall be my answer to you. I will be quick to punish you with dearth, and send fever to dim your eyes and waste your lives away; your crops shall be sown in vain, for the enemy to consume them.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	26	17	You shall feel my displeasure, when you are beaten down before your enemies, when you submit to tyrants who hate you, when you take flight before ever your foes attack.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	26	18	And if you still refuse obedience, I will exact sevenfold punishment for your sins,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	26	19	till I have tamed this stubborn pride of yours. The skies shall be iron above you, and the earth bronze;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	26	20	all your labour will be spent in vain, earth will yield you no harvest, and the trees no fruit.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	26	21	Cross me, refuse me a hearing, and I will add fresh plagues, in sevenfold punishment of your sins.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	26	22	I will send wild beasts to prey upon you and your cattle, till you are a few in number, and your roads lie deserted.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	26	23	And if you refuse to be chastened, and cross me still,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	26	24	I will cross you in my turn, punishing your sins sevenfold.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	26	25	I will let war loose upon you in return for breaking your covenant with me; and when you take refuge in the cities, I will send pestilence among you. And soon you will be fain to surrender to your enemies,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	26	26	when I have cut off your supply of bread, so that ten women can bake in one oven, and dole out the bread by weight to men that eat and are still hungry.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	26	27	Will you refuse me a hearing, will you cross me, even then?
 Leviticus	Lev	3	26	28	If so, I will cross you in my turn, hot with anger, plaguing you sevenfold for your sins,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	26	29	till you must needs eat the flesh of your own sons and daughters.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	26	30	I will destroy your hill-shrines, break your idols, and where your idols have fallen, you too will fall. Such will be my loathing for you
 Leviticus	Lev	3	26	31	that I will turn your cities into a wilderness, and your holy places into a desert; the fragrance of your sacrifices will be acceptable to me no more.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	26	32	I will make a havoc of your land, so that your very enemies, as they come to dwell there, will stand aghast.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	26	33	For yourselves, I will scatter you wide among the nations, and my sword shall be at work on what you have left behind you, turning your land into a desert, your cities into ruins.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	26	34	Then, in those days of desolation, your land will enjoy a sabbath indeed; while you are far away,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	26	35	exiled among your enemies, it will be at rest, it will repose in a sabbath of utter loneliness, that land which was never given rest by any sabbath of yours, while you dwelt there.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	26	36	Those of you who are left will be faint-hearted in the lands of your enemies, ready to take flight at the fall of a leaf, as if it were a sword threatening them, prostrate before ever their foes attack,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	26	37	stumbling over one another as if routed in battle, so little heart will be left among you to withstand your enemies.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	26	38	You will be lost among the Gentiles, swallowed up by a hostile country.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	26	39	Those few who live on will live on to pine away, still unpardoned, exiles in a land that hates them, punishment for their sins, punishment for the sins of their fathers.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	26	40	So it must be, until they confess their sins and the sins of those fathers of theirs who rebelled against me and crossed me.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	26	41	I must cross them still, condemning them to exile in a land that hates them, until those defiled hearts learn to be ashamed. Then they will make atonement for their sins,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	26	42	and I will remember my covenant with Jacob, Isaac, and Abraham, remember the land
 Leviticus	Lev	3	26	43	which they have left, sunk now in the enjoyment of its long repose, uninhabited because of their sins. They will make atonement at last for their sin in rejecting my decrees, forgetting my law.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	26	44	And it will prove that all the while, even when they were exiled among their enemies, they were not rejected, they were not forgotten altogether; I would not let them perish, would not annul my covenant with them. No, I am the Lord their God,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	26	45	and I will bethink me of the covenant I made long ago, when I rescued them from Egypt under the eyes of the Gentiles, and proclaimed myself the God who protects them, I, the Lord. Such were the decrees and the laws by which the Lord bound the sons of Israel to himself on mount Sinai, with Moses for his spokesman.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	27	1	And the Lord spoke to Moses
 Leviticus	Lev	3	27	2	giving him this message for the Israelites: If anyone makes a vow by which he promises to God a life that belongs to him, he must pay a fixed ransom.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	27	3	A man between the ages of twenty and sixty must pay fifty silver pieces by sanctuary reckoning,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	27	4	and a woman of the same age must pay thirty.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	27	5	Between the ages of five and twenty, a boy must pay twenty silver pieces, a girl ten.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	27	6	From the age of one month to the age of five years, five silver pieces will be the price for a boy and three for a girl.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	27	7	A man of sixty or over will pay fifteen pieces, a woman of the same age ten.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	27	8	If the maker of the vow is poor, and cannot pay the full price, he must present himself before the priest, and pay whatever the priest judges to be within his means.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	27	9	If anyone vows such a beast as is fit to be immolated in the Lord’s honour, that beast is consecrated,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	27	10	and there is no exchanging better for worse, or worse for better; if he sacrifices one beast in exchange for another, that other is none the less forfeit.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	27	11	If it is some unclean beast, which cannot be offered to the Lord in sacrifice, it must be brought before the priest,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	27	12	who will fix its value, according as he thinks it to be good or bad of its kind;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	27	13	and if the worshipper would pay to redeem it, he must add on a fifth part to this valuation.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	27	14	If a man vows to consecrate his house to the Lord, the priest shall examine it and decide its worth. The valuation he makes shall be the price assigned to it,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	27	15	and if the worshipper would redeem it, he must pay that price and a fifth besides, to recover possession of the house.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	27	16	If a man vows to consecrate to the Lord some piece of land which is part of his patrimony, it must be valued according to the worth of its yield; if it takes eight bushels to seed it, the price fixed will be fifty silver pieces.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	27	17	If he vows the field in the first year of a jubilee period, it must be estimated at its full worth;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	27	18	but if some time has passed, then the priest will count up the years still left before the jubilee comes, and will lower the price accordingly.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	27	19	And if the worshipper would redeem it, he must pay that price and a fifth besides, to recover the field.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	27	20	If he does not wish to redeem it, and it is sold to some other, the worshipper has no further opportunity of redeeming it;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	27	21	and when jubilee time comes round, it will be forfeit to the Lord; a consecrated piece of ground belongs to the priests by right.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	27	22	If the piece of land consecrated to the Lord was bought, and not part of the worshipper’s ancestral property,
 Leviticus	Lev	3	27	23	then the priest will reckon its value according to the number of years till jubilee time, and the worshipper will pay that sum to the Lord;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	27	24	when the jubilee comes, it will go back to its former owner, who sold it, since it is part of his patrimony.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	27	25	Every valuation must be made by sanctuary reckoning. The silver piece is worth twenty pence.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	27	26	First-born creatures, which belong to the Lord already, cannot be the subject of a vow or a consecration; ox or sheep, it belongs to the Lord by right.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	27	27	But if it is the first-born of some unclean animal, thou, the priest, shalt put a value on it; if the worshipper would redeem it, let him pay that price and a fifth besides, if not, let it be sold at the price thou hast reckoned.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	27	28	What is forfeit to the Lord, whether man or beast or piece of ground, can neither be sold nor be redeemed; once forfeit, it is set apart for holy uses, consecrated to the Lord.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	27	29	No human life that is forfeit can be redeemed; death is the only way.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	27	30	The tenth part of what the land yields, whether grain crop or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord, and is consecrated to him;
 Leviticus	Lev	3	27	31	if anyone would redeem his tithe, he must pay a fifth part besides.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	27	32	There will be tithes, too, of oxen and sheep and goats; every tenth beast, as they pass under the herdsman’s rod, must be consecrated to the Lord.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	27	33	No choice must be made of good or bad, and there must be no exchanging one beast for another. If any exchange is made, both beasts are forfeit to the Lord, and there is no redemption.
 Leviticus	Lev	3	27	34	Such are the commands the Lord gave Moses on mount Sinai, to be proclaimed to the sons of Israel.
 Numbers	Num	4	1	1	In the second year after the escape from Egypt, on the first day of the second month, the Lord spoke to Moses in the tabernacle which attested his covenant, there in the desert of Sinai, giving him this message:
 Numbers	Num	4	1	2	Register the whole people of Israel by their clans and their households and their several names, all that are of the male sex,
 Numbers	Num	4	1	3	of twenty years or more. Count up, thou and Aaron, the warriors of Israel by their companies;
 Numbers	Num	4	1	4	and from each tribe you shall have one man to help you, the head of a household and of a clan.
 Numbers	Num	4	1	5	These are their names; Elisur son of Sedeur for Ruben,
 Numbers	Num	4	1	6	Salamiel son of Surisaddai for Simeon,
 Numbers	Num	4	1	7	Nahasson son of Aminadab for Juda,
 Numbers	Num	4	1	8	Nathanael son of Suar for Issachar,
 Numbers	Num	4	1	9	Eliab son of Helon for Zabulon;
 Numbers	Num	4	1	10	and among the descendants of Joseph, Elisama son of Ammiud for Ephraim, and Gamaliel son of Phadassur for Manasses.
 Numbers	Num	4	1	11	For Benjamin, Abidan son of Gedeon;
 Numbers	Num	4	1	12	for Dan, Ahiezer son of Ammisaddai;
 Numbers	Num	4	1	13	for Aser, Phegiel son of Ochran;
 Numbers	Num	4	1	14	for Gad, Eliasaph son of Duel;
 Numbers	Num	4	1	15	for Nephthali, Ahira son of Enan.
 Numbers	Num	4	1	16	These were the men chosen out of the whole multitude to represent their tribes and clans, the leaders of Israel’s host.
 Numbers	Num	4	1	17	They were summoned by Moses and Aaron in the presence of the whole multitude,
 Numbers	Num	4	1	18	assembled there on the first day of the second month, and together they made a register by clans and households and families and persons, enrolling each man who was twenty years old or more.
 Numbers	Num	4	1	19	All alike were counted, there in the desert of Sinai, as the Lord had bidden Moses count them.
 Numbers	Num	4	1	20	Clan and household that came down from Ruben, Israel’s first-born, could muster warriors of twenty years and more,
 Numbers	Num	4	1	21	forty-six thousand five hundred.
 Numbers	Num	4	1	22	Of Simeon,
 Numbers	Num	4	1	23	fifty-nine thousand three hundred.
 Numbers	Num	4	1	24	Of Gad,
 Numbers	Num	4	1	25	forty-five thousand six hundred and fifty.
 Numbers	Num	4	1	26	Of Juda,
 Numbers	Num	4	1	27	seventy-four thousand six hundred.
 Numbers	Num	4	1	28	Of Issachar,
 Numbers	Num	4	1	29	fifty-four thousand four hundred.
 Numbers	Num	4	1	30	Of Zabulon,
 Numbers	Num	4	1	31	fifty-seven thousand four hundred.
 Numbers	Num	4	1	32	Among Joseph’s descendants, of Ephraim,
 Numbers	Num	4	1	33	forty thousand five hundred;
 Numbers	Num	4	1	34	of Manasses,
 Numbers	Num	4	1	35	thirty-two thousand two hundred.
 Numbers	Num	4	1	36	Of Benjamin,
 Numbers	Num	4	1	37	thirty-five thousand four hundred.
 Numbers	Num	4	1	38	Of Dan,
 Numbers	Num	4	1	39	sixty-two thousand seven hundred.
 Numbers	Num	4	1	40	Of Aser,
 Numbers	Num	4	1	41	forty-one thousand five hundred.
 Numbers	Num	4	1	42	Of Nephthali,
 Numbers	Num	4	1	43	fifty-three thousand four hundred.
 Numbers	Num	4	1	44	Such was the register Moses and Aaron and the twelve chiefs of Israel made, household by household and family by family;
 Numbers	Num	4	1	45	so that the whole muster-roll of warriors in Israel, twenty years old or more, by their households and families,
 Numbers	Num	4	1	46	was six hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty men.
 Numbers	Num	4	1	47	But no family in the tribe of Levi was counted in the reckoning;
 Numbers	Num	4	1	48	the Lord had said to Moses,
 Numbers	Num	4	1	49	Do not count the tribe of Levi, or register them among the sons of Israel.
 Numbers	Num	4	1	50	Give them charge of the tabernacle that bears record of me, all its appurtenances and all that goes with its worship. It is they who will carry the tabernacle with its appurtenances, they who will attend to the tabernacle and pitch their tents about it.
 Numbers	Num	4	1	51	The Levites will take the tabernacle down when the order is given for marching, and set it up when the order is given for encamping; no one else must come near it, on pain of death.
 Numbers	Num	4	1	52	Each Israelite will pitch his tent among the regiment, the company, in which he goes to battle;
 Numbers	Num	4	1	53	round the tabernacle itself none but the Levites must encamp, or the whole people of Israel will incur my displeasure; theirs it is to keep watch over the tabernacle that bears record of me.
 Numbers	Num	4	1	54	Such was the Lord’s bidding to Moses, and the sons of Israel faithfully observed it.
 Numbers	Num	4	2	1	And the Lord gave Moses and Aaron this command:
 Numbers	Num	4	2	2	All the Israelites are to encamp in their several companies, under banners and emblems of their own, by their families, with the tabernacle that bears witness of me in the middle.
 Numbers	Num	4	2	3	At the eastern end the sons of Juda will pitch their tents, arranged according to the companies in which they go to war, with Nahasson the son of Aminadab at their head,
 Numbers	Num	4	2	4	the full muster-roll of their warriors, seventy-four thousand six hundred strong.
 Numbers	Num	4	2	5	Next to them, under Nathanael son of Suar, Issachar was to encamp,
 Numbers	Num	4	2	6	a force of fifty-four thousand four hundred fighting men.
 Numbers	Num	4	2	7	Zabulon was led by Eliab son of Helon;
 Numbers	Num	4	2	8	there were fifty-seven thousand four hundred of them under arms.
 Numbers	Num	4	2	9	Thus the whole camp of Juda mustered a hundred and eighty-six thousand four hundred men; and their companies were to be the vanguard.
 Numbers	Num	4	2	10	Ruben, under Elisur son of Sedeur, was to encamp on the south,
 Numbers	Num	4	2	11	with a roll of forty-six thousand five hundred warriors;
 Numbers	Num	4	2	12	next to him the tribe of Simeon under Salamiel son of Surisaddai,
 Numbers	Num	4	2	13	with a roll of fifty-nine thousand three hundred;
 Numbers	Num	4	2	14	then the tribe of Gad under Eliasaph son of Duel,
 Numbers	Num	4	2	15	with a roll of forty-five thousand six hundred and fifty.
 Numbers	Num	4	2	16	And the camp of Ruben, reckoning a hundred and fifty-one thousand four hundred and fifty men in their companies, were to march second.
 Numbers	Num	4	2	17	Then came the tabernacle, and the companies of Levi had the carrying of it; they were to take it down in the same way as they had set it up, and march with due place and rank assigned to them.
 Numbers	Num	4	2	18	To the west, Ephraim would encamp, under Elisama son of Ammiud,
 Numbers	Num	4	2	19	with a roll of forty thousand five hundred,
 Numbers	Num	4	2	20	and with them the tribe of Manasses, under Gamaliel son of Phadassur,
 Numbers	Num	4	2	21	with a roll of thirty-two thousand two hundred;
 Numbers	Num	4	2	22	then the tribe of Benjamin under Abidan son of Gedeon,
 Numbers	Num	4	2	23	with a roll of thirty-five thousand four hundred.
 Numbers	Num	4	2	24	The camp of Ephraim, reckoning a hundred and eight thousand one hundred men in their companies, were to march third.
 Numbers	Num	4	2	25	On the north, Dan would encamp under Ahiezer son of Ammisaddai,
 Numbers	Num	4	2	26	with a roll of sixty-two thousand seven hundred;
 Numbers	Num	4	2	27	next to him the tribe of Aser under Phegiel son of Ochran,
 Numbers	Num	4	2	28	with a roll of forty-one thousand five hundred;
 Numbers	Num	4	2	29	and then the tribe of Nephthali under Ahira son of Enan,
 Numbers	Num	4	2	30	with a roll of fifty-three thousand four hundred.
 Numbers	Num	4	2	31	The camp of Dan, with a roll of a hundred and fifty thousand six hundred men, were to march last.
 Numbers	Num	4	2	32	Such was the number of the Israelites, when their whole array was marshalled by its families and its companies, six hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty strong.
 Numbers	Num	4	2	33	But the Levites, in obedience to the command the Lord gave to Moses, were not reckoned among the Israelites.
 Numbers	Num	4	2	34	And the Israelites carried out all the Lord’s bidding; in marching order they pitched their tents, and their marching order was by families and households.
 Numbers	Num	4	3	1	Aaron and Moses had already sons to succeed them at the time when the Lord spoke to Moses on Sinai;
 Numbers	Num	4	3	2	and these were the names of Aaron’s sons, Nadab, his first-born, then Abiu, Eleazar and Ithamar.
 Numbers	Num	4	3	3	All these sons of Aaron were anointed priests, their hands enriched and consecrated for priestly duties,
 Numbers	Num	4	3	4	but Nadab and Abiu, who offered unhallowed fire in the Lord’s presence, died there in the desert of Sinai without issue; it was only Eleazar and Ithamar that performed the duties of the priesthood now, under the eye of Aaron their father.
 Numbers	Num	4	3	5	And now the Lord gave Moses this command,
 Numbers	Num	4	3	6	Dedicate the tribe of Levi to me, and bid them wait on the pleasure of Aaron, the high priest; doing him service and keeping watch,
 Numbers	Num	4	3	7	carrying out the duties that belong to public worship before the tabernacle,
 Numbers	Num	4	3	8	keeping safe, too, the appurtenances of the tabernacle, and attending to its needs.
 Numbers	Num	4	3	9	Thou shalt put the Levites at the disposal of
 Numbers	Num	4	3	10	Aaron and his sons, to whom the Israelites have assigned them; but it is to Aaron and his sons that thou wilt entrust the priestly office. No one else must minister there, on pain of death.
 Numbers	Num	4	3	11	This, too, the Lord said to Moses,
 Numbers	Num	4	3	12	Among all the sons of Israel, I have singled out the Levites to be my own, in lieu of those first-born Israelites that handsel the womb;
 Numbers	Num	4	3	13	all first-born things belong to me. Ever since I smote the first-born in the land of Egypt, I have claimed the eldest birth, whether of man or of beast, as forfeit; forfeit to me, the Lord.
 Numbers	Num	4	3	14	And while they were still in the desert of Sinai, the Lord bade Moses
 Numbers	Num	4	3	15	register the sons of Levi by their households and their families, all of them that were more than a month old.
 Numbers	Num	4	3	16	So Moses made a register, as the Lord had bidden him;
 Numbers	Num	4	3	17	giving the names of Levi’s sons in their order, Gerson, Caath and Merari;
 Numbers	Num	4	3	18	then the sons of Gerson, Lebni and Semei,
 Numbers	Num	4	3	19	the sons of Caath, Amram, Jessar, Hebron and Oziel
 Numbers	Num	4	3	20	and the sons of Merari, Moholi and Musi.
 Numbers	Num	4	3	21	The two families that came down from Gerson through Lebni and Semei
 Numbers	Num	4	3	22	amounting to seven thousand five hundred males, above the age of a month;
 Numbers	Num	4	3	23	these were to encamp behind the tabernacle, to the west,
 Numbers	Num	4	3	24	under Eliasaph the son of Lael.
 Numbers	Num	4	3	25	The parts of the tabernacle which were to be in their charge
 Numbers	Num	4	3	26	were the tent itself and its canopy, and the screen stretched over the doorway by which the tabernacle was entered; the curtains for the court, and the hanging at the entrance to the court, with all that belongs to the service of the altar; the tabernacle ropes, too, and its appurtenances in general.
 Numbers	Num	4	3	27	The race of Caath, comprising the families that were named after Amram, Jesaar, Hebron and Oziel,
 Numbers	Num	4	3	28	which counted eight thousand six hundred males above a month old, were in charge of the sanctuary.
 Numbers	Num	4	3	29	They were to encamp south of it,
 Numbers	Num	4	3	30	under Elisaphan the son of Oziel,
 Numbers	Num	4	3	31	and have the keeping of the ark, the table, the lamp-stand, the altars, the vessels for worship in the sanctuary, the veil, and all other such furniture.
 Numbers	Num	4	3	32	These guardians of the sanctuary had the chief of all the Levites at their head, Eleazar, son of the high priest Aaron.
 Numbers	Num	4	3	33	The two families of Merari’s line, named after Moholi and Musi,
 Numbers	Num	4	3	34	counting six thousand two hundred males above a month old,
 Numbers	Num	4	3	35	were to encamp on the north, under Suriel the son of Abihaiel.
 Numbers	Num	4	3	36	They were to guard the frames and poles of the tabernacle, the posts with their sockets, and all that went with such an office;
 Numbers	Num	4	3	37	the posts of the outer court, too, with their sockets, the pegs and the ropes.
 Numbers	Num	4	3	38	In front of the tabernacle, that is, on the east, Moses and Aaron were to encamp with their sons, keeping guard over the sanctuary in the midst of the Israelite people; it was death for any other to come near it.
 Numbers	Num	4	3	39	The whole strength of the Levites, all the families registered at the Lord’s command by Moses and Aaron, was twenty-two thousand males above a month old.
 Numbers	Num	4	3	40	And now the Lord said to Moses, Count up all the male first-born in Israel who are more than a month old, and find their number.
 Numbers	Num	4	3	41	I must have a Levite for every male in Israel; it is the Lord’s due. And they must have cattle to match in number all the first-born cattle the Israelites possess.
 Numbers	Num	4	3	42	So Moses counted the first-born of Israel, as the Lord bade him,
 Numbers	Num	4	3	43	and found that there were twenty-two thousand two hundred and seventy-three such persons.
 Numbers	Num	4	3	44	And the Lord said to Moses,
 Numbers	Num	4	3	45	Set apart the Levites to be my own, instead of the first-born Israelites, and the cattle of the Levites to be mine, instead of the first-born cattle; it is the Lord’s due.
 Numbers	Num	4	3	46	Meanwhile, here are two hundred and seventy-three first-born who have no Levites to match their number; for these, ransom must be paid.
 Numbers	Num	4	3	47	Claim five silver pieces, by sanctuary reckoning, for each of them, (the silver piece is worth twenty pence),
 Numbers	Num	4	3	48	and pay the money to Aaron and his sons, as the ransom for the first-born who are left over.
 Numbers	Num	4	3	49	So Moses took ransom for those who were left out of the count when the Levites stood as ransom
 Numbers	Num	4	3	50	for the first-born sons of Israel, a thousand three hundred and sixty-five silver pieces by sanctuary reckoning;
 Numbers	Num	4	3	51	and these he paid over to Aaron and his sons as the Lord had bidden him.
 Numbers	Num	4	4	1	Then the Lord bade Moses and Aaron
 Numbers	Num	4	4	2	register the sons of Caath, household by household, family by family, apart from the rest of the Levites;
 Numbers	Num	4	4	3	men between the ages of thirty and fifty, who went into the tabernacle to wait and work there.
 Numbers	Num	4	4	4	The sons of Caath, he said, there in the tabernacle, are to have the holiest task of all.
 Numbers	Num	4	4	5	When the order is given for marching, it is for Aaron and his sons to go in and take down the veil at the sanctuary entrance, in which they will wrap up the ark;
 Numbers	Num	4	4	6	then they will enfold it again in a covering of skins dyed violet, and spread a cloth over it all of blue, and so they will put the poles in to carry it.
 Numbers	Num	4	4	7	They will spread another blue cloth over the table, which will have its cups and bowls and dishes on it, and goblets for pouring out libations, and the bread set forth there as always;
 Numbers	Num	4	4	8	a red cloth over that, and a covering dyed violet, and put the poles in.
 Numbers	Num	4	4	9	Then, with a blue cloth, they will cover the lamp-stand, with its lamps, tongs, snuffers, and all the phials of oil for feeding the lamps,
 Numbers	Num	4	4	10	enfolding all in skins dyed violet, and so they will make it ready for carrying.
 Numbers	Num	4	4	11	Then a blue cloth, and a covering of violet skins, for the golden altar;
 Numbers	Num	4	4	12	and all the appurtenances of sanctuary worship they shall cover up in the same way, and make these, too, ready for carrying.
 Numbers	Num	4	4	13	The brazen altar they will rid of its ashes, and wrap it in a purple cloth,
 Numbers	Num	4	4	14	enclosing with it all the appurtenances used for its ceremonies, fire-pans, flesh-hooks, forks, pot-hooks and shovels; they must wrap up all the appurtenances of this altar in a covering of violet skins, and then put poles through the rings of the altar itself.
 Numbers	Num	4	4	15	Then when Aaron and his sons have wrapped up the sanctuary and all its appurtenances ready for the march, the sons of Caath will enter and carry them away in their wrappings; they are not to touch the things of the sanctuary, on pain of death. Such charge will the sons of Caath have over the tabernacle that attests my covenant;
 Numbers	Num	4	4	16	and Eleazar, son of the high priest Aaron, will be in command of them. Under his care is the oil for feeding the lamps, and the spices for the incense; under his care the continual sacrifice, and the oil used for anointing, and all that concerns the worship paid in the tabernacle, and all the furniture of the sanctuary.
 Numbers	Num	4	4	17	This warning, too, the Lord gave to Moses and Aaron;
 Numbers	Num	4	4	18	Would you have the family of Caath lost to Levi’s tribe?
 Numbers	Num	4	4	19	If you value their lives, order their doings thus; death is the penalty, if they should touch what has been set apart for holy uses. Only Aaron and his sons may enter; and they will direct what is to be the task of each Levite, what burden he is to carry.
 Numbers	Num	4	4	20	None must pry into the secrets of the shrine while they are yet uncovered, on pain of death.
 Numbers	Num	4	4	21	Then the Lord bade Moses
 Numbers	Num	4	4	22	register the sons of Gerson, by households and families;
 Numbers	Num	4	4	23	men between the ages of thirty and fifty, who went into the tabernacle to work there.
 Numbers	Num	4	4	24	The task of these sons of Gerson, he told them,
 Numbers	Num	4	4	25	is to carry the curtains of the tabernacle, and the second covering that makes a roof over the place of covenant, and the purple canopy over all, and the screen at the entrance of the tabernacle;
 Numbers	Num	4	4	26	the hangings, too, of the court, and the screen at the entrance of the court, opposite the tabernacle. All that belongs to the altar, and all the ropes, and the appurtenances that go with them,
 Numbers	Num	4	4	27	shall be carried by the family of Gerson, as Aaron and his sons shall direct; they will make known what burden falls to each.
 Numbers	Num	4	4	28	This is the charge which the sons of Gerson will have over the tabernacle which attests my covenant, and Ithamar, son of the high priest Aaron, will have the disposal of them.
 Numbers	Num	4	4	29	The households and families of Merari’s line must also be registered;
 Numbers	Num	4	4	30	men between the ages of thirty and fifty, who go about their work in the shrine of the covenant.
 Numbers	Num	4	4	31	They have the charge of carrying the frames and poles of the tabernacle, its posts with their sockets;
 Numbers	Num	4	4	32	posts, too, sockets and pegs and ropes for the court round about. All such appurtenances shall be handed over to them one by one, to carry with them.
 Numbers	Num	4	4	33	Such duties and tasks the sons of Merari will have, in the tabernacle that attests my covenant, and these too will be at the disposal of Ithamar, son of the high priest Aaron.
 Numbers	Num	4	4	34	So Moses and Aaron and the chieftains registered the households and families of Caath,
 Numbers	Num	4	4	35	all the tabernacle servants between the ages of thirty and fifty;
 Numbers	Num	4	4	36	of these there were two thousand seven hundred and fifty.
 Numbers	Num	4	4	38	Then the Gersonites;
 Numbers	Num	4	4	40	of these there were two thousand six hundred and thirty.
 Numbers	Num	4	4	42	Then the Merarites;
 Numbers	Num	4	4	44	of these there were three thousand two hundred.
 Numbers	Num	4	4	46	So that the full register of the Levites, which Moses and Aaron and the chieftains made, household by household and family by family,
 Numbers	Num	4	4	47	men between thirty and fifty, fit to carry burdens and do the work of the tabernacle,
 Numbers	Num	4	4	48	contained eight thousand five hundred and eighty names altogether.
 Numbers	Num	4	4	49	And Moses, as the Lord had bidden him, registered all their names with the duties and burdens that fell to each.
 Numbers	Num	4	5	1	This was the Lord’s word to Moses,
 Numbers	Num	4	5	2	Bid the sons of Israel cast out from their encampment all the lepers, all those who have a running at the reins, or are defiled by contact with the dead.
 Numbers	Num	4	5	3	Men and women alike must be shut out from the camp, so as not to pollute it when I am making my abode with you.
 Numbers	Num	4	5	4	This the Israelites did, shutting out such persons from the camp in obedience to the command which the Lord gave to Moses.
 Numbers	Num	4	5	5	This, too, was a message the Lord gave to Moses
 Numbers	Num	4	5	6	for the sons of Israel, If man or woman commits any of those wrongs mankind is prone to commit, and incurs guilt by neglecting the Lord’s commandment,
 Numbers	Num	4	5	7	confession must be made of it, and the sum paid back, with a fifth part added besides, to the wronged party.
 Numbers	Num	4	5	8	If there is no one to whom restitution can be made, they must make their payment to the Lord, and it will belong to his priest, over and above the ram which is offered in expiation, to win pardon for the wrong done.
 Numbers	Num	4	5	9	So, too, all the first-fruits which the Israelites offer belong to the priest;
 Numbers	Num	4	5	10	and all offerings made to the sanctuary, once they have been put in the priest’s hand, become his.
 Numbers	Num	4	5	11	This, too, was a message the Lord gave to Moses
 Numbers	Num	4	5	12	for the sons of Israel: It may be that a married woman will leave her duty, and, in despite of her own husband,
 Numbers	Num	4	5	13	bed with another; yet her husband will have no means of discovering her guilty secret; no witness caught her in the act of adultery.
 Numbers	Num	4	5	14	What, then, if a man be inflamed with jealousy against his wife, that either is defiled, or has brought false suspicion on herself?
 Numbers	Num	4	5	15	He must bring her before the priest, and make offering for her of barleymeal, the tenth part of a bushel. He will pour no oil over it, put no incense on it; this is the jealous man’s sacrifice, and the purpose of his offering is to detect unfaithfulness.
 Numbers	Num	4	5	16	The priest will cause her to appear, and bring her into the Lord’s presence,
 Numbers	Num	4	5	17	and will take up an earthen jar of lustral water, into which he will put a handful of dust from the tabernacle floor.
 Numbers	Num	4	5	18	Then he will unveil the woman’s head, as she stands there in the Lord’s presence, and put into her hands the token-sacrifice, the jealous man’s offering; in his own hand will be the baneful waters, embittered now by his curse.
 Numbers	Num	4	5	19	And he will put the ban on her; If it is true no stranger has bedded with thee, and thou hast never defiled thyself by forsaking thy husband’s bed, then these baneful waters I have cursed will have no power to harm thee.
 Numbers	Num	4	5	20	But if thou hast left thy duty towards thy husband, and defiled thyself by bedding with another man,
 Numbers	Num	4	5	21	then this curse of mine will bind thee: The Lord make thee a by-word of all that is accursed among his people, make thy thigh rot and thy belly swell till it bursts.
 Numbers	Num	4	5	22	Once this cursed water has entered thy belly, belly must swell and thigh rot. And here the woman shall answer, Amen, amen.
 Numbers	Num	4	5	23	This ban the priest shall write down in a book, and wash it with the baneful waters he has cursed,
 Numbers	Num	4	5	24	and so make her drink them. When she has finished the draught
 Numbers	Num	4	5	25	the priest will take the jealous man’s sacrifice from her hand, lift it up in the Lord’s presence, and lay it on the altar.
 Numbers	Num	4	5	26	Only, before all this is done, he must take a handful of what is offered, by way of token-sacrifice, and burn it on the altar; then he will make her drink the baneful waters.
 Numbers	Num	4	5	27	And when she has drunk them, if she is indeed defiled, and has been guilty of adultery in her husband’s despite, the cursed water as it passes into her will make her belly swell and her thigh rot, and she will be a by-word of all that is accursed among the people.
 Numbers	Num	4	5	28	But if she is innocent, she will take no harm, and will become a mother of children.
 Numbers	Num	4	5	29	Such is the law concerning jealousy. If a woman leaves her husband and is defiled,
 Numbers	Num	4	5	30	and her husband, inflamed with jealousy, brings her into the Lord’s presence, so that the priest can carry out the rite aforesaid,
 Numbers	Num	4	5	31	the husband is without blame; the fault is hers, and she must answer for it.
 Numbers	Num	4	6	1	This message, too, the Lord gave to Moses
 Numbers	Num	4	6	2	for the sons of Israel, Man or woman that would be set apart for the Lord by taking the Nazirite vow must abstain from wine, and from all strong drink.
 Numbers	Num	4	6	3	They must not drink vinegar made from wine or from any such liquor, nor any draught that is strained from the grape; they must not eat grapes, whether fresh or dried.
 Numbers	Num	4	6	4	No fruit of the vine, grape or raisin, must pass their lips while the days of their consecration last.
 Numbers	Num	4	6	5	The Nazirite, while he is set apart, must not pass any razor over his head until his consecration to the Lord has been completed; the growth of his hair is a sign of dedication.
 Numbers	Num	4	6	6	Nor, during his time of consecration may he come near any dead body,
 Numbers	Num	4	6	7	nor may he incur defilement when father or mother, brother or sister is buried; the hair is a sign of his dedication to his God,
 Numbers	Num	4	6	8	and he is set apart for the Lord as long as the time of his consecration lasts.
 Numbers	Num	4	6	9	If he is present when a death befalls unexpectedly, his consecrated head is defiled thereby; he must shave it there and then, on the very day when the need for purification arises, and again on the seventh day.
 Numbers	Num	4	6	10	On the eighth day, he will offer to the priest two turtle-doves or young pigeons at the tabernacle door,
 Numbers	Num	4	6	11	and the priest will offer one by way of amends for the fault, and the other in burnt-sacrifice; then he will pray for pardon for the fault which the death occasioned. On the same day, his head sanctified afresh by the priest,
 Numbers	Num	4	6	12	he will dedicate to the Lord his new period of consecration, and offer a yearling lamb in amends. His former days of consecration go for nothing, once they have been interrupted by defilement.
 Numbers	Num	4	6	13	And this is the rite he must follow when the period of his vow is completed. He will be brought to the tabernacle door,
 Numbers	Num	4	6	14	and there he will make his offering to the Lord, a yearling he-lamb without blemish in burnt-sacrifice, a yearling ewe without blemish to make amends for fault, and a ram without blemish as a welcome-offering;
 Numbers	Num	4	6	15	a basket, too, of unleavened bread kneaded with oil, and cakes with oil poured over them, and the gifts proper to each.
 Numbers	Num	4	6	16	All these the priest will offer in the Lord’s presence, performing there the sacrifice of amends and the burnt-sacrifice,
 Numbers	Num	4	6	17	and immolating the ram before the Lord as a welcome-offering; at the same time he will present the basket of unleavened things and the customary gifts.
 Numbers	Num	4	6	18	Then, before the tabernacle door, the Nazirite will shave off the consecrated growth of hair, and throw it upon the fire that consumes his welcome-offering.
 Numbers	Num	4	6	19	And now the priest will take the ram’s shoulder, which has been cooking, and one of the loaves from the basket and one of the cakes, and put them into the hands of the newly shaved Nazirite,
 Numbers	Num	4	6	20	who will give them back to him, so that he can offer them up in the Lord’s presence. These parts of the offering are set apart for the priest, like the breast that has been duly cut away, and the thigh. After this, the Nazirite is free to drink wine again.
 Numbers	Num	4	6	21	So must the time of his dedication be brought to an end, and so must his vow be fulfilled; apart from any special undertaking he may have made. To achieve the purpose of such consecration, he must carry out the full intentions of his vow.
 Numbers	Num	4	6	22	And this was a message the Lord gave to Moses
 Numbers	Num	4	6	23	for Aaron and his sons: When you give the Israelites your blessing, you are to say:
 Numbers	Num	4	6	24	The Lord bless thee, and keep thee;
 Numbers	Num	4	6	25	the Lord smile on thee, and be merciful to thee;
 Numbers	Num	4	6	26	the Lord turn his regard towards thee, and give thee peace.
 Numbers	Num	4	6	27	So shall they invoke my name over the sons of Israel, to win a blessing from me.
 Numbers	Num	4	7	1	At the time when Moses finished the tabernacle and set it up, anointing and hallowing both the tabernacle and altar with all their appurtenances,
 Numbers	Num	4	7	2	an offering was made by the chieftains of Israel, the heads of families, who were in charge, each for his own tribe, of the registering.
 Numbers	Num	4	7	3	They gave to the Lord six covered waggons and twelve oxen, one waggon for every two of the chieftains, and one ox for every one of them. When they presented these before the tabernacle,
 Numbers	Num	4	7	4	the Lord said to Moses,
 Numbers	Num	4	7	5	Accept these gifts for the service of the tabernacle, and make them over to the Levites, for the better carrying out of their various duties.
 Numbers	Num	4	7	6	Moses, therefore, accepted the waggons and the oxen, and gave them to the Levites,
 Numbers	Num	4	7	7	assigning two waggons and four oxen to the sons of Gerson for their needs,
 Numbers	Num	4	7	8	and the remaining four waggons and eight oxen to Ithamar, son of the high priest Aaron, for the needs of the Merarites.
 Numbers	Num	4	7	9	No waggons or oxen were given to the sons of Caath, because their business was with the sanctuary, and every burden must be carried on their own shoulders.
 Numbers	Num	4	7	10	And when the altar was to be anointed, the chieftains had their dedication gifts to bring before it;
 Numbers	Num	4	7	11	so the Lord said to Moses, Let the chieftains bring their dedication gifts on successive days.
 Numbers	Num	4	7	12	The first day, Nahasson son of Aminadab, of Juda, made his offering;
 Numbers	Num	4	7	13	a silver dish of a hundred and thirty, and a silver bowl of seventy sicles’ weight, by sanctuary reckoning, both full of flour kneaded with oil for sacrifice;
 Numbers	Num	4	7	14	a gold saucer weighing ten sicles, full of incense;
 Numbers	Num	4	7	15	a bullock, a ram, and a yearling he-lamb for burnt-sacrifice;
 Numbers	Num	4	7	16	a goat to make amends for fault;
 Numbers	Num	4	7	17	and for a welcome-offering, two oxen, five rams, five goats, and five yearling he-lambs. Such was the gift of Nahasson son of Aminadab,
 Numbers	Num	4	7	18	and next day Nathanael son of Suar gave
 Numbers	Num	4	7	19	dish and bowl
 Numbers	Num	4	7	20	and saucer, of the like workmanship and with the like contents,
 Numbers	Num	4	7	21	and the same burnt-sacrifice,
 Numbers	Num	4	7	22	transgression-victim,
 Numbers	Num	4	7	23	and welcome-offering for Issachar.
 Numbers	Num	4	7	24	On the third day it was the turn of Eliab, son of Helon,
 Numbers	Num	4	7	25	to give dish and bowl
 Numbers	Num	4	7	26	and saucer,
 Numbers	Num	4	7	27	and the same burnt-sacrifice,
 Numbers	Num	4	7	28	transgression-victim,
 Numbers	Num	4	7	29	and welcome-offering for Zabulon.
 Numbers	Num	4	7	30	On the fourth day Elisur, son of Sedeur,
 Numbers	Num	4	7	31	gave dish and bowl
 Numbers	Num	4	7	32	and saucer,
 Numbers	Num	4	7	33	and the same burnt-sacrifice,
 Numbers	Num	4	7	34	transgression-victim
 Numbers	Num	4	7	35	and welcome-offering for Ruben.
 Numbers	Num	4	7	36	On the fifth day Salamiel, son of Surisaddai,
 Numbers	Num	4	7	37	gave dish and bowl
 Numbers	Num	4	7	38	and saucer,
 Numbers	Num	4	7	39	and the same burnt-sacrifice,
 Numbers	Num	4	7	40	transgression-victim,
 Numbers	Num	4	7	41	and welcome-offering for Simeon.
 Numbers	Num	4	7	42	On the sixth day Eliasaph, son of Duel,
 Numbers	Num	4	7	43	gave dish and bowl
 Numbers	Num	4	7	44	and saucer,
 Numbers	Num	4	7	45	and the same burnt-sacrifice,
 Numbers	Num	4	7	46	transgression-victim,
 Numbers	Num	4	7	47	and welcome-offering for Gad.
 Numbers	Num	4	7	48	On the seventh day Elisama, son of Ammiud,
 Numbers	Num	4	7	49	gave dish and bowl
 Numbers	Num	4	7	50	and saucer,
 Numbers	Num	4	7	51	and the same burnt-sacrifice,
 Numbers	Num	4	7	52	transgression-victim
 Numbers	Num	4	7	53	and welcome-offering for Ephraim.
 Numbers	Num	4	7	54	On the eighth day Gamaliel, son of Phadassur,
 Numbers	Num	4	7	55	gave dish and bowl
 Numbers	Num	4	7	56	and saucer,
 Numbers	Num	4	7	57	and the same burnt-sacrifice,
 Numbers	Num	4	7	58	transgression-victim,
 Numbers	Num	4	7	59	and welcome-offering for Manasses.
 Numbers	Num	4	7	60	On the ninth day Abidan, son of Gedeon,
 Numbers	Num	4	7	61	gave dish and bowl
 Numbers	Num	4	7	62	and saucer,
 Numbers	Num	4	7	63	and the same burnt-sacrifice,
 Numbers	Num	4	7	64	transgression-victim,
 Numbers	Num	4	7	65	and welcome-offering for Benjamin.
 Numbers	Num	4	7	66	On the tenth day Ahiezer, son of Ammisaddai,
 Numbers	Num	4	7	67	gave dish and bowl
 Numbers	Num	4	7	68	and saucer,
 Numbers	Num	4	7	69	and the same burnt-sacrifice,
 Numbers	Num	4	7	70	transgression-victim,
 Numbers	Num	4	7	71	and welcome-offering for Dan.
 Numbers	Num	4	7	72	On the eleventh day Phegiel, son of Ochran,
 Numbers	Num	4	7	73	gave dish and bowl
 Numbers	Num	4	7	74	and saucer,
 Numbers	Num	4	7	75	and the same burnt-sacrifice,
 Numbers	Num	4	7	76	transgression-victim,
 Numbers	Num	4	7	77	and welcome-offering for Aser.
 Numbers	Num	4	7	78	On the twelfth day Ahira, son of Enan,
 Numbers	Num	4	7	79	gave dish and bowl
 Numbers	Num	4	7	80	and saucer,
 Numbers	Num	4	7	81	and the same burnt-sacrifice,
 Numbers	Num	4	7	82	transgression-victim,
 Numbers	Num	4	7	83	and welcome-offering for Nephthali.
 Numbers	Num	4	7	84	All these dedication gifts were offered by the chieftains of Israel at the time when the altar was hallowed. There were twelve silver dishes, twelve silver bowls and twelve saucers of gold.
 Numbers	Num	4	7	85	A hundred and thirty sicles of silver went to each dish, seventy to each bowl, making two thousand four hundred sicles of silver in all, by sanctuary weight.
 Numbers	Num	4	7	86	And the twelve golden saucers with incense in them weighed ten sicles each, by sanctuary weight, making a hundred and twenty sicles of gold altogether.
 Numbers	Num	4	7	87	For burnt-sacrifice, there were twelve bullocks, twelve rams, and twelve yearling he-lambs, with the bread-offering proper to them; in amends for fault, twelve goats;
 Numbers	Num	4	7	88	for welcome-offering, twenty-four oxen, sixty rams, sixty goats, and sixty yearling he-lambs. Such were the gifts made, when the altar was hallowed and anointed.
 Numbers	Num	4	7	89	Whenever Moses went into the tabernacle that attested God’s covenant, to consult the oracle there, he heard a voice speaking to him from the shrine between the two cherubs, standing above the ark; there it was that God spoke to him.
 Numbers	Num	4	8	1	The Lord gave Moses this message
 Numbers	Num	4	8	2	for Aaron, When thou dost put the seven lamps in their place, the lamp-stand must be set up on the south side of the tabernacle; and give orders that the lamps face northwards, towards the table of the loaves on the other side, the lamp-stand turned towards it, and so shedding light upon it.
 Numbers	Num	4	8	3	Such was the rule the Lord enjoined on Moses, and such was ever the rule Aaron followed, in setting out the lamps.
 Numbers	Num	4	8	4	This lamp-stand was fashioned of wrought gold, both the stem in the middle of it and the branches that sprang from either side and all their ornament; the pattern the Lord had shewn him was the pattern Moses gave it.
 Numbers	Num	4	8	5	And this was the Lord’s word to Moses,
 Numbers	Num	4	8	6	Separate the Levites from the rest of Israel, and purify them.
 Numbers	Num	4	8	7	To be purified, they must be sprinkled with lustral water, and must shave all the hair on their bodies. They will wash their clothes, too, and cleanse themselves.
 Numbers	Num	4	8	8	After this, they will provide an ox and the bread-offering that goes with it, of flour kneaded with oil, and a second ox must be provided as a transgression-victim;
 Numbers	Num	4	8	9	and so thou wilt bring them out in front of the tabernacle that attests my covenant, where all Israel will be assembled.
 Numbers	Num	4	8	10	And the Israelites will lay their hands upon the Levites, as they stand there before the Lord,
 Numbers	Num	4	8	11	and Aaron will offer them to the Lord on Israel’s behalf, to do him service.
 Numbers	Num	4	8	12	Then the Levites will lay their hands upon the heads of the oxen; one of these thou wilt offer as a victim for fault, and the other in burnt-sacrifice to the Lord, to make intercession for them.
 Numbers	Num	4	8	13	So thou wilt present the Levites before Aaron and his sons, set apart and offered to the Lord,
 Numbers	Num	4	8	14	separated from the rest of Israel to be mine;
 Numbers	Num	4	8	15	after that, they may enter the tabernacle which attests my covenant and do me service. They must be purified, set apart, and made over to me, because they are a gift to me from the Israelites,
 Numbers	Num	4	8	16	which I have accepted in lieu of every first-born son in Israel that handsels the womb.
 Numbers	Num	4	8	17	All first-born things in Israel, man or beast, belong to me and are forfeit to me since the day when I smote the first-born in the land of Egypt;
 Numbers	Num	4	8	18	and in lieu of all Israel’s first-born sons I claim the Levites for myself;
 Numbers	Num	4	8	19	I have chosen them out from the rest of the people to be at the disposal of Aaron and his sons, to do me service in the tabernacle and offer me prayer on Israel’s behalf. The rest of the people must not come close to the sanctuary, on pain of being smitten with a plague.
 Numbers	Num	4	8	20	These commands of the Lord by Moses they carried out faithfully, Moses and Aaron and all the people of Israel;
 Numbers	Num	4	8	21	the Levites were purified, and washed their clothes, and Aaron made an offering of them in the Lord’s presence, and made intercession for them.
 Numbers	Num	4	8	22	And now they were free to enter the tabernacle, to perform their duties at the pleasure of Aaron and his sons, Levites purified as God bade Moses purify them.
 Numbers	Num	4	8	23	This, too, was the Lord’s word to Moses,
 Numbers	Num	4	8	24	The law governing the Levites is that they should begin their tabernacle service from the age of twenty-five onwards;
 Numbers	Num	4	8	25	when they have reached the age of fifty, they are no longer bound to service,
 Numbers	Num	4	8	26	but they will attend on their brethren in the tabernacle and keep guard there as they are appointed, without doing the work of it any longer. Such is the direction thou wilt give the Levites about their duties.
 Numbers	Num	4	9	1	In the second year after the escape from Egypt, the Lord gave a message to Moses in the desert of Sinai, in the first month of the year.
 Numbers	Num	4	9	2	The Israelites, he said, must celebrate the paschal feast, now that the time has come round;
 Numbers	Num	4	9	3	it begins with evening on the fourteenth day of this month, and all the ceremonies prescribed for it must be duly observed.
 Numbers	Num	4	9	4	So Moses bade the Israelites keep the pasch,
 Numbers	Num	4	9	5	and when the evening of the fourteenth day came, keep it they did, there in the desert of Sinai. There was no word the Lord gave to Moses, but Israel obeyed it.
 Numbers	Num	4	9	6	But a doubt arose; here were some men who could not keep it that day, because they were defiled by contact with a corpse. And these came to Moses and Aaron
 Numbers	Num	4	9	7	with the complaint, Must we, who are defiled by touch of the dead, be robbed of our opportunity to make the Lord such an offering as the season claims, with the rest of Israel?
 Numbers	Num	4	9	8	And Moses bade them wait till he could find out what was the Lord’s will for them.
 Numbers	Num	4	9	9	Thereupon the Lord gave Moses this message
 Numbers	Num	4	9	10	for the Israelites, If any of Israel’s race, at such times, is defiled by contact with a corpse, or is away on a journey, he must keep pasch in the Lord’s honour
 Numbers	Num	4	9	11	on the fourteenth day of the second month instead; eating unleavened bread and wild herbs with it,
 Numbers	Num	4	9	12	leaving nothing till the morning, breaking no bone of the victim, so as to observe the full paschal rite.
 Numbers	Num	4	9	13	But if anyone who is clean of defilement and not hindered by his travels neglects to keep the pasch, he is lost to his people. Paschal time came, sacrifice to the Lord he would not; he will be held to account for it.
 Numbers	Num	4	9	14	Even aliens that lodge with you or have come to dwell among you must omit no rule of observance when they keep pasch in the Lord’s honour; the law binds citizen and alien alike.
 Numbers	Num	4	9	15	On the day when the tabernacle was set up, a cloud overshadowed it; and when evening came, fire seemed to hang over the canopy of it till morning.
 Numbers	Num	4	9	16	So it was continually; by day, cloud hung above it, by night, what seemed like fire;
 Numbers	Num	4	9	17	it was when this cloud left its post over the tabernacle that the Israelites marched on, never encamping again until it settled.
 Numbers	Num	4	9	18	At the Lord’s bidding they marched, at the Lord’s bidding they pitched their tents. There was no moving as long as the cloud hung over the tabernacle;
 Numbers	Num	4	9	19	even if it lingered many days there, they were the Lord’s sentinels, these men of Israel, and must not leave their post
 Numbers	Num	4	9	20	while the tabernacle was in cloud; only at the Lord’s bidding might they pitch their tents, only at his bidding let them down.
 Numbers	Num	4	9	21	Sometimes the cloud would only rest there from evening to morning, and move away at dawn, so that they could march at once; sometimes they must wait, before marching, till day too had passed.
 Numbers	Num	4	9	22	And sometimes it would be two days, or a month, or even longer, that the Israelites stayed motionless, because the cloud was still there. Then, once it had lifted, they moved camp.
 Numbers	Num	4	9	23	They must pitch their tents at the Lord’s bidding, march at the Lord’s bidding; the sentinels of the Lord, as his word, given through Moses, had commanded them.
 Numbers	Num	4	10	1	And the Lord bade Moses
 Numbers	Num	4	10	2	make two trumpets of wrought silver, to give the signal when he would gather the whole people round him, when he would order them to move camp.
 Numbers	Num	4	10	3	Sound both trumpets, he told him, and all must assemble to meet thee at the tabernacle door;
 Numbers	Num	4	10	4	sound but one, and it will bring only the chieftains, that represent the many thousands of Israel.
 Numbers	Num	4	10	5	But if it is a long blast that rises and falls, first of all those on the east will move camp;
 Numbers	Num	4	10	6	when the sound comes again, a second wail of the trumpet, those on the south will fold their tents; and so with the rest, as the wail of the trumpet bids them set out.
 Numbers	Num	4	10	7	When the signal is given for the people to assemble, the blast of the trumpet will be on one note, without any wailing rise and fall.
 Numbers	Num	4	10	8	The trumpets are to be blown by the priests, the men of Aaron’s line; this custom you must keep unaltered, age after age.
 Numbers	Num	4	10	9	When your country goes out to war, to repel hostile attack, the trumpets must give a wailing sound, appealing to the Lord your God to save you from the power of your enemies.
 Numbers	Num	4	10	10	And when you keep feast or holiday, and at the new moon, you will make burnt-sacrifice and welcome-offering to the sound of the trumpet, to claim the divine audience; audience from the Lord your God.
 Numbers	Num	4	10	11	And now, in the second year, on the twentieth day of the second month, the cloud lifted from the tabernacle,
 Numbers	Num	4	10	12	and the sons of Israel marched away, company by company, from the desert of Sinai, till the cloud came to rest again in another desert, that of Pharan.
 Numbers	Num	4	10	13	First, as the Lord’s word to Moses commanded them,
 Numbers	Num	4	10	14	went the companies of Juda, under Nahasson son of Aminadab,
 Numbers	Num	4	10	15	then Issachar under Nathanael son of Suar,
 Numbers	Num	4	10	16	then Zabulon under Eliab son of Helon.
 Numbers	Num	4	10	17	Meanwhile, the tabernacle had been taken down, and the sons of Gerson and Merari set out bringing it with them.
 Numbers	Num	4	10	18	Then came the companies of Ruben under Helisur son of Sedeur,
 Numbers	Num	4	10	19	then Simeon under Salamiel son of Surisaddai,
 Numbers	Num	4	10	20	then Gad under Eliasaph son of Duel.
 Numbers	Num	4	10	21	After these the Caathites marched, with their holy burden; the tabernacle going on first, so as to be ready for them when they reached the place where it was set up.
 Numbers	Num	4	10	22	Then came the companies of Ephraim under Elisama son of Ammiud,
 Numbers	Num	4	10	23	then Manasses under Gamaliel son of Phadassur,
 Numbers	Num	4	10	24	then Benjamin under Abidan son of Gedeon.
 Numbers	Num	4	10	25	And in the rear came the companies of Dan under Ahiezer son of Ammisaddai,
 Numbers	Num	4	10	26	the tribe of Aser under Phegiel son of Ochran,
 Numbers	Num	4	10	27	and the tribe of Nephthali under Ahira son of Enan.
 Numbers	Num	4	10	28	Such was the order of march in which Israel’s various companies set out, whenever they moved camp.
 Numbers	Num	4	10	29	And now Moses said to Hobab, son of Raguel the Madianite, his father-in-law, We are on our way to the home the Lord means to give us; come with us, and share our fortunes; the Lord has promised to bless Israel.
 Numbers	Num	4	10	30	I cannot come with thee, he said; I must go back to the land where I was born.
 Numbers	Num	4	10	31	And Moses answered, Do not leave us; thou canst tell us where best to encamp; we look to thee for guidance.
 Numbers	Num	4	10	32	Come with us, and the best of all the Lord gives us shall be thine.
 Numbers	Num	4	10	33	So they travelled three days’ journey from the mountain of the Lord; and all those three days’ journey the ark that bore record of the Lord’s covenant went at their head to choose their camping-place.
 Numbers	Num	4	10	34	The divine cloud, too, overshadowed them all day while they marched.
 Numbers	Num	4	10	35	Whenever the ark was lifted from the ground, Moses would say, Bestir thyself, Lord, and rout thy enemies; confront thy ill-wishers and put them to flight.
 Numbers	Num	4	10	36	And when it was put down again, he would say, Restore thy presence, Lord, to the thronging armies of Israel.
 Numbers	Num	4	11	1	Meanwhile, the people were assailing the Lord with complaints, and be-moaning their hard lot. The Lord was roused to anger when he heard it, and sent a fire which burnt up the outlying part of the camp.
 Numbers	Num	4	11	2	Whereupon the people had recourse to Moses; and when Moses prayed to the Lord, the fire died down.
 Numbers	Num	4	11	3	It was this divine punishment by fire which gave the place its name, the Place of Burning.
 Numbers	Num	4	11	4	They were still accompanied by a crowd of mixed breed; and these infected the Israelites by their example, as they sat there lamenting; If we had but meat to feed on! they said.
 Numbers	Num	4	11	5	How well we remember the fish that Egypt afforded without stint, the cucumbers, the melons, leeks and onions and garlic!
 Numbers	Num	4	11	6	Our hearts faint within us, as we look round, and nothing but manna meets our eyes.
 Numbers	Num	4	11	7	(This manna was a food that looked like coriander-seed, its colour like bdellium.
 Numbers	Num	4	11	8	The people would go round gathering it, and grind it in the mill or bray it in a mortar; then they would cook it in pots, making it into rolls that tasted like bread kneaded with oil.
 Numbers	Num	4	11	9	Every night, as the dew fell on the camp, the manna fell there too.)
 Numbers	Num	4	11	10	From household after household Moses heard these complaints, as the men sat bemoaning themselves at their tent doors, till he could bear it no longer, that the Lord’s displeasure should be provoked so grievously.
 Numbers	Num	4	11	11	Lord, he said, why dost thou treat me thus? How is it that I have fallen out of favour with thee? Must I carry a whole people like a weight on my back?
 Numbers	Num	4	11	12	I did not bring this multitude of men into the world; I did not beget them; and thou wouldst have me nurse them in my bosom like a child, till they reach the land promised to their race.
 Numbers	Num	4	11	13	Where am I to find meat for such a host as this? And that is the complaint they bring me; they would have meat for their food.
 Numbers	Num	4	11	14	I cannot bear, alone, the charge of so many; it is too great a burden for me.
 Numbers	Num	4	11	15	If I may not have my way in this, then in mercy, I beseech thee, rid me of these miseries by taking my life away.
 Numbers	Num	4	11	16	Whereupon the Lord said to Moses, Choose out for me seventy Israelites of ripe age, men already known to thee as elders and officers of the people, bring them to the door of the tabernacle that bears record of my covenant, and let them stand there at thy side.
 Numbers	Num	4	11	17	I will come down and converse with thee there; taking away some of the spirit which rests upon thee and giving it to them instead, so that they may share with thee that charge over the people which thou canst not support unaided.
 Numbers	Num	4	11	18	And say to the people, You must purify yourselves in readiness for the banquet of meat you will have to-morrow. I have heard you complaining that no meat is given you; that you were better off in Egypt. And now the Lord will give you meat to feed on,
 Numbers	Num	4	11	19	not for one day or two, for five days or ten, or for a score of days,
 Numbers	Num	4	11	20	but for a whole month, till it comes out at your nostrils, and you are sick with surfeit. That shall be your reward for disowning the Lord that dwells among you, and lamenting, here in his presence, that you ever left Egypt behind.
 Numbers	Num	4	11	21	Why, said Moses, here is a people that counts six hundred thousand foot-soldiers; wilt thou promise them meat for a whole month?
 Numbers	Num	4	11	22	If all the flocks and herds were slaughtered, would that be enough for them? Nay, if all the fish in the sea could be brought into one place, would they even so be content?
 Numbers	Num	4	11	23	And the Lord’s answer was, Has my arm lost its power? Thou wilt see for thyself, in a little, whether this promise of mine comes true.
 Numbers	Num	4	11	24	So Moses went back to the people, and told them what the Lord had said. Then he chose seventy of the elders of Israel, and ranged them in a half-circle at the tabernacle door.
 Numbers	Num	4	11	25	And when the Lord came down, hidden in the cloud, to converse with him, he took some of the spirit which rested upon Moses and gave it to the seventy elders instead; whereupon they received a gift of prophecy which never left them.
 Numbers	Num	4	11	26	This same spirit rested even upon two men, Eldad and Medad, who were still in the camp; their names were enrolled among the rest; but they had never gone out to the tabernacle.
 Numbers	Num	4	11	27	There in the camp they fell a-prophesying, and a messenger ran to bring Moses tidings of it.
 Numbers	Num	4	11	28	At this, Josue the son of Nun, that was Moses’ favourite servant, cried out, My lord Moses, bid them keep silence.
 Numbers	Num	4	11	29	What, said he, so jealous for my honour? For myself, I would have the whole people prophesy, with the spirit of the Lord resting on them too.
 Numbers	Num	4	11	30	So Moses went back to the camp, and the elders of Israel with him.
 Numbers	Num	4	11	31	And now the Lord sent a wind that brought a flight of quails over the sea, and drove them down where the camp was, a day’s journey away on each side; quails that hovered only two cubits above the ground.
 Numbers	Num	4	11	32	All that day and that night and the next day the Israelites busied themselves gathering in the quails, which lay so thick that a man made nothing of gathering a hundred bushels; then they spread them out to dry, round the camp.
 Numbers	Num	4	11	33	They had meat between their teeth yet, and the supply had not begun to fail, when suddenly a grievous plague fell on them, sentence of the divine anger they had provoked;
 Numbers	Num	4	11	34	and the place was called ever after, The Graves of Greed, from the men that lay buried there whose greed was their undoing. From the Graves of Greed they made their way to Haseroth, and there encamped.
 Numbers	Num	4	12	1	Mary, too, and Aaron had complaints to make against Moses; the desert wife he had married was the cause of it.
 Numbers	Num	4	12	2	Has the Lord, they asked, sent his word by Moses and no other? Has he not spoken to us too? Such were the complaints the Lord must needs listen to.
 Numbers	Num	4	12	3	As for Moses, whom they attacked, never was a man more patient on the whole face of the earth.
 Numbers	Num	4	12	4	But the Lord at once commanded him, and Aaron, and Mary to come out by themselves to the tabernacle; and when they reached it,
 Numbers	Num	4	12	5	he himself came down, hidden in cloud, summoning Aaron and Mary to him. So they went apart;
 Numbers	Num	4	12	6	and this was his word to them, which he bade them mark well: Prophets there may be among your race; to one I appear in a vision, to another I reveal my thoughts in a dream.
 Numbers	Num	4	12	7	Moses is not my servant on such terms as these; I entrust him with the management of all my household,
 Numbers	Num	4	12	8	speak with him face to face, and when he has sight of the Lord, it is not by means of parable and image. How is it that you were not afraid to slight Moses, my own servant?
 Numbers	Num	4	12	9	Then, in anger, he left them;
 Numbers	Num	4	12	10	the cloud, too, no longer appeared over the tabernacle; and all at once Mary’s skin shewed white as snow with leprosy. And Aaron, looking upon her and seeing her covered with leprous sores,
 Numbers	Num	4	12	11	cried out to Moses, My lord, I entreat thee, do not hold us to account for this mad rebellion of ours.
 Numbers	Num	4	12	12	Must she, then, be no better than a dead woman, cast off like an untimely birth? See, how her flesh is already half devoured with leprosy!
 Numbers	Num	4	12	13	When Moses cried to the Lord, beseeching him to restore her,
 Numbers	Num	4	12	14	the Lord answered, Nay, if her father had spat in her face, must she not have spent seven days hiding her blushes? Let her be shut out from the camp for seven days, and then brought back.
 Numbers	Num	4	12	15	So for seven days Mary was shut out from the camp, and there was no marching on for the people until Mary returned to them.
 Numbers	Num	4	13	1	It was after leaving Haseroth that the people encamped in the desert of Pharan;
 Numbers	Num	4	13	2	and here the Lord spoke to Moses,
 Numbers	Num	4	13	3	bidding him send out men of mark, one from each tribe, to survey Israel’s promised inheritance, the land of Chanaan.
 Numbers	Num	4	13	4	This Moses did; and the names of the leading men he despatched from the desert of Pharan were these:
 Numbers	Num	4	13	5	Sammua son of Zechur from Ruben,
 Numbers	Num	4	13	6	Saphat son of Huri from Simeon,
 Numbers	Num	4	13	7	Caleb son of Jephone from Juda,
 Numbers	Num	4	13	8	Igal son of Joseph from Issachar,
 Numbers	Num	4	13	9	Osee son of Nun from Ephraim,
 Numbers	Num	4	13	10	Phalti son of Raphu from Benjamin,
 Numbers	Num	4	13	11	Geddiel son of Sodi from Zabulon,
 Numbers	Num	4	13	12	Gaddi son of Susi from Manasses’ branch of the tribe of Joseph,
 Numbers	Num	4	13	13	Ammiel son of Gemalli from Dan,
 Numbers	Num	4	13	14	Sathur son of Michael from Aser,
 Numbers	Num	4	13	15	Nahabi son of Vapsi from Nephthali,
 Numbers	Num	4	13	16	Guel son of Machi from Gad.
 Numbers	Num	4	13	17	Such were the names of the men Moses sent out to survey the land, and to Osee, son of Nun, he gave the fresh name of Josue.
 Numbers	Num	4	13	18	And these were the directions Moses gave them for their survey of Chanaan: Make your way in by the south, and when you reach the hill country
 Numbers	Num	4	13	19	look well at the land about you. Are its inhabitants strong or weak, many in number or few?
 Numbers	Num	4	13	20	Is the land itself prosperous or starved, has it walled cities or unwalled,
 Numbers	Num	4	13	21	fertile soil or barren, is it well wooded or bare? Take heart for your enterprise, and bring back with you some sample of what the land yields. (It was the season, then, at which early grapes are already fit to eat.)
 Numbers	Num	4	13	22	So they surveyed the land all the way up from the desert of Sin to Rohob, on the way to Emath.
 Numbers	Num	4	13	23	At the southern end of it, when they reached Hebron, they found the sons of Enac there, Achiman and Sisai and Tholmai; Hebron had been founded seven years before the Egyptian city of Tanis.
 Numbers	Num	4	13	24	They also made their way to the Ravine of Grapes and cut off a branch with a cluster hanging from it, that needed two men with a pole to carry it; these they brought with them, as well as some of the pomegranates and figs that grew there.
 Numbers	Num	4	13	25	It was from this cluster which the Israelites carried away that the place got its name of Nehelescol, the Ravine of Grapes.
 Numbers	Num	4	13	26	Forty days had passed before they returned from their survey, after traversing the whole country,
 Numbers	Num	4	13	27	to find Moses and Aaron and all the people of Israel still in the desert of Pharan, by Cades. To these and to the whole multitude they made their report, and shewed them what fruit the land yielded.
 Numbers	Num	4	13	28	And this was the story they told: When we reached the land where our errand lay, we found it indeed a land all milk and honey, as this fruit will prove to you;
 Numbers	Num	4	13	29	but it is a powerful race that dwells in it, with strong walled cities; such were the sons of Enac, whom we saw there.
 Numbers	Num	4	13	30	The south is occupied by Amelec, the mountain parts by Hethites, Jebusites and Amorrhites; by the sea, and round the Jordan river, the Chanaanites are in possession.
 Numbers	Num	4	13	31	And now, to still the rising outcry against Moses, Caleb spurred the people on to invade the land and conquer it; It is ready to fall into your hands, he said.
 Numbers	Num	4	13	32	But his companions told them, We cannot attack such a people as this; they are too strong for us.
 Numbers	Num	4	13	33	And they gave the Israelites an ill account of what they had seen in Chanaan; This country we surveyed, they told them, has too many inhabitants already. Tall of frame are the men we viewed there;
 Numbers	Num	4	13	34	nay, some we saw, the race of Enac, of monstrous size as if they were sprung from giants; we looked no bigger than locusts beside them.
 Numbers	Num	4	14	1	So, that night, the whole multitude of the Israelites fell to weeping,
 Numbers	Num	4	14	2	and were loud in their complaints against Moses and Aaron:
 Numbers	Num	4	14	3	Better that we had died in Egypt, better we should meet our end in this waste desert, than march at the Lord’s bidding into such a land as that, where we shall fall at the sword’s point, and our wives and children be led off as captives! Were it not better to go back to Egypt?
 Numbers	Num	4	14	4	A leader, they said to one another, let us set up a leader who will take us back to Egypt!
 Numbers	Num	4	14	5	Moses and Aaron, on hearing it, cast themselves down to earth before the whole assembly of Israel;
 Numbers	Num	4	14	6	meanwhile Josue the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephone, who had taken their part in surveying the country, tore their garments in dissent.
 Numbers	Num	4	14	7	Nay, men of Israel, they cried, it was a land of great plenty we passed through.
 Numbers	Num	4	14	8	The Lord, of his mercy, will find a way in for us, and it will be ours, a land that is all milk and honey!
 Numbers	Num	4	14	9	Would you defy the Lord’s will, daunted by the Chanaanites? Why, they are bread for our eating; they may not hope to defend themselves. The Lord is on our side; never be afraid of them!
 Numbers	Num	4	14	10	At this, all the people cried out, and were for stoning them. But suddenly, over the tabernacle, the glory of the Lord’s presence made itself known to the whole of Israel.
 Numbers	Num	4	14	11	And the Lord said to Moses, Am I to be always slighted by this people of mine? Will they never learn to trust in me, for all the marvellous deeds of mine they have witnessed?
 Numbers	Num	4	14	12	Enough; I will smite them with pestilence, and make an end of them; I will find a people greater and sturdier than this to march under thy leadership.
 Numbers	Num	4	14	13	Good news, Lord, said Moses, for the Egyptians, from whose power thou didst once rescue thy people;
 Numbers	Num	4	14	14	good news, too, for the inhabitants of this land. They know how thou dwellest among thy people, letting thyself be seen face to face, sheltering us with cloud, going before us in a pillar of cloud by day, of fire by night.
 Numbers	Num	4	14	15	Are they to be told that thou hast annihilated, at a blow, all this host of thine?
 Numbers	Num	4	14	16	Ah, they will say, he could find no means to grant his people their promised home, so he was fain to destroy them in the wilderness!
 Numbers	Num	4	14	17	Nay, Lord, vindicate thy power; hast thou not said,
 Numbers	Num	4	14	18	The Lord is slow to take vengeance, rich in kindness, pardoning the guilt of the wrong-doer? Though indeed thou holdest no man innocent, and wilt have the son make amends for the father’s guilt, to the third and fourth generation.
 Numbers	Num	4	14	19	Forgive, I implore thee, this people of thine, as thou art ever abundantly merciful, as thou hast ever shewn favour to us while we made our way from Egypt to this spot.
 Numbers	Num	4	14	20	Then the Lord said, At thy request, I forgive.
 Numbers	Num	4	14	21	But as I am the living Lord, whose glory must spread wide as earth,
 Numbers	Num	4	14	22	these men who have been witnesses of my greatness, of all the marvellous deeds I did, in Egypt and in the desert, yet must needs challenge my power half a score of times, and disobey my will,
 Numbers	Num	4	14	23	these shall never see the land I promised to their fathers; it shall never be enjoyed by those who slighted me.
 Numbers	Num	4	14	24	My servant Caleb was of another mind; he took my part, and I will allow him to enter the land which he surveyed, and leave his race an inheritance there.
 Numbers	Num	4	14	25	The sons of Amalec and Chanaan may rest secure in their mountain glens; to-morrow you must move camp, and go back to the desert by the Red Sea.
 Numbers	Num	4	14	26	Such was the Lord’s message to Moses and Aaron:
 Numbers	Num	4	14	27	Will this thankless multitude never cease complaining; must I hear nothing but lament from the sons of Israel?
 Numbers	Num	4	14	28	Tell them this, As I am living God, the Lord says, the very words you have used in my hearing shall come true;
 Numbers	Num	4	14	29	your bones shall be left to lie in this desert. Of all you that were registered above the age of twenty years, you that have made complaint against me,
 Numbers	Num	4	14	30	not a man shall enter the land in which I swore to make a home for you, except Caleb the son of Jephone and Josue the son of Nun.
 Numbers	Num	4	14	31	These shall make their way in instead, these children of yours that were to be a prey, you thought, to the enemy; they shall have sight, instead, of the land their fathers belittled.
 Numbers	Num	4	14	32	In the desert your bones shall lie;
 Numbers	Num	4	14	33	and until the desert has swallowed them up, these sons of yours shall wander to and fro in it for forty years, doing penance for your unfaithfulness.
 Numbers	Num	4	14	34	For forty days you surveyed the land, and for each day you shall have a year of penance for your sins, and feel my vengeance.
 Numbers	Num	4	14	35	See if I do not make good the threats I have uttered against a thankless and rebellious people, leaving them to faint and die in the desert.
 Numbers	Num	4	14	36	As for the men Moses had sent to survey the country, who returned to embitter the multitude against him by the ill report they brought with them,
 Numbers	Num	4	14	37	they died of plague, there in the Lord’s presence;
 Numbers	Num	4	14	38	of all that went on that errand, only Josue the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephone were left alive.
 Numbers	Num	4	14	39	Meanwhile the people of Israel, upon hearing all this from Moses, were full of remorse;
 Numbers	Num	4	14	40	and at dawn of day they were all up on the mountain heights, crying, We confess our fault; now we are ready to attack the land which the Lord has promised us.
 Numbers	Num	4	14	41	What, said Moses, Would you go beyond the Lord’s word? You will gain nothing by it.
 Numbers	Num	4	14	42	The Lord is not on your side; do not march to the attack, or you will be overthrown by your enemies.
 Numbers	Num	4	14	43	The Lord will not take part with men who have refused him obedience; you will be met by Amalecite and Chanaanite, and their swords will lay you low.
 Numbers	Num	4	14	44	Yet, in their blind confidence, they marched on into the hill country, though the ark of God, and Moses with it, remained there in the camp.
 Numbers	Num	4	14	45	And the men who dwelt in the hill country, Amalecites and Chanaanites, fell on them from above, setting upon them and cutting them down till they had pursued them all the way to Horma.
 Numbers	Num	4	15	1	The Lord gave Moses this message
 Numbers	Num	4	15	2	for the sons of Israel: Here are rules to be kept, when you have reached the settled home I mean to give you.
 Numbers	Num	4	15	3	When you offer the Lord ox or sheep in burnt-sacrifice, or by way of welcome-offering (whether in payment of a vow, or out of devotion, or because you would greet the Lord with acceptable fragrance on occasion of some solemn feast),
 Numbers	Num	4	15	4	the man who is immolating such a victim must make the Lord a bloodless offering as well. This must be a tenth of a bushel of flour, kneaded in three pints of oil,
 Numbers	Num	4	15	5	with the same measure of wine for a libation, for every lamb offered.
 Numbers	Num	4	15	6	For every ram a fifth of a bushel of flour, two quarts of oil,
 Numbers	Num	4	15	7	and the same measure of wine, a fragrant offering for the Lord’s acceptance.
 Numbers	Num	4	15	8	But when, by way of burnt-sacrifice, or offering for a vow, or welcome-offering, thy victim is a bullock,
 Numbers	Num	4	15	9	with each bullock thou must use three tenths of a bushel of flour, six pints of oil,
 Numbers	Num	4	15	10	and the same measure of wine, a fragrant offering, this too, for the Lord’s acceptance.
 Numbers	Num	4	15	11	A separate offering must be made
 Numbers	Num	4	15	12	to go with each bullock, or ram, or lamb, or kid.
 Numbers	Num	4	15	13	Native-born or foreign residents,
 Numbers	Num	4	15	14	all must use the same rite in doing sacrifice;
 Numbers	Num	4	15	15	precept and award are binding on you and on the aliens that dwell with you, without distinction.
 Numbers	Num	4	15	16	And the Lord gave Moses this command,
 Numbers	Num	4	15	17	to be laid on the sons of Israel:
 Numbers	Num	4	15	18	When you have reached the land I mean to give you,
 Numbers	Num	4	15	19	you must not eat the bread its harvest yields without assigning to the Lord first-fruits
 Numbers	Num	4	15	20	from your table. Just as you set apart first-fruits when your corn is threshed,
 Numbers	Num	4	15	21	you must give the Lord the first share when your dough is kneaded.
 Numbers	Num	4	15	22	It may be you will neglect one of these commandments through inadvertence; so many has the Lord given to Moses
 Numbers	Num	4	15	23	to be handed on to you, from the day when first he spoke to you till now.
 Numbers	Num	4	15	24	If it is the whole congregation that has thus unwittingly offended, they must offer a bullock, a burnt-sacrifice to please the Lord with the smell of its burning, and the bloodless offering and libations which due order demands; a goat, too, by way of offering for a fault.
 Numbers	Num	4	15	25	So the priest will make intercession for the whole congregation of Israel, and their fault shall be pardoned. It was an unwitting offence, and even so they have brought the Lord burnt-sacrifice, and a victim for fault, to atone for their error.
 Numbers	Num	4	15	26	When the whole congregation is guilty of such a fault through inadvertence, not only the people of Israel, but all the aliens that dwell among them, will receive forgiveness.
 Numbers	Num	4	15	27	If it is one person only that has unwittingly offended, the sacrifice due for the fault will be a yearling she-goat;
 Numbers	Num	4	15	28	and when the priest makes intercession for what was inadvertently done amiss, grace and pardon will be given.
 Numbers	Num	4	15	29	This law about faults of inadvertence must be observed by all alike, native-born or foreign resident.
 Numbers	Num	4	15	30	But if anyone, citizen or alien, is guilty of an offence through pride, and in a spirit of rebellion against the Lord, he is lost to his people.
 Numbers	Num	4	15	31	Would he despise the Lord’s word, annul his commandment? That fault deserves death, and he will be held to account for it.
 Numbers	Num	4	15	32	It happened once, as the Israelites were passing through the desert that a man was found gathering firewood on the sabbath day.
 Numbers	Num	4	15	33	When he was brought before Moses and Aaron and the common assembly of the people,
 Numbers	Num	4	15	34	they put him in ward, uncertain what they should do with him.
 Numbers	Num	4	15	35	But the Lord said to Moses, His life must pay for it; he must be stoned by the whole multitude, away from the camp.
 Numbers	Num	4	15	36	So they took him out and stoned him to death, as the Lord had bidden them.
 Numbers	Num	4	15	37	This, too, was the Lord’s word to Moses,
 Numbers	Num	4	15	38	Bid the Israelites pass blue cords through the corners of their cloaks, and hang tassels on them;
 Numbers	Num	4	15	39	reminding themselves, as they look on these, of all the commandments the Lord has given them. They must not let their thoughts and eyes wander free, into all manner of unfaithfulness,
 Numbers	Num	4	15	40	but rather bethink them of the Lord’s decrees and carry them out, a people set apart for their God;
 Numbers	Num	4	15	41	and that God the Lord, who brought them out of the land of Egypt to make them his own people.
 Numbers	Num	4	16	1	And now a conspiracy was made by Core son of Isaar, a Levite of Caath’s family, with Dathan and Abiron, sons of Eliab, and Hon son of Pheleth, a man of Ruben.
 Numbers	Num	4	16	2	These rose in rebellion against Moses, and there were two hundred and fifty others, whose names stood high in the councils of the people, that took part with them.
 Numbers	Num	4	16	3	And they confronted Moses and Aaron, making their protest thus: You presume too much; are not all the Israelites men set apart? Does not the Lord make his dwelling among all of us alike? We are the Lord’s people; who are you that you should take command of us?
 Numbers	Num	4	16	4	At hearing this, Moses cast himself down to earth.
 Numbers	Num	4	16	5	To Core, and to his faction, he said, Wait until to-morrow; then the Lord will make it plain which of us he has set apart for himself, and admit them to his presence. Those whom the Lord has chosen will find access to him.
 Numbers	Num	4	16	6	Let this be the test; bring censers with you, Core and all you that are of his faction,
 Numbers	Num	4	16	7	and tomorrow, in the Lord’s presence, put incense on the lighted coals in them; so the Lord will make his choice, and we shall know which of us he has set apart; it is you, sons of Levi, that presume too much.
 Numbers	Num	4	16	8	And he made this further answer to Core: Listen, men of Levi;
 Numbers	Num	4	16	9	the God of Israel has separated you from the rest of the people and made you his own, to do him service in the tabernacle, and stand up, with the eyes of the whole multitude upon you, as his ministers; does not that content you?
 Numbers	Num	4	16	10	If he has given thee and all thy brother Levites access to himself, must you needs claim the priesthood too?
 Numbers	Num	4	16	11	Must thou and all thy company rebel against the Lord? Aaron, what has he done that you should complain so loudly of him?
 Numbers	Num	4	16	12	Then Moses summoned Dathan and Abiron, sons of Eliab, to his presence, but they refused to come.
 Numbers	Num	4	16	13	What, they said, wouldst thou lord it over us now? When thou hast brought us away from Egypt, a land that was milk and honey indeed, to die here in the desert?
 Numbers	Num	4	16	14	No land of milk and honey for our journey’s end, no fields and vineyards to enjoy; what more wilt thou ask of us? Wilt thou pluck out our eyes too? No, we will not come.
 Numbers	Num	4	16	15	At this, Moses said to the Lord, in great anger, Spurn every gift these men offer thee! Thou knowest that I have never robbed them of an ass, or done them any harm.
 Numbers	Num	4	16	16	Then he said to Core, Present yourselves before the Lord to-morrow, thou and the whole of thy company; you shall stand on one side, and Aaron on the other.
 Numbers	Num	4	16	17	Bring your censers with you, and you shall put incense on them there; you with two hundred censers, and Aaron with his censer all alone.
 Numbers	Num	4	16	18	There, on the morrow, Moses and Aaron stood, and those others did as they were bidden,
 Numbers	Num	4	16	19	and gathered the whole multitude to meet them at the tabernacle door. And the glory of the Lord’s presence was revealed to them all.
 Numbers	Num	4	16	20	But it was to Moses and Aaron that the Lord spoke;
 Numbers	Num	4	16	21	Stand apart, he said, from all the concourse that surrounds you; I mean to make an end of them here and now.
 Numbers	Num	4	16	22	Whereupon they fell flat on the ground, crying out, God all-powerful, Lord of every spirit that breathes, wilt thou take vengeance on all for one man’s fault?
 Numbers	Num	4	16	23	And the Lord said to Moses,
 Numbers	Num	4	16	24	Bid all the rest of the people stand apart from the tents of Core, Dathan, and Abiron.
 Numbers	Num	4	16	25	And Moses, rising to his feet, went over to where Dathan and Abiron stood; with him were the elders of the people.
 Numbers	Num	4	16	26	Withdraw, he told the multitude, from the tents of these rebels; avoid the touch of anything that belongs to them, so that you may not be involved in their guilt.
 Numbers	Num	4	16	27	So they withdrew to this side and that, from the dwelling-places of Core, Dathan and Abiron; and now Dathan and Abiron came out and stood at their tent doors, with their wives and children and all their households.
 Numbers	Num	4	16	28	Here is proof, Moses said, whether it is at the Lord’s bidding I do all you see me do, or prompted by my own spirit.
 Numbers	Num	4	16	29	If these men are left to undergo the common lot of mortality, called to their account as others are called to their account, then they are right; the Lord has given me no commission.
 Numbers	Num	4	16	30	But if the Lord alters the order of nature, so that earth gapes and swallows them up with all that is theirs, and they go down still living to the depths beneath, then you will have proof that they have spoken blasphemy against the Lord.
 Numbers	Num	4	16	31	He had scarce done speaking, when the ground parted under their feet,
 Numbers	Num	4	16	32	gaped open, and swallowed them up, with their tents and all that was theirs.
 Numbers	Num	4	16	33	Still living they went down to the depths beneath, and earth closed over them, and their names were lost to the muster-roll of the people.
 Numbers	Num	4	16	34	And now all the Israelites who stood round and heard the shrieks of the dying fled away, in dread that they too would be swallowed up by the earth;
 Numbers	Num	4	16	35	but not before the two hundred and fifty men who stood there offering incense had perished by fire sent from heaven.
 Numbers	Num	4	16	36	Then the Lord said to Moses,
 Numbers	Num	4	16	37	Bid Aaron’s son, the priest Eleazar, gather up the censers that lie there among the flames, and scatter the coal in them this way and that.
 Numbers	Num	4	16	38	They are forfeit, now, through the death of these sinners; he must beat them out into plates, which he will nail to the altar. Incense has been offered to the Lord in them, and they must be consecrated things, a portent and a warning to every Israelite who sees them.
 Numbers	Num	4	16	39	So the priest Eleazar took these brazen censers from the hands of the dead men the fire had killed, and beat them into plates, which he nailed to the altar,
 Numbers	Num	4	16	40	as a warning to the Israelites of after times. No interloper, that is not of Aaron’s stock, must ever come forward to offer the Lord incense, or he will suffer the fate of Core and his company, the fate which the Lord, through Moses, foretold to them.
 Numbers	Num	4	16	41	Next day, the men of Israel were enraged against Moses and Aaron, for putting the Lord’s people to death.
 Numbers	Num	4	16	42	A conspiracy was formed, and the uproar grew fiercer,
 Numbers	Num	4	16	43	until Moses and Aaron took refuge in the tabernacle. As soon as they entered it, the cloud overshadowed it, and the glory of the Lord’s presence was revealed.
 Numbers	Num	4	16	44	And the Lord said to Moses,
 Numbers	Num	4	16	45	Withdraw yourselves from this multitude which surrounds you; I mean, after all, to make an end of them. And as they lay there with their faces to the ground,
 Numbers	Num	4	16	46	Moses said to Aaron, Take thy censer, and put incense on the lighted coals in it, and go with all speed to find the people and make intercession for them; already the Lord has begun to wreak his vengeance, and destruction rages among them.
 Numbers	Num	4	16	47	Aaron obeyed, and ran into the midst of the throng where the fire was already making havoc; he offered incense
 Numbers	Num	4	16	48	and made intercession for the people, standing there between the dead and the living, and the divine vengeance ceased.
 Numbers	Num	4	16	49	Already fourteen thousand seven hundred men had been smitten by it, not counting those who perished in the rebellion of Core.
 Numbers	Num	4	16	50	But now the destruction was over, and Aaron went back to meet Moses at the tabernacle door.
 Numbers	Num	4	17	1	Then the Lord said to Moses,
 Numbers	Num	4	17	2	Bid the Israelites bring thee twelve rods, to represent the twelve tribes, each with the name of the tribe’s chieftain written on it;
 Numbers	Num	4	17	3	and Levi, too, must have a rod, a single rod representing all its families, with Aaron’s name written on it.
 Numbers	Num	4	17	4	These thou wilt lay up in the tabernacle, before the ark, my appointed trysting-place with thee.
 Numbers	Num	4	17	5	On one of these names my choice shall fall, and the rod which bears that name will sprout. So I will put an end to these complaints with which the men of Israel assail you.
 Numbers	Num	4	17	6	Moses handed on this message to the Israelites, and the chieftain of each tribe brought him a rod, twelve rods in all, not counting Aaron’s,
 Numbers	Num	4	17	7	all of which he laid up in the Lord’s presence, in the tabernacle.
 Numbers	Num	4	17	8	And when he went back next day he found that the rod of Aaron, representing the tribe of Levi, had sprouted; buds had formed on it and burst into flower, and these flowers, as their petals drooped, turned into almonds.
 Numbers	Num	4	17	9	So Moses carried all the rods away from the Lord’s presence and shewed them to all the people, and each of the chieftains had his rod returned to him;
 Numbers	Num	4	17	10	but Aaron’s rod, the Lord told Moses, was to be taken back into the tabernacle, to be kept there in memory of the rebellious Israelites; there must be no more complaining, no more death-penalties.
 Numbers	Num	4	17	11	Moses did as the Lord had bidden him;
 Numbers	Num	4	17	12	and now the Israelites said to Moses, We have dwindled away; we are dead men, all of us.
 Numbers	Num	4	17	13	None comes near the Lord’s tabernacle, but he dies for it. Surely he will not go on destroying us, till our race is utterly extinguished?
 Numbers	Num	4	18	1	This was the Lord’s word to Aaron: For what is done in the sanctuary, for the duties of your priesthood, none but thou and thy sons with thee shall be answerable;
 Numbers	Num	4	18	2	but all the sons of Levi are thy brethren, and these, all that come of thy father’s tribe, thou mayest call in to relieve thee by their ministry, while thou and thy sons minister in the tabernacle that bears record of me.
 Numbers	Num	4	18	3	The Levites shall wait on thy bidding, as the service of the tabernacle requires it, yet never, at their peril and yours, having access to the things of the sanctuary, or to the altar.
 Numbers	Num	4	18	4	They shall be content to relieve you by waiting on the needs of the tabernacle and its worship, in which no other tribe may take part.
 Numbers	Num	4	18	5	It is for you, if you would not have my displeasure fall on Israel, to guard the sanctuary and serve the altar’s needs.
 Numbers	Num	4	18	6	If I have separated your fellow-Levites from the rest of the people, and dedicated them as a gift to myself, I have designated them only for the menial offices of my tabernacle;
 Numbers	Num	4	18	7	the priesthood is for thee and for thy sons. All the ceremonies of the altar, all that is hidden within the veil, belongs to the priests’ charge; it is death for any other to take part.
 Numbers	Num	4	18	8	This, too, the Lord said to Aaron: Hereby I put the offerings made to me at thy disposal; all that the sons of Israel dedicate to me, I pass on to thee and to thy sons, a portion assigned to the priesthood by right inalienable.
 Numbers	Num	4	18	9	All that is set apart, when offerings are made to the Lord, is my gift to thee; whatever is offered by way of bloodless sacrifice, or to atone for some fault or wrong done, and vowed to holy uses, belongs to thee and thine.
 Numbers	Num	4	18	10	It must be eaten on holy ground, and only by men, this consecrated gift I make thee.
 Numbers	Num	4	18	11	The first-fruits which the Israelites dedicate to me, and hold up in my presence, belong at all times to thee and to thy sons and to thy daughters as well; all that are clean of defilement in thy household may partake of them.
 Numbers	Num	4	18	12	Do they bring me the best of their oil, their wine, their corn, or any other kind of first-fruits? It is thine;
 Numbers	Num	4	18	13	no early fruits of the ground that are brought to the Lord but shall go to thy use; none of thy household that is clean of defilement but may partake.
 Numbers	Num	4	18	14	All that the Israelites give in payment of their vows, is thine.
 Numbers	Num	4	18	15	Thine, too, is every living thing that handsels the womb, and so must be offered to the Lord, be it man or beast; for the first-born of men, and for the first-born of unclean beasts, thou wilt take a ransom instead.
 Numbers	Num	4	18	16	(The ransom-price, to be paid after one month, is five silver pieces, by sanctuary reckoning; one silver piece is worth twenty pence).
 Numbers	Num	4	18	17	But there is no ransoming the first-born of ox or sheep or goat; they are set apart for the Lord. Their blood is to be shed upon the altar, and their fat burned, to please the Lord with the smell of its burning;
 Numbers	Num	4	18	18	but the flesh-meat shall go to thy use; like the breast and the right shoulder, it is thy due.
 Numbers	Num	4	18	19	All the sanctuary dues which the sons of Israel offer I give to thee and to thy sons and daughters by a perpetual deed of gift; it is a covenant between the Lord and thy race that time cannot alter.
 Numbers	Num	4	18	20	This, too, the Lord said to Aaron: You are to hold no lands, no portion is to be assigned to you, among your fellow-Israelites. I am all thy portion; these others have their several possessions, thou hast me.
 Numbers	Num	4	18	21	And in return for the service they do me in the tabernacle that bears record of my covenant, I have allotted to the sons of Levi the enjoyment of all the tithe Israel pays.
 Numbers	Num	4	18	22	Never henceforward, upon pain of death, must other Israelites come near my sanctuary;
 Numbers	Num	4	18	23	it is for the Levites only to do the work of the tabernacle, and make themselves answerable for all the people does amiss; and it shall be a law unalterable, age after age, that they possess nothing else,
 Numbers	Num	4	18	24	but live content with the tithe which I have set apart for their use, to defray all their needs.
 Numbers	Num	4	18	25	And the Lord bade Moses
 Numbers	Num	4	18	26	give this charge to the Levites: When the sons of Israel pay the tithe I have assigned to you, you must offer to the Lord the first-fruits of them, the tenth part of your tithe,
 Numbers	Num	4	18	27	as if you were paying dues from threshing-floor and wine-press of your own;
 Numbers	Num	4	18	28	you too must offer the Lord first-fruits of all that comes to you, making them over to the high priest Aaron.
 Numbers	Num	4	18	29	And the part of your tithe which you set aside as an offering to the Lord must be the best part, the choice part.
 Numbers	Num	4	18	30	When you have offered all that is best and richest, you will have paid your dues, as surely as if they came from threshing-floor and wine-press of your own;
 Numbers	Num	4	18	31	then you may enjoy the rest of the tithe, and your households with you; it is the reward of all your tabernacle service.
 Numbers	Num	4	18	32	You must not incur guilt by keeping the best and the richest for yourselves; for such misuse of the offerings which the sons of Israel make, death is the penalty.
 Numbers	Num	4	19	1	And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron,
 Numbers	Num	4	19	2	Here is the law of sacrifice, divinely instituted. Bid the sons of Israel bring a red heifer, fully grown and free from blemish, one that has never borne the yoke.
 Numbers	Num	4	19	3	This you will give to the priest Eleazar, who will take it beyond the boundaries of the camp and immolate it there in the sight of all.
 Numbers	Num	4	19	4	He will then dip his finger in its blood, with which he will sprinkle the front of the tabernacle door seven times;
 Numbers	Num	4	19	5	the heifer itself he will burn publicly, committing skin and flesh, blood and dung to the flames.
 Numbers	Num	4	19	6	Cedar-wood, too, and hyssop and stuff twice-dyed in scarlet must be thrown by the priest into the fire which consumes the heifer.
 Numbers	Num	4	19	7	When all this is done, he will wash his clothes and his own person before he enters the camp again, and will hold himself defiled till evening comes;
 Numbers	Num	4	19	8	and there will be the same duty of washing, the same law of defilement, for the man who has had the burning of it.
 Numbers	Num	4	19	9	The ashes of the heifer must be collected by a man who is still free from defilement, and poured out in some place that is free from defilement; and there the people of Israel will keep them to provide lustral water, the ashes of this heifer that is burned to atone for men’s faults.
 Numbers	Num	4	19	10	Even the man who has the carrying of the ashes must wash his clothes, and hold himself defiled till evening comes. This is to be a sacred observance for the Israelites, and for aliens who dwell among them, by right unalterable.
 Numbers	Num	4	19	11	When a man has touched a dead body, and for a week counts as defiled,
 Numbers	Num	4	19	12	with this water he must be sprinkled on the third and the seventh day if he is to be purified; no purification for him on the seventh day unless he has been sprinkled on the third.
 Numbers	Num	4	19	13	One who has touched a man’s dead body, and will not use this salve for his cleansing, profanes the Lord’s dwelling-place; he is lost to Israel, unclean still, and bearing the burden of his defilement, until the lustral water sprinkles him.
 Numbers	Num	4	19	14	If a man dies in his tent, this is the rule that must be followed; all those who go into the tent incur defilement for seven days, and so does all the furniture in it;
 Numbers	Num	4	19	15	nothing escapes defilement except what is covered with a lid or wrapped up.
 Numbers	Num	4	19	16	And if a man is killed or dies in the open, anyone who touches his body incurs defilement for seven days; so does anyone who touches some bone of a dead man, or his grave.
 Numbers	Num	4	19	17	It was to atone for such faults the victim was burned; a handful of its ashes must be thrown into a vessel that contains fresh water,
 Numbers	Num	4	19	18	and some man who is free from defilement, using hyssop for a brush, must sprinkle the tent with it, and the furniture of the tent, and all those who are defiled by contact with death.
 Numbers	Num	4	19	19	So, on the third and on the seventh day, man defiled must be made clean by man undefiled; and on the seventh day he will wash his clothes, and hold himself defiled, even yet, till evening.
 Numbers	Num	4	19	20	The man who will not avail himself of such atonement is lost to the congregation; he is a profanation to the Lord’s sanctuary until the lustral water has sprinkled him.
 Numbers	Num	4	19	21	This command must never be abrogated. Even the man who has sprinkled the lustral water must wash his clothes, and everyone who has touched it is defiled for the rest of the day.
 Numbers	Num	4	19	22	The defiled man defiles all he touches; and anyone who touches it is defiled in his turn till evening.
 Numbers	Num	4	20	1	A new year was beginning, when the Israelites, marching in their full strength, reached the desert of Sin. Here, while they were halting at Cades, Mary died and was buried.
 Numbers	Num	4	20	2	And now, hard put to it for want of water, the people made common cause against Moses and Aaron,
 Numbers	Num	4	20	3	rebelling against their authority. Better for us, they said, if we had died when our brethren died, by the Lord’s visitation!
 Numbers	Num	4	20	4	What need was there you should call the Lord’s people out into a desert that is death to us and to our cattle?
 Numbers	Num	4	20	5	Why must you take us away from Egypt, and bring us out to this sorry place we cannot cultivate? Figs and grapes and pomegranates it yields none, and we have no water, even, to drink.
 Numbers	Num	4	20	6	At this, when they had broken up the gathering, Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle that bore record of the covenant, and there cast themselves down to earth in entreaty. Lord God, they said, listen to the plea made by this people of thine, and open to them thy store-house of fresh water, to content them and put an end to their complaints! Then the bright presence of the Lord was revealed to them;
 Numbers	Num	4	20	7	and the Lord said to Moses,
 Numbers	Num	4	20	8	Take thy rod with thee, and do thou and thy brother Aaron gather all the people together. Before their eyes, lay thy command upon the rock here, and it will yield water. This water thou bringest out of the rock will suffice to give drink to the whole multitude, and to their cattle.
 Numbers	Num	4	20	9	So Moses took up the rod, there in the Lord’s presence, as he was bidden,
 Numbers	Num	4	20	10	and they made the people gather before the rock. Listen to me, he said, faithless rebels; are we to get you water out of this rock?
 Numbers	Num	4	20	11	Twice Moses lifted his hand, and smote the rock with his rod; whereupon water gushed out in abundance, so that all the people and their cattle had enough to drink.
 Numbers	Num	4	20	12	But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, Why did you not trust in me, and vindicate my holiness in the sight of Israel? It will not be yours to lead this multitude into the land I mean to give them.
 Numbers	Num	4	20	13	This is the place called the Water of Rebellion, where the Israelites challenged the Lord, and he vindicated his holiness before them.
 Numbers	Num	4	20	14	From Cades, Moses sent envoys to the king of Edom, with a message to him from his brethren of Israel: Thou knowest what hardships have overtaken us;
 Numbers	Num	4	20	15	how our fathers made their way into Egypt, how they and we were ill-used by the Egyptians during the long time we spent there,
 Numbers	Num	4	20	16	how we cried out to the Lord, till he listened to us and sent an angel to rescue us from Egypt. And now we are here at Cades, on the frontier of thy dominions;
 Numbers	Num	4	20	17	what we ask of thee is leave to pass through this land of thine. There shall be no marching through fields or vineyards, no drinking at thy wells; we will travel by the high road, not to right or left, until we have passed beyond thy frontiers.
 Numbers	Num	4	20	18	But the Edomites refused to let them pass, threatening armed resistance.
 Numbers	Num	4	20	19	Let Israel promise as they would to use only the public highway, to pay in full for all they or their beasts might drink, without haggling over the price, to make a quick passage of it;
 Numbers	Num	4	20	20	still Edom refused, coming out to meet them there and then in great force, ready to overpower them.
 Numbers	Num	4	20	21	The Israelites, then, since no entreaties could move them to grant the right of passage, left the Edomites alone and turned elsewhere.
 Numbers	Num	4	20	22	So, leaving Cades behind them, they reached Mount Hor, on the edge of the Edomite country;
 Numbers	Num	4	20	23	and here it was that the Lord said to Moses,
 Numbers	Num	4	20	24	Aaron must become a part of his people. For him, there is no entering the land which is your promised home, so unfaithful was he to my word at the Water of Rebellion.
 Numbers	Num	4	20	25	Take Aaron and his son with thee to the top of mount Hor,
 Numbers	Num	4	20	26	strip the father of his priestly garments and clothe his son Eleazar with them instead; there Aaron shall die, and become part of his race.
 Numbers	Num	4	20	27	So Moses did as the Lord bade him; together they went up mount Hor in the sight of the whole multitude,
 Numbers	Num	4	20	28	and there he stripped Aaron of his garments and put them on his son Eleazar,
 Numbers	Num	4	20	29	and came back with Eleazar alone, leaving Aaron dead on the mountain top.
 Numbers	Num	4	20	30	And the whole people, thus apprised of Aaron’s death, mourned over him, all alike, for thirty days.
 Numbers	Num	4	21	1	There was a Chanaanite king that had his capital, Arad, in the south country; and when he heard that the Israelites had come there, following the Spies’ Road, he levied war against them, defeating them in the field and winning spoils from them.
 Numbers	Num	4	21	2	Whereupon the Israelites took a vow, promising the Lord that if he would grant them victory over this tribe, they would raze its cities to the ground.
 Numbers	Num	4	21	3	In answer to these prayers, the Lord let his people have their way with the Chanaanite king; they killed him, and destroyed all his cities, giving to the battle-field the name of Horma, that is, Forfeited.
 Numbers	Num	4	21	4	When they left mount Hor, they must needs march along the way that leads to the Red Sea, so as to fetch a compass round the territory of Edom. Before long, the people grew weary of this laborious march,
 Numbers	Num	4	21	5	assailing God and Moses with such complaints as these: Why didst thou ever bring us away from Egypt, only to die in the desert? We have neither bread nor water here; we are sick at heart, sick of the unsatisfying food thou givest us.
 Numbers	Num	4	21	6	Upon this, the Lord sent serpents among them, with fire in their fangs, that struck at many and killed many of them,
 Numbers	Num	4	21	7	till they came to Moses and confessed, We have sinned by making complaints against the Lord and against thee; entreat him to rid us of the serpents. So Moses made intercession for the people;
 Numbers	Num	4	21	8	and the Lord bade him fashion a serpent of bronze, and set it up on a staff, bringing life to all who should look towards it as they lay wounded.
 Numbers	Num	4	21	9	And so it proved; when Moses made a brazen serpent and set it up on a staff, the wounded men had but to look towards it, and they were healed.
 Numbers	Num	4	21	10	After this the Israelites marched on, and encamped at Oboth,
 Numbers	Num	4	21	11	and left Oboth to encamp at Jeabarim, in the desert that faces Moab on the east.
 Numbers	Num	4	21	12	Their next march brought them to the valley of Zared;
 Numbers	Num	4	21	13	and so they passed on to encamp by the Arnon, a desert stream which meets you at the Amorrhite border; it is the frontier of Moab, dividing Moab from the Amorrhites.
 Numbers	Num	4	21	14	So it came to be written in the Book of the Lord’s Battles, What he did by the Red Sea, he will do again in the Valleys of Arnon;
 Numbers	Num	4	21	15	among the mountain torrents that come down to rest in Ar, to flow peacefully through the lands of Moab.
 Numbers	Num	4	21	16	It was at their next encampment that a well was shown to them; Gather the people together, the Lord had said to Moses, and I will provide water for them;
 Numbers	Num	4	21	17	and it was here that Israel first sang the song called, Let the well spring up. They all sang together,
 Numbers	Num	4	21	18	Here is the well that was dug by princes; the chieftains of the host laid it open with the staves they carried, with the giver of the law to lead them. So they left the wilderness, and reached Matthana;
 Numbers	Num	4	21	19	after Matthana, Nahaliel, and after Nahaliel, Bamoth,
 Numbers	Num	4	21	20	and after Bamoth, a valley in the Moabite country with mount Phasga at the head of it, looking out towards the desert.
 Numbers	Num	4	21	21	Here the Israelites sent envoys to Sehon, king of the Amorrhites,
 Numbers	Num	4	21	22	asking him for leave to pass through his country, upon condition that they kept clear of fields and vineyards, drank no water from the wells, and marched along the high road until they reached the end of his dominions.
 Numbers	Num	4	21	23	But Sehon, sooner than let them pass through his territory, mustered his forces and went out to meet them, there in the desert. Upon reaching Jasa, he offered battle,
 Numbers	Num	4	21	24	but they gave him the sword’s point, and conquered all his domain, reaching from the Arnon as far as Jeboc and the Ammonite country; the Ammonite frontier had strong garrisons to defend it.
 Numbers	Num	4	21	25	Thus Israel took possession of all his strongholds, and had the Amorrhite cities to dwell in, Hesebon and all the smaller towns that depended on it.
 Numbers	Num	4	21	26	It was at Hesebon that Sehon, king of the Amorrhites, had made his capital, after making war on the king of Moab and occupying all the lands he held, up to the Arnon.
 Numbers	Num	4	21	27	That is the meaning of the old saying: To Hesebon, to Hesebon! Strong and true be the walls that Sehon is a-building.
 Numbers	Num	4	21	28	Fire from Hesebon, a flame from Sehon’s town, swallowing up Ar, the city of the Moabites, and all that dwell in the hill-fastnesses by Anion’s side.
 Numbers	Num	4	21	29	Woe betide thee, Moab; worshippers of Chamas, you are undone. Sehon, the Amorrhite king, has claimed their sons for exile, their daughters for bondage;
 Numbers	Num	4	21	30	all their domain is lost, from Hesebon to Dibon; weary of the battle, in Nophe and distant Medaba they have taken refuge at last.
 Numbers	Num	4	21	31	Israel, then, settled in the land of the Amorrhites,
 Numbers	Num	4	21	32	and Moses sent spies to survey Jazer. When they had occupied the villages there, and conquered its inhabitants,
 Numbers	Num	4	21	33	they turned aside, and marched by the road which leads to Basan. The king of Basan, Og, mustered his people and came out to give them battle in Edrai;
 Numbers	Num	4	21	34	but the Lord said to Moses, Do not be afraid of him; I am letting thee have thy way with him, and all his people, and his territory; thou shalt conquer him, as thou didst conquer Sehon, the Amorrhite king that dwelt in Hesebon.
 Numbers	Num	4	21	35	And so it proved; they made war on him and his sons and all his subjects until none were left, and so took possession of his country.
 Numbers	Num	4	22	1	Their next encampment was in the plains of Moab, on the further side of Jordan opposite Jericho.
 Numbers	Num	4	22	2	But there was one man that took note of all this, Balac the son of Sephor. He saw how the sons of Israel had defeated the Amorrhites,
 Numbers	Num	4	22	3	how they had struck terror into Moab, and could not be halted in their advance.
 Numbers	Num	4	22	4	And he said to the Madianite chiefs, Here is a people that will make short work of all our neighbours, as easily as an ox tears up grass by the roots. It was in Moab that Balac himself bore rule at this time.
 Numbers	Num	4	22	5	So he sent envoys to Balaam son of Beor, the soothsayer who dwelt on the Ammonite border, desiring his presence. Here is a people on the march from Egypt, he said, whose hosts darken the face of earth, and they are encamped at my doors;
 Numbers	Num	4	22	6	come and lay thy curse on them, or they are too strong for me. I would fain overthrow them, drive them out of my country; and I know well that a blessing falls where thou dost bless, a curse where thou dost curse.
 Numbers	Num	4	22	7	So the elders of Moab, chiefs of the Madianite country, set out with gifts in their hands to fee the soothsayer. When they reached Balaam, and gave him Balac’s message,
 Numbers	Num	4	22	8	he bade them stay there for the night, so that he might answer as the Lord should direct him. To this they consented; and when God came to Balaam and asked him,
 Numbers	Num	4	22	9	What is their errand, these guests of thine?
 Numbers	Num	4	22	10	he answered, They have brought me a message from Balac, son of Sephor.
 Numbers	Num	4	22	11	He says a people has marched there from Egypt, whose hosts darken the face of earth, and he would have me come and lay my ban on them, so that he can make war on them and drive them out of his country.
 Numbers	Num	4	22	12	Do not go with them, the Lord said to Balaam; do not lay thy curse on the people, for a blessing goes with them.
 Numbers	Num	4	22	13	So when he rose next morning he bade the chiefs go back to their own country; the Lord would not allow him to accompany them.
 Numbers	Num	4	22	14	And when these returned and told Balac how Balaam had refused to come with them,
 Numbers	Num	4	22	15	he sent other chiefs, more in number and greater in rank than those whom he had sent first.
 Numbers	Num	4	22	16	And the message these brought with them to Balaam in the name of Balac son of Sephor was this; Come to me with all speed;
 Numbers	Num	4	22	17	I am ready to grant thee honours and whatever else thou wouldst have, if thou wilt only come and lay thy ban on this people.
 Numbers	Num	4	22	18	But Balaam told them, Though Balac should fill his house with silver and gold and offer to give it me, I have no power to go beyond the Lord’s bidding by a word great or small.
 Numbers	Num	4	22	19	Be pleased to lodge with me to-night, and wait to hear what answer the Lord will give me this time.
 Numbers	Num	4	22	20	And that night the Lord came to Balaam and said, If they are here to summon thee, rise and go with them, but do ever what I bid thee.
 Numbers	Num	4	22	21	When Balaam arose in the morning, he saddled his ass and set out in their company.
 Numbers	Num	4	22	22	But now God was angry at his going. There rode Balaam on his ass, with two servants attending him, when all at once an angel of the Lord stood in his path to prevent him.
 Numbers	Num	4	22	23	And the ass, seeing an angel standing there with drawn sword, edged away from the road and took to the open fields, so that Balaam must needs beat her, to force her into the path again.
 Numbers	Num	4	22	24	Next, the angel stood in a narrow entry between two vineyard walls;
 Numbers	Num	4	22	25	and at the sight of him the ass cowered close against one of the walls, crushing her rider’s foot, and he must beat her forward again.
 Numbers	Num	4	22	26	But still the angel of the Lord would have his way; he moved on to a narrow defile, where there was no room to pass right or left, and stood there to intercept them.
 Numbers	Num	4	22	27	And now the ass, seeing him standing there, lay down under her rider; so that Balaam fell into a rage, and beat her flanks harder than ever.
 Numbers	Num	4	22	28	Hereupon the Lord endowed the ass with the power of speech, and she said, This is the third time thou hast beaten me; what have I done to deserve it?
 Numbers	Num	4	22	29	Thou hast deserved it, answered Balaam, by playing me false; if I had but a sword in my hand, I would kill thee.
 Numbers	Num	4	22	30	Why, said the ass, am I not thy own beast, that thou hast ridden these years past? And did I ever play thee such a trick before? Never, said he;
 Numbers	Num	4	22	31	and with that the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes, to make him see the angel standing there with drawn sword, and he fell to the ground in worship.
 Numbers	Num	4	22	32	How comes it, asked the angel, that thou hast thrice beaten thy ass? I came to intercept thee, because this errand of thine is headstrong and defies my will;
 Numbers	Num	4	22	33	if the ass had not turned aside, yielding to my ban, I would have taken thy life and spared hers.
 Numbers	Num	4	22	34	I have been at fault, said Balaam, little thinking that thou wert standing in my way; if thou art displeased with my errand, I will go home again.
 Numbers	Num	4	22	35	No, said the angel, go with them, but be sure thou utterest no word save what I bid thee. So he went on with the chiefs;
 Numbers	Num	4	22	36	and at the news of his coming Balac went out to meet him, at a town where Arnon marks the furthest boundaries of Moab.
 Numbers	Num	4	22	37	I sent messengers to summon thee, he said to Balaam; why didst thou not come to me there and then? Didst thou think I had not the means to reward thee for thy pains?
 Numbers	Num	4	22	38	And Balaam answered, I have come, as thou seest; but with no message for thee save what the Lord puts on my lips.
 Numbers	Num	4	22	39	So together they made their way to this city on the frontier of Balac’s dominions.
 Numbers	Num	4	22	40	Here he sacrificed oxen and sheep, sending a portion to Balaam and to the chiefs who had accompanied him;
 Numbers	Num	4	22	41	and when morning came, he took him up to the Hill of Baal, whence he could see the furthest outposts of Israel.
 Numbers	Num	4	23	1	And first, Balaam would have Balac raise seven altars there, and provide him with as many bullocks and as many rams.
 Numbers	Num	4	23	2	When his bidding was done, they offered a bullock and a ram on each altar.
 Numbers	Num	4	23	3	Wait here by the sacrifice, he told Balac; I will go and meet the Lord, if he will, and tell thee what message he has charged me with.
 Numbers	Num	4	23	4	No sooner had he withdrawn than the Lord came to meet him, and Balaam told him how he had raised seven altars, offering a bullock and a ram on each.
 Numbers	Num	4	23	5	With that, the Lord put a message on his lips, bidding him return to Balac and deliver it;
 Numbers	Num	4	23	6	so he returned, to find Balac standing beside the burnt-sacrifice he had made, with the Moabite chiefs about him.
 Numbers	Num	4	23	7	Then Balaam prophesied: I have come from Aram, from the hills out in the east; it was Balac summoned me, the king of the Moabites. He bade me come and curse Jacob, come with all speed, and lay my ban on Israel.
 Numbers	Num	4	23	8	Curse them, I, when God’s curse does not light on them? I lay a ban, where ban from the Lord is none?
 Numbers	Num	4	23	9	I will climb the high rocks to see them, the hills shall enlarge my view; here is a people destined to dwell apart, not counted among the muster-roll of the nations.
 Numbers	Num	4	23	10	Sons of Israel, countless as the dust, line of Jacob, past all numbering, may death find me faithful as these, be my end like theirs!
 Numbers	Num	4	23	11	And Balac asked Balaam, What trick is this thou hast played on me? I sent for thee to curse my enemies; wilt thou bless them instead?
 Numbers	Num	4	23	12	But he answered, What words should I use, save what the Lord bids me utter?
 Numbers	Num	4	23	13	Nay, said Balac, come with me to another spot, from which thou wilt only be able to see a part of Israel, not the whole people; from this thou shalt lay a curse on them.
 Numbers	Num	4	23	14	So he took him to the high ground at the top of mount Phasga; and there, when Balaam had raised seven altars with an offering of bullocks and rams,
 Numbers	Num	4	23	15	he would have Balac wait by the burnt-sacrifice, while he kept his tryst.
 Numbers	Num	4	23	16	The Lord met him and put a message on his lips to give Balac.
 Numbers	Num	4	23	17	And Balac, waiting there with the chiefs of Moab by the burnt-sacrifice, asked him what the Lord’s word was.
 Numbers	Num	4	23	18	And again he prophesied: Stand there, Balac, and listen; a message for thee, son of Sephor!
 Numbers	Num	4	23	19	It is not for God to gainsay himself, as men do, to alter, like the things of earth; must he not make good his word, fulfil his promise?
 Numbers	Num	4	23	20	My errand is to bless, and I cannot retract the blessing.
 Numbers	Num	4	23	21	It is no false God that Jacob worships, no senseless image that has its shrine in Israel; the Lord dwells with them as their God; his royal trumpets sound for victory.
 Numbers	Num	4	23	22	This is the God that brought them out of Egypt, and made them like a wild ox for strength.
 Numbers	Num	4	23	23	Jacob needs no soothsayer, Israel no divination; time will reveal the marvellous things God does for them;
 Numbers	Num	4	23	24	a people that is like a lioness roused, a lion ready to spring, never resting till it has devoured its prey, drunk the blood of slaughtered men.
 Numbers	Num	4	23	25	And now Balac would have no more, either of curse or of blessing;
 Numbers	Num	4	23	26	but Balaam said, Did I not warn thee that I must needs carry out God’s bidding?
 Numbers	Num	4	23	27	Come, said Balac, let me find thee another vantage-point; from this perhaps, God will allow thee to curse them.
 Numbers	Num	4	23	28	And he took him up to the top of mount Phogor, looking out towards the desert.
 Numbers	Num	4	23	29	Here too Balaam must have seven altars, seven bullocks, and seven rams;
 Numbers	Num	4	23	30	and Balac did as he was bidden, offering a bullock and a ram on every altar.
 Numbers	Num	4	24	1	But this time, seeing clearly that it was God’s purpose to bless Israel, Balaam did not go apart, as before, to look for portents; he turned towards the desert,
 Numbers	Num	4	24	2	and there, looking about him, he saw Israel encamped, tribe upon tribe. With that, the spirit of God fell upon him,
 Numbers	Num	4	24	3	and he prophesied: Thus speaks Balaam, the son of Beor, thus speaks the man who has seen with eyes blindfolded;
 Numbers	Num	4	24	4	thus speaks the man who has heard the words of God himself, looked on a vision sent from the Almighty, who has fallen into a trance, and learned to see aright!
 Numbers	Num	4	24	5	How lovely, Jacob, are thy tents; Israel, how fair thy dwelling!
 Numbers	Num	4	24	6	Fair as wooded valleys, as gardens fed by running streams, as bowers of the Lord’s own planting, as cedars on the river bank!
 Numbers	Num	4	24	7	Like a bucket brimming over at the well, see how their posterity spreads from one river-frontier to the next! The king that rules over them shall rival Agag himself, and take away his kingdom from him.
 Numbers	Num	4	24	8	God has rescued them from Egypt, and made them like a wild ox for strength; nations shall come and swallow up their enemies, crush them utterly, shoot them down with arrows.
 Numbers	Num	4	24	9	Though Israel takes his rest, it is but as the crouching lion sleeps; who dares disturb the lioness in her den? A blessing, Israel, on all who bless, a curse on all who curse thee!
 Numbers	Num	4	24	10	At this, Balac clapped his hands together in vexation; It was to curse my enemies, said he to Balaam, that I summoned thee, and thrice thou hast blessed them instead;
 Numbers	Num	4	24	11	back home with thee! It was in my mind to raise thee to high honours, but this Lord of thine has thwarted thee of thy ambition.
 Numbers	Num	4	24	12	And Balaam still answered, Did I not warn the messengers thou sentest to me,
 Numbers	Num	4	24	13	Though Balac should fill his house with silver and gold and offer to give it me, I have no power to go beyond the Lord’s bidding by uttering any word of my own, for good or ill; I can only deliver the Lord’s message?
 Numbers	Num	4	24	14	I will go back, then, to my own folk; but not till I have instructed thee about the dealings there must be between this folk and thine in the days that are coming.
 Numbers	Num	4	24	15	And once more Balaam prophesied: Thus speaks Balaam, the son of Beor, thus speaks the man who has seen with eyes blindfolded;
 Numbers	Num	4	24	16	who heard speech of God, most high, the Almighty, knew his mind, had vision of him, and in a trance, learned to see aright!
 Numbers	Num	4	24	17	My vision is not of this time, is not of the things that meet my eyes. I see a star that rises out of Jacob, a stem that springs from Israel’s root; one who shall lay low the chiefs of Moab, shall bring devastation on all the posterity of Seth.
 Numbers	Num	4	24	18	Edom shall fall into his hands; the men of Seir will yield their lands to the enemy. Brave deeds in Israel;
 Numbers	Num	4	24	19	such a ruler for Jacob as shall leave no remnant in the captured city!
 Numbers	Num	4	24	20	Then he spoke of Amalec, Amalec, first-fruits of the nations, shall have his very gleanings destroyed;
 Numbers	Num	4	24	21	spoke of the Cinites, Though strong be thy fastness, though high thy nest,
 Numbers	Num	4	24	22	proud race of Cin, it shall not be for ever; Assur shall carry thee away into exile.
 Numbers	Num	4	24	23	And once more he prophesied: Alas, who can survive when God brings all this about?
 Numbers	Num	4	24	24	Men will come in ships of war from Italy, conquering the Assyrians, laying the Hebrew land waste, doomed themselves, last of all, to perish.
 Numbers	Num	4	24	25	With that, Balaam set out and made his way home; and Balac, too, went back whence he came.
 Numbers	Num	4	25	1	Meanwhile, the Israelites were dwelling at Settim; and here they fell a-whoring with the women of Moab.
 Numbers	Num	4	25	2	These bade them come and partake of their own sacrifices, and worship their own gods;
 Numbers	Num	4	25	3	so that sons of Israel learned the rites of Beelphegor. And the Lord was indignant;
 Numbers	Num	4	25	4	he would have had all the clan chiefs hanged on gibbets in the sun’s heat, to avert the divine vengeance from the people.
 Numbers	Num	4	25	5	But Moses quickly bade the rulers of the people slay all those who had learned Beelphegor’s worship.
 Numbers	Num	4	25	6	And now, in full sight of Moses, and of the whole multitude that stood weeping at the tabernacle door, one of the Israelites brought in a Madianite woman to shame his brethren.
 Numbers	Num	4	25	7	Whereupon Phinees, son of Eleazar, son of the high priest Aaron, left his place among the multitude weapon in hand,
 Numbers	Num	4	25	8	and followed this Israelite into the place of shame; man and woman both he pierced through, groin to groin. With that, the Israelites were rid of the plague that had befallen them;
 Numbers	Num	4	25	9	but not till twenty-four thousand of them had perished.
 Numbers	Num	4	25	10	And the Lord said to Moses,
 Numbers	Num	4	25	11	It is Phinees, son of Eleazar, son of the high priest Aaron, who has averted my vengeance from the sons of Israel; a man roused to such indignation in my cause, that my own indignation has spared them from utter overthrow.
 Numbers	Num	4	25	12	Tell him, then, that I pledge him my favour;
 Numbers	Num	4	25	13	the priesthood is secured by covenant to him and to his heirs for ever, in return for this zeal on his God’s behalf, that atoned for Israel’s sin.
 Numbers	Num	4	25	14	(The Israelite who was killed with the woman of Madian was one Zambri, son of Salu, a clan chief of Simeon;
 Numbers	Num	4	25	15	and the woman who died with him was called Cozbi, daughter to Sur, a man of high rank among the Madianites.)
 Numbers	Num	4	25	16	And now the Lord said to Moses,
 Numbers	Num	4	25	17	Treat the Madianites as enemies, and smite them down;
 Numbers	Num	4	25	18	it was as enemies they treated you, when they baited a trap for you with Phogor’s rites, and with their countrywoman, the Madianite princess Cozbi, that died when the plague came to punish Phogor’s worshippers.
 Numbers	Num	4	26	1	When this toll of guilty blood had been taken, the Lord said to Moses and to the new high priest, Aaron’s son Eleazar,
 Numbers	Num	4	26	2	Make a register, by households and families, of all the Israelites that have reached the age of twenty; that is, all the fighting men.
 Numbers	Num	4	26	3	So, in the plains of Moab, across the Jordan opposite Jericho, Moses and the high priest Eleazar summoned them all,
 Numbers	Num	4	26	4	the men of twenty years old or more, and passed the Lord’s command on to them. And the register was as follows:
 Numbers	Num	4	26	5	The sons of Ruben, Israel’s first-born, were called Henoch, Phallu,
 Numbers	Num	4	26	6	Hesron and Charmi.
 Numbers	Num	4	26	7	These gave their names to the clans of Ruben, which counted forty-three thousand seven hundred and thirty men.
 Numbers	Num	4	26	8	Phallu had a son called Eliab,
 Numbers	Num	4	26	9	who was the father of Namuel, Dathan, and Abiron. (It was these two chiefs, Dathan and Abiron, that made head against Moses and Aaron at the time of Core’s rebellion, setting the Lord at defiance.
 Numbers	Num	4	26	10	The earth gaped open, and Core was swallowed up; many of the Israelites were killed, two hundred and fifty of them by fire, and it was a great miracle
 Numbers	Num	4	26	11	that when Core perished, his sons did not perish with him.)
 Numbers	Num	4	26	12	The clans of Simeon were named after his sons, Namuel, Jamin, Jachin,
 Numbers	Num	4	26	13	Zare and Saul;
 Numbers	Num	4	26	14	they counted twenty-two thousand two hundred.
 Numbers	Num	4	26	15	And the clans of Gad were named after his sons, Sephon, Aggi, Suni,
 Numbers	Num	4	26	16	Ozni, Her,
 Numbers	Num	4	26	17	Arod and Ariel;
 Numbers	Num	4	26	18	they counted forty thousand five hundred.
 Numbers	Num	4	26	19	Juda had two sons, Her and Onan, who died in the land of Chanaan;
 Numbers	Num	4	26	20	his other sons gave their names to clans, Sela, Phares, and Zara.
 Numbers	Num	4	26	21	(This Phares had two sons, who gave their names to the Hesronites and the Hamulites.)
 Numbers	Num	4	26	22	Juda counted seventy-six thousand five hundred.
 Numbers	Num	4	26	23	The clans of Issachar were named after his sons, Thola, Phua,
 Numbers	Num	4	26	24	Jasub and Semran;
 Numbers	Num	4	26	25	they counted sixty-four thousand three hundred.
 Numbers	Num	4	26	26	The clans of Zabulon were named after his sons, Sared, Elon and Jalel;
 Numbers	Num	4	26	27	they counted sixty thousand five hundred.
 Numbers	Num	4	26	28	The clans of Joseph were descended from his two sons, Manasses and Ephraim.
 Numbers	Num	4	26	29	Manasses’ son Machir gave his name to the Machirites and Machir’s son Galaad to the Galaadites;
 Numbers	Num	4	26	30	and the clans of Galaad were named after his sons, Jezer, Helec,
 Numbers	Num	4	26	31	Asriel, Sechem,
 Numbers	Num	4	26	32	Semida and Hepher.
 Numbers	Num	4	26	33	(Hepher was the father of Salphaad, who had no sons, but five daughters, Maala, Noa, Hegla, Melcha and Thersa.)
 Numbers	Num	4	26	34	Manasses counted fifty-two thousand seven hundred.
 Numbers	Num	4	26	35	The clans of Ephraim were named after his sons Suthala, Becher and Thenen.
 Numbers	Num	4	26	36	(Heran, the founder of the Heranites, was Suthala’s son.)
 Numbers	Num	4	26	37	Ephraim counted thirty-two thousand five hundred.
 Numbers	Num	4	26	38	All these were the descendants of Joseph. The clans of Benjamin were named after his sons, Bela, Asbel, Ahiram,
 Numbers	Num	4	26	39	Supham and Hupham.
 Numbers	Num	4	26	40	(Bela’s sons gave their names to the Heredites and the Noemanites.)
 Numbers	Num	4	26	41	Benjamin counted forty-five thousand six hundred.
 Numbers	Num	4	26	42	Dan had no sons but Suham, the founder of the Suhamites; all the clans descended from Dan
 Numbers	Num	4	26	43	were Suhamites, counting sixty-four thousand four hundred.
 Numbers	Num	4	26	44	The clans of Aser were named after his sons, Jemna, Jessui and Brie.
 Numbers	Num	4	26	45	(Brie had two sons, who gave their names to the Heberites and the Melchielites.
 Numbers	Num	4	26	46	Aser had also a daughter called Sara.)
 Numbers	Num	4	26	47	Aser counted fifty-three thousand four hundred.
 Numbers	Num	4	26	48	And the clans of Nephthali were called after his sons, Jesiel, Guni,
 Numbers	Num	4	26	49	Jeser and Sellem.
 Numbers	Num	4	26	50	Nephthali counted forty-five thousand four hundred.
 Numbers	Num	4	26	51	Thus the whole muster-roll of the Israelites contained six hundred and one thousand, seven hundred and thirty names.
 Numbers	Num	4	26	52	And the Lord told Moses,
 Numbers	Num	4	26	53	The land must be divided up under these names, one portion for each.
 Numbers	Num	4	26	54	A large portion where they are many, a small portion where they are few; their inheritance is to be assigned to them according to this present register;
 Numbers	Num	4	26	55	but always lots must be used to decide between tribe and tribe, between clan and clan.
 Numbers	Num	4	26	56	Great or small, they must be content with what the lot gives them.
 Numbers	Num	4	26	57	The Levites, too, were divided into clans, named after Levi’s sons, Gerson, Caath and Merari.
 Numbers	Num	4	26	58	(These are sub-divided into the Levite clans named after Lobni, Hebroni, Moholi, Musi and Core. ) Caath was father of Amram,
 Numbers	Num	4	26	59	who married Jochabed, a daughter of Levi, born to him in Egypt; the children she bore to Amram were Aaron and Moses and their sister Mary.
 Numbers	Num	4	26	60	Aaron’s sons were called Nadab, Abiu, Eleazar and Ithamar;
 Numbers	Num	4	26	61	but of these, Nadab and Abiu were punished with death for offering the Lord unhallowed fire.
 Numbers	Num	4	26	62	Of the Levites altogether, twenty-three thousand were registered; males all of them, but counting all those who were more than a month old. They were not reckoned in the muster-roll of Israel, nor did they receive lands like the rest.
 Numbers	Num	4	26	63	Such was the register of the Israelites made by Moses and the high priest Eleazar, when they reached the plains of Moab, by the Jordan opposite Jericho.
 Numbers	Num	4	26	64	Of these, not one had been among those registered by Moses and Aaron in the desert of Sinai,
 Numbers	Num	4	26	65	and afterwards doomed by the Lord to die in the wilderness; none of those now remained, except Caleb, son of Jephone, and Josue, son of Nun.
 Numbers	Num	4	27	1	Salphaad, then, was descended from Joseph through Hepher, Galaad, Machir and Manasses. And now his daughters, Maala, Noa, Hegla, Melcha and Thersa came forward,
 Numbers	Num	4	27	2	preferring a suit before Moses and the high priest Eleazar and all the chieftains, at the tabernacle door. This was their plea:
 Numbers	Num	4	27	3	Our father died in the desert, not that he took any part in Core’s rebellion against the Lord; he died accountable for no sins but his own; and he died without male issue. Why must his name be lost to his clan, only because he had no son? Why may we not inherit side by side with our father’s kinsmen?
 Numbers	Num	4	27	4	So Moses submitted their plea to the Lord’s arbitrament,
 Numbers	Num	4	27	5	and the Lord said to him,
 Numbers	Num	4	27	6	This is a just plea the daughters of Salphaad are making. Grant them the right to inherit side by side with their father’s kinsmen, and succeed to his property.
 Numbers	Num	4	27	7	And make this announcement to the sons of Israel:
 Numbers	Num	4	27	8	When a man dies without sons, his property shall pass to a daughter;
 Numbers	Num	4	27	9	if he has no daughter, to his brothers;
 Numbers	Num	4	27	10	if he has no brothers, to his uncles;
 Numbers	Num	4	27	11	if he has no uncles either, to those who are next of kin to him. This right holds good at all times by law unalterable; it was the Lord’s command to Moses.
 Numbers	Num	4	27	12	After this, the Lord bade Moses climb the mountain of Abarim, that was near by, and view the land he was giving to the sons of Israel as their home.
 Numbers	Num	4	27	13	When thou hast viewed it, said he, thou too, like thy brother Aaron, shalt become a part of thy people.
 Numbers	Num	4	27	14	Both of you earned my displeasure when the people challenged my power in the wilderness of Sin, by not vindicating my holiness before their eyes. (This was by the Waters of Rebellion, at Cades in the desert of Sin.)
 Numbers	Num	4	27	15	To this Moses made answer,
 Numbers	Num	4	27	16	O God, art not thou Lord of every spirit that breathes? And wilt thou not find this people a ruler,
 Numbers	Num	4	27	17	who shall lead them to and fro, marching at their head? Must the people of the Lord go untended, like sheep without a shepherd?
 Numbers	Num	4	27	18	And the Lord said to him, Make choice of Josue, the son of Nun, a man endowed with high gifts; lay thy hand upon him,
 Numbers	Num	4	27	19	and bid him stand forth before the high priest Eleazar, and the whole assembly.
 Numbers	Num	4	27	20	There, in the sight of all, give him thy last charge, and share with him that dignity which is thine, so that all Israel may learn to obey him.
 Numbers	Num	4	27	21	But whenever some action is planned, the high priest Eleazar will consult the Lord concerning it; at his word both Josue himself and all Israel, and all the company that goes with them, shall move this way and that.
 Numbers	Num	4	27	22	So Moses did as the Lord had bidden him, presenting Josue before the high priest Eleazar and the whole assembly,
 Numbers	Num	4	27	23	and there laying his hands on Josue’s head, and repeating all the charge which the Lord had given him.
 Numbers	Num	4	28	1	This, too, was a message the Lord gave to Moses:
 Numbers	Num	4	28	2	Bid the sons of Israel bring offerings to regale me, burnt-sacrifices to delight me with the smell of their burning, at the times appointed.
 Numbers	Num	4	28	3	Daily, all the year round, they must offer two yearling lambs, without blemish, in burnt-sacrifice to me,
 Numbers	Num	4	28	4	one in the morning, one in the evening,
 Numbers	Num	4	28	5	with the tenth of a bushel of flour, kneaded in three pints of pure oil.
 Numbers	Num	4	28	6	The burnt-sacrifice you offered at mount Sinai, to delight the Lord with the smell of its burning, must continue for all time.
 Numbers	Num	4	28	7	For each lamb, too, you will make a libation in the Lord’s sanctuary, of three pints of wine.
 Numbers	Num	4	28	8	The second lamb will be offered in the evening, repeating all the morning’s ceremonies and its libation, and the Lord will accept the smell of its burning.
 Numbers	Num	4	28	9	On the sabbath day you will bring two yearling lambs without blemish, and the fifth of a bushel of flour kneaded with oil as a bread-offering, with due libations
 Numbers	Num	4	28	10	poured out sabbath after sabbath; the sacrifice must never be omitted.
 Numbers	Num	4	28	11	At the new moon, by way of burnt-sacrifice, you will offer to the Lord two bull-calves and a ram, and seven yearling lambs without blemish,
 Numbers	Num	4	28	12	and three tenths of a bushel of flour kneaded with oil by way of bread-offering for each calf, and a fifth for the ram,
 Numbers	Num	4	28	13	and a hundredth for each lamb, to delight the Lord with the smell of their burning.
 Numbers	Num	4	28	14	And libations of wine will go with each victim, six pints for a bullock, four for a ram, and three for a lamb. Each month, as the year goes round, this shall be your burnt-sacrifice.
 Numbers	Num	4	28	15	And together with this repeated sacrifice you will offer the Lord a goat, to atone for faults.
 Numbers	Num	4	28	16	On the fourteenth day of the first month, the Lord’s paschal feast begins.
 Numbers	Num	4	28	17	The fifteenth day is a feast, and for a whole week bread must be eaten unleavened.
 Numbers	Num	4	28	18	Its first day will be a day of solemn observance, on which no servile work may be done.
 Numbers	Num	4	28	19	The burnt-sacrifice made to the Lord will be the same as that of the new moon.
 Numbers	Num	4	28	22	And one goat must be offered in amends for your faults;
 Numbers	Num	4	28	23	all this, over and above the morning sacrifice which is to be made that day as always.
 Numbers	Num	4	28	24	Thus you will do on each of the seven days, feeding the fire and delighting the Lord with the smell of your burnt-sacrifice, and the libations that go with it.
 Numbers	Num	4	28	25	The seventh day too must be a day of solemn observance, on which no servile work may be done.
 Numbers	Num	4	28	26	Another day of solemn observance, on which no servile work must be done, is the day of first-fruits, when you bring the Lord a bread-offering out of the new crops.
 Numbers	Num	4	28	27	You must bring the Lord a burnt-sacrifice, to delight him with the smell of its burning,
 Numbers	Num	4	28	28	as at the new moon.
 Numbers	Num	4	28	29	There must be a goat, too,
 Numbers	Num	4	28	30	offered in amends for fault; all this, over and above the daily sacrifice and its libations.
 Numbers	Num	4	28	31	Sacrifice or libation, all that you offer the Lord must be without blemish.
 Numbers	Num	4	29	1	So, too, you will make the first day of the seventh month a day of solemn obser-vance, and a holiday from servile work; it is to be marked by a blast of trumpets.
 Numbers	Num	4	29	2	It will have its fragrant burnt-sacrifice, of a bull, a ram, and seven yearling lambs without blemish;
 Numbers	Num	4	29	3	and the bread-offering to go with them, three-tenths of a bushel of flour kneaded with oil for the bull, a fifth for the ram,
 Numbers	Num	4	29	4	a tenth for each of the seven lambs.
 Numbers	Num	4	29	5	And a goat will be offered to make amends for the people’s faults.
 Numbers	Num	4	29	6	All this, over and above the monthly sacrifice and its offerings, over and above the daily sacrifice and its libations; a third offering that day, with the same ceremonies, will delight the Lord with the smell of its burning.
 Numbers	Num	4	29	7	The tenth day of this seventh month is to be solemnly observed as a day of fasting, and also of rest from work.
 Numbers	Num	4	29	8	You will sacrifice bull and ram and lambs as before,
 Numbers	Num	4	29	9	bread-offerings as before for bull and ram,
 Numbers	Num	4	29	10	a hundredth of a bushel of flour for each of the seven lambs,
 Numbers	Num	4	29	11	and a goat for your faults. That day, too, will have its special ceremonies of atonement for wrong done, and the daily sacrifice will be made, with its bread-offering and libations, in the customary way.
 Numbers	Num	4	29	12	On the fifteenth day of this seventh month, which is also to be solemnly observed as a holiday, you will begin a week of observance in the Lord’s honour,
 Numbers	Num	4	29	13	offering him a fragrant burnt-sacrifice of thirteen bull-calves, two rams, and fourteen lambs,
 Numbers	Num	4	29	14	with the usual bread-offering for each bull, each ram,
 Numbers	Num	4	29	15	each of the fourteen lambs,
 Numbers	Num	4	29	16	and a goat for your faults, over and above the daily sacrifice and what goes with it.
 Numbers	Num	4	29	17	The next day you will offer the same number of rams and lambs, but only twelve calves,
 Numbers	Num	4	29	18	all with their customary bread-offerings and libations;
 Numbers	Num	4	29	19	a goat, too, for faults, over and above the daily ceremonies.
 Numbers	Num	4	29	20	On the third day eleven calves, and the rest as before;
 Numbers	Num	4	29	23	on the fourth day ten calves, and the rest as before;
 Numbers	Num	4	29	26	on the fifth day nine calves, and the rest as before;
 Numbers	Num	4	29	29	on the sixth day eight calves and the rest as before;
 Numbers	Num	4	29	32	on the seventh day seven calves and the rest as before.
 Numbers	Num	4	29	35	The eighth day, too, is to be held in all honour as a holiday;
 Numbers	Num	4	29	36	and this day too you will offer fragrant burnt-sacrifice, but only one bull, one ram, and seven yearling lambs without blemish,
 Numbers	Num	4	29	37	with their customary bread-offerings and libations,
 Numbers	Num	4	29	38	and a goat for your faults, over and above the daily sacrifice and what goes with it.
 Numbers	Num	4	29	39	Such are the offerings you must make to God at your public festivals, over and above those you bring in payment of a vow, or out of devotion, burnt-sacrifice and bloodless sacrifice and libation and welcome-offering.
 Numbers	Num	4	30	1	So Moses told the Israelites what charge the Lord had given him.
 Numbers	Num	4	30	2	He also gave the chief men of Israel’s tribes this command from the Lord:
 Numbers	Num	4	30	3	It may be, man or woman will take a vow, or an oath. If it be a man, he must in any case carry out what he promised, and not be false to his word.
 Numbers	Num	4	30	4	But if a woman has made a vow, or bound herself by an oath, it may be she is only a girl, living in her father’s house still. Did her father know that she had vowed or sworn, and make no protest? Then she is bound by her vow;
 Numbers	Num	4	30	5	she must fulfil what she bound herself by oath to fulfil.
 Numbers	Num	4	30	6	Did her father, as soon as he heard of it, refuse his consent? Then vow or oath are null and void; she cannot be held to her promise if her father did not consent to it.
 Numbers	Num	4	30	7	It may be such a girl will marry, still under her vow, still bound by her youthful undertaking;
 Numbers	Num	4	30	8	does her husband hear of it without protest? She must be held to her vow thenceforward; she must carry out what she promised.
 Numbers	Num	4	30	9	Or does he refuse his consent upon hearing of it? Then he annuls this promise, this youthful undertaking of hers, and the Lord will not hold her guilty.
 Numbers	Num	4	30	10	Or the woman may be a widow, or a wife divorced; she must then fulfil her promise.
 Numbers	Num	4	30	11	Or a wife already living under her husband’s roof, may take vow or oath;
 Numbers	Num	4	30	12	is she bound to fulfil her promise? Yes, if he hears of it and makes no protest.
 Numbers	Num	4	30	13	But if he immediately refuses his consent, she cannot be held to her undertaking; the Lord will not hold her guilty if her husband’s consent is refused.
 Numbers	Num	4	30	14	It may be a wife will bind herself by an oath, vowing to mortify herself by fasting or some other kind of abstinence; it is for her husband to decide whether she is to keep it or not.
 Numbers	Num	4	30	15	If he makes no protest on hearing of it, but waits till afterwards before making his decision, she must pay her vow, keep the promise she made; there was no protest from him when he heard of it.
 Numbers	Num	4	30	16	If, after hearing of it, he refuses his consent, then it is he that will be held to account for her fault.
 Numbers	Num	4	30	17	Such are the rules the Lord gave Moses, to govern the conduct of husband and wife, or of a father and his daughter when she is a girl still living at home.
 Numbers	Num	4	31	1	And now the Lord said to Moses,
 Numbers	Num	4	31	2	Soon thou art to become a part of thy people; but first take vengeance, in Israel’s name, on the sons of Madian.
 Numbers	Num	4	31	3	So Moses ordered a muster of men sufficient to wreak the Lord’s vengeance on the Madianites,
 Numbers	Num	4	31	4	a thousand picked warriors from each tribe.
 Numbers	Num	4	31	5	Thus a force of twelve thousand, a thousand from each tribe, was put under arms;
 Numbers	Num	4	31	6	and he appointed Phinees, son of the high priest Eleazar, to command them, entrusting him with the sacred emblems and the trumpets that must sound for battle.
 Numbers	Num	4	31	7	So they fought against the Madianites and defeated them. All the men-folk they killed,
 Numbers	Num	4	31	8	the chiefs of the tribe, Evi, Recem, Sur, Hur and Rebe among them; Balaam, too, the son of Beor, they put to the sword;
 Numbers	Num	4	31	9	and took possession of their women-folk and children, their cattle and all their goods. Nothing that belonged to Madian but was ravaged;
 Numbers	Num	4	31	10	cities, villages and strongholds were burnt down,
 Numbers	Num	4	31	11	and all the booty, all the captives, all the beasts they had taken
 Numbers	Num	4	31	12	they brought with them to Moses and Eleazar; whatever was of use must be brought back to the camp in the plains of Moab opposite Jericho.
 Numbers	Num	4	31	13	Moses went out to meet them, as they drew near the camp, with the high priest Eleazar and all the rulers of Israel.
 Numbers	Num	4	31	14	And it was an angry welcome they had from him, chiefs and commanders and captains that had gone out to fight;
 Numbers	Num	4	31	15	What means it, he asked, that you have spared the women-folk?
 Numbers	Num	4	31	16	Was it not these that beguiled the sons of Israel, at the prompting of Balaam, and led you to play the Lord false by worshipping Phogor, so that a plague fell on the whole people?
 Numbers	Num	4	31	17	All the males must be killed, even the children, and all the women that have had commerce with man;
 Numbers	Num	4	31	18	the young girls and all the women that are still virgins you may keep for yourselves.
 Numbers	Num	4	31	19	For seven days you must not enter the camp; whoever has killed a man or touched a man that lay killed must be purified on the third day of the seven, and on the last.
 Numbers	Num	4	31	20	Of all the spoil you have taken, every garment, every pot and pan, that is made of goats’ skins and goats’ hair, or of wood, you must purify too.
 Numbers	Num	4	31	21	(This was how the high priest Eleazar expounded the law to the men who had come back after the victory: The Lord has warned Moses
 Numbers	Num	4	31	22	that gold, silver, bronze, iron, lead and tin,
 Numbers	Num	4	31	23	and all else that can stand the fire’s heat, may be purified by fire, but everything else must be cleansed with lustral water.)
 Numbers	Num	4	31	24	On the seventh day you will wash your clothes, and so you will be able to come into the camp, purified men.
 Numbers	Num	4	31	25	This, too, the Lord said to Moses,
 Numbers	Num	4	31	26	Thou and the high priest Eleazar and the rulers of the people must reckon up the sum of the booty taken,
 Numbers	Num	4	31	27	and divide it up into equal shares, giving half to the men who went out to war, and half to the rest of the people.
 Numbers	Num	4	31	28	Out of the fighting men’s share, set apart one human creature, one ox, one ass, one sheep, in every five hundred;
 Numbers	Num	4	31	29	these must be given to the high priest Eleazar, as the Lord’s first-fruits.
 Numbers	Num	4	31	30	Out of the share that goes to the rest of Israel, set apart one out of every fifty living things, whether human creatures, oxen, asses or sheep, and give them to the Levites, that have the Lord’s tabernacle in their charge.
 Numbers	Num	4	31	31	Moses and Eleazar did as the Lord had bidden them.
 Numbers	Num	4	31	32	And this was the booty which the army had taken, six hundred and seventy-five thousand sheep,
 Numbers	Num	4	31	33	seventy-two thousand oxen,
 Numbers	Num	4	31	34	sixty-one thousand asses,
 Numbers	Num	4	31	35	and thirty-two thousand human creatures, all of them of woman’s sex, and such as had never had commerce with man.
 Numbers	Num	4	31	36	Half of all was given to the men who had been in battle;
 Numbers	Num	4	31	37	and of this they set apart as the Lord’s share six hundred and seventy-five sheep,
 Numbers	Num	4	31	38	seventy-two oxen,
 Numbers	Num	4	31	39	sixty-one asses;
 Numbers	Num	4	31	40	and thirty-two human creatures were dedicated to the Lord out of the half-share of sixteen thousand.
 Numbers	Num	4	31	41	All these, the full toll of the Lord’s first-fruits, Moses gave over to the high priest Eleazar, as the Lord had bidden him;
 Numbers	Num	4	31	42	taking them from that half of the public spoils that fell to the warriors.
 Numbers	Num	4	31	43	And out of the half that fell to the rest of the people, the three hundred and thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep,
 Numbers	Num	4	31	44	the thirty-six thousand oxen,
 Numbers	Num	4	31	45	the thirty thousand five hundred asses,
 Numbers	Num	4	31	46	and the sixteen thousand human creatures,
 Numbers	Num	4	31	47	Moses took one in every fifty, and gave them, as the Lord had bidden him, to the Levites that had the Lord’s tabernacle in their charge.
 Numbers	Num	4	31	48	And now the chiefs and commanders and captains of the army came and told Moses,
 Numbers	Num	4	31	49	My lord, we have been calling the roll of the men we had serving under us, and every one answered his name.
 Numbers	Num	4	31	50	In thanksgiving for this, we would offer as a gift to the Lord the spoils we have taken severally, such as are of gold; anklet and armlet, ring and bracelet and necklace; and do thou make intercession for us to the Lord.
 Numbers	Num	4	31	51	So Moses and the high priest Eleazar accepted all this gold in all its varied shapes;
 Numbers	Num	4	31	52	sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty sicles in weight, as a gift from the commanders and captains,
 Numbers	Num	4	31	53	each of them giving the spoils he had seized for himself;
 Numbers	Num	4	31	54	and they took it into the tabernacle that bore witness of the covenant, to put the Lord in mind of the Israelites continually.
 Numbers	Num	4	32	1	The tribes of Ruben and Gad were rich in flocks, and their herds were past all reckoning. And now, seeing how well fitted were the lands of Jazer and Galaad to feed beasts,
 Numbers	Num	4	32	2	they brought a petition to Moses, and the high priest Eleazar, and the rulers of the people.
 Numbers	Num	4	32	3	Here is Ataroth, they said, here are Dibon, and Jazer, and Nemra, and Hesebon, and Eleale, and Saban, and Nebo, and Beon,
 Numbers	Num	4	32	4	all given over by the Lord into the hands of Israel at the first onslaught; and all of this is good grazing land. My lord, we have many beasts to feed,
 Numbers	Num	4	32	5	and we would ask a favour of thee; grant us this land for our portion, instead of making us cross the Jordan to win it.
 Numbers	Num	4	32	6	What, answered Moses, are your brethren to go and fight while you sit idle here?
 Numbers	Num	4	32	7	Would you daunt the spirits of the Israelites, so that they have not the courage to cross over into the land which the Lord means to give them?
 Numbers	Num	4	32	8	Why, this was what your fathers did, when I sent them from Cades-Barne to bring back a report of the land;
 Numbers	Num	4	32	9	they passed through the whole extent of it, until they reached the Valley of Grapes, and came back to daunt the spirits of their fellow-Israelites, so that none of them ever entered the territory which the Lord had assigned to them.
 Numbers	Num	4	32	10	So angry was he that he bound himself by an oath,
 Numbers	Num	4	32	11	None of the men who made their way out of Egypt and then would not follow me, men of twenty years and more, shall ever see the land which was my promised gift to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
 Numbers	Num	4	32	12	None of them, except Caleb the son of Jephone and Josue the son of Nun, the men who carried out my will.
 Numbers	Num	4	32	13	Still angry, he led us this way and that through the desert, till the generation that had offended him died out.
 Numbers	Num	4	32	14	And now you come forward in the spirit of your fathers, the heirs and scions of their guilt, to make the Lord more angry with Israel than ever.
 Numbers	Num	4	32	15	Refuse to follow him, and he will leave his people here in the desert so you will be the death of us all.
 Numbers	Num	4	32	16	But still they came closer, and would have their say; We mean only to build folds for our sheep, byres for our cattle, and cities where our children can dwell in safety;
 Numbers	Num	4	32	17	then we will go forward, armed and girded for battle, in the van of Israel, until we have won them their territory. We must have walled cities to protect our children and our possessions from sudden attack by our neighbours;
 Numbers	Num	4	32	18	but we will not go back to these homes of ours till the other Israelites have won their inheritance;
 Numbers	Num	4	32	19	and we will not demand any lands on the further side of Jordan, our portion once secured to us on the east of it.
 Numbers	Num	4	32	20	Be as good as your word, then, Moses said; arm yourselves to do battle under the Lord’s eye,
 Numbers	Num	4	32	21	and cross over Jordan in battle array, all of you that are fighting men, till the Lord has overthrown his enemies
 Numbers	Num	4	32	22	and won the whole land for himself. So neither the Lord nor Israel will have any fault to find with you, and you shall hold, under the eye of the Lord’s favour, the territory of your choice.
 Numbers	Num	4	32	23	If you do not make good your word, you will be sinning openly against God; and be sure that your sin will not go unpunished.
 Numbers	Num	4	32	24	Build cities for your families, byres and folds for your sheep and cattle, and then fulfil your promise.
 Numbers	Num	4	32	25	We are thy servants, the men of Gad and Ruben said to Moses, and will do as our master bids;
 Numbers	Num	4	32	26	leave children and wives, sheep and cattle in the cities of Galaad,
 Numbers	Num	4	32	27	and go out ourselves, armed for battle, as servants at their master’s command.
 Numbers	Num	4	32	28	So Moses gave the word to the high priest Eleazar, and Josue the son of Nun, and the heads of all the clans in Israel,
 Numbers	Num	4	32	29	that the tribes of Ruben and Gad were to receive Galaad as their portion once the whole land was conquered, if they would consent to let all their armed men cross the Jordan and do battle under the Lord’s eye with the rest.
 Numbers	Num	4	32	30	If they would not undertake to help carry the war into Chanaan on those terms, then they must wait and win their portion among the other tribes.
 Numbers	Num	4	32	31	But Ruben and Gad protested that they were willing to yield the Lord the service he asked of them;
 Numbers	Num	4	32	32	to invade Chanaan under his eye, and still be content with the portion granted them on the further side of Jordan.
 Numbers	Num	4	32	33	So Moses gave the dominions of Sehon, that had been king of the Amorrhites, and Og, the king of Basan, with all the cities that were contained in the whole region, to Gad and to Ruben and to half the tribe of Manasses, that were descended from Joseph’s son.
 Numbers	Num	4	32	34	And the men of Gad rebuilt Dibon, Ataroth, Aroer,
 Numbers	Num	4	32	35	Etroth, Sophan, Jazer, Jegbaa,
 Numbers	Num	4	32	36	Bethnemra and Betharan, all fortified cities, and folds, too, for their sheep.
 Numbers	Num	4	32	37	The men of Ruben rebuilt Hesebon, Eleale, Cariathaim,
 Numbers	Num	4	32	38	Nabo and Baalmeon, under other names, and Sabama too; they gave names of their own to these cities when they rebuilt them.
 Numbers	Num	4	32	39	Meanwhile the descendants of Machir, that was Manasses’ son, had made their way into Galaad and plundered it, slaughtering the Amorrhites who dwelt there;
 Numbers	Num	4	32	40	so Moses gave Galaad to the clan of Manasses’ son Machir, and there they took up their abode.
 Numbers	Num	4	32	41	Other Amorrhite towns were taken by Jair, a tribesman of Manasses, who called them Havoth-Jair, that is, Jair’s villages;
 Numbers	Num	4	32	42	and Nobe, who invaded and captured Chanath with its daughter-towns, called this after his own name, Nobe.
 Numbers	Num	4	33	1	Here is a list of the stages through which the Israelites journeyed, when Moses and Aaron had led their armies out of Egypt.
 Numbers	Num	4	33	2	It was Moses that kept a record of the places where they encamped, now here, now there, at the Lord’s bidding.
 Numbers	Num	4	33	3	They set out from Ramesses on the fifteenth day of the first month, the second day of the paschal feast, in full sight of the Egyptians, who must perforce let them go.
 Numbers	Num	4	33	4	And indeed these had enough to do burying their first-born, whom the Lord had smitten when he took vengeance on the powers of Egypt.
 Numbers	Num	4	33	5	Their first encampment was at Socoth,
 Numbers	Num	4	33	6	and from Socoth they marched to Etham, on the verge of the desert;
 Numbers	Num	4	33	7	and from there they marched along past Phihahiroth, which is opposite Beelsephon, and encamped by Magdalus.
 Numbers	Num	4	33	8	From Phihahiroth they went across through the heart of the sea into the wilderness, and after three days’ march in the desert of Etham, halted at Mara.
 Numbers	Num	4	33	9	From Mara they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy palm-trees, and pitched their tents there.
 Numbers	Num	4	33	10	When they left it, they encamped by the Red Sea, and from the Red Sea
 Numbers	Num	4	33	11	they moved their camp to the desert of Sin,
 Numbers	Num	4	33	12	from the desert of Sin to Daphca,
 Numbers	Num	4	33	13	thence to Alus,
 Numbers	Num	4	33	14	thence to Raphidim, where the people could not find enough water to drink.
 Numbers	Num	4	33	15	Then from Raphidim to the desert of Sinai,
 Numbers	Num	4	33	16	thence to the Graves of Greed,
 Numbers	Num	4	33	17	thence to Haseroth,
 Numbers	Num	4	33	18	thence to Rethma,
 Numbers	Num	4	33	19	thence to Remmonphares,
 Numbers	Num	4	33	20	thence to Lebna,
 Numbers	Num	4	33	21	thence to Ressa,
 Numbers	Num	4	33	22	thence to Ceelatha,
 Numbers	Num	4	33	23	thence to mount Sepher.
 Numbers	Num	4	33	24	Then from mount Sepher to Arada,
 Numbers	Num	4	33	25	thence to Maceloth,
 Numbers	Num	4	33	26	thence to Thahath,
 Numbers	Num	4	33	27	thence to Thare,
 Numbers	Num	4	33	28	thence to Methca,
 Numbers	Num	4	33	29	thence to Hesmona,
 Numbers	Num	4	33	30	thence to Moseroth,
 Numbers	Num	4	33	31	thence to Benejaacan,
 Numbers	Num	4	33	32	thence to mount Gadgad.
 Numbers	Num	4	33	33	Then from mount Gadgad to Jetebatha,
 Numbers	Num	4	33	34	thence to Hebrona,
 Numbers	Num	4	33	35	thence to Asiongaber,
 Numbers	Num	4	33	36	thence to the desert of Sin, that is, to Cades.
 Numbers	Num	4	33	37	It was after they had left Cades that they encamped on mount Hor, at the verge of the Edomite territory;
 Numbers	Num	4	33	38	and now, at the Lord’s command, the high priest Aaron went up to the top of mount Hor and died there. This was on the first day of the fifth month of the fortieth year since the Israelites left Egypt,
 Numbers	Num	4	33	39	and Aaron had now reached the age of a hundred and twenty-three.
 Numbers	Num	4	33	40	Now, too, the Chanaanite king who had his capital, Arad, in the south country, heard that Israel was marching against Chanaan.
 Numbers	Num	4	33	41	From mount Hor they moved their camp to Salmona,
 Numbers	Num	4	33	42	thence to Phunon,
 Numbers	Num	4	33	43	thence to Oboth,
 Numbers	Num	4	33	44	thence to Ijeabarim, within the frontiers of Moab,
 Numbers	Num	4	33	45	thence to Dibongad,
 Numbers	Num	4	33	46	thence to Helmondeblathaim,
 Numbers	Num	4	33	47	thence to the hill country of Abarim, by mount Nabo.
 Numbers	Num	4	33	48	When they left the hill country of Abarim, they removed to the plains of Moab, facing Jericho on the other side of Jordan,
 Numbers	Num	4	33	49	their camp stretching across the whole Moabite plain from Bethsimoth to Abelsatim.
 Numbers	Num	4	33	50	And here the Lord spoke to Moses
 Numbers	Num	4	33	51	giving him a message for the Israelites: When you have crossed Jordan, and find yourselves in the land of Chanaan,
 Numbers	Num	4	33	52	you must destroy all its inhabitants, break down their pillars, shatter their idols, devastate their mountain shrines.
 Numbers	Num	4	33	53	The land must be swept clean before you settle in it. Here it is that I mean to give you your home,
 Numbers	Num	4	33	54	which you will divide up by lot, wide lands for the many, a narrow strip for the few, each clan and each household receiving such portion as the lot has assigned to it.
 Numbers	Num	4	33	55	If you refuse to root out the nations that now live there, those who are left will be eyesores to you, barbs in your side, to dispute with you the land that is yours;
 Numbers	Num	4	33	56	and meanwhile, I will plague you with the plagues that should have been theirs.
 Numbers	Num	4	34	1	And the Lord bade Moses
 Numbers	Num	4	34	2	give this message too to the Israelites: When you have entered Chanaan and duly taken possession of it, these shall be the frontiers that bound it.
 Numbers	Num	4	34	3	The southern end of your territory will begin at the desert of Sin, by Edom, bordered on the east by the Sea of Salt.
 Numbers	Num	4	34	4	Its border on the south shall curve along the Scorpion Pass till it crosses over to Senna, and reaches southward as far as Cades-Barne; then it will go to the town called Adar, and pass on to Asemona.
 Numbers	Num	4	34	5	From Asemona it will curve round to the Brook of Egypt, ending at the shore of the Great Sea.
 Numbers	Num	4	34	6	On the western side, your territories shall begin at the Great Sea; they shall have no other frontier than this.
 Numbers	Num	4	34	7	Your northern border will stretch from the Great Sea to Summit mountain,
 Numbers	Num	4	34	8	and so by Emath to the edge of Sedada,
 Numbers	Num	4	34	9	and on to Zephrona and the village of Enan; all this on the north.
 Numbers	Num	4	34	10	From this village of Enan you will mark out your eastern border till it reaches Sephama,
 Numbers	Num	4	34	11	passing from Sephama to Rebla, close to the well of Daphnis, and from there to the eastern shore of Lake Cenereth.
 Numbers	Num	4	34	12	So it will fall into the Jordan valley and end at last with the Sea of Salt. These shall be the frontiers that bound your land.
 Numbers	Num	4	34	13	So Moses passed on word to the Israelites that this was the territory they were to divide up by lot; the Lord’s destined gift to nine and a half out of the twelve tribes.
 Numbers	Num	4	34	14	(All the clans of Ruben’s tribe and of the tribe of Gad, with half the tribe of Manasses,
 Numbers	Num	4	34	15	two and a half tribes in all, had received their portion on the eastern bank of Jordan opposite Jericho.)
 Numbers	Num	4	34	16	And now the Lord said to Moses,
 Numbers	Num	4	34	17	These are the names of the men who will divide up the land for you. First, the high priest Eleazar and Josue the son of Nun,
 Numbers	Num	4	34	18	and then the chieftains of the several tribes, as follows.
 Numbers	Num	4	34	19	For Juda, Caleb the son of Jephone,
 Numbers	Num	4	34	20	for Simeon, Samuel the son of Ammiud,
 Numbers	Num	4	34	21	for Benjamin, Elidad the son of Chaselon,
 Numbers	Num	4	34	22	for Dan, Bocci the son of Jogli.
 Numbers	Num	4	34	23	And among Joseph’s descendants, for Manasses, Hanniel the son of Ephod,
 Numbers	Num	4	34	24	for Ephraim, Camuel the son of Sephthan.
 Numbers	Num	4	34	25	For Zabulon, Elisaphan the son of Pharnach,
 Numbers	Num	4	34	26	for Issachar, Phaltiel the son of Ozan,
 Numbers	Num	4	34	27	for Aser, Ahiud the son of Salomi,
 Numbers	Num	4	34	28	for Nephthali, Phedael the son of Ammiud.
 Numbers	Num	4	34	29	These were the men the Lord appointed to divide up Chanaan between the Israelites.
 Numbers	Num	4	35	1	This was another message the Lord gave to Moses on the eastern bank of Jordan opposite Jericho;
 Numbers	Num	4	35	2	he was to bid the Israelites make provision for the Levites out of these lands of theirs.
 Numbers	Num	4	35	3	The Levites were to have cities with precincts about them; cities for the Levites themselves to live in, and precincts for their flocks and cattle,
 Numbers	Num	4	35	4	stretching a thousand yards beyond the city walls.
 Numbers	Num	4	35	5	Two thousand cubits to the east, as many to the south, as many towards the western sea, as many to the north; the city was to lie in the middle with precincts all round it.
 Numbers	Num	4	35	6	Six of the towns granted to the Levites would be sanctuaries for the outlaw, offering a refuge to homicides, and there would be forty-two more,
 Numbers	Num	4	35	7	making forty-eight cities in all, with precincts attached to them.
 Numbers	Num	4	35	8	All these cities were to be a toll levied from the lands of the Israelites, in greater number from those who held more, in less number from those who held less; they would make their grant to the Levites according to their several capacities.
 Numbers	Num	4	35	9	And the Lord spoke to Moses
 Numbers	Num	4	35	10	giving him this message for the Israelites: When you have crossed Jordan and reached Chanaan,
 Numbers	Num	4	35	11	you must decide which of your cities are to be sanctuaries for men who have shed blood unwittingly.
 Numbers	Num	4	35	12	Such a man, if he takes refuge there, will be beyond the reach of avenging clansmen, until such time as he can appear and have his cause decided by the people.
 Numbers	Num	4	35	13	Of the cities appointed as sanctuaries,
 Numbers	Num	4	35	14	three must lie beyond the Jordan, three in Chanaan itself;
 Numbers	Num	4	35	15	and they shall be open not only to Israelites but to the aliens that lodge or dwell among you, as a refuge for all who have shed blood unwittingly.
 Numbers	Num	4	35	16	In such causes, anyone who struck a deadly blow with a weapon of iron must be reckoned a murderer, and put to death;
 Numbers	Num	4	35	17	and the penalty is all the same if the deadly blow was struck with a stone,
 Numbers	Num	4	35	18	or with a piece of wood.
 Numbers	Num	4	35	19	Any kinsman of the dead man may strike the murderer down, strike him down without more ado as soon as he meets him.
 Numbers	Num	4	35	20	Anyone, that is, who thrusts at a man out of malice, or lies in wait for him and discharges a weapon at him,
 Numbers	Num	4	35	21	or makes a deadly assault on him because they are enemies, is a murderer, to be struck down by the kinsmen of the dead man as soon as they meet him.
 Numbers	Num	4	35	22	But if it was by chance, without any malice
 Numbers	Num	4	35	23	or feud between them,
 Numbers	Num	4	35	24	and this is proved in the hearing of the people, after due consideration of the pleas brought by the slayer and by the dead man’s kin,
 Numbers	Num	4	35	25	then he is innocent, and must be rescued from the avenger’s power. He must be taken back, by award of the court, to his city of refuge, and make his abode there until the death of the high priest then anointed.
 Numbers	Num	4	35	26	Once the slayer leaves the confines of the sanctuary town,
 Numbers	Num	4	35	27	anyone who has a feud against him may strike him down wherever he meets him, without incurring guilt;
 Numbers	Num	4	35	28	he should have remained in his city of refuge until the high priest died. On the high priest’s death, the slayer is free to return home.
 Numbers	Num	4	35	29	These laws shall hold good among you everywhere and always.
 Numbers	Num	4	35	30	Witnesses are needed before the murderer can be punished; the word of a single witness does not suffice for his condemnation.
 Numbers	Num	4	35	31	You are not to accept blood-money from the murderer; he is to be put to death there and then.
 Numbers	Num	4	35	32	Nor, upon any condition, must you allow the outlaw who has taken sanctuary to return home until the high priest’s death;
 Numbers	Num	4	35	33	this would bring pollution on the land that is yours. The blood of an innocent man involves the whole land in such guilt as can only be expiated by the murderer’s own blood;
 Numbers	Num	4	35	34	and you must keep your territory clean of such defilement if I am to dwell among you; the Lord himself is the guest of Israel.
 Numbers	Num	4	36	1	And now a plea was brought to Moses, before all the rulers of Israel, by the chiefs of the clan descended from Galaad, son of Machir, son of Manasses, that came of Joseph’s stock.
 Numbers	Num	4	36	2	Thou art our master, they said, and the Lord has commanded thee, in dividing the land between the sons of Israel, to give a portion to the daughters of Salphaad, the portion which should have gone to their father.
 Numbers	Num	4	36	3	If these marry into another tribe, their land will go with them, and it will be lost to our tribe, transferred to the possession of another.
 Numbers	Num	4	36	4	The fiftieth year, the year of jubilee, will come round, but still the division of holdings will remain disturbed, and the land belonging to one tribe will be held by another.
 Numbers	Num	4	36	5	And Moses, at the Lord’s bidding, made this declaration to the Israelites, The sons of Joseph are in the right,
 Numbers	Num	4	36	6	and this is the ruling which the Lord gives concerning the daughters of Salphaad, Let them marry whom they will, so long as it is within their own tribe.
 Numbers	Num	4	36	7	The portions assigned to the sons of Israel must not pass from tribe to tribe; all men must take wives from their own tribe and clan,
 Numbers	Num	4	36	8	and all women must marry within their own tribes, so that property may remain within the clan.
 Numbers	Num	4	36	9	The tribes must not intermingle, but remain separate
 Numbers	Num	4	36	10	according to the Lord’s plan for them. So the daughters of Salphaad carried out the Lord’s bidding,
 Numbers	Num	4	36	11	and all of them, Maala, Thersa, Hegla, Melcha and Noa married their own cousins,
 Numbers	Num	4	36	12	men sprung from Manasses, that was son of Joseph. So the portion granted to them remained within their father’s tribe and clan.
 Numbers	Num	4	36	13	Such were the decrees and awards which the Lord delivered to the Israelites through Moses on the eastern bank of Jordan opposite Jericho.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	1	1	It was thus Moses spoke to the people of Israel while they were still on the other side of Jordan, in the desert plain that looks towards the Red Sea, with Pharan and Thophel and Laban and Haseroth, a country where gold abounds, for its frontiers;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	1	2	the plain that is spanned by a journey of eleven days from Horeb to Cades-Barne, by way of mount Seir.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	1	3	It was the first day of the eleventh month of the fortieth year, when Moses handed on to the Israelites the commands which the Lord had entrusted to him.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	1	4	He had now given them victory over Sehon, king of the Amorrhites, that lived at Hesebon, and Og, king of Basan, that lived at Astaroth and Edrai,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	1	5	still beyond the Jordan, in the Moabite country. Moses, then, began to expound the law, with these words:
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	1	6	We were still at Horeb when the Lord our God said to us, This mountain has been your home long enough;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	1	7	it is time for you to turn back, and make your way to the hill country of the Amorrhites and its neighbourhood. Low ground and high ground, southern plain and sea-coast, all Chanaan including mount Lebanon, right up to the great river Euphrates,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	1	8	I have given it all (said he) into your hands; go in and take possession of it; it is the home the Lord promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and their posterity after them.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	1	9	It was at this time, too, that I said to you,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	1	10	The charge of you is too heavy for my own strength, such increase has the Lord your God given you. To-day, you are countless as the stars in heaven;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	1	11	may the Lord, the God of your fathers, add many thousands yet to your number, and grant you the blessing he has promised!
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	1	12	But I have not strength to bear, alone, the weight of all your affairs, all your quarrels;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	1	13	you must give me men of ripe wisdom and quick minds, high in repute among their fellow-tribesmen, to be appointed your rulers.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	1	14	And when I had your answer, approving my design,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	1	15	I chose out of all your tribes men of wisdom and repute, and I appointed them to be your rulers, with powers over a thousand men, or a hundred, or fifty, or ten together, issuing commands to you as need arose.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	1	16	And this was the charge I gave them: Listen to the pleadings of each man, and give a just award to citizen and to stranger alike.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	1	17	Listen impartially to great and small, without undue regard for any man; it is God’s justice you are administering. If any quarrel seems hard to decide, refer it to me, and I will take cognisance of it myself.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	1	18	At this time, too, I gave you all the commandments you were to follow.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	1	19	So we left Horeb, and traversed that wide desert whose terrible aspect is well known to you, on the way to the hill country of the Amorrhites, as the Lord bade us. And when we reached Cades-Barne
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	1	20	I told you, Now you have made your way to these mountains of the Amorrhites, which the Lord means to give you for your own.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	1	21	The land you see before you is the Lord’s gift to you, a divine gift; march in and take possession of it, in fulfilment of the promises he made to your fathers; let there be no cowardice, no shrinking here.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	1	22	Whereupon you all preferred a request to me that men should be sent out to view the land, and bring back word how best to approach it, what cities you should first assail;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	1	23	and I, listening to your words with approval, chose out twelve such men, one from each tribe.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	1	24	These set out, and traversed the hill country as far as the Valley of Grapes; viewed the whole land,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	1	25	and brought back with them such sample of its fruits as would show us how fertile it was; This is a fair land, they said, that the Lord means to give us.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	1	26	But you had no heart for the enterprise, put no trust in the promises of the Lord your God.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	1	27	The whisper went round in your tents, The Lord wishes us ill; that is why he has brought us away from Egypt, to leave us at the mercy of the Amorrhites, and so make an end of us.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	1	28	What enterprise is this? The messengers we sent have taken the heart out of us, with their tales of a great multitude of men, taller in stature than we are, of cities walled up to the skies, of the sons of Enac they saw there.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	1	29	And I reasoned with you, Do not be afraid, do not shrink before them;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	1	30	will not the Lord God who is your leader fight on your side, as he did in Egypt for all to see?
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	1	31	Your own eyes have witnessed how the Lord your God carried you through the desert as a man carries his little son, all the long road you have travelled to reach this spot.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	1	32	But even so you had no confidence in the Lord your God,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	1	33	that had led you on the march and marked out your encampments for you, guiding you on your journey in fire by night, in cloud by day.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	1	34	Listening to this talk of yours, the Lord was angry with you, and he took an oath
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	1	35	that none of that worthless generation should live to see the fair land that was his promised gift to your fathers,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	1	36	except Caleb the son of Jephone. He was to see it, he and his sons should have the gift of the ground his feet had trodden, because he had carried out the Lord’s will.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	1	37	And what marvel that the people should feel his displeasure, when the Lord was angry with me too for your sakes? There is no entering there, he told me, for thee either.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	1	38	Josue the son of Nun, thy servant, shall go in instead of thee; bid him take heart and play the man; it shall be for him to apportion Israel its lands.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	1	39	These little ones of yours, that were to pass, you thought, into captivity, these sons of yours, that cannot yet discern right from wrong, shall have leave to enter; theirs the land shall be, my promised gift.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	1	40	As for you, turn your steps back towards the Red Sea again, back into the desert.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	1	41	Ah no, you answered me, we confess our fault against the Lord; we ourselves are ready to set forth and do battle, as the Lord our God would have us. And even as you were on your way to the hill country, all armed,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	1	42	the Lord gave me a message for you, Do not march to the attack, or you will be overthrown by your enemies; I am at your side no longer.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	1	43	My warning went unheard; puffed up with pride, you disobeyed the Lord’s word and marched on into the hill country,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	1	44	till the Amorrhite mountain-dwellers came out to meet you, and chased you away, thick as a swarm of bees, cut you down all the way from Seir to Horma.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	1	45	Many were the plaints you uttered in the Lord’s presence when you came back, but he would not listen to you,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	1	46	and long you waited in idleness, there at Cades-Barne.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	2	1	So we went back towards the Red Sea, back into the desert, as the Lord had bidden me, and for a long time the centre of our wanderings was the hill country of Seir.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	2	2	Then the Lord said to me,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	2	3	You have spent long enough roaming about these hills, you must go northwards now.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	2	4	And give the people this message, Your way lies by the frontiers of your own brethren, the sons of Edom. They will be alarmed at your coming,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	2	5	and you must take good care not to assail them. These mountains of Seir are the portion I have given to Esau, and you are not to have a foot of ground there for your own.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	2	6	Food you may have, but it must be bought at a fair price; you may draw and drink their water, but not without payment.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	2	7	Do you grudge that, when the Lord has so prospered all your enterprises, watched over your journey through this wild wilderness, secured you from want by forty years of his companionship?
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	2	8	So we passed beyond these brethren of ours, the Edomites of Seir, taking the road that leads over the level plain, from Elath and Asiongaber. And when we reached the path that leads into the desert of Moab,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	2	9	the Lord said to me, Do not levy war against the Moabites, or attack them; I do not mean to give thee any of their lands. Ar is the territory I have given to the sons of Lot for their home.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	2	10	The earliest inhabitants of the country were the Emim, a great race of warriors, so tall in stature that they might have come of Enac’s family;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	2	11	and indeed men held them to be giants of Enac’s breed, but the Moabite name for them is Emim.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	2	12	(So, too, Seir had its earlier inhabitants, the Horites, but they were dispossessed and destroyed by the sons of Esau, who took possession of the land just as Israel took possession of the land which the Lord gave him.)
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	2	13	So we moved forward, and reached the brook Zared, minded to cross it.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	2	14	Between our departure from Cades-Barne and the crossing of the brook Zared lay thirty-eight years of wandering, till all the fighting men of that generation had passed away from this camp of ours, as the Lord swore they should;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	2	15	on all of them his hand fell, and they were lost to our ranks.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	2	16	And when all those warriors were dead
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	2	17	the Lord had a command to give me:
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	2	18	To-day thou shalt pass beyond the frontiers of Moab, at the city called Ar,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	2	19	and reach the neighbourhood of the Ammonites. Do not levy war against them or threaten battle; I do not mean to give thee any of the Ammonites’ land; here too the children of Lot must dwell.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	2	20	(This, too, was reckoned a land of giants; it was a giant race that lived there once, the Zomzommim, as they are called by the Ammonites,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	2	21	a people great and powerful, tall in stature as the Enacim themselves. But the Lord dispossessed them to make room for the Ammonites, and these made their dwelling there instead.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	2	22	Just so he had destroyed the Horites, that once lived in Seir, and given their land to the Edomites, who enjoy it to this day:
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	2	23	the Hevites, too, that dwelt in Haserim, right up to Gaza, were dispossessed by the Caphtorim; these left their home and settled in the land of the Hevites, whom they destroyed.)
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	2	24	March on, then, and cross the ravine of Arnon; here is the prey I have given thee, Sehon, the Amorrhite king who reigns at Hesebon. Join battle with him, and set about the conquest of his land.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	2	25	To-day I will begin making thy name a name of terror, so that every nation on earth, hearing it, shall be overcome with fear, sudden as the throes of a woman in travail.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	2	26	So, from the desert of Cademoth, I sent an embassy to Sehon king of Hesebon, with peaceful overtures.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	2	27	We will pass through thy land, I said, by the common highway, not turning aside to right or left.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	2	28	Sell us food to eat, and we will pay for it; allow us water to drink, and we will pay for it. Only grant us leave to pass through,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	2	29	like the Edomites in Seir and the Moabites in Ar, so that we can reach the Jordan, and cross over it into the land which the Lord our God is giving us to be our home.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	2	30	But Sehon, king of Hesebon, would not let us pass; the Lord your God gave him a hard heart, a stubborn will, so as to put him at your mercy; and it has happened under your eyes.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	2	31	I am ready, the Lord told me, to deliver him into thy power, and his land with him; set about the conquest of it;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	2	32	and when Sehon offered battle at Jasa, coming out to meet us with all his forces,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	2	33	the Lord our God gave us the victory over him. We made an end of him and of his sons and of all his people,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	2	34	took all his cities there and then, putting all that dwelt there, men, women, and children, to the sword, and spared nothing
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	2	35	except the beasts we drove off for our use, and such plunder as captured cities yield.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	2	36	From Aroer on the bank of Arnon, where it lies in its valley, right up to Galaad, there was no town or city but came into our hands; the Lord our God put all in our possession
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	2	37	except the Ammonite country we might not enter, and all that lies in the ravine of Jeboc, and the mountain cities, and those other lands from which he bade us turn away.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	3	1	Then we marched on by the road that leads to Basan, and Og, that was king of Basan, came out to meet us with all his forces, and offered battle at Edrai.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	3	2	Do not be afraid of him, the Lord said to me; both he and his people and his country are at your mercy, and you must treat him as you treated the Amorrhite king Sehon, who reigned at Hesebon.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	3	3	So the Lord our God gave us a fresh victory over Og, king of Basan, and all his people, and we exterminated them,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	3	4	there and then laying waste all his cities, all the sixty cities of Argob in Basan, where Og reigned; not a town escaped us.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	3	5	All sixty were fortified with high walls, gates and bars; and there were other, unwalled towns past numbering.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	3	6	We made an end of them, as we had made an end of Sehon, that reigned in Hesebon, destroying all the inhabitants of their cities, men, women and children,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	3	7	plundering their cattle and all the plunder their cities yielded.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	3	8	The territory we wrested at this time from the power of the two Amorrhite kings was the land beyond Jordan, from the Arnon ravine up to mount Hermon
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	3	9	(which the Sidonians call Sarion, and the Amorrhites Sanir);
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	3	10	all the lowland cities, and the whole of Galaad and Basan up to Selcha and Edrai, where Og, king of Basan, reigned.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	3	11	(This Og, king of Basan, was the only one left of the old giant breed; at Rabbath, in the Ammonite country, they still shew his iron bedstead, nine cubits long and four cubits broad, as we lesser men reckon the size of a cubit.)
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	3	12	The land thus conquered, from Aroer on the Arnon to the middle of the hill country of Galaad, I gave, with its cities, to Ruben and Gad.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	3	13	There was room, too, for half the tribe of Manasses in the rest of Galaad and in Basan, that is, the country of Argob; (Basan is also called the Land of Giants.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	3	14	It was Jair, a descendant of Manasses, that won possession of Argob, right up to the borders of Gessuri and Machati, and called Basan after his own name, Havoth-Jair, that is, Jair’s villages, which is the name they bear still.)
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	3	15	The Machirite clan of Manasses found their home in Galaad as well as in Basan;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	3	16	but the rest of Galaad I gave to Ruben and Gad, reaching half-way up the Arnon ravine, with the border-lands that run up to the river Jeboc, where the Ammonites have their frontier,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	3	17	the wild plains, too, and the eastern bank of Jordan from Cenereth as far as the desert sea called the Sea of Salt, and the spurs of Phasga.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	3	18	At the same time I charged you of the three tribes, The Lord your God is giving you this territory for your home, but all of you that are fighting men must march in the van with the other tribes of Israel, your brethren,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	3	19	leaving your wives and children and cattle behind you; I know well that you are rich in cattle. These must be left in the cities I have assigned to you,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	3	20	until the Lord grants to your brethren, as to you, peaceful possession of their lands, the lands he means to give them across the Jordan. Then you can go back, and each shall enjoy the portion I have assigned to him.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	3	21	Then, too, I said to Josue, Thy own eyes have witnessed what light work the Lord your God made of these two kings; it will fare no better with the kingdoms thou wilt find beyond the river.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	3	22	Do not be afraid of them; the Lord your God means to do battle for you.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	3	23	Then, too, I pleaded with the Lord, and this was my prayer:
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	3	24	Lord God, thou hast given thy servant proof already of thy greatness, of the strength thy arm can wield; what other god in heaven or on earth can rival thy deeds, can match his power with thine?
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	3	25	Let me go across, then, and have sight of this fair land beyond the Jordan, of its noble hills, and of Lebanon itself!
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	3	26	But the Lord, through your fault, was angry with me, and would not listen to me. Enough, he said, speak to me of this no more.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	3	27	Go up if thou wilt to the top of Phasga, and turn thy eyes west, north, south and east; the sight of it thou mayest have, but thou shalt not cross yonder stream of Jordan.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	3	28	Give charge to Josue, bid him take heart and play the man; he it is that shall march at the head of this people of mine, and distribute to them the land thou must be content with seeing.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	3	29	So we lay encamped, there in the valley, opposite the shrine of Phogor.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	4	1	And now, Israel, pay good heed to the laws and the decrees I am making known to you. It is yours to observe them, if you would have life; if you would find your way into the land promised you by the Lord God of your fathers, and take possession of it.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	4	2	There must be no adding to this message of mine, no retrenching it; the commands I lay upon you are the commands of the Lord your God; keep them well.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	4	3	Your own eyes have witnessed what sentence the Lord passed against Beelphegor, purging out from among you all that worshipped at his shrine,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	4	4	while you, who remain faithful to the Lord, have lived to remember it.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	4	5	Be well assured that the laws and decrees I have given you come from the Lord himself, and must still be observed when you have taken possession of the land that is to be yours.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	4	6	Keep them in honour and live by them; these are to be the arts, this the wisdom, that you teach the world, as men come to hear of these laws, and say to themselves, Surely they must be wise, surely they must be discerning folk, that belong to so great a nation as this!
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	4	7	And indeed no other nation is so great; no other nation has gods that draw near to it, as our God draws near to us whenever we pray to him.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	4	8	What other nation can boast that it has observances and decrees so rightly ordered as we have in this law of ours, this law which I am setting before your eyes to-day?
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	4	9	Keep anxious guard, then, Israel, as thou lovest thy own life. Never let the memory of what thy own eyes have seen fade from thy heart, as long as thou livest; hand it on to thy sons, and thy sons’ sons,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	4	10	the memory of that day when thou didst stand in the Lord’s presence at mount Horeb. Summon the whole people, the Lord said to me, so that they may hear these words of mine, and learn, and teach their children after them, to fear me all their life long.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	4	11	And you, as you came close to the spurs of the mountain, found it sending up flames high as heaven, all wreathed in darkness and cloud and mist.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	4	12	From the heart of those flames the Lord spoke to you, so that you could hear his voice, but had no vision of his form.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	4	13	He told you of his covenant, that you were to keep; uttered ten warnings, which he wrote down on two stone tablets;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	4	14	bade me, at that same time, hand on to you the observances and decrees you were to follow in the land that should one day be your home.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	4	15	Be watchful, then, at the peril of your lives. When the Lord spoke to you from the heart of the flame on mount Horeb, there was no outward shape you saw.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	4	16	And will you be deluded into carving some outward image or likeness, of man or woman,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	4	17	of beasts that roam on the earth or birds that fly in the air,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	4	18	of creeping things on land or fish that dwell in the waters, down at the roots of earth?
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	4	19	Wilt thou be led astray as thou lookest up at the sky, at sun and moon and all the host of stars, into making gods of them, worshipping those creatures which the Lord thy God has made, to be the common drudges of every nation under heaven?
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	4	20	Why else did the Lord choose you out, deliver you from Egypt’s furnace of iron, but to make you a people all his own, as you are this day?
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	4	21	What though I, through your fault, have incurred the Lord’s anger, so that he has sworn never to let me cross Jordan, and see the fair land he means to give you?
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	4	22	What though I must die here, still on Jordan’s further bank? You will cross over it; that fair land will be yours.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	4	23	Never forget, then, the covenant the Lord thy God has made with thee; never fashion thyself those images the Lord has forbidden thee to fashion;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	4	24	the Lord thy God is a fire that burns all before it, loves thee with a jealous love.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	4	25	Sons will spring from you, and beget sons in their turn; what if you should go astray, when you have been long settled in the land, fashion yourselves some idol, and rouse the Lord your God to indignation at the sight of your evil-doing?
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	4	26	I call heaven and earth to witness this day; the land which now lies within your grasp, beyond Jordan, will soon be yours no longer. Your enjoyment of it will be cut short, and the Lord will make an end of you,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	4	27	scattering you over the world and leaving but a few of you to live in a land of exile,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	4	28	where you must needs worship the gods which men’s hands have made, things of wood and stone that cannot see or hear, cannot taste or smell.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	4	29	There, if thou wilt have recourse to the Lord thy God, if thou wilt but have recourse to him with all thy heart, in the bitterness of thy tribulation, thou wilt find him again.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	4	30	Yes, when all these threats have come home to thee, thou wilt turn back to the Lord thy God at last, and listen to his voice.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	4	31	The Lord thy God is a God of mercy; he will not forsake thee, will not utterly destroy thee, and will not forget the sworn covenant he made with thy fathers.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	4	32	Search the history of the days that went before thee, far back as the time when God made man on the earth, wide as earth’s end from earth’s end; is there any other record of such happenings?
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	4	33	That a people should hear the voice of God speaking out of the heart of the flames, as thou didst, and live to tell of it?
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	4	34	That God should intervene, and single out for himself one nation above all the rest; that he should try men’s hearts with portent and with marvel, fight against them with constraining force, with open display of his strength, with plagues terrible to see? All this the Lord your God did for you in Egypt, and your own eyes have witnessed it;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	4	35	proof to you that this Lord is God, that no other can compare with him.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	4	36	From heaven he uttered his warnings, and on earth his voice came to thee from the heart of that dread fire he shewed thee;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	4	37	and all because he loved thy fathers, and had chosen out their posterity. He rescued thee from Egypt, and marched on before thee with the great power that is his,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	4	38	ready to dispossess proud nations that were more than a match for thee at thy coming, and make their lands thine; it has happened here under thy eyes.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	4	39	Be sure, then, of this henceforward, and keep it before thy mind, that the Lord is the God who reigns in heaven above and on earth beneath; there is no other.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	4	40	His laws and decrees thou must observe, as I have proclaimed them to thee, if thou and thy sons after thee are to prosper, and have long enjoyment of the land the Lord thy God means to give thee.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	4	41	Then Moses set apart three cities on the east of Jordan,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	4	42	as a place of refuge, if he could but escape to one of them, for the man that had killed his neighbour unwittingly, without having any feud against him in times past.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	4	43	These were Bosor, out in the desert, in the plain that belongs to Ruben, Ramoth in Galaad, for Gad, and Golan in Basan, for Manasses.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	4	44	Here follows the law which Moses proclaimed to the sons of Israel;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	4	45	these are the commandments and decrees and awards he gave to the Israelites that had marched with him out of Egypt.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	4	46	It was beyond Jordan that he gave them, opposite the shrine of Phogor, in the country that once belonged to the Amorrhite king Sehon, who reigned in Hesebon. But now Moses had defeated him, and the sons of Israel, coming back from Egypt,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	4	47	had overrun both his territory and the territory of Og, king of Basan. These were the two Amorrhite kings that reigned east of the Jordan,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	4	48	from Aroer, on the banks of Arnon, to the hill of Sion, that is, of Hermon;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	4	49	ruled all over the plain that lies east of Jordan, down to the Desert Sea and the spurs of mount Phasga.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	5	1	Here, then, Moses called the whole of Israel together, and said to them, Listen, Israel, to the observances and the decrees I now proclaim in your hearing; learn them well, and live by them.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	5	2	When we were at Horeb, the Lord our God made a covenant with us,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	5	3	such a covenant as he never made with our fathers, but kept it for us, who stand here, living men, to-day.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	5	4	Face to face he spoke with us on the mountain, out of the flames;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	5	5	and yet I must be your representative all the while, a mediator between the Lord and you to tell you what his commands were, such dread of those fires kept you back from the hill-side.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	5	6	And thus he spoke: I am the Lord thy God, it was I who rescued thee from the land of Egypt, where thou didst dwell in slavery.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	5	7	Thou shalt not defy me by making other gods thy own.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	5	8	Thou shalt not carve thyself images, or fashion the likeness of anything in heaven above, or on earth beneath, or in the waters at the roots of earth,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	5	9	to bow down and worship it. I, thy God, the Lord Almighty, am jealous in my love; be my enemy, and thy children, to the third and fourth generation, shall make amends;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	5	10	love me, keep my commandments, and mercy shall be thine a thousand-fold.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	5	11	Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God lightly on thy lips; if a man uses that name lightly, he will not go unpunished.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	5	12	Observe the sabbath day and keep it holy, as the Lord thy God has bidden thee.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	5	13	Six days for drudgery, for doing all the work thou hast to do;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	5	14	when the seventh day comes, it is a sabbath, a day of rest, consecrated to the Lord thy God. That day, all work shall be at an end, for thee and for every son and daughter of thine, thy servants and serving-women, thy ass, too, and thy ox, and all thy beasts, and the aliens that live within thy city walls. It must bring rest to thy men-servants and thy maid-servants, as to thyself.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	5	15	Remember that thou too wast a slave in Egypt; what constraining force the Lord used, what a display he made of his power, to rescue thee; and now he will have thee keep this day of rest.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	5	16	Honour thy father and thy mother, as the Lord God has bidden thee; so shalt thou live long to enjoy the land which the Lord thy God means to give thee.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	5	17	Thou shalt do no murder.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	5	18	Thou shalt not commit adultery.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	5	19	Thou shalt not steal.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	5	20	Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	5	21	Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife. Thou shalt not set thy heart upon thy neighbour’s house or lands, his servants or handmaids, an ox or ass or anything that is his.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	5	22	All this the Lord proclaimed to the whole multitude of you, there on the mountain, speaking aloud from the heart of the flames, the cloud, and the darkness; this and no more. And he wrote it down on two tablets of stone which he entrusted to me.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	5	23	And you, what thoughts were yours, when you listened to this voice that came out of the darkness, saw the mountain all aflame? You came to me, elders and chieftains of the tribes, and pleaded with me;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	5	24	The Lord our God has given us sight, now, of the splendour and the greatness that is his, we have been able to listen to his voice coming out of the heart of the flames; to-day has proved to us that a man may see God and live to tell of it.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	5	25	Must we court death, with this raging fire ever ready to devour us? Die we surely must, if we hear the voice of the Lord God again.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	5	26	Frail mortality cannot listen, as we have listened, to the voice of the living God speaking from the heart of the flames, without incurring death at last.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	5	27	Do thou go near, and listen to all the commands the Lord thy God has for thee; thou shalt proclaim it to us, and we will obey.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	5	28	Hearing this, the Lord said to me, I have listened to the plea this people of mine has made to thee, and all they have said is well said.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	5	29	Ah, had they but hearts so true that they would always fear me, always keep my commandments! Then it should go well with them, and with their sons for all time.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	5	30	Go and bid them return to their tents;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	5	31	and do thou remain here at my side while I make known to thee the laws and observances and decrees I would have taught, the laws of that country which I am giving them for their home.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	5	32	It is for you, then, to observe the commands which the Lord has given you, never swerving to right or left,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	5	33	but still treading the path which the Lord your God has marked out for you; so that you may enjoy, in long prosperity, the land which shall be yours.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	6	1	To me, then, the Lord your God entrusted the proclaiming of those laws, and observances, and decrees, so that you would have a rule to live by, yonder in the land that is to be your home.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	6	2	Go in fear of the Lord thy God; here is a lifelong task for thee, and thy sons and thy grandsons after thee, to observe all the laws and decrees I here make known to thee; so thou wilt keep what thou hast won.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	6	3	The Lord thy God, Israel, has promised thee a land that is all milk and honey; but if thou art to prosper and multiply there, thou must needs listen to his commands, and mark them well, and live by them.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	6	4	Listen then, Israel; there is no Lord but the Lord our God,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	6	5	and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with the love of thy whole heart, and thy whole soul, and thy whole strength.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	6	6	The commands I give thee this day must be written on thy heart,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	6	7	so that thou canst teach them to thy sons, and keep them in mind continually, at home and on thy travels, sleeping and waking;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	6	8	bound close to thy hand for a remembrancer, ever moving up and down before thy eyes;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	6	9	the legend thou dost inscribe on door and gate-post.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	6	10	A time will come when the Lord has granted thee entrance into the land which he promised to thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; when he has given thee possession of cities great and fair, not of thy building,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	6	11	houses that abound in wealth, not of thy making, wells not of thy digging, vineyards and oliveyards not of thy planting;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	6	12	when thou hast eaten of these and taken thy fill.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	6	13	Then beware; then thou wilt be in danger of forgetting that it was the Lord brought thee out of the land of Egypt, where thou hadst dwelt in slavery. Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, to him only shalt thou do service, and swear by no other name than this.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	6	14	All the neighbouring peoples have their own gods; do not fall away into worship of them;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	6	15	the Lord thy God, who dwells so close to thee, is jealous in his divine love, and if he is roused to anger with thee, he will sweep thee off the face of the earth.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	6	16	Thou shalt not put the Lord thy God to the proof, as thou didst at the Place of Challenge;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	6	17	it is for thee to live by his commandments, by the decrees and observances he has enjoined on thee,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	6	18	to obey the Lord’s good pleasure. So shalt thou prosper, and the fair land which the Lord promised to thy fathers shall be thine to have and to hold;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	6	19	he will be true to his word, and dispossess all those enemies of thine at thy onslaught.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	6	20	And so, in time to come, when one of thy sons asks thee what is the meaning of all the decrees and observances and awards which the Lord your God has given you,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	6	21	this shall be thy answer: We dwelt in Egypt once, as Pharao’s slaves, and the Lord our God rescued us from Egypt by his constraining power,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	6	22	subduing Pharao and his court with portents and marvels, great and grievous, under our eyes.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	6	23	So rescued, he brought us here, and gave us entrance into this fair land which he had promised to our fathers;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	6	24	warning us that we must observe all these laws of his, and go in fear of the Lord our God. Then the prosperity that is ours to-day will be ours all our life long;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	6	25	he will have mercy on us, if he sees us ever faithful to his commandments, ever obedient to his will.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	7	1	Here then, is the land thou art to invade and conquer. To make room for thee in this land, the Lord thy God means to dispossess a multitude of nations at thy onslaught, Hethite, Gergesite, Amorrhite, Chanaanite, Pherezite, Hevite and Jebusite; seven nations thou art no match for, in number or in strength,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	7	2	but the Lord thy God will give thee victory over them. Thy part is, to exterminate them, never parleying with them, never pitying them.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	7	3	There must be no bonds of marriage between you; as thou wouldst deny thy daughter to any son of theirs, so thou must deny thy son to any daughter of theirs,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	7	4	or she will tempt him away from his allegiance into the service of alien gods, rousing the Lord’s anger, to thy speedy destruction.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	7	5	This, rather, you must do; overthrow their altars, break their idols, cut down their sacred groves, set fire to their carved figures,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	7	6	to shew that yours is a people set apart for its own God, chosen by its own God, out of all the nations on earth, as his own people.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	7	7	If the Lord has held you closely to him and shewed you special favour, it was not that you overshadowed other peoples in greatness; of all nations you are the smallest.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	7	8	No, it was because the Lord loved you, because he was true to the oath which he had sworn to your fathers, that he delivered you by force, reclaimed you from the slave’s life you were living in the power of Pharao, king of Egypt.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	7	9	And thou wilt find it ever the same; the Lord thy God is God almighty, is God ever faithful; if men will love him and keep his commandments, he is true to his word, and shews mercy to them while a thousand generations pass;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	7	10	if they make him their enemy, his speedy retribution overwhelms them, brings them, without more ado, the reward they have deserved.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	7	11	Remember, then, all the laws and observances and decrees I proclaim to thee this day, and live by them.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	7	12	Listen to those decrees, be true to them, and live by them, and the Lord thy God will be true to his covenant with thee, to the merciful promise which he made to thy fathers.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	7	13	He will prove his love by granting thee increase, blessing womb and soil alike with fertility, corn and wine and oil, herd and flock, in the land which that promise has made thine.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	7	14	Thou shalt be blessed as no other people is blessed; man and woman, sire and dam shall breed,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	7	15	and the Lord will keep every kind of sickness far from thee; the fierce afflictions of Egypt, thou knowest them well, he will send not on thee but on thy enemies.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	7	16	All the nations the Lord means thee to conquer shall fall an easy prey to thee; and for these thou shalt have no glance of pity; beware of worshipping their gods, to thy sure destruction.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	7	17	But it may be the thought will come into thy mind, These nations outnumber me; shall I have the strength to dispossess them?
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	7	18	Away with these fears; remember what the Lord thy God did to Pharao and to the rest of the Egyptians,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	7	19	the great plagues which thy eyes witnessed, the portents and the marvels, the constraining force the Lord thy God used, the display he made of his power, to rescue thee. It is thus he will deal with all these nations thou dreadest;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	7	20	nay, the Lord thy God will send hornets among them, to destroy the very fugitives that are in hiding from thee.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	7	21	No, do not be afraid of them; the Lord thy God fights in thy company.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	7	22	Little by little, now here, now there, he will dispossess these nations; thou couldst not destroy them all at once without letting the wild beasts breed, to thy hurt.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	7	23	But deliver them over he will at thy coming, beating them down till he makes an end of them,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	7	24	leaving all their kings at thy mercy, till at last the very names of them are forgotten on earth; none shall be able to resist thy victorious onset.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	7	25	All their images thou shalt commit to the flames, with no eye for the gold and silver they are made of; keep nothing for thyself, or it will lead thee into sin; the curse of the Lord thy God rests upon it.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	7	26	Never must thou bring any relic of an idol into thy house; it is a forfeited thing, and thy life too shall be forfeit. Shun it with loathing, turn away from the corruption of its touch; it is a forfeited thing.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	8	1	Life, increase, entrance into the land the Lord promised to thy fathers, secure possession of it, all shall be thine if thou wilt take good heed to follow the commandments I am giving thee this day.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	8	2	Do not forget the long journeying by which, for forty years, the Lord thy God led thee through the desert, testing thee by hard discipline, to know the dispositions of thy heart, whether thou wouldst keep his commandments or not.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	8	3	He disciplined thee with hunger, and then sent down manna, food unknown to thee and to thy fathers; he would teach thee that man cannot live by bread only, there is life for him in all the words that proceed from the mouth of God.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	8	4	Never did the garments that covered thee wear out with age, never wast thou footsore, these forty years.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	8	5	And dost thou doubt that the Lord was chastening thee, as a man chastens his own son,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	8	6	training thee to keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, and follow the path he chooses, and live in fear of him?
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	8	7	And now the Lord thy God means to settle thee in a fair land, a land that has water coursing down in streams, and deep wells that break out from plain and hill;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	8	8	a land of wheat and barley, of vine and fig-tree and pomegranate and olive, a land where oil flows, and honey.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	8	9	Here without fear of want thou mayest win thy livelihood; all shall be thine in abundance; the very stones of that land yield iron, and there is copper to be mined from its hill-sides;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	8	10	here thou mayest eat thy fill and bless the name of the Lord thy God for the fair land he has given thee.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	8	11	Thou wilt be in danger, then, of forgetting the Lord thy God, of neglecting the laws and decrees and observances thou hast learned this day.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	8	12	Thou wilt eat thy fill, thou wilt build thyself fair houses to dwell in,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	8	13	thou wilt have herds and flocks, gold and silver and all good things shall be thine;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	8	14	oh beware lest thy heart should swell with pride, and forget the Lord thy God! He it was that rescued thee from thy bondage in Egypt,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	8	15	and led thee through a wide wilderness full of terrors, where there were serpents with fiery breath, and scorpions, and vipers, and no water to drink. He it was that brought out streams from the solid rock,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	8	16	and fed thee, in that desert, with manna, the food unknown to thy fathers. So he disciplined and tested thee, and then at last shewed mercy to thee.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	8	17	Never wert thou to flatter thyself that valour of thy own, strength of thy own, had won thee wealth;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	8	18	rather to bethink thyself of the Lord thy God, and the strength he gives thee. How faithful he is to the promise he made thy fathers, thou canst see this day.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	8	19	Forget the Lord thy God, betake thyself to other gods as their slave and worshipper, and I warn thee, here and now, that it shall be thy utter ruin.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	8	20	If you pay no heed to the voice of the Lord your God, you shall be swept away no less surely than these nations the Lord means to sweep away at your coming.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	9	1	Listen, Israel; this day thou art to cross the Jordan, and beyond it there are great nations to be dispossessed, more than a match for thee, with huge cities walled as high as heaven;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	9	2	a strong folk and tall, the breed of Enac, that thou hast seen or heard tell of; none can withstand them.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	9	3	And this day will prove that it is the Lord thy God that passes on before thee, like fire that swallows up and consumes all before it, beating them down and making an end of them, scattering them before thee all in a moment, in fulfilment of the promise he gave thee.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	9	4	But do not flatter thyself, when the Lord thy God destroys them thus at thy onslaught, do not flatter thyself it was for any merit of thine he gave thee possession of this land thou hast invaded, when in truth it was the wickedness of those other nations that brought them to ruin.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	9	5	No, if thou dost invade and conquer their lands, it is for no merit of thine, no right dispositions of thine; they are to perish at thy onslaught in punishment of their own ill-deeds, and because the Lord must needs fulfil the promise which he made on oath to thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	9	6	Be well assured thou hadst no claim to the possession of this fair land the Lord thy God is bestowing on thee, a stiff-necked nation as thou art.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	9	7	What, has memory failed thee? Remember what provocation thou didst give the Lord thy God, out in the desert. From the very day of thy leaving Egypt, all the way to the place where thou standest, there has been nothing but rebellion against the Lord.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	9	8	At Horeb itself thou didst challenge him, and in his anger he would have destroyed thee.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	9	9	I went up to the mountain where I was to receive the two stone tablets that recorded the covenant the Lord was making with you and on the mountain, without food and drink, I spent forty days and forty nights.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	9	10	There I received two stone tablets, inscribed by his own divine fingers with all those commandments he gave you on the mountain, from the heart of the flames, when the people met there in full assembly.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	9	11	Forty days and as many nights had passed when he gave me the two stone tablets that recorded the covenant, and said,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	9	12	Bestir thyself, go back down the mountain with all speed; they have been quick to leave the paths thou didst shew them, this people thou didst bring out of Egypt with thee, and have made themselves a molten image.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	9	13	This, too, the Lord said to me, Here is a race that will not bear the yoke;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	9	14	let me have my way, and efface their very memory on earth, and thou thyself shalt be at the head of a greater people, a stronger people than this.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	9	15	So I went down the mountain, that was all aflame, with one stone tablet in either hand;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	9	16	and when I saw what sin you had committed against the Lord your God, forsaking all at once the path he had shewn you, and making yourselves a molten calf,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	9	17	I flung down the two tablets from my hands and broke them, there in your presence.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	9	18	And now for another forty days and forty nights I lay at the Lord’s feet, without food or drink, in amends for the sin you had committed against the Lord, your defiance of his displeasure;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	9	19	so great was my fear of that vengeful anger of his, roused now and ready to destroy you. And once again the Lord listened to me.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	9	20	Aaron, too, he would have destroyed in his grievous anger, and for him, too, I must offer entreaty.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	9	21	As for this abomination of yours, this calf you had made, I took it up and gave it to the flames; then I cut it in pieces and ground it all to dust, which I threw into the stream that flows down the mountain side.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	9	22	At the Place of Burning, too, and at the Place of Challenge, and at the Graves of Greed, you roused the Lord’s anger;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	9	23	and when he sent you out to battle from Cades-Barne, bidding you go and take possession of the land he had given you for your home, you defied the will of the Lord your God, and refused to trust him or listen to his commands;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	9	24	always you have been rebels since the day when I first knew you.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	9	25	And I spent forty days and forty nights lying at the Lord’s feet, praying him not to carry out his threat of destroying you.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	9	26	Lord God, I said in my prayer, do not make an end of this people of thine, this dear possession thou didst claim for thyself so signally, when thou didst rescue them from Egypt in the Egyptians’ despite.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	9	27	Remember thy servants Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; turn away thy eyes from the sin they have committed, this stubborn, rebellious people of thine.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	9	28	Wilt thou let it be said in the land from which we escaped, The Lord was their enemy; he promised them a home, but had no power to win it for them, and only led them out so as to make an end of them in the desert?
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	9	29	They are thy people, thy dear possession, rescued by thee so signally, with such display of thy power!
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	10	1	Then it was the Lord said to me, Carve two tablets of stone, like those others, and come to meet me at the top of Horeb. Make an ark of wood,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	10	2	and put these tablets in it, when I have inscribed them with all the contents of those other tablets thou didst break.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	10	3	So I made an ark of acacia wood, and carved two fresh tablets like the old;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	10	4	these I bore in my hands as I went up the mountain, and on these the Lord wrote down, as he had written down before, the ten commandments he gave you out of the heart of the flames, when the people were assembled there.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	10	5	These, when I had come back from the mountain top, I laid up in the ark which I had made, as the Lord had bidden me, and there they remain.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	10	6	(It was when the Israelites had moved their camp from Beeroth in the Jacan country to Mosera that Aaron died, and his son Eleazar became high priest instead;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	10	7	then they went on to Gadgad and to the well-watered valley of Jetebaatha.)
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	10	8	And now the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi, to carry the ark that bears record of his covenant, and to minister in his presence, and to impart blessing in his name, as they still do;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	10	9	that is why the Levites have no lands assigned to them like their brethren, the Lord thy God has promised them that he himself will be their portion.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	10	10	Forty days and nights, then, as before, I remained there on the mountain top, and once more the Lord listened to me, and spared you from destruction.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	10	11	March on, he said, put thyself at the head of my people; they shall enter and take possession of the land which was my promised gift to their fathers.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	10	12	What return, then, Israel, does the Lord thy God ask of thee? This, that thou shouldst fear the Lord thy God, and follow the path he chooses for thee, and love him, and serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and soul,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	10	13	and keep those divine commandments and observances I enjoin on thee this day, as the conditions of thy happiness.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	10	14	This Lord God, that is master of the heavens, and the heaven above the heavens, of earth, too, and of all that they contain,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	10	15	would yet knit thy fathers closely to him in his great love, and make choice of you, their sons, above all other nations in the world; the proof of it is before you.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	10	16	It is for you, then, to rid your hearts of defilement, a stiff-necked people no longer;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	10	17	the Lord your God is God of all gods, Lord of all lords, how great a God, how strong, how terrible! He will not flatter the great, or take bribes from the rich;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	10	18	he gives redress to the orphan and the widow; he is a friend of the wanderer, and gives him food and clothing.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	10	19	You too must befriend the wanderer; were not you strangers yourselves in the land of Egypt?
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	10	20	Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve none but him, hold close to him, and make thy vows in his name;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	10	21	he is all thy renown, this God of thine whose marvels and whose judgements thy own eyes have witnessed.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	10	22	When thy fathers made their way into Egypt, they were but seventy souls, and now see what increase the Lord has given thee, so that thou canst vie with the stars in heaven for number.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	11	1	Yours, then, to love the Lord your God, and be true at all times to every decree and observance, every award and command of his;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	11	2	yours to remember those past things which do not lie within the memory of your children. They were never warned by the sight of those marvellous things the Lord your God did, that constraining force of his, that display of his power.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	11	3	What portents were done in Egypt, to humble king Pharao and all his subjects,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	11	4	the army, too, of the Egyptians with their horses and chariots, all drowned in the Red Sea when they went in pursuit of you, and never heard of again to this day!
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	11	5	In the desert, on your way to this place,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	11	6	you saw strange things, when the earth opened its mouth, and swallowed up Dathan and Abiron, the sons of Eliab, that was son of Ruben, with their households and their tents, and all that belonged to them, alone among the sons of Israel.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	11	7	If your eyes have witnessed all these great acts the Lord did,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	11	8	it was so that you might learn to keep all those laws of his which I now proclaim to you. So you will take possession of the land that awaits you yonder,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	11	9	a land all milk and honey, a gift which the Lord promised on oath to your fathers and their sons after them; so will you live long to enjoy it.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	11	10	You must know that the land which lies before you is not like Egypt, where you lived formerly, a garden watered by sluices wherever the seed is sown;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	11	11	it is a country of hill and dale, that waits for rain from heaven to water it,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	11	12	so that the Lord your God himself must be at pains to tend it, watching over it from year’s end to year’s end.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	11	13	And if you obey the commands I am giving you now, by loving the Lord and serving him, heart and soul,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	11	14	then he will send your land rain in autumn, rain in spring, to give you a harvest of wheat, and wine, and oil;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	11	15	your beasts will have grass to graze on in the countryside, and you food to your hearts’ content.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	11	16	But do not let your hearts be led away into forsaking the Lord your God, and enslaving yourselves to alien worship;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	11	17	or the Lord, in his anger, will shut the doors of heaven; no rain will fall, earth will yield no crops, and soon the fair land the Lord means to make yours will know you no longer.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	11	18	Keep these words of mine in memory, treasure them up in your hearts, let them be bound close to your hands as a remembrancer, let them hang before your eyes.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	11	19	Teach them to your sons, thoughts to be pondered well, at home and abroad, sleeping and waking,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	11	20	the legend you inscribe on door and gate-post.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	11	21	So this land which the Lord promised to your fathers, to be their own as long as there is a sky above us, shall be held by you and your sons in long possession.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	11	22	Remember the commandments I am giving you, live by them, love the Lord your God, be true to him, follow all the paths he has chosen for you,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	11	23	and the Lord will scatter all these nations at your coming, and you shall dispossess them, though you be no match for them in number or in strength.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	11	24	All shall be yours, wherever your feet shall tread; the desert, and Lebanon, and the western sea, and the great river Euphrates shall be your frontiers.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	11	25	None shall be able to withstand you; such fear of you, such dread of your coming will the Lord, in his faithfulness, spread abroad wherever you go.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	11	26	Such is the choice I set before you this day, blessing or curse.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	11	27	A blessing, if you will obey the commands I now give you from the Lord your God;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	11	28	a curse, if you disobey those commands, and forsake the path I am shewing to you, and follow the worship of other gods, untried till now.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	11	29	When the Lord has given you entrance into the land which is to be your home, you will proclaim the blessing from mount Garizim, and the curse from mount Hebal.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	11	30	(These lie beyond Jordan, on its western side, in the territory of those Chanaanites who hold the plain near Galgal, where a long valley stretches up into the hills.)
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	11	31	Cross Jordan you will, to conquer the land which the Lord your God means you to have and to hold;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	11	32	and look well to it that all the observances and decrees I proclaim before you to-day are carried out faithfully.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	12	1	Here follow the laws and decrees you must observe in the land which the Lord God of your fathers means to give you, if you are to have lifelong enjoyment of it.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	12	2	The nations you will dispossess have gods of their own, and build shrines for these on some high mountain, some hill, under the first green tree they can find. All these shrines you must overthrow,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	12	3	demolish their altars, break their monuments, burn their sacred pillars, hew down their idols, and abolish the very memory of them from the places where they stood.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	12	4	It is not such worship as this that you will offer to the Lord your God;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	12	5	the Lord your God will choose out one tribe among you, and one place in that tribe, to be the sanctuary of his name, the shrine of his presence; to that place you will go,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	12	6	when you would bring burnt-sacrifice and offering, tithe and first-fruits of your labour, vowed gifts and unvowed, first-born of cattle or of sheep.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	12	7	There, in the presence of the Lord your God, you and your households shall eat, glad at heart, what your own hands have reaped with his blessing to aid them.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	12	8	No, it will not be for every man, there as here, to worship when and where he pleases.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	12	9	So far, you have not reached your resting-place, that secure way of living which the Lord your God will then grant you.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	12	10	But when you have crossed Jordan, and are living in the land he has destined for your home, looking round you with fearless eyes, no enemy to molest you,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	12	11	then the Lord your God will choose a place to be the sanctuary of his name. There you will present before him all that I now enjoin, burnt-sacrifice and offering, tithe and first-fruit and choice things vowed to his honour.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	12	12	There you shall regale yourselves in the Lord’s presence, with sons and daughters, men-servants and maid-servants, and the Levites, too, that dwell in your cities, with no part and lot of their own such as you have.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	12	13	No, do not present thy burnt-sacrifice in the first place that offers;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	12	14	bring thy victims to one place, in one tribe, of the Lord’s own choosing, and there carry out all that I enjoin upon thee.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	12	15	Wouldst thou eat meat? Slay, then, and eat, there in thy own city, whatever the bounty of the Lord thy God has given thee. Marred by blemish or by wound, whole, unblemished, and fit for sacrifice, it is all one; eat boldly as thou wouldst eat the flesh of red deer or roe,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	12	16	so long as thou dost not eat it with the blood; that must be poured out like water on the ground.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	12	17	But where tithes of corn or wine or oil are in question, or the first-born of herd and flock, gifts to the Lord vowed or unvowed, or the first-fruits of thy crops, these thou mayest not eat in thy own city.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	12	18	Take them to the place the Lord thy God has chosen and eat them there in his presence; make good cheer and regale thyself, there before the Lord thy God, with all the good things thy labour has earned; let son and daughter, man-servant and maid-servant, share it, and the Levite, too, that has his dwelling in thy city;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	12	19	never neglect the Levite, all thy days on earth.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	12	20	Wide lands the Lord thy God means to give thee, as he has promised; and often thou wilt be fain to indulge appetite, and eat flesh-meat,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	12	21	when the place the Lord has chosen for his name’s sanctuary is far away. Slay, then, and eat what beasts thou wilt, out of thy herd or thy flock, there in thy own city as I bid thee. Have no scruple;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	12	22	eat such meat as if it were the flesh of red deer or roe, let the undefiled and the defiled alike be thy guests;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	12	23	only do not eat it with the blood, it is the blood that animates living things, and this life of theirs must not be eaten with the flesh,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	12	24	but poured out like water on the ground.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	12	25	So shall it be well with thee and with thy sons after thee; thou hast done all the Lord requires of thee.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	12	26	But all that thou hast consecrated or vowed to the Lord thou must take with thee to the place the Lord has chosen,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	12	27	and make due offering, of flesh and blood both, on the altar of the Lord thy God; all the blood of thy victims thou must pour away on the altar, and be content with the flesh for thy food.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	12	28	All these commands of mine thou shalt remember and obey; well for thee and for thy sons in perpetuity, if thou dost ever what is the Lord thy God’s good pleasure.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	12	29	When the Lord thy God has routed the nations thou art to dispossess, and they give way before thee, and thou art dwelling in the land that once was theirs,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	12	30	do not imitate the folk thou hast conquered; do not hanker after their observances, and say, Why may I not worship as these worshipped before me?
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	12	31	Not so shalt thou approach the Lord thy God; all that the Lord hates most, these did, very abominably, sacrificing their own sons and daughters by fire to these gods of theirs.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	12	32	In worshipping the Lord, thou shalt do only what I bid thee, neither more nor less.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	13	1	Prophet or dreamer may arise, of thy own race, and foretell some signal event
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	13	2	which afterwards comes about; even so he must not persuade thee to follow the worship of alien gods, untried till now.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	13	3	Do not listen to such words from prophet or dreamer; it means that the Lord thy God is putting thee to the proof, to see whether he has the love of thy whole heart and thy whole soul or not.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	13	4	Follow and fear the Lord your God, obey no commands, listen to no voice but his; serve him and be true to him.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	13	5	The punishment of such a prophet or dreamer shall be death; he has counselled rebellion against the Lord God, who delivered your race from its slavery in Egypt; he would tempt thee away from the path the Lord thy God has marked out for thee; rid thy company of such plague as this.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	13	6	Suffer none to whisper that counsel in thy ears, brother nor son nor daughter, nor the wife thou dost cherish in thy bosom, nor the friend thou lovest as thy own self. Whoever bids thee follow the worship of alien gods, unknown to thee and to thy fathers,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	13	7	gods of any other nation in the wide world, near or far,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	13	8	do not consent, do not listen. Have no glance of pity for them, throw no merciful cloak over their guilt;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	13	9	put them to death without parley. The hand of every Israelite must be lifted against them, but thine first of all.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	13	10	One who would so tempt thee away from the worship of the Lord thy God, that rescued thee from slavery in Egypt, must die by stoning;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	13	11	so that all Israel may be apprised of it, and take warning, and none dare to do the like thenceforward.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	13	12	Or it may be, when the Lord thy God has given all of you cities to dwell in, word will reach thee of such happenings, not in thy own city but in some other.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	13	13	Somewhere, unworthy sons of Israel are seducing their fellow-citizens, bidding them follow the worship of alien gods untried.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	13	14	Careful and anxious be thy search, to find out the truth of the matter; and if it proves that the report was true, and the foul deed has been done,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	13	15	then, without delay, put all the inhabitants of that city to the sword, and destroy it, with all that is in it, even the cattle in its byres.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	13	16	Make a pile in the streets of all its household store, and burn that with the city itself, as forfeit to the Lord thy God. Let it be a ruin for all time, never to be rebuilt.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	13	17	It is all forfeit, be sure thou dost not treasure any relic of it. So the anger of the Lord thy God will relent, and he will have mercy on thee, and make a great nation of thee, as he swore to thy fathers;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	13	18	let him find thee attentive to his voice, observant of all these commands of his, ready to do his will.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	14	1	Learn to carry yourselves as the children of the Lord your God. Do not dis-figure yourselves or shave your heads bare when a man dies,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	14	2	you, a people set apart for the Lord, chosen out of all nations on earth to be his very own.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	14	3	Do not eat any food which brings defilement.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	14	4	You may eat such beasts as the ox, the sheep, and the goat,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	14	5	red deer and roe, gazelle and wild goat, addax and oryx and zemer;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	14	6	any creature which has cloven hoofs and chews the cud.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	14	7	You must not eat those which have the hoofs single, even though they chew the cud; the camel and the hare and the rock-rabbit, and all other ruminants that do not divide the hoof, you must count unclean.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	14	8	And the sow, which has cloven hoofs but does not chew the cud, is also unclean; you must not eat the flesh of such beasts, or touch their carcases.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	14	9	Among the creatures that live in water, you may eat those that have fins and scales;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	14	10	whatever lacks fins and scales is unclean, not for your eating.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	14	11	There are birds you may eat without fear of defilement;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	14	12	others which you must avoid as unclean, eagle and griffon and osprey,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	14	13	kite and falcon and vulture and all else of their kind,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	14	14	anything that belongs to the raven tribe,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	14	15	ostrich, night-owl, sea-mew, and hawks of every kind,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	14	16	stork, swan, ibis,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	14	17	cormorant, coot, night-jar
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	14	18	and pelican, with curlews of every kind; the hoopoe, besides, and the bat.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	14	19	Creeping things that have wings are unclean, and must not be eaten.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	14	20	Any meat that is not unclean may be used for food,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	14	21	except what has fallen dead; make a present of this to some neighbour, not of Israel’s race, or sell it to an alien, it is not for your eating, a people set apart for the Lord your God. Seething a kid in its dam’s milk is a rite forbidden thee.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	14	22	Every year, thou wilt set apart a tenth of all the crops thy land yields,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	14	23	and come to the place the Lord thy God has chosen for the sanctuary of his name, to feast on it there in his presence; a tenth part of thy corn and wine and oil, and the first-fruits of thy herds and flocks; so thou wilt learn to fear the Lord thy God continually.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	14	24	But perhaps the journey will be too long, the place which he has chosen too far distant, and the load too great, so bountiful has the Lord thy God been to thee.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	14	25	Why then, sell all this tithe of thine, and bring the proceeds of the sale with thee to the place he has chosen.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	14	26	With this money thou mayst buy all thou wilt, oxen and sheep, wine and mead, to thy heart’s content; and on these thou shalt feast in the presence of the Lord, thou and all thy household making good cheer together,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	14	27	and the Levite, too, that dwells in thy city; do not neglect the Levite, that has no part or lot such as thou hast.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	14	28	Every third year, thou wilt set apart a fresh tithe of all the revenue thou then hast, and lay it by at home,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	14	29	so that the Levite, who has no part or lot such as thou hast, and the wanderer and the orphan and the widow that are thy fellow-citizens, may eat and have their fill. So, to whatever employment thou dost turn thy hand, the blessing of the Lord thy God shall be with thee.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	15	1	As each seventh year comes round, there shall be a cancelling of debts,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	15	2	and thus it shall be ordered; now that the Lord has granted discharge, no one shall demand repayment of money lent to his fellow-citizen, his fellow-Israelite.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	15	3	From an alien that has come to dwell in the land thou mayst exact it, but thy own fellow-countryman must be granted discharge.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	15	4	No one among you must be destitute, begging his bread, if the Lord is to grant thee his blessing in the land he means to give thee for thy own.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	15	5	Bless thee he will, as he has promised, if only thou wilt listen to his voice and observe all the commandments I enjoin upon thee this day;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	15	6	so that many nations shall be thy debtors, and none thy creditor, many thy servants, and none thy master.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	15	7	It may be that one of thy brethren, thy fellow-citizen in the land the Lord thy God means to give thee, will fall on evil days. Do not steel thy heart and shut thy purse against him:
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	15	8	be generous to his poverty, and lend him what thou seest he stands in need of.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	15	9	And here a base thought may come into thy mind, which thou must put away from thee; that the seventh year, the year of discharge, is too close at hand. Do not, at such a time, turn thy back on this brother of thine, and refuse to lend him what he would fain borrow; his plea will come before the Lord, and thou wilt be held guilty.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	15	10	Lend freely, and use no craft in relieving his necessities; so at all times, to whatever employment thou dost turn thy hand, the blessing of the Lord thy God will be with thee.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	15	11	For indeed there will be no lack of poor men in the land that is to be thy home; I must needs warn thee, then, to be open-handed towards thy brother, thy fellow-countryman, when he is poor and in want.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	15	12	When any of thy own race, Hebrew men and women, are sold to thee as slaves and have worked for thee six years, in the seventh year thou shalt set them at liberty.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	15	13	And the freed slave must not be allowed to go away empty-handed;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	15	14	make provision for him out of flock and threshing-floor and wine-press the Lord has blessed for thee.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	15	15	Do not forget that thou too wast a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord thy God ransomed thee; there is good cause for the command I now lay upon thee.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	15	16	But it may be he will refuse to leave thee, for the love he bears to thee and to thy household, and for the happiness he finds in thy service.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	15	17	Take an awl, then, and bore through his ear with it into the door of thy house, in token that he is thy slave in perpetuity; and for a maid-servant do the like.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	15	18	But if thou dost let them go free, do not turn thy back on them; for six years they have been earning a workman’s hire. So the Lord thy God shall bless all thy enterprises.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	15	19	Thou shalt set apart for the Lord thy God all the first-born of thy cattle and sheep; the calf must never feel the yoke, the lamb never be shorn;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	15	20	year by year thou wilt come to the place the Lord has chosen, with all thy household, and feast upon such offerings in the presence of the Lord thy God.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	15	21	But if any beast has a blemish, or is lame or blind or misshapen or maimed in any way, it cannot be offered to the Lord thy God;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	15	22	eat it, then, within thy own city gates, and bid whom thou wilt, defiled or undefiled, to share it with thee, as if it were the flesh of red deer or roe,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	15	23	being careful only not to eat the blood with it; that must be poured out like water on the ground.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	16	1	Mark well that first spring month when the crops are yet green; it is time to celebrate the pasch in the Lord’s honour. In that month, at dead of night, the Lord thy God rescued thee from Egypt.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	16	2	In the place which the Lord thy God has chosen for the sanctuary of his name, flock and herd alike must provide their paschal victims.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	16	3	At this feast, no bread must be eaten that has leaven in it; for seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, the food of perilous times, when thou didst escape from Egypt in fear; never as long as thou livest shall the manner of thy departure from Egypt be forgotten.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	16	4	No leaven, then, must be found in all thy domain during those seven days; and of the victim slain on that first evening nothing must remain till the morrow.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	16	5	This paschal victim is not to be immolated in a city here, a city there, among all the cities the Lord thy God means to give thee;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	16	6	no, the Lord thy God will choose out one place to be the sanctuary of his name, and there thou wilt immolate the paschal victim at set of sun, the time of thy escape from Egypt.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	16	7	In this place of the Lord’s choice it must be cooked and eaten; then, when morning comes, thou wilt make thy way back to thy own dwelling-place.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	16	8	For six days thou wilt eat unleavened bread; on the seventh thou wilt keep holiday in the Lord’s honour, and rest from work.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	16	9	From the day when the sickle is first put to thy crops, count seven whole weeks,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	16	10	and then keep the Feast of Weeks, honouring the Lord thy God with an offering freely made out of the fruits thy labour has earned, in that measure in which the Lord has prospered thee.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	16	11	Make good cheer in the presence of the Lord thy God, with son and daughter, serving-man and serving-maid, with the Levite who dwells in thy city, wanderer and orphan and widow that are thy neighbours, in the place the Lord thy God has chosen for his name’s sanctuary.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	16	12	Never forget that thou too wast a slave once in Egypt; the more reason why thou shouldst obey this order I give thee.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	16	13	The Feast of Tent-dwelling thou shalt observe for seven days, at the time when corn and wine are all gathered in,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	16	14	keeping holiday again and making good cheer, with son and daughter, serving-man and serving-maid, Levite and wanderer, orphan and widow that are thy neighbours.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	16	15	For seven days, in the place he has chosen, thou shalt keep holiday in honour of the Lord thy God; so greatly will he prosper thy harvest and all the enterprises thou dost set thy hand to, that thou wilt have good reason to rejoice.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	16	16	Three times a year, then, all thy men folk shall present themselves before the Lord thy God in the place of his choice; at the three feasts of the Pasch, of Weeks, and of Tent-dwelling. No one shall present himself before the Lord empty-handed;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	16	17	each will have a gift to bring, in that measure in which the Lord his God has prospered him.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	16	18	In all the cities the Lord thy God gives thee, thou shalt appoint judges and magistrates among thy fellow-tribesmen. And these are to settle their neighbours’ quarrels by just award,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	16	19	and listen to both parties, not moved by influence or bribery; such power a bribe has to rob even the wise of clear vision, to alter the sentence even of the just.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	16	20	Right is right, and ever thou must keep it in view, if thou wouldst live long in the enjoyment of the land which the Lord thy God means to give thee.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	16	21	There must be no sacred wood around the Lord’s altar, no tree of any kind,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	16	22	nor must thou make thyself an image and set it up there; all such worship is hateful to the Lord thy God.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	17	1	Never shalt thou offer in sacrifice sheep or ox that has any blemish or defect; such impiety is hateful to the Lord thy God.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	17	2	It may be that, in one of the cities the Lord thy God gives thee, men and women of thy race will be found so defiant, so false to his covenant,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	17	3	that they will forsake him, and enslave themselves to the worship of other gods, the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven, in contempt of my commandment.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	17	4	If this news is brought to thee, make careful enquiry into what thou hast heard; and if it proves that the report was true, and the foul deed was done among thy fellow-Israelites,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	17	5	away with such recreant men or women to the city gate; there let them be killed by stoning.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	17	6	But there must be two witnesses or more if the death penalty is inflicted; one witness will not suffice when a man’s life is in question.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	17	7	First the witnesses, then the rest of the people must put a hand to the deed, and so thou wilt rid thyself of the plague that infects thy company.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	17	8	It may be that some matter of law will be too hard for thy unravelling; was it killing or murder? Is this claim just or that? Was the infection leprous or not? There is no agreement between the judges at thy own city gate. Up, then, make thy way to the place the Lord thy God has chosen,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	17	9	and have recourse to the priests of Levi’s race, to the judge who then holds office; thou hast but to ask them, and they will make the right decision known to thee.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	17	10	Thou must needs give effect to the sentence they pronounce, these officers of the Lord’s chosen sanctuary; when they have told thee
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	17	11	what the divine law prescribes, thou shalt abide by their award, without swerving to right or left.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	17	12	If anyone is contumacious, rejecting the authority of the priest who then ministers to the Lord thy God, and the judge’s sentence, his life must pay for it. Rid Israel of this plague,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	17	13	so that all the people may take warning when they hear it, and there may be no contumacy thenceforward.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	17	14	When you reach the land the Lord your God is giving you, and make it your own, and settle in it, you will resolve to have a king of your own, like the nations about you.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	17	15	The king you appoint must be the man the Lord your God chooses, one of your own race; you must not let an alien, who is not of your blood, bear rule over you.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	17	16	Once appointed, he must not raise troop after troop of horsemen, and turn his people’s eyes back towards Egypt, flushed with the pride of horsemanship; the Lord strictly enjoins you never to tread that way again.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	17	17	He is not to wed a multitude of wives, that will seduce his heart from its loyalty; he is not to amass great treasures of silver and gold.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	17	18	And now he sits enthroned in his kingdom; let his first act be to borrow this schedule of the law from the priests of Levi’s race, and have a second copy made of it.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	17	19	And that scroll he will keep by him, studying it all his life long, so that he may learn to serve the Lord his God, and follow all the rules and observances which the law enjoins.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	17	20	Never let his heart, puffed up with pride, disdain his brethren; never let him swerve from these commandments to right or left, if he and his sons are to enjoy long dominion over the race of Israel.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	18	1	The priests that are of Levi’s race, having no part or lot of their own such as the rest of Israel have, will share the burnt-sacrifices and offerings that are brought to the Lord,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	18	2	that is all the claim they have upon the revenues of their fellow-Israelites; has not the Lord told them that he is to be all their portion?
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	18	3	When the whole people or some one Israelite offers sacrifice, be the victim ox or sheep, the priests can claim the gift of shoulder and maw;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	18	4	they can claim the first-fruits, too, of corn, and wine, and oil, and part of the wool that is brought in at sheep-shearing.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	18	5	Out of all thy tribes, the Lord has chosen Levi and his children to stand up and minister in the Lord’s name for ever.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	18	6	If a Levite gives up his home in any city of Israel, for love of the place the Lord has chosen, and comes to dwell there instead,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	18	7	he shall have a right to minister in the name of the Lord his God among the rest of his Levite brethren who then wait on the Lord’s presence,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	18	8	and to receive the same portion of food as the others, the sale of his patrimony notwithstanding.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	18	9	When thou reachest the land which the Lord thy God means to give thee, take good care not to imitate the abominable ways of the men who dwell there.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	18	10	None must be found among you to consecrate son or daughter by making them pass through the fire, to consult soothsayers, or keep watch for dream-revelations and omens; there must be no wizard,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	18	11	or enchanter, none who consults familiar spirits and divinations, and would receive warnings from the dead.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	18	12	All such things are hateful to the Lord; it is to punish them for such evil doings that he means to destroy these nations at thy onslaught.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	18	13	Thine to stand before the Lord thy God perfect and unreproved;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	18	14	let them listen to soothsayer and diviner, these other nations thou wilt dispossess; not such is the schooling thou hast received from the Lord thy God.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	18	15	No, the Lord thy God will raise up for thee a prophet like myself, of thy own race, a brother of thy own; it is to him thou must listen.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	18	16	Was it not thy own plea, that day when all were publicly assembled at mount Horeb, that thou mightest hear the voice of the Lord thy God no longer, have sight of that raging fire no longer, lest it should be thy death?
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	18	17	And the Lord told me, All that they have said is well said.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	18	18	I will raise up for them a prophet like thyself, one of their own race, entrusting my own message to his lips, so that he may instruct them at my bidding.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	18	19	Whoever refuses obedience to these commands which he gives in my name, shall feel my vengeance.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	18	20	If anyone is so presumptuous as to prophesy in my name when I have given him no message to deliver, or prophesy in the name of alien gods, his life must pay for it.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	18	21	Perhaps thy unspoken thought would ask, how thou shouldst recognize those messages which do not come from the Lord?
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	18	22	I will give thee a test; If the prophet foretells something in the Lord’s name, and it does not come about, this was no message from the Lord; it was the prophet’s vain conceit that imagined it; let no word of his strike terror into thee.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	19	1	When the Lord thy God has dispossessed those other nations, and thou hast overspread their country, and all its cities and houses are thine,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	19	2	set apart three cities in the midst of the territory he has granted thee;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	19	3	cities that may be reached by well paved roads, and so placed as to divide up the whole of thy land into three districts. One of these must be near at hand, when blood has been shed and the slayer would take sanctuary.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	19	4	Such a man must be granted his life, on these conditions; the blow must have been struck unwittingly, and there must be no proof of a feud between the two men in time past.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	19	5	A man, for instance, may have gone out with a friend of his, in all innocence, to cut wood; and as he is cutting the axe may fly out of his hand, or the iron come loose from the handle, striking the other and killing him. The author of such mischance will fly for his life to one of the cities aforesaid.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	19	6	It may be the dead man’s next of kin will set out in pursuit, to take revenge; and if the distance is great, he may overtake and kill this innocent man, who cannot be shewn to have borne ill-will to the dead kinsman.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	19	7	That is why I bid thee set apart three cities each at an equal distance from the next.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	19	8	In years to come, the Lord will enlarge thy domain, as he swore to thy fathers he would, and give thee the whole of this land where he has promised thee a home;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	19	9	provided always that thou dost keep his commandments, and do all that I bid thee this day, loving the Lord thy God, and following continually the path he has chosen for thee. Then it will be time to double the number of the cities aforesaid, adding three others,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	19	10	to prevent the blood of innocent men being shed, here in this land the Lord is giving thee for thy own, and the guilt of that blood defiling thee.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	19	11	But it may be that someone who has a grudge against his neighbour will plot against his life, starting up out of an ambush and inflicting on him a mortal hurt, and then flee to one of these cities for refuge.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	19	12	Then let the elders of that city send and dislodge him from his place of retreat, and so hand him over to the dead man’s next of kin, to die.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	19	13	Have no mercy on him; it shall go ill with thee, if thou dost not rid Israel of that defilement which the blood of an innocent man has brought on it.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	19	14	If thy neighbour’s domain is bounded by some landmark, set up by men of old time, where thy home is in the land the Lord has granted thee, do not take it up and remove it elsewhere.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	19	15	Whatever be the offence or crime a man is charged with, it shall not suffice for one witness to appear against him; every question must be settled by the voice of two witnesses or more.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	19	16	It may be that a false witness will appear, accusing a man of this or that misdeed.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	19	17	When such a claim is made, the two parties will be brought forward in the Lord’s presence, before the priests and judges then in office;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	19	18	and if these, after careful examination, find that the witness gave false evidence against his fellow-Israelite,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	19	19	they must inflict on him the same punishment he would have brought on this brother of his. Thou must rid thyself of the plague,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	19	20	so that others may be warned by hearing of it, and none dare to do the like again.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	19	21	No pity must be shewn him; life must answer for the life he would have sworn away, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	20	1	When thou dost go out to war against thy enemies, never be daunted by the sight of horsemen and chariots, and a host greater than thy own arrayed against thee; the Lord thy God, who rescued thee from Egypt, fights on thy side.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	20	2	When the hour of battle draws near, the high priest will take his stand there in front of the ranks, and say to the people,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	20	3	Listen, Israel; as you join battle to-day with your enemies, there must be no faint hearts among you, no flinching, no yielding, no trembling here.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	20	4	The Lord your God is here in the midst of you, and will fight on your side against your adversaries, to deliver you in the hour of peril.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	20	5	And then, in the hearing of the whole army, each chieftain will make this proclamation to the men of his own company: Is there anyone here who has built a new house, and not yet handselled it? Let him go back home; shall he be slain in battle, and leave another to handsel it?
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	20	6	Is there anyone here who has planted a vineyard, and not shared the first vintage of it with his neighbours? Let him go back home; shall he be slain in battle, and another take his place?
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	20	7	Is there anyone here that is betrothed to a maid, and has not taken her to himself? Let him go back home; shall he be slain in battle, and leave her to wed another?
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	20	8	And when so much is said, let them add this further proclamation: Is there anyone here whose spirits are daunted by terror? Let him go back home, or he will daunt the spirits of his brethren, and make them cowards too.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	20	9	And now, having said their say, let the chieftains keep silent, and let each of them set about marshalling his company for battle.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	20	10	When thou dost lay siege to a city, first of all thou shalt offer terms of peace.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	20	11	If these are accepted, and the gates opened to thee, the lives of all the citizens shall be spared, and they shall become thy subjects, paying thee tribute.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	20	12	But if they refuse to listen, and offer battle, go forward to the assault;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	20	13	and when the Lord makes thee master of it, put only the men folk to the sword,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	20	14	not the women and children, not the cattle or anything else that the city contains. Divide the spoil among the host, and enjoy as thou wilt all the plunder the Lord thy God has allowed thee to take from thy enemies.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	20	15	All this, when thou art concerned with some city far away from thee, not one of those in which thou art to find a dwelling.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	20	16	But in the cities that are to be thy own, no living thing must be left.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	20	17	All of them must be put to the sword, Hethite and Amorrhite and Chanaanite and Pherezite and Hevite and Jebusite, as the Lord thy God has bidden thee;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	20	18	or they will teach your race to perform such detestable worship as they perform in honour of their own gods, and be false to the Lord.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	20	19	When a city must be taken by force of arms, and thou hast been a long time besieging it, do not lay waste the whole countryside with thy axe, and destroy the trees that yield food. Trees are not men, to increase the number of the city’s defenders.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	20	20	Spare the fruit-trees, and be content to cut down such wild trees as are fit for other use; and so build engines to reduce the city that defies thee.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	21	1	When, in this land of thine, a dead man’s body is found and there is no knowing who slew him,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	21	2	elders and judges must betake themselves to the spot where he lies, and find by measurement which of the neighbouring cities is nearest at hand.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	21	3	It is for the elders of the nearest city to do what must be done. They will choose out from the herd a heifer that has never borne yoke or ploughed furrow,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	21	4	and in some wild and rugged glen, that was never ploughed or sown, this heifer must have its neck broken.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	21	5	Priests must be there, of Levi’s race; these are the men whom the Lord thy God has chosen to minister to him, and give their blessing in his name, and also to decide between right and wrong, clean and unclean.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	21	6	And the elders of this neighbouring city, close to the dead man, will wash their hands over the heifer that lies slain in the glen,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	21	7	protesting, Not ours the hand that shed this blood; our eyes never witnessed the deed;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	21	8	be merciful, Lord, to Israel, the people thou hast claimed for thyself; do not charge Israel, thy own people, with guilt because it is stained with an innocent man’s blood. So shall they be quit of all blame for the murder.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	21	9	Do my bidding, and the guilt of blood wrongfully shed shall never rest upon thee.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	21	10	When the Lord gives thee victory over thy enemies in battle, and thou bringest back prisoners,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	21	11	dost thou see among them a woman so fair that she wins thy heart, and thou wouldst marry her?
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	21	12	Take her, then, into thy house; and there she must shave her head and pare her nails close,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	21	13	and lay aside the garb of a captive, that she wore till now. Let her have a month, dwelling in thy house, to bewail the loss of her father and mother; then thou mayest take her to thy bed and make her thy wife.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	21	14	But if, afterwards, she does not answer thy mood, she must go free; thou hast no power to sell her or exercise lordship over her, when once thou hast robbed her of maidenhood.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	21	15	If a man twice married loves one wife and is weary of the other, and has children by both, but his first-born by the wife he spurns,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	21	16	how shall he divide up his possessions between them? He shall have no power to make the son of the loved wife his heir, in preference to that other.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	21	17	Recognize the first-born he must, though of the mother he be weary; a double share of all his goods belongs to the son that was engendered first; the birthright is his.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	21	18	Is there a son so rebellious and unmanageable that he defies his parents’ bidding, and will not brook restraint?
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	21	19	Such a son they must bring by force to the city gate, where the elders are assembled,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	21	20	and make complaint to them, This son of ours is rebellious and unmanageable; he pays no heed to our remonstrances, but must ever be carousing, ever at his wantonness and his cups.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	21	21	Thereupon the citizens shall stone him to death, so that you may be rid of this plague, and every Israelite that hears of it may be afraid to do the like.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	21	22	When a man is guilty of a capital crime, and his sentence is to hang on a gallows,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	21	23	his body must not be left to hang there on the gibbet, it must be buried the same day. God’s curse lies on the man who hangs on a gibbet, and the land which the Lord thy God gives thee for thy own must not suffer pollution.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	22	1	If thou seest ox or sheep that belongs to thy fellow-Israelite going astray, do not hurry past; take it back to its owner,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	22	2	if he is a neighbour of thine, and known to thee. If not, shelter it thyself till he enquires, and restore it.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	22	3	And so with an ass or with a garment or any other lost thing that belongs to thy fellow-Israelite; do not leave them where thou findest them, as if it did not concern thee.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	22	4	If his ox or his ass falls down by the wayside, do not hurry past; help him to lift it up again.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	22	5	A woman must not wear man’s clothes, or a man go clad like a woman; all such doings are hateful to God.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	22	6	If thou findest in thy path, in a tree or on the ground, a mother bird sitting on her nestlings or her eggs, do not carry her off with her young;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	22	7	let her go, and be content with her brood; so shalt thou prosper and live long.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	22	8	When thou buildest a new house, make a parapet about its roof; if anyone should lose his footing and fall to the ground, thy house is polluted with blood, and the guilt is thine.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	22	9	Do not sow thy vineyard with a second kind of seed, or both the crop thou hast sown and the fruit of thy vineyard are forfeit.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	22	10	Do not plough with an ox and an ass together;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	22	11	or wear garments woven of linen and wool together.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	22	12	Thou shalt wear tasselled strings at the four corners of the garment thou wearest.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	22	13	It may be that a husband will grow weary of the wife he has taken,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	22	14	and look about him for pretexts to put her away. Such a man will perhaps fasten an ill name on her, by complaining that when he bedded her she was found to be no maid.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	22	15	Thereupon her father and mother must bring her before the elders at the city gate, and the proofs of her maidenhood with her;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	22	16	and the father will say, I gave this man my daughter in marriage, and now he is weary of her;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	22	17	that is why he would fasten an ill name upon her by telling me he found my daughter no maid. And here are the proofs of my daughter’s maidenhood. With that, he will spread the cloth out in sight of the elders;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	22	18	and these will lay hold of the man and beat him,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	22	19	fining him, moreover, a hundred sicles of silver, for fastening an ill name on a maid of Israel. He must pay them to the woman’s father, and must keep her as his wife; as long as he lives he may not put her away.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	22	20	If the charge he made was true, and the woman was found indeed to be no maid,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	22	21	then the citizens must cast her out of her father’s door and stone her to death; this was a foul deed done in a woman of Israel, to play the wanton in her own father’s house; rid thy company of such a plague as that.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	22	22	If a man beds with another’s wife, both must die, adulterer and adulteress, and so Israel is rid of a plague.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	22	23	A man has fallen in with a maid betrothed to some other, and mated with her. Was it done in the city?
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	22	24	Then both must be taken to the city gate and stoned to death; she, because she made no outcry, with all the city close at hand, he, because he robbed his neighbour’s wife of her maidenhood.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	22	25	Or did the man fall in with this betrothed maid in the countryside, and force her to grant his will? Then he alone must die; no harm shall befall the woman.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	22	26	She has not deserved death; she was defenceless as a man suddenly attacked and killed by a brigand;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	22	27	cry as she might, far out in the countryside, no one could come to her aid.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	22	28	If a man falls in with a maid still unbetrothed, and forces her to do his will, and the matter is brought to judgement,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	22	29	the man who mated with her must pay her fifty sicles of silver, and keep her as his wife, now that he has robbed her of her maidenhood; as long as he lives he may not put her away.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	22	30	A man must not take his father’s wife, and come between his own father’s sheets.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	23	1	The emasculate, the mutilated, are not to be admitted into the Lord’s assembly.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	23	2	Nor is there any place in the Lord’s assembly for a bastard, born out of wedlock, or for any of his descent, though ten generations have passed.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	23	3	Nor, though ten generations have passed, may one of Ammonite or Moabite descent be admitted to the Lord’s assembly; this disability they have incurred for all time,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	23	4	by refusing to provide food and drink, when Israel came on their way from Egypt. Nay, they hired Balaam the son of Beor to come from Mesopotamia of the Syrians and curse thee;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	23	5	only the Lord would not listen to Balaam, and transformed that curse of his into a blessing, so well he loved thee.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	23	6	No peace with these, no friendly dealings with these at any time, while thy life lasts;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	23	7	but for the Edomites thou shalt have no repugnance, they are thy brethren, nor for the Egyptians, in whose land thou didst formerly dwell;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	23	8	their descendants in the third generation may be admitted to the Lord’s assembly.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	23	9	When thou goest out to war against thy enemies, keep clear of all offence.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	23	10	Should any of you incur defilement at night in his sleep, he must leave the camp,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	23	11	and not return to it all day; at sunset, when he has washed, he may enter the camp again.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	23	12	If thou wouldst ease thyself, thou must have a place to go to away from the camp,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	23	13	and carry a scoop at thy girdle, so that when thou art eased thou canst dig about thee and heap loose earth
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	23	14	over thy excrement. In this camp of thine the Lord thy God goes to and fro, waiting to deliver thee and give thee victory over thy enemies; all must be holiness there, no defilement be seen in it, lest his presence should be withdrawn.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	23	15	If a man escapes from bondage and takes refuge with thee, thou shalt not give him back into the hands of his lord;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	23	16	let him settle where he pleases, and live at peace in some city of thine; leave him unmolested.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	23	17	No Israelite, man or woman, shall be devoted to a life of shame;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	23	18	wouldst thou bring into the temple of the Lord thy God the wages of a harlot, or the price of nameless sin? Either of these is hateful to the Lord thy God.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	23	19	Do not charge interest to thy fellow-Israelite when thou lendest him money or grain or anything else of thine.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	23	20	Keep that for the alien; to thy brother thou shalt lend without interest all that he needs; so the Lord God will bless every enterprise of thine in the land which is to be thy home.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	23	21	If thou makest a vow to the Lord thy God, do not defer payment of it. The Lord thy God will hold thee to thy promise; thou delayest at thy peril.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	23	22	Hadst thou refrained from making the vow, it would have been no sin in thee,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	23	23	but once the word has been spoken, it must be made good; thy own lips pronounced it, and thy will was under no compulsion, the promise must be kept.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	23	24	When thou art passing through thy neighbour’s vineyard, eat the grapes to thy heart’s content, but take none away with thee.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	23	25	And when thou art passing through a neighbour’s corn-field, thou mayst break off ears and rub them in thy hands; but sickle put none to thy neighbour’s corn.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	24	1	Does a man take a wife, and then, after making her his own, find some taint of defilement in her, so that he loves her no longer? He must draw up a writ of separation and hand it to her before he sends her away from his house.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	24	2	Does she, after parting from him, marry a second husband,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	24	3	who also wearies of her and sends her away with a writ, or perhaps is lost to her by death?
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	24	4	Her first husband may not take her back again, now that she is contaminated, a thing detestable in the Lord’s eyes. Do not bring guilt on the land which the Lord gives thee for thy home.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	24	5	A man newly married will not serve in the wars, or have any other public duty enjoined upon him; he is free to abide at home and cheer his wife for a year’s space.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	24	6	Thou shalt not accept mill or mill-stone as a debtor’s pledge; that is to let a man pledge his whole livelihood.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	24	7	If anyone is found leading his fellow-Israelite into a trap, and selling him as a slave for profit, he must die; rid thyself of such a plague as that.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	24	8	Be on thy guard against the visitation of leprosy. Do as the priests of Levi’s race instruct thee at my bidding, and be exact in the performance of it;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	24	9	never forget how the Lord thy God punished Mary, on thy way here out of Egypt.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	24	10	When thou wouldst enforce a claim for debt against thy neighbour, do not go into his house to wrest his pledge from him;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	24	11	stand without, and let him bring thee what he can.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	24	12	A poor man’s pledge must not spend the night with thee;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	24	13	give it back to him before set of sun. When he calls down a blessing on thee, glad to have his own cloak to sleep in, it will win thee favour from the Lord thy God.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	24	14	And if thou hast a hired servant that lives from hand to mouth, be he thy fellow-Israelite, or some alien that shares thy land and city, do not withhold his wages;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	24	15	pay him his day’s wages before set of sun. It is all he has, in his poverty, to support life with; cries he to the Lord, thou art a sinner manifest.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	24	16	A father must not die for his son’s guilt, or a son for his father’s; no guilt but his own shall bring a man to death.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	24	17	Do not refuse alien or orphan his rights at law; do not make the widow give thee her cloak as a pledge;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	24	18	remember that thou wast once a slave in Egypt, and the Lord thy God rescued thee; with good right I enjoin so much upon thee.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	24	19	If thou art harvesting the corn in one of thy fields, and a sheaf lies there forgotten, do not go back for it; leave it for the alien, the orphan and the widow; so the Lord thy God will prosper all thy undertakings.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	24	20	Do not go over thy olive-trees again, the fruit once picked, leave the rest to alien, orphan and widow;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	24	21	leave to alien, orphan and widow the clusters that hang on thy vines when the vintage is over, still ungathered.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	24	22	Do not forget that thou wast once a slave in Egypt; not without reason I enjoin this upon thee.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	25	1	Not always will the judges be content, in settling a dispute, with giving the rightful claimant his due, and dismissing the other;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	25	2	it may be this other deserves a beating. If so, they will have him laid on the ground and beaten in their presence, and his punishment will be greater or less according to his guilt;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	25	3	provided always that the number of lashes must not exceed forty. Wouldst thou see thy brother go away all mangled?
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	25	4	Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treads out the corn on thy threshing-floor.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	25	5	When two brethren share the same house, and one dies childless, his widow must not take a husband elsewhere; the survivor must wed her, and beget children in his dead brother’s name.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	25	6	And the first son she bears him he must account as the dead man’s heir, so that his line shall not be lost to Israel.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	25	7	It may be he will refuse to take his brother’s wife, although the law binds her to him. Then the woman will make her way to the city gate, and protest to the elders there, This brother-in-law of mine refuses to wed me and beget children in his brother’s name.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	25	8	Thereupon they will summon and question him, and if he persists in refusing to take her,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	25	9	the woman will go up to him, there in the presence of the elders, and take off one of his shoes, and spit in his face. This, she will say, is for the man who would not continue his brother’s line,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	25	10	and Barefoot Breed is the name by which he will be known in Israel.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	25	11	If two men fall out and come to blows, it may be that the wife of the weaker man will come up to his rescue, and lay hands upon the other, taking shameful hold of him.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	25	12	That hand of hers must be struck off, and no mercy be shewn to her.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	25	13	Thou shalt not carry two different weights in thy wallet, one heavy and one light,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	25	14	or keep two bushel-measures in thy house, one great and one small.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	25	15	A just weight and a true, a full bushel-measure and a true thou shalt use always, if thou wouldst have long enjoyment of the land the Lord thy God means to give thee.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	25	16	All such knavery is hateful to the Lord thy God; he is the enemy of wrong-doing.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	25	17	Do not forget how Amalec treated thee on thy way here from Egypt.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	25	18	Reckless of the divine vengeance, he crossed thy path and cut off the stragglers from thy ranks, as they halted for weariness, faint with hunger and toil.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	25	19	When the Lord thy God allows thee to rest secure, master of all the nations that dwell in the land he has promised thee, thou shalt blot out Amalec from human remembrance; keep this in mind constantly.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	26	1	When thou hast reached the land which the Lord is to make thy home and taken possession of it, and settled there,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	26	2	thou wilt set apart first-fruits out of all thy crops. These thou wilt put in a basket, and then carry them to the place the Lord thy God has chosen as the sanctuary of his name.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	26	3	And thus shalt thou address thyself to the priest who bears office at the time: I make acknowledgement this day before the Lord thy God, that the land he promised to us in our fathers’ days is now my home.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	26	4	Thereupon the priest will take the basket from thy hand, and set it down before the altar of the Lord thy God.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	26	5	In that divine presence, thou wilt continue thy protestation: My fathers were wanderers, hunted to and fro in Syria, when they made their way into Egypt and began to dwell there, only a handful of them; but they grew to be a great people, hardy and numerous.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	26	6	Whereupon the Egyptians treated us ill and persecuted us, and the burden we must bear was insupportable;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	26	7	so we cried out to the Lord God of our fathers, and he listened to our plea, and took pity on our affliction, the toil and oppression we suffered;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	26	8	rescued us from Egypt by force, with his arm high uplifted to strike great terror, and perform great wonders and portents,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	26	9	and brought us here, where he has given us a land that is all milk and honey.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	26	10	That is why I am offering first-fruits, now, out of the land which the Lord has given me. So leave them there, in the presence of the Lord thy God, and when thou hast paid worship to this Lord and God of thine,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	26	11	go home to feast on all the good things he has given thee, with all thy household, with Levite and wanderer that are thy neighbours.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	26	12	And when thou hast finished taking tithes of all thy harvest, every third year, when tithe is due; when thou hast given them to Levite and stranger, to orphan and widow, in thy own city, so that they can feast and have their fill,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	26	13	what prayer wilt thou make before the Lord thy God? I have stripped my house, thou wilt tell him, of all that I had vowed away, given it to Levite or to wanderer, to orphan or to widow, as thou badest me; I have not neglected thy will, or forgotten thy commands.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	26	14	None of it has been eaten when I was in mourning, or set apart when I was defiled, or devoted to the dead; no, I have obeyed the Lord my God, and done all thy bidding.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	26	15	Look down, then, from that sanctuary of thine, that dwelling-place high in heaven, and bless thy people Israel; bless the land thou hast given us, that land, all milk and honey, which thou didst promise to our fathers before us.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	26	16	Here and now the Lord thy God gives thee these commands, these decrees, bidding thee observe them and fulfil them, heart and soul.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	26	17	Here and now thou art choosing the Lord to be thy God, whose guidance thou wilt follow, whose prescriptions, laws and commandments thou wilt observe, whose rule thou wilt obey.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	26	18	Here and now the Lord is choosing thee to be his own people, as he promised thee, living by his precepts;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	26	19	his will is to exalt thee high above all other nations he has made, for his own praise and glory and renown, a people consecrated to the Lord thy God, claiming his promise.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	27	1	And now Moses, with the elders of Israel, gave the people this charge: Hold fast all the commandments I have been enjoining on you this day.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	27	2	When you cross the Jordan and reach the land which the Lord means to give you, raise up great stones, and smooth them over with plaster;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	27	3	on these, now that Jordan is passed, and the land I promised, all milk and honey, is yours, the whole tenour of this law must be written down.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	27	4	These plastered slabs, of which I am now speaking, must be set up on mount Hebal, on the further bank of Jordan;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	27	5	and there an altar must be built to the Lord your God, out of stones which no iron has ever touched,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	27	6	stones still rough and unpolished. On this, offer the Lord burnt-sacrifice,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	27	7	and slay victims for a welcome-offering; eat and make good cheer in the Lord’s presence;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	27	8	and then write on the slabs, clearly and distinctly, the whole tenour of this law.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	27	9	Then Moses, with the priests of Levi’s race, said to the whole of Israel: Give heed, Israel, and listen; this day the Lord thy God has made thee his people.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	27	10	Obey his word, and live by all the commandments and decrees I am giving thee.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	27	11	And at the same time Moses gave the people this message:
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	27	12	Jordan once crossed, six tribes must stand on mount Garizim for the blessing of the people, Simeon, Levi, Juda, Issachar, Joseph and Benjamin,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	27	13	and six tribes must stand opposite, on mount Ebal, for the cursing, Ruben, Gad, Aser, Zabulon, Dan and Nephthali.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	27	14	And now the Levites shall cry this proclamation aloud to the whole of Israel,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	27	15	Cursed be the man who makes graven or molten image, a thing detestable to the Lord, however skilled its workmanship, however secret its hiding-place. And here all the people shall answer, Amen.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	27	16	Cursed be the man who refuses to honour father or mother, Amen.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	27	17	Cursed be the man who moves his neighbour’s land-mark, Amen.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	27	18	Cursed be the man who guides the blind amiss, Amen.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	27	19	Cursed be the man who denies justice to alien, orphan and widow, Amen.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	27	20	Cursed be the man who mates with his father’s wife, and comes between his own father’s sheets, Amen.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	27	21	Cursed be the man who mates with any beast, Amen.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	27	22	Cursed be the man who mates with his sister, born of the same father or the same mother, Amen.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	27	23	Cursed be the man who mates with his wife’s mother, Amen.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	27	24	Cursed be the man who wounds his neighbour secretly, Amen.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	27	25	Cursed be the man who accepts a bribe, to swear away an innocent life, Amen.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	27	26	Cursed be the man who does not hold fast to every word of this law, and live by it; and all will say, Amen.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	28	1	And now, if thou wilt listen to the Lord thy God, carrying out faithfully all those commandments of his which I enjoin upon thee, the Lord thy God will make thee greater than any other nation on earth;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	28	2	and all these blessings which follow shall come to meet thee, if only thou wilt obey his will.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	28	3	Blessed shalt thou be in town and country,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	28	4	blessed with fertility of womb and of soil, with increase of thy stock in byre and sheep-fold,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	28	5	with rich store in barn and granary,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	28	6	blessed in thy journey and blessed in thy coming home.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	28	7	When thy enemies raise war against thee, the Lord will make them cower before thy onslaught; the host that came out against thee in one company shall flee away in seven.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	28	8	Upon all thy store-houses, upon every enterprise of thine, the Lord will send down his blessing; a land of blessing shall be thine.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	28	9	If only thou wilt be true to the commandments of the Lord thy God, and follow the paths he has chosen, he will fulfil his promise, and make thee a people set apart for himself;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	28	10	so that all the nations of the world will go in fear of thee, the people that is named by such a name as his.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	28	11	The Lord will make thee rich in all good things; fruitful thy own race, fruitful thy cattle, fruitful this land, his promised gift to thy fathers.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	28	12	The Lord will open to thee the rich stores of heaven, and grant thy land rain when the season comes for it; he will prosper all thy enterprises, making thee the creditor of many nations, the debtor of none;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	28	13	for thee to lead, for others to follow; for thee the heights, for them the lower place. All this, if thou wilt obey the commandments of the Lord that I enjoin on thee this day, holding fast to them and living by them,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	28	14	not swerving to right or left, not following the worship of other gods than thine.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	28	15	But if thou dost refuse to listen to him, and carry out faithfully all the commandments and observances I now enjoin on thee, all these curses that follow shall come to meet thee instead.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	28	16	Cursed shalt thou be in town and country,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	28	17	cursed with empty barn and bare granary,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	28	18	with barrenness of womb and of soil, with leanness of thy stock in byre and sheep-fold,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	28	19	cursed in thy journey and cursed in thy coming home.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	28	20	Want and distress the Lord will send thee, and failure in all thy enterprises, to crush thee down and make a quick end of thee, still faithless, still following thy own devices.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	28	21	The Lord will infect thee with plague, till the land thou hast won knows thee no more;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	28	22	the Lord will smite thee with wasting, and fever, and ague, with burning heat, with blight and mildew, hunting thee to the death.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	28	23	Heaven above thee shall be bronze, and earth iron under thy feet;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	28	24	dust will be all the rain he gives thee, and ashes shall fall from the skies to overwhelm thee.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	28	25	The Lord will make thee cower before the onslaught of thy enemies; the host that went out against them in one company shall flee away in seven, till thy race is scattered over all the kingdoms of the world,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	28	26	and the carcase that is left of thee will be left for every bird in heaven and every beast on earth to prey upon, with none to drive them away.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	28	27	The Lord will smite thee with the Egyptian scab, and swelling in the groin, and the itch; there shall be no curing thee.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	28	28	The Lord will drive thee distracted, all benighted and crazed in thy wits,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	28	29	till thou wilt grope thy way at noon like a blind man in the dark, and lose thyself; never a day when thou art not wronged and oppressed, and there shall be none to deliver thee.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	28	30	Wed a wife, and another shall bed her, build a house, and thou shalt not dwell in it, plant a vineyard, and the vintage shall not be thine.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	28	31	Thou wilt see thy own ox slain, and never a morsel for thee, thy ass carried off, and never restored, thy sheep given to thy enemies, and no help for it.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	28	32	Nay, thy sons and daughters will be enslaved to alien masters, and thy own eyes shall see it, and ache continually at the sight; no power left thee to resist it.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	28	33	Thy crops, too, the fruit of thy own toil, will be carried off by a people till now unknown to thee; always thou wilt be suffering some wrong, always oppressed,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	28	34	till thou art numb with terror at the sights thy own eyes have witnessed.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	28	35	The Lord will smite knee and calf of thine with the foul scab, till it covers thee from head to foot, past all remedy.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	28	36	Exile awaits thee, awaits the king thou hast chosen to rule over thee; the Lord will carry thee away into a land thou and thy fathers never heard of, where thou must needs worship alien gods, of wood and stone;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	28	37	and to all the nations among whom the Lord bids thee dwell, thy name shall be a proverb and a by-word.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	28	38	Much sown and little reaped, where the locust has eaten;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	28	39	vines planted and dressed, and no vintage gathered, no wine drunk, because the weevil has ravaged them;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	28	40	olives everywhere, and no oil to anoint thee, because they drooped and withered away;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	28	41	sons and daughters born, and no comfort to thee, all carried away into exile.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	28	42	No tree of thine, no crop of thine, but the mildew shall spoil it.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	28	43	The aliens that dwell in thy land will outpass and over-shadow thee, humbled now and no match for them;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	28	44	they shall be the creditors now, and thou the debtor; it is for them to lead, for thee to follow.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	28	45	And other curses shall befall thee, hunting thee down until they overtake thee, for thy utter ruin; and all because thou wouldst not listen to the Lord thy God, and hold fast to the commandments and observances he enjoined upon thee.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	28	46	It shall be a warning and a prodigy, the fate that shall come upon thee, and upon thy race in perpetuity.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	28	47	Because thou wouldst not obey the Lord thy God in happiness and content, when thou hadst enough and to spare,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	28	48	thou must learn, now, to obey those enemies the Lord will send out to conquer thee; obey them in hunger, and thirst, and nakedness, and every kind of want; a yoke of iron shall be fastened on thy neck, and shall crush thee down.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	28	49	From far away, from the very ends of the earth, the Lord will send a nation to sweep down on thee like a bird of prey; a nation whose very speech is unknown to thee;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	28	50	hard-hearted, with no respect for age, no pity for helpless children.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	28	51	All that thy herds, all that thy lands yield, they will take for food, careless of thy ruin; neither wheat nor wine nor soil nor herd nor flock shall be left to thee; all will be laid waste.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	28	52	In thy cities, too, they will press hard on thee, battering down everywhere those high walls, those strong walls; all over this land, which the Lord thy God is now giving thee, there shall be siege at thy gates.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	28	53	Thou wilt be fain to eat thy own offspring, the flesh of thy own sons and daughters, the Lord’s gift to thee; so bitter the stress and the want these enemies of thine shall bring upon thee.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	28	54	The man that lived softly hitherto, in all comfort, will grudge food to his own brother, to the wife that lay in his bosom,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	28	55	and that food the flesh of his own sons; nothing else is left him, so hard the siege is pressed against all thy cities.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	28	56	The woman, so tender, so dainty, that would not put her foot to the ground, would not walk a single step, too delicately nurtured for that, will grudge the flesh of her own sons and daughters to the husband that lay in her bosom.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	28	57	She will eat what comes out from her own body, eat her own son that is newly born, there in secret; what else has she, hard pressed by the siege that is brought against these cities of thine?
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	28	58	If thou dost not carry out faithfully every word of the law this book contains, going in fear of the great name, the terrible name, the Lord thy God,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	28	59	then the Lord will send worse plagues still on thee and on thy posterity, heavy plagues and of long continuance, grievous and lasting visitations.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	28	60	The fierce afflictions of Egypt (thou hast dreaded them ere now) shall be thine instead.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	28	61	And all the sicknesses and plagues of which this book makes no mention the Lord will bring thee, till he has crushed thee down;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	28	62	only a few will be left out of a number that was countless once as the stars in heaven, because thou wouldst not listen to the Lord thy God.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	28	63	Hitherto the Lord had taken delight in blessing thy race and increasing it; now he will take delight in destroying and overwhelming it, dispossessing it of the land he has given thee for thy home.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	28	64	This way and that, among all the nations from earth’s end to earth’s end, the Lord will scatter it; and in exile thou wilt worship such alien gods as thou and thy fathers never heard of, gods of wood and stone.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	28	65	And even there thou wilt find no rest, no sure ground under thy feet. Nought will the Lord leave thee but cowed spirits, and eyes that fail, and a heart eaten up with sorrow.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	28	66	Thou wilt see thy life hanging on a thread; day and night thou wilt go in fear, not counting life itself thy own.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	28	67	In the morning thou wilt say? Will it never be evening? and in the evening, Will it never be morning? such will be the terrors that daunt thee, so cruel the sights that meet thy eyes.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	28	68	The Lord will carry thee back over the sea to Egypt, the Lord who once told thee thou shouldst never see that road again. There the men and women of your race shall be slaves, on sale to their enemies, and find no master to buy them.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	29	1	These are the terms of that covenant which the Lord would have Moses make with the sons of Israel, there in the country of Moab, in addition to the covenant he made with them on mount Horeb.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	29	2	Moses gathered all Israel round him, and said to them, Your own eyes have witnessed, in the land of Egypt, the Lord’s dealings with Pharao and his court and all his kingdom;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	29	3	the challenge of all those wonders and portents, plain to your view.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	29	4	But to this day the Lord has not enlightened your hearts; yours are blind eyes, yours are deaf ears still.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	29	5	Has he not been your guide all through those forty years in the desert? And all that time the garments that covered you did not wear out, the shoes on your feet did not perish with age;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	29	6	you had no bread with you, no wine or strong drink, but you ate and drank your fill; and can you doubt that you have the Lord your God to protect you?
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	29	7	And here, at our journey’s end, it is still the same; Sehon King of Hesebon and Og king of Basan came out to give us battle, but we conquered them,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	29	8	and divided up their territory between Ruben and Gad and half the tribe of Manasses.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	29	9	Hold fast, then, to the terms of this covenant, and fulfil them if you would order your lives as wise men do.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	29	10	You stand here, all of you, in the presence of the Lord your God, for a single purpose, leaders of tribes with their tribes around them, elders, counsellors, the whole assembly of Israel;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	29	11	your children, your wives, and the aliens that share your camp; servants, too, that hew wood and draw water at your bidding.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	29	12	It is to enter into a covenant with the Lord your God, a sworn covenant he would make with you this day;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	29	13	he would make you his people, and be himself your God; such is the promise he has made to you, such was the oath he took to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	29	14	And it is not only with you that I ratify this covenant, this oath;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	29	15	it is with others, too, that are not here to make it.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	29	16	Ours is a race, as you know, that has dwelt in Egypt; since then, we have made our way through the midst of many peoples, and as we passed
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	29	17	you saw detestable and shameful sights, saw how they worshipped idols of wood and stone, of silver and gold.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	29	18	Pray God there may be no man or woman here, no household or tribe, that is false at heart to the Lord our God, ready to forsake him and serve those other, alien gods. From such a root as that, gall and wormwood must needs spring.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	29	19	Does such a man, listening to the terms of this oath, flatter himself with the thought that all will be well with him, and that he can go on in his perverse ways, till the damp ground imparts its moisture to the dry?
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	29	20	Then the Lord will not spare him. The divine anger will burn high in indignation against such a man, and all the curses of which this book makes mention will fall upon him, till the Lord has effaced his memory among living men,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	29	21	singled him out among the whole people of Israel for a miserable end, for every curse that gives this law and covenant its sanction.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	29	22	A warning that land will be, which the Lord so visits with plague and affliction; a warning to the next generation, and their children after them, and to strangers who come from far off to see it.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	29	23	Here is a land he has burnt up with brimstone and salty fumes, till it is sown no more and no green thing grows there, overwhelmed as he overwhelmed Sodom and Gomorrha, Adama and Seboim, when his anger raged fierce against them.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	29	24	And all will ask, Why has the Lord treated this land so? What means this anger, this terrible vengeance of his?
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	29	25	And the answer will come, It was because they forsook the covenant which the Lord had made with their fathers when he rescued them out of the land of Egypt;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	29	26	because they enslaved themselves to the worship of alien gods unknown to them, gods that were no gods of theirs.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	29	27	That is why the Lord’s vengeance fell heavy on this land, and he brought on them all the curses which the book of his law contained,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	29	28	so hot his anger burned, so fierce his indignation; dispossessing them of their own land and banishing them into a country of strangers, for all to see.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	29	29	The Lord our God keeps his own secrets; what he will reveal, he has revealed to us, and to our children in perpetuity; ours to live by this law and by all the terms of it.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	30	1	And perhaps when thou hast had experience of all this, and hast met first the blessing and then the curse I have here pronounced before thee, thou wilt feel compunction of heart, there in thy exile among the countries where the Lord has scattered thee,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	30	2	and wilt turn back to him again. Once more thou and thy children will be true, heart and soul, to those commandments of his which I have enjoined upon thee.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	30	3	And the Lord, in pity, will restore thee from banishment, will gather in those sons of thine from the lands in which he has dispersed them.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	30	4	Yes, though they should be sundered far apart as pole from pole, the Lord thy God will bring them back again,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	30	5	summoning them to return and take possession of the land where their fathers dwelt; granting them his blessing, till they are more in number than ever their fathers were.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	30	6	He will rid thy heart, and the hearts of thy children, of all defilement, and thou wilt find life in loving the Lord thy God, heart and soul;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	30	7	the curse he laid upon thee he will lay upon thy enemies instead, upon the men who would hate and persecute thee.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	30	8	So thou shalt return to thy obedience, listening to the Lord thy God and carrying out all the commandments I am giving thee this day;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	30	9	and the Lord thy God will prosper thee in all thy enterprises, children born to thee, thy cattle and thy lands fruitful, all things thine in abundance. Once more the Lord will take delight in blessing his people, as he did in their fathers’ days;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	30	10	but only if thou wilt obey him, and hold fast to the commandments and observances this law contains, returning heart and soul to him, thy Lord and thy God.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	30	11	It is not above thy reach, it is not beyond thy compass, this duty which I am now enjoining upon thee.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	30	12	It is not a secret laid up in heaven, that thou must needs find someone to scale heaven and bring it down to thee before thou canst hear what it is, and obey it.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	30	13	It is not an art, practised far overseas, that thou must wait for some one to go voyaging and bring it back to thee before thou canst learn to live by it.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	30	14	No, this message of mine is close to thy side; it rises to thy lips, it is printed on thy memory; thou hast only to fulfil it.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	30	15	See, I have set before thee this day a choice between life and death, between good fortune and ill.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	30	16	Thou art to love the Lord thy God and follow the path he has chosen for thee, to hold fast by all his commandments and observances and decrees, if thou wouldst live and thrive and prosper through him in the land that is to be thy home.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	30	17	If thy heart becomes estranged from him, so that thou dost no longer obey him, but art tempted away into worshipping other gods and doing them service,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	30	18	then I warn thee here and now that it will be thy ruin; the land thou art winning for thyself on the other side of Jordan will be thine only for a little.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	30	19	I call heaven and earth to witness this day that I have set such a choice before thee, life or death, a blessing or a curse. Wilt thou not choose life, long life for thyself and for those that come after thee?
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	30	20	Wilt thou not learn to love the Lord thy God, and obey him, and keep close to his side? Thou hast no life, no hope of long continuance, but in him; shall not the land which he promised as a gift to thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, be thine to dwell in?
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	31	1	All this Moses obediently proclaimed to the people of Israel;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	31	2	and then he said to them, Here am I, a man of a hundred and twenty years of age, no longer fit to lead you on your expeditions; and besides, the Lord has told me that I am not destined to cross yonder stream of Jordan.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	31	3	It is the Lord your God that will lead you across, it is he that will dispossess all these nations to make room for you; and he has chosen Josue here to march at your head.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	31	4	These nations are to fare no better than the Amorrhite kings, Sehon and Og; the Lord means to overthrow them,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	31	5	and you, when he gives you the victory over them, must remember what I told you, and make an end of them.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	31	6	Play the man, and keep your courage high; there must be no cowardice, no flinching before them. The Lord your God is himself your leader now; he will not play you false and forsake you.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	31	7	Then Moses summoned Josue, and said to him in the presence of all Israel, Play the man, and keep thy courage high; it is thy task to lead this nation into the land which the Lord promised to their fathers, and divide it up between them.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	31	8	The Lord goes with thee to lead this army of thine; he will not play thee false and forsake thee; there must be no cowardice, no flinching here.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	31	9	And now Moses committed this law to writing, and gave it to the priests of Levi’s race, bearers of the ark that attested the Lord’s covenant, and to the elders of Israel.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	31	10	Every seven years, he told them, when the year of discharge comes round, and with it the feast of Tent-dwelling,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	31	11	at the time when all Israel meets in the place the Lord has chosen, to present themselves before him, their Lord and God, the terms of this law must be read out in the presence and in the hearing of the whole people.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	31	12	All alike will be assembled there, not only men but women and children, and the aliens too that dwell among you; all alike must listen, and learn to fear the Lord your God, and carry out faithfully all the terms of this law.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	31	13	The very children, still all untaught, must listen now, and learn to fear the Lord their God, as long as this land you are winning for yourselves beyond Jordan is their home.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	31	14	After this the Lord said to Moses, Thou hast not long to live; summon Josue, and take him with thee to meet me at the tabernacle; I have a charge to give him. So Moses and Josue took their stand together beneath the tabernacle that attested the covenant,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	31	15	and there the Lord appeared in a pillar of cloud that rose above them at the tabernacle door.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	31	16	And the Lord said to Moses, Thou wilt be laid to rest among thy fathers, and before long this people of mine, settled now in the land they have invaded, will begin to play the wanton, and to worship alien gods; will forsake me, and cancel their covenant with me.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	31	17	Then my anger will burn fiercely indeed; I will forsake them in my turn, and deny them my favour, and they will fall a prey to woes and afflictions of every sort, until at last they begin to say, It is because the Lord is no longer with us that we are encountering afflictions such as these.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	31	18	And still I will hide myself, and turn no glance towards them, to punish them for their wickedness in betaking themselves to alien gods.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	31	19	I would have you, then, set down a song in writing, and teach the people to know it by heart and sing it; a song that will vindicate me against the sons of Israel.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	31	20	I mean to settle them in this land that is all milk and honey, my promised gift to their fathers; and they will no sooner have eaten their fill and grown fat on it, than they will turn to alien gods and worship them; they will defy me, and annul their covenant with me.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	31	21	Woes and afflictions will come upon them, and it is then that this song, still remembered by their posterity, will vindicate me against them.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	31	22	So Moses put the song in writing, and taught it to the men of Israel.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	31	23	The Lord also gave a charge to Josue, the son of Nun, Play the man, and keep thy courage high; it is thy task to settle the sons of Israel in the land I have promised to give them, and I will be with thee in the doing of it.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	31	24	And now, when Moses had finished his work of setting forth the terms of this law in a book,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	31	25	he gave orders to the Levites, that carried the ark of the Lord, what they should do with it.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	31	26	Take this book, he said, and lay it up by the side of the ark that bears witness of the Lord’s covenant, to vindicate him against you.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	31	27	I know well how rebellious you are, how stiff-necked; even in my life-time, and in spite of my presence among you, you have always been rebelling against the Lord, and when I am dead, worse must follow.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	31	28	Summon the elders and counsellors among all the tribes, and let me say my say in their hearing; let me call upon heaven and earth to bear witness against them.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	31	29	I know well enough that when I am dead you will ruin all, and it will not be long before you stray from the path I have shewed you; and I know that when the Lord sees you living amiss, and provoking his anger by your doings, calamity will fall upon you in the end.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	31	30	And so Moses, with the whole assembly of Israel listening to him, pronounced the words of the song which follows, never pausing until it was all finished.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	32	1	Listen, you heavens, while I have my say; earth, be attentive to the words I utter;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	32	2	here is teaching big with import as the rain, here are warnings that must soak in like the dew, wholesome as showers are to the grass, as moisture to the growing crops.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	32	3	The renown of the Lord shall be my theme; to our God belongs majesty;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	32	4	the God who shelters us, how perfect is all he does, how right are all his dealings! God, faithful and unerring, God, holy and just!
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	32	5	And these, his sons, are lost to him, his sons no longer in their defilement; a generation of false aims and rebellious will.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	32	6	What, reckless still, inconsiderate still! Is this the return thou wouldst make to that father who calls thee his own, that creator who fashioned thee?
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	32	7	Cast thy mind back to old days; nay, trace the record of each succeeding generation; ask thy father what news he has to tell, thy forefathers, what word they have for thee.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	32	8	The Ruler of all has divided the nations apart, sundering Adam’s children and giving to each people its own home, peoples as numerous as the sons that sprang from Israel;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	32	9	but one was the Lord’s treasured possession, his own people; it was Jacob he had marked out for his own domain.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	32	10	He sought them out in the wilderness, there in the fearful desert spaces, gave them the guidance, taught them the lessons they needed, guarded them as if they had been the apple of his eye.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	32	11	(So the eagle that would incite its young to venture in the air now hovers above them, now spreads its wings and takes them up to rest on its own shoulders.)
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	32	12	None but the Lord was their guide on that journey, there was no alien god to be found then in their company.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	32	13	And afterwards he settled them in a country of high hills, where they could eat the food their own lands yielded. Honey oozed from its rocks, on its barren uplands the olive could flourish;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	32	14	cheese from the herd, milk was theirs from the flock, the flesh of well-fed lamb and ram, cattle of Basan’s breed, and he-goats; they ate the choicest wheat, drank the heady juice of the grape.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	32	15	A people so well loved! And now, pampered, they would throw off the yoke. Pampered, full-fed, swollen with pride, they forsook that divine creator, revolted against their deliverer.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	32	16	He must endure the rivalry of alien worship, must look on indignantly at their detestable doings.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	32	17	Not to their God they offered sacrifice, but to devils, to gods yet untried, upstart gods of yesterday, whom their fathers never held in awe.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	32	18	What, forsake the sheltering Power that gave thee birth, forget the very Lord who created thee?
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	32	19	The Lord was roused to anger when he saw it, saw his own sons and daughters defying him.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	32	20	I will turn away from them, he said, and see what comes of it; here is a rebellious race, a thankless brood.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	32	21	They have deserted me for a god that was no god, phantoms have been my rivals; now I will desert them in my turn, for a people that is no people of mine; their rivals shall be men as impious as themselves.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	32	22	My anger shall be like a raging fire that burns down to the depths of the abyss, that consumes earth and all that earth yields, scorches the very roots of the hills.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	32	23	I mean to heap all my plagues upon them, exhaust all the arrows of my vengeance.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	32	24	What famine shall gnaw them, what winged terrors eat them up with destructive fangs! I will send wild beasts, too, to prey on them, poisonous serpents shall creep upon them through the dust.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	32	25	Havoc without, terror within doors; for man and maid, for infancy and old age, the same doom!
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	32	26	Indeed, I had thought to make away with them altogether, blot out their very name from all human remembrance;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	32	27	but no, I held my hand; were these enemies of theirs to provoke me with taunts? Should the victors boast it was their own power, not mine, that had won the day?
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	32	28	How lost they are to right judgement, this people of Israel, how slow of discernment!
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	32	29	Ah, if they would only take thought, and read their lesson, and foresee what is still far away!
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	32	30	When they see their thousands put to rout by one man, ten thousand fleeing with two men in pursuit, can they doubt what is the cause of it? It means their own God has relinquished them; that the Lord’s decree has given their enemy the mastery;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	32	31	that enemy himself will bear witness that his gods are no match for our God.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	32	32	Does he enjoy my favour? No, says the Lord, he is but a wild vine, such as grows in Sodom, or in the purlieus of Gomorrha, yielding grapes like gall, clusters of bitterness,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	32	33	yielding wine like the adder’s venom, the rankling poison of the viper.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	32	34	Be sure that I keep the record of his wickedness stored away under seal in my treasure house;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	32	35	vengeance is for me; I will repay when the time comes. A slip of the foot, and ruin is upon them; little waiting now before the appointed day comes.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	32	36	Never doubt it, the Lord will give his people redress, will take pity on his servants, when he sees their strength so spent, the number of them so dwindled, whether bond or free.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	32	37	He will ask, What has become of those gods of yours, once so well trusted,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	32	38	that shared, once, the fat of your victims, the wine you poured in libation? Will they not bestir themselves, and come to your aid, protect you in your hour of need?
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	32	39	Now you shall learn that I alone am God; there are no others to rival me; it is mine to kill and to quicken, mine to smite and to heal; from my power there is no deliverance.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	32	40	See, I lift up my hand, and swear by my own eternal being
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	32	41	that I am whetting this bright sword of mine, to execute speedy judgement; I mean to take vengeance, now, on my enemies, requite them for all their malice.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	32	42	Now to glut my arrows with their blood, now to flesh this sword of mine with the slaughter of my enemies, warriors slain in battle and unhelmeted captives!
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	32	43	Do honour, you nations, to the Lord’s people; he means to avenge the blood of his servants, to punish their enemies, to be reconciled once again with the land of Israel.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	32	44	So when Moses had performed his errand, reciting the whole of this song in the hearing of the assembled people, with Josue the son of Nun at his side,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	32	45	he made an end of all his long discourse to the Israelites,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	32	46	in these words, Pay good heed to the appeal I have made to you this day, and hand it on to your children, bidding them hold fast to all the terms of this law and carry them out faithfully.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	32	47	These duties are not lightly enjoined on you; to every man of you they are life itself. Only by performing them can you hope for long enjoyment of this land across Jordan which is to be your home.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	32	48	It was on the same day that the Lord said to Moses,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	32	49	Climb this mountain of Abarim (that is, of the Further Side; it is the same as mount Nebo, in the Moabite country opposite Jericho), and view the land of Chanaan, which I mean to give the sons of Israel for their own. On that mountain thou art to die.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	32	50	This height climbed, thou must needs become a part of thy people, as thy brother Aaron died and became a part of his people on Mount Hor.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	32	51	You disobeyed me, in full sight of the whole people, at the Water of Rebellion in the desert of Sin, when you did not vindicate my holiness before the sons of Israel.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	32	52	Thou shalt have sight, nevertheless, of this land which is my gift to the Israelites, the land it shall not be thine to enter.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	33	1	And this is the blessing which God’s servant Moses gave to the sons of Israel before he died.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	33	2	See where the Lord comes forth, he said, from Sinai, where he rises high above the hills of Edom before us, dawns on us from mount Pharan; thousands of his holy ones were about him, and on his right hand his law shone to them like fire.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	33	3	How he loves those tribes of his! All his holy ones dwell in his protecting care, can gather at his feet, and partake of his instruction.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	33	4	We had a law given to us by Moses, the heirloom of Jacob’s posterity,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	33	5	and our king dwelt among us, his favoured people, with the chieftains and all the tribes of Israel assembled about him.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	33	6	Let Ruben live on, never wasting away yet never growing populous.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	33	7	And this was Juda’s blessing. Listen, Lord, to Juda’s plea, and restore him to his place among the people, so that he may fight for it and defend it against its enemies.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	33	8	And of Levi he said, The touchstones of Wisdom and Truth are for the man thou hast set apart, testing him at the place of Challenge, proving his worth at the Water of Rebellion.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	33	9	This is one who said to his father and mother, You are no acquaintance of mine, and to his brethren, I do not recognize you. Here are men that treated their own children as strangers, paying heed rather to thy warnings, keeping true to thy covenant;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	33	10	Here, they said to Jacob, are the decrees thou must obey, here, Israel, is the law that governs thee. When thou art angry, Lord, it is theirs to offer incense, and burn sacrifice upon thy altar.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	33	11	Bless all he has, Lord, and prosper all he does; smite his enemies and put them to rout, never let them rise up again to plot against him.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	33	12	Of Benjamin he said, First in the Lord’s love, he shall dwell secure in that companionship. God will spread his pavilion over him at all times, rest on those hills.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	33	13	Of Joseph he said, His is a land rich in blessing from the Lord, enriched with dew by the heavens above us, with springs by the depth beneath,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	33	14	enriched by ripening suns and engendering moons,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	33	15	enriched by every influence of ancient mountains and immemorial hills,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	33	16	enriched by earth and all the foison earth yields. Let the blessing of that God who once appeared in the bush light upon the head of Joseph, light on his brow who is separated like a Nazirite from his brethren.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	33	17	What is the pride of the first-born bull-calf, or of the wild ox, but his two horns? Such horns has Joseph, that can toss nations to the ends of the earth; the hordes of Ephraim, the legions of Manasses!
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	33	18	Of Zabulon he said, Happy art thou, Zabulon, and thou too, Issachar, at home and abroad.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	33	19	Peoples shall be their guests on the mountain height, where their solemn sacrifice is offered. The wealth of the sea shall foster them, the treasures that lie hidden in the sands.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	33	20	Of Gad he said, Blessed is Gad in the breadth of his lands; he lies there like a lion, ready to take head and arm for his prey.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	33	21	He too has achieved eminence; did not those lands of his enshrine such a ruler as took his part among the chiefs of the people, executing the Lord’s justice, his decrees concerning Israel?
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	33	22	Of Dan he said, Dan is a lion’s whelp; a torrent that comes down in full flood from Basan.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	33	23	Of Nephthali he said, Nephthali shall enjoy great plenty, be rich in the Lord’s blessings; seaward and southward he shall extend his frontiers.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	33	24	Of Aser he said, Aser is a son highly favoured; let him stand well with his brethren; let him have oil to wash his feet in,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	33	25	iron and bronze to make shoes for him. Let thy age be peaceful as thy youth.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	33	26	The beloved people has a God great as no other; he rides in heaven to deliver thee, the clouds making way for his majestic coming;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	33	27	there, on high, is his dwelling, and yet the eternal arms reach down to uphold thee. He will dispossess the enemy at thy onslaught, and doom him to destruction;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	33	28	Israel shall live unmolested, Jacob shall see no rival near him, in a land full of corn and wine, under skies curtained with dewy mist.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	33	29	Blessed, Israel, thou art, a people like no other, finding in the Lord thy deliverance, the shield that protects thee, the sword that wins thee renown! Thy enemies shall forswear their enmity, and thou shalt tread their pride in the dust.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	34	1	And so Moses went up from the Moabite plain on to mount Nebo, the peak of Phasga that rises opposite Jericho. And the Lord shewed him all the territory of Gad right up to Dan,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	34	2	and all Nephthali, and the country Ephraim and Manasses were to hold, and the whole land of Juda, with the sea coast for its frontier;
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	34	3	the south, too, and the plain that stretches from Jericho, among its palm trees, up to Segor.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	34	4	This, the Lord told him, is the land of which I spoke to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, promising to give it to their race. I have granted thee the sight of it; enter it thou mayst not.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	34	5	There, then, in the land of Moab, Moses died, the Lord’s servant, still true to the Lord’s bidding.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	34	6	And there the Lord buried him, in a valley belonging to the Moabite country that looks towards Phogor; but where his tomb is, remains to this day unknown.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	34	7	He was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, and still his eyes had not grown dim, and his teeth stood firm.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	34	8	And the sons of Israel mourned for him thirty days, there in the plains of Moab. And now the days of mourning for Moses had come to an end,
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	34	9	and Josue the son of Nun, full of the gift of wisdom since Moses laid hands on him, took command of the Israelites; and they obeyed him, as the Lord through Moses had bidden them.
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	34	10	There was never such another prophet in Israel as Moses; what other man was the Lord’s familiar, meeting him face to face?
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	34	11	Were ever such wonders and portents as the Lord empowered this man to perform in Egypt, till Pharao and all his court and kingdom obeyed the Lord’s will perforce?
 Deuteronomy	Dt	5	34	12	Were ever such great miracles done as Moses did, for all Israel to see?
 Josue	Jos	6	1	1	His servant Moses dead, the Lord gave a charge to Josue, son of Nun, that till now had waited on Moses’ needs.
 Josue	Jos	6	1	2	Now that my servant Moses is dead, he told him, it is for thee to cross yonder stream of Jordan, taking the Israelites with thee into the land I am giving them for their own.
 Josue	Jos	6	1	3	My promise to Moses holds good; there is no piece of ground your feet shall tread but I will make it yours,
 Josue	Jos	6	1	4	all the Hethite country, that has the desert, and Lebanon, and the great river Euphrates, and the open sea on the west for its frontiers.
 Josue	Jos	6	1	5	While thou yet livest, there shall be no withstanding Israel’s onset; I will be with thee as with Moses, never leave nor let thee.
 Josue	Jos	6	1	6	Courage, then, play the man; thy task is to divide up this land between the tribes, my promised gift to their fathers.
 Josue	Jos	6	1	7	Play the man thou must, and keep thy courage high, carrying out faithfully the law my servant Moses enjoined on thee; never swerve to right or left, and thou shalt order thy life truly.
 Josue	Jos	6	1	8	The law thou hast in writing must govern every utterance of thine; night and day thou must ponder over it, so as to carry out all the terms of it faithfully; so wilt thou guide thy steps truly and prosper.
 Josue	Jos	6	1	9	Courage and a man’s part, that is what I ask of thee; no room for fear and shrinking back, when the Lord thy God is at thy side wherever thou goest.
 Josue	Jos	6	1	10	And now Josue bade the chieftains make their way through the midst of the camp, giving the people orders
 Josue	Jos	6	1	11	to prepare themselves food; in two days’ time they were to cross the Jordan and set about conquering the land which the Lord would make their home.
 Josue	Jos	6	1	12	And he warned Ruben and Gad, and the separate half of Manasses,
 Josue	Jos	6	1	13	Do not forget the message that was given you by Moses, the Lord’s own servant. The Lord your God, he told you, has granted you secure possession of all that is yours.
 Josue	Jos	6	1	14	In that land which Moses assigned to you beyond Jordan your wives and children and cattle shall await you, while you that are warriors go over in the van of your brethren, and fight in their cause.
 Josue	Jos	6	1	15	A day will come when the Lord your God will give them, too, undisturbed possession of their appointed home; then you shall go back and settle in your own lands, where the Lord’s servant Moses assigned them to you, east of Jordan.
 Josue	Jos	6	1	16	And they answered, We will do all thy bidding, go out upon all thy errands,
 Josue	Jos	6	1	17	obey thee as we obeyed Moses in all things. And may the Lord thy God be with thee, as he was with Moses.
 Josue	Jos	6	1	18	Whoever thwarts thy will or refuses to obey any order of thine shall die for it; courage, then, play the man.
 Josue	Jos	6	2	1	Josue was at Setim; and from Setim he despatched two of his men on a secret errand, bidding them survey the country opposite, and the city of Jericho. These had made their way into the house of a harlot, called Rahab, and were lodging there,
 Josue	Jos	6	2	2	when news came to the king of Jericho that spies from the camp of Israel had crept in under cover of darkness;
 Josue	Jos	6	2	3	and he sent word to Rahab, bidding her bring out the men she was harbouring; they were spies, come to search out every corner of the land.
 Josue	Jos	6	2	4	Her first act was to hide the two men away; then she made answer, True enough, they were here; I had no means of knowing whence they came.
 Josue	Jos	6	2	5	But when darkness fell, and the gates were a-shutting, they crept out, both of them. I cannot tell what way they took, but if you give chase at once you will catch them.
 Josue	Jos	6	2	6	Meanwhile, she had taken them up to the roof of her house, and covered them over with the stems of flax that lay there.
 Josue	Jos	6	2	7	Men were sent out in pursuit along the road that leads to the Jordan ford; and as soon as these had gone out, the gates were shut behind them.
 Josue	Jos	6	2	8	The two men had not yet fallen asleep in their hiding-place when the woman came up on to the roof and spoke to them.
 Josue	Jos	6	2	9	Past all doubt, she said, the Lord means to give you the mastery; your coming has spread terror amongst us, and there are faint hearts everywhere in the land.
 Josue	Jos	6	2	10	The story has reached us, how the Lord dried up the waters of the Red Sea, when you marched through it out of Egypt, how you conquered Sehon and Og, the two Amorrhite kings that reigned beyond Jordan, and made an end of them.
 Josue	Jos	6	2	11	You see daunted men, cowards with no heart left in them to withstand your onslaught. This Lord who is your God must be the God that rules in heaven above us, and in the world that lies beneath it.
 Josue	Jos	6	2	12	And now I have done you a kindness; swear to me by this Lord of yours that you will repay it to me and mine. Pledge yourselves faithfully
 Josue	Jos	6	2	13	to grant me the safety of my father and mother, my brethren and my sisters, with all that is theirs; that our lives shall be spared in the slaughter.
 Josue	Jos	6	2	14	Keep our secret, said they, and our lives shall answer for yours. When the Lord makes us masters of thy country, we will remember and spare.
 Josue	Jos	6	2	15	So she let them down by a rope from the window of her house, which was built into the city wall.
 Josue	Jos	6	2	16	Take refuge in the hills, she told them, or you may meet the pursuers returning. Hide there for three days, until they are back again; then you may go safely on your way.
 Josue	Jos	6	2	17	And they said to her, The oath we have given thee shall be binding only on one condition.
 Josue	Jos	6	2	18	When we march in, the signal we shall look for will be this red rope of thine; tie it to the same window from which thou hast let us down. Father and mother, brethren and sisters, and all thy kindred, must be gathered together in thy house;
 Josue	Jos	6	2	19	any of them that leaves thy door brings death on his own head; we are not answerable. Only if harm should befall those who are with thee in the house shall our lives be forfeit.
 Josue	Jos	6	2	20	And if thou shouldst betray us, by making known the news thou hast of us, then the oath we have given thee binds us no longer.
 Josue	Jos	6	2	21	Be it as you say, Rahab answered; and so she left them to go on their way, and hung the scarlet rope in the window.
 Josue	Jos	6	2	22	The men walked on till they reached the hill country, and waited there till their pursuers came back, that had searched all along the road without finding them.
 Josue	Jos	6	2	23	When these were safely in the city again, the spies came down again from the hills, and crossed the Jordan to find Josue the son of Nun. And when they had told him how it had fared with them,
 Josue	Jos	6	2	24	this was the report they gave; The Lord has put all this country at our mercy; every heart in it is faint with fear.
 Josue	Jos	6	3	1	When the morrow dawned, Josue and the men of Israel moved camp, from Setim to the banks of the Jordan. Here they waited three days,
 Josue	Jos	6	3	2	and then the heralds went out through the midst of the camp,
 Josue	Jos	6	3	3	and made this proclamation: When you see the priests of Levi’s race on the march, carrying the ark of the Lord your God, you yourselves must follow behind them,
 Josue	Jos	6	3	4	keeping it in distant view; so you shall know what path to take, a path you have not trodden before. But leave a space of two thousand cubits between the ark and yourselves; not for you the neighbourhood of the ark.
 Josue	Jos	6	3	5	And Josue bade the people keep themselves free from defilement; the Lord was preparing to do a miracle next day in their midst.
 Josue	Jos	6	3	6	Then he bade the priests take up the ark that bore record of the covenant, and march on; and they, at his bidding, took it up and began leading the way.
 Josue	Jos	6	3	7	This day, the Lord said to Josue, I mean to win thee renown for all Israel to see; they shall learn that he who went with Moses goes now with thee.
 Josue	Jos	6	3	8	Bid the priests who are bearing the ark wade out a little into the waters of Jordan, and halt there.
 Josue	Jos	6	3	9	So Josue said to the Israelites, Come close, and listen to the message the Lord your God sends you.
 Josue	Jos	6	3	10	And then, Here is proof that the living presence of the Lord God is among you; proof that he means to dispossess Chanaanite and Hethite, Hevite and Pherezite, Gergesite and Jebusite and Amorrhite at your coming.
 Josue	Jos	6	3	11	Here is the ark ready to cross the Jordan at your head, that ark which bears record of your covenant with the Lord of all the earth;
 Josue	Jos	6	3	12	you must choose out twelve men, one from each tribe of Israel, to witness it.
 Josue	Jos	6	3	13	And when the priests set foot in the waters of Jordan, bearing his ark who is Lord of the whole earth, the stream below them will pass on and be lost to sight; the stream above will check its flow, heaped up in a single mass of water.
 Josue	Jos	6	3	14	So the people left their encampment to go across Jordan, the priests who carried the ark marching at their head.
 Josue	Jos	6	3	15	And when these began wading out, as soon as their feet were under water (it was harvest time, and the Jordan had risen to the full height of its banks),
 Josue	Jos	6	3	16	the stream above them halted in its course. Far up, all the way from the city of Adom to the place called Sarthan, these upper waters looked like a swelling mound; and the waters below flowed on into the Desert Sea, that is now called the Dead Sea, till they disappeared altogether.
 Josue	Jos	6	3	17	And so the people marched on to the assault of Jericho; the priests, carrying the Lord’s ark, stood there with loins girt in the middle of the Jordan on dry ground, while the whole people went past over the dry bed of the stream.
 Josue	Jos	6	4	1	And when they had crossed over, the Lord bade Josue
 Josue	Jos	6	4	2	choose out twelve men, one from each tribe;
 Josue	Jos	6	4	3	each was to pick out a solid stone from the river-bed, where the feet of the priests had stood, and these must be set up to mark the place where they encamped that night.
 Josue	Jos	6	4	4	So Josue summoned twelve men, whom he had chosen out to represent the twelve tribes of Israel;
 Josue	Jos	6	4	5	Go half-way across Jordan, he told them, to where the ark of the Lord your God stands, and bring me thence on your shoulders one stone each of you, one for each of the tribes of Israel.
 Josue	Jos	6	4	6	They are to serve you for a monument; your children, before long, will be asking you, What is the meaning of these stones?
 Josue	Jos	6	4	7	And you will be able to answer, When the ark that bears record of the Lord’s covenant went across the Jordan, the waters dried up at its coming; that is why these stones have been set up here, to remind Israel of that crossing for all time.
 Josue	Jos	6	4	8	The Israelites did as Josue bade them; carried the twelve stones from the river-bed, one for each tribe, as the Lord had commanded, and set them down in the camp.
 Josue	Jos	6	4	9	Josue also marked the place, full in the bed of Jordan, where the priests and the ark had halted; here, too, he set up twelve stones, which are there to this day.
 Josue	Jos	6	4	10	Meanwhile, such was the divine command Josue had received through Moses, the priests must stand there in the river-bed till all was over. So the people marched on speedily enough;
 Josue	Jos	6	4	11	not till all had reached the other side could the ark of the Lord cross, and the priests take their place at the head of the people.
 Josue	Jos	6	4	12	Ruben and Gad and half Manasses must send their warriors in the van of Israel, as Moses bade them;
 Josue	Jos	6	4	13	company after company, file after file, these in their turn went past, forty thousand fighting men, into the level plain that lies before the city of Jericho.
 Josue	Jos	6	4	14	That day, the Lord would win renown for Josue for all Israel to see; he was to be feared as Moses was feared in life.
 Josue	Jos	6	4	15	And now the Lord had a fresh command for him,
 Josue	Jos	6	4	16	Bid the priests that are carrying the ark come out of the Jordan.
 Josue	Jos	6	4	17	The word was given, and they came up, carrying the ark with them;
 Josue	Jos	6	4	18	and no sooner had they set foot on dry ground than the stream filled its bed again, flowing past as before.
 Josue	Jos	6	4	19	On the tenth day of the first month the people left Jordan behind them, and encamped at Galgal, east of the city of Jericho.
 Josue	Jos	6	4	20	Here, at Galgal, Josue set up the twelve stones they had taken out of the river-bed.
 Josue	Jos	6	4	21	And he said to the Israelites, It will not be long before sons are asking their fathers the question, What is the meaning of these stones?
 Josue	Jos	6	4	22	And you will hand on the lesson to them: Israel once crossed over Jordan yonder dry-shod.
 Josue	Jos	6	4	23	The Lord your God dried up its waters in full view of Israel, to let them pass over,
 Josue	Jos	6	4	24	just as in earlier times he dried up the Red Sea, when it lay in our path.
 Josue	Jos	6	4	25	So all the nations of the world were to learn how strong the power of the Lord is, and you too should fear the Lord your God continually.
 Josue	Jos	6	5	1	So the news went abroad among the kings of the Amorrhites, who dwelt on the west of Jordan, and the Chanaanite kings by the coast of the great sea, that the Lord had dried up the stream of Jordan to let the Israelites go across. And now their hearts failed them, and their spirits were altogether daunted, such terror was theirs at the coming of Israel.
 Josue	Jos	6	5	2	It was at this time the Lord said to Josue, Have knives made of flint, and restore the rite of circumcision among the sons of Israel.
 Josue	Jos	6	5	3	So he did as the Lord bade him, and restored circumcision to Israel at the Hill of the Foreskins.
 Josue	Jos	6	5	4	There was need to renew this rite, because the men of the older generation, who were of age to bear arms at the time of the escape from Egypt, had died in the course of their desert wanderings.
 Josue	Jos	6	5	5	These had all been circumcised, but the generation which had been born
 Josue	Jos	6	5	6	during those forty years in the waste wilderness, remained uncircumcised still. Those rebels, the Lord had sworn it, must never reach the land that was all milk and honey; now they lay dead,
 Josue	Jos	6	5	7	and their sons had taken their places. For these Josue must renew the rite, men who had grown up uncircumcised through the neglect that came with days of wandering.
 Josue	Jos	6	5	8	So all were circumcised, and they lay encamped there till their wounds healed;
 Josue	Jos	6	5	9	This day, the Lord said to Josue, I have reversed the lot that made you slaves in Egypt; and so the place came to be called Galgal, Turning Round, the name it still bears.
 Josue	Jos	6	5	10	In Galgal, then, the Israelites remained encamped, and there they celebrated the pasch on the plains of Jericho, beginning at evening on the fourteenth day of the month.
 Josue	Jos	6	5	11	And when they ate unleavened bread on the morrow, they were eating corn that was grown on the ground where they stood; their flour was made of that year’s harvest.
 Josue	Jos	6	5	12	Once they had begun to enjoy their own harvest, the supply of manna ceased, nor did the sons of Israel ever taste that food again; they ate the crops which the land of Chanaan yielded that year.
 Josue	Jos	6	5	13	There, in the plain by Jericho, Josue looked up and saw a man who stood with drawn sword in his path. Coming close to him, he asked, Art thou of our camp, or of the enemy’s?
 Josue	Jos	6	5	14	Nay, said he, it is the captain of the Lord’s army that has come to thy side.
 Josue	Jos	6	5	15	And with that, Josue cast himself down, face to ground; What message hast thou, my Lord, for thy servant? he asked.
 Josue	Jos	6	5	16	But first he was commanded to take the shoes off his feet, as one that stood on holy ground; so he did as he was bidden.
 Josue	Jos	6	6	1	Already Jericho was bolted and barred against the approach of Israel, so that there was no entering or leaving it,
 Josue	Jos	6	6	2	and now the Lord promised to make Josue master of it, with its king and all its defenders.
 Josue	Jos	6	6	3	Once a day, he said, you will march round the city walls, every man of you that bears arms, for six days together.
 Josue	Jos	6	6	4	And on the seventh day do as follows. The priests will be carrying seven trumpets, such as are used at jubilee time, and marching with these in front of the ark that bears witness of my covenant. On this day you will go round the city seven times, to the sound of the trumpets the priests are carrying.
 Josue	Jos	6	6	5	And when the trumpets blow a long blast that rises and falls, the whole people, on hearing it, must raise a loud cry; at that cry, the walls of the city will fall down flat, and each man will go in to the assault at the place where he is posted.
 Josue	Jos	6	6	6	So Josue the son of Nun summoned the priests and gave them their orders; how some were to carry the ark of the Lord, and seven others march before it with the trumpets of jubilee;
 Josue	Jos	6	6	7	then he bade the people march round the city, fully armed, in front of the ark.
 Josue	Jos	6	6	8	When Josue had finished speaking, the seven priests blew their seven trumpets before the ark,
 Josue	Jos	6	6	9	and all the fighting men went fully armed in front of it, while the rest of the people followed; and the blast of the trumpets echoed all around.
 Josue	Jos	6	6	10	Josue had warned the people not to cry out or utter any sound until the day came when he should bid them cry aloud.
 Josue	Jos	6	6	11	So that day the ark of the Lord went round the city once, and was brought back to the camp, where it rested.
 Josue	Jos	6	6	12	And when the next day dawned, Josue was astir, and the priests took up the ark,
 Josue	Jos	6	6	13	seven of them carrying the seven jubilee trumpets and blowing them before the ark as they went, with the fighting men in the van and the rest of the people behind, marching to the noise of trumpets;
 Josue	Jos	6	6	14	and again they returned back to the camp when they had gone round the city once only. Thus the six days passed,
 Josue	Jos	6	6	15	and on the seventh day they rose at dawn and went round the city seven times, as they were bidden.
 Josue	Jos	6	6	16	And when the priests were ready to blow their trumpets on the seventh journey, Josue gave word to the whole of Israel, Now you are to shout; the Lord has put the city in your power.
 Josue	Jos	6	6	17	This city and all it contains is forfeit to the Lord; none must be spared except the harlot Rahab and those in her house. She it was that harboured the spies we sent out.
 Josue	Jos	6	6	18	Beware of touching anything that lies under the ban; that were sin in you, and trouble would come upon the whole camp of Israel through your guilt.
 Josue	Jos	6	6	19	All the gold and silver, all that is made of bronze or iron, must be consecrated to the Lord and laid up in his treasure-house.
 Josue	Jos	6	6	20	Then the people cried aloud, and still the trumpets blew, till every ear was deafened by the shouting and the clangour; and all at once the walls fell down flat. Thereupon each man went to the assault where he was posted, and they took the city.
 Josue	Jos	6	6	21	All that was in it they slew, sparing neither man nor woman, neither youth nor age; even cattle and sheep and asses were put to the sword.
 Josue	Jos	6	6	22	But now Josue said to the two men who had been sent out as spies, Make your way into the house of the harlot yonder, and bring her out, with all that is hers; such was the sworn promise you gave her.
 Josue	Jos	6	6	23	So the two men went in, and brought Rahab out with her parents and her kindred and all that belonged to her, giving this family of hers lodging, but not in the camp of Israel.
 Josue	Jos	6	6	24	Then they burned the city and all that was in it, except the silver and gold and what was made of bronze or iron; these they laid up as consecrated in the Lord’s treasury.
 Josue	Jos	6	6	25	But Josue spared the harlot Rahab, with all her father’s household and all that was hers; and to this day her posterity finds a home in Israel. So well was she rewarded for hiding away those two spies of his in Jericho. At this time Josue laid the place under a ban;
 Josue	Jos	6	6	26	May the Lord’s curse, he said, light on the man that restores the city of Jericho and builds it up again. The foundations will cost him his first-born, and the gates of it his youngest son.
 Josue	Jos	6	6	27	And the Lord stood at Josue’s side, till his fame spread abroad all over the land.
 Josue	Jos	6	7	1	But now Israel broke its faith by turning the forfeited plunder to their own use. Achan, a man of Juda, descended from Zare through Charmi and Zabdi, took some of the plunder for himself, and God was angry with the people of Israel.
 Josue	Jos	6	7	2	From Jericho, Josue sent a party of men over to Hai (which is close by Bethaven, eastwards from Bethel), bidding them survey its territory; and they, when they had finished their task at Hai,
 Josue	Jos	6	7	3	gave a confident report: There is no need for the whole people to take part in the attack. Send two or three thousand men to overthrow the city; it were idle to set a whole army toiling over a handful of enemies.
 Josue	Jos	6	7	4	So three thousand men went up to the assault and were soon put to rout.
 Josue	Jos	6	7	5	The men of Hai killed thirty-six of them, pursued them all the way to Sabarim, and fell upon them as they fled down the slopes. Small wonder if the people lost heart and their courage ebbed away like water.
 Josue	Jos	6	7	6	Josue himself rent his garments, and fell down, face to earth, before the ark of God. There he lay till nightfall, and all the elders of Israel with him, defiling their heads with dust.
 Josue	Jos	6	7	7	Ah, Lord God, cried Josue, was it for this thou didst make the passage of Jordan so easy for us, to put us at the mercy of the Amorrhites, and compass our ruin? Better had we remained at our old post beyond the Jordan.
 Josue	Jos	6	7	8	O Lord my God, that I should see Israel turn their backs before their enemies!
 Josue	Jos	6	7	9	Here are tidings will rally the Chanaanites and their neighbours to whelm us, so that our very name will be forgotten among men; and thy name, Lord? That great renown of thine?
 Josue	Jos	6	7	10	But the Lord said to Josue, Rise up; why dost thou lie there, face to ground?
 Josue	Jos	6	7	11	Guilt rests on Israel; they have transgressed my covenant, by taking forfeited plunder for their own use; it has been stolen away secretly, and hidden among private goods.
 Josue	Jos	6	7	12	How should Israel withstand the enemy? Turn their backs they must so long as the curse lies on them; until you make an end of the guilty man, I will fight on your side no longer.
 Josue	Jos	6	7	13	Rise up, and bid the people cleanse themselves; tell them that to-morrow they must come into my presence undefiled. And give them this message from the Lord God of Israel: Israelites, you are harbouring forbidden spoil among you, and the guilty man must be destroyed before you can stand against your enemies.
 Josue	Jos	6	7	14	In the morning you will come before me tribe by tribe; and the tribe on which the lot falls will come before me clan by clan, until one household of that clan, and one man of that household is convicted.
 Josue	Jos	6	7	15	When he is convicted of such a crime, he and all that belongs to him must be given to the flames; he has transgressed the Lord’s covenant, and brought a curse on Israel.
 Josue	Jos	6	7	16	So, when the next day dawned, Josue brought forward the tribes of Israel one by one, and when Juda was chosen, the clans of Juda;
 Josue	Jos	6	7	17	and when Zare was chosen, the families of Zare; and when Zabdi was chosen, the household of Zabdi man by man.
 Josue	Jos	6	7	18	So at last the choice fell upon Achan, son of Charmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zare, of the tribe of Juda.
 Josue	Jos	6	7	19	And now Josue said to Achan, My son, accept the arbitrament of the Lord God of Israel; own thy fault and tell me, without concealment, what thou hast done.
 Josue	Jos	6	7	20	And Achan, in answer, told how he had sinned against the Lord God of Israel, told every circumstance of his fault.
 Josue	Jos	6	7	21	I saw among the plunder, said he, a fine scarlet cloak, and two hundred pieces of silver, and a bar of gold that weighed fifty sicles; and, coveting the possession of them, I buried them in the ground in the middle of my tent, hiding the money with the rest.
 Josue	Jos	6	7	22	So Josue sent couriers to his tent, and there they found all he had hidden, the money with the rest;
 Josue	Jos	6	7	23	they brought it back from the tent to Josue and the whole assembly of Israel, and cast it down there in the Lord’s presence.
 Josue	Jos	6	7	24	So Josue and the Israelites took Achan son of Zare to the valley of Achor, with the money and the cloak and the bar of gold, and his sons and daughters, his oxen, asses and sheep, his tent too with all that was in it.
 Josue	Jos	6	7	25	And there Josue said, Thou hast brought trouble on us, and now it is the Lord’s turn to bring trouble on thee. And all the Israelites stoned him to death, and the flames burned all that was his.
 Josue	Jos	6	7	26	They raised a great heap of stones over him, which stands there yet, to mark the place where the Lord’s anger was appeased; and it is called the Valley of Achor, Trouble, to this day.
 Josue	Jos	6	8	1	And now the Lord said to Josue, No need for terror and shrinking back. Take thy whole strength of fighting men with thee, and set about the conquest of Hai; king and people, city and territory, I mean to put them all in thy power.
 Josue	Jos	6	8	2	City and king must be treated as thou didst treat city and king of Jericho; but here you may take the spoil and the cattle for yourselves. Lay an ambush on the further side of the city, and it is thine.
 Josue	Jos	6	8	3	So Josue and all the fighting men set about the conquest of Hai. At nightfall, he sent out thirty thousand, picked men all of them,
 Josue	Jos	6	8	4	with these orders: Lie in ambush on the further side of the city, no long distance away, ready for battle.
 Josue	Jos	6	8	5	I myself, commanding the rest of the army, will make a direct assault on it; and when they come out to engage us, we will turn our backs in flight, as we did before,
 Josue	Jos	6	8	6	so as to draw them further and further away from the city in pursuit of us, routed (they will think) a second time.
 Josue	Jos	6	8	7	Our flight, and their pursuit, is the signal for you to rise from your ambush and storm the city; the Lord your God will make you masters of it.
 Josue	Jos	6	8	8	Once in possession, you will set fire to it. Be sure that you carry out these orders faithfully.
 Josue	Jos	6	8	9	So he sent them on their way, and they reached the place where they were to lie in wait, halting to the west of Hai, between it and Bethel. Josue himself spent that night with the main body of his army,
 Josue	Jos	6	8	10	and when day dawned he called the muster-roll; then he went to the attack, he and the elders marching in the van, with their body-guard about them.
 Josue	Jos	6	8	11	They climbed the heights opposite the city, and halted there to the north of it, with a valley in between.
 Josue	Jos	6	8	12	(Josue had now chosen out five thousand of his men for the ambush west of Hai, towards Bethel,
 Josue	Jos	6	8	13	and all the rest of them marched to the north, so that only the rearguard of that great host were near the western part of the city. That night Josue moved away, and took up his station half-way across the valley.)
 Josue	Jos	6	8	14	The king of Hai, upon seeing this, hastened to the attack while the day was young, marching out with all his forces towards the desert, with no suspicion that there was an ambush in the rear.
 Josue	Jos	6	8	15	Josue and the Israelites, in feigned alarm, left their ground and took to flight along the road that leads to the desert.
 Josue	Jos	6	8	16	And the enemy, raising a great hue and cry, went in pursuit of them a long distance away from the city.
 Josue	Jos	6	8	17	At last there was not a man left either in Hai itself or in Bethel who had not joined in the pursuit of the Israelites; and in sallying out they had left the gates of both towns open.
 Josue	Jos	6	8	18	With that, the Lord said to Josue, Lift up the shield on thy arm, pointing towards the city of Hai; it lies in thy power.
 Josue	Jos	6	8	19	And when he lifted his shield towards it, the men who lay there in ambush rose up all at once and made for the city, captured it and set it on fire.
 Josue	Jos	6	8	20	And now the defenders looked back from their pursuit of Josue, and saw the smoke rising up to heaven. Refuge was none before or behind; at an end, now, the feigned flight and the retreat towards the desert; everywhere the pursuers met with resistance.
 Josue	Jos	6	8	21	Josue and the main army had turned back to engage the men of Hai when they saw the city captured and the smoke going up,
 Josue	Jos	6	8	22	and now the troops that had taken the city and burnt it came out to meet them, enclosing the enemy in between and cutting him down. Thus, attacking from both sides, they did not let a single man out of all that multitude escape;
 Josue	Jos	6	8	23	the king of Hai himself was captured alive and brought to Josue.
 Josue	Jos	6	8	24	So died all those who had pursued Israel on the desert road, slain on the field of battle; then the Israelites went back and made an end of the city.
 Josue	Jos	6	8	25	In that one day all the citizens of Hai perished, men and women, to the number of twelve thousand;
 Josue	Jos	6	8	26	Josue did not lower that arm of his which held up the shield till there were no more left dwelling at Hai.
 Josue	Jos	6	8	27	The Israelites divided up the cattle and the spoil, in pursuance of the command Josue had received;
 Josue	Jos	6	8	28	the city itself he left to burn, and become a ruin for ever,
 Josue	Jos	6	8	29	and the king he left hanging on a gibbet until evening came and the sun set. At Josue’s bidding, they took his body down and laid it at the entrance of the city, covering it with a great heap of stones, which remains there to this day.
 Josue	Jos	6	8	30	Then Josue built an altar to the Lord God of Israel on mount Hebal,
 Josue	Jos	6	8	31	in pursuance of the command given to Israel by God’s servant Moses, when he wrote down the law; an altar of unpolished stones, that no iron tool had touched. On this he offered the Lord burnt-sacrifice, and slew victims by way of welcome-offering.
 Josue	Jos	6	8	32	He also inscribed on stone tablets that copy of the law which Moses wrote down in the presence of the people.
 Josue	Jos	6	8	33	And now all the people, with their elders, chieftains and judges, stood up in the presence of the priests that bore the ark, with its record of the Lord’s covenant, some on this side, some on that, native Israelites and alien-born alike. In obedience to Moses’ command half of them were on the side of mount Hebal, half on the side of mount Garizim. First Josue blessed the people of Israel,
 Josue	Jos	6	8	34	and then he read aloud all the terms of the blessing and the curse, and all else that the book of the law contains.
 Josue	Jos	6	8	35	No command Moses gave was passed over, he repeated them all in the presence of Israel there assembled, with their wives and the children and the aliens who dwelt among them.
 Josue	Jos	6	9	1	News of this was brought to all the other kings that lived west of Jordan, some in the hill country, some down on the plains, some on the coast by the shores of the open sea, or on the spurs of Lebanon. And all of them, Hethite and Amorrhite, Chanaanite and Pherezite, Hevite and Jebusite,
 Josue	Jos	6	9	2	made common cause against Josue and the people of Israel; all were minded to offer a common resistance,
 Josue	Jos	6	9	3	except the people of Gabaon. These, when they learned how Josue had destroyed Jericho and Hai,
 Josue	Jos	6	9	4	devised a policy of their own, and a crafty one. They provided themselves with food as if for a long journey, and this they put into old sacks, and their wine into skins that were tattered and patched, and loaded up their beasts with such things.
 Josue	Jos	6	9	5	Their shoes were worn out, and cobbled as old shoes would be, their clothes threadbare, the very bread they took with them for the journey dry and crumbling.
 Josue	Jos	6	9	6	In such guise, they made their way into the presence of Josue, who was then in camp at Galgal. To him, and to the assembly of Israel, they gave out that they had come from far away, to make an alliance. The Israelites were in doubt of them;
 Josue	Jos	6	9	7	Neighbours more like, they said, dwelling in this land which is our home; we can have no alliance with you.
 Josue	Jos	6	9	8	So they turned to Josue and said, We await thy commands. And when he asked who they were and whence they had come,
 Josue	Jos	6	9	9	they answered, My Lord, we have come from a land far away, to do honour to the name of the Lord thy God. How strong a God, we learned from the story of all he did in Egypt,
 Josue	Jos	6	9	10	of all that befell the two Amorrhite kings beyond Jordan, Sehon king of Hesebon, and Og king of Basan, who reigned once at Astaroth.
 Josue	Jos	6	9	11	So the elders and the rest of our fellow-citizens bade us take provisions to last us through our travels, and come to meet you, assuring you of our humble duty and begging for an alliance.
 Josue	Jos	6	9	12	Only look at the bread we took with us, hot from the oven at home, when we set out to find you, how dry it is, how it crumbles after being kept so long!
 Josue	Jos	6	9	13	The new wine-skins we filled are all torn and leaking; the very clothes we wear, the very shoes on our feet, have worn out in our travels, and all but worn away.
 Josue	Jos	6	9	14	The victuals passed from hand to hand, and the Lord was never asked for guidance.
 Josue	Jos	6	9	15	Josue gave them terms of peace, and made an alliance with them, promising that their lives should be spared; the chieftains, too, bound themselves to it by an oath,
 Josue	Jos	6	9	16	and it was not till the treaty had been three days in force, that they learned these men were close neighbours, and would share the land with them.
 Josue	Jos	6	9	17	The Israelites moved camp, and reached, two days later, the cities where these men dwelt, Gabaon and Caphira and Beroth and Cariathiarim.
 Josue	Jos	6	9	18	Shed blood they might not; had not the chieftains pledged themselves by an oath in the name of the Lord God of Israel? When the common folk assailed them with reproaches,
 Josue	Jos	6	9	19	the chieftains could only answer, We have taken an oath in the name of the Lord God of Israel; how can we touch them?
 Josue	Jos	6	9	20	Only one way is left; we must keep them alive, so as not to provoke the Lord’s anger by forswearing ourselves,
 Josue	Jos	6	9	21	but they must live to hew wood and draw water for the needs of our company. Such was the voice they gave;
 Josue	Jos	6	9	22	and thereupon Josue summoned the Gabaonites into his presence. What means this trick you have played on us, he asked, telling us you lived far away, when you are in truth our near neighbours?
 Josue	Jos	6	9	23	You shall lie under a ban; it shall ever be men of your race that hew wood and draw water for the house of the God whom I serve.
 Josue	Jos	6	9	24	And they answered, My Lord, we had heard of the promise made by the Lord thy God to his servant Moses, that he would give you all these lands for your own, and dispossess the inhabitants. In terror of our lives at your approach, we devised this stratagem.
 Josue	Jos	6	9	25	Now we are at thy mercy; do what seems best, do what seems right to thee.
 Josue	Jos	6	9	26	So Josue made good his word; he would not let Israel slay them,
 Josue	Jos	6	9	27	but there and then he decreed that they should undertake the service of the Lord’s altar on behalf of the whole people, in the place of his choice, hewing wood and drawing water as they do to this day.
 Josue	Jos	6	10	1	The king of Jerusalem, Adonisedec, was told of what had befallen; how Josue had taken Hai and overthrown it, making an end of city and king, there as at Jericho; how the Gabaonites had gone over to Israel and become their allies.
 Josue	Jos	6	10	2	And he was overcome with fear; this Gabaon was a great city, a royal capital, of more importance than Hai, and with brave warriors to defend it.
 Josue	Jos	6	10	3	So, from his palace at Jerusalem, Adonisedec sent envoys to Oham king of Hebron, Pharam king of Jerimoth, Japhia king of Lachis, and Dabir king of Eglon;
 Josue	Jos	6	10	4	Come and help me crush the Gabaonites, he said; they have made an alliance with Josue and the people of Israel.
 Josue	Jos	6	10	5	So it was that these five Amorrhite kings, from Jerusalem, Hebron, Jerimoth, Lachis and Eglon, joined their forces and encamped before Gabaon, offering battle.
 Josue	Jos	6	10	6	And a message came from the besieged city to Josue, who was still in his camp at Galgal: We are thy loyal servants, lose no time in coming to our aid. Hasten to our rescue and relief; all the Amorrhite kings of the hill country are banded together against us.
 Josue	Jos	6	10	7	So Josue came up from Galgal with all his fighting men, that were tried warriors;
 Josue	Jos	6	10	8	Have no fear, the Lord said to him, I am giving thee the mastery of them; none of them will have strength to withstand thy onslaught.
 Josue	Jos	6	10	9	So Josue made a night march from Galgal, and fell upon the enemy unawares.
 Josue	Jos	6	10	10	And the Lord threw them into confusion at the onslaught of Israel; great havoc Josue made of them there at Gabaon; then, going in pursuit along the road that leads up to Bethoron, he cut them down all the way to Azeca and Maceda.
 Josue	Jos	6	10	11	As they fled in rout from the Israelites, down the slope from Bethoron, all the way to Azeca, the Lord sent great hail-stones down on them, so that more of them were killed by hail than by the weapons of Israel.
 Josue	Jos	6	10	12	It was on this day, when the Lord left the Amorrhites powerless before Israel’s attack, that Josue made that prayer of his to the Lord, crying out in the hearing of the people, Sun, that art setting over Gabaon, moon, that art rising in Aialon valley, stand stricken with awe.
 Josue	Jos	6	10	13	Sun and moon stood awe-struck, while the people took vengeance on its enemies. (So the words can be found written in the Book of the Upright.) The sun stood in mid-heaven, and for a whole day long did not haste to its setting.
 Josue	Jos	6	10	14	Never was so long a day before or since, as that day when the Lord listened to a human prayer, and fought openly on the side of Israel.
 Josue	Jos	6	10	15	(Then Josue and all the Israelites returned to their camp at Galgal.)
 Josue	Jos	6	10	16	Meanwhile, the five kings had fled, and hidden in a cave by the city of Maceda.
 Josue	Jos	6	10	17	And Josue, when it was reported to him that the five kings were in hiding there,
 Josue	Jos	6	10	18	bade his companions roll great stones up to the mouth of the cave, and set a close watch to see that the men imprisoned there did not escape.
 Josue	Jos	6	10	19	For yourselves, said he, do not linger here; pursue the enemy, cutting down every straggler you meet; do not let them reach the safety of their city walls, now that the Lord God has put them in your power.
 Josue	Jos	6	10	20	At last, when the enemy had suffered disastrous loss, and were all but exterminated, the survivors took refuge within their city ramparts,
 Josue	Jos	6	10	21	and the whole Israelite army returned to Maceda, where Josue had encamped, all safe and sound; none dared lift a hand against them as they went.
 Josue	Jos	6	10	22	And now Josue bade them clear the entrance of the cave and bring out the five kings from their hiding-place;
 Josue	Jos	6	10	23	and his command was obeyed; out they must come, the kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jerimoth, Lachis and Eglon,
 Josue	Jos	6	10	24	and be brought into his presence. Hereupon he gathered all Israel about him, and bade all the chieftains of his army go and set foot on the necks of these kings. And when they had come forward, and trampled on the necks of the kings as they lay there,
 Josue	Jos	6	10	25	he said to them, Who is afraid now? Who shrinks back now? Keep your courage high and play the man; such is the fate the Lord has decreed for all the enemies you are fighting against.
 Josue	Jos	6	10	26	Then Josue slew them with his own hand, and set their bodies up on five gibbets, to hang there till evening.
 Josue	Jos	6	10	27	At sunset he had them taken down from their gibbets and thrown into the cave which had been their hiding-place; and the great stones that were used to block the entrance may be seen there still.
 Josue	Jos	6	10	28	The same day, Josue took Maceda and put its garrison to the sword; he slew its king, too, and all its citizens; not even a remnant was left alive; Maceda’s king must fare like Jericho’s.
 Josue	Jos	6	10	29	From Maceda he went on with all his forces to attack Lebna;
 Josue	Jos	6	10	30	of this, with its king, the Lord gave Israel mastery, so they put all its inhabitants to the sword, sparing none; Lebna’s king, too, must go the way of Jericho’s.
 Josue	Jos	6	10	31	From Lebna he marched in full strength to Lachis, which he invested and attacked;
 Josue	Jos	6	10	32	here, too, the Lord gave Israel the victory, so that they captured it next day; here, too, they put every living thing in it to the sword.
 Josue	Jos	6	10	33	At the same time Josue defeated Horam, king of Gazer, who had come to the aid of Lachis, and exterminated his whole people with him.
 Josue	Jos	6	10	34	From Lachis he marched to the siege of Eglon,
 Josue	Jos	6	10	35	and took it in a single day; and here, as at Lachis, he destroyed every living thing.
 Josue	Jos	6	10	36	Thence he led the whole of his forces on to attack Hebron;
 Josue	Jos	6	10	37	took it, gave it up to destruction; made an end of its king, and its subject towns, and all that dwelt there, leaving none alive; at Hebron, as at Eglon, all must be put to the sword.
 Josue	Jos	6	10	38	Then he turned back to Dabir,
 Josue	Jos	6	10	39	which he took and sacked; here too he made an end of its king and all its dependencies; none was spared in the general slaughter, and the king of Dabir fared no better than the kings of Hebron and Lebna.
 Josue	Jos	6	10	40	So Josue conquered all the hill-country of the south, and the plains, and the foot-hills, and overthrew the kings that reigned there; with the Lord God of Israel for his warrant, he left no trace of the folk who dwelt there, but killed every living thing
 Josue	Jos	6	10	41	that was to be found between Cades-Barne and Gaza. All the land of Gosen right up to Gabaon,
 Josue	Jos	6	10	42	the domain of so many kings, he took and laid waste with a single onslaught, so well did the Lord God of Israel fight in his cause.
 Josue	Jos	6	10	43	Then Josue and all the Israelites returned to their camp at Galgal.
 Josue	Jos	6	11	1	At the news of all this, a summons went out from Jabin, king of Asor, to the king of Madon, Jobab, and the kings of Semeron and Achsaph,
 Josue	Jos	6	11	2	and all the kings of the north country, on the heights, and in the valley south of Ceneroth, in the plains, too, and the territories of Dor by the sea coast.
 Josue	Jos	6	11	3	Chanaanites from east and west, Amorrhites and Hethites and Pherezites and Jebusites from the hills, Hevites from the land of Maspha, close to the spurs of Hermon,
 Josue	Jos	6	11	4	all alike went out to battle with their armies, an array of men countless as is the sand by the sea shore, with horses too and chariots beyond all reckoning.
 Josue	Jos	6	11	5	The meeting-place for all these kings in their march against Israel was at the waters of Merom.
 Josue	Jos	6	11	6	But the Lord said to Josue, Do not be afraid of them; by this time to-morrow they are all doomed to die at Israel’s onslaught. Then thou wilt be able to hamstring those horses of theirs, give those chariots to the flames.
 Josue	Jos	6	11	7	So Josue with all his army made a sudden march to the waters of Merom, and there fell upon them;
 Josue	Jos	6	11	8	and the Lord gave Israel the mastery, so that they defeated the enemy and pursued them all the way to the famous town of Sidon, and the waters of Maserephoth, and eastwards to Masphe. So hard did Josue press them that none were left surviving;
 Josue	Jos	6	11	9	and then he did as the Lord had bidden him, hamstringing their horses and setting fire to their chariots.
 Josue	Jos	6	11	10	Then he turned back to Asor, which in old days was paramount among all these kingdoms; he put Jabin to the sword,
 Josue	Jos	6	11	11	and destroyed every living thing that dwelt there; no trace of them was left, all must be exterminated, and the city itself burned down.
 Josue	Jos	6	11	12	He conquered, too, the capitals of all the neighbouring kings, and destroyed them, as Moses, the Lord’s servant, had bidden him,
 Josue	Jos	6	11	13	except those which stood among the mountains, or on steep hills; Asor itself was the only well-defended city the Israelites burned down.
 Josue	Jos	6	11	14	The spoil and the cattle belonging to these cities they divided among themselves, but left no human creature alive.
 Josue	Jos	6	11	15	The Lord’s bidding to Josue through Moses was carried out in full; no word of what the Lord had enjoined on Moses but Josue obeyed it.
 Josue	Jos	6	11	16	It was Josue that conquered all the hill-country and the land south of it, the Gosen country and the low valleys, and the region west of them, the hill-country of Israel, too, and the plain before it.
 Josue	Jos	6	11	17	These conquests of his extended from the slopes of the Edomite hills right up to Baalgad, on the Lebanon plain under mount Hermon; the kings, everywhere, were captured, and crushed, and slain.
 Josue	Jos	6	11	18	Long time must Josue spend campaigning against them;
 Josue	Jos	6	11	19	there was no city that surrendered to the Israelites, except the Hevite city of Gabaon, all the rest were reduced by force of arms.
 Josue	Jos	6	11	20	For indeed the Lord’s purpose was that they should be stubborn-hearted, and be defeated by Israel in battle, with no claim to mercy; so that all might be destroyed, in pursuance of the command the Lord gave to Moses.
 Josue	Jos	6	11	21	At this time, too, Josue made his way up into the mountain country, Hebron, Dabir, Anab, and all the mountain country both of Juda and Israel, to make an end of the Enacim and their cities.
 Josue	Jos	6	11	22	He left no trace of the breed of Enac in Israelite territory; they survived only at Gaza, Geth and Azotus.
 Josue	Jos	6	11	23	Thus, in fulfilment of the Lord’s promise to Moses, Josue occupied the whole country, and gave the several tribes enjoyment of their several portions; and the land was at peace.
 Josue	Jos	6	12	1	East of Jordan, then, the Israelites defeated two kings and occupied their terri-tory, reaching from the river Arnon up to mount Hermon; all that eastern land that confronts the desert.
 Josue	Jos	6	12	2	Sehon, the Amorrhite king that reigned at Hesebon, had a domain that stretched from Aroer, on the banks of the Arnon, half-way up its course (that is, half-way along the frontier of Galaad), to the river Jaboc, which is the Ammonite frontier.
 Josue	Jos	6	12	3	Its width was from the desert to the eastern coast of Lake Ceneroth, and the eastern coast of the Desert or Salt Sea (where the road leads to Bethsimoth, just north of the spurs of Phasga).
 Josue	Jos	6	12	4	And Og, king of Basan, the last of the Raphaim, who dwelt at Astaroth and Edrai, ruled over Mount Hermon and Salecha and Basan in general, right up to the marches
 Josue	Jos	6	12	5	of Gessuri and Machati, and up to the middle point of Galaad, where his domains marched with those of Sehon, the king of Hesebon.
 Josue	Jos	6	12	6	It was the Lord’s servant Moses that led Israel to the conquest of these two kings, and assigned their lands to Ruben, Gad, and half Manasses.
 Josue	Jos	6	12	7	West of Jordan, it was Josue that led Israel to the conquest of all the kings between Baalgad, in the Lebanon plain, and the hill-country whose upper slopes are part of Edom; and it was Josue who assigned their territory to the tribes of Israel, giving each its own share to enjoy.
 Josue	Jos	6	12	8	Kings of the hill-country and the plain and the valley, kings of the foot-hills and of the desert and of the southern land; Hethite and Amorrhite, Chanaanite and Pherezite, Hevite and Jebusite.
 Josue	Jos	6	12	9	The kings of Jericho, and Hai that is next to Bethel,
 Josue	Jos	6	12	10	Jerusalem, Hebron,
 Josue	Jos	6	12	11	Jerimoth, Lachis,
 Josue	Jos	6	12	12	Eglon, Gazer,
 Josue	Jos	6	12	13	Dabir, Gader,
 Josue	Jos	6	12	14	Herma, Hered,
 Josue	Jos	6	12	15	Lebna, Odullam,
 Josue	Jos	6	12	16	Maceda, Bethel,
 Josue	Jos	6	12	17	Taphua, Opher,
 Josue	Jos	6	12	18	Aphec, Saron,
 Josue	Jos	6	12	19	Madon, Asor,
 Josue	Jos	6	12	20	Semeron, Achsaph,
 Josue	Jos	6	12	21	Thenac, Mageddo,
 Josue	Jos	6	12	22	Cades, Jachanan by Carmel,
 Josue	Jos	6	12	23	Dor and the region about Dor, and the Galgal tribes,
 Josue	Jos	6	12	24	and Thersa, thirty-one kings in all.
 Josue	Jos	6	13	1	Afterwards, when Josue was old and near his end, the Lord bade him bethink himself of his great age; here were wide tracts of land still waiting to be apportioned.
 Josue	Jos	6	13	2	Here was the pale of the Philistines, with all the Gessurite land,
 Josue	Jos	6	13	3	reaching northwards to Accaron from the dark river that flows along the border of Egypt. This was Chanaanite country, in which five princes of the Philistine race had their capitals, at Gaza, Azotus, Ascalon, Geth and Accaron.
 Josue	Jos	6	13	4	Here, too in the south, were the Hevites. Here was all the Chanaanite territory, including Maara (that belonged to the Sidonians), reaching up to Apheca and the Amorrhite frontier,
 Josue	Jos	6	13	5	and the adjoining territory of the Giblites. East of that came the Lebanon region, from Baalgad, under mount Hermon, right up to the approaches of Emath.
 Josue	Jos	6	13	6	So many mountain peoples, from Lebanon down to the waters of Maserephoth; and all these were to be dispossessed at Israel’s coming. These lands, in pursuance of the Lord’s command, must be reckoned in among the possessions of Israel.
 Josue	Jos	6	13	7	It was time, then, that he should make a full division of the land among the nine tribes, and that half of Manasses which was attached to them.
 Josue	Jos	6	13	8	The other half of Manasses had already had their lands apportioned to them by Moses east of the Jordan, with Ruben and Gad,
 Josue	Jos	6	13	9	northwards from Aroer on the Arnon, half-way along its course; the whole plain between Medaba and Dibon,
 Josue	Jos	6	13	10	and all the cities as far as the Ammonite frontier that belonged once to Sehon, the Amorrhite king of Hesebon.
 Josue	Jos	6	13	11	Galaad, too, and the border country of Gessuri and Machati, and mount Hermon, and the whole of Basan right up to Salecha;
 Josue	Jos	6	13	12	this kingdom of Basan had formerly belonged to Og, the last of the Raphaim, who dwelt at Astaroth and Edrai. These two kings Moses defeated and destroyed,
 Josue	Jos	6	13	13	but Israel never dispossessed the people of Gessuri and Machati; they dwell there as their neighbours to this day.
 Josue	Jos	6	13	14	(The tribe of Levi had no lands apportioned to them; the Lord God of Israel had bidden them be content with the victims offered to him in sacrifice as their portion.)
 Josue	Jos	6	13	15	The tribe of Ruben, with all its several clans, received its portion from Moses.
 Josue	Jos	6	13	16	Their territory began at Aroer, on the Arnon, half-way up its course, and took in all the valley that lies before Medaba,
 Josue	Jos	6	13	17	and Hesebon, and the villages on the plain round about. They had Dibon, too, and Bamothbaal, and the town called Baalmaon,
 Josue	Jos	6	13	18	Jassa, Cedemoth, and Mephaath,
 Josue	Jos	6	13	19	Cariathaim, and Sabama, and Sarathasar, where the hills rise out of the Jordan valley;
 Josue	Jos	6	13	20	Bethphogor and the spurs of Phasga and Bethjesimoth.
 Josue	Jos	6	13	21	Theirs were all the cities in the plain, all the domains that once were Sehon’s. (It was Moses that defeated Sehon, as he defeated also the Madianite chiefs that held their lands from him, Hevi, Recem, Sur, Hur and Rebe,
 Josue	Jos	6	13	22	and bade the Israelites put all their army to the sword, the prophet Balaam among them.)
 Josue	Jos	6	13	23	Such were the towns and villages that passed into the possession of Ruben’s descendants, and they had the river Jordan for their boundary.
 Josue	Jos	6	13	24	It was Moses, too, who gave the tribe of Gad their portion, dividing it up among the several clans of it.
 Josue	Jos	6	13	25	Jazer belonged to them, and all the cities of Galaad, and half the Ammonite territory, reaching as far as Aroer, near Rabba.
 Josue	Jos	6	13	26	It stretched all the way from Hesebon to Ramoth, Masphe and Betonim, from Manaim to the country round Dabir;
 Josue	Jos	6	13	27	and on the low ground it contained Betharam, Bethnemra, Socoth and Saphon, all the rest of what Sehon had ruled from Hesebon; this tribe, too, had Jordan for its boundary, up to where the further, eastern shore of Lake Cenereth begins.
 Josue	Jos	6	13	28	Such were the cities and towns allotted to the several clans of Gad as their portion.
 Josue	Jos	6	13	29	And he also allotted lands to the separated clans of Manasses;
 Josue	Jos	6	13	30	the whole of Basan northwards from Manaim, all the domain over which Og, king of Basan, had ruled. This included the sixty townships in Basan which are called Jair’s villages,
 Josue	Jos	6	13	31	and half of Galaad, and the two cities from which Og ruled over Basan, Astaroth and Edrai. All this now belonged to the descendants of Machir, son of Manasses, Machir’s clans being thus separated from the rest.
 Josue	Jos	6	13	32	Such was the distribution made by Moses himself, on the plains of Moab, east of Jordan, opposite Jericho.
 Josue	Jos	6	13	33	He gave no lands to the sons of Levi, who held the Lord’s promise that he himself would be their portion.
 Josue	Jos	6	14	1	And now it was left to the high priest Eleazar and Josue the son of Nun to divide up Chanaan itself between the clan chieftains of Israel.
 Josue	Jos	6	14	2	The division was made by lot, in pursuance of the command the Lord gave through Moses, among the nine and a half tribes that remained.
 Josue	Jos	6	14	3	(Two and a half had been allotted their portions by Moses, on the further side of Jordan; the nine and a half did not include the Levites, since these were not to own territory like their brethren,
 Josue	Jos	6	14	4	but must be content with cities to live in and pasture for their beasts around them. Meanwhile, the division of Joseph’s posterity into two tribes, Ephraim and Manasses, made up the full number.)
 Josue	Jos	6	14	5	The Israelites, then, set about the task of dividing up the land, as the Lord through Moses had bidden them.
 Josue	Jos	6	14	6	So it was that the descendants of Juda appeared before Josue in Galgala. And now Caleb, son of Jephone, the Cenezite, spoke thus to him: Thou hast not forgotten the divine promise that was made to God’s servant Moses at Cades-Barne, concerning us two.
 Josue	Jos	6	14	7	I was then forty years old, and he had sent me from Cades-Barne to view the land; I brought back with me an honest report,
 Josue	Jos	6	14	8	and although my fellow-spies tried to daunt the spirits of the people, I took, none the less, the part of the Lord my God.
 Josue	Jos	6	14	9	And Moses promised me that day, Thou, who hast taken the part of the Lord my God, shalt live to have a portion in the very land thou hast traversed, and leave it to thy race in perpetuity.
 Josue	Jos	6	14	10	The Lord has made good his promise, and life is still mine. That word was spoken to Moses forty-five years since, when Israel began its wanderings up and down the desert, and now, a man eighty-five years old,
 Josue	Jos	6	14	11	I am as vigorous as I was when I went on that errand; in battle or on the march, the strength of old days is still with me.
 Josue	Jos	6	14	12	Give me, now, that hill-country which the Lord promised me in thy own hearing; there are Enacim living on it, in strong, walled cities, and I would fain see if I cannot drive them out, with the Lord at my side, and claim his promise.
 Josue	Jos	6	14	13	So Josue blessed him, and gave him Hebron for his portion;
 Josue	Jos	6	14	14	ever since then, Hebron has belonged to the family of Caleb, son of Jephone, the Cenezite, the man who took the Lord’s part.
 Josue	Jos	6	14	15	(Hebron, in earlier days, was called Cariath-Arbe, after the great father of the race. ) And once more the land was at peace.
 Josue	Jos	6	15	1	Meanwhile the clans descended from Juda had their territory marked out thus. It marched with Edom, with the desert of Sin that stretches out towards the midday sun, at the southernmost point of all.
 Josue	Jos	6	15	2	Beginning at the end of the Salt Sea, that is, at its southern bay,
 Josue	Jos	6	15	3	the frontier followed the Scorpion Pass till it crossed over to Sina, then climbed up to Cades-Barne, and so reached Esron. Then it climbed up to Addar, and curved round Carcaa;
 Josue	Jos	6	15	4	from which point it crossed over to Asemona, and so reached the brook of Egypt, coming to an end at the open sea. These were to be the limits of the southern frontier;
 Josue	Jos	6	15	5	on the east, Juda was bounded by the Salt Sea, right up to the mouth of Jordan. From the extreme bay of the Salt Sea up to Jordan the frontier went northwards;
 Josue	Jos	6	15	6	then it climbed up to Beth-Hagla, turned north to Beth-Araba, and went up to the Stone of Boen, son of Ruben.
 Josue	Jos	6	15	7	From the Valley of Achor it stretched to the borders of Debera, leaving Galgala on the north so as to climb up to Adommim on the south side of the valley; it crossed the water-course that is called the Spring of the Sun, and made its way on to the Spring of Rogel.
 Josue	Jos	6	15	8	Then it went up the valley of the Son of Ennom by its southern or Jebusite side, that is by Jerusalem; and thence stretched across to the mountain summit which faces Geennom from the west, and stands at the southern end of the Valley of Raphaim.
 Josue	Jos	6	15	9	From that summit it crossed to the well of Nephtoa, and reached as far as the villages on mount Ephron; then it curved round to Baala, which is also called Cariathiarim, the City of the Woods;
 Josue	Jos	6	15	10	and from Baala it went westwards as far as mount Seir, northwards to Cheslon along the side of mount Jarim, and so down to Bethsames and across to Thamma.
 Josue	Jos	6	15	11	Then northward along the slopes in the direction of Accaron, and round to Sechrona, and across mount Baala, and at last it reached Jebneel, and found its western end at the open sea.
 Josue	Jos	6	15	12	Such were the bounds within which the clans of Juda were to dwell.
 Josue	Jos	6	15	13	(Hebron, then called Cariath-Arbe after the father of Enac, which was assigned at the Lord’s command to Caleb, son of Jephone, was in the very heart of Juda.
 Josue	Jos	6	15	14	Three of the Enacim he rooted out of it, Sesai and Ahiman and Tholmai, of Enac’s true breed;
 Josue	Jos	6	15	15	then he attacked Dabir, which in old days was called Cariath-Sepher, the city of Writings.
 Josue	Jos	6	15	16	He had promised that whoever defeated and took Cariath-Sepher should have the hand of his daughter Axa in marriage;
 Josue	Jos	6	15	17	and it was taken by his own younger brother, Othoniel, son of Cenez, to whom he wedded his daughter Axa accordingly.
 Josue	Jos	6	15	18	One day he heard her sighing as she rode on her ass in his company, and asked what ailed her. She had been urged by her husband to win him a grant of land from her father.
 Josue	Jos	6	15	19	So her answer was, Grant me a favour; the portion thou hast given me is southern land and dry, give me well-watered land too. So he gave her the High Springs and the Low Springs both together. )
 Josue	Jos	6	15	20	The clans of Juda, then, had their lands assigned to them;
 Josue	Jos	6	15	21	and these are the names of the cities they had. On the south, where Juda marched with Edom, Cabseel, Eder, Jagur,
 Josue	Jos	6	15	22	Cina, Dimona, Adada,
 Josue	Jos	6	15	23	Cades, Asor, Jethnam,
 Josue	Jos	6	15	24	Ziph, Telem, Baloth,
 Josue	Jos	6	15	25	New Asor (or Cariath-Hesron, which is the same as Asor),
 Josue	Jos	6	15	26	Amam, Sama, Molada,
 Josue	Jos	6	15	27	Asergadda, Hassemon, Bethphelet,
 Josue	Jos	6	15	28	Hasersual, Bersabes, Baziothia,
 Josue	Jos	6	15	29	Baala, Jim, Esem,
 Josue	Jos	6	15	30	Eltholad, Cesil, Harma,
 Josue	Jos	6	15	31	Siceleg, Medemena, Sensenna,
 Josue	Jos	6	15	32	Lebaoth, Selim, Aen, and Remmon, twenty-nine cities in all.
 Josue	Jos	6	15	33	In the lowlands, Estaol, Sarea, Asena,
 Josue	Jos	6	15	34	Zanoe, Aengannim, Taphua, Enaim,
 Josue	Jos	6	15	35	Jerimoth, Adullam, Socho, Azeca,
 Josue	Jos	6	15	36	Saraim, Adithaim, Gedera and Gederothaim, fourteen in all.
 Josue	Jos	6	15	37	West of these, Sanan, Hadassa, Magdalgad,
 Josue	Jos	6	15	38	Delean, Masepha, Jecthel,
 Josue	Jos	6	15	39	Lachis, Bascath, Eglon,
 Josue	Jos	6	15	40	Chebbon, Leheman, Cethlis,
 Josue	Jos	6	15	41	Gideroth, Bethdagon, Naama and Maceda, sixteen in all.
 Josue	Jos	6	15	42	North of these, Labana, Ether, Asan,
 Josue	Jos	6	15	43	Jephtha, Esna, Nesib,
 Josue	Jos	6	15	44	Ceila, Achzib and Maresa, nine in all.
 Josue	Jos	6	15	45	And below these, Accaron with its townships and villages,
 Josue	Jos	6	15	46	the part between Accaron and the sea, and the approaches to the region of Azotus;
 Josue	Jos	6	15	47	Azotus with its townships and villages, Gaza with its townships and villages, and so down to the brook of Egypt, with the open sea for frontier.
 Josue	Jos	6	15	48	In the hill-country, Samir, Jether, Socoth,
 Josue	Jos	6	15	49	Danna, Cariath-Senna (or Dabir),
 Josue	Jos	6	15	50	Anab, Istemo, Anim,
 Josue	Jos	6	15	51	Gosen, Olon and Gilo, eleven in all.
 Josue	Jos	6	15	52	Arab, Ruma, Esaan,
 Josue	Jos	6	15	53	Janum, Beththaphua, Apheca,
 Josue	Jos	6	15	54	Athmatha, Cariath-Arbe (or Hebron) and Sior, nine in all.
 Josue	Jos	6	15	55	Maon, Carmel, Ziph, Jota,
 Josue	Jos	6	15	56	Jezrael, Jucadam, Zanoe,
 Josue	Jos	6	15	57	Accain, Gabaa and Thamna, ten in all.
 Josue	Jos	6	15	58	Halhul, Bessur, Gedor,
 Josue	Jos	6	15	59	Mareth, Bethanoth, Eltecon, six in all.
 Josue	Jos	6	15	60	And two cities besides, Cariath-Baal (or Cariathiarim), the City of the Woods, and Arebba.
 Josue	Jos	6	15	61	And in the desert by the Salt Sea, Betharaba, Meddin, Sachacha,
 Josue	Jos	6	15	62	Nebsan, and the City of Salt, and Engaddi, six in all. And with each city went the villages that surrounded it.
 Josue	Jos	6	15	63	But the Jebusites that dwelt in Jerusalem the sons of Juda could never exterminate, so there are Jebusites living in Jerusalem side by side with the men of Juda to this day.
 Josue	Jos	6	16	1	The territory which was allotted to the descendants of Joseph reached up to Jericho and the waters of Jordan by Jericho on the east, taking in the waste land that climbs up from Jericho to the hill-country of Bethel.
 Josue	Jos	6	16	2	From Bethel it went to Luza, and past the confines of Archi to Ataroth;
 Josue	Jos	6	16	3	then it sloped down westwards along the borders of Jephleti to the neighbourhood of Lower Bethoron and Gazer, and came out at last to the sea.
 Josue	Jos	6	16	4	It was divided between the two tribes that sprang from Joseph, those of Manasses and Ephraim.
 Josue	Jos	6	16	5	The clans of Ephraim had a frontier which went along from the east as far as Ataroth-Addar and Upper Bethoron;
 Josue	Jos	6	16	6	thence it extended to the sea; its northern point was Machmethath, and thence the boundary was drawn eastwards as far as Thanathselo. Then it passed to the east of Janoe,
 Josue	Jos	6	16	7	and came down from Janoe to Ataroth and Naaratha, and so down towards Jericho, where it reached the Jordan again.
 Josue	Jos	6	16	8	From Taphua it jutted out westwards as far as the Valley of Reeds, and so reached the sea. Such were the possessions of the Ephraimite clans,
 Josue	Jos	6	16	9	whose cities and townships were a separate enclosure in the middle of the territory which belonged to Manasses.
 Josue	Jos	6	16	10	The tribe of Ephraim did not exterminate the Chanaanites who lived at Gazer, so that there are Chanaanites living to this day within the confines of Ephraim, but as tributaries.
 Josue	Jos	6	17	1	Lands, too, must be allotted to Manasses, Joseph’s first-born. The first-born of Manasses was Machir, that was father to Galaad, and he, by feat of arms, made Galaad and Basan his possession.
 Josue	Jos	6	17	2	But there were six other lines descended from Manasses through Abiezer, Helec, Esriel, Sechem, Hegher, and Semida; all these were heirs male to Manasses, and so to Joseph.
 Josue	Jos	6	17	3	But Hepher (who was descended from Manasses through Galaad and Machir) had a son, Salphaad, that died without male issue; there were five daughters, Maala, Noa, Hegla, Melcha, and Thersa.
 Josue	Jos	6	17	4	These appeared before the high priest Eleazar, and Josue the son of Nun, and the chieftains, to claim the right the Lord had granted them through Moses, of inheriting side by side with their father’s kinsmen. So the Lord’s command was obeyed, and they were allowed to inherit;
 Josue	Jos	6	17	5	and now, apart from Galaad and Basan, beyond Jordan, ten portions of territory must be allowed to Manasses.
 Josue	Jos	6	17	6	His other sons were provided for in Galaad, but five remained, and the five heiresses must have their portion too.
 Josue	Jos	6	17	7	The frontier of Manasses, from where it marched with Aser, came down to Machmethath, opposite Sichem, and then turned to the right so as to include the neighbourhood of the Springs of Taphua.
 Josue	Jos	6	17	8	(Taphua itself, close to the border of Manasses, belonged to Ephraim, but Manasses held the adjoining lands.)
 Josue	Jos	6	17	9	Then it went down to the southern side of the stream which flows through the Valley of Reeds, through cities belonging to Ephraim, which are here confused with those of Manasses. Thenceforward Manasses has a true frontier, on the north side of the stream, reaching down to the sea;
 Josue	Jos	6	17	10	Ephraim lies to the south, Manasses to the north, both of them bounded by the sea coast; their joint territory marches with Aser on the north, and Issachar on the east.
 Josue	Jos	6	17	11	Manasses also had lands in Issachar and in Aser, Bethsan, Jeblaam, Dor, Endor, Thenac and Mageddo, with the villages dependent on them, and a third part of Nopheth;
 Josue	Jos	6	17	12	but they could not get the mastery of these cities; the Chanaanites made bold to live on in their own country.
 Josue	Jos	6	17	13	When the Israelites had grown stronger, they subdued the Chanaanites and forced them to pay tribute, but did not exterminate them.
 Josue	Jos	6	17	14	When the tribes descended from Joseph complained to Josue that he had allotted to them only a single division of the country, although the Lord’s blessing had made them so populous,
 Josue	Jos	6	17	15	Josue replied, If there are so many of you, and the hill-country of Ephraim does not suffice you, make your way into the forest-country, and clear room for yourselves there, where the Pherezites and the Raphaim live.
 Josue	Jos	6	17	16	We cannot go across to the hill-country, answered the sons of Joseph; there is a valley in between, where Bethsan lies, with its townships, and Jezrael; and on that low ground there are Chanaanites who have chariots made of iron.
 Josue	Jos	6	17	17	But Josue still told the sons of Joseph, the men of Ephraim and Manasses, So great, so powerful a people as you are must not be content with one lot.
 Josue	Jos	6	17	18	Cross over to the hill-country and fell the trees, to make yourselves room to dwell in; drive out these Chanaanites, for all their iron chariots, for all their great strength, and you will spread your frontiers further yet.
 Josue	Jos	6	18	1	And now all the Israelites gathered in Silo, and set up the tabernacle that bore witness of the covenant, there in their own domain.
 Josue	Jos	6	18	2	But there were seven tribes of Israel which had not yet had their lands allotted to them;
 Josue	Jos	6	18	3	and to these Josue said, What, still hanging back, when the land promised by the Lord God of your fathers waits for you to occupy it?
 Josue	Jos	6	18	4	Choose out three men from each tribe, and let me send them to make a circuit of the country; they shall report to me what territory best suits the numbers of this tribe or that.
 Josue	Jos	6	18	5	The land must needs be divided up into seven portions, now that Juda is provided for in the south, and the descendants of Joseph further north.
 Josue	Jos	6	18	6	Come here to me, and let me cast lots between you in the Lord’s presence, when you have plotted the land that is left over; it must be in seven divisions,
 Josue	Jos	6	18	7	no allowance made for the Levites, whose portion is the Lord’s priestly office, none for Gad, Ruben, and the separate half of Manasses, since the Lord’s servant Moses has already assigned them lands east of the Jordan.
 Josue	Jos	6	18	8	So the men appointed set out on their journey to make a survey of the land; at the end of it, they were to return with their report to Josue, and there, at Silo, in the Lord’s presence, the lots should be cast.
 Josue	Jos	6	18	9	To the camp at Silo, then, they returned, when they had made their survey and written down particulars of the sevenfold division in a book;
 Josue	Jos	6	18	10	and at Silo lots were cast in the Lord’s presence, and the seven tribes had their portions assigned to them.
 Josue	Jos	6	18	11	It was the clans of Benjamin whose lot was drawn first; and the territory that fell to them lay between Juda and Joseph.
 Josue	Jos	6	18	12	Their frontier began at the Jordan, and went northwards till it was north of Jericho, then climbed up westwards into the hills, till it reached the desert of Bethaven.
 Josue	Jos	6	18	13	It passed south of Luza (now Bethel), and so reached Ataroth-Addar, on the hill south of Lower Bethoron;
 Josue	Jos	6	18	14	here it altered its westward course and turned towards the mid-day sun, passing south along the ridge that faces Bethoron and so reaching Cariath-Baal, (or Cariathiarim), which belongs to Juda, This formed the western side of the territory, facing the sea.
 Josue	Jos	6	18	15	Then, along its southern edge the frontier began its seaward course, reaching the Spring of Nephtoa;
 Josue	Jos	6	18	16	and so it went across to the side of the hill looking down on the Valley of the Sons of Ennom, at the southern end of the Valley of Raphaim. Thence it crossed to Geennom (the Valley of Ennom) on its southern or Jebusite side, and reached the Spring of Rogel.
 Josue	Jos	6	18	17	Now it bore northwards, through Ensemes, the Spring of the Sun,
 Josue	Jos	6	18	18	to the mounds near the Adommim slope; thence it passed on to Aben-Boen (the stone of Boen, son of Ruben), reaching lower ground there and at last coming down into the Jordan Valley.
 Josue	Jos	6	18	19	It went northwards again to Beth-Hagla, and finished at the northern bay of the Salt Sea, south of Jordan,
 Josue	Jos	6	18	20	so reaching its eastern limit. Such was the compass of the territory granted to the clans of Benjamin.
 Josue	Jos	6	18	21	The cities it contained were Jericho, Beth-Hagla, Vale of Casis,
 Josue	Jos	6	18	22	Betharaba, Samaraim, Bethel,
 Josue	Jos	6	18	23	Avim, Aphara, Ophera,
 Josue	Jos	6	18	24	the Town of the Ammonites, Ophni, and Gabee, twelve cities in all;
 Josue	Jos	6	18	25	also Gabaon, Rama, Beroth,
 Josue	Jos	6	18	26	Mesphe, Caphara, Amosa,
 Josue	Jos	6	18	27	Recem, Jarephel, Tharela,
 Josue	Jos	6	18	28	Sela, Eleph, Jebus (or Jerusalem), Gabaath and Cariath, fourteen cities in all; with their dependent villages. All these belonged to the clans of Benjamin.
 Josue	Jos	6	19	1	The next lot which was drawn was that of Simeon; and the lands assigned to them were
 Josue	Jos	6	19	2	interspersed among those of Juda; namely Bersabee, Sabee, Molada,
 Josue	Jos	6	19	3	Hasersual, Bala, Asem,
 Josue	Jos	6	19	4	Eltholad, Bethul, Harma,
 Josue	Jos	6	19	5	Siceleg, Bethmarchaboth, Hasersusa,
 Josue	Jos	6	19	6	Bethlebaoth and Sarohen, thirteen cities in all;
 Josue	Jos	6	19	7	also Ain, Remmon, Athar, and Asan, four cities in all with their dependent villages.
 Josue	Jos	6	19	8	All the villages round about these cities, down to Baalath-Beer-Ramath in the south, belonged to the clans of Simeon,
 Josue	Jos	6	19	9	being part of the territory allotted to Juda, which was too large for them, so that they must needs share it with Simeon.
 Josue	Jos	6	19	10	The third lot drawn was that of Zabulon; their territory began at Sarid,
 Josue	Jos	6	19	11	and went out in the direction of the sea through Merala and Debbaseth to the stream that flows past Jeconam.
 Josue	Jos	6	19	12	From Sarid eastward it passed through the confines of Ceseleth-Thabor to Dabereth, climbing up into the hill-country at Japhie;
 Josue	Jos	6	19	13	thence it made its way east by Gath-Hepher and Thacasin to Remmon, Amthar, and Noa.
 Josue	Jos	6	19	14	It took in Hanathon in the north, and went out as far as the valley of Jephtahel,
 Josue	Jos	6	19	15	Cateth, Naalol, Semeron, Jedala, and Bethlehem; thus twelve cities with their dependent villages
 Josue	Jos	6	19	16	made up the portion granted to Zabulon; both town and village were theirs.
 Josue	Jos	6	19	17	The fourth was the lot of Issachar;
 Josue	Jos	6	19	18	it included Jezrael, Casaloth, Sunem,
 Josue	Jos	6	19	19	Hapharaim, Seon, Anaharath,
 Josue	Jos	6	19	20	Rabboth, Cesion, Abes,
 Josue	Jos	6	19	21	Rameth, Engannim, Enhadda, and Bethpheses,
 Josue	Jos	6	19	22	and reached as far as Thabor, Sehesima, and Bethsames, so as to make Jordan its boundary; sixteen cities in all, with their dependent villages
 Josue	Jos	6	19	23	made up the portion granted to Issachar; both town and village were theirs.
 Josue	Jos	6	19	24	The fifth was the lot of Aser;
 Josue	Jos	6	19	25	their territory was round about Halcath, Chali, Beten, Axaph,
 Josue	Jos	6	19	26	Elmelech, Amaad and Messal; it reached along the sea as far as Carmel and Sihor-Labanath,
 Josue	Jos	6	19	27	and eastwards it went through Bethdagon to the frontier of Zabulon and the valley of Jephthael. Then it went northwards to Bethemec and Nehiel, with Cabul on the left,
 Josue	Jos	6	19	28	to Abran, Rohob, Hamon, and Cana, where it marches with greater Sidon.
 Josue	Jos	6	19	29	Thence it turned back through Horma towards the great fortress of Tyre, reaching as far as Hosa, and coming down to the sea again where it touches Achziba.
 Josue	Jos	6	19	30	It also took in Amma, Aphec, and Rohob; twenty-two cities with their dependent villages
 Josue	Jos	6	19	31	made up the portion granted to Aser; both town and village were theirs.
 Josue	Jos	6	19	32	The sixth was the lot of Nephthali;
 Josue	Jos	6	19	33	it stretched all the way from Heleph to Elon in Saananim, Adami, Neceb, Jebnael, and Lecum, with Jordan for its boundary.
 Josue	Jos	6	19	34	Then the frontier turned westwards, at Azanoth-Thabor, and went out to Hucuca to meet the frontier of Zabulon on the south; on the west it marched with Aser, and on the east with Juda-beyond-Jordan.
 Josue	Jos	6	19	35	The fortified cities of Nephthali were Assedim, Ser, Emath, Reccath, Cenereth,
 Josue	Jos	6	19	36	Edema, Arama, Asor,
 Josue	Jos	6	19	37	Cedes, Edrai, Enhasor,
 Josue	Jos	6	19	38	Jeron, Magdalel, Horem, Bethanath and Bethsames; nineteen cities with their dependent villages
 Josue	Jos	6	19	39	made up the portion granted to Nephthali; both town and village were theirs.
 Josue	Jos	6	19	40	And the seventh lot was that of Dan;
 Josue	Jos	6	19	41	their territory included Sara and Esthaol, Hir-Semes (that is, the City of the Sun),
 Josue	Jos	6	19	42	Selebin, Aialon, Jethela,
 Josue	Jos	6	19	43	Elon, Themna, Acron,
 Josue	Jos	6	19	44	Elthece, Gebbethon, Balaath,
 Josue	Jos	6	19	45	Jud, Bane, Barach, Gethremmon,
 Josue	Jos	6	19	46	Mejarcon and Arecon; its frontiers reached Joppe,
 Josue	Jos	6	19	47	and went no further. But the Danites made an expedition against Lesem, and captured it; they exterminated the inhabitants, and occupied it as a colony of their own, calling it Lesem-Dan after the name of their ancestor.
 Josue	Jos	6	19	48	These cities, with their dependent villages, made up the portion granted to the Danite clans.
 Josue	Jos	6	19	49	When he had finished dividing up the land by lot among the tribes, the Israelites gave Josue the son of Nun lands of his own among the rest,
 Josue	Jos	6	19	50	as the Lord had bidden them. He asked for the city of Thamnath-Saraa, in the hill-country of Ephraim, and built up its walls, and so dwelt there.
 Josue	Jos	6	19	51	Such was the division of the land made by the high priest Eleazar, and Josue the son of Nun, and the chief men of Israel’s clans and tribes, there in Silo, in the Lord’s presence, at the door of the tabernacle that bore witness to his covenant.
 Josue	Jos	6	20	1	And now the Lord gave Josue this message for the sons of Israel;
 Josue	Jos	6	20	2	You must choose out sanctuary towns, as Moses in my name commanded you.
 Josue	Jos	6	20	3	These will offer refuge to anyone who has slain a man by misadventure, and escaped from the vengeance of his kinsmen.
 Josue	Jos	6	20	4	Taking flight to one of these cities, he will stand before the gates and call upon the city elders to declare him innocent; whereupon they must admit him, and grant him a dwelling-place.
 Josue	Jos	6	20	5	When the avenger comes in pursuit, demanding blood for blood, they will not give up the fugitive. He has slain his neighbour unwittingly, and cannot be shewn to have borne malice against him beforehand.
 Josue	Jos	6	20	6	In that city he will live, until he has been put on trial for his offence, and again until the death of the high priest who then holds office. After that, the man who has shed blood may return to his own city and home, taking sanctuary no longer.
 Josue	Jos	6	20	7	Their choice fell on Cedes, in the pale of the Nephthali hill-country, Sichem among the hills of Ephraim, and Cariath-Arbe (or Hebron) among the hills of Juda.
 Josue	Jos	6	20	8	Across the Jordan, east of Jericho, they agreed on Bosor, on the desert lowlands, for Ruben; Ramoth, in Galaad, for Gad; and Gaulon, in Basan, for Manasses.
 Josue	Jos	6	20	9	Israelite or alien who had shed blood unwittingly, and would escape from the vengeance of the next of kin, must make his way to one of the cities thus set apart, until he could stand his trial before the people.
 Josue	Jos	6	21	1	Meanwhile the heads of the Levite households approached the high priest Eleazar, and Josue the son of Nun, and the clan chiefs of Israel,
 Josue	Jos	6	21	2	all gathered there at Silo now that Chanaan was won. It was the Lord’s command to Moses, they said, that we should have cities to live in, with lands round them on which we could pasture our beasts.
 Josue	Jos	6	21	3	And so, in pursuance of the Lord’s command, cities and lands were granted to them by the sons of Israel.
 Josue	Jos	6	21	4	The lot fell first on the line of Caath. Among these, the family of the high priest Aaron were to receive thirteen cities from Juda, Simeon, and Benjamin;
 Josue	Jos	6	21	5	the rest of the Caathites, Levites that were not of the priestly family, ten cities from Ephraim, Dan, and the western half of Manasses.
 Josue	Jos	6	21	6	Issachar, Aser, Nephthali, and the eastern half of Manasses, in Basan, were to give the line of Gerson thirteen cities;
 Josue	Jos	6	21	7	Ruben, Gad, and Zabulon to give the line of Merari twelve cities.
 Josue	Jos	6	21	8	Thus was the command the Lord had given through Moses carried out, and the Israelites handed over to the Levites the cities and lands allotted to them.
 Josue	Jos	6	21	9	These are the names of the cities which Josue handed over in Juda and Simeon
 Josue	Jos	6	21	10	to the family of Aaron, whose lot came first among the descendants of Caath.
 Josue	Jos	6	21	11	One was Cariath-Arbe, called after the father of Enac; Hebron, that is, in the hill-country of Juda, with lands round it.
 Josue	Jos	6	21	12	(He had given the countryside, with the villages in it, to Caleb the son of Jephone as his portion;
 Josue	Jos	6	21	13	but Hebron itself, the city of refuge, with the lands close to it, he gave to the family of Aaron.) The others were Lobna, and the lands round Lobna,
 Josue	Jos	6	21	14	Jether, Esthemo,
 Josue	Jos	6	21	15	Holon, Dabir,
 Josue	Jos	6	21	16	Ain, Jeta, and Bethsames, with the lands round them; nine cities out of the two tribes aforesaid.
 Josue	Jos	6	21	17	From the lands of Benjamin he handed over Gabaon, Gabae,
 Josue	Jos	6	21	18	Anathoth and Almon, four city-enclosures.
 Josue	Jos	6	21	19	Thus Aaron’s family had thirteen city-enclosures in all;
 Josue	Jos	6	21	20	the Levites of Caath’s line
 Josue	Jos	6	21	21	received from Ephraim, one city of refuge, Sichem, and besides this, Gazer,
 Josue	Jos	6	21	22	Cibsaim and Bethoron, four city-enclosures.
 Josue	Jos	6	21	23	From Dan, Eltheco, Gabathon,
 Josue	Jos	6	21	24	Aialon, and Gethremmon, four city-enclosures.
 Josue	Jos	6	21	25	From western Manasses, Thanach and their own town of Gethremmon, two city-enclosures.
 Josue	Jos	6	21	26	Thus there were ten city-enclosures to the Caathites of lower rank.
 Josue	Jos	6	21	27	The Levites of Gerson’s line received from eastern Manasses one city of refuge, Gaulon in Basan; and also Bosram; two city-enclosures. From Issachar,
 Josue	Jos	6	21	28	Cesion and Dabereth,
 Josue	Jos	6	21	29	Jaramoth and Engannim; four city-enclosures.
 Josue	Jos	6	21	30	From Aser, Masal, Abdon,
 Josue	Jos	6	21	31	Helcath and Rohob; four city-enclosures.
 Josue	Jos	6	21	32	From Nephthali, one city of refuge, Cedes in the pale of Nephthali; also Hammoth-Dor and Carthan; three city-enclosures.
 Josue	Jos	6	21	33	Thus there were thirteen city-enclosures granted to the Gersonites.
 Josue	Jos	6	21	34	The Merarites’ families, all Levites of lower rank, received from Zabulon Jecnam, Cartha,
 Josue	Jos	6	21	35	Damna and Naalol; four city-enclosures.
 Josue	Jos	6	21	36	From Ruben on the east side of Jordan, there was one city of refuge, Bosor out in the wilderness; and four other city-enclosures were also taken out, Misor, Jaser, Jethson and Mephaath.
 Josue	Jos	6	21	37	From Gad, one city of refuge, Ramoth in Galaad; also Manaim, Hesebon and Jaser, four city-enclosures;
 Josue	Jos	6	21	38	thus there were twelve city-enclosures granted to the families of Merari.
 Josue	Jos	6	21	39	Altogether, then, the Levites had forty-eight cities, distributed among the various possessions of Israel,
 Josue	Jos	6	21	40	and lands attached to them; each family among them had its own domain.
 Josue	Jos	6	21	41	Thus the Lord God made over to Israel the whole of the territory he had promised to their fathers; they had a home of their own to settle in,
 Josue	Jos	6	21	42	secure from attack by any of the nations which surrounded them, since these no longer ventured to offer resistance, but submitted to their rule.
 Josue	Jos	6	21	43	No word of the promises which the Lord had made to them remained unfulfilled.
 Josue	Jos	6	22	1	It was at this time that Josue summoned the men of Ruben and Gad, and the eastern half of Manasses,
 Josue	Jos	6	22	2	and spoke to them thus: You have done as the Lord’s servant Moses commanded you, and given me, too, full obedience.
 Josue	Jos	6	22	3	All this while you have kept true to the bidding of the Lord your God, and stood by your brethren, waiting for this day.
 Josue	Jos	6	22	4	Now the Lord your God has granted to your brethren the security and rest he promised them. Return, then, to your own tents, and enjoy the possessions which the Lord’s servant Moses allotted to you on the further side of Jordan;
 Josue	Jos	6	22	5	yet always keeping carefully in mind, and carrying out in act, the terms of that law which the Lord’s servant Moses enjoined upon you. You must still love the Lord your God, and follow the paths he has chosen, obeying his commandments, keeping close to him, and offering him the service of your heart and soul.
 Josue	Jos	6	22	6	Then Josue blessed them, and sent them back to their dwelling-place.
 Josue	Jos	6	22	7	(With Ruben and Gad went those tribesmen of Manasses to whom Moses had allotted territory in Basan; Josue had given the rest a portion with their brethren west of the Jordan.) And as he sent them back, after giving them his blessing,
 Josue	Jos	6	22	8	he said, You will have rich store of wealth to take home with you, silver and gold, bronze and iron, and garments in abundance; in all the spoils taken from the enemy you, too, must have your share.
 Josue	Jos	6	22	9	So Ruben and Gad and half Manasses left Silo, left Chanaan behind them, and returned to the home Moses had granted them at the Lord’s bidding, in Galaad.
 Josue	Jos	6	22	10	And when they reached the Chanaanite bank of Jordan, they built there, near the river, an altar of commanding height.
 Josue	Jos	6	22	11	When the rest of the Israelites learned beyond doubt, that the three tribes had built an altar on the banks of Jordan, there in Chanaan itself, in full view of Israel,
 Josue	Jos	6	22	12	they all mustered at Silo, ready to make an expedition against them.
 Josue	Jos	6	22	13	Meanwhile, Phinees, son of the high priest Eleazar, was sent into Galaad,
 Josue	Jos	6	22	14	and with him ten chieftains, one from each tribe;
 Josue	Jos	6	22	15	and there, in Galaad, they remonstrated with the men of Ruben, Gad, and Manasses.
 Josue	Jos	6	22	16	With this message the general assembly of the Lord’s people had entrusted them: What means this impiety? Would you forsake the Lord God of Israel, withdraw from his worship, and raise an unhallowed altar?
 Josue	Jos	6	22	17	Have we not suffered enough for our sin in Beelphegor, that cost us so many lives, and has left its mark upon us still?
 Josue	Jos	6	22	18	Your revolt against the Lord to-day will bring his vengeance on the whole of Israel to-morrow.
 Josue	Jos	6	22	19	If there is some defilement in this land of yours that must be atoned for, cross over into our land, where the Lord’s tabernacle is, and dwell with us; do not forsake the Lord, and your fellowship with us, by building a fresh altar, to rival the altar of the Lord our God.
 Josue	Jos	6	22	20	Think how the Lord’s vengeance fell on the whole people, when Achan son of Zare transgressed his commands; that was but one man’s sin, and alas, how many died for it!
 Josue	Jos	6	22	21	But the three tribes had their answer ready for the chieftains of Israel:
 Josue	Jos	6	22	22	The Lord God is our witness, the Almighty Lord God is our witness; let Israel ask proof from him! Let him be our protector no longer, let him smite us with his punishments here and now, if he sees that this altar of ours was built in any spirit of rebellion against him.
 Josue	Jos	6	22	23	Let him condemn and punish us, if we have built it with any thought of offering sacrifice or victim or welcome-offering there.
 Josue	Jos	6	22	24	This rather was our thought, this was our design; it may be that in time to come your children will turn upon ours and ask them, What have you to do with the God of Israel?
 Josue	Jos	6	22	25	Has he not put Jordan there as a barrier between us and you? Men of Ruben and Gad, the Lord will have none of you! Should we allow them such an opportunity of stealing our children away from the worship of the Lord? No, we were better advised than that.
 Josue	Jos	6	22	26	We determined to build an altar, that should never know burnt-sacrifice or offering;
 Josue	Jos	6	22	27	it was to be a monument of our claims upon you, of our children’s claims upon yours. We would safeguard our right of bringing the Lord burnt-sacrifice and victim and welcome-offering; your children should never say to ours, The Lord will have none of you!
 Josue	Jos	6	22	28	Let them say it, and our children will reply, And the altar? The altar which our fathers raised, not for burnt-sacrifice or offering, but for a monument of our claim on you?
 Josue	Jos	6	22	29	Far be such treachery from our thoughts, as to rebel against the Lord, and forsake the paths he has traced for us, never will we present burnt-sacrifice or offering or victim save at the altar raised to the Lord our God, before his tabernacle!
 Josue	Jos	6	22	30	Such answer they made, the men of Ruben and Gad and half Manasses; whereupon Phinees and the envoys who accompanied him were well content, and accepted their plea willingly enough.
 Josue	Jos	6	22	31	Phinees himself, son of the high priest Eleazar, was their spokesman. Now we are sure, he said, that the Lord God dwells among us. By clearing yourselves of this charge, you have freed Israel from the dread of the Lord’s vengeance.
 Josue	Jos	6	22	32	So they bade farewell to Galaad, to Ruben and to Gad, and went back with their news to the other Israelites in Chanaan.
 Josue	Jos	6	22	33	These were well content, and praised God for it; no more was heard of making an expedition against the three tribes and ravaging their possessions.
 Josue	Jos	6	22	34	And the name given by the men of Ruben and Gad to the altar they had built was Ed, the Record; Here we have put it on record, they said of it, that the Lord is God.
 Josue	Jos	6	23	1	The Lord had granted Israel long years of peace, with all their neighbours subject to them, when Josue, now grown to be a very old man,
 Josue	Jos	6	23	2	summoned all Israel, with their elders, judges, chieftains and magistrates, and spoke thus to them. I am an old man now, and near my end,
 Josue	Jos	6	23	3	and you can see for yourselves how the Lord God has fought on your side against the nations that surround you;
 Josue	Jos	6	23	4	how he has divided up the land between you, from Jordan on the east to the shores of the open sea. Many nations are still left;
 Josue	Jos	6	23	5	and these, too, the Lord your God will dispossess, making room for you to occupy their lands, in fulfilment of his promise.
 Josue	Jos	6	23	6	But you must be resolute, and observe jealously all the terms of that law which Moses committed to writing, never swerve from them to right or to left.
 Josue	Jos	6	23	7	You must not consort with these nations that survive, and learn to swear by the names of their gods, or enslave yourselves to their worship;
 Josue	Jos	6	23	8	you must keep true to the Lord your God, as you have till now.
 Josue	Jos	6	23	9	If you will do that, the Lord God will dispossess great nations, powerful nations, to make room for you; none will be able to withstand your onslaught.
 Josue	Jos	6	23	10	A thousand enemies will take flight before a single man of your company, so well the Lord will keep his promise to fight on your side.
 Josue	Jos	6	23	11	On peril of your lives, then, keep your hearts true to the Lord your God.
 Josue	Jos	6	23	12	If you consent to follow closely in the false ways of neighbouring peoples, allying yourselves with them by marriage and making friends of them,
 Josue	Jos	6	23	13	I warn you here and now that the Lord will never dispossess them to make room for you. Evermore they will be at your side, ready to snare and entrap you and catch your feet unawares, eyesores to blind you; and at last he will dispossess you instead, banish you utterly from this fair land he has given you for your home.
 Josue	Jos	6	23	14	The time has come when I must go the way all mortal things go at last; and I would have you cherish this message deep in your hearts. Of all the promises the Lord made you, not one has missed fulfilment;
 Josue	Jos	6	23	15	and as he has made good his promises by granting you the prosperity you now enjoy, so he will make good his threats, by dispossessing you and banishing you from this fair land of yours,
 Josue	Jos	6	23	16	if you do not keep true to the covenant the Lord your God has made with you. Enslave yourselves to the worship of other gods, and the Lord’s vengeance will come upon you swiftly and suddenly, till the fair land he has given you knows you no more.
 Josue	Jos	6	24	1	And once more Josue gathered all the tribes of Israel at Sichem, with their elders, judges, chieftains and magistrates. They stood there in the Lord’s presence,
 Josue	Jos	6	24	2	and he spoke thus to the people; Here is a message from the Lord your God. Long ago, these ancestors of yours, Thare and his sons Abraham and Nachor, had a home beyond the Euphrates, and there worshipped alien gods.
 Josue	Jos	6	24	3	It was I that bade your father Abraham leave Mesopotamia, and brought him here, to Chanaan, instead. It was I that gave him heirs to succeed him,
 Josue	Jos	6	24	4	Isaac, and Isaac’s sons, Jacob and Esau. For Esau, I found a home in the hill-country of Seir, while Jacob and his sons made their way into Egypt.
 Josue	Jos	6	24	5	Then I sent Moses and Aaron to smite Egypt down with wonders and prodigies,
 Josue	Jos	6	24	6	and so rescued you and your fathers from it. When your fathers reached the Red Sea, they found that the Egyptians had come in pursuit of them with chariots and horses, to the sea’s very brink.
 Josue	Jos	6	24	7	It was to me, the Lord, that Israel cried out for aid; and I put a curtain of darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea back to overwhelm them. What was done in Egypt was done under your eyes. For a long while you dwelt in the desert.
 Josue	Jos	6	24	8	Then I led you forward into the country of the Amorrhites, beyond Jordan; and when these offered battle, I gave you the victory over them, so that you could exterminate them, and take possession of their lands.
 Josue	Jos	6	24	9	Balac, too, son of Sephor, the king of Moab, became your enemy, and sent for Balaam, son of Beor, to put you under a curse;
 Josue	Jos	6	24	10	but I would not let him have his way; it was still my blessing he pronounced; and so I gave you the victory.
 Josue	Jos	6	24	11	You crossed Jordan, and made your way to Jericho. And the men of Jericho withstood you, Amorrhite and Pherezite, Chanaanite and Hethite, Gergesite and Hevite and Jebusite, but I gave you the mastery over them.
 Josue	Jos	6	24	12	I sent hornets in your path, and drove two kings of the Amorrhites out of their countries, before they could suffer from bow or sword of yours.
 Josue	Jos	6	24	13	I have given you lands that others had tilled, cities to dwell in, not of your building, vineyards and oliveyards, not of your planting.
 Josue	Jos	6	24	14	And now, will you fear the Lord, giving him full and loyal service, will you banish the gods your fathers obeyed in Egypt, or in Mesopotamia, and serve the Lord only?
 Josue	Jos	6	24	15	If the Lord’s service mislikes you, choose some other way. Shall it be the gods your fathers worshipped in Mesopotamia, or the gods of the Amorrhites, in whose land you dwell? I and mine will worship the Lord.
 Josue	Jos	6	24	16	And with that, the whole people cried in answer, Never will we forsake the Lord, and yield ourselves to alien gods!
 Josue	Jos	6	24	17	Never will we forsake the Lord our God, who rescued us and our fathers from slavery in Egypt, who did signal miracles under our very eyes, who protected us on our long journey, so beset by enemies,
 Josue	Jos	6	24	18	who dispossessed all these tribes, of native Amorrhite stock, to make room for us here. Serve we the Lord; he is our own God.
 Josue	Jos	6	24	19	You? said Josue. You are not fit to serve the Lord; he is a God set apart, fiercely jealous in his love, not one to overlook such sinful rebellions as yours;
 Josue	Jos	6	24	20	if you should forsake him in time to come, and worship other gods, he would repent of all his goodness to you, and you would be involved in misery and ruin.
 Josue	Jos	6	24	21	That shall never be, cried the people; the Lord, we will serve the Lord!
 Josue	Jos	6	24	22	I call you to witness, said Josue, that you have chosen the Lord’s service; and they answered, We are thy witnesses.
 Josue	Jos	6	24	23	Why then, said he, banish all alien gods from your company, and turn your hearts to the Lord God of Israel.
 Josue	Jos	6	24	24	And the people told Josue, We will worship the Lord our God, and obey his commandments.
 Josue	Jos	6	24	25	So Josue, that day, made a covenant with them, there in Sichem, and set before them the laws and decrees they were to follow;
 Josue	Jos	6	24	26	and he wrote down in the book which contained the divine law, all that had passed. He took a great stone, too, and set it up under the oak that stood there in the Lord’s precincts;
 Josue	Jos	6	24	27	This stone, he said to the people, shall bear witness that it has heard all these warnings the Lord has given you; so that you will never be able to deny it, and cheat the Lord your God of his due.
 Josue	Jos	6	24	28	And with that he sent them home to the lands assigned to them.
 Josue	Jos	6	24	29	After this, the Lord’s servant Josue died, a hundred and ten years old,
 Josue	Jos	6	24	30	and they buried him within his own domain at Thamnath-Sare, in the hill-country of Ephraim, on the northern side of mount Gaas.
 Josue	Jos	6	24	31	And Israel remained true to the worship of the Lord as long as Josue lived, and during the life-time of men already growing old who long survived him; men who had witnessed the great things the Lord had done for Israel.
 Josue	Jos	6	24	32	And now the bones of Joseph, which the Israelites had brought with them from Egypt, were buried at Sichem, in the piece of land Jacob bought for a hundred lambs from Hemor, that was father to Sichem; a piece of land that belonged to Joseph’s descendants.
 Josue	Jos	6	24	33	And when Aaron’s son Eleazar died, he too was buried in the hill-country of Ephraim, where his son Phinees had received a grant of land at Gabaath.
 Judges	Jdg	7	1	1	Now that Josue was dead, the sons of Israel asked counsel of the Lord, to know who should be their champion against the Chanaanites, and bear the brunt of the attack.
 Judges	Jdg	7	1	2	And the Lord’s bidding was, Juda shall be your champion; I have marked it down for his conquest.
 Judges	Jdg	7	1	3	Upon this, the men of Juda said to their brethren, the Simeonites, Come and help us win these lands of ours, and we, in our turn, will help to win your lands. So the men of Simeon marched at Juda’s side,
 Judges	Jdg	7	1	4	and when they went to the attack, the Lord gave them mastery over Chanaanite and Pherezite at Bezec, where they overcame an army of ten thousand men.
 Judges	Jdg	7	1	5	They encountered the king, Adonibezec, there in his capital; and when Chanaanite and Pherezite were routed,
 Judges	Jdg	7	1	6	and Adonibezec fled, they pursued and caught him, and mutilated him, cutting off his thumbs and his great toes.
 Judges	Jdg	7	1	7	There were seventy kings, Adonibezec said, that used to eat the crumbs left under my table, mutilated hand and foot, every one. God has served me as I served others. And they took him to Jerusalem, where he died.
 Judges	Jdg	7	1	8	This city of Jerusalem was attacked and taken by the sons of Juda, who put the inhabitants to the sword, and burnt it all down.
 Judges	Jdg	7	1	9	They went down, too, and routed Chanaan on hill, desert and plain.
 Judges	Jdg	7	1	10	They even attacked the Chanaanites who lived at Hebron (which in old days was called Cariath Arbe), defeating Sesai, Ahiman, and Tholmai;
 Judges	Jdg	7	1	11	then they marched against Dabir, that was once called Cariath-Sepher, the City of Writings.
 Judges	Jdg	7	1	12	(Caleb had promised that whoever defeated and took Cariath-Sepher should have the hand of his daughter Axa in marriage;
 Judges	Jdg	7	1	13	and it was taken by his own younger brother, Othoniel son of Cenez, to whom he wedded his daughter Axa accordingly.
 Judges	Jdg	7	1	14	One day he heard her sighing as she rode on her ass in his company, and asked what ailed her. She had been urged by her husband to win him a grant of land from her father.
 Judges	Jdg	7	1	15	So her answer was, Grant me yet one present; the portion thou hast given me is parched land; give me well-watered land too. So he gave her the High Springs and the Low Springs both together. )
 Judges	Jdg	7	1	16	When the men of Juda made their expedition from the city of Palm-trees, to conquer the waste land that was to be theirs south of Arad, they were accompanied by the Cinites, into whose clan Moses had married; and these shared the land with them.
 Judges	Jdg	7	1	17	Together, Juda and Simeon defeated and destroyed the Chanaanites in Sephaath; which city was afterwards called Horma, that is, Forfeited.
 Judges	Jdg	7	1	18	Gaza, too, and Ascalon, and Accaron, with the regions around them fell into Juda’s power;
 Judges	Jdg	7	1	19	and still the Lord was on their side; so that they occupied all the hill-country, although they could not overcome the plain-dwellers, that had scythed chariots in plenty.
 Judges	Jdg	7	1	20	So Caleb had his portion, as Moses promised that he should; the city of Hebron, where he defeated the three sons of Enac.
 Judges	Jdg	7	1	21	As for Jerusalem, Benjamin could never exterminate the Jebusites that lived there, and they share it with the sons of Benjamin to this day.
 Judges	Jdg	7	1	22	Meanwhile the men of Joseph made an expedition against Bethel, where the Lord gave them good speed.
 Judges	Jdg	7	1	23	They were laying siege to the city (which in former times was called Luza)
 Judges	Jdg	7	1	24	when they found a man escaping from it, and promised him his life if he would shew them how to enter it;
 Judges	Jdg	7	1	25	this he did, and they put the inhabitants to the sword, except this one man and his family.
 Judges	Jdg	7	1	26	And he, after this escape, made his way into the Hethite country, where he built a city that is still called Luza.
 Judges	Jdg	7	1	27	In Manasses, Bethsan, Thanac, Dor, Jeblaam and Mageddo, with the villages around them, were never cleared of their inhabitants; the Chanaanites made bold to live on there.
 Judges	Jdg	7	1	28	When the Israelites had grown stronger, they subdued them and forced them to pay tribute, but did not exterminate them.
 Judges	Jdg	7	1	29	Ephraim, too, spared the Chanaanites in Gazer, and shared it with them;
 Judges	Jdg	7	1	30	nor did Zabulon exterminate the inhabitants of Cetron and Naalol; the Chanaanites lived on among them as tributaries.
 Judges	Jdg	7	1	31	In Aser, Accho, Sidon, Ahalab, Achazib, Helba, Aphec and Rohob were spared;
 Judges	Jdg	7	1	32	the Chanaanite inhabitants of those parts lived on there.
 Judges	Jdg	7	1	33	Nephthali shared Bethsames and Bethanath with the old Chanaanite inhabitants, who paid tribute to them.
 Judges	Jdg	7	1	34	And as for the men of Dan, the Amorrhites kept them cooped up in the hills, and would not let them find any footing in the level plains;
 Judges	Jdg	7	1	35	they still made bold to live on in mount Hares (the Mount of Pottery) and Aialon and Salebim, until at last the rising power of Joseph forced them to become tributaries.
 Judges	Jdg	7	1	36	The territory of these Amorrhites once reached as far as the Scorpion Pass, and Petra, and beyond them still.
 Judges	Jdg	7	2	1	And now the Lord’s angel removed from Galgal to the place that is called Lamentation. And his message was, I have taken you away from Egypt, and brought you to this land in fulfilment of the promise I made to your fathers, an oath irrevocable.
 Judges	Jdg	7	2	2	But you, too, had your part to play; you were to make no terms with the men who dwelt in it, you were to overthrow every altar of theirs. How is it that you have disobeyed my command?
 Judges	Jdg	7	2	3	With good reason I have spared them utter destruction, so that there may be enemies at your side, and gods of the enemy, ready to compass your downfall.
 Judges	Jdg	7	2	4	And all the sons of Israel wept aloud at the angel’s message; that is why the place was called Lamentation.
 Judges	Jdg	7	2	5	In this place of tears they offered the Lord sacrifice.
 Judges	Jdg	7	2	6	Josue, then, had sent the Israelites home, to enjoy the lands assigned to them.
 Judges	Jdg	7	2	7	While he lived, and indeed long after, while those others lived who were old enough to remember the signal mercies shown to them, Israel remained true to the Lord.
 Judges	Jdg	7	2	8	But Josue the son of Nun died, after a hundred and ten years spent in the Lord’s service,
 Judges	Jdg	7	2	9	and was buried within his own domain at Thamnath-Sare, in the hill-country of Ephraim, on the north side of mount Gaas.
 Judges	Jdg	7	2	10	And when all the men of his generation had become a part of their people, a new generation arose, to whom the Lord’s power was still untried, his dealings with Israel still unknown.
 Judges	Jdg	7	2	11	And now the sons of Israel defied the Lord to his face, and began to worship the gods of the country-side.
 Judges	Jdg	7	2	12	Not for them the Lord God of their fathers, who had rescued them from Egypt; they must have new gods to worship, gods of the nations that dwelt around them; they must challenge the Lord’s anger
 Judges	Jdg	7	2	13	by paying court to Baal and Astaroth instead.
 Judges	Jdg	7	2	14	Thus angered, the Lord left Israel at the mercy of invaders who plundered them, betrayed them to those enemies of theirs who lived round about. No longer could they make head against their adversaries;
 Judges	Jdg	7	2	15	march where they would, the Lord still fought against them, true to his threat, true to the oath he had taken, and it fared ill indeed with them.
 Judges	Jdg	7	2	16	Sometimes he would send them chieftains of their own, to rescue them from the invader’s power, but even to these they would not listen;
 Judges	Jdg	7	2	17	still they would play the wanton, and worship alien gods; so quick were they to forsake their father’s ways, and disobey the Lord’s known will.
 Judges	Jdg	7	2	18	First a chieftain would arise, and the Lord, in his days, would relent; would listen to the plaint of a people in distress, and save them from the threat of destruction;
 Judges	Jdg	7	2	19	then, once he was dead, the sons would prove worse than their fathers before them; would pay court to alien gods, and enslave themselves to alien worship; still they would not leave their false imaginings, the rebellious path they trod.
 Judges	Jdg	7	2	20	So that the Lord complained in high displeasure, This people of mine have annulled the covenant I made with their fathers, and refuse me obedience;
 Judges	Jdg	7	2	21	and I, in return, will spare the nations which Josue left unconquered at his death,
 Judges	Jdg	7	2	22	to make proof of Israel still; will they remember and follow the divine commands like their fathers, or not?
 Judges	Jdg	7	2	23	At the time, then, the Lord spared all these nations, instead of overthrowing them all at once, and Josue never had the mastery of them.
 Judges	Jdg	7	3	1	Spared they must be, so that a new generation of Israelites, who had not fought against Chanaan,
 Judges	Jdg	7	3	2	might learn a soldierly tradition, and skill in the use of arms;
 Judges	Jdg	7	3	3	the five princes of the Philistines, the Chanaanites in general, the men of Sidon, and the Hevites of mount Lebanon, between Baal-hermon hill and the path that leads to Emath.
 Judges	Jdg	7	3	4	Spared they must be, so as to have a test of Israel’s loyalty; would the Israelites obey the commands which the Lord had given to their fathers through Moses, or not?
 Judges	Jdg	7	3	5	Thus the men of Israel lived surrounded by Chanaanite and Hethite, by Amorrhite and Pherezite, by Hevite and Jebusite,
 Judges	Jdg	7	3	6	mated with their daughters, and gave Israelite wives to their sons, and so came to worship their gods.
 Judges	Jdg	7	3	7	They defied the Lord’s will, forsook him, their own God, and paid court instead to the gods of the country-side, and to Astaroth;
 Judges	Jdg	7	3	8	and the Lord, in high displeasure against Israel, left them at the mercy of Chusan-Rasathaim, king of the Mesopotamian land, who for eight years became their master.
 Judges	Jdg	7	3	9	Then they cried out to the Lord, and he sent a champion to their rescue, Othoniel son of Cenez, the younger brother of Caleb.
 Judges	Jdg	7	3	10	On him the Lord’s spirit fell, and he became the ruler of Israel; he fought, and the Lord gave him victory over the Syrian king Chusan-Rasathaim, whose power he crushed.
 Judges	Jdg	7	3	11	So, for forty years, the land was at peace, till Othoniel son of Cenez died.
 Judges	Jdg	7	3	12	Then, once again, Israel defied the Lord’s will, and he, thus defied, gave them a rival in Eglon king of Moab,
 Judges	Jdg	7	3	13	that had Ammon and Amelec fighting at his side. This Eglon made an expedition against the Israelites in which he defeated them, and took possession of the city of Palm-trees.
 Judges	Jdg	7	3	14	And for eighteen years the king of Moab was master of Israel.
 Judges	Jdg	7	3	15	And now they cried out to the Lord, and he sent them a fresh champion, a Benjamite called Aod, son of Gera. He was left-handed, and when the Israelites sent him to pay King Eglon their tribute,
 Judges	Jdg	7	3	16	he wore at his right side, under his cloak, a hilted dagger, two-edged, nine inches long.
 Judges	Jdg	7	3	17	Gift in hand he came before Eglon, who sat there gross and pampered of body.
 Judges	Jdg	7	3	18	So, letting his companions go on before him, when the tribute had been paid,
 Judges	Jdg	7	3	19	he himself went back all the way from the carved rocks of Galgal, and told the king he had a secret to make known to him. Eglon bade him keep his counsel, and sent all the courtiers out;
 Judges	Jdg	7	3	20	alone he sat in his summer parlour, when Aod found him. I have a message for thee from the Lord, said Aod, and, as Eglon rose from his seat,
 Judges	Jdg	7	3	21	the dagger hidden at Aod’s right side was plunged into his belly.
 Judges	Jdg	7	3	22	Such was the force of the blow, that hilt followed blade into the wound, stuck deep in the fat; and thereupon the bowels discharged their load.
 Judges	Jdg	7	3	23	Good care Aod took to secure lock and bolt behind him;
 Judges	Jdg	7	3	24	then he made his escape by a postern door. When the king’s servants came and found locked doors they thought he was easing himself, like enough, there in his summer retreat.
 Judges	Jdg	7	3	25	But at last, ashamed of waiting, they brought a key to open it, and there was their master stretched on the ground dead.
 Judges	Jdg	7	3	26	In the confusion, Aod escaped; he made his way back to the Carved Rocks, and thence to Seirath.
 Judges	Jdg	7	3	27	There, on the slopes of Ephraim, he blew his horn, and the men of Israel came down from the hills with Aod at their head
 Judges	Jdg	7	3	28	crying out, Follow me, the Lord has granted us victory over the Moabite invader. Down they went at his heels, and seized the ford across Jordan that leads to Moab. Not a man did they allow to cross,
 Judges	Jdg	7	3	29	but slew, that day, some ten thousand Moabite warriors, cut off from all hope of escape.
 Judges	Jdg	7	3	30	Thus Israel brought Moab to the dust, and for eighty years the land was at peace.
 Judges	Jdg	7	3	31	Aod was followed by Samgar, the son of Anath; he it was that slew six hundred Philistines with a ploughshare; he, too, was a champion of Israel.
 Judges	Jdg	7	4	1	When Aod was dead, Israel would defy the Lord yet again;
 Judges	Jdg	7	4	2	and the Lord put them at the mercy of Jabin, the Chanaanite king who ruled in Asor. The chieftain that commanded his army for him was called Sisara, and lived at Haroseth, in the pale of the Gentiles.
 Judges	Jdg	7	4	3	Small wonder if the Israelites cried out to the Lord against this king that had nine hundred scythed chariots, and for twenty years had grievously oppressed them.
 Judges	Jdg	7	4	4	At this time Israel was ruled by a prophetess called Debbora, the wife of Lapidoth,
 Judges	Jdg	7	4	5	that dwelt in the hill-country of Ephraim, between Rama and Bethel, by that palm-tree which long bore her name; here the people of Israel had recourse to her for the settlement of all their disputes.
 Judges	Jdg	7	4	6	And now she summoned Barac, son of Abinoem, from Cedes in Nephthali, and gave him a message from the Lord God of Israel: Go and muster an army on mount Thabor, of ten thousand warriors from Nephthali and Zabulon.
 Judges	Jdg	7	4	7	Then I will lure Sisara, the chieftain of Jabin’s army, out into the valley of Cison to meet thee, with his chariots and all his forces, and give thee the mastery over them.
 Judges	Jdg	7	4	8	If thou wilt go with me, I will go, Barac said, but not without thee.
 Judges	Jdg	7	4	9	Go with thee I will, she answered; and yet this part of thine is to win thee no renown. A woman’s hand is to vanquish Sisara. Then she set out with Barac on the journey to Cedes,
 Judges	Jdg	7	4	10	where he, with her aid, rallied Zabulon and Nephthali, and took the field with ten thousand fighting men.
 Judges	Jdg	7	4	11	(It was near Cedes that Haber the Cinite dwelt; he had separated from his fellow-Cinites, that sprang from Hobab, Moses’ kin by marriage, and lay encamped now at the foot of the valley called Sennim.)
 Judges	Jdg	7	4	12	Sisara, then, hearing that Barac, son of Abinoem, had occupied mount Thabor,
 Judges	Jdg	7	4	13	mustered his nine hundred chariots and all his men at the valley of Cison.
 Judges	Jdg	7	4	14	Bestir thyself, Debbora said to Barac; now it is that the Lord means to put Sisara in thy power; thou hast the Lord himself for thy leader. So Barac with his ten thousand men swept down from mount Thabor,
 Judges	Jdg	7	4	15	and when they came to close quarters, the Lord threw Sisara’s chariots and all his force into confusion at their onslaught. Sisara himself dismounted and fled away on foot;
 Judges	Jdg	7	4	16	and Barac pursued the routed chariots and troops all the way to Haroseth, till the enemy were slaughtered to the last man.
 Judges	Jdg	7	4	17	Sisara, in his flight, made for the tent of Jahel, wife of Haber the Cinite, whose tribe was then at peace with king Jabin of Asor.
 Judges	Jdg	7	4	18	And Jahel, going out to meet Sisara, bade him Turn in, my lord, turn in here in safety. So he came into the tent, where she covered him up with a cloak;
 Judges	Jdg	7	4	19	and when he asked for a drop of water, to relieve his great thirst, she opened a bottle of milk and gave him some to drink, then covered him up again.
 Judges	Jdg	7	4	20	And now Sisara bade her stand there at the tent door; if she were asked by passers-by whether any man was there within, she was to answer, Never a soul.
 Judges	Jdg	7	4	21	But Jahel, Haber’s wife, taking one of the tent-pegs and a mallet, too, with her, crept quietly in, put the peg close to his forehead and struck with the mallet, driving it right through his brain into the ground beneath. So he passed from the numbness of sleep into the numbness of death.
 Judges	Jdg	7	4	22	It was Barac who came up in pursuit of Sisara; and Jahel went out to meet him. Come in, was her greeting, and I will shew thee the man thou art looking for; and he went in to find Sisara lying there dead, with the peg through his temple.
 Judges	Jdg	7	4	23	So the Lord, that day, crushed the pride of the Chanaanite king Jabin before the sons of Israel;
 Judges	Jdg	7	4	24	and their strength ever increased, till they beat him down and at last made an end of him.
 Judges	Jdg	7	5	1	Joyfully sang Debbora that day, and Barac the son of Abinoem with her; and this was her song.
 Judges	Jdg	7	5	2	Here are Israelites that freely put their lives in peril; bless we the Lord!
 Judges	Jdg	7	5	3	A word to you, kings; princes, this is for your hearing; the Lord is my theme, it is of the Lord God of Israel that I sing.
 Judges	Jdg	7	5	4	Lord, when thou didst come forth from mount Seir, and pass on thy way over Edom, how the earth shook, how fast the rain fell from skies wrapped in cloud!
 Judges	Jdg	7	5	5	How the hills, how Sinai itself melted away as the Lord came, the Lord God of Israel!
 Judges	Jdg	7	5	6	In the time of Samgar son of Anath, in the time of Jahel, all the roads lay unfrequented; those that used them once must now travel by bridle-paths.
 Judges	Jdg	7	5	7	Gone was the warrior breed, lost to the country-side, until Debbora came, Debbora, that played a mother’s part in Israel.
 Judges	Jdg	7	5	8	Strange warfare this, of God’s own choosing, when he himself must overthrow the enemy’s ramparts; among the sons of Israel, not one in forty thousand carried shield or spear.
 Judges	Jdg	7	5	9	My heart goes out to you, chieftains of Israel; it is for you, who freely put your lives in peril, to bless the Lord;
 Judges	Jdg	7	5	10	for you to speak, you that hold the judge’s office, and have white asses to ride when you go on your travels.
 Judges	Jdg	7	5	11	There, where the chariots broke, there, where the enemy’s host was drowned, let the story of the Lord’s mercies be told, the favour he shewed to the warriors of Israel. Down to the city gates they went, the people of the Lord, and won the mastery.
 Judges	Jdg	7	5	12	Up, up, bestir thyself, Debbora; bestir thyself, and chant the battle-hymn! Rouse thee, Barac, son of Abinoem, thy prey awaits thee!
 Judges	Jdg	7	5	13	It was but the remnant of a people that won the day, but the Lord himself fought among their warriors.
 Judges	Jdg	7	5	14	All the remnant of Ephraim had Amalec to detain them; against Amalec’s tribes Benjamin, too, was matched. But chieftains came from Manasses, marshallers of the host from Zabulon;
 Judges	Jdg	7	5	15	the leaders of Issachar, too, were at Debbora’s side, and followed Barac into danger, as he rushed headlong down from the steep. But what of Ruben? Here there was division of counsel among brave hearts.
 Judges	Jdg	7	5	16	What, wouldst thou sit there between fold and fold, and listen to the shepherds piping to their flocks? Alas, for hearts so brave, and counsels so divided!
 Judges	Jdg	7	5	17	Galaad took his ease on the further bank of Jordan, and Dan was busy with his merchant ventures; Aser, too, lingered by the sea-shore, safe in his harbour-towns.
 Judges	Jdg	7	5	18	Meanwhile, Zabulon and Nephthali were putting their lives in peril, there on the uplands of Merome.
 Judges	Jdg	7	5	19	So the kings came down to battle, the kings of Chanaan, there at Taanach by the waters of Mageddo, but spoil had they none.
 Judges	Jdg	7	5	20	Heaven itself was their adversary; the stars in their ordered course did battle against Sisara.
 Judges	Jdg	7	5	21	Cison river bore away the corpses of them, river of the Cadumim, Cison river; trample on them, Debbora, warriors so valiant till now!
 Judges	Jdg	7	5	22	The horses’ hoofs lost their footing, so swiftly they fled, thundering down the slopes with the flower of the enemy’s host behind them.
 Judges	Jdg	7	5	23	Curse the land of Meroz, the angel of the Lord says, a curse on all that dwell in it! Here were men that would not rally in the Lord’s cause, would not come to aid his champions in their peril.
 Judges	Jdg	7	5	24	But Jahel, wife of Haber the Cinite, blessed may she be above all women; a blessing on the tent she dwells in!
 Judges	Jdg	7	5	25	One came by and asked her for water; but no, she would give him milk; whey should be brought out for him in such a cup as kings use.
 Judges	Jdg	7	5	26	A nail is in her left hand, a carpenter’s mallet in her right; now to smite Sisara, now to find the place for a mortal blow! See with what strength she pierces his forehead through!
 Judges	Jdg	7	5	27	There he lies at her feet, helpless in death, rolls there at her feet lifeless, a thing of pity to see!
 Judges	Jdg	7	5	28	Long may his mother look down from that parlour window of hers, crying out on the chariot that never returns, the sound of horses’ hoofs that still does not come.
 Judges	Jdg	7	5	29	Long may some princess try to comfort her, with wiser counsel than the rest:
 Judges	Jdg	7	5	30	Even now, like enough, he is dividing up the spoil, of the captive women choosing out the fairest; Sisara shall have embroidered garments for his share; see the pile of necklaces that lies there, so intricate in design!
 Judges	Jdg	7	5	31	So perish all thy enemies, Lord; and may all those who love thee shine out glorious as the sun’s rising!
 Judges	Jdg	7	5	32	And so for forty years the land was at peace.
 Judges	Jdg	7	6	1	After this, the sons of Israel defied the Lord again, and for seven years he left them at the mercy of the Madianites,
 Judges	Jdg	7	6	2	who crushed them down unsparingly; so that they were fain to take refuge in caverns and shafts and mountain fastnesses.
 Judges	Jdg	7	6	3	The men of Israel would sow their lands, and then Madian and Amalec and the tribes east of them would invade the country;
 Judges	Jdg	7	6	4	encamping there, they destroyed all the growing crops right up to Gaza, till there was no food left in the land of Israel for ox or sheep or ass.
 Judges	Jdg	7	6	5	Carrying their tents and driving their cattle before them, they came in and spread over the country-side, hordes of men everywhere and trains of camels, like a swarm of locusts, destroying all that lay in their path.
 Judges	Jdg	7	6	6	Thus Madian brought the Israelites into great need,
 Judges	Jdg	7	6	7	and they cried out to the Lord for redress.
 Judges	Jdg	7	6	8	But he, through a prophet, sent them this message from the Lord God of Israel: I recalled you from Egypt, rescued you from your prison there,
 Judges	Jdg	7	6	9	defended you, not only against the Egyptians, but against all the hostile nations that were dispossessed of their lands to make room for you.
 Judges	Jdg	7	6	10	And I told you, I am the Lord your God; you must pay no reverence to the gods of the Amorrhites, in whose land you dwell; but my command went unheeded.
 Judges	Jdg	7	6	11	And now an angel of the Lord came and waited by the oak-tree at Ephra, which then belonged to Joas, of the family of Abiezer. His son Gedeon had gone out to the wine-press, so as to thresh his wheat there unobserved by the Madianites,
 Judges	Jdg	7	6	12	and suddenly the Lord’s angel appeared to him, and said, The Lord be with thee, courageous heart!
 Judges	Jdg	7	6	13	Ah, Sir, replied Gedeon, but tell me this; if the Lord is with us, how is it that such ill fortune has overtaken us? Not for us, now, those miracles of his that were on our fathers’ lips, when they told us how he rescued them from Egypt. The Lord has forsaken us now, and lets the Madianites have their will with us.
 Judges	Jdg	7	6	14	Then the Lord looked at him, and said, Thou hast strength; go and set Israel free from the power of Madian. Such is the mission I have for thee.
 Judges	Jdg	7	6	15	What, Lord! said he, I deliver Israel? Why, my clan is the poorest in all Manasses, and in all my father’s house none counts for so little as I.
 Judges	Jdg	7	6	16	I will be at thy side, the Lord told him, and thou shalt smite Madian down as though but one man stood in thy path.
 Judges	Jdg	7	6	17	Hereupon Gedeon answered, As thou lovest me, give me some proof this is thy word that comes to me.
 Judges	Jdg	7	6	18	And first, do not leave this spot till I come back here with a sacrifice to offer thee. I will await thy coming, he said.
 Judges	Jdg	7	6	19	So Gedeon went in and cooked a goat, took a bushel of flour and made unleavened bread, put the meat in a basket and the broth from the meat into a pot, and brought them all out, there beneath the oak, to make his offering.
 Judges	Jdg	7	6	20	Take the meat and the loaves, the angel of the Lord said, and lay them down on yonder rock, and pour out the broth over them. So he obeyed,
 Judges	Jdg	7	6	21	and with that the angel of the Lord held out the staff he carried, and touched meat and unleavened bread with the tip of it; whereupon fire blazed out from the rock, and all was consumed. And he looked, and the angel of the Lord was there no longer.
 Judges	Jdg	7	6	22	Then Gedeon knew that this was an angel of the Lord, and he cried out, An ill day for me, O Lord my God; I have seen the Lord’s angel face to face.
 Judges	Jdg	7	6	23	But the Lord’s word came to him, Be at peace, and have no fear; thou shalt not die.
 Judges	Jdg	7	6	24	So Gedeon built an altar there and called it the Peace of the Lord; it stands there to this day. This, then, was Gedeon’s home, in Ephra, that belongs to the clan of Abiezer.
 Judges	Jdg	7	6	25	And that night the Lord said to him, Take with thee two bulls, the one that belongs to thy father, and another of seven years old, and overthrow Baal’s altar that stands on thy father’s land, cutting down the sacred wood around it.
 Judges	Jdg	7	6	26	Then, on the top of this rock on which thou didst lay thy sacrifice to me, build an altar to the Lord thy God; and there offer the second bull in burnt sacrifice, over a fire made from the wood thou hast cut down.
 Judges	Jdg	7	6	27	So Gedeon did as the Lord bade him, with ten servants of his father’s to help him, at dead of night; he would not do it by day for fear of his kindred and his fellow-citizens.
 Judges	Jdg	7	6	28	And when these citizens awoke next day, there was Baal’s altar destroyed, and the wood about it cut down, and a second altar built, with the dead bull lying on it.
 Judges	Jdg	7	6	29	Who had done it? They made enquiry, and were told that it was Gedeon son of Joas.
 Judges	Jdg	7	6	30	Whereupon they would have Joas bring out his son to pay the death-penalty for overthrowing Baal’s altar, and cutting down his sacred wood;
 Judges	Jdg	7	6	31	but his answer was, What, does Baal need champions such as you to vindicate him? Nay, let the man who is his adversary be struck dead before to-morrow’s light, if he is indeed a god; let him take his own vengeance on the man who destroyed his altar.
 Judges	Jdg	7	6	32	And from this saying of Joas, that Baal ought to punish the destroyer of his own altar, Gedeon from that day onwards was called Jerobaal, Let Baal defend his own cause.
 Judges	Jdg	7	6	33	When next Madian and Amalec and the peoples of the east crossed the Jordan together, and encamped in the plain of Jezrael,
 Judges	Jdg	7	6	34	the Spirit of the Lord wrapped Gedeon round. One blast of his horn rallied Abiezer’s clan behind him;
 Judges	Jdg	7	6	35	then he sent messengers out all through Manasses, and Manasses, too, were of his company; then other messengers to Aser, Zabulon and Nephthali, and these came out to meet him.
 Judges	Jdg	7	6	36	And Gedeon asked for a sign from God: If thou meanest to fulfil thy promise, and make use of me to deliver Israel, let me have proof of it.
 Judges	Jdg	7	6	37	This fleece shall lie on the threshing-floor; fall the dew on the fleece only, and let the ground be dry, I shall know that thy promise holds good; I am to be the means of Israel’s deliverance.
 Judges	Jdg	7	6	38	And so it was; when he awoke next morning, he wrung it out, and filled a tankard with the dew.
 Judges	Jdg	7	6	39	But he pleaded once again, Do not be angry with me if I put thee to one more test, still with the fleece for my proof. This time, let the fleece remain dry, while the rest of the ground is wet with dew.
 Judges	Jdg	7	6	40	And that night, God granted his prayer; dew lay all over the ground about it, and the fleece alone was dry.
 Judges	Jdg	7	7	1	Jerobaal, then, (or Gedeon) rose at break of day and led his army to the spring called the Spring of Harad. The camp of Madian lay there in the valley, with a high hill to the south of it.
 Judges	Jdg	7	7	2	This is a great army thou hast with thee, the Lord told Gedeon. I must not grant victory over Madian to an army like this, or the Israelites would boast that they had no need of me; that their own strength had brought them deliverance.
 Judges	Jdg	7	7	3	Make it known publicly, for all to hear, that any man who shrinks back or is afraid is free to go home. So twenty-two thousand of his men, from the hill-country of Galaad, went back home, and left him with only ten thousand.
 Judges	Jdg	7	7	4	But the Lord said to Gedeon, Thy army is still too great. Take them down the water-side, and I will test them there. I will tell thee which of them are to march in thy company, and which are to return home instead.
 Judges	Jdg	7	7	5	And when they reached the water, the Lord’s command to Gedeon was, Separate those who lap the water like dogs, and those who go down on their knees to drink.
 Judges	Jdg	7	7	6	There were only three hundred that took up water in their hands and lapped it, all the rest knelt as they drank;
 Judges	Jdg	7	7	7	but the Lord said to Gedeon, These three hundred men who lapped the water shall win you deliverance; I will put the Madianites in their power. Send all the rest of thy companions home.
 Judges	Jdg	7	7	8	So he would have food left, and a trumpet for each man; then he sent the others back to their own dwelling-places, and with three hundred men prepared to give battle. The camp of Madian lay there in the valley below him,
 Judges	Jdg	7	7	9	and that night the Lord said to him, Bestir thyself, and go down into their camp; I have left them at thy mercy.
 Judges	Jdg	7	7	10	If thou art afraid to go alone, thy servant Phara shall go with thee.
 Judges	Jdg	7	7	11	Listen to what they are saying, and it will give thee courage, bid thee go down more confidently to the attack. So Gedeon and his servant Phara made their way down to a part of the camp where sentries were on guard.
 Judges	Jdg	7	7	12	There were Madian and Amalec, and all the tribes of the east, scattered through the valley, like a swarm of locusts; countless as the sea sand, their camels lay beside them.
 Judges	Jdg	7	7	13	As Gedeon approached, one of the men was telling his neighbour of a dream that had come to him, and this was the way of it: It looked, in my dream, as if a barley griddle-cake went rolling along and tumbled into the Madianite camp, where it struck the first tent it reached and overturned it, so that it lay flat on the ground.
 Judges	Jdg	7	7	14	Why, said the other, what should this be but the sword of that Israelite, Gedeon the son of Joas? The Lord means to put Madian and all Madian’s host into his power.
 Judges	Jdg	7	7	15	Gedeon fell on his knees when he heard what the dream was, and how it was interpreted. Back he went to the camp of Israel, and cried out, Bestir yourselves, the Lord has left the Madianite camp at our mercy.
 Judges	Jdg	7	7	16	Then he divided his men into three companies, and bade each man carry a trumpet, and an empty jar, and in the jar, a lighted torch.
 Judges	Jdg	7	7	17	Mark what I do, and do the same, he told them; when once I have reached the edge of the camp, follow, all of you, my example.
 Judges	Jdg	7	7	18	I shall hold up my trumpet and blow a blast, and you too must blow a blast, on different sides of the camp; then you will cry aloud, For the Lord and for Gedeon!
 Judges	Jdg	7	7	19	So Gedeon and his three hundred men reached the edge of the camp, just as the midnight watch began, when the newly posted guards were wide awake. Every trumpet blew, and every jar was shattered against its neighbour;
 Judges	Jdg	7	7	20	and on three sides of the camp, after the crashing of the jars, men stood there with torches in their left hands, and ringing trumpets in their right; and now the cry came, Your swords, now! For the Lord and for Gedeon!
 Judges	Jdg	7	7	21	Thus posted on different sides of the enemy’s camp, they threw all into confusion; and the Madianites fled, crying aloud for terror,
 Judges	Jdg	7	7	22	while the three hundred men still pressed on, and still the trumpets blew. And all through the camp the Lord spread destruction, friend turning his sword against friend;
 Judges	Jdg	7	7	23	till at last in their flight they reached as far as Bethsetta, and the river-bank at Abelmehula in Tebbath. Here the Israelites from Nephthali and Aser and the whole of Manasses gave chase;
 Judges	Jdg	7	7	24	Gedeon sent messengers, too, all through the hill-country of Ephraim, bidding them come down and confront Madian, seizing the water-courses that go down to Bethbera and the Jordan; so Ephraim raised the hue and cry, and intercepted both the water-courses and Jordan itself as far as Bethbera.
 Judges	Jdg	7	7	25	And they caught two Madianite chiefs, Oreb and Zeb, whom they put to death, Oreb at the Rock of Oreb and Zeb at Zeb’s Wine-press; then they went on with the pursuit of Madian. They were carrying the heads of Oreb and Zeb with them when they met Gedeon on the further side of Jordan.
 Judges	Jdg	7	8	1	What means it, they asked, that thou didst not summon us to thy aid when thou wert setting out to do battle with Madian? And they were loud in their complaints, these men of Ephraim, almost ready to come to blows with him.
 Judges	Jdg	7	8	2	Nay, answered he, what has my task been in comparison with yours? Abiezer’s whole vintage cannot match the gleanings Ephraim has gathered up.
 Judges	Jdg	7	8	3	See how the Lord would have Oreb and Zeb fall into your hands, not mine; what is my achievement beside yours? With such words he calmed the restless spirits that assailed him.
 Judges	Jdg	7	8	4	Gedeon had now reached and crossed the Jordan, with his three hundred followers. They were too weary to keep up with the fugitives,
 Judges	Jdg	7	8	5	so he had recourse to the people of Socoth. I beseech you, he said, to provide food for these companions of mine, who are faint with hunger; we must needs overtake the Madianite kings, Zebee and Salmana.
 Judges	Jdg	7	8	6	Why, answered the chieftains of Socoth, you would think he came to us carrying the severed hands of Zebee and Salmana with him, to hear the way he talks of providing food for this army of his.
 Judges	Jdg	7	8	7	So be it, said Gedeon; when the Lord has given me the mastery of Zebee and Salmana, I will come back and flay you with every thorn and brier that grows in the desert.
 Judges	Jdg	7	8	8	Then he went on to Phanuel, and made the same request there, and received there the same answer as at Socoth.
 Judges	Jdg	7	8	9	And he had a threat for these too: When I come back, safe and a conqueror, I will throw this tower of yours to the ground.
 Judges	Jdg	7	8	10	Zebee and Salmana had halted their men for a rest; only fifteen thousand of them were left, out of all those hordes from the east; the rest had perished, a hundred and twenty thousand fighting men.
 Judges	Jdg	7	8	11	Gedeon came up along the track used by the wandering tribes east of Nobe and Jegbaa; he caught them off their guard, when they were not expecting an attack, and fell upon the camp;
 Judges	Jdg	7	8	12	whereupon the whole army was thrown into confusion, and Zebee and Salmana were overtaken by Gedeon in their flight.
 Judges	Jdg	7	8	13	And now, coming back from his campaigning before the sun was up,
 Judges	Jdg	7	8	14	he captured a young man that came from Socoth, and asked him the names of all the chief men and elders in the place; of these he made a list, seventy-seven of them in all.
 Judges	Jdg	7	8	15	And when he reached Socoth, he told them, Here are Zebee and Salmana, the kings whose severed hands you would have had me bring you, before you provided food to faint and weary men.
 Judges	Jdg	7	8	16	So he had the chief men of Socoth brought out, and thorns and briers brought in from the desert to flay them with, and went a-threshing with the men of Socoth.
 Judges	Jdg	7	8	17	Then he threw the tower of Phanuel to the ground, and killed all who dwelt in it.
 Judges	Jdg	7	8	18	After this, he asked Zebee and Salmana about the men they had killed on mount Thabor; What was the look of them? he said. None other, they answered, than thy own; not one of them but might have had such a royal father as thyself.
 Judges	Jdg	7	8	19	Why, said he, these were my own brothers, sons of my own mother. As the Lord is a living God, if you had spared these, I would grant you your lives.
 Judges	Jdg	7	8	20	Then he said to his eldest son, Jether, Up with thee, and put them to the sword; but Jether would not draw on them; he was a boy still, and had no heart for it.
 Judges	Jdg	7	8	21	So Zebee and Salmana said, Up, and deal the blow thyself; a man has but the strength that matches his age. So Gedeon rose up and slew them both. And for spoil, he carried off the embossed trappings that kings’ camels wear about their necks.
 Judges	Jdg	7	8	22	And now all the Israelites would have Gedeon, the man who delivered them from Madian, become their ruler, and his descendants after him.
 Judges	Jdg	7	8	23	Neither I, he said, nor any son of mine shall bear rule over you; the Lord shall be your ruler.
 Judges	Jdg	7	8	24	This is all the reward I ask for, that you should give me all the ear-rings you have taken as spoil. (Among the desert tribes, it was the custom to wear ear-rings.)
 Judges	Jdg	7	8	25	They consented willingly enough, spreading a cloak out on the ground and throwing all their spoil of ear-rings down on it;
 Judges	Jdg	7	8	26	and these ear-rings they gave him, all of gold, weighed seventeen hundred sicles. (There was much besides; collars and necklaces, and purple robes such as the kings of Madian wore, and the gold trappings of their camels.)
 Judges	Jdg	7	8	27	Gedeon made of this a golden mantle, which he set up in the city of Ephra; and faithless Israel fell to worshipping it, to the ruin of Gedeon and his race.
 Judges	Jdg	7	8	28	As for the Madianites, they were bowed to the dust before Israel, and could raise their heads no longer; for a full generation, while Gedeon was there to protect it, the land was at peace.
 Judges	Jdg	7	8	29	So this Jerobaal, son of Joas, went back to his home and lived on there.
 Judges	Jdg	7	8	30	By his many wives, he had seventy sons, all begotten of his own body,
 Judges	Jdg	7	8	31	and in Sichem there was a concubine of his, that bore him a son, Abimelech.
 Judges	Jdg	7	8	32	So Gedeon the son of Joas died, content in late old age, and was buried in the tomb of his father Joas, in Ephra, that belongs to the clan of Abiezer.
 Judges	Jdg	7	8	33	It was only after the death of Gedeon that the Israelites went back to their old ways, and played the wanton with gods of the country-side. They had a covenant now with Baal, that he should be their god,
 Judges	Jdg	7	8	34	and thought no more of the Lord, their own God, that had rescued them from the power of the enemies who lived round about them.
 Judges	Jdg	7	8	35	And it was little gratitude they shewed to the race of Gedeon, surnamed Jerobaal, that had fought so well for Israel.
 Judges	Jdg	7	9	1	This Abimelech, son of Jerobaal, now betook himself to Sichem, and there conspired with his mother’s brethren, and the whole clan from which his mother was descended.
 Judges	Jdg	7	9	2	They were to send the word round in Sichem, Which is best, to have seventy masters over you, all Jerobaal’s sons, or one? He was, after all, their own flesh and blood.
 Judges	Jdg	7	9	3	So his mother’s brethren, by raising these whispers among the citizens of Sichem, won Abimelech their good-will; they remembered that he was their own kin,
 Judges	Jdg	7	9	4	and gave him seventy silver pieces, from the temple treasure of Baal-berith. With these, he hired a bodyguard of penniless rogues;
 Judges	Jdg	7	9	5	then went back to his father’s house at Ephra and his own brothers, the sons of Jerobaal. He murdered these at one blow, all seventy of them except Joatham, the youngest, who hid away and escaped.
 Judges	Jdg	7	9	6	And with that all the citizens of Sichem and all those who dwelt at Mello met together, and there, by the oak at Sichem, they made Abimelech their king.
 Judges	Jdg	7	9	7	When this came to Joatham’s ears, he went and stood at the top of mount Garizim, and raised his voice there in a loud cry. Listen to me, he said, men of Sichem, as you would have God himself listen to you.
 Judges	Jdg	7	9	8	There was a time when the trees went about to anoint a king who should rule over them, and said to the olive-tree, Come and be our king.
 Judges	Jdg	7	9	9	What, said the olive, would you have me forgo this rich influence of mine, for the service of God and man, to win promotion among the trees?
 Judges	Jdg	7	9	10	So they asked the fig-tree to be their ruler,
 Judges	Jdg	7	9	11	but the fig-tree answered, What, should I cease to yield this pleasant fruit of mine, and win promotion among the trees instead?
 Judges	Jdg	7	9	12	Then the trees would have the vine reign over them,
 Judges	Jdg	7	9	13	but the vine said, What, would you have me cease to yield wine, wine that both God and man delight in, to be the foremost of the trees?
 Judges	Jdg	7	9	14	So at last all the trees went to the bramble, and would have the bramble reign over them.
 Judges	Jdg	7	9	15	And the bramble said, If you have chosen me for your king in all honesty, why then, come and rest in my shadow. If your hearts are false, then burn bramble, and set light to all the cedars on Lebanon!
 Judges	Jdg	7	9	16	And you, have you kept faith and honour in making Abimelech your king? Have you dealt kindly with Jerobaal and his race, shewn gratitude for the good service he did you? Here was a man that fought in your cause,
 Judges	Jdg	7	9	17	that put his life in peril, to deliver you from the power of Madian.
 Judges	Jdg	7	9	18	And now you have risen in arms against my father’s house, you have murdered at one blow seventy men that were his sons, and you have made Abimelech, the son of his serving-wench, king of all Sichem; one that is your own kin.
 Judges	Jdg	7	9	19	Was this honourably done? Have you kept faith with the race of Jerobaal? Why then, I wish you joy of your king, and Abimelech of his subjects.
 Judges	Jdg	7	9	20	But if it was done amiss, then burn Abimelech, and set light to Sichem and Mello; burn Sichem and Mello, and set light to Abimelech!
 Judges	Jdg	7	9	21	And with that Joatham fled, and took refuge in Bara, where he could dwell safe from his brother Abimelech’s vengeance.
 Judges	Jdg	7	9	22	So, for three years, Abimelech was king in Israel;
 Judges	Jdg	7	9	23	but now the Lord stirred up ill-will between Abimelech and the men of Sichem, who came to hold him in abhorrence;
 Judges	Jdg	7	9	24	the foul deed done when the seventy sons of Jerobaal were slain, the guilt of the blood so spilt, was held now against Abimelech, their brother, and against the chief men of Sichem, that had been in league with him.
 Judges	Jdg	7	9	25	So they laid an ambush to catch him at the head of the mountain-pass, and spent their time, while they awaited his coming, in open robbery, plundering all that went by; but Abimelech had warning of it.
 Judges	Jdg	7	9	26	It was now that Gaal son of Obed appeared, and led his clansmen into Sichem. All that dwelt in Sichem were elated at his coming;
 Judges	Jdg	7	9	27	out they went into the country-side, to strip the vineyards and tread the grapes. Amid the chanting of choirs, they went into the temple of their god to feast and drink deep, and curse the name of Abimelech.
 Judges	Jdg	7	9	28	What, cried Gaal son of Obed, should Sichem, being the city she is, obey such a man as Abimelech? Shall this son of Jerobaal send his servant Zebul to rule over men that come down from Hamor, the father of Sichem? And must we all be his slaves?
 Judges	Jdg	7	9	29	Ah, if I had but command of a people like this, I would soon clear Abimelech out of my path. Hereupon, Abimelech was bidden muster a great force, and come with all speed.
 Judges	Jdg	7	9	30	Gaal’s words had come to the ears of Zebul, who was in command of the city, and in high displeasure
 Judges	Jdg	7	9	31	he sent Abimelech a secret message: Here is Gaal, son of Obed, come to Sichem with his clan, and means to wrest the city from thee.
 Judges	Jdg	7	9	32	March out under cover of night with all the following thou hast, and lie hidden in the country round about;
 Judges	Jdg	7	9	33	then, when tomorrow’s sun rises, fall upon the city, and when he and his men come out to meet thee, engage them as best thou canst.
 Judges	Jdg	7	9	34	So Abimelech set out on a night march with all his forces, and posted men in ambush about Sichem in four several places.
 Judges	Jdg	7	9	35	Gaal, son of Obed, had gone out to take up his stand before the entrance of the city, when suddenly Abimelech and his men rose from their ambush.
 Judges	Jdg	7	9	36	And when he caught sight of them, Gaal said to Zebul, Why, what is this throng of folk coming down from the hill-top? It is the shadows on the mountain-side, said he, thou art mistaking for human forms.
 Judges	Jdg	7	9	37	But Gaal repeated, There is a throng of men coming down from the uplands, and another body is moving down the road that leads to the oak-tree.
 Judges	Jdg	7	9	38	And at that Zebul said, Now we shall see what becomes of that boasting of thine, Shall we obey such a man as Abimelech? See, here are the men thou didst hold in such contempt; go out and fight with them.
 Judges	Jdg	7	9	39	So Gaal must needs take the field against Abimelech, with all the citizens of Sichem to watch him;
 Judges	Jdg	7	9	40	whereupon Abimelech routed him, and drove him back into the city, and not a few of his clansmen fell before they could reach the city gate.
 Judges	Jdg	7	9	41	So Abimelech encamped at Ruma, while Zebul drove Gaal and his clan out of the city, saying he would harbour them no more.
 Judges	Jdg	7	9	42	Next day, the citizens themselves went out on a foray; when this news reached Abimelech,
 Judges	Jdg	7	9	43	he led his men to the attack. He had divided them into three companies, hiding them in ambush in the country round about; and finding that the men of Sichem were at a distance from the city, he moved swiftly against them.
 Judges	Jdg	7	9	44	He, with his own company, surrounded and attacked the city, while the other two companies fell on the enemy as they straggled across the plain.
 Judges	Jdg	7	9	45	All that day Abimelech assaulted the city; and when he took it he slaughtered the inhabitants and destroyed it utterly, and strewed salt over the ground to put a ban on it.
 Judges	Jdg	7	9	46	When this news reached the men who dwelt in Sichem Watch-tower, they took refuge in the temple of their god, whom they called Berith because they had made a covenant with him there. It gave its name to the ground on which it stood, which was strongly fortified.
 Judges	Jdg	7	9	47	And Abimelech, when he was told that all the inhabitants of Sichem Watch-tower were so cooped up together,
 Judges	Jdg	7	9	48	led his whole force to mount Selmon. Here, with an axe, he cut down a branch from a tree and threw it across his shoulder, bidding all that were with him straightway do the like.
 Judges	Jdg	7	9	49	So, eagerly enough, they followed their leader’s example, and when they reached the stronghold they surrounded it and set fire to it. Thus smoke and fire brought death to a thousand souls, all the men and women that dwelt in Sichem Watch-tower.
 Judges	Jdg	7	9	50	From there, Abimelech went on to the town of Thebes, and made an assault on it.
 Judges	Jdg	7	9	51	There was a high tower in the middle of the city, in which men and women alike had taken refuge, all the chief magistrates of the city among them. Its doors were stoutly barred, and there were battlements on its roof behind which the defenders stood.
 Judges	Jdg	7	9	52	Abimelech came up and assailed it vigorously, and was standing there close by the door trying to set fire to it,
 Judges	Jdg	7	9	53	when a woman threw down from the roof part of a mill-stone, which struck him on the head and pierced to the brain.
 Judges	Jdg	7	9	54	Quickly he called out to his armour-bearer; Draw thy sword, he said, and make an end of me; it must not be said that Abimelech died by a woman’s hand. So the armour-bearer obeyed, and made an end of him;
 Judges	Jdg	7	9	55	and, once he was dead, all the Israelites who marched with him went back to their homes.
 Judges	Jdg	7	9	56	Thus God punished Abimelech for the wrong he did to his father’s name by slaughtering those seventy brethren of his,
 Judges	Jdg	7	9	57	and punished the men of Sichem, too, for their misdeeds; and the curse of Joatham, son of Jerobaal, came upon them all.
 Judges	Jdg	7	10	1	The next champion of Israel after Abimelech was the son of his uncle Phua, a man of Issachar named Thola. He lived at Samir in the hill-country of Ephraim,
 Judges	Jdg	7	10	2	and at Samir he died and was buried, after ruling Israel for twenty-three years.
 Judges	Jdg	7	10	3	He was followed by Jair, a man of Galaad, who ruled Israel for twenty-two years.
 Judges	Jdg	7	10	4	He had thirty sons, each of whom rode in state on an ass’s colt of his own, and ruled a township of his own; these townships in Galaad are still called Havoth Jair, Jair’s Villages.
 Judges	Jdg	7	10	5	And when Jair died, he was buried at a place called Camon.
 Judges	Jdg	7	10	6	And now the Israelites matched their old sins with new, defying the Lord and worshipping idols of Baal and Astaroth, gods of Syria, Sidon, Moab, Ammon and Philistia, forsaking the Lord and no longer paying him reverence.
 Judges	Jdg	7	10	7	And the Lord, in his anger, left them at the mercy of Philistine and Ammonite,
 Judges	Jdg	7	10	8	who for eighteen years wore them down and grievously harassed them. Nor was it only the old land of the Amorrhites beyond Jordan, in Galaad, that suffered;
 Judges	Jdg	7	10	9	these Ammonites crossed the Jordan and laid waste Juda, Benjamin and Ephraim, so that Israel was in sore distress.
 Judges	Jdg	7	10	10	Thereupon they cried out to the Lord, and confessed that they had sinned against him, in worshipping the gods of the country-side; but the Lord would not listen to them.
 Judges	Jdg	7	10	11	So it was, he said, when Egyptian and Amorrhite, Ammonite and Philistine,
 Judges	Jdg	7	10	12	Sidonian, Amalecite and Chanaanite harassed you. You cried out to me, and I delivered you from the power of all these,
 Judges	Jdg	7	10	13	and still you forsook me, still you paid reverence to alien gods; I will no longer be your deliverer.
 Judges	Jdg	7	10	14	Go and ask help from the gods of your own choosing; it is they who ought to befriend you in your hour of need.
 Judges	Jdg	7	10	15	We have sinned, the men of Israel answered, punish us as thou wilt, only bring us deliverance now;
 Judges	Jdg	7	10	16	and with that they banished the idols of every alien god from their dominions, and went back to the service of the Lord; till at last he took pity on their distress.
 Judges	Jdg	7	10	17	The Ammonites had raised their war-cry, and were encamped now in Galaad, with the forces Israel had mustered encamped opposite them at Maspha.
 Judges	Jdg	7	10	18	And the word went round among the chiefs of Galaad, Let but a champion come forward to lead us against the Ammonites, and all Galaad will make him its ruler.
 Judges	Jdg	7	11	1	There was a Galaadite at this time called Jephte, who was brave and a skilful warrior; his mother was a harlot, his father bore the name of Galaad.
 Judges	Jdg	7	11	2	Galaad had other sons by his lawful wife; and these, when they came of age, thrust Jephte out of doors, telling him he was born out of wedlock, and could not inherit.
 Judges	Jdg	7	11	3	So he sought refuge from their ill-will in the country of Tob, where he gathered about him a company of penniless robbers, that followed him as their chieftain.
 Judges	Jdg	7	11	4	These were the days when Israel was being attacked by the Ammonites;
 Judges	Jdg	7	11	5	and when they found themselves hard pressed, some of the elders of Galaad went to the country of Tob to bring Jephte to their aid;
 Judges	Jdg	7	11	6	Come and be our leader, they said, fighting as our champion against the sons of Ammon.
 Judges	Jdg	7	11	7	Why, said he, are you not the very men that have used me ill, and thrust me out of my father’s house? You must be hard driven by your need, that you should come to me now.
 Judges	Jdg	7	11	8	So the elders of Galaad told him what was the meaning of their errand; if he would go with them and fight against the Ammonites, he should become ruler of all that dwelt in Galaad.
 Judges	Jdg	7	11	9	And you have come here, answered Jephte, meaning in all honesty to make me your ruler, if I fight against Ammon for you and the Lord grants me victory?
 Judges	Jdg	7	11	10	The Lord, said they, is listening to us as we speak, let him be the arbiter between us; let him be the witness of our pledged word.
 Judges	Jdg	7	11	11	So Jephte accompanied the elders, and the whole people acclaimed him as their leader; there at Maspha in the Lord’s presence, he came to terms with them.
 Judges	Jdg	7	11	12	And next, he sent messengers to ask the king of Ammon, in his name, What interfering ways are these, that thou comest here to plunder my land?
 Judges	Jdg	7	11	13	His answer was, Why, when the Israelites removed from Egypt, they robbed me of the land that was once mine, the land that is bounded by Arnon, Jaboc and Jordan; give it back to me now, and all shall be well between us.
 Judges	Jdg	7	11	14	By the same messengers, Jephte sent back word to the king of Ammon:
 Judges	Jdg	7	11	15	Jephte thus answers thee. Neither Moab nor Ammon did Israel rob of any lands that belonged to them.
 Judges	Jdg	7	11	16	When they left Egypt, and had crossed the desert that reaches down to the Red Sea, the Israelites found themselves in Cades.
 Judges	Jdg	7	11	17	Here they sent out envoys to ask the king of Edom for passage through his land, but he would not listen to them; and also to the king of Moab, but he too refused. So they halted on their journey at Cades,
 Judges	Jdg	7	11	18	and then passed round Edom and Moab, keeping to the east of them and encamping on the further side of Arnon, which was its frontier, so as not to trespass on Moabite territory.
 Judges	Jdg	7	11	19	And now they must needs send envoys to Sehon, the Amorrhite king that ruled in Hesebon, and ask leave to pass through his land on their way to the Jordan.
 Judges	Jdg	7	11	20	He too refused their request, and would not let them cross his frontier; he mustered a great army and met them at Jasa to bar their passage.
 Judges	Jdg	7	11	21	Over this king, over this army, the Lord granted Israel victory; and it was through that victory that they occupied the lands which the Amorrhites had occupied before them,
 Judges	Jdg	7	11	22	the whole territory that is bounded by Arnon and Jaboc, by the desert and Jordan.
 Judges	Jdg	7	11	23	It was the Amorrhites the God of Israel overthrew, in battle against his chosen people; it is Amorrhite land thou art now claiming for thy own.
 Judges	Jdg	7	11	24	For thee, all the lands thy god Chamos has won for himself; the conquests of the Lord who is our God become ours by right.
 Judges	Jdg	7	11	25	What, dost thou rate thyself higher than Balac son of Sephor, the king of Moab? Prove, if thou canst, that Balac came to an issue with our people, or fought against them,
 Judges	Jdg	7	11	26	although for three hundred years they occupied Hesebon and Aroer with all their townships, and all the cities this side of Jordan. And all these long years you have not lifted a hand to claim them.
 Judges	Jdg	7	11	27	No, I am not doing thee a wrong, it is I that have a complaint against thee, for levying war against me unjustly. May the Lord defend the right this day between Israel’s claim and Ammon’s.
 Judges	Jdg	7	11	28	But to the king of Ammon the word of Jephte’s messengers brought no content.
 Judges	Jdg	7	11	29	And now the spirit of the Lord was with Jephte wherever he went, as he journeyed through Galaad and Manasses, and came to Maspha of Galaad, and marched thence against the Ammonites.
 Judges	Jdg	7	11	30	And this was a vow of his, that he made to the Lord, If thou wilt grant me victory over Ammon,
 Judges	Jdg	7	11	31	what living creature first leaves my doors, to greet my safe returning, shall be offered up in burnt-sacrifice.
 Judges	Jdg	7	11	32	Thus Jephte offered battle to the sons of Ammon, and the Lord gave him the mastery over them,
 Judges	Jdg	7	11	33	so that he drove them out of twenty cities, from Aroer to Mennith, and as far as Abel, out among the vineyards. A great victory was this, that brought Ammon down to the dust.
 Judges	Jdg	7	11	34	Then Jephte went back to his house at Maspha. He had no children except one daughter, and she it was who came out, with music and dance, to welcome him.
 Judges	Jdg	7	11	35	And at the sight he tore his garments; Alas, daughter, he said, thou hast undone me, and art thyself undone; the vow that hast once left my lips I must needs fulfil.
 Judges	Jdg	7	11	36	Why, father, she answered, if thou hast uttered a vow to the Lord, carry out thy promise; I am well content, now that thou hast won redress, and victory over thy enemies.
 Judges	Jdg	7	11	37	But, father, grant me this one request. Let me go away and spend two months with my fellow-maidens, out among the hills, bewailing my ill fortune, that I must die unwed.
 Judges	Jdg	7	11	38	So he bade her begone for two months; and she went out among the hills with the maids that were her friends and fellows, to weep a maiden’s tears.
 Judges	Jdg	7	11	39	And when the two months were over, she came back to her father; and he fulfilled his promise, and she died unwed. That is why the custom grew up in Israel which has been kept ever afterwards,
 Judges	Jdg	7	11	40	that for four days in every year the maidens of Israel should gather, and make lament for the daughter of Jephte the Galaadite.
 Judges	Jdg	7	12	1	But now Ephraim raised the banners of civil war, crossing the river and march-ing northwards. The complaint they made to Jephte was, Why didst thou not summon us to thy aid when thou didst go to war with the Ammonites? We mean to take vengeance by burning thy house down about thy ears.
 Judges	Jdg	7	12	2	Why, said he, this was a bitter quarrel I and my people had with the sons of Ammon, and I did call upon you for aid, but you would do nothing;
 Judges	Jdg	7	12	3	so I must needs put my life in peril, and march against the Ammonites. And now the Lord has given me victory over them; what is there in all this to make you levy war on me?
 Judges	Jdg	7	12	4	So he mustered all his Galaadites, and fought against the men of Ephraim, and the Galaadites defeated them. They had taunted the men of Galaad with being fugitives from Ephraim, living in territory that belonged to Ephraim and Manasses.
 Judges	Jdg	7	12	5	So now these men of Galaad seized the fords of Jordan, by which the Ephraimites must needs pass on their way home; and when any of Ephraim’s men came up asking for passage, they would ask him, Art thou from Ephraim? Not I, would be his answer.
 Judges	Jdg	7	12	6	Then they would bid him say the word Scibboleth, which means an ear of corn; and he would answer, Sibboleth, pronouncing the word amiss. So then, without more ado, they would take him down to Jordan ford and slay him; there were forty-two thousand men of Ephraim who then perished.
 Judges	Jdg	7	12	7	Jephte died when he had ruled Israel six years, and was buried in his own Galaadite city.
 Judges	Jdg	7	12	8	After him, Israel was ruled by Abesan of Bethlehem;
 Judges	Jdg	7	12	9	thirty daughters left his house to wed, and his thirty sons brought thirty brides into it. For seven years he ruled Israel,
 Judges	Jdg	7	12	10	and died and was buried at Bethlehem.
 Judges	Jdg	7	12	11	He was followed by Ahialon the Zabulonite, who ruled Israel ten years,
 Judges	Jdg	7	12	12	and died and was buried in the country of Zabulon;
 Judges	Jdg	7	12	13	and he was followed by Abdon son of Illel, a Pharathonite.
 Judges	Jdg	7	12	14	Abdon had forty sons and thirty grandsons that rode upon an ass’s colt each of them; and when he had ruled Israel for eight years,
 Judges	Jdg	7	12	15	he too died, and they buried him at Pharathon that belongs to Ephraim, on the hill called Amalec.
 Judges	Jdg	7	13	1	Then, once again, the sons of Israel defied the Lord, and for forty years he left them at the mercy of the Philistines.
 Judges	Jdg	7	13	2	There was a certain tribesman of Dan called Manue, who lived at Saraa, and had a wife that bore him no children.
 Judges	Jdg	7	13	3	To her the Lord’s angel appeared, and said, Poor barren one, poor childless one, thou art to conceive, and bear a son.
 Judges	Jdg	7	13	4	See to it that no wine or strong drink, no unclean food passes thy lips,
 Judges	Jdg	7	13	5	for this son whom thou art to conceive and bear is to be a Nazirite from his birth; even when he is a child, no razor must come near his head. And he shall strike the first blow to deliver Israel from the power of the Philistines.
 Judges	Jdg	7	13	6	So when she met her husband she told him, I have been speaking with a messenger from God, who might have been an angel, such awe his look inspired in me. Who he was, his home, his name, he would not tell,
 Judges	Jdg	7	13	7	but the message he gave me was that I should conceive, and have a son. And I must abstain from wine and all strong drink, and from all unclean food, because this son of mine was to be a Nazirite from his childhood up, bound to the Lord by his vow from the day of his birth to the day of his death.
 Judges	Jdg	7	13	8	Thereupon Manue entreated the Lord to send his messenger again, and tell them how this child, once born, should be nurtured.
 Judges	Jdg	7	13	9	And the Lord granted his prayer; once more the angel of God appeared to his wife, as she sat resting in a field. Her husband was not with her, and she, upon sight of the angel,
 Judges	Jdg	7	13	10	ran off to fetch him; He has come back, she told him, the man I saw a few days since.
 Judges	Jdg	7	13	11	So he rose and followed her, and asked the angel whether it was he that had brought the message to his wife; Yes, he said, it was I.
 Judges	Jdg	7	13	12	Tell me, then, said Manue, when thy promise is fulfilled, what life is the boy to lead, what things are they he must shun?
 Judges	Jdg	7	13	13	But the angel of the Lord answered, Enough that thy wife should observe the warnings I gave her,
 Judges	Jdg	7	13	14	eating nothing that grows in the vineyard, drinking no wine or strong drink, abstaining from all unclean food; these commands of mine she must carry out faithfully.
 Judges	Jdg	7	13	15	And now Manue said to the angel of the Lord, Pray do me one favour; allow us to cook a kid for thy eating.
 Judges	Jdg	7	13	16	Detain me if thou wilt, said the angel, but of thy food I must not eat; offer burnt-sacrifice, if thou wilt, to the Lord. And still Manue did not recognize that it was the Lord’s angel;
 Judges	Jdg	7	13	17	What is thy name? he asked. If thy words come true, we would fain give thee some token of gratitude.
 Judges	Jdg	7	13	18	My name? said he. Do not ask my name; it is a high mystery.
 Judges	Jdg	7	13	19	So Manue brought the kid, and a bread-offering with it, and laid it on the rock, presenting it before the Lord; and mystery indeed there was, before the eyes of Manue and his wife;
 Judges	Jdg	7	13	20	as flames went up to heaven from the altar, the angel of the Lord went up too, there amid the flames.
 Judges	Jdg	7	13	21	At the sight, Manue and his wife fell down face to earth. Now that he had disappeared from their view, Manue knew him for what he was,
 Judges	Jdg	7	13	22	and said to his wife, This is certain death; we have seen the Lord.
 Judges	Jdg	7	13	23	Nay, answered his wife, if the Lord meant us harm, he would not have accepted our sacrifice and our bread-offering; he would not have shewn us this marvellous sight, nor told us what is to befall.
 Judges	Jdg	7	13	24	And so she bore a son, and called him Samson. As the lad grew, the Lord’s blessing was on him.
 Judges	Jdg	7	13	25	It was at the Encampment of Dan, between Saraa and Esthaol, that the spirit of the Lord first visited him.
 Judges	Jdg	7	14	1	Samson paid a visit to Thamnatha, and there was a woman there, a Philistine, that took his eye;
 Judges	Jdg	7	14	2	and when he went home he told his father and mother, I have seen a Philistine woman in Thamnatha I would fain have you choose out for my bride.
 Judges	Jdg	7	14	3	What, said his parents, canst thou find no bride amongst the women of thy own tribe, nay, of all Israel, that thou must wed the daughter of some uncircumcised Philistine? She must be thy choice for me, Samson told his father; I like her well.
 Judges	Jdg	7	14	4	How could they know that this was the Lord’s will; that this was to be the occasion of a quarrel between Samson and the Philistines, who then held Israel under their dominion?
 Judges	Jdg	7	14	5	So, with his father and mother, Samson went to Thamnatha again. And now they had reached the vineyards belonging to the town, when, of a sudden, he met a young lion, that roared upon him savagely.
 Judges	Jdg	7	14	6	Thereupon the spirit of the Lord came down upon Samson, and although he had no weapon, he tore it to pieces as easily as if it had been a kid. He told his father and mother nothing of it,
 Judges	Jdg	7	14	7	but hastened on to have speech with the woman he loved.
 Judges	Jdg	7	14	8	Some days afterwards, he came there again to make her his wife. He turned aside on his way to find the lion’s carcase; and what should he find in its mouth but a swarm of bees, and a comb of honey?
 Judges	Jdg	7	14	9	So he carried off the comb, and fell to eating it as he went along; gave some, too, to his father and mother to eat, but still did not tell them that the honey came from a lion’s body.
 Judges	Jdg	7	14	10	And now that Samson’s father had reached the home of his daughter-in-law, he gave a feast in Samson’s honour; for still the young men would be at their feasting;
 Judges	Jdg	7	14	11	and thirty of these had been appointed by their fellow-citizens, when he came, to be his companions for the wedding.
 Judges	Jdg	7	14	12	To these, Samson proposed that he should ask them a riddle; if they could answer it within seven days, while the feasting lasted, he would give each of them a linen shirt and a new garment;
 Judges	Jdg	7	14	13	if they could not, each of them should do the same by him. Tell us the riddle, they said; let us hear it.
 Judges	Jdg	7	14	14	And he said, Out of the eater came food, and out of strength, sweetness. The third day came, and still they had not found the answer.
 Judges	Jdg	7	14	15	And at last, on the eve of the seventh day, they went to Samson’s wife; Use all thy arts, they said, with thy husband, and make him tell thee what the riddle means; or we will burn thy father’s house down, and thyself with it; didst thou bid us to the wedding only to strip us bare?
 Judges	Jdg	7	14	16	Already, when she was alone with Samson, she was ever weeping and bemoaning herself, Thou art weary of me, thou dost not love me any longer; thou hast asked these neighbours of mine a riddle, and thou wilt not tell me the answer. Nay, said he, why should I tell thee? Have I not kept it secret from my own father and mother?
 Judges	Jdg	7	14	17	Such were the plaints she had made all through the week of the banquet; and now, this seventh day, she plied him hard, and at last he told her. At once she betrayed it to her fellow-townsfolk,
 Judges	Jdg	7	14	18	and they, before the sun of the seventh day had set, asked Samson, What is sweeter than honey, what is stronger than a lion? You have been yoking my heifer, said he, to your plough, or my riddle would be unanswered still.
 Judges	Jdg	7	14	19	Then the spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he went down to Ascalon and there slew thirty men, whose clothes he stripped off and gave to the answerers of his riddle. So, in high displeasure, he went back to his father’s house,
 Judges	Jdg	7	14	20	and his wife mated with one of these friends of his, that had been his guests at the wedding.
 Judges	Jdg	7	15	1	Some time had passed, and they were cutting the wheat already, when Samson went to visit his wife, bringing a kid from his herd as a present to her. But now her father would not let him pass into her inner room, as his wont had been;
 Judges	Jdg	7	15	2	Why, he said, I thought past all doubt thou hadst grown weary of her, so I gave her in marriage to one of thy friends. But there is a younger sister of hers, and a fairer still; she shall be thy wife instead.
 Judges	Jdg	7	15	3	From this day onward, Samson answered, the Philistines are to blame, not I, if I do them despite.
 Judges	Jdg	7	15	4	Away he went, and caught three hundred foxes; roped them, tail to tail, with fire-brands between,
 Judges	Jdg	7	15	5	and so turned them loose, with the fire-brands alight. Soon they were among the crops of the Philistines, which caught fire, stooks and standing corn alike, and set fire in their turn to olive-yard and vineyard.
 Judges	Jdg	7	15	6	When the Philistines enquired about the author of this, they were told how Samson’s wife had been taken from him and given to one of his friends, and this was his revenge on his father-in-law. Whereupon they made their way to Thamnatha, and burned both the woman and her father alive.
 Judges	Jdg	7	15	7	Well, said Samson, you have had your way, but I will make you suffer for it before I have done with you;
 Judges	Jdg	7	15	8	and with that he made such a massacre that all sat huddled in fear of him. Then he left them, and went to live in a cave on the Rock of Etam.
 Judges	Jdg	7	15	9	And now the Philistines invaded Juda, encamping, with little order, about the place afterwards called Lechi, the Jaw-bone;
 Judges	Jdg	7	15	10	and when the men of Juda asked on what errand they came, they said they had come to make Samson prisoner, and take vengeance on him for all the ill he had done them.
 Judges	Jdg	7	15	11	So three thousand men of Juda went to the cave on the Rock of Etam; What are these wild doings of thine? they asked Samson. Dost thou not know that the Philistines have the upper hand of us? Nay, said he, I did but serve them as they served me first.
 Judges	Jdg	7	15	12	Our purpose, they said, is to hand thee over bound to the Philistines. Swear to me then, answered Samson, that you will not kill me yourselves.
 Judges	Jdg	7	15	13	Kill thee? said they. No, we will not kill thee; we will hand thee over as a prisoner. So bound he was, with two new ropes, and carried away from the Rock of Etam.
 Judges	Jdg	7	15	14	Loud was the Philistines’ cry of triumph that went up to meet him at Lechi; but suddenly the spirit of the Lord came upon him, and his bonds parted and snapped like scorched tow.
 Judges	Jdg	7	15	15	No weapon had he, but he found a bone lying there, an ass’s jaw-bone; took that instead, and killed a thousand men with it.
 Judges	Jdg	7	15	16	With the bone of an ass, he cried, I have made bones of them; with the bone of an ass a thousand men lie slain.
 Judges	Jdg	7	15	17	This song sung, he threw the jaw-bone away; and the name he gave to the place was Ramath-Lechi, the Brandishing of the Jaw-bone.
 Judges	Jdg	7	15	18	But now he was thirsty, and made his complaint to the Lord, Here is a servant of thine, whom thou hast used to win a great victory, a great deliverance, and dying of thirst! Wilt thou leave me, after all, at the mercy of men uncircumcised?
 Judges	Jdg	7	15	19	And at that, the Lord made the hollow cleft which is called the Tooth of the Jaw-bone, and water came out of it; so he drank, and his spirits revived, and his strength returned to him. The place has been called the Praying Well of Lechi ever since.
 Judges	Jdg	7	15	20	For twenty years after that, while the Philistine troubles lasted, Samson was ruler of Israel.
 Judges	Jdg	7	16	1	At another time he went to Gaza, and would pass the night with a harlot he had seen there.
 Judges	Jdg	7	16	2	The news came to the ears of the Philistines that Samson was in the town, and they cut him off from escape by posting guards at the city gate; no need to do anything while night lasted, they could kill him next morning on his way out.
 Judges	Jdg	7	16	3	Samson slept on till midnight; then he rose up to go. Finding the gates locked, he took them up, bar, gate-posts and all, put them on his shoulder, and carried them to the top of the hill which looks down towards Hebron.
 Judges	Jdg	7	16	4	His next love was a woman called Dalila, who lived in the valley of Sorec.
 Judges	Jdg	7	16	5	To her the chiefs of the Philistines had recourse; Use all thy arts, they said, and find out from him what it is that makes him so strong; how we can get the better of him, make him a prisoner and have him at our mercy. Do this for us, and each of us will give thee eleven hundred pieces of silver.
 Judges	Jdg	7	16	6	So Dalila asked Samson, Tell me, what makes thee so strong? What bonds should a man use to bind thee, if he would have thee at his mercy?
 Judges	Jdg	7	16	7	Bind me with seven strands of gut, still fresh and undried, Samson told her, and I shall be no stronger than other men.
 Judges	Jdg	7	16	8	Such a cord the Philistine chiefs brought her, and she bound Samson with it;
 Judges	Jdg	7	16	9	meanwhile they lay concealed in her house, waiting in an inner room to see what came of it. Samson, she cried, the Philistines! Whereupon he broke through his bonds, as if they had been made of the refuse of tow, and scorched besides. And about that strength of his, none was the wiser.
 Judges	Jdg	7	16	10	It was but a jest, then, said Dalila; thou wert tricking me? Tell me the truth this time; what bonds can bind thee?
 Judges	Jdg	7	16	11	New ropes, he answered, that have never yet been used; bind me with those, and never a man so weak as I.
 Judges	Jdg	7	16	12	So once more Dalila bound him, once more she cried, Samson, the Philistines! And the men hidden in the inner room saw him break his bonds like a thread.
 Judges	Jdg	7	16	13	What, cried Dalila, still mocking me, still at thy lying? Tell me what the right bonds are. Why, answered Samson, if thou shouldst weave seven of the hairs on my head into that web of thine, and tie them to the peg of the loom, and make it fast in the ground, then I should be weak enough.
 Judges	Jdg	7	16	14	This, too, Dalila did; but when she awoke him by crying Samson, the Philistines! he rose to his feet carrying away peg and web and all.
 Judges	Jdg	7	16	15	Come, said Dalila, thou dost pretend to love me; wilt thou not let me share thy thoughts? Three times thou hast put me off with lies, instead of telling me the secret of thy great strength.
 Judges	Jdg	7	16	16	Thus did she torment him, plying him with questions day after day, and giving him no peace, till at last she crushed his spirit altogether, and made life a burden to him;
 Judges	Jdg	7	16	17	and at last he told her the truth. I am a Nazirite, he said; that is to say, I am consecrated to God from birth, and this hair of mine has never felt the touch of steel. If my hair were cut, my strength would leave me; I should lose it all, and become like other men.
 Judges	Jdg	7	16	18	She could tell, now, that he was keeping nothing back from her, and she sent a message to the Philistine chiefs, Come to my house this once more; he has told me everything. So they came, and brought with them the money they had promised her.
 Judges	Jdg	7	16	19	And now she made him lie down to sleep at her knees, with his head in her lap, and called her manservant in. And she cut off the seven locks of Samson’s hair, resolved now to cast him off and spurn his love. All at once his strength left him;
 Judges	Jdg	7	16	20	and when she awoke him with her cry, Samson, the Philistines! it was in vain that he sought to escape by shaking off his bonds as of old.
 Judges	Jdg	7	16	21	The Lord was at his side no longer, and the Philistines held him fast. First they blinded him, and then carried him off bound to Gaza, where they made him work as a prisoner at the mill.
 Judges	Jdg	7	16	22	But now the hair began to grow again on the shorn head.
 Judges	Jdg	7	16	23	After a while, the chiefs of the Philistines met to offer their god Dagon high sacrifice, and to hold a banquet. What an enemy, they said, was this Samson! And our god has given us the mastery of him.
 Judges	Jdg	7	16	24	Thereupon the common folk took up the same cry of praise; Our god has given us the mastery, they said, over this enemy of ours, that so ruined our lands, that slew so many.
 Judges	Jdg	7	16	25	And in their mirth, as they drank together after the banquet was eaten, they had Samson brought in to provide sport for them. Provide sport for them he did, set free for a while from his prison, standing between two pillars, where they had made place for him.
 Judges	Jdg	7	16	26	Then he said to the boy who was leading him about, Now guide my hands to the two pillars that support the building; I would lean my weight on them and rest a little.
 Judges	Jdg	7	16	27	The building was thronged with men and women both; all the chiefs of the Philistines were there, and from the roof, with its balcony, some three thousand men and women looked on while Samson provided them with sport.
 Judges	Jdg	7	16	28	And now he called the Lord to his aid; Lord God, he said, bethink thyself of me, and give me back, for this once, the strength I had of old. One stroke of vengeance, my God, on the enemies who have robbed me of both my eyes!
 Judges	Jdg	7	16	29	And with that, he caught the two pillars the building rested on, one in his right hand and one in his left,
 Judges	Jdg	7	16	30	crying out, Now, Samson, die with the Philistines! And he shook the pillars with such force that the whole building fell and crushed the chiefs of the Philistines, crushed all the throng that was there about him. Great toll Samson took of them in his life-time, but greater as he died.
 Judges	Jdg	7	16	31	And all his brethren and kindred went down to carry off his body, which they buried in the tomb of his father Manue, between Saraa and Esthaol. His rule over Israel had lasted twenty years.
 Judges	Jdg	7	17	1	Now turn we to a man called Michas, who lived at this same time in the hill-country of Ephraim.
 Judges	Jdg	7	17	2	His mother had lost eleven hundred silver pieces, which she had set aside; and when, in his presence, she pronounced a curse on the thief, he told her, I have the money, I took it for myself. No curse, then, said she, but a blessing from the Lord on this son of mine.
 Judges	Jdg	7	17	3	And she told him, as he gave it back to her, I solemnly dedicate this sum of money to the Lord, promising him that my son shall have it from me, to make himself a graven image, with a sheath of cast metal. So now after all it is thine.
 Judges	Jdg	7	17	4	Then she took out two hundred of the pieces so restored, and gave them to a silversmith, to be melted down into the sheath of a carved image; and there the image stood, in the house of Michas.
 Judges	Jdg	7	17	5	He set apart a shrine for the worship of God, furnished it with vestments and household deities and installed one of his sons as the priest of it.
 Judges	Jdg	7	17	6	(This was in the old days of Israel before the monarchy, when men lived by the best light they had.)
 Judges	Jdg	7	17	7	But the lad was to have a rival, a young man from Bethlehem-Juda, ranking as one of Juda’s clan, but himself a Levite, come from other parts.
 Judges	Jdg	7	17	8	And now he would leave Bethlehem and go on his travels to find a home that suited him. His journey took him to the hill-country of Ephraim, and there, for a while, he lodged at Michas’ house.
 Judges	Jdg	7	17	9	When he was asked whence he came, and told them he was a Levite from Bethlehem-Juda, looking for a home that suited him,
 Judges	Jdg	7	17	10	Why, said Michas, live here with me, and I will honour thee like a father and a priest. Ten silver pieces thou shalt have each year, and a fresh suit of clothes, and thy livelihood.
 Judges	Jdg	7	17	11	To this he agreed, and dwelt there with him, as well cared for as if he had been one of his sons;
 Judges	Jdg	7	17	12	and Michas, when he installed the young man as priest in his household,
 Judges	Jdg	7	17	13	flattered himself that God’s blessing would be with him, now that he had a priest by him of the Levite family.
 Judges	Jdg	7	18	1	These were days when no king yet ruled in Israel. And the men of Dan were still trying to find a home to live in; the portion allotted to them among the other tribes had not yet fallen into their hands.
 Judges	Jdg	7	18	2	So, from their quarters at Saraa and Esthaol, they sent out five champions of theirs to make a careful survey of the land. Setting out with these orders, they reached the hill-country of Ephraim, and there found a lodging at Michas’ house.
 Judges	Jdg	7	18	3	Here, among strangers, they recognized the tones of the young Levite’s voice; Why, they said, who persuaded thee to come into these parts? What errand brought thee here?
 Judges	Jdg	7	18	4	So he told them what Michas had promised to do for him, and what payment was made him for living there as priest of the shrine.
 Judges	Jdg	7	18	5	They asked him, too, to consult the Lord, and tell them whether their journey should prosper, and its end be achieved;
 Judges	Jdg	7	18	6	Go on undismayed, said he, the Lord looks favourably on your journey, and its errand.
 Judges	Jdg	7	18	7	So these men went on their way, and when they reached Lais, they found a city where men dwelt free from all alarms. This was the way of the Sidonian folk, to live tranquilly and at ease; no civil power restrained them, and they had great wealth. Lais, too, was at a distance from Sidon, and remote from all the world.
 Judges	Jdg	7	18	8	So, when they came home, and their fellow-tribesmen at Saraa and Esthaol asked them how they had sped, they answered,
 Judges	Jdg	7	18	9	Up, friends, to the attack! We have found lands both rich and fertile; we must not miss our opportunity by dallying here. March in and take possession; the task is light.
 Judges	Jdg	7	18	10	We can fall on them unawares, and the Lord will make us masters of their territory, broad lands, with no lack of anything earth yields.
 Judges	Jdg	7	18	11	So six hundred men of Dan, from Saraa and Esthaol, marched out fully armed,
 Judges	Jdg	7	18	12	and made their first halt at Cariathiarim, in Juda, on the spot which has been called the Camp of Dan ever since, just west of Cariathiarim.
 Judges	Jdg	7	18	13	Thence they made their way into the hill-country of Ephraim; and when they reached the house of Michas,
 Judges	Jdg	7	18	14	the five men who had been sent on the mission to Lais said to their fellow-tribesmen, Do you know what we found in that house? A sacred mantle, and household deities, and a carved image with a sheath of metal. Look well to it what course you will take.
 Judges	Jdg	7	18	15	So they turned aside a little to visit the lodging of the young Levite that was priest in Michas’ household, and gave him friendly greeting.
 Judges	Jdg	7	18	16	Six hundred armed men stood at the door,
 Judges	Jdg	7	18	17	while those who had made their way into the young man’s lodging set about carrying off carved image, and mantle, and household deities, and metal sheath all together; and all the while the priest was in the doorway, with six hundred fighting men close by.
 Judges	Jdg	7	18	18	As they brought out these treasures one after another, the priest asked them what they would be at,
 Judges	Jdg	7	18	19	but they bade him keep his lips tight shut, and come with them. We will honour thee, they said, as father and priest. Wouldst thou rather be priest to one man’s household than to a whole tribe, a whole clan of Israel?
 Judges	Jdg	7	18	20	For the Levite, it was pleasant hearing enough; he took up mantle and household deities and image, and went off in their company.
 Judges	Jdg	7	18	21	So on they went, with children and pack animals and stores travelling in front,
 Judges	Jdg	7	18	22	and were a long way from Michas’ house when they heard his men coming up behind them with a great hue and cry,
 Judges	Jdg	7	18	23	calling on them to halt. At that, they looked round and asked Michas what ailed him, what all the shouting meant.
 Judges	Jdg	7	18	24	You have robbed me, he answered, robbed me of the gods I made for myself, of my own priest, of all that I had, and you ask what ails me!
 Judges	Jdg	7	18	25	It were well, the children of Dan said, that we should hear no more of thy complaints. There might be some hot-heads among us would turn back to meet thee, and thou and thine would rue it!
 Judges	Jdg	7	18	26	With that, they went on their way, and Michas, who saw they were too strong for him, must betake himself home.
 Judges	Jdg	7	18	27	Taking the priest, then, with them, and the rest of their plunder aforesaid, the six hundred men reached Lais. There they found all the citizens living at ease, free from alarms, and they put them to the sword, burning down their city.
 Judges	Jdg	7	18	28	There was none to bring aid; they were far from Sidon, and with all the rest of the world fellowship and commerce they had none. It was in Rohob their city lay, and the men of Dan rebuilt it to make their home in it,
 Judges	Jdg	7	18	29	calling it Dan, after their ancestor that was Israel’s son, and Lais no longer.
 Judges	Jdg	7	18	30	And there they set up the image; the tribe of Dan had its own priests down to the day when it went into exile, descended from Moses’ son Gersam, and his son Jonathan.
 Judges	Jdg	7	18	31	All the time God’s house was at Silo, there in Dan stood Michas’ image. So it was in the old days, before a king ruled in Israel.
 Judges	Jdg	7	19	1	There was another Levite, living in the hill-country of Ephraim, that took a woman from Bethlehem-Juda for his mate;
 Judges	Jdg	7	19	2	but she played him false, and went back to her father’s house at Bethlehem, and stayed there four months.
 Judges	Jdg	7	19	3	Then her lord went after her, with one of his servants and two asses, to end the quarrel with soft words and win her back again; and as for her, she made him welcome in her father’s house. Her father, too, was glad at the news, and rejoiced to see him;
 Judges	Jdg	7	19	4	he was entertained as a friend, and lodged for three days with his father-in-law, eating and drinking at ease in his company.
 Judges	Jdg	7	19	5	On the fourth day, he would have set out early; but his father-in-law would still detain him; A mouthful of bread, to stay thy appetite, and then take the road.
 Judges	Jdg	7	19	6	As they sat down together to eat and drink, the father would have him wait till the morrow, and spend the day in good cheer;
 Judges	Jdg	7	19	7	in vain he rose up to go, his father-in-law would take no denial; he must spend the night there.
 Judges	Jdg	7	19	8	Even when the fifth day dawned, and the Levite was for setting out, the other would have him take a little food while the day was young, to refresh him for his journey. So they sat at table together;
 Judges	Jdg	7	19	9	and now the young man must take the girl with him, and summon his servant, and begone. Why, said his father-in-law, there is little day-light left now; evening draws on. Better wait one more day, and spend it in good cheer, and take thy way home to-morrow.
 Judges	Jdg	7	19	10	But this time his son-in-law would not listen to him; there and then he set out on his journey. So the asses were saddled, and man and woman made their way to Jebus (which is the same as Jerusalem);
 Judges	Jdg	7	19	11	but even as they approached Jebus, night-fall was not far off. Master, the servant said, let us turn aside and find a lodging in this city of the Jebusites.
 Judges	Jdg	7	19	12	What, said his master, betake ourselves to an alien town, that is no part of Israel? No, I am for pressing on to Gabaa,
 Judges	Jdg	7	19	13	to find a night’s lodging there, or perhaps to Rama.
 Judges	Jdg	7	19	14	So they passed by Jebus and held on their way; but the sun had set before they reached Gabaa, which is a town belonging to Benjamin.
 Judges	Jdg	7	19	15	To it they turned aside, hoping to lodge there, but, once within, they could only sit down to rest in the main street of the town; no one would give them shelter.
 Judges	Jdg	7	19	16	At last an old man came by, returning late from working on his farm; he lived in Gabaa, but he, too, came from the hills of Ephraim; he was not a Benjamite like his neighbours.
 Judges	Jdg	7	19	17	And when he looked round and saw a traveller sitting there in the open street, he asked, Whence comest thou? And whither bound?
 Judges	Jdg	7	19	18	So the other told him how they were returning to their home on the slopes of the Ephraim, after a visit to Bethlehem-Juda; the House of the Lord was their next halting-place. But no one will give us shelter here, said he,
 Judges	Jdg	7	19	19	although we have straw with us and fodder for our beasts, food enough for myself and the woman thou seest, and the servant who is with me; it is only of lodging that we stand in need.
 Judges	Jdg	7	19	20	Have no fear, the old man said, I will provide all thy wants; thou canst not pass the night here in the open street.
 Judges	Jdg	7	19	21	So he took them home, and fed their beasts for them; and now the travellers must wash their feet, and sit at table with him.
 Judges	Jdg	7	19	22	There, then, they sat, refreshing themselves after their journey, when suddenly wanton townsfolk beset the old man’s house and fell to beating on the door, crying aloud to the owner of the house that he must bring out his guest, to satisfy their evil pleasure.
 Judges	Jdg	7	19	23	So the old man went out and reasoned with them: Nay, brethren, why would you do such wrong to one who is my guest? Put away these reckless thoughts of yours.
 Judges	Jdg	7	19	24	I have a daughter that is a maid, and this man too has a woman with him; let me bring these out, for your lust to feed on their shame, and let us hear no more of this unnatural purpose.
 Judges	Jdg	7	19	25	But still they would not be satisfied; so at last the Levite brought out his own concubine, and gave her up to their pleasure. All night long they treated her with outrage, and in the morning let her go.
 Judges	Jdg	7	19	26	And now, as the shadows lifted, she came back to the door of the house where her lord was lodging, and there fell down;
 Judges	Jdg	7	19	27	so that when he opened the door next day, ready to go forward on his journey, he found his concubine there in the gate-way, with her hands spread out wide on the threshold.
 Judges	Jdg	7	19	28	He thought she slept; Rise up, he said, we must be on our way; then, when no answer came, he knew that she was dead. He put her body on one of the asses, and made his way home.
 Judges	Jdg	7	19	29	His home once reached, he took a sword, and cut up her body, bones and all, into twelve pieces, which he sent round, this way and that, all through the land of Israel.
 Judges	Jdg	7	19	30	None that saw it but cried aloud, Such a deed was never done in Israel, from the day when our fathers left Egypt to this! Let every man speak his mind; resolve we in common what we mean to do.
 Judges	Jdg	7	20	1	So the whole of Israel, all that dwelt between Dan and Bersabee, and the men of Galaad too, assembled with a common purpose before the Lord at Maspha;
 Judges	Jdg	7	20	2	no chief, no clan but took part in this general muster of the Lord’s people. Four hundred thousand foot,
 Judges	Jdg	7	20	3	the sons of Benjamin heard, had been sent to Maspha by their fellow-Israelites. And now the Levite, the dead woman’s husband, was asked how such a wrong came to be done,
 Judges	Jdg	7	20	4	and told them how he had gone with his wife to lodge at Gabaa, in Benjamin;
 Judges	Jdg	7	20	5	how the townsfolk beset the house where he was spending the night, ready to make an attempt on his life, and how their mad lust had indeed brought about his wife’s death.
 Judges	Jdg	7	20	6	So I carried off the body, he told them, and cut it in pieces, which I sent round to every quarter of your dominions, to bear witness of such a wrongful and shameful deed as was never yet done in Israel.
 Judges	Jdg	7	20	7	Men of Israel, you are met in council; see to it where your duty lies.
 Judges	Jdg	7	20	8	And all that stood by answered with one voice, Never will we return to our dwelling-places, our homes shall see us no more,
 Judges	Jdg	7	20	9	until we have inflicted a common punishment on Gabaa.
 Judges	Jdg	7	20	10	We must set apart ten Israelites in every hundred, a hundred in every thousand, a thousand in every ten thousand, to supply the army with food; then we will go to the attack against Gabaa in Benjamin, and exact retribution for the wrong done.
 Judges	Jdg	7	20	11	So, with one mind and one intent, all Israel made common cause against this city.
 Judges	Jdg	7	20	12	An embassy was sent to the Benjamites to reproach them with harbouring the guilt of a foul crime,
 Judges	Jdg	7	20	13	bidding them hand over the wanton folk at Gabaa that had been the authors of it, so that their death might rid Israel of a disgrace. But the sons of Benjamin would take no orders from their fellow-Israelites;
 Judges	Jdg	7	20	14	all the cities which belonged to their domain sent men to Gabaa’s rescue, defying the whole commonwealth of Israel.
 Judges	Jdg	7	20	15	Benjamin then counted twenty-five thousand warriors, apart from the citizens of Gabaa;
 Judges	Jdg	7	20	16	and these could provide seven hundred champions of their own, men who could fight as well with the left hand as with the right, and could sling a stone without missing their aim by a hair’s breadth.
 Judges	Jdg	7	20	17	But Israel, without Benjamin, had four hundred thousand warriors under arms,
 Judges	Jdg	7	20	18	and these now mustered at Silo, where they asked divine counsel to know who should lead them into battle against Benjamin; Juda, the Lord told them, is to be your leader.
 Judges	Jdg	7	20	19	So next day without more ado, they encamped close to Gabaa,
 Judges	Jdg	7	20	20	and offered Benjamin battle, making an assault on the city.
 Judges	Jdg	7	20	21	Hereupon the men of Benjamin made a sally, and slew, that day, twenty-two thousand Israelites.
 Judges	Jdg	7	20	22	Even then, the Israelites did not alter their plan of attack, such confidence had they in their numbers and their valour.
 Judges	Jdg	7	20	23	But first they went up to the Lord’s sanctuary and offered, all the long day, their tearful supplications; were they to fight on against their brethren of Benjamin? Go out to meet them, the Lord said, and offer battle.
 Judges	Jdg	7	20	24	This second day, when Israel marched against them,
 Judges	Jdg	7	20	25	the Benjamites made a fresh sally from the gates of Gabaa, with such a murderous onslaught that eighteen thousand warriors were left dead on the field.
 Judges	Jdg	7	20	26	And now all Israel went into God’s house and sat there in tears; they kept a fast till night-fall, and brought him burnt-sacrifice and welcome-offerings,
 Judges	Jdg	7	20	27	consulting him about the plight they were in. At this time, the ark of God rested there,
 Judges	Jdg	7	20	28	and there, too, was Phinees, son to Eleazar that was son of Aaron, in charge of God’s house. And now when they asked the Lord whether they should take the field once more against their brethren of Benjamin, the answer was, Go to the attack; I mean to give you the mastery of them to-morrow.
 Judges	Jdg	7	20	29	This time, the Israelites hid men in ambush round the city of Gabaa,
 Judges	Jdg	7	20	30	and when, once again, they made a frontal attack, such as they had made twice before,
 Judges	Jdg	7	20	31	the men of Benjamin sallied out more boldly than ever, ready to pursue their adversaries to any distance. Just as on the two earlier days, they began cutting the Israelites down as they ran, some on the road to Bethel, some on the road to Gabaa itself, and about thirty of them fell.
 Judges	Jdg	7	20	32	A fresh rout it seemed, but in truth the men of Israel did but feign flight, so as to lure their pursuers down these roads, far away from the city.
 Judges	Jdg	7	20	33	Meanwhile the main body of Israelites had withdrawn from the ground they held, and taken up their stand at a place called Baal-Thamar, but leaving bodies of men in ambush round the city; and these now began to disclose themselves one by one,
 Judges	Jdg	7	20	34	and march on the city from the west. The defenders of the city had been lured out of it by the ten thousand Israelites who came to the attack; so that now things went ill with the army of Benjamin; they were surrounded on all sides unawares.
 Judges	Jdg	7	20	35	So it was that the Lord struck down Benjamin at the onslaught of the Israelites, who slew that day twenty-five thousand one hundred fighting men, all of them trained to war.
 Judges	Jdg	7	20	36	This, then, was the way of it. On ran the men of Benjamin, finding the conflict so uneven, and still the Israelites gave ground to them, so that they should fall into the trap which had been set for them round the city.
 Judges	Jdg	7	20	37	Now, on a sudden, while the men of Benjamin thus exposed their rear to attack, the men in ambush rose from their hiding-places, made their way into the city, and put everyone they found there to the sword.
 Judges	Jdg	7	20	38	A signal had been agreed upon between them and the rest of the Israelites; when they had taken the city, they were to make a great fire, whose smoke rolling upwards would announce the capture.
 Judges	Jdg	7	20	39	And this sight now met the eyes of the Israelites who had been entrusted with the fighting. They were being fiercely pressed by the Benjamites, who thought them routed and had already slain some thirty of them;
 Judges	Jdg	7	20	40	but now they saw a column of smoke rising up from the city. The Benjamites, too, looked back and saw it; saw that their city had been taken, and the flames of it were mounting up to heaven.
 Judges	Jdg	7	20	41	So now the men who had been feigning flight faced about, and offered fiercer resistance; while the Benjamites, when they saw what was befalling them, turned their backs
 Judges	Jdg	7	20	42	and made for the road that leads out into the desert. But, go where they would, the men who were matched against them were at their heels; and by now the men who had been burning down the city came out to meet them as well.
 Judges	Jdg	7	20	43	Thus the enemy attacked them from both sides, cutting them down without respite; all over the country-side east of Gabaa men were falling, and lying where they fell.
 Judges	Jdg	7	20	44	Eighteen thousand men, all their picked warriors, were killed there and then;
 Judges	Jdg	7	20	45	the rest of Benjamin, after witnessing their defeat, escaped into the desert, and made for the rock that is called Remmon. Even in that flight, straggling and scattered, five thousand met their death; and another two thousand were killed by the pursuers as they tried to go further afield.
 Judges	Jdg	7	20	46	Thus twenty-five thousand sons of Benjamin perished, some here, some there, all of them warriors trained to battle.
 Judges	Jdg	7	20	47	The whole number of Benjamites that made good their escape into the desert was no more than six hundred men; and these spent four whole months on the rock of Remmon.
 Judges	Jdg	7	20	48	Meanwhile the Israelites went back and put all that was left in the city, man and beast, to the sword; and busy flames devoured every city and township in the lands of Benjamin.
 Judges	Jdg	7	21	1	This, too, was part of the oath which the Israelites took at Maspha, that none of them would wed his daughter to a man of Benjamin’s race.
 Judges	Jdg	7	21	2	And now they betook themselves to God’s house in Silo, and sat there all day in his presence, weeping and making loud lament;
 Judges	Jdg	7	21	3	Lord God of Israel, they cried, what curse is this that has fallen on thy people, that a whole tribe of us should disappear?
 Judges	Jdg	7	21	4	And when day dawned they built an altar, upon which they presented burnt-sacrifice and welcome-offerings. And now the thought came to them,
 Judges	Jdg	7	21	5	Was there any clan among all the tribes of Israel that did not go out to fight in the Lord’s army? At Maspha, they had bound themselves by a solemn oath that anyone who failed them should be exterminated.
 Judges	Jdg	7	21	6	But when, in remorse over their Benjamite brethren, they fell to lamenting over the loss of a whole tribe to Israel,
 Judges	Jdg	7	21	7	and asking where wives could be found for the race to which they had all sworn they would wed no daughter of theirs,
 Judges	Jdg	7	21	8	the thought came afresh, Were there any of Israel’s tribesmen who did not answer the Lord’s summons to Maspha? Then they remembered that the men of Jabes-Galaad had sent no aid;
 Judges	Jdg	7	21	9	nor were any of them to be found now, among the muster at Silo.
 Judges	Jdg	7	21	10	So ten thousand fighting men were sent out with orders to put the citizens of Jabes-Galaad to the sword. Wives and children were to perish with the rest;
 Judges	Jdg	7	21	11	but while they slew all the men-folk, and all the women who had had commerce with man, they must be careful to spare the unwedded maids.
 Judges	Jdg	7	21	12	Four hundred was the toll of unwedded maids they took at Jabes-Galaad, and when these had been brought across the river to the encampment at Silo,
 Judges	Jdg	7	21	13	they sent to the Benjamites at the rock of Remmon under safe-conduct,
 Judges	Jdg	7	21	14	bidding them come and take their wives there and then, daughters of Jabes-Galaad. But where could any more be found, to suffice them?
 Judges	Jdg	7	21	15	Still the whole of Israel was full of remorse, grieving over a tribe lost to Israel;
 Judges	Jdg	7	21	16	still the elders were at a loss what to do for the rest of the Benjamites; Here are all their women-folk slain, they said,
 Judges	Jdg	7	21	17	and Israel must not lose a tribe, if care or thought of ours can prevent it.
 Judges	Jdg	7	21	18	Yet how should we find brides for them, pledged as we are by oath and ban not to give our daughters to Benjamin?
 Judges	Jdg	7	21	19	At last they bethought themselves of a feast that is held every year in the Lord’s honour near Silo, at a place north of Bethel, south of Lebona, and east of the road from Bethel to Sichem.
 Judges	Jdg	7	21	20	Go and hide in these vineyards, they told the Benjamites,
 Judges	Jdg	7	21	21	and before long you will see the maids of Silo come out to perform their customary dances. Then spring out upon them from the vineyards on a sudden, each of you carrying off a wife for himself, and so return to the lands of Benjamin.
 Judges	Jdg	7	21	22	When their fathers and brethren come to make angry complaints of you, we will say, Forgive them; they did not claim to carry the maids off by right of conquest. You provoked them to this by refusing your consent.
 Judges	Jdg	7	21	23	So the men of Benjamin did as they were bidden, each of them carrying off a wife for himself when the maids came out dancing; and when they were back in their own domain they built new cities to dwell in.
 Judges	Jdg	7	21	24	And each son of Israel went back to the dwelling-place of his own clan, his own family. This was in the days before any king ruled in Israel, when men lived by the best light they had.
 Ruth	Ru	8	1	1	In the old days, when Israel was ruled by judges, there was a man of Bethlehem-Juda that took his wife and his two sons to live in the Moabite country, to escape from a famine.
 Ruth	Ru	8	1	2	There, in Moab, these Ephrathites from Bethlehem-Juda continued to dwell, Elimelech, and his wife Noemi, and his two sons Mahalon and Chelion;
 Ruth	Ru	8	1	3	there Elimelech died, and Noemi was left a widow. But still she would be with her sons,
 Ruth	Ru	8	1	4	who had now married wives of Moabite race, one called Orpha and the other Ruth. So ten years passed,
 Ruth	Ru	8	1	5	and then Mahalon and Chelion both died. And now, both widowed and childless,
 Ruth	Ru	8	1	6	she bade farewell to Moab and set out, with her two daughters-in-law, on the journey home; the Lord had been merciful to his people, she was told, and there was food to be had once more.
 Ruth	Ru	8	1	7	Thus Noemi left her dwelling-place; and when she set foot on the road that led to the domain of Juda, she turned to her companions,
 Ruth	Ru	8	1	8	and bade either go back to her own mother’s house; May the Lord shew kindness to you, she said, as you have shewn kindness to the memory of the dead, and to me;
 Ruth	Ru	8	1	9	may you live at ease with new husbands. And with that she gave them a parting kiss. But no, they wept aloud,
 Ruth	Ru	8	1	10	and declared they would go on in her company, to the home of her own people.
 Ruth	Ru	8	1	11	Come with me, my daughters? she answered. Nay, you must go back. I have no more sons in my womb to wed you;
 Ruth	Ru	8	1	12	go back, daughters, and leave me; I am an old woman, past the age for marrying. Though I should conceive this very night, and bear sons,
 Ruth	Ru	8	1	13	it would be weary waiting for you till they should be grown to manhood; you would be old women too, long before your wedding day. Enough of this, daughters; it is your hard lot that makes it weigh heavy on me, this burden the Lord has given me to bear.
 Ruth	Ru	8	1	14	At this, they wept louder than ever; but Orpha kissed her mother-in-law and went back; Ruth would not leave her side.
 Ruth	Ru	8	1	15	Here is thy sister-in-law gone back, Noemi said, back to her own people and the gods they worship; do thou, too, go with her.
 Ruth	Ru	8	1	16	Nay, said Ruth, do not press me to go back and leave thee. I mean to go where thou goest, and dwell where thou dwellest; thy people shall be my people, thy God my God;
 Ruth	Ru	8	1	17	whatever earth closes over thee when thou diest shall be my place of death and burial. Due meed of punishment the Lord give me, and more than due, if aught but death part thee and me.
 Ruth	Ru	8	1	18	When she found Ruth so resolved to bear her company, Noemi would cross her no longer, nor bid her return home;
 Ruth	Ru	8	1	19	together they went on, and at last reached Bethlehem. They had scarce entered the city gate before the tale went round, and all the gossips were saying, Why, it is Noemi.
 Ruth	Ru	8	1	20	Call me no longer, she said, by that name of delight; call me Mara, the unhappy one. Has not an almighty hand filled my cup with bitterness?
 Ruth	Ru	8	1	21	Rich in blessings I left my home, and the Lord has brought me back destitute. So humbled by the Lord’s hand, visited by the Almighty with such calamity, and will you call me Noemi still?
 Ruth	Ru	8	1	22	Thus it was that Noemi returned from the land of her adoption, with her daughter-in-law Ruth, that was Moabite born. They were just beginning to cut the barley in the fields, when she came back to her home at Bethlehem.
 Ruth	Ru	8	2	1	Elimelech had a kinsman called Booz, a man of great influence and wealth.
 Ruth	Ru	8	2	2	And now Ruth, the Moabitess, asked leave of her mother-in-law to go out and glean after the reapers, by some rich man’s favour. Go then, daughter, said she;
 Ruth	Ru	8	2	3	and it so chanced that the field in which Ruth went to glean after the reapers belonged to no other than Booz, Elimelech’s kinsman.
 Ruth	Ru	8	2	4	After a while, he himself came out from Bethlehem, and when he had greeted the reapers, The Lord be with you, and they had wished him God’s blessing in return,
 Ruth	Ru	8	2	5	he asked the man in charge of them, a servant of his own, whose daughter this maid might be?
 Ruth	Ru	8	2	6	It is Ruth, said he, the Moabitess, that came here from Moab with Noemi;
 Ruth	Ru	8	2	7	she asked leave to glean after the reapers, and here she has been, ever since morning, without once going home to rest.
 Ruth	Ru	8	2	8	Listen, my daughter, Booz said to Ruth; do not look for any other field to glean in; stay here and keep my maidens company,
 Ruth	Ru	8	2	9	following ever where they reap. My servants have orders not to interfere with thee; if thou art thirsty, go to the buckets yonder and share the water they drink.
 Ruth	Ru	8	2	10	At this, Ruth bowed low, face to ground; How have I deserved any favour of thine? she asked. Why wouldst thou take notice of an alien woman such as I am?
 Ruth	Ru	8	2	11	I have had word, he answered, of thy goodness to thy mother-in-law since thy husband’s death; how thou didst leave kindred and country, to dwell among strangers.
 Ruth	Ru	8	2	12	May the Lord reward thee for what thou hast done; may the Lord God of Israel, in whose shelter thou hast learned to trust, make thee full return for it!
 Ruth	Ru	8	2	13	Then she said, This is great kindness in thee, my lord, so to comfort and encourage me, thy poor servant that cannot compare with these handmaids of thine.
 Ruth	Ru	8	2	14	He bade her come back when it was time for a meal, to eat bread there and dip her crust in the vinegar. So there she sat with the reapers, and still at her side the heap of parched corn grew, till she had eaten her fill, and had more to carry away.
 Ruth	Ru	8	2	15	By the time she had risen up to go on with her gleaning, Booz had given orders to his servants that they were to put no hindrance in her way, though she were to go reaping in their company;
 Ruth	Ru	8	2	16	and of set purpose they were to drop some of the handfuls they gathered, and leave them there for her to glean, never shaming her by a rebuke.
 Ruth	Ru	8	2	17	So it was that when she had worked till evening, and took her rod to beat out what she had gathered, she found it was a whole ephi, that is a bushel.
 Ruth	Ru	8	2	18	Such were the earnings she brought back with her to the city, and shewed to her mother-in-law; offering her besides some of the food that was left over when she had finished her meal.
 Ruth	Ru	8	2	19	Why, said Noemi, where hast thou been gleaning to-day? Where didst thou find so much work to do? Blessed be the man that has so befriended thee! And Ruth told her whose field it was she had worked in, It was a man called Booz, she said.
 Ruth	Ru	8	2	20	May the Lord bless him, answered Noemi; here is a man that is generous to his own, living as well as dead. And she told Ruth that Booz was their near kinsman.
 Ruth	Ru	8	2	21	This too, said Ruth, was his bidding, that I should keep close to his men till all the reaping is done.
 Ruth	Ru	8	2	22	That is best, daughter, said her mother-in-law, that thou shouldst go out to glean with those maidens of his; in some other field they might say thee nay.
 Ruth	Ru	8	2	23	And with the maid-servants of Booz she still kept company, till barley and wheat were both carried.
 Ruth	Ru	8	3	1	Now that she had come back home, her mother-in-law said to her, Daughter, I mean to win thee an easy life, and bring thee happiness.
 Ruth	Ru	8	3	2	This Booz, whose maidens were thy companions in harvest-time, Booz, our kinsman, will be at the threshing-floor to-night, winnowing his barley.
 Ruth	Ru	8	3	3	Wash thee, and anoint thee, and put on thy best array, and so go down to the threshing-floor. He will not have finished eating and drinking; do not let him see thee,
 Ruth	Ru	8	3	4	but wait till he goes to bed, and mark where it is that he is sleeping. Then come close, and turn back the end of his mantle where it covers his feet, and lie down there. After that, it is for him to counsel thee.
 Ruth	Ru	8	3	5	So Ruth promised to do all her bidding;
 Ruth	Ru	8	3	6	down to the threshing-floor she went, and carried out all her mother-in-law’s plan.
 Ruth	Ru	8	3	7	She waited till Booz came, his heart cheered with food and drink, to take his rest by a pile of sheaves that lay there; then she crept near, turned back the end of his mantle, and lay down.
 Ruth	Ru	8	3	8	At midnight, Booz was startled from his sleep, and looked about him in bewilderment to find a woman lying there at his feet.
 Ruth	Ru	8	3	9	Who art thou? he asked. It is Ruth, she said, Ruth, thy handmaid, that bids thee cast thy mantle over her, as one that is near of kin.
 Ruth	Ru	8	3	10	The Lord bless thee, daughter, he answered; now, more than ever, thou hast shewn the goodness of thy heart; to have no eyes for younger men, rich or poor!
 Ruth	Ru	8	3	11	Be comforted, thou shalt have all thou wilt of me; all the city knows thee for a bride worth the winning.
 Ruth	Ru	8	3	12	True enough, we are near of kin, but thou hast another kinsman nearer yet.
 Ruth	Ru	8	3	13	Wait till night is past; at day-break, if he will claim thee by right of kinship, well and good; if not, as the Lord is a living God, thou shalt be mine without more ado. Sleep, then, till day comes.
 Ruth	Ru	8	3	14	So there, at his feet, she slept till the night passed; and he rose while it was still too early for men to recognize one another. He warned her not to let anyone know that she had been there;
 Ruth	Ru	8	3	15	then he said, Spread out the fold of that mantle thou wearest, and hold it with either hand. So she held it spread out, and he measured out two bushels of barley for her to carry. When she reached the city with her load,
 Ruth	Ru	8	3	16	she found Noemi eager to know how she had fared; and she told the story of how Booz had treated her.
 Ruth	Ru	8	3	17	Look, she said, he has given me two bushels of barley; he protested that he must not send me home to my mother-in-law empty-handed.
 Ruth	Ru	8	3	18	Wait, then, daughter, said Noemi, till we see what will come of it. Here is a man that will not rest till he has made good his promise.
 Ruth	Ru	8	4	1	So Booz went up to the city gate, and sat waiting there. When the man he was looking for passed by, the kinsman of whom he had spoken, he called him by name, bidding him stay his journey and sit there for a little; and so he did.
 Ruth	Ru	8	4	2	Then Booz chose out ten of the city elders, and would have these, too, sit beside him.
 Ruth	Ru	8	4	3	When they were seated, he told the rival claimant, Here is Noemi, that lately came back out of Moab, offering to sell part of the land which belonged to our kinsman Elimelech.
 Ruth	Ru	8	4	4	Of this, I thought it well to give thee notice, and challenge thee before the neighbours who are sitting by, and these, the elders of my people. Hast thou a mind to play a kinsman’s part, and claim it for thy own? Then thou must buy it, and so enter into possession. If not, tell me, so that I may know what to do; thy right comes first, and mine second; there is no other kinsman. Yes, said he, I will buy it.
 Ruth	Ru	8	4	5	Why then, said Booz, if thou dost buy the land from Noemi, thou must needs take with it a dead man’s widow, Ruth the Moabitess, to perpetuate the name of the kinsman whose lands thou dost enjoy.
 Ruth	Ru	8	4	6	Nay, then, said the other, I forgo my right of kinship; I would not disinherit the heirs of my own body. I yield thee my rights, willing enough to forgo them.
 Ruth	Ru	8	4	7	It was the custom of Israel in old times that if one kinsman yielded his right to another, he must untie his shoe and hand it over to this kinsman of his, or else the gift was not valid; thus did the Israelites put the grant on record.
 Ruth	Ru	8	4	8	So now Booz said to the rival claimant, Untie thy shoe; and as soon as he had done so,
 Ruth	Ru	8	4	9	made appeal to the elders and to all that were present. You are witnesses, he said, this day, that I have reclaimed all the possessions of Elimelech, Chelion and Mahalon by purchase from Noemi:
 Ruth	Ru	8	4	10	and moreover, that I have taken Mahalon’s widow, Ruth the Moabitess, to wife. I mean to hand on the dead man’s property to heirs of his own, so that his name may never be lost to his family, his kindred and his people. Of all this, you are witnesses.
 Ruth	Ru	8	4	11	So the elders made answer, and all that were present made answer, We bear witness of it. Take thy bride home, and may the Lord make her as fruitful as Rachel and Lia, that gave a posterity to Israel. May Ephrata know her worth, and Bethlehem tell her praises;
 Ruth	Ru	8	4	12	may thy house be famous as the house of Phares, that Thamar bore to Juda, through the sons the Lord will give thee by this wife of thine.
 Ruth	Ru	8	4	13	So Booz claimed Ruth, and wedded and bedded her, and the Lord made her conceive and give birth to a son.
 Ruth	Ru	8	4	14	Blessed be the Lord, all the women said to Noemi, for not leaving thy family without an heir, to perpetuate its name in Israel.
 Ruth	Ru	8	4	15	Here is one that shall bring comfort to thy heart, and support to thy old age; such a mother is his, such a daughter-in-law is thine, whose love is worth more to thee than seven sons of thy own.
 Ruth	Ru	8	4	16	And so Noemi took the child to her bosom, and still it must be she that nursed him, she that carried him,
 Ruth	Ru	8	4	17	till the neighbours, congratulating her, said It is Noemi that has a son. And they called him Obed. This Obed had a son called Jesse, that was father to David.
 Ruth	Ru	8	4	18	Thus, then, runs the pedigree of Phares; Phares was the father of Esron,
 Ruth	Ru	8	4	19	Esron of Aram, Aram of Aminadab,
 Ruth	Ru	8	4	20	Aminadab of Nahasson, Nahasson of Salmon,
 Ruth	Ru	8	4	21	Salmon of Booz, Booz of Obed,
 Ruth	Ru	8	4	22	Obed of Jesse, and Jesse of David.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	1	1	There was a man once called Elcana, that lived at Ramathaim-Sophim, in the hill-country of Ephraim; he was an Ephraimite born, descended from Suph through Jeroham, Eliu and Thohu.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	1	2	He had two wives, one called Anna, the other Phenenna, and this Phenenna had borne him sons, whereas Anna was childless.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	1	3	Never a feast-day would he keep in his own city; he must be at Silo, worshipping the Lord of hosts, and offering him sacrifice; there dwelt the Lord’s priests, Ophni and Phinees, the two sons of Heli.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	1	4	When the time came for Elcana’s sacrifice, Phenenna must have many portions, for a son here, a daughter there,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	1	5	and he was sad at heart as he gave Anna her single portion, for Anna he loved dearly. Why had the Lord denied her motherhood?
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	1	6	And still she must endure bitter persecution from her rival, that did not scruple to make her childlessness a matter of reproach;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	1	7	year after year, when they went up to the Lord’s temple for the feast, it was ever the same. In tears she sat, with no heart for eating,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	1	8	while her husband Elcana tried to comfort her. Anna, he said, what need to weep, what need to deny thyself food? What sorrow weighs on thy heart? Is it not worth the love of ten sons, the love I bear thee?
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	1	9	Once, on such a visit to Silo, when eating and drinking was done, Anna rose up from her place and went to the temple door, where the priest Heli was sitting.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	1	10	Sad at heart, she prayed to the Lord with many tears,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	1	11	and made a vow: Lord of hosts, if thou wilt take good heed of this sorrow I bear, if thou wilt keep this handmaid of thine ever in remembrance, and grant her a son, then he shall be my gift to the Lord all his life long, a Nazirite unshorn.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	1	12	Such was the prayer she went on repeating, there in the Lord’s presence; and Heli saw her lips moving as she did so;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	1	13	her lips pronounced the secret petition, but with no sound. Heli thought her besotted with wine;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	1	14	Come, he said, wilt thou always be at thy cups? Give thy stomach a rest from the wine that so bemuses thee.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	1	15	Nay, my lord, said Anna, thou seest an unhappy woman, unburdening her heart in the Lord’s presence; there was no wine or strong drink here.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	1	16	Do not think of thy handmaid as a light woman; only sorrow and bitter anguish have wrung speech from me all this while.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	1	17	Go then, answered Heli, and peace go with thee; may the Lord grant the prayer thou hast made.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	1	18	I am thy handmaid, she said; thy favour is all I ask. Then she went back, and took food, sad-faced no longer;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	1	19	and next morning, when they had paid their devotions in the Lord’s presence, they went back home to Ramatha. And the Lord bethought him of Anna, when next Elcana took her to his bed;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	1	20	so, in due time, she conceived and bore him a son. The name she gave him was Samuel, in token that he was a gift she had won from the Lord.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	1	21	When her husband Elcana went to offer the Lord due sacrifice, and pay his vow, taking all his household with him,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	1	22	Anna stayed at home. She would not go, she told her husband, until the boy was weaned; then she would herself bring him into the Lord’s presence, and leave him there for ever.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	1	23	Do as thou wilt, Elcana said; wait here till he is weaned, and may the Lord bring his own will to accomplishment. So she waited at home, and nursed her child till he was weaned.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	1	24	And now that he needed her no longer, she took him with her to the Lord’s house in Silo, still so young. Three bulls, and a bushel of flour, and a skin of wine, were the offerings she made.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	1	25	When they brought the boy to Heli, to offer a bull-calf for him,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	1	26	Anna cried out, Listen, my lord! As thou art a living man, my lord, this is the same woman that stood here in thy presence, praying so eagerly!
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	1	27	And my prayer was for a son, the boy whom thou seest. I prayed to the Lord, and the Lord granted my request;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	1	28	and now, in my turn, I make a grant of him to the Lord, a grant that shall be long as his life. Then they offered the Lord worship, and Anna made this prayer which follows.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	2	1	My heart thrills with joy in the Lord; pride in the God I worship lifts high my head; now can I flout my enemies, happy in thy gift of redress!
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	2	2	Who so holy as the Lord? None, there is none else; there is no stronghold can compare with our God.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	2	3	Boast no more, boast no more; those lips must talk in another strain; the Lord is God all-knowing, and overrules the devices of men.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	2	4	See how he breaks the great warrior’s bow, girds the feeble with strength;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	2	5	how the rich, for very need, must work as hirelings, while the hungry eat to their heart’s content! See how at last the barren womb bears many, and the fruitful mother is left to languish!
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	2	6	Lord of death and life, he brings men to the grave and back from the grave;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	2	7	Lord of poverty and of wealth, he alone humbles, alone exalts,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	2	8	raising up the poor man out of the dust, the beggar from his dung-hill, to sit among princes and reach the honours of a throne. It is the Lord that poised the round world on its foundations, and holds them in his keeping;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	2	9	safely his friends journey, dumb sit his enemies in the darkness; there is no protection for man in man’s strength.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	2	10	The Lord will strike terror into his adversaries; hark, how his thunders roll above them in heaven! The Lord will sit in judgement on the remotest people of earth, the Lord will grant dominion and a sceptre of majesty to the king he has anointed.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	2	11	And so Elcana went back to his home at Ramatha, while Samuel remained to minister, at the bidding of the priest Heli, in the Lord’s presence.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	2	12	This Heli had two sons that were men of little worth, recked nothing of the Lord’s honour
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	2	13	or the duty of his priests to the people. When a man was sacrificing some victim, the priest’s servant used to come up, with a three-pronged fork in his hand, while the meat was still cooking;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	2	14	and this he thrust into pot or pan, great or small, carrying off all that came up with it for the priest’s eating; not an Israelite came to Silo but went away so treated.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	2	15	The priest’s servant, too, would come up before the fat was offered, and bid the worshipper give him some meat to cook for the priest; he would take it raw, not stewed already.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	2	16	In vain the worshipper protested, It is the custom for the fat to be burned at once; that done, thou shalt take meat to thy heart’s content. No, give it me now, the servant would answer, or I will take it by force.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	2	17	This was heinous sin the young men committed under the Lord’s eye; must they turn away men’s hearts from honouring him with sacrifice?
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	2	18	Meanwhile, Samuel had begun to minister in the Lord’s presence, girded, though still a boy, with the linen mantle.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	2	19	Every year, his mother made him a little tunic, and brought it with her when she came up with her husband on feast-days for the yearly sacrifice.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	2	20	And Heli gave a blessing to Elcana and his wife, May the Lord grant thee children by this woman, in return for what thou hast lent him! When they had gone home,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	2	21	the Lord shewed mercy to Anna, so that she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters. And evermore, boy though he was, Samuel rose higher in the Lord’s favour.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	2	22	Heli was now a man of great age, but tales reached him of the exactions his sons made from the Israelites; how they mated, too, with the women that kept watch at the tabernacle door.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	2	23	What wickedness is this of yours, he said to them, that brings me the complaints of a whole people!
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	2	24	Amend your ways; it is ill hearing, that you should lead the Lord’s people into transgression.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	2	25	If man does wrong to man, God’s justice may yet be satisfied; if man sins against the Lord, who shall plead his cause for him? But they paid no heed to their father’s warning; the Lord was resolved to make an end of them.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	2	26	And Samuel’s boyhood went on; still as he grew he advanced in favour both with God and with men.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	2	27	And now a messenger from the Lord came to Heli, and this was the Lord’s warning to him: It was to men of thy clan that I revealed myself openly, when they still dwelt in Egypt as Pharao’s servants;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	2	28	and I chose Levi among all the tribes of Israel to hold the priestly office, mounting up to my altar and burning incense before me, and wearing the sacred mantle in my presence; to this clan of thine I gave a part in every sacrifice Israel should offer.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	2	29	And now you spurn the due ordering of sacrifice and oblation in my sanctuary; the sons of Heli must have a privilege higher than my own; yours must be the first taste of every sacrifice my people Israel bring to me!
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	2	30	Listen, then, to the Lord’s decree. My purpose was that thou and thy clan should be my ministers for ever; but now never speak of that (the Lord says); honour is for those that honour me, for those that make light of me, only contempt.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	2	31	Behold, a time is coming when I mean to cripple thee, cripple that clan of thine; no kinsman of thine shall reach old age.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	2	32	Thou shalt see a rival in my sanctuary, and Israel all prosperity; but in thy kindred no old man shall be left living.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	2	33	My altar shall still have descendants of thine to minister at it; but it shall be a sight to make thy eyes fail and thy heart faint, when so many of thy race die in their early manhood.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	2	34	And for a token of this, thy two sons, Ophni and Phinees, are destined to fall, both of them, in a single day.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	2	35	Afterwards, I will find myself a priest that shall be a faithful interpreter of my mind and will; I will endow him, too, with a faithful posterity, to enjoy the favour of the king I have anointed.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	2	36	To him thy descendants, if any such are left, will come cringing for a silver piece and a crust of bread; Only the common portion of a priest, they will say; only a mouthful of bread, and I am content!
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	3	1	In those days, when Samuel was ministering to the Lord under Heli’s care, a mes-sage from the Lord was a rare treasure; he would not openly reveal himself.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	3	2	One night, Heli lay down to rest where he was wont to lie, his eyes dim now with age and sightless,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	3	3	and Samuel was asleep, there in the divine presence, where God’s ark was, with the sacred lamp still burning.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	3	4	And the Lord’s call came to Samuel. I am coming, he answered;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	3	5	then ran to find Heli, and said, I am here at thy summons. Nay, said he, I never summoned thee; go back and lie down again. So back he went, and fell asleep.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	3	6	Then the Lord called Samuel again, and again he rose up and went to Heli, to answer his summons. But still no summons had been given, and he must go back to sleep again.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	3	7	Till then, Samuel was a stranger to the divine voice; the Lord had not made any revelation to him.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	3	8	But when a third time the persistent call came, and Samuel went to Heli,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	3	9	still ready at his command, Heli recognized at last whose voice it was the boy had heard. Go back to sleep, he told Samuel; and if the voice comes again, do thou answer, Speak on, Lord; thy servant is listening. And Samuel went back to his bed and fell asleep.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	3	10	And the Lord came to his side, and stood there waiting. Then, as before, he called him twice by name; and Samuel answered, Speak on, Lord, thy servant is listening.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	3	11	And this was the Lord’s message to Samuel: Here is doom I mean to bring on Israel that shall ring in the ears of all that hear of it.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	3	12	For Heli it shall bring fulfilment of all the threats I have uttered against his clan; from first to last, they shall be accomplished.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	3	13	Warning enough I gave him, I would pass eternal sentence on that clan of his, for his sons’ wickedness that went ever unchecked;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	3	14	and now I have taken an oath against all his line, sacrifice nor offering shall ever atone for their sin.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	3	15	Samuel slept on till morning, when it was time for him to open the doors of the Lord’s house; and fear withheld him from telling Heli of his vision.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	3	16	Then he heard the voice of Heli calling, Samuel, my son Samuel! I am ready at thy command, said he.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	3	17	And Heli asked him, What message is it the Lord has sent thee? May the Lord give thee thy due of punishment, and more than thy due, if thou hidest from me any word of the message that was given thee.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	3	18	Thereupon Samuel told him all that was said, keeping nothing back from him. It is the Lord, answered he, that has spoken; let him do his will.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	3	19	Samuel grew up, still enjoying the Lord’s favour, and no word he spoke went unfulfilled,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	3	20	so that he became known all over Israel, from Dan to Bersabee, as the Lord’s true prophet.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	3	21	After this revelation made to Samuel in Silo, the Lord continued to reveal himself there, as he had promised; and when Samuel spoke, all Israel listened.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	4	1	The Philistines, at this time, had mustered their forces for battle, and the Israelites went out to meet them in arms, encamping at the Rock of Deliverance; the Philistines were encamped at Aphec.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	4	2	So now the Philistines marshalled their forces, and when battle was joined, they put the Israelites to rout; four thousand men were killed in that fight, scattered through the countryside.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	4	3	So the army fell back upon its encampment; and now the elders of Israel were at a loss; why had the Lord so left them at the mercy of the Philistines? They would send to Silo for the ark that bore record of the Lord’s covenant; surely he would come into their midst, and save them from the power of their enemies.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	4	4	The ark of the Lord of hosts, who sits enthroned above the Cherubim! They brought it there all the way from Silo; and with the ark came the two sons of Heli, Ophni and Phinees.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	4	5	Loud was the cry all Israel raised when the ark reached their camp, so loud that the earth rang again;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	4	6	and the Philistines, hearing it, wondered what could have set the Hebrew camp in such an uproar. When they were told that the ark of the Lord had been brought there,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	4	7	they were in a great taking of fear; God himself, they said, has come into the camp! And they groaned aloud;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	4	8	An ill day for us! Such confidence has never been theirs till now; an ill day! What defence have we against such heavenly powers as these? These are the powers that brought great plagues on Egypt, out yonder in the desert.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	4	9	Philistines, you must summon up your courage, and play the man, or these Hebrew slaves are like to be your masters. Courage, then; to arms!
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	4	10	And they fought so well that Israel was utterly defeated, every man making for his own home in flight; here was a great disaster, in which thirty thousand of Israel’s warriors fell.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	4	11	The ark of God, too, was taken by the enemy, and Heli’s sons, Ophni and Phinees, were killed.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	4	12	There was a man of Benjamin that ran from the field, and reached Silo that same day, with torn garments, and dust scattered on his head.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	4	13	At the time when he reached it, Heli was sitting there waiting for news, on a seat by the wayside; his heart misgave him for the safety of God’s ark. When the tidings so brought were made known publicly, the whole city fell to lamenting.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	4	14	The noise of it came to Heli’s ears, and he asked what this tumult should mean. With all speed the messenger came up and told his news.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	4	15	(Heli was then ninety-eight years old; his eyes were dim with age now, and sightless.)
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	4	16	I come with news of the battle, he said; this very day I have run back from the army. And the news, my son, asked Heli; what is the news?
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	4	17	Israel has been routed by the Philistines, the messenger answered, and there is great havoc wrought among the people; and thy two sons, Ophni and Phinees, are dead; and the ark of God was taken.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	4	18	And Heli, when he heard mention made of God’s ark, fell backwards from his seat, there in the door-way, and broke his neck, and died; so old a man was he, so spent with age. For forty years he had ruled Israel.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	4	19	His daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinees, was then in her pregnancy, and near her time; she too heard that the ark of God had been taken, that her father-in-law was dead and her husband besides, whereupon her pangs bowed her down suddenly, and she gave birth.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	4	20	She was at the point of death when the women about her said, Take heart, thou hast borne a son; but she gave no answer, and took no heed.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	4	21	Only she gave her son the name of Ichabod, thinking how the divine presence had left Israel, now the ark was taken; thinking, too, of her father-in-law and her husband;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	4	22	but it was the loss of God’s ark that made her say, The splendour has passed away from Israel.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	5	1	Meanwhile the Philistines had carried off the ark of God, taking it from the Rock of Deliverance to Azotus;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	5	2	and when it reached Azotus it was carried into the temple of Dagon and set down there in front of Dagon’s statue.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	5	3	Next morning, the men of Azotus woke to find Dagon lying face downwards in front of the ark; and although they put the statue back in its place,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	5	4	the second day shewed a worse sight still; Dagon was face downwards in front of the ark, and there in the door-way lay his head and both hands, severed from the trunk,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	5	5	that lay where it fell. That is why to this day the priests and the worshippers of Dagon never set foot on the threshold when they enter his temple in Azotus.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	5	6	And now the Lord sent a heavy plague on the men of Azotus and its neighbourhood, to their undoing, a plague of swellings in the groin. All through their townships, all over the country-side, the infection spread; the mice, too, swarmed everywhere; in the city, the dead lay piled in heaps.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	5	7	The men of Azotus, finding themselves so plague-ridden, would not keep the ark of Israel’s God among them any longer, to bring disaster upon themselves and their god Dagon;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	5	8	so they summoned a gathering of all the Philistine chiefs, and put the question what should be done with the ark. It must be carried about, the men of Geth told them, from place to place; and carry it about they did,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	5	9	but wherever it went, from city to city, the power of the Lord made itself felt in a grievous mortality; on high and low it fell everywhere, rotting away their inward parts, and the men of Geth could devise no better relief than to sit on seats of leather.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	5	10	So now they sent the ark of God on to Accaron; but no sooner had it reached them than the men of Accaron began crying out, They have brought the ark of Israel’s God here, for our ruin, our common ruin!
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	5	11	And they summoned all the Philistine chiefs, who determined that the ark must be sent back whence it came, before it brought death on themselves and their people.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	5	12	No city was free from the fear of death, and God’s heavy visitation; even those who survived had shameful sores to tend, and everywhere cries of anguish went up to heaven.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	6	1	Thus, for seven months, the ark of the Lord remained in the country of the Philistines;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	6	2	and at the end of them the Philistines summoned their priests and diviners. What are we to do with the ark of the Lord? they said. How best can we send it back whence it came? And their answer was,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	6	3	Why, if you mean to send the ark of Israel’s God home again, you must not send it back without a gift. An offering must be made in amends for the fault you have committed; and if, after that, you recover from your sickness, you will trace his hand in the calamities that now afflict you.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	6	4	What offering, then, must we make for our fault? they asked;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	6	5	and this was the answer given: You must make five little mounts of gold, and five golden mice, one for each of the Philistine provinces; it was the same divine punishment that afflicted all the provinces, all the chiefs alike. When they are ready, these emblems of your shame, these figures of the mice that have ravaged your land, make amends with them to the God of Israel, and ask relief for yourselves, and your gods, and your lands.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	6	6	What avails it, to harden your hearts against repentance? So Pharao and Egypt with him hardened their hearts, and would not let his people go till they had felt all his plagues, but in the end they went.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	6	7	A waggon, newly made, you must have in readiness, drawn by two heifers in milk such as never yet bore the yoke, and the calves of these must be left behind.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	6	8	Lift the ark of the Lord on to this waggon, and put in a casket, at the side of it, the golden offerings you would make in amends for your fault; then let it go on its way,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	6	9	and see what befalls. If it goes up towards Bethsames and its own land, then be sure this grievous plague of ours came from the Lord; if not, we shall know it was an evil chance, and no visitation of his.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	6	10	This advice they followed, yoked to the waggon two heifers that were in milk, and left their calves stalled at home;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	6	11	put the ark of God on the waggon, and the casket with the five golden mice and golden mounts beside it.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	6	12	And the heifers went straight along the road that leads to Bethsames, and kept ever the same course, without swerving to right or left; lowing for their calves, but going on still; with the Philistine chiefs following them all the way to Bethsames.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	6	13	The Bethsamites were out in the valley, reaping their wheat, when they looked round and saw the ark coming, and they were glad men at the sight.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	6	14	It reached the land of Josue the Bethsamite, and there came to a stand, close by where a great stone was. So they broke up the waggon for fire-wood, and laid the heifers on it as a burnt-sacrifice to the Lord.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	6	15	Levites set down the ark of God, and with it the casket that contained the golden emblems, on the great stone, while the men of Bethsames, that day, brought the Lord burnt-sacrifice and offered him victims.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	6	16	So the five chiefs of the Philistines returned, reaching Accaron that same day.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	6	17	The golden mounts which the Philistines gave to the Lord in amends for their fault came from the five cities of Azotus, Gaza, Ascalon, Geth and Accaron;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	6	18	and there were golden mice to match the whole number of cities, walled or unwalled, in the five Philistine provinces, (right up to Abel the Great, where they put down the ark of the Lord, that had been till that day in the lands of Josue the Bethsamite).
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	6	19	And the Lord smote some of the Bethsamites themselves, for prying into the ark of the Lord. (And he smote seventy men out of the people, and fifty thousand of the common folk. ) Over this visitation the Lord had brought on them there was great grief among the people;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	6	20	Who can stand his ground, the Bethsamites asked, before a God so holy as this? To whom can we pass it on?
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	6	21	And they sent messengers to the men of Cariathiarim, telling them that the Philistines had brought back the Lord’s ark, and bidding them come and take it into their charge.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	7	1	So they came as they were bidden, the men of Cariathiarim, and brought back the ark with them, housing it with a certain Abinadab in Gabaa; and they set apart his son Eleazar to keep watch over the Lord’s ark.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	7	2	Long time the ark remained in Cariathiarim; twenty years so passed, and now the whole race of Israel sought rest from its troubles in following the Lord.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	7	3	Why then, Samuel told the Israelites, if your hearts are honestly set on coming back to the Lord, you must rid yourselves of all alien gods; no Baal for you, no Astaroth; your hearts must wait in readiness on the Lord and serve him only; then he will deliver you from the Philistine’s power.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	7	4	So Israel cast Baal and Astaroth aside, to serve none but the Lord.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	7	5	Then Samuel would have all Israel meet at Masphath, so that he might beg the Lord’s mercy for them there;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	7	6	and at Masphath they assembled, and drew water which they poured out before the Lord, and fasted that day, and made confession there to the Lord of their sin. And Samuel sat in judgement over Israel at Masphath.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	7	7	This assembly at Masphath came to the ears of the Philistines, and their chiefs came out to offer Israel battle. Whereupon the Israelites, in great dread of them,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	7	8	bade Samuel pray to the Lord their God yet, if they were to be rescued from the power of the Philistines.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	7	9	So Samuel chose out a lamb still unweaned, and offered it whole to the Lord in burnt-sacrifice, crying out to the Lord for Israel, and obtaining an answer to his prayer.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	7	10	It was at the very moment when Samuel was offering sacrifice that the Philistines went to the attack; and the Lord volleyed his thunders against the Philistines that day, crashing loud above them, so that they were overcome with terror, and fell before Israel’s onslaught;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	7	11	from Masphath all the way to the slopes of Bethchar the Israelites pursued them, cutting them down.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	7	12	Thereupon Samuel chose out a stone and set it up between Masphath and Sen, calling the place, The Rock of Deliverance, in token that the Lord was still their protector.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	7	13	So cowed were the spirits of the Philistines, that they never crossed the frontiers of Israel again; the Lord kept the Philistines in check as long as Samuel lived.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	7	14	They must give back, too, all the cities they had wrested from Israel, right up to Accaron and Geth; thus the Israelites freed their territory from the Philistines’ power, and enjoyed peace with their neighbours.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	7	15	To Samuel men came for judgement all his life long;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	7	16	year by year he would go round from Bethel to Galgala, from Galgala to Masphath, holding assize in each of these cities,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	7	17	and so returning to his home at Ramatha; there, too, he sat in judgement, and there he raised an altar to the Lord.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	8	1	In his old age, Samuel appointed his sons to perform the judge’s office in Israel;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	8	2	the elder was called Joel, and the younger Abia, and they held assize at Bersabee.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	8	3	But these sons of his did not follow in his footsteps; greed bent them to take bribes, and to pervert justice.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	8	4	So all the elders of Israel met Samuel at Ramatha;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	8	5	Thou hast grown old, they said to him, and thy sons do not follow in thy footsteps. Give us a king, such as other nations have, to sit in judgement over us.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	8	6	It was little to Samuel’s mind, this demand for a king to be their judge; but when he betook himself to the Lord in prayer,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	8	7	the Lord said to him, Grant the people all they ask of thee. It is my rule over them they are casting off, not thine.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	8	8	It has ever been the same, since the day when I rescued them from Egypt; me they will ever be forsaking, to worship other gods; and now it is thy turn.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	8	9	Grant their request, but put thy protest on record; tell them what rights their king will claim, when they have a king to rule over them.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	8	10	In answer, then, to their request for a king, Samuel told the people all the Lord had said to him.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	8	11	When you have a king to reign over you, he will claim the rights of a king. He will take away your sons from you, to drive his chariots; he will need horsemen, and outriders for his teams;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	8	12	regiments, too, with commanders and captains to marshal them, ploughmen and reapers, armourers and wheelwrights.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	8	13	It is your daughters that will make his perfumes, and cook for him, and bake for him.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	8	14	All the best of your lands and vineyards and olive-yards he will take away, and entrust to his own bailiffs;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	8	15	and he will tithe the revenues of such crop and vintage as is left you, to pay his own courtiers and his own retinue.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	8	16	He will take away servants and handmaids of yours, all the lustiest of the young men, all the asses that work for you, to work for him instead;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	8	17	of your herds, too, he will take tithe. You will be his slaves;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	8	18	and when you cry out for redress against the king you have chosen for yourselves, the Lord will not listen to you; you asked for a king.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	8	19	But Samuel could not gain the ear of the people; That will not serve, they cried out; a king, we must have a king!
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	8	20	We must be like other nations, with a king to decide our quarrels, to lead us and be our champion in battle.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	8	21	So he listened to all this outcry of theirs, and brought it to the Lord’s hearing.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	8	22	Give them their will, the Lord answered; appoint a king to rule over them. And Samuel bade the Israelites disperse, and go back to their homes.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	9	1	There was a Benjamite in those days called Cis, descended through Abiel, Seror and Bechorath from Aphia, strong and vigorous, as a man of Benjamin should be;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	9	2	and he had a son named Saul, a fine figure of a man, none finer in Israel; he was a head and shoulders taller than any of his fellow-countrymen.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	9	3	There were some asses belonging to Cis that had gone astray; and he bade Saul go out on his travels, taking one of the servants with him, and look for them. All through the hill-country of Ephraim they went,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	9	4	and all through Salisa, without finding them; through Salim, and still no trace of them; through the country of Benjamin itself, and still no news heard of them.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	9	5	When they reached the Suph country, Saul turned to his companion; Come, said he, let us go home; my father will have ceased to care about the asses, and be anxious over us instead.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	9	6	But he answered, There is a servant of God dwelling in this city, a man greatly honoured; no prophecy of his but manifestly comes true. Let us make our way there, and ask if he can give us news about this errand of ours.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	9	7	And if we make our way there, answered Saul, what then? What offering can we make to this servant of God? No bread left in our wallets, not even a basket of food to offer! We have no present to make.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	9	8	I have a quarter of a shekel by me here, the other answered; some return to make for God’s guidance on our errand.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	9	9	(In those days, the Israelites used to speak of going to consult the seer, meaning by the seer what we now call a prophet.)
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	9	10	And at that Saul agreed that his plan was best; Come, said he, let us be on our way. So they made for the city where God’s servant dwelt;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	9	11	and as they were climbing up the hill that led to it they met some maidens who were coming out to draw water, and asked whether the seer was to be found there.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	9	12	He is, they answered, and not far forward on the road. Hasten after him; a public sacrifice on the sacred hill has brought him here to-day,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	9	13	look for him as soon as you enter the city, before he goes up to take part in the feast. The people must await his coming before they can eat; he blesses the victim first, and then the guests will sit down. Up with you at once; this is the time when you will find him.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	9	14	So up they went into the city, and as they entered it, there was Samuel coming out towards them, on his way to the sacred hill.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	9	15	The day before Saul’s coming, the Lord warned Samuel privately,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	9	16	At this time of day to-morrow I am sending a man of Benjamin on an errand to thee. He it is thou must anoint to be the king of my people Israel; he is to deliver them from the power of the Philistines. Their plaints have not gone unheard, nor unheeded.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	9	17	And now, when Saul first met his eyes, the Lord told Samuel, This is the man of whom I spoke to thee; this is to be the ruler of my people.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	9	18	There, then, in the gateway Saul came up to Samuel, and said, Pray shew me where it is that the seer lives.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	9	19	I am the seer thou speakest of, was his answer; go up before me to the hill-top, where you shall eat at my side. To-morrow I will send thee on thy way, and tell thee all thou wouldst know.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	9	20	As for the asses that were lost three days since, put thy mind at ease, they have been found already. And here is all the best that Israel has to give, waiting for whom? For thee, and for thy father’s kin.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	9	21	For me, answered Saul, a man of Benjamin, the smallest of Israel’s tribes, sprung from a clan that is named last among the clans of Benjamin? What means this greeting thou hast given me?
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	9	22	But now Samuel took Saul and his companion with him, and led them into the dining-hall, where he gave them the highest place among the company that was bidden there, some thirty men;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	9	23	and told the cook, Bring out the portion I gave thee, with orders to keep it by thee separate from the rest.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	9	24	So the cook bore in a shoulder, and put it before Saul; Here, Samuel told him, is the provision we made for thee; sit down to it and eat thy fill; it was put aside for thee on purpose, when I invited my company. Saul, then, was Samuel’s guest that day;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	9	25	together they went down from the hill into the city, and together they held converse on the house-top. There, on the house-top, Saul lay down and slept;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	9	26	waking early, at the first coming of the light, Samuel called out to him, Rise up, it is time I sent thee on thy way. Rise up he did, and together he and Samuel went out;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	9	27	and when they reached the edge of the city on their downward journey, Samuel said, Bid thy servant pass on before us, and do thou wait here a little; I have a message to give thee from the Lord.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	10	1	And now Samuel took out his phial of oil, and poured it out over Saul’s head; then he kissed him, and said, Hereby the Lord anoints thee to be the leader of his chosen people; thine it shall be to deliver them from the enemies that hedge them round. Wouldst thou have proof that this unction comes from the Lord? Listen, then;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	10	2	When thou leavest me to-day, and hast gone southward as far as Rachel’s tomb, on the frontiers of Benjamin, thou wilt meet two men bringing thee news that the lost asses thou art looking for have been found; that thy father has forgotten them in his anxiety, and only asks how he is to find his son.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	10	3	Then, passing further on thy way, thou wilt reach the oak of Thabor, and fall in with three men on pilgrimage to Bethel; one with three goats, one with three loaves of bread, one with a flagon of wine;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	10	4	from these thou wilt have greeting, and two of their loaves for a gift.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	10	5	So at last thou wilt come to the Hill of God, where the Philistines have set a garrison; and here, upon entering the city, thou wilt meet a company of prophets coming down from the sacred height. With harp and tambour, flute and zither at their head, they will be uttering words of prophecy;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	10	6	and with that the spirit of the Lord will fall upon thee, making thee prophesy with the rest, and turning thee into a new man.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	10	7	When all these signs have been granted, go about the work that lies before thee; the Lord is at thy side.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	10	8	At need, betake thyself to Galgal, where I will come to meet thee, to present there thy burnt-sacrifice and thy welcome-offering; wait for me seven days, till I come and give thee thy orders.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	10	9	So parted Saul from Samuel, and as he went on his way, the Lord gave him a new heart. All the signs he looked for were fulfilled that day,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	10	10	and when at last he came to the Hill, there was a company of prophets on its way towards him; whereupon the spirit of the Lord fell on him, and he prophesied with the rest.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	10	11	None that had known him hitherto but marvelled, upon seeing him prophesy in the company of the others, what had befallen the son of Cis; Is Saul, too, they asked, among the prophets?
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	10	12	Why, said one to another, who can tell the parentage of any of them? (This was how the saying grew up, Is Saul, too, among the prophets?)
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	10	13	His trance over, Saul went on, back to the hill-country.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	10	14	There was an uncle of his, that asked where they had been, and was not content with their story of consulting Samuel about the strayed asses.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	10	15	Tell me, said he, what message did the prophet give thee?
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	10	16	Why, answered Saul, he told me the asses were found. But of the kingship promised him he said no word.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	10	17	And now Samuel bade the whole people gather in the divine presence at Maspha,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	10	18	and this message he gave them from the Lord God of Israel: It was I that rescued you from Egypt, I that protected you from the clutches of these and of all your oppressors.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	10	19	And now you have cast away your God, your only shield against so many misfortunes and afflictions; A king, you say, appoint a king to reign over us! Come then, present yourselves before the Lord, tribe by tribe, clan by clan.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	10	20	Then Samuel brought forward all the tribes of Israel by name, and the lot fell on Benjamin;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	10	21	brought forward all the families of Benjamin by name, and the lot fell on Matri’s; and in the end he reached Saul, the son of Cis. When they looked for him, he was nowhere to be found; was he on his way to Maspha?
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	10	22	They asked the Lord, and the answer came that Saul was there, hiding in his tent.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	10	23	Whereupon they ran to fetch him, and before long he stood in their midst, a head and shoulders taller than any of them.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	10	24	The Lord’s chosen! cried Samuel. Look at him, and see if he has his like in Israel! And all the people shouted, Long live the king!
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	10	25	And now Samuel proclaimed to the people what the king’s rights were; wrote it down, too, in a book, which he laid up in the Lord’s presence; then he bade them disperse to their homes.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	10	26	Saul went back to Gabaa, and with him went some of the fighting men, whom God so inspired.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	10	27	There were others, graceless folk, who asked contemptuously whether such a man as this could bring them victory; and no gift would they offer him. But Saul made as if he could not hear their mutterings.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	11	1	It was a month later that Naas the Ammonite offered battle, and laid siege to Jabes-Galaad; whereupon the men of Jabes would have made a treaty with him, and become his subjects.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	11	2	But his terms were, that he should put out the right eye of each citizen, to the shame of all Israel.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	11	3	So the elders of Jabes asked for a truce of seven days, while they sent messengers out to every part of Israel; if none came forward to help them, they would open the gates to him.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	11	4	When these messengers came to Gabaa, where Saul lived, and told the people their errand, the whole city made loud lament.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	11	5	And just then Saul came in from the country, driving his team of oxen; What ails the people, he asked, that they should weep? And he was told of the message from Jabes.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	11	6	When he heard it, the spirit of the Lord fell upon him, and his heart burned with rage;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	11	7	there and then he took both the oxen, and cut them into small pieces, which he sent round by messenger to every part of Israel; The man who does not rally, said he, to the cause of Saul and Samuel, will have his oxen treated like these. And the Lord put the whole people in such dread of him, that they answered his summons to a man;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	11	8	when he called the roll at Bezech, Israel had sent three hundred thousand, and there were thirty thousand besides from Juda.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	11	9	Back went the messengers, carrying word to Jabes-Galaad that relief would come next day, with the heat of the sun. So the men of Jabes, overjoyed at the news the messengers brought,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	11	10	told Naas that they would open the gates on the morrow, and he should have them at his mercy.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	11	11	That next day, at the morning watch, Saul divided his army into three, and made his way into the heart of the Ammonite camp at the time of the morning watch. All morning, till the sun gained its heat, he smote the Ammonites down; and those who survived were so scattered that never a pair escaped together.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	11	12	After this, the people cried out to Samuel, Where are the men who protested they would not have Saul for their king? Bring them out, and let us slay them.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	11	13	But Saul answered, Nay, the Lord has given Israel a great victory; there shall be no slaughter this day.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	11	14	And now Samuel called on the people to come with him to Galgala, and renew the covenant of the kingship there;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	11	15	so all went to Galgala, and there, at Galgala, took Saul for their king in the Lord’s presence, which they honoured with welcome-offerings. A glad man was Saul that day, and not a heart in Israel but rejoiced with him.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	12	1	But Samuel protested before the whole assembly of Israel: I have granted all you asked, and given you a king,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	12	2	who marches, now, at your head. I am an old man, and grey-haired, and you have sons of mine among you, and I am ready to answer for all my behaviour among you ever since my youth.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	12	3	Tell me, here in the presence of the Lord, and of the king he has anointed, have I robbed any man of ox or ass? Have I wronged anyone, oppressed anyone? Have I allowed anyone to bribe me? I will make restitution, not counting the cost.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	12	4	Never, they answered; never wert thou guilty of wrong or oppression; never didst thou take anything for thy own.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	12	5	The Lord is my witness, said he, and the king he has anointed is my witness as you stand before me this day, that you can find no charge to bring against me. The Lord is thy witness, they said.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	12	6	Then he said to the people, It was the Lord that gave you Moses and Aaron, and rescued your fathers from Egypt;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	12	7	stand there now, in his presence, while I confront you with all the mercy the Lord has shewn to you and to your fathers,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	12	8	from the time when Jacob removed to Egypt. When your fathers pleaded with the Lord, he sent Moses and Aaron to rescue them from Egypt, and gave them a home in the place where you stand.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	12	9	But they forgot the Lord their God, till he put them at the mercy of Sisara, captain of Hazor’s army, and the Philistines, and the king of Moab, who waged war against them;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	12	10	then they cried out to the Lord, We have sinned! We have forsaken the Lord, enslaved ourselves here to Baal, there to Astaroth! Deliver us now from the power of our enemies, and we will serve thee still.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	12	11	So the Lord sent Jerobaal, and Badan, and Jepthe, and Samuel, to deliver you from the power of the enemies that surrounded you, and you lived safe in your homes.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	12	12	Then, when you saw Naas king of the Ammonites levying war on you, nothing would serve but that I should appoint a king to command you; as if the Lord your God were not reigning among you as your king!
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	12	13	Here, then, at your pleasure is the king you asked for, the king you longed for; be content, the Lord has given you a king.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	12	14	But on this condition, that you are to fear the Lord your God, and worship him, and listen to him, instead of defying his commands; both you and the king who governs you are to follow the guidance of the Lord your God.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	12	15	If you rebel against him, if you defy his commands, the hand of the Lord will fall heavily on you and your race.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	12	16	In token of it, here where you stand, you shall see the Lord do a wondrous thing before your eyes.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	12	17	It is harvest-time for the wheat already; but when I call upon the Lord’s name, he will send thunder and rain, to give you visible proof of the great wrong you have done by defying him and asking for a king.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	12	18	With that, Samuel cried out to the Lord, and the Lord sent down both thunder and rain that day,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	12	19	till the whole people was smitten with a great fear of the Lord and of Samuel. The whole people cried out with one voice, Pray to the Lord thy God for us thy servants, that our lives may be spared! We had sinned enough already, and now we have done him further wrong, by asking for a king to rule us.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	12	20	Do not be afraid, Samuel told them; you see how great is the wrong you have done; but now follow close where the Lord leads you, and serve him with all your hearts.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	12	21	Do not desert him for false gods which will play you false, granting neither aid nor deliverance.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	12	22	For his own renown, the Lord will not forsake his own people, and his people he has sworn you shall be.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	12	23	Pray for you? Never may I offend the Lord by ceasing to pray for you, and pointing you to the good paths, the right paths.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	12	24	Fear the Lord, and serve him loyally with all your hearts; you have seen what marvellous deeds he can do in your midst,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	12	25	and if you cling to wicked ways, you shall be swept away, you and your king.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	13	1	Saul was (so many) years old when he began to reign, and he had reigned for two years over Israel
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	13	2	when he picked an army of three thousand men. Of these, two thousand were under his own command, around Machmas and the hill country of Bethel, and a thousand under Jonathan at Gabaa in Benjamin. The rest of the people he sent back to their homes.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	13	3	But now Jonathan overpowered the Philistine garrison at Gabaa, and news of it was brought to the Philistines; whereupon Saul sounded an alarm all through the country, Hebrews, here is news for you!
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	13	4	So the word went round that Saul had overpowered a Philistine garrison, and Israel was at war with the Philistines; and they raised their battle-cry under Saul’s command at Galgala.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	13	5	Meanwhile the Philistines mustered their forces to make war on Israel, their chariots thirty thousand, their horsemen six thousand strong, and the rest of their host countless as the sand by the sea. On they came, and encamped at Machmas, east of Bethaven.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	13	6	And now the Israelite folk found themselves hard pressed; and their evil plight drove them to take hiding in den and thicket, cave and cleft and pit;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	13	7	there were Hebrews, too, that fled across Jordan into Gad and Galaad. As for Saul, he stood his ground at Galgala, but it was a dispirited army that followed him.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	13	8	For seven days he waited to keep tryst with Samuel, but still Samuel did not come; and meanwhile, men were deserting from his ranks;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	13	9	so at last he bade them bring the victims for burnt-sacrifice and welcome-offering, and performed the sacrifice himself.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	13	10	And now, when the burnt-sacrifice was over, he saw Samuel coming, and went out to greet him.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	13	11	What is this thou hast done? Samuel asked. And he answered, I found that men were deserting from my ranks; thou hadst not kept the tryst, and already the Philistines had raised their standard at Machmas.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	13	12	Can I let the Philistines sweep down on me here in Galgala, thought I, without first winning the Lord’s favour? So I offered the burnt-sacrifice; there was no other way.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	13	13	But Samuel told him, This was great folly in thee, so to transgress the commands which the Lord thy God had given thee. But for this, the Lord would have destined thee, here and now, to found a line of kings that should have ruled Israel for ever.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	13	14	Now thy dynasty shall fall with thee; the Lord has found a man to fulfil his purposes, and rule his people instead of thee; such is the reward of disobedience.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	13	15	With that, Samuel left him, returning from Galgala to Gabaa in Benjamin. From Galgala, too, Saul and the forces that remained with him went up to Gabaa and the hill-country of Benjamin, to meet the attack; when he counted the roll, there were only some six hundred men to be found in his company.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	13	16	There, at Gabaa, Saul and his son Jonathan encamped with their followers, while the Philistines confronted them at Machmas.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	13	17	Meanwhile, there were three parties of the Philistine army that went out to find plunder; one of them to the Sual country, on the way to Ephra,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	13	18	one by the Bethoron road, and one by the frontier path that looks down on the valley of Seboim, going out towards the desert.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	13	19	(At this time, there were no workers in metal left in the whole of Israel; the Philistines had taken good care that the Hebrews should not be able to make sword or spear.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	13	20	When a man would sharpen share or spade, axe or hoe, in whatever part of the country he lived, he must go down into the Philistine lands to do it.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	13	21	Blunted were share and spade, fork and axe; even the goads needed to be straightened;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	13	22	and in times of battle Saul and his son Jonathan were the only men in the army that carried sword or lance.)
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	13	23	There was, too, a detachment of the Philistines that guarded the pass to Machmas.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	14	1	And one day, Saul’s son Jonathan proposed to the lad who carried his armour for him, Let us attack the Philistine detachment over yonder; but he said no word of it to Saul.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	14	2	Saul was encamped on the outskirts of Gabaa, under the pomegranate tree at Magron, with some six hundred men under him;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	14	3	he had a priest with him, bearing the sacred mantle, Achias son of Achitob. (This Achitob was brother to Ichabod, and son of that Phinees whose father Heli was once the Lord’s priest at Silo.) The men in the ranks, too, knew nothing of Jonathan’s errand.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	14	4	Just where he planned his attack on the Philistines, between the paths that climbed the hill, a rock jutted out on either hand like a single tooth, sheer on every side. One was called Boses and the other Sene;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	14	5	one faced northwards towards Machmas, and the other southwards towards Gabaa.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	14	6	Here, then, Jonathan said to his squire, Let us attack the post these uncircumcised Philistines have set on guard, and see if the Lord will speed us. Many or few, if the Lord means to grant us victory, who shall prevent him?
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	14	7	As thou wilt, his squire answered; lead on, I will follow where thou biddest.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	14	8	We approach them, then, said Jonathan, and shew ourselves.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	14	9	And now, if they bid us wait till they come down to fetch us, let us keep our ground, and abandon all thought of the ascent.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	14	10	But if they bid us come up to their side, then go up we will; it is a sign that the Lord means to give us the mastery.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	14	11	So both shewed themselves to the Philistine detachment; Why, said the Philistines, here are the Hebrews coming out of the pits where they lay in hiding!
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	14	12	And they cried out from their post to Jonathan and his squire, Come up to our side; we have something to disclose to you. And at that, Jonathan said to his squire, Up, then, go we; follow me close; the Lord is giving Israel the mastery.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	14	13	So, crawling upon hands and knees, Jonathan climbed up, and his squire after him; and of the enemy, some fell to Jonathan himself, some to the squire as he came up behind him.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	14	14	This first slaughter that befell, when Jonathan and his squire assailed them, was but of twenty men, on a piece of ground that measured half an acre, a day’s ploughing for a pair of oxen.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	14	15	But all through the camp, all through the countryside, came a sudden terror; the rest of the detachment, that were returning from a foray, stood there open-mouthed; the earth, too, shook, and it seemed as if a divine terror were abroad.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	14	16	Looking out from Gabaa, the watchmen of Saul’s army wondered at the sight; so many men that lay slain, so many more in flight this way and that.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	14	17	And now Saul bade his men find out who it was that had left the ranks, and learned that Jonathan was not there, nor his squire.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	14	18	So he bade Achias consult the ark of God (it was there that day, God’s ark, among the ranks of Israel);
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	14	19	but even as he was talking with the priest, a great clamour arose in the Philistine camp, that gained force and grew louder with every moment. Stay thy hand, he said to the priest,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	14	20	and so, with his whole army, raised the war-cry and went to the attack. They found that the Philistines had come to blows, friend turning his sword against friend, and the slaughter raged beyond all bounds.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	14	21	Those Hebrews who, till now, had taken part with the Philistines, and were fighting at their side, now went over to the camp of Israel, the camp of Saul and Jonathan;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	14	22	and all those others who were in hiding among the hills of Ephraim, when they heard of the Philistine rout, came out to aid their fellow-countrymen, till Saul found himself at the head of some ten thousand men.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	14	23	Thus the Lord gave Israel the victory that day, and the field of battle spread wider till it reached Bethaven.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	14	24	The Israelites were fighting, that day, in a close body, and Saul put a ban on them, Cursed be the man that touches food before evening comes; I must take full vengeance on my enemies! So none of them took any food;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	14	25	even when the whole army passed through a glade where there was honey lying on the ground,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	14	26	and they saw the honey oozing from its combs as they entered the glade, not one in the ranks put his hand to his mouth, such was their terror of the ban.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	14	27	Jonathan had not heard his father bind the people so; and he, reaching forward and dipping the end of his staff into a honeycomb, took a mouthful from his hand; whereupon his eyesight grew clearer at once.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	14	28	And what of the ban thy father laid on us, one of the men said to him, calling down a curse on anyone who should touch food to-day? But the Israelites were faint on their march,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	14	29	and Jonathan said, It is an ill turn my father has done to his country; why, could you not see for yourselves how my eyes grew brighter for a mouthful of yonder honey?
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	14	30	Think what a blow we might have struck, if the men had eaten their fill when we came upon the plunder the enemy had left behind them!
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	14	31	That day’s pursuit took the army all the way from Machmas to Aialon, and they were weary men indeed;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	14	32	falling on the plunder they had recovered, they carried off sheep and ox and calf and slaughtered them there on the ground, eating them blood and all.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	14	33	When complaint was made that his men had disobeyed the Lord’s command by eating meat with the blood in it, Saul told them, You have broken the law; find a great stone, and roll it up to where I stand.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	14	34	Then he said, Go round and bid the folk bring ox and ram to me here, to slaughter their meat on this stone; sin no more by eating it with the blood in it. So, till late at night, each man brought his ox with him and slaughtered it there.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	14	35	And Saul built an altar to the Lord there, the first he ever raised to him.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	14	36	And now, cried Saul, let us attack the Philistines in the darkness, and harry them till day dawns, so that none is left alive. Do as thou seest best, the people answered; but the priest said, God is present with us, let us have recourse to him.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	14	37	Saul, then, asked the Lord whether he should pursue the Philistines, whether Israel would be granted the victory; but that day no answer came.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	14	38	Summon all the chieftains, cried Saul; we must have clear proof who it is has brought guilt on us this day.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	14	39	As the Lord, Israel’s protector, is a living God, though it were Jonathan, my own son, that is answerable for it, he shall die without hope of reprieve. And no voice among them all said him nay.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	14	40	Do you stand on one side, he told the men of Israel, I and my son Jonathan on the other. Do as thou seest best, the people answered.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	14	41	And Saul prayed to the Lord God of Israel, Lord God of Israel, send us right guidance; tell us why it is thou wilt give me, thy servant, no answer this day. If the guilt lies with me, or with my son Jonathan, let the sign be Revelation; if with thy people, let the sign be Holiness. Thereupon Jonathan and Saul were convicted, and the people went clear.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	14	42	Then Saul bade them cast lots between himself and Jonathan, and the lot fell on Jonathan.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	14	43	Tell me, said Saul to Jonathan, what it is thou hast done. So Jonathan told him; Touch food I did, but what food? A little honey picked up on the end of the staff I carried, and for that I must die.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	14	44	And Saul answered, Due punishment the Lord give me, Jonathan, and more than due, if thy life is not forfeited!
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	14	45	But the people cried out to Saul, What, shall he die, Jonathan, who has won such a victory for Israel? As the Lord is a living God, that were great wrong. Never a hair shall fall from his head; this day he has done good service, God speeding him. So it was that the people, that day, saved Jonathan’s life.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	14	46	And Saul halted, not continuing his pursuit of the Philistines, who now went back to their own country.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	14	47	Once he was firmly established on the throne of Israel, Saul carried war into the territory of his enemies, Moab, Ammon, Edom, the kings of Soba, and the Philistines; and everywhere he won victories.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	14	48	He, too, it was that mustered an army and defeated Amalec, putting an end to their forays against Israel.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	14	49	Saul had three sons, Jonathan, Jessui and Melchisua, and two daughters, the elder called Merob and the younger Michol.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	14	50	His wife’s name was Achinoam, daughter to Achimaas. And he put his army under the command of his cousin Abner, son of Ner;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	14	51	like Cis, Saul’s father, Ner was son of Abiel.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	14	52	As long as Saul lived, there was bitter war against the Philistines, and wherever he found a brave man or a skilful fighter, Saul would attach him to his own person.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	15	1	But Samuel reminded Saul, It was the Lord that gave me commission to anoint thee king of his people Israel; to his voice thou must needs listen.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	15	2	And this is the message that comes to thee from the Lord of hosts: I have not forgotten how Amalec treated the Israelites, standing in their path when they were on the way here from Egypt.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	15	3	This, then, is thy errand, to destroy Amalec and all his domains, granting no pardon, coveting no plunder, but slaying man and woman, child and infant at the breast, camel and ass.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	15	4	Whereupon Saul summoned all his men to arms, and counted their muster as closely as a shepherd counts his lambs; two hundred thousand warriors, besides ten thousand from Juda.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	15	5	With these, Saul marched to Amalec’s capital, and laid an ambush in the ravine there;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	15	6	but first of all he warned the Cinites, Up, move your camping ground clear of the Amalecites; I would not involve you in their ruin; the men of Israel, on their way here from Egypt, had nothing but kindness from you. So the Cinites separated from Amalec,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	15	7	and Saul routed the Amalecites, driving them before him all the way from Hevila to Sur, on the confines of Egypt.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	15	8	He captured Agag, the Amalecite king, but although he put all the common folk to the sword,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	15	9	he and his army spared Agag; spared, too, the best of the flocks and herds, the choicest garments, the fattest rams; they would not destroy anything that was precious. All that was mean and worthless they destroyed readily enough.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	15	10	And the Lord’s word came to Samuel,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	15	11	I repent, now, of having made Saul king of Israel; he has played me false, and left my command unfulfilled. At this, Samuel was greatly moved, and all night long he pleaded with the Lord.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	15	12	At early dawn he rose up, resolved to find Saul that same morning; Saul, he was told, upon reaching the town of Carmel, had set up a monument there in his own honour, but had passed on now and made his way to Galgala. When Samuel reached it, he found Saul offering the Lord burnt-sacrifice, out of the first-fruits of the plunder taken from Amalec.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	15	13	The Lord’s blessing on thee, was Saul’s greeting to him; I have fulfilled the divine command.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	15	14	And this bleating of sheep, Samuel asked, that comes to my ears, this lowing of oxen that I hear?
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	15	15	Why, answered Saul, these are what they brought back from Amalec; my men saved the best out of flock and herd, to be offered in sacrifice to the Lord; all the rest we have destroyed.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	15	16	May I tell thee, asked Samuel, the message the Lord has given me in the night? and when Saul bade him speak out,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	15	17	he went on, It was little conceit thou hadst of thyself, when the tribes of Israel were committed to thy leadership. And the Lord anointed thee king of Israel,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	15	18	and sent thee on an errand; Up, he said, destroy the sinful men of Amalec, smiting them down till none is left.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	15	19	How is it thou didst not obey the Lord’s command? Why didst thou fall to plundering, in defiance of the Lord’s will?
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	15	20	Nay, protested Saul, obey the Lord I did; I went where the Lord’s errand took me, and brought back Agag, king of Amalec, in chains, and destroyed Amalec utterly.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	15	21	If my men carried off sheep and oxen, these were but first-fruits that were saved from the slaughter of all the rest, to be offered up to the Lord their God here in Galgala.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	15	22	What, said Samuel, thinkest thou the Lord’s favour can be won by offering him sacrifice and victim, instead of obeying his divine will? The Lord loves obedience better than any sacrifice, the attentive ear better than the fat of rams.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	15	23	Rebellion is sin as witchcraft is sin, all one with idolatry is the unsubmissive heart. Thou hast revoked thy loyalty to the Lord, and he thy kingship.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	15	24	Then Saul confessed to Samuel, I have sinned; I have transgressed the Lord’s will and thy command; I was afraid of my own people, and humoured their desire.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	15	25	Grant that sin forgiveness; let me have thy company, while I go back to pay the Lord worship.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	15	26	Nay, answered Samuel, thou shalt have no company of mine; the Lord has revoked thy kingship over Israel, since thou hast revoked thy loyalty to him.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	15	27	With that, Samuel turned to go, and the other caught him by the border of his cloak, which tore in his hand.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	15	28	This day, Samuel told him, the Lord has torn away the kingship of Israel from thee, and given it to another and a better man than thyself.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	15	29	He who wins victories for Israel does not spare, does not relent; not his to alter his purpose like mortal men.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	15	30	But Saul still pleaded with him, Guilty though I be, at least give me countenance before the elders of my people and before the men of Israel, by bearing me company as I go to worship.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	15	31	Thereupon Samuel turned back and went with him, and worship he did.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	15	32	Then Samuel would have Agag, king of Amalec, brought into his presence; and he was brought in, gross of body and trembling with fear; A bitter parting, said he, is this of death.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	15	33	But Samuel told him, Many a woman that sword of thine has made childless, and now a childless woman thy own mother shall be; and he cut Agag to pieces, there in the Lord’s presence at Galgala.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	15	34	So Samuel went back to Ramatha, and Saul to his home at Gabaa,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	15	35	nor did Samuel, long as he lived, meet Saul again. But ever he lamented over him, that the Lord should have made him king of Israel, and afterwards revoked his kingship.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	16	1	But now the Lord said to Samuel, What, still lamenting over Saul? I have cast him off; he is to be king of Israel no longer. Come, put oil in that phial of thine, and go on an errand for me to Jesse of Bethlehem; in one of his sons I have looked myself out a king.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	16	2	How can I undertake such a journey, asked Samuel, without Saul coming to hear of it, and killing me? Take a young bull with thee, the Lord answered, and make it known, I have come to offer the Lord sacrifice.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	16	3	To this sacrifice Jesse must be bidden; then I will reveal my will to thee, and thou shalt anoint the man I direct thee to anoint.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	16	4	Thereupon Samuel did as the Lord bade him; and when he reached Bethlehem, the elders of the city greeted him in alarm, asking whether his coming boded well for them.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	16	5	Yes, he told them, I have come to offer the Lord sacrifice. Rid yourselves of defilement, and join with me in offering it. And with that he hallowed Jesse and his sons, and bade them come to the sacrifice with the rest.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	16	6	As soon as they entered the house, his eye fell on Eliab, and he said, Here stands the Lord’s choice, in the Lord’s presence!
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	16	7	But the Lord warned Samuel, Have no eyes for noble mien or tall stature; I have passed this one by. Not where man’s glance falls, falls the Lord’s choice; men see but outward appearances, he reads the heart.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	16	8	Then Jesse called Abinadab, and brought him into Samuel’s presence; but, No, said he, this is not the Lord’s choice;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	16	9	then Samma, but he said, No, not this one either.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	16	10	Seven sons of his did Jesse thus present before Samuel, but none of these, he was told, had the Lord chosen.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	16	11	Then Samuel asked Jesse whether these were all, and he answered, One still remains, the youngest, herding the sheep. Send for him, answered Samuel; we must not sit down till he comes.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	16	12	And Jesse sent and fetched him, red-cheeked, fair of face, pleasant of mien. And now the Lord said, Up, anoint him; this is my choice.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	16	13	Whereupon Samuel took out the phial of oil and anointed him then and there in his brethren’s presence; and on him, on David, the spirit of the Lord came down, ever after that day. As for Samuel, he rose up and went home to Ramatha.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	16	14	Meanwhile the Lord’s spirit passed away from Saul; instead, at the Lord’s bidding, an evil mood came upon him that gave him no rest.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	16	15	God sends thee an ill mood, his servants told him, to disquiet thee.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	16	16	We are thy servants, waiting on our Lord’s bidding; shall we go and find some skilful player on the harp, to relieve thee, when God visits thee with this evil mood, by his music?
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	16	17	Yes, answered Saul, find one who can play the harp well, and bring him to me.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	16	18	And here one of his servants offered advice; Stay, I myself have met such a man, a skilful player indeed, a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite. He is sturdy besides, and a tried warrior, well-spoken and personable, and the Lord is with him.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	16	19	Thereupon a message went out from Saul to Jesse, There is a son of thine, David, that looks after thy sheep; send him to me.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	16	20	And Jesse loaded an ass with bread, and a flagon of wine, and a kid, and sent these by David as a present to Saul.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	16	21	Thus it was that David met Saul and entered his service; and became his armour-bearer, so well Saul loved him.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	16	22	Let David remain here in attendance on me, Saul told Jesse; I like him well.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	16	23	And whenever Saul was taken with this evil mood of his, David would fetch his harp, and play; whereupon Saul was comforted and felt easier, till at last the evil mood left him.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	17	1	And now the Philistines mustered their army for battle, and raised their standard at Socho, in Juda, encamping between Socho and Azeca, in the region of Dommim.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	17	2	Saul, too, mustered the Israelites, and they marched to the Valley of the Terebinth, where they drew up their array to meet the enemy;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	17	3	the Philistines held the mountain-slope on one side, and Israel on the other, with the valley between them.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	17	4	And the Philistines had a champion, a bastard born, that was called Goliath of Geth. His height was six cubits and a span;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	17	5	he wore a helmet of bronze and a breastplate of mail, this too made of bronze, and weighing five thousand sicles;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	17	6	greaves of bronze on his legs, and a shield of bronze to guard his shoulders.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	17	7	As for his spear, it had a shaft as big as a weaver’s beam, with an iron head that weighed six hundred sicles; and a man went before to carry his armour for him.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	17	8	Such a man confronted the ranks of Israel, crying out, What need to come here armed for battle? Here am I, a Philistine born; do you, that wear Saul’s livery, choose out one of yourselves to meet me in single combat.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	17	9	If he is a match for me, and can strike me down, we will accept your rule; if I have the mastery, and he falls, you shall accept Philistine rule, and become our subjects instead.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	17	10	Here and now, I set the host of Israel at defiance (said the Philistine); let them put forward a champion that will fight hand to hand with me.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	17	11	Terror fell upon Saul and all the men of Israel as they listened to the challenge, and their hearts failed them.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	17	12	Now turn we to David, son of that Ephrathite of whom we spoke but now. This man, Jesse of Bethlehem-Juda, was father of eight sons, and in Saul’s reign he was well on in years, and passed for an old man.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	17	13	Three of his sons, the eldest, had gone to the wars with king Saul; three warrior sons, the first-born Eliab, and Abinadab, and Samma.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	17	14	David was the youngest; and when his three eldest brothers went into Saul’s service,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	17	15	he left it, and must go home to tend his father’s flock at Bethlehem.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	17	16	When the Philistine had already been coming out from the ranks and confronting the Israelites for forty days together,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	17	17	it chanced that Jesse sent his son David on an errand. Here is a bushel of flour, said he, and ten loaves; take them with all speed to thy brethren in the camp;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	17	18	ay, and ten cheeses to be a present for their commander. Go and look for thy brethren, to see that all is well with them, and find out what their place is in the ranks.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	17	19	It was in the Valley of the Terebinth he must find them, where they were carrying arms with Saul and all the men of Israel;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	17	20	so David rose early, leaving a man in charge of the flock, and went off with his load, to do his father’s bidding. When he reached Magala, the army had raised its war-cry and gone out to fight;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	17	21	Israel was now marshalled for battle, and the Philistines awaited them.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	17	22	So David left all the gifts he had brought with him in the care of the baggage-master, and ran to the field of battle, to ask how his brethren fared.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	17	23	Even as he spoke, out came the champion of the Philistine cause, Goliath, the bastard of Geth; and David heard him repeat his customary challenge.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	17	24	All the men of Israel were shrinking away in terror from the sight of him;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	17	25	and the talk went round among them, Saw you this warrior that went by? He has challenged Israel; and great good fortune awaits the man who overcomes him. The king has promised such a man great riches, and his daughter’s hand in marriage, and for his father’s house, freedom from every tax levied in Israel.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	17	26	And now here was David asking, What reward is there for saving Israel’s honour, by overcoming the Philistines? What, shall an uncircumcised Philistine defy the armies of the living God?
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	17	27	So they repeated to him the tale of what the reward should be.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	17	28	When his elder brother Eliab overheard the talk, he turned upon David in anger; Why hast thou come here? he asked. Why must that sorry flock of thine go astray in the desert? This is thy old self-conceit, thy old cunning; thou hast come here only to watch the battle!
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	17	29	Why, what wrong have I done? David asked. Is there not matter here for questioning?
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	17	30	Then, passing on a little beyond him, he spoke to another man, using the same words, and folk gave him the same answer as before.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	17	31	What David had said was soon noised abroad, till it came to the ears of Saul;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	17	32	and he was summoned ere long into Saul’s presence. There is nothing here, he said, to daunt any man’s spirits; I, my lord, will go and do battle with the Philistine.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	17	33	What, answered Saul, thou meet the Philistine and engage him in battle? Why, thou art only a boy, and this is a man trained to arms from his youth.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	17	34	But David told Saul, My lord, I used to feed my father’s flock; and if lion or bear came and carried off one of my rams,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	17	35	I would go in pursuit, and get the mastery, and snatch the prey from their jaws. Did they threaten me, I would catch them by the throat and strangle them; that was my way of killing them.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	17	36	Lion or bear, my lord, I would slay them, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall have no better lot than theirs. Let me go out and save the honour of Israel; shall an uncircumcised Philistine defy the army of the living God?
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	17	37	The Lord, said David, who protected me against lion and bear, will protect me against this Philistine. Why then, said Saul, go, and the Lord be with thee.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	17	38	Then he made David wear his own armour, put a helmet of bronze on his head, and a breastplate round him;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	17	39	and David, as he girded on a sword over his armour, tried whether he had strength to walk in this unwonted array. Nay, he told Saul, I cannot walk, so clad; it was never my wont. So he disarmed,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	17	40	and took nothing but the staff he ever carried, and five smooth stones, which he picked out from the river-bed and put in his shepherd’s wallet, and a sling in his hand; and so he went out to meet the Philistine.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	17	41	The Philistine, with his armour-bearer going before him, came ever nearer on his way,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	17	42	and looked at David with contempt; here was a boy, red-cheeked and fair of face.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	17	43	What, he asked, dost thou take me for a dog, that thou comest to meet me with a staff? And he cursed David in the name of his gods.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	17	44	Come close, he said; let me give thy carrion to bird and beast.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	17	45	Nay, said David, though thou comest with sword and spear and shield to meet me, meet thee I will, in the name of the Lord of hosts; in the name of that God who fights for the armies of Israel.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	17	46	Thou hast defied them this day, and this day the Lord will give me the mastery; I will strike thee down, and cut off thy head. I will feed bird and beast with the corpses of Philistine warriors, and prove to all the world that Israel has a God;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	17	47	prove to all who stand about us that the Lord sends victory without the help of sword or spear. God rules the battle; he will put you at our mercy.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	17	48	By now, the Philistine had bestirred himself, and was coming on to attack David at close quarters; so, without more ado, David ran towards the enemy’s lines, to meet him.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	17	49	He felt in his wallet, took out one of the stones, and shot it from his sling, with a whirl so dexterous that it struck Goliath on his forehead; deep in his forehead the stone buried itself, and he fell, face downwards, to the earth.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	17	50	Thus David overcame the Philistine with sling and stone, smote and slew him. No sword he bore of his own,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	17	51	but he ran up and took the Philistine’s own sword from its sheath, where he lay, and with this slew him, cutting off his head. And now, seeing their champion dead, the Philistines betook themselves to flight;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	17	52	while the men of Israel and of Juda rose up with a cry, and gave chase till they reached the low ground, and the very gates of Accaron; all the way to Geth and Accaron, along the road to Saraim, Philistines lay dying of their wounds.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	17	53	At last the men of Israel returned from their pursuit, and fell to plundering the Philistine camp.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	17	54	As for David, he brought Goliath’s head back with him to Jerusalem, and laid up the armour in his tent.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	17	55	Saul, as he watched him going out to meet the Philistine, had asked the commander of his men, Abner, from what stock this boy came. On thy life, my lord, said Abner, I cannot tell.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	17	56	So the king bade him find out who the boy’s father was;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	17	57	and David fresh from his victory, was taken by Abner into Saul’s presence, still carrying the Philistine’s head with him.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	17	58	And when Saul asked of his lineage, David told him, I am the son of thy servant Jesse, the Bethlehemite.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	18	1	By the time he had finished speaking with Saul, David’s heart was knit to the heart of Jonathan by a close bond, and Jonathan loved David thenceforward as dearly as his own life.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	18	2	It was then that Saul took David into his service, and would not allow him to go back home;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	18	3	and Jonathan, loving him dearly as his own life, made a covenant of friendship with David,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	18	4	took off his robe and all his gear, even to sword and bow and belt, and gave them to David to wear.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	18	5	This way and that David went at Saul’s bidding, and his skill never failed him; when Saul put him at the head of his army, he earned the good will of the whole people, and of Saul’s servants above the rest.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	18	6	But when David returned from slaying the Philistine, the women who came out from every part of Israel to meet Saul, singing and dancing merrily with tambour and cymbal,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	18	7	matched their music with the refrain, By Saul’s hand a thousand, by David’s ten thousand fell.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	18	8	And at this Saul was much displeased; it was no song to win his favour. What, he said, ten thousand for David, and but a thousand for me? What lies now between him and the kingship?
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	18	9	So ever after, Saul eyed him askance.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	18	10	Next day, the evil mood had come upon Saul, divinely sent, and a frenzy took him, there in his house; David was playing, as he ever did, upon the harp, and Saul, who had a lance in his hand,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	18	11	threw it at him, thinking to pin David to the wall. Twice David must needs flee from his presence, thus threatened.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	18	12	Saul, then, began to fear David, as the heir to that divine favour he had lost;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	18	13	to remove him from his person, he gave him command of a thousand warriors, so that he must take the field at the head of his men.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	18	14	David’s skill never failed him in his enterprises, and the Lord was ever at his side;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	18	15	and Saul, seeing how well he prospered, began to be afraid of him;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	18	16	he was in high favour, too, with the men of Israel and Juda, marching out to battle at their head.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	18	17	Saul, therefore, promised him the hand of his elder daughter, Merob, in marriage, if he would play a man’s part in fighting the Lord’s battles; No need for me to touch him, Saul thought to himself, let the Philistines rid me of him.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	18	18	Why, David answered, who am I, what rank have I, what place does my father’s kindred hold in Israel, that I should become the king’s son-in-law?
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	18	19	And sure enough, when the time came that David should have wedded Saul’s daughter Merob, her hand was given to Hadriel the Molathite instead.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	18	20	Meanwhile, David had fallen in love with his younger daughter, Michol; and Saul was well pleased when he heard of it.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	18	21	I will promise her, thought Saul, in such a way as to entrap him; the Philistines shall rid me of him. And he told David, I have a second condition for thee to fulfil, and thereupon thou shalt have my daughter.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	18	22	Meanwhile, Saul had bidden his servants encourage David, when he himself was not by, telling him what favour the king, what love the king’s servants bore him; it was time he became the king’s son-in-law.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	18	23	But when they whispered these hopes to him, David said, Think you such a prize is won easily, when a man has neither purse nor station?
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	18	24	When his servants came back to him with the news that David had answered thus,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	18	25	Saul bade them tell David, The king claims no bridal gifts, if thou wilt bring him the foreskins of a hundred Philistines, to give him a royal revenge on his enemies. In this way, Saul thought to betray David into the power of the Philistines;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	18	26	but when they told him what their master had said, David was well pleased to win the king’s daughter so.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	18	27	A few days afterwards, he set out with the men under his command, slew two hundred Philistines, and brought back their foreskins, which he counted out before the king as the price of his bride. And now Saul must give David his daughter Michol’s hand.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	18	28	That the Lord was with David, Saul could tell beyond doubt, and here was his daughter Michol David’s loving wife;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	18	29	more than ever Saul grew afraid of him, and remained thenceforward his enemy.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	18	30	Meanwhile, the Philistine chiefs came out to battle; David, from the time when their attacks began, shewed greater skill than all the rest of Saul’s officers, and his name was in high renown.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	19	1	Once, Saul gave the word to Jonathan and to all his servants that they must put David to death. But Saul’s son Jonathan, who loved David well,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	19	2	told him of the design; My father Saul, he said, means thy death; be on the watch tomorrow, keep apart, and hide thyself.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	19	3	Out in the open fields, close to thy hiding-place, I will stand talking to my father and will speak to him of thee; and afterwards I will tell thee what I have learned.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	19	4	So Jonathan pleaded David’s cause with his father Saul; Do no wrong he said, to thy servant David, that has done thee no wrong, but is much thy benefactor.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	19	5	Did he not put his life in peril, that day when he slew the Philistine, and the Lord gave the whole army of Israel a great victory? Thou wast there to see it, and rejoice at it; and wilt thou bring on thyself the guilt of blood wrongfully shed, by slaying David, who is innocent of fault?
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	19	6	Saul listened to the plea of Jonathan, and relented; As the Lord is a living God, said he, no harm shall befall him.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	19	7	So Jonathan called to David, and told him all that had passed; then he brought him back into Saul’s presence, where he remained as he had been ever wont.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	19	8	And when war broke out afresh, David went into battle against the Philistines, and won a great victory, putting them to rout.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	19	9	One day, Saul was sitting in his house, lance in hand, with the evil spirit upon him, divinely sent; and David was playing the harp before him.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	19	10	He tried to pin David to the wall, and David escaped from his presence, while the lance stuck in the wall, baulked of its aim. That night, David fled for his life;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	19	11	Saul had sent armed men to his house to make sure of him, for on the morrow he must die. But Michol, David’s wife, warned him that death awaited him next day if he did not escape then and there,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	19	12	and let him down from a window. So David made good his escape that night;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	19	13	meanwhile, Michol brought out a sacred image and laid it in his bed, with goat’s hair at its head, and coverlets wrapped about it;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	19	14	when Saul’s pursuivants came to fetch David, they were told that he lay sick.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	19	15	But now they were sent back again to find David and bring him with them, bed and all, to die in Saul’s presence;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	19	16	so they found, when they came in, an image lying on the bed, with goat’s hair at the head of it.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	19	17	What is this trick thou hast played on me, Saul asked, helping my enemy to escape? Why, answered Michol, he threatened to kill me if I did not let him go.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	19	18	So David reached safety, and went to Ramatha to find Samuel, and tell him of Saul’s doings; and they retired, both of them, to live at the Naioth.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	19	19	Saul, when he heard from common report that David was there at Ramatha, in the Naioth,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	19	20	sent pursuivants there to seize him. But all they found was a company of prophets standing there in ecstasy, with Samuel, their leader, at their head; and with that, the spirit of the Lord fell on the pursuivants, and they were carried away in ecstasy like the rest.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	19	21	When Saul heard the news, and sent fresh messengers, these too fell into ecstasy, and the like happened when he sent a third time; so, in high displeasure,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	19	22	Saul took the road for Ramatha himself. When he reached the Great Well at Socho, he asked where Samuel and David were, and was told they were at the Naioth in Ramatha,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	19	23	so to the Naioth in Ramatha he went; and on him, too, the spirit of the Lord fell as he journeyed. Still in ecstasy he made his way to the Naioth in Ramatha,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	19	24	where he stripped off his garments and stood before Samuel in ecstasy with the rest; all that day and that night he lay on the ground naked. And so the proverb went abroad, Has Saul, too, turned prophet?
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	20	1	David meanwhile escaped from the Naioth at Ramatha, and came back to have speech with Jonathan. What is it I have done? he asked. For what wrong, what fault of mine does thy father threaten my life?
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	20	2	Nay, said he, never that; thy life is safe enough. My father does nothing, of much moment or of little, without telling me first; why should he have kept this one design dark? It cannot be.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	20	3	And once again he swore friendship. But David said, Thy father knows well enough what favour I enjoy with thee, and he thinks to himself, Jonathan must not know; this were great grief to him. But, as the Lord is a living God, and thy soul a living soul, there is but a step between me and death.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	20	4	Then, said Jonathan, make known thy will, and I will perform it.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	20	5	Tomorrow, David answered, is the first day of the month, and custom will have it that I should sit next to the king at table. Bear with me if I hide in the open fields, instead, till that day and the next are over;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	20	6	and if thy father looks about him and misses me, tell him that David asked leave of thee to go home on a sudden to Bethlehem, where all his clan are holding their yearly sacrifice.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	20	7	If he is content, all is well with me; if he falls into a rage, be sure that he is bent on doing me harm.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	20	8	I am thy servant, and thou hast made me swear a covenant of friendship with thee before the Lord; do me, then, this kindness. And if I am guilty of any fault, do thou thyself slay me, without seeking to reconcile me with thy father.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	20	9	God forbid! said Jonathan. If I find out that my father is bent on doing thee harm, nothing shall prevent me from telling thee of it.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	20	10	And now, said David, if thy father gives thee a rough answer, who is to bring me news of it?
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	20	11	Come out with me, said Jonathan; let us walk together in the open fields. And when they were together in the open,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	20	12	he said to David, Let the Lord God of Israel be my witness, if I sound my father to-morrow or next day, and hear good news of David, I will send a messenger to give thee the news;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	20	13	if not, may the Lord punish Jonathan as he deserves, and more than he deserves! But if my father is still bent on thy harm, then I myself will bring it to thy ear, and send thee on thy way unharmed; and the Lord be with thee, as he was once with my father.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	20	14	While I live, shew me friendship in the Lord’s name, and when I die,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	20	15	let time never diminish thy friendship for my race. May the Lord, as he roots out David’s enemies, one by one, from the land that knew them, leave out Jonathan’s name from the list of his kindred; only on David’s enemies let his vengeance fall!
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	20	16	Thus did Jonathan make a covenant with the line of David, and the Lord’s vengeance fell only on David’s enemies.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	20	17	And Jonathan swore a fresh oath to David, so dearly he loved him, dearly as his own life.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	20	18	Then Jonathan said, Since it is the first day of the month to-morrow, thou wilt be missed;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	20	19	thy place will be empty then and the day after. Make quickly, then, for the valley, and hide thyself; thou must needs be in hiding that third day, when men can go about their work again. Wait, then, near the rock called Ezel;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	20	20	and I will come and shoot three arrows close to it, letting fly as if I were shooting at a mark.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	20	21	Then I will send a servant after them, bidding him go and fetch my arrows.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	20	22	If I tell him the arrows are on the near side of him, he has only to go and pick them up, then do thou come out to me; it means, as the Lord is a living God, that all is well and no harm is meant thee. If I tell him the arrows are beyond him, then depart, and peace be with thee; the Lord will have thee go.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	20	23	And as for the promises we have exchanged, may the Lord be arbiter for ever between me and thee.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	20	24	So David went and hid, out in the fields, and the new month came, and the king sat down to meat.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	20	25	He sat, as was his wont, on a seat close to the wall; Jonathan was standing there, and Abner took his place next to Saul, but David’s was seen to be empty.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	20	26	That day, Saul said nothing of it; perhaps David had incurred some defilement, and had not yet been cleansed.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	20	27	But when the next day dawned after the new moon, and David’s place was empty still, Saul asked Jonathan why the son of Jesse had not sat down to meat that day or the day before.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	20	28	He urged me, answered Jonathan, to let him go to Bethlehem.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	20	29	Pray give me leave, said he; a yearly sacrifice is being offered in the city, and one of my brothers has summoned me there. Do me the favour, then, to let me go with all speed and visit my brethren.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	20	30	At this, Saul fell into a rage with Jonathan; What, cried he, thou son of a lecherous wife, dost thou think I have not marked how thou lovest this son of Jesse, to thy own undoing and hers, the shameful mother that bore thee?
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	20	31	Never, while the son of Jesse is left alive on earth, will thy right to the throne be established. Send and bring him to me, here and now; he is a dead man.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	20	32	And why must he die? Jonathan asked of his father. What wrong has he done?
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	20	33	Thereupon Saul caught up a lance as if to kill him; and Jonathan saw his father was determined upon David’s death;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	20	34	so he rose from table in hot anger, and that second day of the month no food crossed his lips, so grieved was he, for David’s sake, by his father’s insults.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	20	35	When day dawned, Jonathan went afield to keep his tryst with David, taking with him a boy that was his servant.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	20	36	Go and pick up the arrows I shoot, he told him, and bring them back to me. Then, as the boy ran for the first, he shot a second arrow beyond him;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	20	37	and when he reached the place where the first fell, Jonathan cried out after him, There is an arrow there beyond thee.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	20	38	And now he called out after him, Make haste, do not linger where thou art. So the boy gathered up Jonathan’s arrows, and brought them to his master;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	20	39	but of the business that was toward, he knew nothing; only Jonathan and David knew that.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	20	40	And now Jonathan handed the boy his weapons, and said, Take them back with thee to the city.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	20	41	When the servant had gone, David rose up from his hiding-place, that gave upon the south country; he bowed his face to the earth, and three times did reverence, and then they kissed one another and wept together; there was no staunching David’s tears.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	20	42	Go, said Jonathan, and peace go with thee. That, and the oath we have sworn in the Lord’s name, making him the arbiter between me and thee, between my posterity and thine, for ever!
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	20	43	So David set out on his journey, and Jonathan made his way back to the city.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	21	1	It was to the priest Achimelech, at Nobe, that David betook himself. Achimelech was dismayed at his coming; Why art thou alone, he asked, with none to attend thee?
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	21	2	The king, David told him, has given me a task to perform, but errand and instructions are both secret; and he has given me a trysting-place where I am to meet my companions.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	21	3	Hast thou food for them ready to hand, though it were but five loaves? Let me have what thou canst afford.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	21	4	Why, answered the priest, never a loaf have I here for common uses; there is only the holy bread. Are they free from defilement, these followers of thine, from the touch of woman, at least?
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	21	5	As to women, David told the priest, we are as clean as when we set out a day or two back; and the packs the men carry are as clean as themselves. This is no holy errand of ours, but it will not bring any defilement, to-day, upon aught we carry with us.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	21	6	So the priest gave him hallowed bread, since he had nothing but the loaves which had been set out in the Lord’s presence, and must now be taken away to make room for a new batch.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	21	7	One of Saul’s servants was there that day, waiting in the Lord’s precincts, a man of Edom called Doeg, chief of Saul’s shepherds.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	21	8	And now David said to Achimelech, Hast thou a sword or spear here for me? My sword and all my weapons I left behind, so urgent was the royal command.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	21	9	Yes, answered the priest, there is the sword of the Philistine, Goliath, whom thou didst slay in the Valley of the Terebinth. Wrapped in a cloth it lies, behind the sacred mantle. If thou wilt take that, take it; there is none other but that. And there is none other like that, said David; give it me.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	21	10	David set out the same day, to find refuge from Saul’s pursuit, and betook himself to Achis, king of Geth.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	21	11	And at the sight of him, Achis’ men said to their master, Why, is not this David, a king in his own land? Was it not in his honour their dancers used to sing, By Saul’s hand a thousand, by David’s ten thousand fell?
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	21	12	David marked their words well, and now he went in fear of Achis king of Geth.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	21	13	So he changed his mien when they were by, swooning in their hands and clinging to the door-posts and letting the spittle fall on his beard,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	21	14	till Achis told his men, Why, this is a madman you have found; why must you bring him into my presence?
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	21	15	Have we not fools enough, that you bring this fellow in to let me watch his antics? Is this the man you would have me take into my house?
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	22	1	Afterwards David moved on, and took refuge in the cave of Odollam. His brethren and all his father’s kindred followed him there;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	22	2	and soon a band of men gathered about him, the ill-used, the debtors, the disaffected, and David became their leader, so that he had some four hundred men at his heels.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	22	3	From Odollam, he went on to Maspha, in the domains of Moab, and asked the king of Moab to let his father and mother dwell there, until they should find out what fortune the Lord meant to send him;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	22	4	under the protection of the Moabite king they were left there, and remained with him all the time David was in the hills.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	22	5	But the prophet Gad bade him leave his hill-fastness and make his way back to the domain of Juda; so he moved on, and betook himself to the forest of Haret.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	22	6	When the news reached Saul that David and his followers had come into view, Saul was dwelling at Gabaa, and held his court, spear in hand, in the wood of Rama.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	22	7	Listen, men of Jemini, he said to his vassals who stood there at his side, do you think the son of Jesse is like to give all of you lands and vineyards, make all of you chiefs and captains under him?
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	22	8	How is it that you are all in conspiracy against me, and none of you will tell me the truth, even when my own son is in league with the son of Jesse? Is there none of you that will feel my wrongs, and bring me news of it when my own son encourages my own servant in disaffection, a man that has ever plotted against me, and plots against me still?
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	22	9	And the answer came from Doeg, the man of Edom, who was chief among Saul’s servants. I was by, he said, at Nobe, when the son of Jesse was there with the priest Achimelech, son of Achitob,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	22	10	who consulted the Lord for him, and gave him food for his journey; armed him, too, with the sword of Goliath the Philistine.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	22	11	Thereupon the king sent out his summons to the high priest Achimelech, son of Achitob, and all his priestly kindred at Nobe, and they all came into his presence.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	22	12	Listen, son of Achitob, Saul began, and Achimelech answered, I am here, my lord, at thy command.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	22	13	Why hast thou conspired against me, asked Saul, with the son of Jesse? Why didst thou give him bread, and a sword, and consult the Lord in his behalf, to help him in his rebellion, a man that has ever plotted against me, and plots against me still?
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	22	14	Why, my lord, answered Achimelech, what servant of thine was ever so trusted as David, a king’s son-in-law; one who ever goes on thy errands, and fills so high a place in thy household?
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	22	15	This was not the first time I had consulted the Lord for him. God forbid, my lord king, that either I, thy servant, or any of my kindred should be brought under any such suspicion! Nay, I knew nothing of this business from first to last.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	22	16	And the king said, Achimelech, thou must die for it; thou and all thy kindred;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	22	17	then he bade his retainers, that stood about him, set to and kill the Lord’s priests, men who had helped David by being privy to his flight and giving no tidings of it. But the king’s retainers were afraid to lay hands on the priests of the Lord;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	22	18	so the king bade Doeg set to, and fall upon the priests. Fall upon them he did, Doeg the man of Edom, and slew that day eighty men that wore the linen mantle.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	22	19	Nobe, too, the city of the priests, the king put to the sword; man and woman, child and infant, ox and ass and sheep, all put to the sword.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	22	20	There was only one descendant of Achimelech, son of Achitob, that escaped; his name was Abiathar, and he took refuge with David,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	22	21	bringing him the news that Saul had killed all the Lord’s priests.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	22	22	I knew well, David told him, when I found Doeg the Edomite there that day, that he would not fail to tell Saul of it. I am answerable for the slaughter of all thy kinsmen.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	22	23	Stay with me here, and fear nothing; my enemies are thine, and here thou wilt be in safety.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	23	1	News was brought to David that the Philistines were attacking Ceila, and plundering its threshing-floors.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	23	2	So he consulted the Lord, asking whether he should go and attack these Philistines; and the Lord answered, attack them he should, and bring the townspeople relief.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	23	3	But David’s followers protested, Here are we going in fear of our lives, even on the soil of Juda; and wouldst thou have us make our way to Ceila, and fight the army of the Philistines?
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	23	4	So David consulted the Lord again, and still the Lord said, Up, and to Ceila betake thee; I will give thee victory over the Philistines.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	23	5	So David and his men marched there and made war on the Philistines, driving off their cattle; he defeated them with great loss, and the town was rid of them.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	23	6	(It was here that Abiathar, son of Achimelech, took refuge with David; and he came bringing the sacred mantle with him.)
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	23	7	When news reached Saul that David had gone to Ceila, he thought, The Lord has put him at my mercy; he is shut in, now, by the barred gates of a city.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	23	8	And he bade his whole army march down there and lay siege to David and his men;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	23	9	but David, hearing of the secret plans that were being made for his hurt, would have Abiathar consult the sacred mantle.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	23	10	Lord God of Israel, was David’s prayer, news has reached me that Saul is on his way to Ceila, to destroy the city that shelters me;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	23	11	what if the townspeople should hand me over to him? Tell me, Lord God of Israel, is the report true that Saul is on his way down? It is true, the Lord answered.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	23	12	Then David asked, Will the townspeople betray me and my companions into Saul’s hands? And the Lord answered, They will.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	23	13	So David and his men, about six hundred strong, left Ceila and went back to their wandering life; and Saul, hearing that David had made good his escape from the town, said no more about his purposed attack.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	23	14	After this, David must keep to desert fastnesses, and he made his home among the wooded hills in the wilderness of Ziph; and evermore Saul made search for him, but the Lord disappointed him of his prey.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	23	15	David lay close in the woods of Ziph, well knowing that Saul was bent on taking his life.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	23	16	And now Saul’s son Jonathan ventured out, and visited him there in the woods, to bid him God-speed;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	23	17	Have no fear, said he, my father Saul will never find thee. Thou art destined to reign over Israel, and I to take the second place; my father Saul knows well that so it must be.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	23	18	So they made a covenant between them, there in the Lord’s presence; and David lay close in the woods, while Jonathan went home again.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	23	19	Meantime the men of Ziph betook themselves to Saul at Gabaa, and said to him, We have news of David for thee; he lies hidden in a forest stronghold on the slopes of Hachila, south of the desert.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	23	20	Come, then, where thou mayest have thy dearest wish; we will undertake to hand him over to the royal custody.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	23	21	The Lord’s blessing on you! answered Saul; here are men that feel for my wrongs.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	23	22	Go and make your preparations carefully; take good heed to enquire where he has halted on his march and who has seen him there; he knows well enough that a skilful hunter is on his track.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	23	23	Keep watch, and note all the lairs he lurks in; then come back to me with sure news, and I will go with you. Let him go to ground as he will, I will hunt him out among all the multitudes of Juda!
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	23	24	So they went back to Ziph to prepare the way for Saul, and found that David and his men were in the desert of Maon, on the low ground south of Jesimon.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	23	25	When Saul and his followers came in pursuit, David had news of it, and took refuge in a rock-fastness, haunting still the desert of Maon; and through the desert of Maon Saul went in pursuit of him, learning that he was to be found there.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	23	26	At last a time came when Saul was traversing one side of a mountain, while David and his men were on the opposite side. David had lost hope of slipping through Saul’s hands, now that Saul’s men had encircled his, ready to cut them off.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	23	27	But a message reached Saul, Come with all speed; the Philistines have invaded the land.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	23	28	Whereupon Saul must needs give up his pursuit of David, and go back to meet the Philistines. That is how the place came by the name it bears, the Sundering Rock.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	24	1	Then David withdrew, and made the fastness of Engaddi his home.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	24	2	So, when Saul returned from driving the Philistines away, word was brought to him, David is over yonder, in the desert of Engaddi;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	24	3	and with three thousand picked men from the Israelite ranks he went to hunt out David and his followers, though it were among rocks so steep that only the wild goats could find a footing.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	24	4	Close by some sheep-folds that met him on his way, there was a cave, into which Saul went to ease himself; and in the inner part of this same cave, David and his men lay hidden.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	24	5	Now, David’s servants told him, the time has come which the Lord foretold to thee, when he promised he would put thy enemy at thy mercy. Whereupon David rose to his feet, and silently cut off the skirt of Saul’s cloak.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	24	6	Then his heart smote him, that he had even mutilated Saul’s cloak;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	24	7	God be merciful to me, said he to his men, never may I do such despite to the Lord’s unction, as to lay hands on the king he has anointed!
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	24	8	So, with a word, he checked his men, and would not let them do Saul any violence.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	24	9	When Saul left the cave, to go forward on his march, David followed him; he too left the cave, crying out after him, My lord king! And when Saul looked behind him, there was David bowing to the earth in reverence.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	24	10	Why wouldst thou lend an ear, David asked him, to such as tell thee David is thy enemy?
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	24	11	Thou canst see with thy own eyes that the Lord put thee at my mercy, yonder in the cave, and the thought came to me that I might kill thee. But no, I looked down and spared thee; Never will I lift a hand, thought I, against the king the Lord has anointed.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	24	12	Do but look, my father, on what I hold in my hand; dost thou recognize the skirt of thy cloak? The skirt of thy cloak I cut off; kill thee I would not. Think on this, and tell thyself that there was never despite or wrong on my part, never a fault committed against thee; it is thou that art plotting against me, ready to compass my death.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	24	13	The Lord pass sentence between us; it is for the Lord to avenge me on thee; this hand shall never be lifted against thee.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	24	14	(So the old proverb says, Leave wrong to the wrong-doer, my hand shall not touch thee.) A fine quarry thou huntest, king of Israel,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	24	15	a fine quarry indeed! A dead dog, a flea, is all thy quest.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	24	16	The Lord give sentence between us; the Lord witness and redress my wrongs, and rescue me from thy power.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	24	17	All this David said to him, and then Saul asked, Is it thy voice I hear, my son David? and wept aloud.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	24	18	Thou givest better measure, he said, than I; thou returnest good for evil, and I evil for good.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	24	19	And thou hast shewn thyself a true friend this day, sparing my life when the Lord had put it at thy mercy;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	24	20	should a man meet his enemy, and let him go unharmed? The Lord reward thee for this day’s kindness.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	24	21	This I know past all doubt, that one day thou wilt be king, and have this realm of Israel in thy power;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	24	22	swear to me in the Lord’s name that thou wilt not destroy the posterity which survives me, wilt not leave my name forgotten in the record of my father’s race.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	24	23	So David bound himself to Saul by oath, and Saul went home, while David and his followers returned to their hill-fastness.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	25	1	And now the Israelites must bewail the death of Samuel; all gathered with one accord and gave him burial at Ramatha, his home. Afterwards, David betook himself to the wilderness of Pharan.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	25	2	There was a man who lived in the desert of Maon, and had lands at Carmel, a very rich man, owning three thousand sheep and a thousand goats; it happened just then that he was shearing his flocks at Carmel.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	25	3	Nabal was his name, and he had a wife called Abigail, that was a woman of good sense and of great beauty; but this husband of hers, descended from Caleb, was a churlish fellow, wicked and spiteful in all his dealings.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	25	4	When news came to David, there in the desert, that Nabal was at his shearing,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	25	5	he sent ten of his men to Carmel, to find Nabal and wish him well in David’s name.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	25	6	And they were to bear this message: My brethren wish thee well, and thy kindred too, and all that is thine.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	25	7	News has come to me that they are shearing, those herdsmen of thine whom we met out in the desert; all the time we were at Carmel, we left them unmolested, and never a beast was missing from their herds;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	25	8	ask thy men, and they will assure thee of it. My servants come at an auspicious time; look kindly on their request, and send such a present as thou canst best afford to thy servants here, and thy son David.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	25	9	So David’s men went on their errand, gave him the message in David’s name, and waited for his answer.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	25	10	From David? said he. From the son of Jesse? There is no lack, in these days, of slaves that run away from their masters.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	25	11	Tell him that bread of mine and water of mine and the meat I kill are for my shearers here, not for strangers that have sprung up I know not whence.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	25	12	So David’s men must make their way home again, and bring him his answer.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	25	13	Whereupon he bade all his followers gird on their swords. Gird themselves they did, and so did he; some four hundred men went with him, and the other two hundred were left to guard the baggage.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	25	14	Meanwhile Abigail, Nabal’s wife, had been warned by one of the servants, Some messengers came here, sent by David from the desert to greet our master, and he has turned them away.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	25	15	And yet these men were good friends to us, leaving us ever unmolested; loss had we none all the time they were with us in the desert;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	25	16	nay, they were a protection to us, night and day, while we pastured our flocks among them.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	25	17	Take thought, then, and resolve what thou wilt do; thy husband and thy house are marked down for vengeance, and he is so cross-grained a man that there is no reasoning with him.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	25	18	Abigail wasted no time; she brought out two hundred loaves, two skins of wine, five rams ready cooked, five pecks of flour, a hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of dried figs; all these she loaded on asses,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	25	19	and bade the drivers go on before; she herself would follow. But she said no word of this to her husband Nabal.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	25	20	She had mounted her ass, and was now at the bottom of the valley, when she saw David and his men coming down towards her; and she went to meet them.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	25	21	And still, as he came, David uttered threats; It was a thankless care of mine to protect all this man’s goods, out in the desert, so that he never felt loss; it is an ill return he makes me for such a service.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	25	22	God grant David’s enemies all they desire and more than they desire, if I let any male in this man’s house live till morning!
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	25	23	But Abigail no sooner met David than she dismounted from her ass and fell down before him, her face bowed to earth,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	25	24	and said, kneeling at his feet, For this fault, my lord, let me bear the blame! Listen to thy handmaid, that craves audience of thee.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	25	25	My lord, pay no heed to this cross-grained fellow Nabal, a fool in nature as in name; I myself saw nothing of the men that came from thee.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	25	26	Oh, then, as thou art a living man, and the Lord is a living God, the Lord who has restrained thee from deeds of blood and kept thy hands clean, (may all my Lord’s enemies and ill-wishers be as ill-advised as Nabal!),
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	25	27	I entreat thee to accept this offering I have brought thee, as a handmaid to her master; share it, my lord, with thy followers.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	25	28	And so let the fault of thy handmaid be forgiven! Sure it is the Lord means to grant thee abiding posterity, so well, my lord, dost thou fight his battles; and never may ill fortune attend thee, long as thou livest!
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	25	29	Rise up who may to wrong thee and plot against thee, yet shall that soul of thine be in safe keeping with the Lord thy God, stored up in his casket of life; it is the souls of thy enemies he shall cast away, as from the whirling heart of a sling.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	25	30	Why then, when the Lord has granted thee all his promised blessings, and made thee master of Israel,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	25	31	let there be no sigh of remorse in my Lord’s heart, at the memory of innocent blood shed, or vengeance cruelly taken! Rather, when the Lord has so blessed thee, mayest thou think gratefully of me, thy handmaid.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	25	32	And David said to her, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel! A blessing, too, on these words of thine,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	25	33	and on thyself, who hast prevented me this day from going on a bloody errand, using violence to avenge my wrongs!
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	25	34	Nay, as the Lord is a living God, the Lord who has preserved me from doing thee hurt, if thou hadst not come to meet me thus early, never a male in Nabal’s house should have lived till morning.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	25	35	So David accepted all the gifts she brought him; Go home in peace, he said to her; thy prayer is granted, thy suit has prospered.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	25	36	So she went home to Nabal, and found him feasting royally. His heart was merry, for he had drunk deep; and she said no word to him, of little import, or great, till morning.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	25	37	But in the morning, when he had slept away his carouse, his wife told him of all that had passed, and his heart went dead within him, cold as a stone;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	25	38	and when ten days had passed, the Lord struck Nabal down, and he died.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	25	39	When David heard of his death, he said, Blessed be the Lord, that has given me redress for Nabal’s ill usage of me, keeping his servant clear of wrong, and himself punishing Nabal’s spite! Then he sent a message to Abigail, offering her marriage.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	25	40	And when David’s messengers reached her at Carmel, and told her David had sent them on this errand,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	25	41	she rose up, and bowed down to earth; Let thy handmaid be a waiting-woman, she said, to wash the feet of my Lord’s retainers!
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	25	42	Then, without more ado, Abigail mounted her ass, took five maidens with her to wait on her needs, and went with David’s messengers; and so he made her his wife.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	25	43	He wedded Achinoam, too, from Jezrahel; both of these were wives to David.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	25	44	But as for Michol, that had been his wife once, her father Saul gave her in marriage to Phalti, son of Lais, a man of Gallim.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	26	1	When the men of Ziph brought news to Saul in Gabaa that David was in hiding on the slopes of Hachila, that look out towards the desert,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	26	2	he set out with three thousand picked men from the ranks of Israel, and made his way to the desert of Ziph, to search for David there.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	26	3	On the slopes of Hachila Saul encamped; David, meanwhile, who was out in the desert, knowing that Saul meant to follow him there,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	26	4	had sent men to watch his movements, and it was Hachila they reported as Saul’s halting-place.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	26	5	Then David himself went on a secret journey, and made his way to the spot; looked down at the place where Saul lay, where Abner lay, the commander of his army, and the very tent in which Saul slept, with all the rest of his men camped about him.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	26	6	Thereupon David said to his companions, Achimelech the man of Heth, and Abisai, Sarvia’s son, that was brother to Joab, Which of you comes down with me to the camp where Saul lies? And Abisai said, I will bear thee company.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	26	7	So, at dead of night, David and Abisai passed through into the Israelite lines, and found Saul asleep in his tent, with his spear driven into the ground by his pillow; all around him, Abner and the rest of his army lay sleeping too.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	26	8	Now, said Abisai, the Lord has left thy enemy at thy mercy! Let me pin him to the ground as he lies with one thrust of yonder spear; there will be no need for a second.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	26	9	Nay, answered David, kill him thou must not; none can lay hands on the king whom the Lord has anointed but he incurs guilt.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	26	10	As the Lord is a living God, David said, I will wait for the Lord to smite him down, till death comes to him, or he falls on the field of battle.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	26	11	The Lord be merciful to me, never will I lay hands on the king he has anointed! Come, take up the spear that is by his head, and yonder pitcher of water, and let us begone.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	26	12	So David took away the spear, and the pitcher of water that was by Saul’s head, and back they went; none saw, none knew of it, none stirred; all lay tranced in a deep sleep the Lord had sent down upon them.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	26	13	When David had crossed to the further slope, he stood on a peak of the hill far away, parted from them by a long distance,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	26	14	and cried out to the army of Israel, cried out to Abner, son of Ner. What, Abner, he said, wilt thou never answer? And answer he did, Who art thou, that criest so, disturbing the king’s sleep?
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	26	15	Thou wast ever a brave man, Abner, David said, none like thee in Israel; what guard is this thou keepest over thy lord the king? The life of thy lord the king was in danger but now, from a subject of his that found his way into the camp. This was great fault in thee;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	26	16	as the Lord is a living God, you are no better than dead men, you that watch so ill over your master, the king he has anointed. Look about thee, and see what has become of the king’s spear, and the pitcher of water that was by his head.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	26	17	With that, Saul himself recognized David’s voice; Is it thy voice I hear, he asked, my son David? And David answered, It is mine, my lord king, no other.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	26	18	My lord, said he, why wouldst thou hunt down this poor servant of thine? What have I done amiss, what guilt lies at my door? My lord king, give thy servant a hearing.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	26	19	If it is the Lord that inspires thee with such hatred of me, then let him be appeased by sacrifice. But if it is the work of men, the Lord’s curse be on them; they have exiled me this day from the Lord’s domain, bidden me go and worship alien gods.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	26	20	Why must the earth be stained with my blood, under the Lord’s eye? A fine quarry for the king of Israel! A flea, a partridge on the hills,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	26	21	were as well worth his chase. I have done thee wrong, Saul answered; return, my son David, return. Never again will I do thee hurt, after this day when thou hast spared my life. My folly, I see it now; my long blindness, I see it now.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	26	22	Here is the king’s spear, said David; best that one of the king’s men should come across and take it.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	26	23	The Lord will make every man the return his own faith and honour have deserved; this day the Lord put thee at my mercy, and I would not lift a hand against the king he has anointed.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	26	24	I held thy life precious; may the Lord hold mine precious, and deliver me at all time of peril.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	26	25	A blessing on thee, my son David, Saul answered; much thou shalt achieve, much win. And with that, David passed on, and Saul went back whence he came.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	27	1	The time must come, David thought to himself, when I shall fall into Saul’s hands; were it not better to escape, and take refuge in the country of the Philistines? Then Saul will give up the hope of hunting me down within the borders of Israel, and I shall be safe from his power.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	27	2	So David removed, and betook himself, with six hundred men at his heels, to Achis, son of Maoch, that was king of Geth;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	27	3	there, in Geth, with Achis, he and his men settled down, each with his own household; David with his two wives, Achinoam from Jezrahel, and Abigail that had been wife to Nabal at Carmel.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	27	4	As for Saul, when he heard that David had taken refuge at Geth, he gave up the pursuit.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	27	5	And now David said to Achis, Do me this favour; make me a grant of land in one of the townships here. No need that I, thy servant, should make my dwelling with thee in thy capital city.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	27	6	Whereupon Achis granted him Siceleg, and it has belonged to the kings of Juda from that day to this.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	27	7	David’s stay among the Philistines lasted for four months;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	27	8	he would lead his men out, and drive off plunder from Gessuri and Gersi and from the Amalecites; these were settlements belonging to the old inhabitants of the land, which reached as far as Sur, on the borders of Egypt.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	27	9	Wherever he went, he ravaged the country-side, leaving neither man nor woman alive; then he would carry off sheep and ox and ass and camel and garments as his spoil, and so return to Achis.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	27	10	Did Achis ask where he had made his foray that day, he would answer, On the south of Juda, or of Jerameel, or of Ceni.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	27	11	Neither man nor woman must be taken alive and brought to Geth, for fear they should betray him and his. So David did, of set purpose, all the time he lived in the Philistine country;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	27	12	and Achis believed what he said, and thought to himself, This man has brought great hurt on his own people of Israel; now he is bound to my service in perpetuity.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	28	1	It happened at this time that the Philistines mustered all their array, to levy war on Israel. Be sure of this, said Achis to David, that thou and thy men shall march at my side to battle.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	28	2	Why then, David answered, thou shalt have proof, now, of thy servant’s worth. Prove it, said Achis, and it shall be thine to guard my person at all times.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	28	3	This was after the time when Samuel died, and was buried at his home in Ramatha, with all Israel to mourn him; after the time when Saul purged the country of soothsayers and diviners.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	28	4	The Philistines had joined their forces and marched to Sunam, where they encamped; and Saul, with the whole muster of Israel, went out to mount Gelboe to meet them;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	28	5	but as he looked down on the Philistine camp he was dismayed, and sorely his heart misgave him.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	28	6	When he consulted the Lord, no answer was sent him, by dream or priest or prophet;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	28	7	and at last he bade his servants find him some woman that was an enchantress, so that he could go and question her. There is such a woman, they told him, living at Endor.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	28	8	So he disguised himself, and put on other garments, and, with two of his men in attendance, visited the woman at dead of night. Use thy enchantments, said he, to bring up from the dead the man I name to thee.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	28	9	Nay, said she, thou knowest well how Saul has been at pains to rid the country of diviners and soothsayers; why wouldst thou entrap a poor soul, to bring her to her death?
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	28	10	But Saul swore to her, As the Lord is a living God, no harm shall befall thee.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	28	11	And when she asked whom he would have brought up from the dead, he said, Bring up Samuel for me.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	28	12	No sooner did Samuel appear to her, than the woman cried aloud, What is this trick thou hast played on me? Thou thyself art Saul!
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	28	13	But the king bade her have no fear, and asked what it was she had seen. It seemed, she told him, as if gods were coming up from beneath the earth.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	28	14	What form is it thou seest? he asked. And she said, An old man has come up, wrapped in a cloak. Then Saul knew that it was Samuel, and he bowed his face to the earth, and did reverence.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	28	15	Why hast thou disturbed my rest, Samuel asked, and brought me to earth again? I am hard pressed, Saul told him; the Philistines are levying war on me, and the Lord has forsaken me, giving me no answer by prophet or by dream; and I have summoned thee to tell me how I am to make shift.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	28	16	Nay, answered Samuel, what need to ask? The Lord has forsaken thee, and gone over to one that is thy rival.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	28	17	He means to make good the threat I uttered in his name, that he would snatch the kingdom from thy hand, and give it to another; it was of David he spoke.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	28	18	And thy plight this day is the punishment the Lord sends thee for disobeying his command, instead of executing his vengeance on Amalec;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	28	19	over thee and all Israel he will give the Philistines mastery. To-morrow, thou and thy sons will be with me, and the Lord will leave the camp of Israel at the mercy of the Philistines.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	28	20	With that, Saul fell his full length on the ground, so daunted was he by Samuel’s words, so weak from taking no food all that day.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	28	21	The woman went to his side, seeing him thus overcome; My lord, she said, I obeyed thee at the peril of my life, and since I have so humoured thee,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	28	22	wilt thou not humour this handmaid of thine, by letting her set a mouthful of food before thee, to give thee strength for thy journey by the eating of it?
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	28	23	But he refused to take any food, until his servants and the woman together put constraint on him; then at last he rose from the ground and sat on the bed.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	28	24	The woman had a calf by her that she had fattened; this she killed without more ado, took flour and kneaded it and baked it without leaven,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	28	25	and so she gave Saul and his men their meal. When they had eaten it they rose to go, and on they journeyed the whole night through.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	29	1	So the Philistines marshalled their whole forces in Aphec, while Israel encamped by the spring at Jezrahel;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	29	2	at the head of their hundreds and their thousands the chiefs of the Philistines marched by, and at the rear, with Achis, were David and his men.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	29	3	And now the chiefs of the Philistines began asking what these Hebrews did there; Why, said Achis, you have surely heard of David, that was in the service of Saul, king of Israel? He has been with me a long time, more than a year now, and to this day, from the day when he first took refuge with me I have had no fault to find with him.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	29	4	But the chiefs of the Philistines took it amiss; Let this fellow go home, they said, and remain at the post thou hast allotted to him. He must not march into battle at our side; who knows whether he will turn against us when once we are engaged? What other peace-offering can such a man bring to his old master but these heads of ours?
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	29	5	It was of this David the dancers used to sing, By Saul’s hand a thousand, by David’s ten thousand fell.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	29	6	So Achis sent for David, and said to him, As the Lord is a living God, I know thee for a good man and true; thy place is at my side in battle, and never to this day from the day when first thou camest to me have I had any fault to find with thee. But the chiefs look askance at thee;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	29	7	go home, then, and peace go with thee; it were well thou shouldst not cross the chiefs of the Philistines.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	29	8	Why, said David, what harm have I done, what fault hast thou to find with thy servant, ever since I first appeared in thy presence, that I should be forbidden to come out and fight against the enemies of my lord the king?
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	29	9	Nay, answered Achis, I can vouch for it that to myself thou art welcome as an angel of God; but the chiefs of the Philistines have decreed, He shall not go to battle with us.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	29	10	Come then, march away to-morrow with all thy company; rise up at dawn, and begone with the morning light.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	29	11	So David and his men rose up early on the morrow to march away and return to the Philistine country, while the Philistines went to the attack against Jezrahel.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	30	1	When David and his men reached Siceleg, the next day but one, they found that the Amalecites from the south had attacked and overpowered it, and burnt it to the ground;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	30	2	the women, too, they had carried off. They did not put anyone to death, of high or low degree, but carried off all they found, and so went on their way.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	30	3	So David and his men, coming back to the city to find it burnt down, and their wives and sons and daughters taken prisoner,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	30	4	raised a great cry of lamentation, and wept till their tears would flow no more.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	30	5	David’s two wives, Achinoam from Jezrahel and Abigail, Nabal’s widow from Carmel, had been carried off like the rest,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	30	6	and his was a heavy lot to bear; his followers came near to stoning him, so sore were their hearts at the loss of son and daughter. But David found refuge in the Lord his God.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	30	7	Bring out the sacred mantle, he said to the priest Abiathar, Achimelech’s son, and when Abiathar had brought it,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	30	8	he asked the Lord, Shall I give these freebooters chase? Is there hope of overtaking them? And the Lord said, Go in pursuit; past doubt thou wilt overtake them, and rob them of their prey.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	30	9	So David and his six hundred followers marched all the way to the ravine of Besor, where some, for very weariness, must halt;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	30	10	but David himself still gave chase, with four hundred men at his back, leaving the other two hundred to rest from their weariness in the ravine of Besor.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	30	11	Then they came upon an Egyptian, out there on the plain, and brought him to David; but first they must give him bread and water,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	30	12	and part of a cake of dried figs, and two bunches of raisins; he must be restored and revived, after three days and three nights without food or drink.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	30	13	When David asked who he was, whence he came and whither he was bound, he said, I am a serving-man from Egypt; my master is an Amalecite; three days ago I fell sick, and he left me behind here.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	30	14	We had been making a foray over the southern border of the Cherethites, against Juda, too, and the south of Caleb, and we burned Siceleg to the ground.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	30	15	Then David asked him, Canst thou shew me where to find the company of which thou speakest? First, said he, thou must needs swear to me in God’s name that thou wilt neither kill me nor give me up into my master’s power; then I will shew thee where this company is to be found. So David took the oath asked of him,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	30	16	and the Egyptian led him to where they lay, scattered pell-mell over the ground, eating and drinking and making holiday over their plunder, the spoils they had won from the Philistine country and from Juda.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	30	17	All the rest of that day and all the next David drove them before him, and not one man escaped, except four hundred drivers who mounted their camels and fled.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	30	18	So David recovered all the Amalecites had carried off, and his two wives with the rest;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	30	19	never boy or girl or chattel was missing; all that had been carried away David brought back.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	30	20	And as he came home, driving before him all the sheep and cattle he had won, the cry rose, This is David’s booty.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	30	21	So he reached the two hundred men that halted, too weary to follow, and were left behind in the ravine of Besor; and as they came out to meet him and his followers, David went up and gave them friendly greeting.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	30	22	But there were churlish, graceless fellows among his own following who reasoned thus: Here are men that did not bear us company; for them, then, no share in the booty we have recovered. Let each of them take his own wife and children, and with these go away content.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	30	23	Nay, brethren, David answered, that will not serve. All these gifts the Lord has given, besides protecting us and winning us the mastery over these marauding enemies.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	30	24	Over this you shall get no hearing; the man that stays behind with the baggage has the same rights as the man who went into battle, all must share alike.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	30	25	Ever since that day this rule has been recognized and established; it is the law still observed in Israel.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	30	26	When David reached Siceleg, he sent presents to the elders of the neighbouring cities in Juda, bidding them accept his offering taken out of the spoil of the Lord’s enemies.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	30	27	These were Bethel, Ramoth in the South, Jether,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	30	28	Aroer, Sephamoth, Esthamo,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	30	29	Rachal, the cities of Jerameel, the cities of Ceni,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	30	30	Arama, the Hollow of Asan, Athach,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	30	31	and Hebron; and other places besides, where David and his men had once made their home.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	31	1	Meanwhile, the Philistines had engaged Israel; and the Israelites fled at their onslaught, and were cut down on mount Gelboe as they fled.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	31	2	Ever harder the Philistines pressed on the retreat of Saul and of his sons, till at last his sons, Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Melchisua had fallen,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	31	3	and he himself bore the whole weight of the attack. The archers were following close on his heels, and sorely the archers wounded him.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	31	4	Then Saul bade his own squire draw on him and kill him; he would not have uncircumcised foes kill him with outrage. And when the squire’s heart failed him, so that he would not obey, Saul himself caught up a sword, and fell on it.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	31	5	Whereupon, seeing his master dead, the squire fell upon his own sword, and died with him.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	31	6	So perished Saul, and his three sons, and his squire, and all that army of his, in one day.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	31	7	And now the Israelites who lived beyond the plain, beyond Jordan, when they saw Israel routed and Saul and his sons killed, abandoned their cities and took to flight, leaving the Philistines to come in and settle there.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	31	8	Next day, coming to plunder the slain, the Philistines found Saul and his three sons, where they lay on Mount Gelboe,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	31	9	and they cut off Saul’s head, and stripped him of his armour, and sent these from place to place in the Philistine country, to publish the news in the temples of their gods, and among their people.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	31	10	His arms they dedicated in the temple of Astaroth, and hung up his body on the walls of Bethsan.
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	31	11	But the folk of Jabes-Galaad came to hear of what the Philistines had done to Saul;
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	31	12	whereupon all their fighting men went out, marching all through the night, and took down his body and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Bethsan; reaching Jabes-Galaad, they burned them there,
 1 Kings	1Kgs	9	31	13	and carried off their bones to burial in the wood of Jabes. And they fasted seven days to lament him.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	1	1	Saul was already dead when David came back from routing Amelec, and spent two days in Siceleg;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	1	2	then, on the third day, a man from Saul’s army came in view, his garments torn, his head covered with dust, who, upon sight of David, bowed down to earth and did reverence.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	1	3	Whence comest thou? David asked, and on learning that he had made his way there from the Israelite army,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	1	4	Tell me, how went the day? We were routed, said he, in the battle, and many of the common folk fell slain; worse yet, Saul and his son Jonathan are among the dead.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	1	5	What proof hast thou, David asked the messenger, that Saul and Jonathan were slain?
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	1	6	I chanced, said he, to reach mount Gelboe, and there I found Saul, leaning on his spear. Chariots and horsemen were in close pursuit,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	1	7	and he turned to look behind him; saw, and hailed me, and learned I was ready at his command;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	1	8	asked who I was, and learned that I was an Amalecite.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	1	9	Then he said, Stand close, and give me my death-blow; the toils are closing round me, and I am a whole man yet.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	1	10	So I stood close, and dealt the blow, knowing well that there could be no life for him after his fall; then I took the crown from his head and the bracelet from his arm, and here I bring them to my lord.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	1	11	At that, David rent his garments, and so did all the men who were with him;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	1	12	mourned they and wept, and fasted till evening came, for Saul and his son Jonathan, and for the Lord’s people, men of Israel’s race, that lay fallen in battle.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	1	13	And now David asked the messenger, Whence is it thou camest? My father, he answered, was an alien, a man of Amalec.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	1	14	And wast thou not afraid, said David, to lay hands on the king the Lord had anointed, and slay him?
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	1	15	Then he bade one of his men go up and make an end of the Amalecite, and when the blow had fallen, said over his dead body,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	1	16	Thou hast brought death on thy own head, by owning thyself the murderer of an anointed king.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	1	17	This is the lament David made over Saul and his son Jonathan,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	1	18	and would have this lament of his, The Bow, taught to the sons of Juda; the words of it are to be found in the Book of the Upright. Remember, Israel, the dead, wounded on thy heights,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	1	19	the flower of Israel, cut down on thy mountains; how fell they, warriors such as these?
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	1	20	Keep the secret in Geth, never a word in the streets of Ascalon; shall the women-folk rejoice, shall they triumph, daughters of the Philistine, the uncircumcised?
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	1	21	Mountains of Gelboe, never dew, never rain fall upon you, never from your lands be offering made of first-fruits; there the warrior’s shield lies dishonoured, the shield of Saul, bright with oil no more.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	1	22	Where the blood of slain men, the flesh of warriors beckoned, never the bow of Jonathan hung back, never the sword of Saul went empty from the feast.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	1	23	Saul and Jonathan, so well beloved, so beautiful; death no more than life could part them; never was eagle so swift, never was lion so strong.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	1	24	Lament, daughters of Israel, lament for Saul, the man who dressed you bravely in scarlet, who decked your apparel out with trinkets of gold.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	1	25	How fell they, warriors such as these, in the battle? On thy heights, Gelboe, Jonathan lies slain.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	1	26	Shall I not mourn for thee, Jonathan my brother, so beautiful, so well beloved, beyond all love of women? Never woman loved her only son, as I thee.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	1	27	How fell such warriors, what could blunt such swords as these?
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	2	1	After this David asked counsel from the Lord, whether he should remove into one of the cities of Juda. When the Lord bade him remove, he asked, Into which of them? And the answer came, To Hebron.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	2	2	So thither David took his two wives, Achinoam from Jezrahel and Abigail that had been wife to Nabal at Carmel;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	2	3	thither, too, went the men who followed him, each with his own household, settling in the townships that belonged to Hebron.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	2	4	There the men of Juda came to him, and anointed him king over the line of Juda. And when David heard how the men of Jabes-Galaad had given Saul burial,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	2	5	he sent messengers to say, The Lord’s blessing on you, for the faithfulness you have shewn to Saul, your master, in thus burying him;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	2	6	may the Lord make return to you for your loyalty and kindliness! I too will prove myself grateful for it.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	2	7	Strong be those arms of yours, keep your courage high; now that you no longer have Saul to rule over you, the tribe of Juda has anointed me to be its king.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	2	8	But meanwhile Abner the son of Ner, who was in command of the army, brought Isboseth forward, Saul’s remaining son, and gave him a royal progress through the camp;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	2	9	setting him up as king of Galaad and Gessuri and Jezrahel and Ephraim and Benjamin and all the rest of Israel.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	2	10	Isboseth, heir to king Saul, was forty years old when his reign over Israel began, and it lasted two years; David had no following except the tribe of Juda,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	2	11	and as king of Juda, for seven and a half years, he reigned at Hebron.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	2	12	And now they offered battle from their camp at Gabaon, Abner son of Ner and the men that recognized Isboseth as heir to king Saul;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	2	13	and by the pool at Gabaon the army of David went out to meet them, under Joab son of Sarvia. So they met, and confronted one another on opposite sides of the pool.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	2	14	Thereupon Abner proposed to Joab that champions should come forward and make trial of arms, and to this Joab agreed.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	2	15	Come forward they did, twelve men that acknowledged Isboseth as the heir of Saul, and twelve followers of David, and met one another.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	2	16	Each caught his man by the head and thrust his sword deep, and together they fell slain; there in the field by Gabaon which has taken its name from them, the Field of the Champions.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	2	17	It was a fierce battle that raged that day, and David’s men routed Abner and the Israelites.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	2	18	Two sons of Sarvia besides Joab were fighting, Abisai and Asael; Asael, swift of foot as any wild roe.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	2	19	And this Asael gave chase to Abner, following him still without swerving to right or left;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	2	20	till at last Abner looked behind him, and asked if he were Asael. When he learned that it was so,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	2	21	he warned him, Why then, turn aside this way or that, overtake one of my men, and from him secure thy spoils. But still Asael would not give up the pursuit,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	2	22	and again Abner warned him, Turn back, and follow me no more; must I strike thee down, and never again look thy brother Joab in the face?
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	2	23	At last, finding that he would not listen to him and never turned aside, Abner, with a backward thrust of his spear, smote him through the groin. There and then he fell dead; and none that came up behind him ventured beyond the place where Asael died.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	2	24	But meanwhile Joab and Abisai were in pursuit of Abner. When the sun set, they had reached the Hill of the Aqueduct, that lies on the side of the ravine opposite the desert road to Gabaon.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	2	25	All the men of Benjamin had rallied to Abner, and there they stood gathered in one mass, with one hill-top to defend.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	2	26	And now Abner cried out to Joab, Is there no glutting that sword of thine? Hast thou never heard that desperate men are dangerous? Call off thy men, before it is too late, from the pursuit of their own brethren.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	2	27	As the Lord is a living God, Joab answered, hadst thou only spoken, my men would have let their brethren alone while it was still morning.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	2	28	With that, he sounded his trumpet, and all his army halted; there was no more pursuit of Israel, no more fighting.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	2	29	All that night Abner and his men marched over the plain, crossed the Jordan, and made their way along Beth-horon to their camp.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	2	30	When Joab returned after abandoning the pursuit, he called the roll and found only nineteen of David’s men missing, besides Asael;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	2	31	whereas the toll they had taken of Benjamin and the rest of Abner’s forces was three hundred and sixty dead.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	2	32	Asael they bore off, and gave him burial in his father’s tomb at Bethlehem; then they too, Joab and his army, marched all through the night, and reached Hebron as dawn was breaking.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	3	1	It was a long struggle between Saul’s line and David’s; but ever the fortunes and power of David grew, while the cause of Saul became daily weaker.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	3	2	Six sons were born to David, there in Hebron; Amnon, his first-born, by Achinoam of Jezrahel,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	3	3	then Cheleab, by Abigail, that had been Nabal’s wife at Carmel, then Absalom, by Maacha, daughter to Tholmai, king of Gessur.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	3	4	The fourth was Adonias, son of Haggith, the fifth Saphathia, son of Abital,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	3	5	the sixth Jethraam, that David’s wife Egla bore him; of all these Hebron was the birth-place.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	3	6	As long as war lasted between the two dynasties, Abner the son of Ner was the head of Saul’s party.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	3	7	But Saul had left a concubine, Respha the daughter of Aia; and of her Isboseth said to Abner,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	3	8	What, wouldst thou mate with my father’s concubine? And he, greatly angered by Isboseth’s words, cried out, I have made all Juda shun me like a carrion-dog, by befriending the line of thy father Saul, his kindred and his court, instead of giving thee up to David; and am I to be called to account this day over a woman?
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	3	9	God punish Abner as he deserves and more than he deserves, if I do not fulfil the promise which the Lord made to David;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	3	10	the kingship shall be taken away from Saul’s line, and David shall reign over Israel and Juda alike, from Dan to Bersabee!
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	3	11	Never a word did Isboseth say in answer, so greatly did he fear him.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	3	12	Then Abner sent a message to David, claiming that the land lay in his own power; League thyself with me, the message ran, and I will help thee, and reduce all Israel to thy obedience.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	3	13	And David answered, Well said; I am ready to make a league with thee, but one thing first. Thou canst not be admitted to my presence unless thou bringest Michol, Saul’s daughter, with thee; so only shalt thou find audience.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	3	14	At the same time, he sent a message to Isboseth, that was heir to king Saul, Give me back my wife Michol, the bride I won with the foreskins of a hundred Philistines.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	3	15	So Isboseth sent and had her taken away from her husband Phaltiel, son of Lais,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	3	16	who followed her, weeping, all the way to Bahurim. But Abner bade him turn and go back, and go back he did.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	3	17	Meanwhile, Abner sent the word round among the elders of Israel, It was but yesterday you were eager to have David for your king.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	3	18	It is time now, to fulfil the promise the Lord made to David; by David’s hand I will rid my people Israel of the Philistines, and of all their enemies.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	3	19	Even among the men of Benjamin Abner sent the word out. Then he went to tell David, at Hebron, of the resolve made by Israel, and by the tribe of Benjamin at large.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	3	20	He came to Hebron with twenty men, and there David made a feast for him and his companions.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	3	21	And now, said Abner, I will go and rally all Israel to thy cause, my lord king. By this league of ours, they shall be thy subjects, loyal to thy will. So David took leave of him, and he went on his way in peace.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	3	22	Soon David’s men, with Joab at their head, came home from an attack on the freebooters, loaded with spoil. They did not find Abner in Hebron; David had but now sent him on his way in peace;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	3	23	they came too late, Joab and his men. But Joab was told how Abner, son of Ner, had visited the king, and of their friendly parting;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	3	24	so he went at once into the royal presence, and cried, What is this? Abner with thee, and thou hast let him slip through thy hands, gone, free as air!
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	3	25	Dost thou know Abner so little? He did but come here to play thee false, spying upon thy comings and goings, learning of all thou dost.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	3	26	And Joab left the royal presence to send messengers after Abner, summoning him back, without David’s knowledge, from the Pool of Sira.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	3	27	No sooner had Abner come back to Hebron than Joab took him aside, there in the gates, under pretence of speaking with him, and smote him in the groin, avenging by that death the death of his brother Asael.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	3	28	It was all over when David heard of it, and he cried, Never shall I or my kingdom be held answerable for Abner’s death!
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	3	29	On Joab’s head let the guilt fall, and on all his line; let the line of Joab never want a man that has a running at the reins, or is a leper, or works at the distaff like a woman, or falls in battle, or begs his bread.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	3	30	Thus Joab and his brother Abisai murdered Abner, who had slain their brother Asael in the fighting at Gabaon.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	3	31	As for David, he bade Joab and his men tear their garments and put on sackcloth, and go mourning at Abner’s funeral; he himself followed the bier,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	3	32	and wept aloud over Abner’s tomb at Hebron, where they buried him; all the people, too, were in tears.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	3	33	And this was the dirge with which he lamented him: Died Abner as the ignoble die?
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	3	34	No bond tied thy hands, no gyves thy feet; thou didst fall as men fall when cruel wrong assails them. And all the people took up the refrain as they mourned.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	3	35	Then, while it was still full day, they came together to eat, and would have David eat with them; but he took an oath, The Lord punish me as I deserve, and more than I deserve, if I taste bread or any other food before set of sun!
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	3	36	This all the folk heard, and more than ever they applauded the king’s doings;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	3	37	among all that multitude, and in all Israel, there was not a man that blamed David for the slaying of Abner, son of Ner.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	3	38	Past all doubt, said the king to his servants, Israel has lost, this day, the greatest of its chieftains.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	3	39	Alas, they have anointed a weakling to be their king; not mine to curb these sons of Sarvia. May the Lord punish the wrong-doer for the wrong done!
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	4	1	When Isboseth, Saul’s heir, heard news of Abner’s death at Hebron, he was a broken man, and all Israel was in confusion.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	4	2	In command of his army, when they went out on forays, were two Berothites from Benjamin, named Baana and Rechab, sons of Remmon; Beroth counted as part of Benjamin,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	4	3	but these Berothites were exiles, and lived in Gethaim ever after.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	4	4	For heir, he had a grandson of Saul by Jonathan, a lame-footed boy; he was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezrahel, and his nurse carried him off to safety, but in the hurry of the flight he fell and was lamed; he was called Miphiboseth.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	4	5	And now Baana and Rechab, sons of Remmon the Berothite, entered Isboseth’s house when the sun was at its full heat; Isboseth himself was abed, taking his noon-day sleep, and the woman that kept the door had fallen asleep too over the corn she was cleaning.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	4	6	(Taking ears of corn with them, Rechab and Baana made their way in secretly, and smote him in the groin, and made good their escape. )
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	4	7	When they had made their way in, they found him there in his own room, asleep on the bed, and despatched him with blows; then they cut off his head, and journeyed with it across the desert road all night.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	4	8	So they brought the head of Isboseth to David at Hebron; See, they told him, here is the head of Isboseth, the heir of Saul, that was thy mortal enemy; the Lord has revenged our royal master this day upon Saul and his race.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	4	9	But this was the answer David made to Rechab and his brother Baana, sons of Remmon: As the Lord, my rescuer from all peril, is a living God, you shall repent it!
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	4	10	There was one came to me at Siceleg and told me of Saul’s death, thinking to bring me good news; and his reward was then and there to be seized and slain.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	4	11	And here are wretches that have murdered an innocent man in his own home, as he lay asleep; do you think I will not exact blood-vengeance from you, rid the land of you?
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	4	12	So David ordered his men to kill them and cut off their hands and feet; the bodies were hung up over the fish-pond at Hebron. As for the head of Isboseth, it was carried away, and buried in Abner’s grave.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	5	1	After this, all the tribes of Israel rallied to David at Hebron; We are kith and kin of thine, they said.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	5	2	It is not so long since Israel marched under thy orders, when Saul was still reigning; and the Lord has promised thee that thou shouldst be its shepherd and its captain.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	5	3	And so the elders of Israel went to his court at Hebron; and there, at Hebron, in the Lord’s presence, David made a covenant with them, and they anointed him king of Israel.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	5	4	He was thirty years old when his reign began, and it lasted forty years;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	5	5	for seven and a half years over Juda only, with its capital at Hebron, then for thirty-three more years over Israel and Juda both, with its capital at Jerusalem.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	5	6	When the king and his army marched on Jerusalem, to attack the Jebusites, that were native to the soil, they met him with the taunt, Thou must rid thyself of blind men and lame, before thou canst make thy way in here, meaning that David would never make his way in;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	5	7	but take it he did, the Citadel of Sion that is called David’s Keep.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	5	8	He had promised a reward to the conqueror of the Jebusites, to the man who should reach the gutters of the roofs, and clear them of the blind and lame (as he called them) that were David’s enemies. That was how the saying arose, No entry into the precincts for the blind and the lame.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	5	9	And now he made his dwelling in the Citadel, and called it David’s Keep; he built walls round it, too, with Mello for their outer bastion.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	5	10	So he went on, prospering and gaining in strength, and the Lord God of hosts was with him.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	5	11	Hiram too, king of Tyre, sent messengers offering him cedar planks and carpenters, and stone-masons for the walls; and they built David’s house for him.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	5	12	No doubt could David have that the Lord had ratified his sovereignty over Israel, and made him the king of a great people.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	5	13	So, when he removed from Hebron to Jerusalem, he provided himself with fresh wives and concubines there, and more sons and daughters were born to him;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	5	14	Jerusalem was the birth-place of Samua, Sobab, Nathan, Solomon,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	5	15	Jebahar, Elisua, Nepheg,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	5	16	Japhia, Elisama, Elioda and Eliphaleth.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	5	17	When news reached the Philistines that David had been anointed as king of all Israel, they mustered their forces to hunt him down. David, hearing of it, withdrew into his stronghold,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	5	18	while the Philistines came in and occupied the whole valley of Raphaim.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	5	19	Thereupon David consulted the Lord; should he attack the Philistines? Would he be given the mastery? And he was bidden to go to the attack; the Philistines would be at his mercy.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	5	20	So David marched out to Baal-Pharasim, and defeated them there; The Lord has parted the enemy’s ranks before me, he said, as easily as water parts this way and that; so the place came by its name, Baal-Pharasim, The Master of the Breach.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	5	21	They left their idols behind them there, and these fell into the hands of David and his men.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	5	22	But once more the Philistines came to the attack, and occupied the Raphaim valley;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	5	23	and this time, when David asked whether he might attack them with good hope of mastering them, the answer was, Do not go to the attack, circumvent them and come upon them from the direction of the pear-trees yonder.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	5	24	Wait till thou hearest, in the tops of the pear-trees, the sound of marching feet; then offer battle; it is a sign that the Lord will pass on before thee, to smite down the army of the Philistines.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	5	25	So David did as the Lord had bidden him; and he drove the Philistines before him all the way from Gabaa to Gezer.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	6	1	Then David mustered anew the fighting men of Israel, thirty thousand strong.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	6	2	Meanwhile, he set out with the men of Juda that followed him, and went to fetch the ark of God home; that ark which takes its name from the Lord God of hosts, dwelling there above it between the cherubim.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	6	3	And they carried the ark away from Abinadab’s house at Gabaa, putting it on a newly-made waggon, with Abinadab’s sons, Oza and Ahio, for its drivers.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	6	4	He it was had had charge of it, there in Gabaa, till now; but now they took it away from his house, with Ahio walking before it,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	6	5	while David and the Israelites played music, there in the Lord’s presence, on instruments of rare workmanship, harp and zither and tambour and castanets and cymbals.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	6	6	They had reached the threshing-floor of Nachon, when the oxen began to kick and tilted the ark to one side; whereupon Oza put out his hand and caught hold of it.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	6	7	Rash deed of his, that provoked the divine anger; the Lord smote him, and he died there beside the ark.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	6	8	Great grief it was to David, this ruin the Lord had brought on Oza (the place is still called Oza’s Ruin),
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	6	9	and a dread of the Lord came upon him that day; How shall I, he asked, give shelter to the Lord’s ark?
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	6	10	No longer was he minded to give it a lodging in David’s Keep; it must find a home with Obededom the Gethite instead.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	6	11	For three months the ark of the Lord was left with Obededom the Gethite, and brought a blessing on him and his household.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	6	12	Then word was brought to David how the Lord had blessed Obededom and all that was his for the ark’s sake. So back he went, and brought the ark of God away from Obededom’s house, into David’s Keep, with great rejoicing; seven choirs of dancers he took with him, and a young bull for a victim.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	6	13	No sooner had the bearers of the ark gone six paces on their journey, than he sacrificed the bull and a ram with it.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	6	14	As for himself, he went dancing with all his might, there in the Lord’s presence; clad in the sacred mantle, he must dance too.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	6	15	So David, and Israel with him, brought back the ark that bears record of the Lord’s covenant, with rejoicing and a great din of trumpets.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	6	16	And as it came into David’s Keep, there was Michol, Saul’s daughter, looking on from her window; she saw king David leaping and dancing in the Lord’s presence, and her heart despised him.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	6	17	When the ark had been brought into the city, they put it down at the appointed place, in the midst of a tabernacle which David had there spread out for it; and David brought burnt-sacrifices and welcome-offerings into the Lord’s presence there.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	6	18	Then, when his offering was done, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of hosts,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	6	19	and gave to every Israelite, man or woman, a roll of bread and a piece of roast beef and a flour cake fried in oil; and with that, the people dispersed to their homes.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	6	20	David himself, going back to bless his own household, was met by Michol, Saul’s daughter. A day of great renown, she said, for the king of Israel, that exposed his person to man and maid, his own subjects, graceless as a common mountebank!
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	6	21	Nay, answered David, it was at the Lord’s coming. He it is that has chosen me, instead of thy father or any of thy father’s line, to rule the Lord’s people of Israel;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	6	22	and before his coming play the mountebank I will; humble myself I will in my own esteem, and those maids thou speakest of will honour me yet the more.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	6	23	And Michol, that was daughter to king Saul, never bore child again to the day of her death.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	7	1	The king had now a palace of his own to dwell in, and the Lord kept him safe, on every side, from all his enemies.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	7	2	Whereupon he said to the prophet Nathan, Here am I dwelling in a house all of cedar, while God’s ark has nothing better than curtains of hide about it!
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	7	3	And Nathan answered, Go thy own way, fulfil thy own purpose; the Lord is with thee.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	7	4	But that same night the divine word came to Nathan,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	7	5	Go and give my servant David a message from the Lord: Dost thou think to build a house for me to dwell in?
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	7	6	House was never mine, since I rescued the sons of Israel from Egypt; still in a tabernacle, a wanderer’s home, I came and went.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	7	7	This way and that the whole race of Israel journeyed, and I with them; now to this tribe, now to that, I gave the leadership of the rest, and never did I reproach any of them for not building me a house of cedar.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	7	8	This message, then, thou wilt give to my servant David from the Lord of hosts: Out in the pasture-lands, where thou wast tending the sheep, I summoned thee away to bear rule over my people Israel;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	7	9	go where thou wouldst, I was ever at thy side, exterminating thy enemies to make room for thee, granting thee such renown as only comes to the greatest on earth.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	7	10	Henceforth my people are to have a settled home, taking root in it and remaining in undisturbed possession of it, no longer harassed by godless neighbours,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	7	11	as they have been ever since I first gave Israel judges to rule them. No longer shall thy enemies trouble thee; and this too the Lord promises, that he will grant thy line continuance.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	7	12	So, when thy days are ended, and thou art laid to rest beside thy fathers, I will grant thee for successor a son of thy own body, established firmly on his throne.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	7	13	He it is that shall build a house to do my name honour. I will prolong for ever his royal dynasty;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	7	14	he shall find in me a father, and I in him a son. If he plays me false, be sure I will punish him; ever for man the rod, ever for Adam’s sons the plagues of mortality;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	7	15	but I will not cancel my merciful promise to him, as I cancelled my promise to Saul, the king that was banished from my favour.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	7	16	Through the ages, far as thy thought can reach, dynasty and royalty both shall endure; thy throne shall remain for ever unshaken.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	7	17	All this message, all this revelation, was handed on by Nathan to king David.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	7	18	And David went into the Lord’s presence, and betook himself to prayer; Lord God, he said, that one such as I am, sprung from such a house as mine, should have been brought by thee to such power!
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	7	19	But it was not enough, Lord God, thou wouldst do more; thou wouldst foretell the destiny of thy servant’s line in days far hence; Lord God, can mortal man claim such rights?
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	7	20	No words can thy servant David find; such divine mercy thou showest him.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	7	21	In fulfilment of thy promise, in pursuance of thy will, thou dost bring about all these marvels which thou hast made known to thy servant.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	7	22	So great thou art, Lord God! None is like thee, thou alone art God, read we the history of past days aright.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	7	23	Can any other nation say, like thy people Israel, that its God came to buy it back for himself as his own people, winning such renown for himself, doing such deeds of wonder and dread against any country, and its people, and its god, as thou didst when thou didst buy back thy people from Egypt?
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	7	24	So didst thou pledge this people of Israel to be thy people eternally, and thou, Lord God, didst become their God.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	7	25	This promise, then, Lord God, which thou hast made concerning thy servant and his line, do thou for ever fulfil; make thy word good,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	7	26	that so thy name may be for ever glorified, the Lord of hosts that is God of Israel; under thy divine care may the dynasty of thy servant David remain unshaken.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	7	27	Lord of hosts, God of Israel, thou hast given me secret knowledge of thy will, promised me a long posterity; what wonder that thy servant finds his heart full of such prayers as these?
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	7	28	So be it, Lord God; thou art God, and thy word is ever faithful; since blessing thou hast promised to thy servant,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	7	29	blessing on his line bestow, and keep it always under thy protection. Thou, Lord God, hast spoken, and through this blessing of thine my race shall be blessed for ever.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	8	1	After this, David defeated the Philistines and brought their pride low; wrested from them, too, their claim to exact tribute.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	8	2	He also defeated the Moabites, and measured out their fate to them by lot, bringing them down to the dust; life and death were the two lots he measured out to them; and Moab became tributary to king David.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	8	3	He defeated Adarezer, son of Rohob, king of Soba, that had marched out to extend his domains beyond the river Euphrates;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	8	4	seventeen hundred horsemen he took alive, and twenty thousand that fought on foot, and cut the hamstrings of the horses, but kept a hundred teams for himself.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	8	5	When the Syrians of Damascus came out to reinforce Adarezer, king of Soba, David routed their army of twenty-two thousand,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	8	6	and put a garrison of his own in the Damascus region of Syria, which became tributary to him. Undertake what enterprise he would, ever the Lord protected him.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	8	7	All the golden trappings, which Adarezer’s men wore, David carried off and brought to Jerusalem;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	8	8	from Bete, too, and Beroth, cities in Adarezer’s dominion, he carried away great stores of bronze.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	8	9	When the news of this victory over Adarezer’s forces reached Thou, king of Emath,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	8	10	he sent his son Joram to greet David and wish him well, out of gratitude for the conquest and rout of Adarezer, who was Thou’s enemy; and this Joram brought presents with him, of gold and silver and bronze,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	8	11	which king David consecrated to the Lord, together with all the silver and gold he had set apart from the spoils of the conquered nations,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	8	12	Syria, Moab, Ammon, the Philistines, Amalec, and now Adarezer, son of Rohob, king of Soba.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	8	13	David won renown, too, on his way back from the conquest of Syria, by defeating eighteen thousand men in the Valley of the Salt-pits;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	8	14	after this he kept troops in Edom to garrison it, and the whole of Edom became subject to him. And still the Lord protected David in all his enterprises.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	8	15	The whole of Israel was under his rule, and to all his people he administered justice and gave award.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	8	16	His army was commanded by Joab, son of Sarvia, and Josaphat, son of Ahilud, kept the records;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	8	17	the priests were Sadoc, son of Achitob, and Achimelech, son of Abiathar, and Saraias was secretary;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	8	18	Banaias, son of Joiada, was at the head of the Cerethites and Phelethites, and David’s sons, too, were his ministers.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	9	1	Meanwhile the thought came to David, whether there were any of Saul’s line left, so that he could shew them kindness in memory of Jonathan.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	9	2	There was a serving-man left over from Saul’s household, whose name was Siba; David now sent for him. Art thou Siba? he asked. And ready at thy command, the other answered.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	9	3	Tell me, said the king, has Saul left any descendant alive, to whom I can shew the friendship God requires of me? Why yes, answered Siba, there is a son of Jonathan that is lame-footed;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	9	4	and when David asked where he might be found, he told him, At the house of Machir, son of Ammiel, at Lodabar.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	9	5	So from the house of Machir, son of Ammiel, at Lodabar, David had him brought, Miphiboseth, son of Jonathan, that was the son of Saul.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	9	6	He came into David’s presence, and bowed low to do him reverence; and when David called him by name, he answered, I am here at thy command.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	9	7	Do not be afraid, David said; I mean to shew thee friendship for the sake of Jonathan, that was thy father, and restore to thee all the lands which belong to thee as Saul’s heir; and evermore thou shalt sit down to eat at my table.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	9	8	And the other said, bowing low, Wouldst thou concern thyself with such a man as I am, no better than a dead dog?
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	9	9	Then the king sent to fetch Siba, that had been serving-man to Saul. All that belonged to Saul, he told him, all the household that once was his, I have given to thy master’s heir.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	9	10	Do thou, then, and thy sons, and the servants under thee, till the lands for him, and bring in its revenues to maintain him. He, Miphiboseth, thy master’s heir, shall evermore sit down to eat at my table. This Siba had fifteen sons, and twenty servants under him,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	9	11	and he told David, My lord king, I am at thy service to do thy bidding. So Miphiboseth ate at the king’s table, as if he had been one of the king’s own sons.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	9	12	He had, too, a little son of his own, called Micha. Thus Siba and his household worked for Miphiboseth,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	9	13	while he himself lived at Jerusalem, eating ever at the king’s table; a lame man, lame of either foot.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	10	1	When the king of the Ammonites died, and his son Hanon succeeded him,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	10	2	David thought to himself, I will shew friendliness to Hanon, as his father Naas did to me; and he dispatched envoys to condole with him over his father’s death. But when these reached the Ammonite country,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	10	3	the chiefs there said to Hanon, their sovereign, What, David send messengers to comfort thee, in honour of thy father’s memory? Nay, if he has sent men here, they are spies who will make a report on the city, so that he may come and destroy it.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	10	4	So Hanon seized David’s messengers, shaved their beards on one side, and cut off the skirts of their clothes right up to the buttocks, and in that guise sent them back.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	10	5	David, when he heard of this, sent out to meet them, covered with confusion as they were, and bade them wait in Jericho, not returning home until their beards were grown again.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	10	6	Meanwhile the Ammonites, well aware that they had made an enemy of David, sent and hired mercenaries from the Syrians of Rohob and the Syrians of Soba, twenty thousand men that marched on foot; a thousand, too, from the king of Maacha, and twelve thousand from Istob.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	10	7	Upon hearing this news, David sent the whole of his forces to engage them, under Joab.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	10	8	The Ammonites themselves had come out from the city, and drawn up their line at the approaches to its gates; the Syrians from Soba, Rohob, Istob and Maacha were at a distance, out in the open country;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	10	9	and Joab saw that he must fight one enemy in front while another was ready to take him in the rear. So he chose the best of his troops and led them against the Syrians,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	10	10	leaving the rest, under his brother Abisai, to face the Ammonites.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	10	11	Bring me aid, said Joab, if the Syrians are too strong for me, and I, if the Ammonites have the mastery, will bring aid to thee instead.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	10	12	Play the man, fight we valiantly for our people, and for the city walls that are sacred to our God; the Lord’s will be done.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	10	13	So Joab and his men engaged the Syrians, who were routed by his first onslaught,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	10	14	and the Ammonites, when they saw the Syrians in full flight, gave way in their turn before the onslaught of Abisai, retreating into the city. After this, Joab went back from the Ammonite country to Jerusalem.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	10	15	Thus defeated, the Syrians mustered the whole of their army,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	10	16	and Adarezer sent for those others of their race who lived on the further side of the river to reinforce him, putting his general, Sobach, in command of them.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	10	17	David, as soon as he heard the news, mustered the whole forces of Israel, and marched across the Jordan to Helam. There the Syrians drew up their forces to meet him, and gave battle;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	10	18	but the Israelites routed them, and David won the victory. Seven hundred chariots Syria lost that day, and four thousand horsemen; Sobach, too, their general, was wounded and died on the field of battle.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	10	19	And now all the other kings who were vassals of Adarezer saw that they were no match for Israel; their troops lost heart and fled, fifty-eight thousand of them, at the enemy’s approach. So they made peace with the Israelites and became their subjects; and no more was heard of the Syrians bringing aid to the men of Ammon.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	11	1	And now spring returned, the time when kings march out to battle; and David sent Joab, with other servants of his and the whole army of Israel, to lay waste the Ammonite country and besiege Rabba, while he himself remained at Jerusalem.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	11	2	One day, he had risen from his mid-day rest, and was walking on the roof of his palace, when he saw a woman come up to bathe on the roof of a house opposite, a woman of rare beauty.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	11	3	So the king sent to enquire who she was, and was told that it was Bethsabee, Eliam’s daughter, wife to Urias the Hethite.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	11	4	Thereupon he sent messengers to bring her to him; she came, and he mated with her, and as soon as she was cleansed from her defilement, back she went to her home.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	11	5	Then, finding she had conceived, she sent the news of her conception to David.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	11	6	Therewith came a message to Joab, summoning Urias the Hethite to David’s presence. So Joab sent him;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	11	7	and David, when Urias reached him, asked whether all was well with Joab and the army, and how the fighting went;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	11	8	then he bade him go back home and wash the dust from his feet. So Urias left the palace, and the king sent food after him from the royal table;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	11	9	but Urias slept the night at the palace gate among his master’s attendants; go home he would not.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	11	10	Then David, learning from common talk that Urias had not gone home, said to him, Thou art newly come from a journey; why wouldst thou not go back to thy house?
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	11	11	What, answered Urias, here are the ark of God and all Israel and all Juda encamped in tents, here are my lord Joab and all those other servants of my master sleeping on the hard ground; should I go home, and eat, and drink, and bed with my wife? The Lord save thee and keep thee, never that!
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	11	12	David bade him stay one day more; he would let him go on the morrow. That day and the next Urias spent in Jerusalem,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	11	13	and ever he must eat and drink in the king’s presence, till he was bemused with wine; but still, when he went out at night, he made his bed beside his master’s attendants, and never returned to his home.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	11	14	Next morning, David wrote a letter to Joab, which he despatched by Urias himself;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	11	15	and this was its purport, You are to find a place for Urias in the first line, where the fighting is bitterest; there leave him unaided, to die by the enemy’s hands.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	11	16	So, when he next made an assault upon the city, Joab gave Urias the post where he knew the defenders were strongest;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	11	17	and some of these made a sally against Joab’s men, killing Urias and other of David’s men besides.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	11	18	Then Joab sent David a full account of the battle;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	11	19	and this was his word to the messenger who carried it: When thou hast finished giving the king the report of the battle,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	11	20	it may be he will shew indignation. Why did you go so close to the wall, he will ask, when you were attacking it? You must have known that weapons fall thick under the battlements.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	11	21	How fell Abimelech, that was son to Jerobaal? Was it not a piece of mill-stone, thrown by a woman, that killed him, there at Thebes? Why did you go so close to the wall? Then let this be thy answer, Thy servant Urias the Hethite is among the dead.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	11	22	So the messenger left him, and when he came into David’s presence he gave him all Joab’s message.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	11	23	The enemy were too strong for us, he told David; they sallied out to fight us in the open, so we went to the attack, and chased them back to the very gate of the city.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	11	24	But here the archers were shooting at us from the wall above, and many of the king’s men fell; thy servant Urias the Hethite is among the dead.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	11	25	Upon this, David sent him back with a message for Joab: Never be daunted by what has befallen; still uncertain are the chances of war; now one, now another, the sword claims for its prey. Hurl thy men ever more strongly against the city, and destroy it; bid them keep their courage high.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	11	26	When Urias’ wife heard that he was dead, she mourned for him;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	11	27	her mourning over, David sent and fetched her to his palace, wedded her and had a son by her. But meanwhile David’s act had earned the Lord’s displeasure.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	12	1	So it was that the Lord sent Nathan on an errand to David; and this was the mes-sage he brought him. There were two men that lived in the same town, one rich, one poor.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	12	2	The rich man had flocks and herds in great abundance;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	12	3	the poor man had nothing except one ewe-lamb which he had bought and reared, letting it grow up in his house like his own children, share his own food and drink, sleep in his bosom; it was like a daughter to him.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	12	4	The rich man was to entertain a friend, who was on his travels; and, to make a feast for this foreign guest, he would take no toll of his own flocks and herds; he robbed the poor man of the one lamb that was his, and welcomed the traveller with that.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	12	5	David, burning with indignation at the wrong, said to Nathan, As the Lord is a living God, death is the due of such a man as this;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	12	6	for this cruel deed of his, he shall make compensation fourfold.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	12	7	And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man. Here is a message for thee, said he, from the Lord God of Israel: I anointed thee king of Israel, I saved thy life when Saul threatened it;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	12	8	I gave thee thy master’s goods to enjoy, thy master’s wives to cherish in thy bosom; all Israel and Juda are in thy power, and if that were not enough, more should be thine for the asking.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	12	9	And thou, wouldst thou defy the Lord’s commandment, and do the wrong he hates, putting Urias the Hethite to the sword, so as to take his wife for thy own? The men of Ammon struck the blow, but thou art his murderer.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	12	10	For the wrong thou hast done in robbing Urias the Hethite of his wife, to make her thine, murder shall be the heirloom of thy own race.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	12	11	This is the Lord’s message to thee: I mean to stir up rebellion against thee in thy own household; before thy very eyes take thy own wives from thee and give them to another, that shall bed them in the full light of yonder sun.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	12	12	Thou didst go to work secretly; when this threat of mine is fulfilled, all Israel and yonder sun shall witness it.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	12	13	Then David said to Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord; and Nathan answered, The Lord has given thy sin quittance, thou shalt not die for it.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	12	14	But thou hast brought on the Lord the contempt of his enemies, and the son that has been born to thee is doomed to die.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	12	15	So Nathan went home, and now the little son Urias’ wife had borne to David was struck down by the Lord, and no hope was left for him.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	12	16	David still interceded for him with the Lord, keeping strict fast and passing his nights on the ground;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	12	17	he would not humour his counsellors when they came and bade him rise to his feet again, nor would he take food with them.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	12	18	Then, after six days, the child died; and David’s servants had not the courage to tell him it was so. If he would not listen to our remonstrances, they thought, while the child yet lived, what penance will he do when we tell him it is dead!
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	12	19	But David, as he marked them whispering to one another, guessed what had befallen; The child is dead? he asked, and when he heard that it was,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	12	20	he rose from the ground, washed and anointed himself, changed his garments, and went into the Lord’s house to do reverence there. Then he came back to his house, asked for food, and ate.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	12	21	And when his servants asked what his meaning was, that he should fast and lament over the child still living, rise up and take food once the child was dead,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	12	22	he answered, Fast and lament I would, for the child’s sake, while he lived; It may be, I thought, the Lord will grant me his life.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	12	23	Now that he is dead, what need to fast? Can I bring him back from the grave? I shall go to be with him, he will not come back to me.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	12	24	Then David comforted his wife Bethsabee, and took her to his bed; and she bore him a son whom he called Solomon. Him the Lord loved,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	12	25	and sent word by the prophet Nathan that he was to be called The Lord’s Favourite, in proof of his great love.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	12	26	Meanwhile, Joab was attacking Rabbath, and took the royal quarter of it.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	12	27	Then he sent a message to David, I have been attacking Rabbath, but the river-side part of the city remains yet to be won.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	12	28	Muster all the rest of thy army to attack the city and take it; I would not earn the credit of the victory by taking it myself.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	12	29	So David, mustering all his forces, marched on Rabbath and stormed it.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	12	30	He took the king’s crown from his head, a crown of gold weighing a full talent, set with the rarest jewels, and wore it himself; much plunder he carried off from the city besides.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	12	31	As for the people, he had them brought out and sawed in pieces, or crushed under iron chariots, or cut up with knives, or passed through a brick-kiln; and the same treatment he gave to all the cities of Ammon. Then David and his army returned to Jerusalem.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	13	1	A maid there was of rare beauty, called Tamar, sister to David’s son Absalom; and it befell at this time that another of David’s sons, Amnon, fell in love with her.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	13	2	Such was his longing that he pined away wanting her; how should he approach a maid unwed, to compass her dishonour?
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	13	3	But he had a friend called Jonadab, son to Semmaa that was David’s brother, a man of shrewd wits, that expostulated with him,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	13	4	Should a royal prince pine away, day in, day out, and not tell the reason? Then Amnon told him, I am in love with my brother Absalom’s sister, Tamar.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	13	5	Lie down on thy bed, Jonadab told him, and feign illness; then, when thy father visits thee, ask him to let thy sister Tamar come and tend thy wants, cook some dainty for thee, and give it thee with her own hand.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	13	6	So Amnon lay down, and feigned to fall sick, and said to the king, when he came to visit him, Pray send my sister Tamar to boil me two mouthfuls of gruel, here in my presence, and give them me with her own hand.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	13	7	So David sent word to Tamar’s home, bidding her go to her brother Amnon’s house and make gruel for him;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	13	8	and to her brother Amnon’s house she went, to find him lying abed. She took the flour and stirred it and boiled it, and when her cooking was done, she poured it out, and put it down beside him;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	13	9	but he refused to eat. Then Amnon would have all that were there leave his presence, and when all had left him,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	13	10	he bade her come into his room and give it to him with her own hand. So Tamar took the gruel and brought it into her brother Amnon’s room;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	13	11	but when she held it out, he caught hold of his sister and would have her bed with him.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	13	12	Nay, brother, said she, do not force me to thy will; in all Israel, that were deemed great wrong. Forbear thy recklessness;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	13	13	else can I never shew my face, and all Israel will cry out on thy reckless folly. Ask me of the king for thy bride; he will not deny thee.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	13	14	But Amnon would not listen to her; he forced her to his will and so bedded her.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	13	15	And now Amnon conceived a hatred of her that passed all measure; the love he once had for her could not compare with his hatred now; Up, he cried, and begone!
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	13	16	Nay, said she, this is a greater wrong than the first wrong thou didst me, to drive me away thus. But he would not listen to her;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	13	17	he called to the serving-man that waited on him, and bade him thrust the woman out and shut the door on her.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	13	18	Clad in the long robe of a princess, she was thrust out, and the door was shut on her.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	13	19	Dust she sprinkled on her hair, tore the long robe, put her head between her hands, and went on her way in tears.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	13	20	So thy brother Amnon bedded thee? Absalom said to her. Keep silent for this while; he is thy brother. Do not eat thy heart out over it. So Tamar remained there in Absalom’s house, pining away.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	13	21	Great sorrow had king David when the news came to him, but he would do nothing to cross his son Amnon, that he loved dearly; was he not his first-born?
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	13	22	As for Absalom, he spoke no word to Amnon, fair or foul; so deeply did he hate him for dishonouring his sister Tamar.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	13	23	Two years after, when it was shearing-time for Absalom’s sheep at Baal-Hasor, by Ephraim, he would have all the king’s sons there.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	13	24	But when he went to the king, and said, Thy servant’s sheep are a-shearing, will not my lord king come to the feast, and his servants with him?
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	13	25	the king answered, Nay, my son, do not ask us all to come and be a burden to thee; nor would he consent, for all Absalom’s pleading; he would only give him his blessing for the journey.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	13	26	Then at least, said Absalom, let my brother Amnon come with us, if thou wilt not. There is no need for that, David said,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	13	27	but at last Absalom had his way, and David sent Amnon and all the princes with him. It was a royal banquet Absalom prepared for them;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	13	28	but first he gave orders to his men, Wait till Amnon is bemused with wine; then, when I say Strike, slay him. Have no fear; you do but execute my orders; take heart, and shew yourselves men of mettle.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	13	29	So Absalom’s servants did his bidding on Amnon; and all the rest of the princes mounted on their mules and fled.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	13	30	While they were still on their way, the story reached David that Absalom had slain all the princes, and not one had escaped with his life.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	13	31	At that the king rose up, and tore his garments, and cast himself down on the ground; and his servants tore their garments, all that stood by waiting on him.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	13	32	Only Jonadab, son of Semmaa that was David’s brother, would have none of it; Do not believe, my lord King, he said, that all the princes have been killed; Amnon is dead, but only he. His name was ever on Absalom’s lips, since the day of his sister Tamar’s dishonouring.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	13	33	Never burden thy heart, my lord king, with the fancy that all are dead; it is only Amnon.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	13	34	Absalom betook himself to flight. Meanwhile, a servant that was on the watch looked out and saw a throng of men coming down by an unfrequented path on the mountain-side;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	13	35	whereupon Jonadab said to the king, It is the princes that are coming; thy servant was in the right.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	13	36	And indeed, as soon as he had finished speaking, the princes came in view, and loud they wept as they came; the king, too, and all his servants made great lament.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	13	37	Absalom took refuge with Tholomai, son of Ammiud king of Gessur; and David all the while went on mourning for his son.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	13	38	Three years Absalom spent at Gessur as a fugitive;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	13	39	then David gave up the quest for him; already his grief for Amnon was assuaged.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	14	1	Then Joab, son of Sarvia, aware that the king’s heart had relented towards Absalom,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	14	2	sent for a wise woman who lived at Thecua, and spoke to her thus: Make as if thou wert in mourning, put on funeral garments, and never a drop of oil to anoint thee, like a woman who has long been mourning for the dead.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	14	3	Then go into the king’s presence, and speak as I bid thee speak. And with that, he told her all she should say.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	14	4	So the woman from Thecua came into David’s presence and there bowed to the ground to do him reverence; Lord king, she said, give me redress!
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	14	5	What wrong, asked he, is being done thee? And she said, I am a widow, with no husband to protect me.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	14	6	And, my lord, I had two sons; but they came to blows out in the open fields, where there was none to interfere, and one gave the other a blow which killed him.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	14	7	And now the whole clan is at my heels; give up the murderer I must, so that they may kill him in vengeance for his brother’s death, and make an end of the race. The one hope that is left me they would extinguish, so that my husband will have none left on earth to bear his name.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	14	8	Go home, said the king; I will see that justice is done thee.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	14	9	And the guilt, said the woman of Thecua, let that rest with me and with my own kindred; the king and his heirs shall be quit of it.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	14	10	If anyone crosses thy will, the king said, bring him before me, and I will not let him do thee any more hurt.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	14	11	Ah, said she, if the king would only take an oath in the name of the Lord his God that the kinsfolk shall not be allowed to carry on the feud, that my son’s life shall indeed be spared! Not a hair shall fall from his head, the king answered.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	14	12	And now the woman asked leave to speak one word besides, and the king granted it.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	14	13	Then she said, Why does the king’s grace treat the people of God so differently? Why does he persist in doing them wrong, by refusing to restore the man he has exiled?
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	14	14	We must all die, water spilt on the ground; there is no bringing back the dead. Never a soul will God suffer to be lost in the reckoning; still he busies himself with remedies to save the life of him who is banished.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	14	15	I came to make my suit before my lord the king, with his subjects standing by, thinking to myself, Come, I will plead with the king, and perhaps he will grant his handmaid’s request;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	14	16	and the king’s grace has listened to me, and given me redress against those who would have blotted out my name and my son’s name from the record of the Lord’s people.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	14	17	And now let this plea of thy handmaid’s move thee, my lord king, to speak a generous word. Though indeed my lord the king is wise as an angel of God; thou art not moved from thy purpose by fair word or foul; the Lord thy God is with thee.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	14	18	Then the king said to her, I have a question to ask thee; answer it openly. My Lord king, she said, thou hast only to speak.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	14	19	Tell me then, said the king, was not Joab concerned in all this? As thou art a living man, she answered, that guess the king’s grace has made has not missed the truth by a hair’s breadth. It was thy servant Joab who sent me on my errand, and told me all I was to say;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	14	20	it was thy servant Joab who bade me use this parable. My lord king, thou art wise as an angel of God; nothing on earth is hidden from thee.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	14	21	And the king turned to Joab, and said, I relent, and grant thy request; go and bring my son Absalom home.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	14	22	Whereupon Joab bowed his face to the ground in reverence, and blessed the king’s name. To-day, he said, I am assured of thy royal favour, that thou shouldst so grant thy servant his will.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	14	23	Then he set out on his journey to Gessur, and brought Absalom back to Jerusalem.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	14	24	But the king said, Let him go back to his own house, and never come into my presence; so Absalom went home, and might not have access to the king.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	14	25	This Absalom was a man of good presence and famed for his beauty, none like him in all Israel; from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head was no blemish to be found;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	14	26	and when he cut his hair, as each year he must for the heavy burden it was, the locks that were cut weighed two hundred sicles by common weight.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	14	27	Three sons he had, and one daughter called Tamar, a woman fair to see.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	14	28	So for two years Absalom was in Jerusalem without sight of the king;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	14	29	then he sent for Joab, to win him audience, but Joab would not come. A second time the request was made and refused;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	14	30	then Absalom said to his servants, You know that field of Joab’s next to mine, that is under barley; go and set fire to it. So Absalom’s men set fire to the crop, and now Joab’s men went to find him with their garments torn about them, and told him Absalom had had part of his field burned.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	14	31	Thereupon Joab went to see Absalom at his house, and asked, What means it, that thy men have set fire to my crop?
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	14	32	Why, answered Absalom, I was fain to see thee; it was my thought to send thee to the king, and ask him why he brought me home from Gessur. Better have stayed there; pray win me admittance to the king’s presence, or let him put me to death if he cannot forgive the wrong.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	14	33	So Joab went and repeated this to the king, and Absalom was summoned into the king’s presence. Low he bowed before him, with his face to the ground; but David greeted Absalom with a kiss.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	15	1	And now Absalom must drive in state, with chariots and outriders, and fifty men that ran before him.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	15	2	He would rise early, and stand at the entrance to the gate, beckoning to him everyone who had business that called for the king’s award, asking what city he came from, and, if he mentioned one of the Israelite tribes,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	15	3	telling him, Thy pleadings seem to me well-founded and just, but the king has not appointed any judge to try thy cause. Ah, said Absalom,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	15	4	if only I could be appointed as judge in the land, so that all who had matters to decide could bring them to me for a careful hearing!
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	15	5	And when men came up to greet him, he would put out his hand and take them to himself with a kiss.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	15	6	So he did to all the men of Israel who came up to get a hearing from the king, and stole away the hearts of the Israelites.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	15	7	Then, in the fortieth year of the reign, Absalom said to David, Grant me leave to go to Hebron and pay a vow I made to the Lord.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	15	8	It is a vow thy servant took when he was at Gessur in Syria, that if the Lord would restore him to Jerusalem, he would offer a sacrifice.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	15	9	Go, said David, and peace go with thee. To Hebron, then, he went,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	15	10	and meanwhile he had sent agents of his throughout all the tribes of Israel, bidding them wait till they heard the trumpet sound, and then raise the cry, Absalom is king! Absalom reigns at Hebron!
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	15	11	And from Jerusalem itself he took two hundred men, who went with guileless hearts, not knowing why they had been summoned.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	15	12	He also invited from Gilo Achitophel, the Gilonite that was David’s own counsellor. So Absalom began to offer his victims, and his conspiracy grew ever stronger, and the number ever greater that came to his support.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	15	13	Soon a messenger came and told David that the whole of Israel was giving its allegiance to Absalom;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	15	14	and he said to the servants he had with him at Jerusalem, Up, we must make our escape, or we are in Absalom’s hands! We must depart with all speed, or he will come and take us by surprise, overwhelm us and put the whole city to the sword!
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	15	15	And his servants answered, We are at the command of our lord the king, we will do his bidding.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	15	16	So the king left the city on foot with all his attendants, leaving only ten concubines in charge of the palace.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	15	17	At some distance away he halted on his journey, with all the throng that accompanied him,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	15	18	his own servants walking at his side, and the Cerethite and Phelethite companies, as well as the Gethite warriors (six hundred foot, that had come from Geth in his retinue), marching on before him.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	15	19	Why dost thou come with us? the king asked of Ethai the Gethite. Go back to the court; thou art a wanderer who has already left his home
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	15	20	and camest here but yesterday; there is no need for thee to leave Jerusalem, as the rest of us are leaving it, to-day. I will go where I must; do thou and these brethren of thine return, and may the Lord’s faithful mercies reward thee for this loyal service thou hast shewn.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	15	21	But Ethai answered, As the Lord is a living God, as my lord the king is a living man, it cannot be. Wherever thou art, my lord king, in life or in death, there also will thy servant be.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	15	22	Come then, David said to him, pass on over the stream. So Ethai and his men passed over, and then the rest,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	15	23	weeping aloud as they went, till the whole throng had gone across. The king himself crossed Cedron stream, and they all set out on the road which leads to the desert.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	15	24	Sadoc the priest was among them, and with him the Levites, carrying the ark that bore witness of God’s covenant. They now set the ark down, only Abiathar going forward on his journey, till the whole multitude that had left the city should have passed by.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	15	25	But the king said to Sadoc, Carry God’s ark back into the city; if the Lord takes my part, he will bring me home again, and I shall see his ark and his tabernacle there;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	15	26	if he tells me that I have lost his favour, I am at his command; his will be done.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	15	27	Thou hast the seer’s gift; go back in peace to the city with thy son Achimaas and Abiathar’s son Jonathan,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	15	28	and I will wait till I have word from thee before I come back from my hiding-place in the desert plain.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	15	29	So Sadoc and Abiathar carried the ark back to Jerusalem, and remained there.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	15	30	So David went up the mount of Olives, and wept as he climbed it; bare-footed he went and with his head covered, and all that were in his company passed on, with covered heads, lamenting.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	15	31	And now David was told that Achitophel had taken part in Absalom’s conspiracy; Lord, he prayed, do thou foil the designs of Achitophel.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	15	32	He had already reached the top of the hill, where he meant to pay the Lord worship, when he met Chusai the Arachite, his garments torn, and his head all smeared with dust.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	15	33	Nay, said David, if thou shouldst come with me, thou canst only be a burden to me;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	15	34	go back to the city, and tell Absalom, lord king, I am at thy command, I will be thy servant as I was thy father’s. So thou wilt be able to thwart the designs of Achitophel.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	15	35	Thou hast the priests, Sadoc and Abiathar, to help thee; pass on to the priests, to Sadoc and Abiathar, every word thou hearest at court.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	15	36	Their sons remain with them, Sadoc’s son Achimaas and Abiathar’s son Jonathan; by them thou canst send me news of all thou hearest.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	15	37	So David’s friend Chusai went back, and Absalom was entering Jerusalem as he reached it.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	16	1	When David passed a little way beyond the top of the hill, there was Siba, the servant of Miphiboseth, coming to meet them. He had two asses with him, laden with two hundred loaves, and a hundred bunches of raisins, and a hundred cakes of figs, and a skin of wine.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	16	2	When the king asked what he did with all these, Siba answered, I brought the asses to be ridden by the king’s courtiers, the bread and fruit for thy servants to eat, the wine to revive such as are faint in the desert.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	16	3	And where is thy master’s son? the king asked. He remained in Jerusalem, Siba answered, thinking that the men of Israel would restore him this day to the throne of his father.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	16	4	Why then, the king told him, all that was Miphiboseth’s is thine. And Siba answered, My prayer is that I may ever enjoy thy favour, my lord king.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	16	5	But, as David reached Bahurim, a man of Saul’s kindred came out to meet him, one Semei, son of Gera, and ever he cursed as he went,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	16	6	and threw stones after David, and his servants that walked to left and right of him, plain folk and warriors alike.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	16	7	Go thy ways, cried Semei, cursing the king, go thy ways, murderer and upstart!
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	16	8	Now the Lord has avenged the blood of Saul’s race, by handing over the kingdom thou didst usurp to thy son Absalom; no wonder if calamity comes home to thee, murderer as thou art!
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	16	9	At this Abisai, son of Sarvia, protested to the king, Why must this hangdog fellow be allowed to curse my lord the king? Let me go and cut the head from his body!
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	16	10	What, sons of Sarvia, David replied, will you never give me any rest? Let him curse as he will; the Lord has bidden him curse David, and who shall call him to question for doing it?
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	16	11	Then he cried out, so that Abisai and all his servants could hear him, Look you, here is the son of my own body conspiring against my life; why may not yonder Benjamite do as much? Let him curse as curse the Lord has bidden him;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	16	12	perhaps it will move the Lord to pity my calamities, and bring good out of the ill fame I must endure this day.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	16	13	So David passed on, and his companions with him, while Semei strode along the ridge on the other side of the valley, cursing, and throwing stones and handfuls of earth.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	16	14	A weary man was the king, and weary were all the people with him, when they reached their halting-place; and there they rested.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	16	15	Meanwhile Absalom and his men had entered Jerusalem, and Achitophel with him;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	16	16	and there David’s friend, Chusai the Arachite, met them; Greeting, he said, greeting to the king!
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	16	17	Why, said Absalom, is this thy friendship? Wouldst thou not bear that friend of thine company?
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	16	18	Not I, said Chusai; for me, the king who has been chosen out by the Lord, by these folk here, by the whole of Israel; my place is by his side.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	16	19	And indeed, to whom is my service due, if not to the king’s own son? Thou shalt have the same loyalty thy father had from me.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	16	20	And now Absalom said to Achitophel, Bethink thee, what were best done.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	16	21	Whereupon Achitophel answered, Go and mate with the concubines thy father has left in charge of the palace. When they hear thou hast come between thy father’s sheets, all Israel will rally to thy cause the more fearlessly.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	16	22	So they spread a tent for Absalom on the roof, and he went in to bed his father’s concubines, there with all Israel to witness it.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	16	23	Men followed Achitophel’s advice then as if it were God himself they had consulted; so it was all the time he was David’s counsellor, and all the time he was Absalom’s.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	17	1	Now, said Achitophel to Absalom, let me pick twelve thousand men, and set out in pursuit of David this very night;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	17	2	so I shall overtake him and easily defeat him, weary as he is and unnerved; first scatter the company that went with him, and then strike him down, with none to aid him.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	17	3	All the people I will bring round to thy cause, as easily as I would persuade a single man; thou hast but one enemy, the rest of the people will be well content.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	17	4	Both Absalom and all the elders of Israel liked his counsel well;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	17	5	but Absalom would have them summon Chusai the Arachite, to find out his opinion too.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	17	6	So Chusai the Arachite came in, and Absalom told him what Achitophel had said; Were it well done? he asked. What advice givest thou?
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	17	7	And Chusai answered, No, it will not serve our turn, this counsel Achitophel has given.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	17	8	Bethink thee now, what brave warriors they are, thy father and the men he leads; how fierce in their anger, fierce as the she-bear that lurks in a wood, when her cubs have been taken away from her; thy father is a fighting man, he will not remain there among the common folk.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	17	9	No, by now he is hidden in some pit under ground, or some other vantage-point. A few deaths among his pursuers, and the word will go round, Absalom’s followers are routed!
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	17	10	Then the most lion-hearted will be overcome with sudden fear; well all the people of Israel knows that thy father and the warriors that bear him company are men of mettle.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	17	11	No, here is a plan more to my liking, that thou shouldst summon all Israel, from Dan to Bersabee, an army countless as the sand, and thyself march out with it.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	17	12	Hide he where he may, we will find him, and we will be all about him, covering the earth like dew; never a man of his company shall escape us.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	17	13	Why, even if he should defend himself behind city walls, this great army of Israel could wind ropes round it and drag it down into the nearest valley, till never a stone was to be found of it!
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	17	14	Thereupon Absalom and all the men of Israel agreed that Chusai the Arachite had given better counsel than Achitophel. Whereas in truth Achitophel’s advice was the more to their purpose, but the Lord foiled it, to compass Absalom’s ruin.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	17	15	Then Chusai told the priests, Sadoc and Abiathar, what Achitophel’s counsel had been, and what his own;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	17	16	Send a message to David, said he, with all speed, telling him not to linger in the desert plain this night, but cross Jordan without delay; else he and all that are with him may be overwhelmed.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	17	17	Jonathan and Achimaas stood at their post by the spring of Rogel, and a maid-servant must go and give them the message before they could take it to king David; they did not dare shew themselves in the city.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	17	18	Even so a lad saw them, and told Absalom, and they must turn aside with all speed into the house of a man at Bahurim, that had a well by the porch of it, and climb down into this for safety.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	17	19	Nor was their hiding-place discovered; a woman came and spread a cloth over the mouth of the well, as if she would dry her barley-groats there;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	17	20	and when Absalom’s men reached the house, asking her where were Jonathan and Achimaas, she said they had gone quickly on their way, only stopping for a mouthful of water; so their pursuers returned baffled to Jerusalem.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	17	21	These gone, Jonathan and Achimaas climbed up out of the well, and brought king David word; Bestir yourselves, they said, and cross the river without more ado; and told what advice Achitophel had given.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	17	22	So king David and all that bore him company took the road, and were across Jordan before ever dawn broke; not a man was left west of the river.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	17	23	As for Achitophel, when he found that his advice was not followed, he saddled his ass and went home to Gilon; there he put his affairs in order, and hanged himself. So there they buried him, in his father’s tomb.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	17	24	David made his way to the Encampment; and now Absalom crossed the Jordan after him, with all Israel at his back.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	17	25	In Joab’s place, Absalom gave the command of his army to Amasa, that was son to a man called Jethra, of Jezrahel; he had mated with Abigail, daughter of Naas, that was sister to Joab’s mother Sarvia.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	17	26	So Israel, and Absalom with them, pitched their tents in the country of Galaad.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	17	27	Meanwhile, upon David’s coming to the Encampment, Sobi son of Naas the Ammonite, and Machir son of Ammihel from Lodabar, and Berzellai that dwelt in Galaad, at Rogelim,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	17	28	brought him presents; beds and coverlets and earthenware, wheat and barley, flour and parched corn, beans and lentils and fried pulse,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	17	29	honey and butter, sheep and fattened calves. So they made provision for David and his followers, that were like to be hard pressed with hunger and thirst, there in the desert.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	18	1	And now David passed the men who were with him under review, appointing commanders and captains over them;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	18	2	one third he entrusted to Joab, one third to Joab’s brother Abisai, and the remainder to Ethai of Geth. He himself, he told his men, would go into battle with them,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	18	3	but they would not have it. It makes no great matter to the enemy, they said, whether we are routed: even if half of us should fall, they would set little store by it; thy life is more to them than the lives of ten thousand others. Better that thou shouldst remain in the city and garrison it for us.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	18	4	So the king told them he would abide by their judgement, and he stood watching at the gate while they marched out company by company, in their hundreds and thousands.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	18	5	One charge the king laid upon Joab and Abisai and Ethai alike, Spare me my son Absalom; and this charge about Absalom was so given to each of them that the men in the ranks could hear it.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	18	6	So his army took the field against Israel; it was in the forest of Ephraim that battle was joined.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	18	7	And the Israelites were routed by David’s men, with great loss; twenty thousand men fell that day,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	18	8	and more of them perished in the woods than in the fighting itself, so scattered was their flight over all the country-side.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	18	9	Some of David’s men encountered Absalom himself, riding on a mule; and away the mule went, under the tangled branches of a great oak, which caught him by the head and kept him hanging there between earth and sky, while the beast that carried him pressed on.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	18	10	A soldier, who witnessed it, went and told Joab that he had seen Absalom hanging from an oak.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	18	11	Thou sawest him, Joab answered, and didst not smite him then and there to the ground? I would have given thee ten sicles of silver and a belt besides.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	18	12	Nay, said he, thou mightest count out a thousand silver pieces into my purse, and still I would not lift a hand against the king’s son. We were all of us within hearing when the king bade thee and Abisai and Ethai spare his son Absalom.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	18	13	It would have been at the risk of my life, and the thing would never have passed unnoticed by the king; why, thou wouldst thyself be laying information against me.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	18	14	That will not serve, answered Joab; I will smite him myself, and thou shalt be there to witness it. So he took three javelins with him, and thrust Absalom right through with them; then, as he still hung there writhing on the oak,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	18	15	ten squires who attended on Joab ran up and dispatched him.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	18	16	With that, Joab sounded the trumpet, and would not let his men go further in pursuit of Israel, to spare the lives of the common folk.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	18	17	As for Absalom, they threw his body into a deep pit, there in the forest, and piled a great heap of stones over him. Meanwhile, the men of Israel fled away to their tents.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	18	18	(The monument which stands in the King’s Vale is one which Absalom erected for himself in his own life-time, thinking thus to perpetuate his name, since he had no son to follow him. And as he gave this monument his own name, it has been called Absalom’s Mark ever since.)
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	18	19	And now Achimaas, son of Sadoc, asked leave to run and tell the king how God had punished his enemies,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	18	20	but Joab told him, Better some other day than this for bearing the message; I would not have thee tell the news to-day; here is a king’s son dead.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	18	21	Afterwards Joab bade Chusi go and tell the king what he had seen; so Chusi did reverence to him, and ran.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	18	22	And thereupon Sadoc’s son Achimaas asked whether he might not run after Chusi. No need for that, my son, Joab answered; it is not good news thou wilt carry.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	18	23	But may I run? asked he. Run if thou wilt, said Joab. And Achimaas took a shorter way, and passed Chusi by.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	18	24	David was sitting between the two gates; and now the watchman that stood above the roof over the gate, high up on the wall, looked up and saw a man running, all alone,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	18	25	and cried out to let the king know of it. If he is alone, the king said, he has good news to tell. Then, as the runner came nearer,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	18	26	the watchman saw a second courier on his way, and cried out from the roof, I see a second man running all alone. He too, the king said, is a welcome messenger.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	18	27	And the watchman told him, I have marked how the first messenger runs; he runs like Achimaas, son of Sadoc. A good man, the king said; his will be good news.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	18	28	And now Achimaas cried out, Hail, my lord king! Then he bowed down with his face to the earth, to do the king reverence, and said, Blessed be the Lord thy God; he has not suffered them to escape, the men who took up arms against the king’s grace.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	18	29	Is all well, the king asked, with my son Absalom? And Achimaas answered, There was a great stir round about Joab when he sent me, thy servant, on my errand; I can tell thee no more.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	18	30	Stand aside here, the king said; and as he did so,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	18	31	Chusi came up after him; Good news, said he, for my lord the king! The Lord has maintained thy cause against the rebels.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	18	32	Then the king asked Chusi, Is all well with my son Absalom? My lord king, Chusi answered, may all thy enemies, and all that conspire to thy hurt, fare as the prince has fared!
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	18	33	And with that, the king went up to the room over the gate in bitter sorrow, and wept there. O, my son Absalom, he said as he went, my son, my son Absalom! Would to God I had died instead of thee, Absalom, my son, my son!
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	19	1	Word came back to Joab that the king was in tears, mourning over his son;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	19	2	and the news of the royal grief went round among the army, so that the victory they had won that day issued only in lament.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	19	3	They would not even return that day to the city, feeling such shame as a broken and routed army feels;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	19	4	and all the while the king hid his face away, and went on crying aloud, My son Absalom, Absalom, my son, my son!
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	19	5	At last Joab made his way into the royal lodging, and said to the king, Here is a fine day’s work, to make all thy followers go about hanging their heads! The men who have saved thee and thy sons and daughters, thy wives and concubines, from peril of death!
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	19	6	Nothing but love for thy enemies, nothing but hatred for thy friends; never a thought, this day, for thy own captains and thy own men! If we were all dead, and Absalom still lived, I warrant thou hadst been the better pleased.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	19	7	Bestir thyself, come out and speak to thy men, and earn their good will; I swear by the Lord that if thou dost not come out, not a man will be left to serve thy cause by night-fall; and worse awaits thee than all the troubles which have come upon thee from the days of thy youth till now.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	19	8	So the king rose up, and seated himself at the gateway; and there, once the word had gone round that the king was sitting in the gateway, all his followers came into the royal presence.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	19	9	But the men of Israel had fled home. And now, all through the tribes of Israel, there was high debate; Here is a king, men said, that has rid us of our enemies, rescued us from the power of the Philistines, and he must be exiled from his kingdom to please Absalom!
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	19	10	This Absalom, whom we anointed to be our king, has fallen in battle; why is no voice raised for bringing the king back to us?
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	19	11	News of what the Israelites were saying had reached the court, and now king David sent word to the priests, Sadoc and Abiathar, bidding them ask the elders of Juda, Why are you the last to welcome the king home again?
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	19	12	You are my own tribesmen, my own kith and kin, why do you hang back, instead of restoring me to the throne?
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	19	13	He bade them, too, give this message to Amasa, Art thou not my own flesh and blood? May the Lord punish me as I deserve, and more than I deserve, if I do not make thee, instead of Joab, commander of my army henceforward!
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	19	14	Thus he won over the men of Juda till they had but a single thought, and a message was sent to the king bidding him come back to them, and all his men with him.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	19	15	So the king set out for home, and by the time he reached the Jordan, the whole of Juda had assembled at Galgal to meet him and escort him over the river.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	19	16	Semei the son of Gera, the Benjamite, hastened to bear them company, welcoming king David
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	19	17	with a thousand of his own tribesmen; there was Siba, too, that had once been a servant in the court of Saul, with his fifteen sons and twenty servants of his, and these, plunging into the Jordan
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	19	18	before the king could reach it, were across the ford, ready to escort his household and wait upon his bidding. Semei, Gera’s son, was no sooner across Jordan than he fell at the king’s feet;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	19	19	My lord, he said, do not hold me guilty, forget the wrong thy servant did thee when thou, my lord king, hadst left Jerusalem; let there be no grudge in thy royal heart.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	19	20	I, thy servant, confess this day the wrong I did; that is why I have come, first spokesman of the other tribes, to meet the king’s grace on his way.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	19	21	At this, Abisai son of Sarvia would have Semei put to death, for the curses he uttered against an anointed king.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	19	22	What, sons of Sarvia, David answered, will you never give me rest? This day, of all others, would you mar my peace? No Israelite shall lose his life this day, which has taught me for the first time that I am king in Israel.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	19	23	And to Semei he said, Thou shalt not die, and took his oath to confirm it.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	19	24	Then the king was met by Miphiboseth, that was heir to Saul; he came with feet begrimed, with beard untrimmed, in garments that went unwashed from the day of the king’s departure to the day of his return.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	19	25	Down from Jerusalem he came to meet him, and when the king asked, Why didst thou not bear me company, Miphiboseth?
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	19	26	his answer was, My lord king, my own servant played me false; may it please thee, I bade him saddle me an ass, so that I could ride in the king’s company, lame as I am;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	19	27	and he, not content with disobeying, has brought a false charge against me before my lord the king. But thou, my lord king, art wise as an angel of God; do what thou wilt.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	19	28	For indeed, the whole of my father’s line deserve nothing better than death at thy hands, and thou hast given me, thy servant, a place among the guests at thy table; what right have I to complain? I will raise my voice no more in my defence.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	19	29	And the king told him, No need to say more. My word has been passed; do thou and Siba divide the lands between you.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	19	30	Why, let him take all, Miphiboseth answered; enough for me that my lord the king has come home in peace.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	19	31	Berzellai, too, the man of Galaad, came down from Rogelim, to attend his crossing of Jordan, ready to accompany him to the further bank.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	19	32	Berzellai of Galaad was an old man, eighty years old; he it was that brought the king provisions, while he lay at the Encampment, for he was a man of great riches.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	19	33	To him the king said, Bear me company, and take thy ease with me at Jerusalem.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	19	34	But Berzellai answered, What, a man of my years go up to Jerusalem with the king’s grace?
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	19	35	I am eighty years old now; are my senses still keen, to tell sweet from bitter? Can thy servant take pleasure in food and drink? Can my ear catch the tone of songster and songstress? Nay, I would not be a burden to my lord the king;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	19	36	let thy servant go with thee a little of the way beyond Jordan, and no more. I need no such exchange of friendship;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	19	37	rather, my prayer is that I should be allowed to go back and die in my own city, and be buried close to the grave where my father and mother lie. Here is thy servant Chamaam; let him go with thee, my lord king, and do with him what thou wilt.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	19	38	Chamaam shall go with me, the king replied, and it shall be for thee to choose what is to be done with him; no request of thine shall go ungranted.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	19	39	So, when he and all the people had crossed over Jordan, the king kissed Berzellai and blessed him, and he went home,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	19	40	while the king passed on to Galgal, and Chamaam with him. All the men of Juda had been the king’s escort, but of the other Israelites only a half;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	19	41	and now the men of Israel came to him with one accord, and asked, How is it that our brethren, the men of Juda, have stolen thee from us? By what warrant did they escort the king, and his household and the warriors of David’s army, on their passage over Jordan?
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	19	42	Why, answered the men of Juda, he is nearer of kin to us. There is no cause here for anger. Have we lived on the king’s bounty, or been singled out to receive his gifts?
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	19	43	And the Israelites replied, We are ten to one; our rights with the king, our claims upon David, are ten times as great as yours. Why did you wrong us by not conferring with us first about our king’s restoration? Thus either side pleaded its own cause, but the men of Juda more bitterly than the men of Israel.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	20	1	It chanced that there was a turbulent fellow there, called Seba, son of Bochri, from Benjamin, who now sounded his trumpet and raised the cry: David, then, is none of ours; not for us the son of Jesse; go back, men of Israel, to your homes!
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	20	2	Thereupon all the Israelites parted from David’s company, and marched away with Seba, son of Bochri; it was only the men of Juda that escorted David all the way from Jordan to Jerusalem.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	20	3	So the king came home. As for the ten concubines he had left in charge of the palace, he shut these away, giving them their allowance of food still, but never again having commerce with them; they remained shut away in their widowhood as long as they lived.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	20	4	And now the king said to Amasa, Muster all the warriors of Juda, three days from now, and present thyself here with them.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	20	5	Amasa went to muster them, but dallied beyond the time which the king had named;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	20	6	and David said to Abisai, This Seba, son of Bochri, will do us more harm than ever Absalom did. Take the royal troops with thee, and go in pursuit of him; or he will find refuge within city walls and escape us.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	20	7	So in pursuit of Seba they went, under Abisai’s command, Joab’s men, and the Cerethites and Phelethites, and all the picked warriors in Jerusalem;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	20	8	and when they reached the great stone of Gabaon, they fell in with Amasa. Joab was there, clad in a tight-fitting cloak of the same length as his coat, and girt with a dagger whose sheath only reached to his loins, such that he could draw it easily and strike.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	20	9	Greetings to thee, brother, said Joab, and with that he clapped his right hand under Amasa’s chin, as if he would kiss him;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	20	10	then, with the dagger that had gone unmarked, he struck him in the side, and spilt his entrails on the ground, so that he died without a second blow. After this, Joab and his brother Abisai continued their pursuit of Seba, son of Bochri.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	20	11	And among Joab’s men, that stood beside the body, the word went round, Here he lies that would have been David’s chosen friend in place of Joab.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	20	12	There Amasa lay, drenched in his own blood, till one who saw all the passers-by stopping to look at him, carried the body off into a field, away from the road; so they would halt on their journey no more.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	20	13	And sure enough, when it had been taken aside from the road, all were ready to follow Joab in pursuit of Seba, the son of Bochri.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	20	14	Seba had gone through all the tribes of Israel, till he reached Abela that is called Beth-Maacha; and all their choicest warriors had rallied to him.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	20	15	So to Abela Beth-Maacha they went, and besieged him there, surrounding the city with works, so that it was quite cut off; nor did Joab’s men spare any pains to make a breach in the wall.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	20	16	But now a wise woman cried out from within the city, A word with you, a word with you! Bid Joab come here, and let me speak to him.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	20	17	Thou art Joab? she asked, as he came near; and when he answered to the name, Listen, she besought him, to what thy handmaid has to say. Listen I will, said he.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	20	18	There is an old proverb, she told him, that says, They who ask counsel must ask it at Abela; and so they did.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	20	19	Here dwells a woman that tells Israelites the truth; and wouldst thou overthrow such a city, a mother-city in Israel? Why wouldst thou bring ruin on the Lord’s chosen land?
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	20	20	Never that, never that, Joab answered; ruin and destruction are not for me.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	20	21	The case stands otherwise; there is one Seba, son of Bochri, from the hill-country of Ephraim, that is in rebellion against king David; hand that one man over, and we will raise the siege. Wait then, said the woman; his head shall be thrown down to thee from the wall.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	20	22	And with that she went in, and spoke to the defenders in the wisdom that was her craft; whereupon they cut off the head of Seba, son of Bochri, and cast it down to Joab. So he blew his trumpet, and his men raised the siege and went to their tents; Joab himself went back to the king’s court at Jerusalem.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	20	23	Joab, then, commanded the army of Israel, and Banaias son of Joiada the Cerethites and Phelethites;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	20	24	Aduram was overseer of the revenues, and Josaphat, son of Ahilud, kept the records;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	20	25	Siva was secretary, Sadoc and Abiathar chief priests;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	20	26	Ira, too, the Jairite, was one of David’s ministers.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	21	1	There was a famine in David’s reign that lasted three years continuously; and when David consulted the Lord’s oracle he was told, It is because of Saul; he slew the Gabaonites, and the guilt of blood still rests upon his line.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	21	2	The Gabaonites did not belong to Israel; they were of the old Amorrhite stock, and their lives had been spared in fulfilment of an oath, but Saul, jealous for the honour of Israel and of Juda, had tried to exterminate them. So king David summoned them,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	21	3	and asked what he could do to content them; what amends he could make, to recover their good will for the Lord’s chosen people.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	21	4	Of silver and gold, the Gabaonites told him, there is no question here; our quarrel is with Saul and his kin; we would not take any toll of Israelite lives. What would you have me do, then? the king asked.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	21	5	And they said, We must efface the memory of the man who persecuted us and wrongfully oppressed us, leaving none of his stock alive from end to end of Israel.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	21	6	Hand over to us seven men of his line, and let us crucify them before the Lord at Gabaa, that is named after him; there dwelt he when the Lord chose him out to be king. And David said, You shall have them.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	21	7	But he spared Miphiboseth, the heir of Saul through Jonathan, to honour the covenant which Jonathan, Saul’s son, had made with him;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	21	8	he took two sons that were born to Saul by Respha, daughter of Aia, one called Armoni and one that bore his cousin’s name of Miphiboseth, and five sons of Michol, Saul’s daughter, that she bore to Hadriel, son of Berzellai, at Molathi,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	21	9	and handed these over to the Gabaonites. And the Gabaonites crucified them before the Lord, there on the hillside. It was in the first days of the harvest, when the barley was beginning to be cut, that the seven of them perished, all at one time;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	21	10	and Respha, the daughter of Aia, spread herself a covering of sackcloth and sat there on the rock, from the beginning of harvest till the first rains fell on them; bird by day nor beast by night should touch them.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	21	11	The news of what Saul’s concubine, Respha the daughter of Aia, had done, reached David’s ears.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	21	12	And thereupon he recovered the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan from the men of Jabes-Galaad, who had stolen them back when the Philistines hung them up in the streets of Bethsan, soon after Saul’s death on Gelboe;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	21	13	carried these away, and collected the bones, too, of the men crucified at Gabaa,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	21	14	and buried them. So they were laid in the tomb of Cis, that was Saul’s father, in the Benjamite country, beside the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan; all this was done at the king’s command. And now the land was restored to God’s favour.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	21	15	War broke out again between Israel and the Philistines, and David went to battle against them with his men. But David’s strength had left him;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	21	16	and he came near to being struck down by Jesbi-Benob, a man of the Araphite breed, that had a spear-head of ten pounds weight, and a new sword at his side.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	21	17	It was Abisai, Sarvia’s son, that came to the king’s rescue, and gave the Philistine his death-blow. But after that David’s men swore that he should never go into battle with them again; that light must not be lost to Israel.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	21	18	In another battle against the Philistines, at Gob, Saph, of the giant breed of Arapha, was slain by Sobochai, from Husathi;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	21	19	in a third, also at Gob, Elehanan the son of Jaare, an embroiderer from Bethlehem, slew Goliath of Geth, that had a shaft to his spear as big as a weaver’s beam.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	21	20	In a fourth, at Geth, there was a man of huge stature that had twelve fingers and twelve toes, another of the Araphite breed;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	21	21	and he taunted Israel, till Jonathan, son of David’s brother Semma, struck him down.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	21	22	All these four were Araphites from Geth, all slain by David and his men.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	22	1	And this was David’s song of thanksgiving when he found that the Lord had rescued him from the power of Saul, and from his other enemies:
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	22	2	The Lord is my rock-fastness, my bulwark, my rescuer.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	22	3	It is my God that brings me aid, and gives me confidence; he is my shield, my weapon of deliverance, my protector, my stronghold; he it is that preserves me and frees me from wrong.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	22	4	Praised be the Lord! When I invoke him I am secure from my enemies.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	22	5	Death’s terrors were near at hand, deep flowed the tide of wickedness, to daunt me;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	22	6	the toils of the grave were all about me, deadly snares had trapped my feet.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	22	7	One cry to the Lord, in my affliction, one word of summons to my God, and he, from his sanctuary, listens to my voice; the complaint I make before him finds a hearing.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	22	8	Earth shivered and shook, the very foundations of the hills quailed and quaked before his anger;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	22	9	smoke went up before his indignant presence, and a consuming fire; burning coals were kindled as he went.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	22	10	He bade heaven stoop, and came down to earth, with mist at his feet;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	22	11	he came, mounted on the cherubim, borne up on the wings of the wind,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	22	12	shrouded in a pall of darkness, wringing out the rainstorm from the clouds of heaven;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	22	13	burning coals were kindled by the lightning that went before him;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	22	14	the Lord, sending his thunder from heaven, the Most High, letting his voice be heard.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	22	15	How they scattered when he rained down his arrows on them, fled in confusion before his lightning!
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	22	16	The secret springs of ocean came to light, the very foundations of the world were laid bare, when the Lord threatened them, blew upon them with the breath of his anger.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	22	17	Then he reached down from heaven, caught hold of me,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	22	18	rescued me from that flood, saved me from triumphant malice, from the enemies that held me at their mercy.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	22	19	In that evil day he came to my side; the Lord upheld me
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	22	20	and brought me out into freedom again; his great love befriended me.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	22	21	And still as he sees me dutiful, the Lord will requite me; as he sees me guiltless in act, he will make return.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	22	22	Have I not kept true to the Lord’s paths? Have I not been loyal to my God?
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	22	23	No law of his, but I have kept it before my eyes; no task he laid upon me have I refused;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	22	24	ever stainless in his presence, ever watchful to keep myself clear of guilt.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	22	25	Surely the Lord will requite me as he sees me dutiful, as he sees me guiltless in act.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	22	26	Lovingly thou dost treat those who love thee, faithfully the courageous;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	22	27	he that is thy own shall find thee his very own, from the man who turns against thee thou wilt turn away.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	22	28	To humble folk thou wilt bring deliverance; the proud, with their haughty looks, thou wilt bring down to earth.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	22	29	Thou, Lord, art the lamp of my hope; thou, Lord, dost shine on the darkness about me.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	22	30	In thy strength I shall run well girded; in the strength of my God I will leap over a wall.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	22	31	Such is my God, unsullied in his dealings; his promises are like metal tried in the fire; he is the sure defence of all who trust in him.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	22	32	Who but the Lord is God? What other power can there be except our God?
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	22	33	It is he that girds me with strength, he that makes me go on a smooth way, untroubled.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	22	34	He makes me sure-footed as the deer, and gives me the freedom of the hills;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	22	35	these hands, through him, are skilled in battle, these arms are a match for any bow of bronze.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	22	36	Thy saving power, Lord, is my defence, thy tender care fosters me.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	22	37	Through thee, my steps are untrammelled as I go, foot of mine never falters;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	22	38	I can master the enemies I pursue, and never turn home till I have made an end of them;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	22	39	made an end of them, beating them to their knees, hurling them down at my feet.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	22	40	Thou girdest me about with a warrior’s strength; whatever power challenges me thou dost subdue before me,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	22	41	putting my enemies to flight, and throwing all their malice into confusion.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	22	42	Loudly they cry out to the Lord, bereft of aid, but he makes no answer to their cries.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	22	43	I can crush them to pieces, like dust on the ground, spurn and trample them like mire in the streets.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	22	44	Thou wilt deliver me, then, from sedition among my people; nay, thou hast a higher destiny for me yet, to rule over other nations, with alien folk for my subjects.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	22	45	Aliens offering battle, and then brought to my allegiance,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	22	46	so feeble have they grown, so hard pinched by distress!
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	22	47	Blessed be the living Lord who is my God, praised be the God who rescues me!
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	22	48	It is thou, my God, that bringest me redress, that grantest me dominion over my people,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	22	49	that savest me from my enemies, so that I am high above the reach of their assaults, proof against their violence.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	22	50	Then, Lord, I will give thee thanks in the hearing of all nations, singing in praise of thy name;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	22	51	how powerful thou art to protect the king thou hast chosen, how merciful thou art towards him thou hast anointed, towards David, and David’s line for ever.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	23	1	These are the words of David’s last psalm. Thus speaks David, son of Jesse, thus speaks the man whom the God of Jacob swore to anoint, he who sang as none other sang in Israel.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	23	2	Through me the spirit of the Lord has spoken; his words are on my tongue.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	23	3	What says Israel’s God, Israel’s strong defender? That he who rules among men, governing them justly in the fear of God,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	23	4	shines out like the light of dawn, when the sun rises in a cloudless sky, grows strong like meadow grass watered by the rain.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	23	5	What worth has my kindred in God’s sight, that he should make an everlasting covenant with me, sealed and ratified all of it? Everywhere he preserves me, everywhere grants me my will; no wish of mine but bears fruit.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	23	6	Sinful men he treats like briars, too sturdy to be plucked away with the hand,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	23	7	so that all who would interfere with them go armed with iron-shod poles, setting fire to them at last and burning them away to nothing.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	23	8	And these are the names of David’s champions; first among the first three was Jesbaam the son of Hachamoni (the same that was called Plump as a Wood-worm), who slew eight hundred men in one assault.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	23	9	After him, his cousin Eleazar the Ahohite, one of the three champions that were with David when they defied the Philistines. These had mustered for battle,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	23	10	and the men of Israel had left the field; Eleazar stood there and cut down the Philistines until his arm grew weary and his hand stiff about his sword. A great victory the Lord gave Israel that day, and the men who had fled at first came back to gather up the spoils of the dead.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	23	11	And after him Semma, the son of Age, from Arari. When a company of Philistines had gathered, close by a field of lentils, and routed the Israelites,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	23	12	he stood there in the middle of the field and held it against the Philistines till he defeated them; that day, too, the Lord gave Israel a great victory.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	23	13	Once, when it was harvest-time, these three, the foremost of the Thirty, were at the king’s side in the cave of Odollam; the Philistines had encamped in the Valley of the Giants,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	23	14	and David kept close in his stronghold. The Philistines had a garrison at this time in Bethlehem:
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	23	15	and now David, overcome with longing, said aloud, Oh for a cup of water from the well by Bethlehem gate!
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	23	16	Whereupon the three champions broke through the Philistine lines, drew water from the well by the gate of Bethlehem, and brought it to David. Instead of drinking it, he poured it out as a libation to the Lord;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	23	17	The Lord be merciful to me, said he, never that! That were to drink men’s blood; they brought it at the peril of their lives; it is not for my drinking. Such were the feats of the three first champions.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	23	18	Abisai, too, Joab’s brother, son of Sarvia, was one of three champions; he it was that engaged three hundred men with his own spear, and slew them. His name stood as one of three,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	23	19	and among these he was foremost, leading the others, but he could not rival the first three.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	23	20	There was Banaias, too, whose father, Joiada of Cabseel, was a warrior famous for his exploits. Banaias it was that slew the two heroes of Moab; he also went down into a cavern on a day of snow, and killed a lion there.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	23	21	And there was an Egyptian he slew, a wondrous man to see, that carried a great spear; Banaias went into battle with a club, and killed the Egyptian with his own spear, wresting it from his hand.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	23	22	Such were the feats of Banaias, son of Joiada;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	23	23	he, too, was one of the three champions that were foremost among the Thirty, but he could not rival the first three. He was the man David appointed to carry out his secret commands.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	23	24	And these were the men who belonged to the Thirty; Asael, Joab’s brother, and his cousin, Elehanan of Bethlehem;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	23	25	Semma from Harodi, Elica from Harodi;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	23	26	Heles from Phalti; Hira, son of Acces, from Thecua;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	23	27	Abiezer from Anathoth; Mobonnai from Husati;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	23	28	Selmon the Ahohite; Maharai the Netophathite;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	23	29	Heled, son of Baana, also from Netophath; Ithai, son of Ribai, from Gabaath in Benjamin;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	23	30	Banaia the Pharathonite; Heddai from the valley of Gaas;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	23	31	Abialbon the Arbathite; Azmaveth from Beromi;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	23	32	Eliaba from Salaboni; the sons of Jassen, Jonathan,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	23	33	Semma from Orori; Aiam, son of Sarar, the Arorite;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	23	34	Eliphelet, son of Asbai, son of Machati; Eliam, son of Achitophel, the Gelonite;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	23	35	Hesrai from Carmel; Pharai from Arbi;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	23	36	Igaal, son of Nathan, from Soba; Bonni from Gadi;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	23	37	Selec from Ammoni; Naharai the Berothite, that was squire to Joab the son of Sarvia;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	23	38	Ira and Gareb, the Jethrites,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	23	39	and Urias the Hethite; thirty-seven names in all.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	24	1	But still the Lord’s vengeance threatened Israel; and now it was through David he disturbed their peace, with a design for registering Israel and Juda.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	24	2	The king said to Joab, the chief of his army, Go through all the tribes of Israel from Dan to Bersabee, and make a muster-roll of the people, so that I may know the full tale of them.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	24	3	Why, said Joab, my prayer is that the Lord may increase yet more the number of the people, great as it is, and that thou mayest live to see it a hundred times as great! But what is it my lord the king means by this design?
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	24	4	But all that Joab and the captains of the army could say might not thwart the king’s will; so Joab and the other commanders left the king’s presence to make a register of Israel.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	24	5	They crossed the Jordan, and reached Aroer, on the right side of the city that stands in the vale of Gad;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	24	6	then they passed by way of Jazer into Galaad to the plain country of Hodsi, and so reached the woodlands of Dan. Thence they turned towards Sidon,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	24	7	passed close to the walls of Tyre, and all along the country that was still held by Chanaanite and Hevite, and came at last to the southern end of Juda, at Bersabee.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	24	8	So they made their review of the whole country, and returned to Jerusalem after nine months’ and twenty days’ absence.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	24	9	And Joab gave in the register to the king; it proved that there were eight hundred thousand warriors that bore arms in Israel, and five hundred thousand in Juda.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	24	10	But, now the count of Israel had been made, David’s heart reproached him. And he confessed to the Lord, I have sinned greatly in what I have done; Lord, give my sin quittance; I have played a fool’s part.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	24	11	And by the time he rose next morning, the word of the Lord had come to the prophet Gad, that was David’s seer,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	24	12	Go and give David this message from the Lord; he is given a threefold choice, and he must choose his own punishment among the three.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	24	13	So Gad went to David with the message: Wilt thou have seven years of famine in thy country, or three months of flight from the pursuit of thy enemies, or three days in which thy country is smitten with plague? Think well, and tell me what answer I shall make to him whose word I bear thee.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	24	14	I am hard pressed on all sides, David told him; but it is better to fall into the hands of the Lord, so rich is he in mercy, than into the hands of men.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	24	15	So the Lord sent a plague upon Israel, from that morning till the time he had appointed; and it raged all the way from Dan to Bersabee, till seventy thousand men had perished.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	24	16	But when the angel of the Lord was stretching out his hand over Jerusalem, to bring destruction on it, the Lord was moved with pity over their calamity, and said to the angel who was smiting the people down, It is enough, stay thy hand. The angel of the Lord stood close, then, to the threshing-floor of Areuna the Jebusite.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	24	17	David, when he saw how the angel was smiting the people down, had said to the Lord, The sin is mine, the fault is mine; these poor sheep of mine, what wrong have they done? Nay, turn thy hand against me, and my own father’s race!
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	24	18	Then Gad brought David the message, Go up to the threshing-floor of Areuna the Jebusite, and build an altar there.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	24	19	So David went up, in obedience to the command which the Lord had given him through Gad;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	24	20	and when Areuna looked round, to see the king and the king’s servants coming towards him,
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	24	21	he came forward, bowing down with his face to the ground to do the king reverence. What would my lord king with his servant? he asked. And David said, I have come to buy thy threshing-floor; I must build an altar here to the Lord, to put an end to the mortality which goes unhindered among the people.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	24	22	Then Areuna answered, Let the king’s grace take all he needs for his offering; here are sheep for a burnt-sacrifice, here is the waggon, and the yoke my oxen bear, for kindling-wood.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	24	23	All this is Areuna’s royal gift to the king. And may the Lord, Areuna added, grant thy prayer.
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	24	24	But the king would not let him have his will; Nay, said he, I must buy it from thee; the victims I offer to the Lord my God must not be procured without cost. So David bought threshing-floor and ox-team for fifty silver pieces;
 2 Kings	2Kgs	10	24	25	there he built an altar to the Lord, and there he brought burnt-sacrifice and welcome-offering. So the land was received back into the Lord’s favour, and the plague disappeared from Israel.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	1	1	And now David had grown old, and so chilled with age that there was no warming him by heaping coverlets on his bed;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	1	2	so his attendants asked leave of him to go and find a young maid, who should be brought to the court and cherish him by sleeping in his bosom, to give their royal master warmth.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	1	3	And of all the fair maids in Israel they chose out one, Abisag from Sunam, who was brought into the king’s presence;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	1	4	a fair maid indeed, who now shared the king’s bed and waited on him, yet never did the king mate with her.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	1	5	Meanwhile Adonias, David’s son by Haggith, aspired to win the throne; he must drive in state, with chariots and outriders, and fifty men to run before him;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	1	6	and never a word did his father say to check or challenge him; he came next to Absalom in birth, and was like Absalom for beauty.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	1	7	Joab, son of Sarvia, and the priest Abiathar were in his confidence; but, while these favoured Adonias’s cause,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	1	8	he could not win over the priest Sadoc, and Banaias son of Joiada, and the prophet Nathan, Semei and Rei and the picked men of David’s army.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	1	9	Adonias, then, would offer sacrifice of rams and calves and other fattened beasts at the Stone of Zoheleth, by Enrogel spring; bidding his brother princes there as guests, and the men of Juda that were in David’s service,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	1	10	but not the prophet Nathan, or Banaias, or the leaders of the army, or his brother Solomon.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	1	11	Thereupon Nathan said to Solomon’s mother Bethsabee, Hast thou heard the news that Haggith’s son Adonias has come to the throne, and our lord king David none the wiser?
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	1	12	Act quickly, following the advice I now give thee, if thou wouldst protect thyself, and thy son Solomon, from mortal peril.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	1	13	Go and demand access to king David’s presence; ask him openly, My lord King, didst thou not promise me, thy handmaid, upon oath, to let my son Solomon be thy heir, and succeed to thy throne? How comes it that Adonias is king?
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	1	14	And while thou art still speaking, I will come in after thee, and lend weight to these words of thine.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	1	15	So Bethsabee gained access to the king’s own room, where he sat, an old, old man, with Abisag the Sunamite in attendance on him.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	1	16	Low was the reverence Bethsabee made, and when the king asked what was her will,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	1	17	she answered, My lord, thou didst swear to me by the Lord thy God that my son Solomon should be thy heir, and succeed to thy throne;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	1	18	and here is Adonias already reigning, while thou, my lord king, art kept in ignorance.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	1	19	Nay, he has sacrificed bulls, fattened beasts, and rams without number, with the priest Abiathar, and Joab, the commander of thy men, for his guests, and all the princes except thy servant Solomon.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	1	20	My lord king, all Israel looks to thee for a sign, to know who shall sit on thy royal throne after thee.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	1	21	How shall we fare, I and my son Solomon, when the king’s grace has been laid to rest with his fathers? Our lives will be forfeit.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	1	22	She was still speaking with the king, when the prophet Nathan came,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	1	23	and word was brought in that the prophet Nathan was in attendance. So in he came, and made his reverence before the king, with his face bowed to the ground;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	1	24	Lord King, he said, was it thy decree that Adonias should be thy heir, and succeed to thy throne?
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	1	25	Away he goes, to offer up bulls, fatten beasts, and rams without number; all the princes are summoned to the feast, and the chiefs of the army, and the priest Abiathar; and there they sit, eating and drinking, while the cry goes up, Long live king Adonias!
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	1	26	As for me, thy servant, and the priest Sadoc, and Banaias son of Joiada, and prince Solomon, no summons came to us.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	1	27	Can it be that the king’s grace has made this decree, without a word to me, his servant, to say who should succeed my lord the king on his throne?
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	1	28	Send for Bethsabee, king David answered; and when she had come in, and stood there in the royal presence,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	1	29	the king took an oath: As the Lord is a living God, he who has preserved my life against all perils,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	1	30	my sworn word to thee, in the name of the Lord God of Israel, that thy son Solomon should be my heir and succeed to my throne, shall be fulfilled this day.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	1	31	And Bethsabee, bowing her face to the ground, did reverence; Unending life, said she, to my lord king David!
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	1	32	Then king David would have the priest Sadoc, and the prophet Nathan, and Banaias son of Joiada, summoned to his presence, and when these waited on him,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	1	33	his orders were: Take the royal troops with you, and escort my son Solomon, mounted upon my own mule, to Gihon;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	1	34	there let him be made king of Israel, with the priest Sadoc and the prophet Nathan to anoint him; there sound the trumpet, and make proclamation, Long live king Solomon!
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	1	35	Then bring him back, to sit on my throne and reign instead of me; to him I commit the charge of Israel and Juda alike.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	1	36	And Banaias son of Joiada cried, Well said! May the Lord, the God who protects the king’s grace, decree no otherwise;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	1	37	as he has been with thee, so may he be with thy son, and make Solomon’s throne more glorious than the throne of David himself.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	1	38	Then Sadoc and Nathan and Banaias, mustering the Cerethites and the Phelethites, mounted Solomon on king David’s own mule, and escorted him to Gihon;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	1	39	there, with a phial of oil brought out from the tabernacle, the priest Sadoc anointed Solomon king; and they sounded the trumpet, while the cry went up everywhere, Long live king Solomon!
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	1	40	All the common folk went with him, and there was playing of flutes and great rejoicing, till earth echoed again with the noise of it.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	1	41	It reached Adonias and his guests when the banquet was already over; and Joab, as he heard the cries of the multitude, began asking what this uproar in the city might mean.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	1	42	The words were still on his lips when Jonathan approached, that was son to the priest Abiathar. Come in, cried Adonias; a brave fellow such as thou art surely brings good news.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	1	43	That have I none, Jonathan answered him; our lord king David has given the throne to Solomon.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	1	44	Mounted on the royal mule, with the priest Sadoc and the prophet Nathan and Banaias son of Joiada, with the Cerethites too and the Phelethites for his escort, he has ridden to Gihon,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	1	45	where Sadoc and Nathan anointed him king. And now they have come back in triumph, and all the city is echoing with it; that is the noise which has reached your ears.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	1	46	There Solomon sits on the royal throne,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	1	47	while the courtiers shower blessings on our lord king David, praying God to make Solomon’s renown greater than his, Solomon’s domains wider than his; and he, lying on his bed, cries out in adoration,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	1	48	Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, that has given me this day an heir to my throne, while I still have eyes to see it!
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	1	49	His words spread terror, and all Adonias’ guests rose up, and scattered to their homes.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	1	50	As for Adonias himself, in his great fear of Solomon he left the place and made his way to the altar, and clung to one of its horns.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	1	51	So news came to Solomon that Adonias, in fear of his royal brother, was clinging to the altar’s horn, crying out, I must have king Solomon’s oath this day that my life shall be spared!
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	1	52	Why, answered Solomon, prove he a loyal man, never a hair shall fall from his head; if he is found to be plotting mischief, he shall die for it.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	1	53	Then he sent to bring him away from the altar, and Adonias came into king Solomon’s presence, and did reverence there. And with that, Solomon sent him away to his house.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	2	1	And now the time drew near when David must die; but first he left with his son Solomon this charge.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	2	2	I am going, said he, the way all mortal things go at last; do thou keep thy courage high and play the man.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	2	3	Hold ever true to the Lord thy God, following the paths he has shewn us, observing his ceremonies, and all those commands and awards and decrees that are contained in the law of Moses; so shalt thou be well advised in all thou doest, at every turn of the way.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	2	4	So will the Lord make good his promise to me, that if my sons would but tread those paths of his, still proving loyal to him with the whole purpose of their heart and soul, the throne of Israel should never lack one of my race to fill it.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	2	5	And now to speak of Joab, son of Sarvia. Thou knowest well the ill turn he has done me; here were two commanders of the Israelite army, Abner son of Ner and Amasa son of Jether, that fell by his hand. They were at peace with him when he struck the warrior’s blow, stained himself, from the shoes on his feet to the girdle on his loins, with the blood that should have been spilt in war.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	2	6	Let prudence be thy guide, do not allow those grey hairs to find a peaceful end.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	2	7	To the sons of Berzellai the Galaadite thou must shew gratitude, and let them be among those who eat at thy table; they made me welcome when I fled to escape from thy brother Absalom.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	2	8	Thou hast to reckon, moreover, with Semei son of Gera, the Benjamite from Bahurim. Foul were the curses he hurled at me on my way to the Encampment; but when I crossed Jordan again he came out to meet me, and I swore to him in the Lord’s name that I would not slay him.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	2	9	Thou hast no cause to leave him unharmed; thou hast wit enough to resolve what to do with him, how to prepare a bloody end for his grey hairs.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	2	10	So David was laid to rest with his fathers, and the Keep of David was his burial-place;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	2	11	he had ruled Israel forty years, seven at Hebron and thirty-three at Jerusalem.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	2	12	And Solomon, who succeeded as his father’s heir, established himself firmly on the throne.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	2	13	As for Adonias, son of Haggith, he gained access to Bethsabee, king Solomon’s mother, telling her that he came on a peaceful errand;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	2	14	there was a matter he would confide to her. So she bade him speak out, but still he hesitated;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	2	15	Once, said he, the throne was mine, and all Israel had chosen me for their king; now the royal power has changed hands, and gone to my brother; it was God’s will.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	2	16	There is only one request now that I would make of thee; pray do not disappoint me. And still she bade him speak out.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	2	17	My request is, said he, that thou wouldst say a word for me to king Solomon; there is nothing he can refuse thee. Bid him give me Abisag the Sunamite for my wife.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	2	18	Why, yes, answered Bethsabee, I will speak to the king on thy behalf.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	2	19	Bethsabee, then, made her way to king Solomon, to prefer Adonias’ request; the king rose to meet her and bowed low, then he sat down on his throne again, and a throne was brought for her, the king’s mother, to sit down at his right hand.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	2	20	There is a light request, she told him, that I would make of thee; pray do not disappoint me. Make thy request, mother, said he; I will not turn a deaf ear to it.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	2	21	It is, said she, that thy brother Adonias should be given Abisag the Sunamite for his wife.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	2	22	But this was king Solomon’s answer to his mother, What, Abisag the Sunamite for Adonias? Ask me to give him the kingdom, too; he is my elder brother, and has the priest Abiathar, and Joab son of Sarvia, to maintain his cause.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	2	23	And hereupon king Solomon took an oath in the Lord’s name; May the Lord punish me as I deserve, and more than I deserve, if this plea Adonias has made does not cost him his life!
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	2	24	As the Lord is a living God, he that has established me firmly on my father David’s throne, and made the dynasty mine, as he promised, Adonias shall die this day!
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	2	25	So king Solomon gave orders to Banaias son of Joiada, and by his hand Adonias was put to death.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	2	26	The king had a command, too, for the priest Abiathar; Go back to thy lands at Anathoth. Nothing better thou deservest than death, but I will spare thy life this day; thine it was to carry the ark in my father’s presence, and to share all the perils he endured.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	2	27	Thus king Solomon deprived Abiathar of his priesthood, in fulfilment of that sentence which the Lord passed on the race of Heli, long ago at Silo.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	2	28	Tidings of this came to Joab, that had taken part with Adonias, not with Solomon; and he took refuge in the Lord’s tabernacle, where he clung to one of the altar-horns.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	2	29	And king Solomon, hearing he had fled to the tabernacle and was to be found there, close by the altar, sent Banaias son of Joiada with orders to kill him.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	2	30	So Banaias went to the Lord’s tabernacle and bade Joab remove from it, in the king’s name. Not I, said Joab, I will die here. When Banaias brought tidings of the answer Joab had made him,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	2	31	the king said, Let him have his will; put him to death there, and give him burial. Only rid me, and my father’s kindred, of the blood-guilt Joab has brought upon us.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	2	32	On his head may the Lord’s vengeance fall; did he not slay two innocent men that were his betters, Abner son of Ner that commanded Israel, and Amasa son of Jether that commanded Juda, drawing his sword on them with no word said to my father, king David?
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	2	33	On Joab let the blood-guilt fall, and on his race for ever; to David and David’s race, to David’s throne and dynasty, may the Lord grant eternal prosperity!
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	2	34	With that, Banaias son of Joiada went back and gave Joab his death-blow. He was buried at his own home, out in the wilderness;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	2	35	command of the army the king gave to Banaias son of Joiada, and the high-priesthood to Sadoc instead of Abiathar.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	2	36	Then the king bade Semei come before him; Thou must build thyself a house, he told him, here at Jerusalem, and come to live there, instead of travelling freely this way and that.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	2	37	The day on which thou leavest Jerusalem to cross Cedron river shall be thy last, and the blame will lie only on thyself.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	2	38	To this Semei agreed, promising obedience to the royal command; and for a long time he continued to live at Jerusalem.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	2	39	Then, after three years, it chanced that some of his servants ran away, and took refuge with Achis son of Maacha, king of Geth. And when Semei was told that his servants were in Geth,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	2	40	he saddled his ass for a journey; to Geth he went and to the court of Achis in search of them, and brought them home with him.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	2	41	The news that Semei had journeyed to Geth and back reached Solomon’s ears,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	2	42	and thereupon he sent for him. Did I not bind thee by an oath in the Lord’s name, said he, warning thee that the day when thou shouldst begin to travel this way and that should be thy last? And didst thou not agree to the conditions I made?
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	2	43	Forgotten, thy oath to the Lord, forgotten, the warning I gave thee!
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	2	44	Then he added, Bethink thee, for it rankles yet in thy heart, of thy malice towards my father king David. Now the Lord has made thy ill will recoil on thyself;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	2	45	it is a blessing, not a curse, king Solomon inherits, and David’s dynasty remains firm on the throne, to serve the Lord for ever.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	2	46	Then the king gave orders to Banaias son of Joiada, and he followed Semei out and put him to death.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	3	1	By now, Solomon’s power was firmly established, and he allied himself by mar-riage to the king of Egypt, whose daughter he wedded. He took her to live in the Keep of David; not yet had he built his own palace, or the Lord’s house; not yet had he finished walling in Jerusalem.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	3	2	In those days, the Lord had no temple built for him, and men used to sacrifice on hill-tops.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	3	3	Great love had Solomon for the Lord, and followed the counsel of his father David, though indeed he too went to mountain shrines, to sacrifice and offer up incense.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	3	4	Once he had betaken himself to Gabaon, where there was a famous mountain shrine, to worship there; a thousand victims king Solomon offered in burnt-sacrifice, there on the altar at Gabaon.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	3	5	And that night the Lord appeared to him in a dream, bidding him choose what gift he would.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	3	6	Thou hast been very merciful, answered Solomon, to my father David, a servant of thine that ever shewed himself loyal and observant, and kept his heart true to thee; and one great mercy thou didst keep till the last; thou hast granted the succession to a son of his own, the man thou seest.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	3	7	Yes, Lord God, thou hast bidden this servant of thine reign where his father reigned; but, Lord, what am I? No better than a little child, that has no skill to find its way back and forth.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	3	8	And here am I, thy servant, lost among the thousands of the people thou hast chosen, a people whose numbers are beyond all count and reckoning.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	3	9	Be this, then, thy gift to thy servant, a heart quick to learn, so that I may be able to judge thy people’s disputes, and discern between good and ill. How else should a man sit in judgement over such a people as this, great as thy people is great?
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	3	10	The Lord listened well pleased, and looked with favour on the choice he had made.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	3	11	For this request of thine, he told Solomon, thou shalt be rewarded. Thou didst not ask for a long life, or riches, or vengeance upon thy enemies, but for wisdom to administer justice.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	3	12	Thy prayer is granted; hereby I grant thee a heart full of wisdom and discernment, beyond all that went before thee or shall come after thee.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	3	13	And I grant thee moreover all thou didst not ask for; in wealth, in glory, no king that ever was may compare with thee.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	3	14	And if thou wilt follow the paths I have chosen for thee, as thy father did, keeping charge and commandment of mine, long life thou shalt have too.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	3	15	With that, Solomon awoke; it was a dream. But when he came back to Jerusalem, he stood before the ark that bears record of the Lord’s covenant, and brought burnt-sacrifice, and made welcome-offerings, with a great feast for all his servants.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	3	16	And now two women, harlots both of them, came and stood in the royal presence.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	3	17	Justice, my lord! said one of them. This woman and I share a single house, and there, in her presence, I gave birth to a child;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	3	18	three days after my delivery, she too gave birth. We were still living together; none else was in the house but we two.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	3	19	Then, one night, she overlay her child as she slept, and it died.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	3	20	So, rising at dead of night, when all was still, she took my son from beside me, my lord, while I slept, put him in her own bosom, and her dead son in mine.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	3	21	In the morning, when I raised myself to give my child suck, a dead child was there; and it was not till I looked at it more closely under the full light of day that I found this was never the child I bore.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	3	22	And when the other woman said, No, it is thy child that is dead, mine that is alive, she persisted in answering, Thou liest; it is my child that lives, thine that is dead. Such was the angry debate they held in the king’s presence.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	3	23	See, said the king, it is all, My child lives and thine is dead, on the one side, and Thy child is dead and mine lives, on the other.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	3	24	Bring me a sword. So a sword was brought out before the king.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	3	25	Cut the living child in two, he said, and give half to one, half to the other.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	3	26	Whereupon the true mother of the living child, whose heart went out to her son, cried out, No, my lord, give her the living child; never kill it! Not so the other; Neither mine nor thine, she said; let it be divided between us.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	3	27	No, said the king, do not kill the living child, give It to the first; she is its mother.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	3	28	This award was talked of throughout all Israel, and men feared the king, that was so inspired by divine wisdom in the judgements he gave.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	4	1	All the tribes of Israel were under king Solomon’s rule.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	4	2	These are the names of his ministers; Azarias, son of the priest Sadoc,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	4	3	and the two sons of Sisa, Elihoreph and Ahia, were secretaries; Josaphat, son of Ahilud, kept the records;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	4	4	Banaias, son of Joiada, commanded the army; Sadoc and Abiathar were the chief priests;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	4	5	Azarias, son of Nathan, was head of the royal prefects; Zabud, son of Nathan, a priest, was the king’s privy counsellor;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	4	6	Ahisar was controller of the household, and Adoniram, son of Abda, controller of the revenues.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	4	7	Solomon appointed twelve commissioners in the various parts of Israel to secure the maintenance of the king and his court, each of them providing the revenues needed for one month in the year.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	4	8	They were these; the son of Hur, for the hill country of Ephraim,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	4	9	the son of Decar for Maces, Salebim, Bethsames, Elon and Bethhanan,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	4	10	the son of Hesed for Aruboth, with Socho and the whole of Epher,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	4	11	the son of Abinadab, who married Solomon’s daughter Taphet, for the whole of Naphath-Dor.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	4	12	Bana, son of Ahilud, for Thanac and Mageddo and the whole region of Bethsan (close by Sarthana that lies under Jezrahel) from Bethsan itself to Abel-Mehula, that faces Jecmaan.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	4	13	The son of Gaber for Ramoth-Galaad, with the townships Jair, son of Manasses, conquered in Galaad; he controlled all the Argob district of Basan, containing sixty great walled cities that had bolts of bronze.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	4	14	Ahinadab, son of Addo, for Manaim;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	4	15	Achimaas (husband of Solomon’s daughter Basemath) for Nephthali;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	4	16	Baana, son of Husi, for Aser and Baloth;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	4	17	Josaphat, son of Pharue, for Issachar;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	4	18	Semei, son of Ela, for Benjamin;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	4	19	Gaber, son of Uri, for Galaad, that once belonged to the Amorrhite king Sehon and to Og, king of Basan; for all that country he alone was answerable.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	4	20	So Juda and Israel, countless in number as the sand by the sea, ate, drank, and were merry.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	4	21	As for Solomon, he bore rule over all the kingdoms between Euphrates and the Philistine country, right up to the frontiers of Egypt, enjoying the tribute they brought him and the service they did him all his life long.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	4	22	Sixty quarters of flour went every day to Solomon’s household, and a hundred and twenty of meal,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	4	23	ten oxen from the stall, and twenty from the meadow, and a hundred rams; besides venison of red-deer and roe-deer and gazelle, and farmyard birds.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	4	24	All the country that lies west of the Euphrates, from Thaphsa to Gaza, was subject to him, with all the kings that dwelt in those parts; look about him where he would, all was peace.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	4	25	As long as the reign of Solomon lasted, Juda and Israel lived secure from alarm, each man under vine and fig-tree of his own, all the land’s length from Dan to Bersabee.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	4	26	Forty thousand stalls king Solomon had for his chariot-horses, and twelve thousand mounted men;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	4	27	the keep of these was a charge on the royal commissioners aforesaid, beside the great ado they had to furnish the king’s table month by month;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	4	28	barley and straw for horse and mule must be conveyed to this place or that, according to the king’s own movements.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	4	29	Wisdom, too, God gave to Solomon, and great discernment, and a store of knowledge wide as the sand on the sea-shore.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	4	30	For that, no king of the east or of Egypt could vie with him,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	4	31	of all men the wisest; wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, or Heman, or Chalcol, or Dorda, that were sons of Mahol; no nation round about but had heard of his fame.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	4	32	Three thousand parables king Solomon uttered, and of songs he made a thousand and five;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	4	33	and he discoursed of all the trees there are, from the cedar on Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out from the wall; and of beasts, and birds, and creeping things, and fish.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	4	34	From all peoples and all kings of the world, when his fame reached them, men came to take back word of Solomon’s wisdom.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	5	1	Messengers, too, were sent by Hiram, king of Tyre, when he heard that Solomon had been anointed king in place of his father David, that had ever been Hiram’s friend.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	5	2	And this message Solomon sent to Hiram in return;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	5	3	My father David, as thou knowest, was for building a house in honour of the Lord his God; but there were threats of war all about him, and he must needs defer his purpose till the Lord should have crushed his enemies under his feet.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	5	4	Now, the Lord my God has given me security on every side; neither foe nor ill chance assails me,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	5	5	and I have a mind to build a temple dedicated to the Lord my God. He himself promised my father David, The son I will give thee for thy successor shall build a house in honour of my name.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	5	6	If thou wilt bid thy workmen cut down cedars for me on Lebanon, and let my workmen take part with thine, thy workmen shall have whatever pay thou demandest. As thou knowest, there is no woodman’s craft among my people such as the Sidonians have.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	5	7	When Solomon’s message reached Hiram, great was the joy it gave him; Blessed be the Lord God, said he, for what he has done this day, in granting David so wise a son to rule so populous a kingdom.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	5	8	Then he sent Solomon his answer: I have heard thy message, and therewith granted thy request; cedar and fir thou shalt have to thy heart’s content.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	5	9	My workmen shall convey them from Lebanon to the sea; on the sea I will embark them in rafts for whatever port thou shalt name; and when I have landed them there, it shall be thy part to carry them away. And meanwhile, thou shalt supply the needs of my own household.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	5	10	So Hiram gave Solomon cedar and fir wood to his heart’s content,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	5	11	while Solomon provided Hiram with forty thousand quarters of wheat to feed his household, and forty quarters of pure oil; such was the payment he made each year.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	5	12	Solomon had the gift of wisdom the Lord had promised him; he kept peace with Hiram, and a treaty was made between them.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	5	13	And now Solomon picked out Israelites for his workmen, levying thirty thousand of them to that end;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	5	14	and he used to send them to Lebanon for a month at a time by turns, so that each man should spend two out of every three months at home; it was Adoniram who was in charge of the levy.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	5	15	Seventy thousand men king Solomon had to carry loads for him, and eighty thousand to cut wood on the mountain-side,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	5	16	not counting the overseers who were in charge of the work done, three thousand three hundred overseers to give the workmen their orders.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	5	17	And the king bade them bring great stones, costly stones, to be the foundations of his temple, and to hew them into shape.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	5	18	This work of hewing was shared between Solomon’s masons and Hiram’s; and the men of Gibel, too, prepared wood and stone for the building of the house.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	6	1	It was in the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites left Egypt, in the second month (Zio, as it is called) of the fourth year of Solomon’s reign in Israel, that the building of the Lord’s house began.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	6	2	This house built by Solomon in the Lord’s honour was sixty cubits long, twenty wide, and thirty high;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	6	3	in front of the temple was a porch whose length, like the width of the temple itself, was twenty cubits, but it was only ten cubits wide.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	6	4	Slanting windows he made to light his temple,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	6	5	and about its walls he built storied galleries, that ran all round the sides of the temple and its shrine with pent-houses round about them;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	6	6	the lowest of these galleries was five, the middle six, and the highest seven cubits broad; and they rested on beams close to the outside of the building all about, they were not attached to the temple walls.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	6	7	All the time the temple was a-building, the stones used were ready hewn and shaped, so that there was no ringing of hammer or axe or iron tool in the house itself, while it was being built.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	6	8	There was a door in the middle of the pent-house on the southern side of the building; from this a spiral staircase led to the first floor, and another to the top floor.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	6	9	When he had finished building the walls of the house, Solomon covered it in with cedar rafters;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	6	10	then, over the whole of it, he built an added storey five cubits high, and roofed the house with planks of cedar.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	6	11	This was a message the Lord sent to Solomon:
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	6	12	So thou art building me a house? Follow, then, my commandments, execute my decrees, hold fast to all the laws I have given thee, and by these guide thy steps. So I will grant thee fulfilment of the promise I made to thy father David;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	6	13	I will come and live among the sons of Israel, and not forsake my people any more.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	6	14	So Solomon pressed on with the building of the house, until all was finished.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	6	15	Its walls within were cedar-panelled, from the floor to the top of the walls, where the rafters sprang, no panel but was of cedar; only the floor was covered with planks of fir.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	6	16	The furthest part of the temple was cedar-panelled to a height of twenty cubits from top to bottom; it was this inmost recess that he made into a shrine, a place all holiness,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	6	17	and before the doors of this shrine the remaining forty cubits of length made up the temple proper.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	6	18	All was cedar panelling, rounded and fitted with the craftsman’s utmost skill, embossed with carving, cedar everywhere, and no stone in the walls allowed to shew itself.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	6	19	And there in the midst, in the inmost part of the building, stood the shrine in which the ark of the Lord was to rest;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	6	20	twenty cubits in length, width, and height, and covered with plates of pure gold; plated, too, was the cedar altar.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	6	21	Then he covered all the rest of the building, the ante-room of the shrine, with plates of pure gold, fastened with golden nails.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	6	22	Nothing in the temple but was sheathed in gold, the altar that stood before the shrine with the rest.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	6	23	Within the shrine stood two cherubim, made of olive-wood, ten cubits high;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	6	24	each of these had wings of five cubits’ breadth, so that there was ten cubits’ distance between the tips of them.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	6	25	The second cherub matched the first in height, no difference of size or of workmanship between them.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	6	26	Ten cubits high they stood,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	6	27	there in the midst of the inner shrine, either touching the wall with one wing and its fellow’s wing with the other.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	6	28	The cherubim, too, he plated with gold.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	6	29	All the walls of the temple were adorned with bands of carved and embossed work, cherubim and palm-trees and other patterns, standing out in high relief;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	6	30	the floor, within the sanctuary and without, he covered with gold.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	6	31	At the entrance to the shrine he made doors of olive-wood, between five-sided pilasters;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	6	32	doors of olive-wood, carved with figures of cherubim and palm-trees, and other sculpture in high relief; doors and cherubim and palm-trees and all the rest were covered with gold.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	6	33	At the entrance to the temple were square posts of olive-wood;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	6	34	and the door on either side was of fir-wood; either door was double, but the two halves were connected, so that they opened together.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	6	35	Cherubim, and palm-trees, and other sculpture stood out in high relief, and he covered all with gold plates squared by rule.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	6	36	He also built an inner courtyard, whose walls had three courses of dressed stone and one of cedar-wood.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	6	37	So, in the month of Zio of the fourth year of his reign, the foundations of the building were laid;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	6	38	and it was finished, in all its parts and with all its appurtenances, in the eighth month (Bul, as it is called) of his eleventh year; so that it was seven years in building.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	7	1	Then, for thirteen years, Solomon was engaged in building a palace for himself; so long was it before all was finished.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	7	2	It was then that he set up the building known as the Forest of Lebanon. This was a hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high, containing four galleries that ran between pillars cut from the trunks of cedars;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	7	3	he roofed it in, too, with cedar rafters, supported by forty-five pillars. The galleries were divided by rows of fifteen pillars
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	7	4	placed at fixed intervals
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	7	5	so as to face one another, with equal spaces between pillar and pillar; and these supported square beams of cedar that matched one another.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	7	6	There was a pillared hall fifty cubits long and thirty wide, and a second hall in front of it, with pillars to support the architrave.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	7	7	And there was a hall containing his judgement-seat, panelled in cedar from floor to ceiling;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	7	8	within it was a private apartment which he used when he was administering justice. The house he built for Pharao’s daughter that he had married was of the same workmanship as this hall.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	7	9	All was built of costly stone, cut to exact shape and measure within and without, from top to bottom of the walls, from the entrance up to the great courtyard;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	7	10	the foundations, too, were of costly stones, some ten, some eight cubits long;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	7	11	nor were the stones above less in measurement, with cedar panels to match them.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	7	12	The great courtyard, which was round, had three courses of dressed stone and one of planed cedar-wood; thus the court around the palace porch was to match the inner court of the temple.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	7	13	There was a craftsman named Hiram, living at Tyre, that king Solomon sent for;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	7	14	his father had been a Tyrian, but his mother, now a widow, belonged to the tribe of Nephthali. A craftsman in bronze, wise, adroit and skilful at doing a brazier’s work; and to do such work king Solomon had now summoned him.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	7	15	Two brazen pillars he made, eighteen cubits in height and twelve in girth,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	7	16	and cast the two capitals of bronze that were to rest on them, each five cubits high,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	7	17	with a pattern of net-work and of chains cunningly enlaced. There were seven rows of chain-work on either capital, all cast in metal.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	7	18	The pillars, too, had their capitals covered with two rows of pomegranates, all round the net-work; both pillars alike.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	7	19	On the base of either capital there was a chain of lily-work, four cubits long;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	7	20	it was the remaining part of the capitals, above, that had the net-work pattern, which went the full round of the pillar; on this second part of them, too, were the rows of pomegranates, two hundred in number.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	7	21	He set up the two pillars before the porch of the temple, calling the one on the right Jachin and the other Booz.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	7	22	Above the pillars he did work in lily pattern, and so the making of the pillars was finished.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	7	23	He cast, too, a great round basin of molten work, ten cubits from brim to brim, five cubits high, and with a girth of thirty cubits.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	7	24	Under the rim ran a moulding ten cubits long; two rows of fluted moulding, all cast in metal.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	7	25	The basin stood on the figures of twelve oxen, three facing north, three west, three south, three east, so resting on them that their hind quarters, turned inwards, could not be seen.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	7	26	The basin was three inches thick, and its brim curved as the brim of a cup does, or a lily-leaf; it held sixty-four tuns.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	7	27	He also made ten brazen stands for smaller basins, four cubits long, four cubits wide, and three cubits high.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	7	28	Even these stands were of embossed work; there was moulding between the shafts;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	7	29	moulding, too, between the upper and the lower rims, of lions and bulls and cherubim, and between the shafts above them the same pattern; and under the lions and oxen hung thongs, as it were, of bronze.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	7	30	Each stand had four wheels, with axles of bronze; and on each of its four corners it had a bracket of molten work, to take the basin, four brackets facing one another at opposite corners.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	7	31	These supported a rest on which the extremity of the basin was to stand; a round rest which measured a cubit across, or a cubit and a half with the basin. At the corners round it there were engraved columns, and the space between them was filled by other columns, square, not round.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	7	32	The four wheels were at the four corners of the stand, each pair connected under the stand itself; every wheel was a cubit and a half in height;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	7	33	such wheels were they as might be found in a chariot, axles and spokes and rims and naves all of molten work,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	7	34	just as the four brackets, springing from the corners of each stand, were of molten work and part of the stand itself.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	7	35	At the top of each stand was a round rim, half a cubit across, carefully made so that the foot of the basin could rest upon it; a rim covered with engraving, that had embossed work springing from it.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	7	36	The rings of which I have spoken were of bronze, and around these, and at the corners about them, were cherubim and lions and palm-trees, standing out like statues, as if they had been added on, instead of being cast with the rest.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	7	37	Thus he made the ten stands, all alike in the manner of their casting, in their measurements, and in their figured work.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	7	38	Then he made the ten bronze basins, each holding three hundred gallons, four cubits across, and set one basin on each stand.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	7	39	Five of the stands were on the right side of the temple, five on the left, and the great basin itself on the right, towards the south-east.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	7	40	Pot and shovel and bucket Hiram made, all that king Solomon needed for the service of the Lord’s temple.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	7	41	He made the two pillars, and the chain-work for their capitals, and the net-work to cover the chain-work,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	7	42	and four hundred pomegranates to go with the net-work, two rows of them for each piece of net-work, to adorn the capitals of the pillars,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	7	43	ten stands, and a basin for each stand,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	7	44	the single great basin, and the twelve oxen that supported it,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	7	45	and pot and shovel and bucket besides. All the appurtenances of the Lord’s temple which Hiram made for Solomon were of burnished bronze,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	7	46	and the king had them cast in the clay soil of the Jordan valley, between Socoth and Sarthan;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	7	47	a great multitude of them, such a multitude that he did not reckon the weight of all the bronze he used.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	7	48	Other appurtenances, too, of the Lord’s house must Solomon make; the golden altar, and the golden table upon which the hallowed loaves were set out,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	7	49	the golden lamp-stands, five on the right and five on the left, in front of the shrine, all of pure gold, the lily-work, and the golden lamps that rested in them; the golden tongs,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	7	50	and pot and fork and bowl and saucer and censer, all of pure gold. Of gold, too, were the door-hinges, both for the inner sanctuary and for the temple building.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	7	51	Thus Solomon completed all the work needed for the service of the Lord’s house; and he brought into it all the silver and gold and other ware that his father David had consecrated, laying them up among its treasures.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	8	1	Then all the elders of Israel, the chiefs of the tribes, and the heads of clans, met in Jerusalem to help king Solomon bring the ark home; the ark then rested in the Keep of David, which we call Sion.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	8	2	It was on the great feast day of the seventh month (Ethanim, as it is called) that king Solomon sent out this summons to the whole of Israel,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	8	3	and the elders, one and all, came in answer to it. The priests took up the ark,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	8	4	and soon ark and tabernacle and all the tabernacle’s appurtenances were borne aloft, with priests and Levites to carry them.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	8	5	King Solomon walked before the ark, and with him all the throng of Israelites that had assembled; no reckoning made, no count taken, of the sheep and oxen they offered up as victims.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	8	6	So the ark that bears witness of the Lord’s covenant was borne by the priests to the place designed for it, there in the temple’s inner shrine, where the cherubim spread their wings;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	8	7	spread them over the very place where the ark rested, to protect it and protect the poles that bore it.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	8	8	These poles jutted out indeed, so that the ends of them could be seen by one standing before the shrine, beyond the limits of the inner sanctuary; but never again were they seen in the open; they have remained in the temple to this day.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	8	9	And nothing was in the ark except the two stone tablets Moses laid up there on mount Horeb, when the Lord made his covenant with the sons of Israel after their escape from Egypt.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	8	10	As soon as the priests had left the inner sanctuary, the whole of the Lord’s house was wreathed in cloud;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	8	11	lost in that cloud, the priests could not wait upon the Lord with his accustomed service; his own glory was there, filling his own house.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	8	12	Where the cloud is, cried Solomon, the Lord has promised to be;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	8	13	it is true, then, the house I have built is to be thy dwelling, thy throne for ever immovable.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	8	14	With that, the king turned to bless the whole assembly of Israel; all Israel, that stood to receive his blessing.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	8	15	Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, he said, who has now fulfilled in act the promise he made to my father David.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	8	16	So many years since he had rescued his people from Egypt, and never a city among all the tribes of Israel had he chosen to be the site of his dwelling-place or the shrine of his name; but a man he did choose out, to rule his people, king David.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	8	17	And when he, my father, would have built a house in honour of the Lord God of Israel,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	8	18	the Lord told him that he had done well to conceive such a purpose in his heart; But it is not for thee, he said, to build me a house.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	8	19	A house shall be built in my honour, but by thy son, the heir of thy body.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	8	20	That promise of his the Lord has fulfilled; I have come forward in my father’s place, to sit upon the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised I should; it has been mine to build a house to the honour of the Lord, Israel’s God,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	8	21	and to find a home for this ark, witness of the covenant made with our fathers when they escaped from Egypt.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	8	22	Then Solomon stood before the Lord’s altar in full view of all Israel, and lifted his hands to heaven;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	8	23	and thus he prayed: Lord God of Israel, thou reignest without rival in heaven and earth, making good thy merciful promises to all who follow thee with undivided hearts.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	8	24	And thou hast not disappointed thy servant, my father David; thy act matches thy word; this day, who doubts it?
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	8	25	Do not forget, Lord God of Israel, that other promise of thine to David, that he should always have an heir to sit on the throne of Israel, would but his sons guide their steps, like David himself, as in thy presence;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	8	26	let that promise, too, Lord God of Israel, be ratified!
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	8	27	Folly it were to think that God has a dwelling-place on earth. If the very heavens, and the heavens that are above the heavens, cannot contain thee, what welcome can it offer thee, this house which I have built?
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	8	28	Yet, O Lord my God, do not let this prayer go all unheeded, that sues for thy favour; listen to the cry of entreaty thy servant makes before thee this day!
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	8	29	This I ask, that thy eyes should be ever watching, night and day, over this temple of thine, the chosen sanctuary of thy name; be this the meeting-place where thou wilt listen to thy servant’s prayer.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	8	30	Whatever requests I or thy people Israel make shall find audience here; thou wilt listen from thy dwelling-place in heaven, and listening, wilt forgive.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	8	31	Has a man wronged his neighbour, and is he bidden to clear himself of the charge by an oath? Then, if he comes to this house of thine, to swear the lie before thy altar,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	8	32	thou, in heaven, wilt be listening, and ready to strike the blow; thine to do justice between thy servants, passing sentence on the guilty and avenging the wrong, acquitting the innocent and granting him due redress.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	8	33	Are thy people of Israel condemned to flee before their enemies, in punishment of the sins they will surely commit? Then, if they come here repentant, and acknowledging thy power, pray to thee and plead with thee in this temple of thine,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	8	34	do thou, in heaven, listen to them, and forgive the sins of thy people Israel, and restore them to the land which thou gavest to their fathers.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	8	35	Does the sky bar its gates against them, and give no rain, in punishment for their sins? Then, if they come here acknowledging thee with prayer and repentance, and turn away, in their sore need, from their sins,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	8	36	do thou, in heaven, listen, and grant thy servants the people of Israel forgiveness; teach them to guide their steps aright, and send rain on the land thou hast given them for their home.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	8	37	Is there famine in the land, or pestilence, blight or rust, locust or mildew? Does some enemy press hard on it, besieging our city gates? Many are the forms of plague and sickness,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	8	38	of curse and ban, that may fall upon all Israel without distinction. But each heart knows the wound that galls it; and if any one man stretches out his hand to thee in this temple,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	8	39	thou, in heaven, thy dwelling-place, wilt listen and relent. Thou knowest the hearts of all human kind, and wilt send to each man, according to the dispositions of his heart, the lot his deeds deserve;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	8	40	so will men learn to fear thee, long as they live to enjoy the land thou gavest to our fathers.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	8	41	Nay, is it some stranger, with no part in thy people Israel, who yet comes here from distant lands for love of thy renown? For indeed there will be talk of thy renown, of the constraining force thy power displays, all the world over.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	8	42	When such a man comes to pray in this temple,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	8	43	thou, in heaven, in thy secure dwelling-place, wilt listen to the alien’s prayer and wilt answer it. So all the world shall learn to fear thy name, no less than Israel itself; shall doubt no more that this temple I have built claims thy protection.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	8	44	Sometimes thy people will go out to levy war upon their enemies, here and there at thy bidding. Then, as they fall to prayer, let them but turn in the direction of the city thou hast chosen, the temple I have built there in thy honour,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	8	45	and thou, in heaven, wilt listen to their prayer for aid, wilt maintain their cause.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	8	46	But what, if they have offended thee by their faults? No man but is guilty of some fault; it may be thou wilt give them up, in thy anger, into the power of their enemies, and as prisoners they will endure exile in neighbouring countries, or countries far away.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	8	47	But ere long, in their banishment, they will come back to thee with repentant hearts, crying out, poor exiles, We are sinners, we have done amiss, rebels all!
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	8	48	In that alien land, the land of their captivity, they will come back to thee with all the purpose of their heart and soul. Then, if they turn in prayer towards the land thou gavest to their fathers, the city of thy choice, and the temple I have built there in thy honour,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	8	49	thou, in heaven, on thy peaceful throne, wilt once more listen to their prayer for aid, wilt maintain their cause still.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	8	50	Thou wilt relent towards thy people, though they have sinned against thee, wilt pardon the wrong their transgressions have done thee, wilt melt the hearts of their captors into pity.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	8	51	Are they not thy own people, thy coveted possession, the men thou didst rescue from Egypt’s furnace of iron?
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	8	52	Ever let thy eyes be watchful, to look down upon me, thy servant, and upon thy people, when they cry for aid; give all their requests a hearing.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	8	53	Hast thou not set them apart, among all the peoples of the world, to be thy coveted possession? Was not this thy promise, given through thy servant Moses when thou didst rescue our fathers from Egypt, O Lord our God?
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	8	54	So prayed king Solomon, so he pleaded with the Lord; and when he had finished, he rose up from before the Lord’s altar, where he had knelt on the ground with his hands outstretched towards heaven,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	8	55	and standing there, gave his blessing aloud to the whole assembly of Israel.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	8	56	Blessed be the Lord, he said, that he has given his people of Israel the repose he promised them; of all the hopes his word through Moses gave us, never one has been left unfulfilled.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	8	57	May the Lord our God be with us still, as he was with our fathers, never forsaking us, never casting us away;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	8	58	may he turn our hearts towards himself, ready to follow every path he has shewn us, keep every command, observance and decree he bade our fathers keep.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	8	59	May this prayer I have uttered before him plead with the Lord our God day and night, to win redress, for me, and for his people Israel, as the time shall need it;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	8	60	proving to the whole world that the Lord alone is God, there can be no other.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	8	61	Wholly be our hearts given to the Lord our God, ready (as we are ready this day) to live by his laws, and keep true to his commandments.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	8	62	Then the king and all Israel with him immolated their victims in the Lord’s presence;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	8	63	twenty-two thousand oxen and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep were slaughtered as Solomon’s welcome-offering to the Lord. Thus the king and the men of Israel dedicated the temple.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	8	64	That day, the king must needs hallow the middle part of the court before the Lord’s house, burning there the burnt-sacrifice, and the bloodless offerings, and the fat taken from the welcome-victims; there was no room for these on the brazen altar that stood there in the Lord’s presence.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	8	65	High festival king Solomon kept at this time before the Lord our God, and with him a great multitude from the whole land of Israel, that stretched from the pass of Emath down to the River of Egypt. Fourteen days it lasted, a whole week and then a second week;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	8	66	and at last, when the eighth day came, the king sent the people home. So back they went to their dwelling-places, rejoicing with full hearts over all the mercies the Lord had shewn to his servant David, and to his own people of Israel.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	9	1	When Solomon had finished building temple and palace, and achieved all his purpose,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	9	2	the Lord appeared to him a second time, as he had appeared to him once at Gabaon.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	9	3	I have listened to thy prayer, the Lord told him, to the suit thou hast preferred before me; and this temple thou hast built I myself have hallowed, to be the everlasting shrine of my name; never a day but my eyes shall be watching, my heart attentive here.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	9	4	Do thou guide thy steps, like thy father, as in my presence, with an undivided heart and steadfastly; do thou fulfil all that I command, hold true to my observances and my decrees;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	9	5	and I will grant to thy line dominion over Israel eternally. Such was my promise to thy father David, that he should always have an heir to sit on the throne of Israel.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	9	6	But if you and your children are content to turn your backs on me, following me no more, neglecting the commands and observances I have enjoined on you, betaking yourselves to the service and worship of alien gods,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	9	7	then I will sweep Israel away from the land I gave them, and this temple which I have hallowed as the shrine of my name, shall be thrust away out of my sight. Israel shall become a proverb and a by-word among all the nations,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	9	8	and this house shall be the monument of its fall. The passer-by will stand wondering, and hiss in derision; What means it, he will ask, that the Lord has treated this land, this house so cruelly?
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	9	9	And the answer will come, Because they forsook the Lord their God, who rescued their fathers from the land of Egypt, and betook themselves to the worship and service of alien gods; that is why the Lord brought all this ruin upon them.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	9	10	It was twenty years after Solomon had finished the two buildings, temple and palace,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	9	11	that Hiram, king of Tyre, who had sent him the cedar and the fir-wood and the gold he needed for his undertaking, received twenty townships from him, belonging to the land of Galilee.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	9	12	And when he came on a visit from Tyre to see the townships Solomon had allotted to him, he liked them but little;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	9	13	What, brother, he cried, were these the only cities thou couldst spare me? And he gave that region the name of Chabul, which it bears to this day.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	9	14	It was twenty thousand talents’ weight of gold that Hiram sent to king Solomon.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	9	15	As for the reasons why king Solomon made such heavy disbursements, they were these; he must build the temple, and the palace, and Mello, and Jerusalem wall, and Heser, and Mageddo, and Gazer.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	9	16	Gazer had been taken and burnt by the invading army of Pharao, king of Egypt; its inhabitants, who were Chanaanites, he put to the sword, and later gave it by way of dowry when his daughter married king Solomon.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	9	17	It was for Solomon, therefore, to rebuild it,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	9	18	together with Lower Bethoron, and Baalath, and Palmyra out in the desert.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	9	19	And in general he fortified the unwalled towns in his dominions; he must have cities, too, in which his chariots and horsemen could be quartered. Much else, too, he had the whim to build in Jerusalem, and on Lebanon, and in all parts of his kingdom.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	9	20	(Many of the former inhabitants still remained, not of Israelite stock, Amorrhites, Hethites, Pherezites, Hevites, and Jebusites;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	9	21	and these descendants of the races which Israel could never exterminate, king Solomon made into bondservants, as they are to this day.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	9	22	Among the Israelites, he would make no man his slave; it was from these that he drew his warriors and his courtiers, his princes and his captains, the commanders of his chariots and horsemen.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	9	23	Five hundred and fifty overseers king Solomon had, to hold the people to their appointed tasks.)
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	9	24	And no sooner had Pharao’s daughter removed from the Keep of David to her new palace, than Solomon set about building up Mello.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	9	25	Three times a year Solomon offered burnt-sacrifice and welcome-offerings on the altar he had made in the Lord’s honour, and burned incense in the Lord’s presence; and he kept the temple in repair.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	9	26	King Solomon also built a fleet at Asion-Gaber, near Ailath on the shore of the Red Sea, in the territory of Edom.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	9	27	In this fleet, Hiram sent men of his own, mariners that had long experience of the sea, to serve with king Solomon’s men.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	9	28	They sailed as far as Ophir, and thence brought back to Solomon four hundred and twenty talents’ weight of gold.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	10	1	And now Solomon was visited by the queen of Saba. She had heard by report of the wisdom with which the Lord’s favour had endowed him, and came to make trial of his powers with knotty questions.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	10	2	Magnificent was the retinue with which she entered Jerusalem; spices and abundant gold and precious stones were the lading of her camels. And when she met king Solomon, she told him all the thoughts that exercised her mind;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	10	3	every doubt he resolved, no question of hers but found an answer.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	10	4	And when she saw how wise a man he was, saw, too, the house he had built,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	10	5	the food that was on his table, the lodging of his servants, the order and splendour of his court, how the wine went round, and what burnt-sacrifice he offered in the Lord’s temple, she stood breathless in wonder.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	10	6	And she said to the king, It was no false tale I heard in my own country,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	10	7	of all thou doest and of all the wisdom that is thine. I could not believe what they told me, without coming and seeing it for myself; and now I find that half of it was lost in the telling; here is greater wisdom, greater prosperity than all the tales that reached me.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	10	8	Happy thy folk, happy these servants of thine who wait ever upon thy presence and listen to thy wise words.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	10	9	Blessed be the Lord thy God, who, in his eternal love for Israel, has brought thee, his favourite, to the throne, given thee a king’s power to do justice and to make award!
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	10	10	A hundred and twenty talents’ weight of gold she gave to king Solomon, with many spices and precious stones; never did such abundance of spices come to Israel as those which the queen of Saba gave.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	10	11	(Though indeed Hiram’s fleet, when it brought back the gold from Ophir, brought rich store of sandal-wood, as well as precious stones;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	10	12	and of this sandal-wood king Solomon made pedestals for temple and palace, harp and zither for his musicians; finer sandal-wood never reached us, no, nor was ever seen.)
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	10	13	Solomon, in his turn, gave the queen of Saba all she desired and asked for; gave her much, too, unasked, in the royal munificence that was his. And so she went back to her own country, with all her retinue.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	10	14	The weight of gold that reached Solomon every year was six hundred and sixty-six talents,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	10	15	not counting what was brought him by his revenue officers, merchants and pedlars, from the kings of Arabia, and from his own commissioners.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	10	16	Two hundred shields king Solomon made of the purest gold, allowing six hundred sicles of gold to the plating of each;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	10	17	three hundred bucklers, too, of assayed gold, with three (hundred) minas of gold to cover each; and all these the king put in the building that was called the Forest of Lebanon.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	10	18	He also made a great throne of ivory, and lined it with gold unalloyed;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	10	19	six steps led up to it, and at the back the upper part of it was rounded. The seat itself had two supporters, with a lion standing by each,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	10	20	and on each step there was a lion at either side; no other kingdom could shew such workmanship.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	10	21	Of gold were all the goblets from which king Solomon drank, of purest gold all the furniture in the building called the Forest of Lebanon; no silver was used, for indeed in King Solomon’s day silver was little thought of.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	10	22	And every three years the king’s fleet and Hiram’s would sail to Tharsis, whence they came back laden with gold and silver; with ivory, too, and apes, and peacocks for their freight.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	10	23	So, both in riches and in wisdom, Solomon outvied all the kings of the world;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	10	24	and from every part of the world men craved his audience, to make proof for themselves of the wisdom God had put in his heart.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	10	25	And all these brought him gifts, so that gold and silver ware, presents of clothes and of armour, spices too, and horses and mules, came in year by year.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	10	26	Of chariots and horsemen king Solomon mustered a great force, fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand horsemen; of these, some were in the fortified towns, and some at the king’s side in Jerusalem.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	10	27	Silver he made as common in Jerusalem as stone, and cedars plentiful as the sycamores that grow in the plains.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	10	28	And horses were brought to Solomon from Egypt and from Coa, where his agents bought them and sent them to him for a fixed sum.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	10	29	Six hundred pieces of silver was the cost of a chariot brought from Egypt, and fifty of a horse; the kings of the Hethites and of Syria, too, sold him horses at the same price.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	11	1	But king Solomon gave his heart to many women of alien birth, not only to Pharao’s daughter, but to Moabites and Ammonites, Edomites and Sidonians and Hethites.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	11	2	It was of such races that the Lord had warned Israel, You must not mate with them, or let them mate with your daughters; no question but they will beguile your hearts into the worship of their own gods. Hotly he loved and close he clung to them;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	11	3	seven hundred wives, each with a queen’s rights, and three hundred concubines besides; what marvel if they beguiled his heart?
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	11	4	So, an old man now, he was enticed by women into the worship of alien gods, and his heart was not true to the Lord, his own God, like his father David’s before him.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	11	5	To Astarthe, goddess of the Sidonians, Solomon bowed down, and to Moloch, the false god of Ammon,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	11	6	and set the Lord’s will at defiance, instead of shewing his father’s loyalty.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	11	7	To Chamos, the false god of Moab, and to Moloch, the false god of Ammon, Solomon built shrines, there on the mountain-side in full view of Jerusalem,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	11	8	and humoured thus all those foreign wives of his, that must burn incense, each to her own god, and offer victims.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	11	9	So the Lord was angry with Solomon for playing him false, when he, the Lord God of Israel, had twice appeared to him,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	11	10	and warned him against this very sin of alien worship; a warning that went unremembered.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	11	11	Since this is thy mind, he told Solomon, to disregard my covenant and the bidding I gave thee, I will not scruple to tear the kingdom from thy grasp, and give it to one of thy own servants.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	11	12	Only, for the love of thy father David, I will not do it in thy life-time; it is thy son that shall lose his kingdom.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	11	13	Nor will I take away the whole of it; one tribe he shall have left to him, for the sake of my servant David, and Jerusalem, the city of my choice.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	11	14	And the Lord gave Solomon an enemy to contend with, Adad the Idumean, of the royal dynasty of Edom.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	11	15	This man had made his escape, at the time when David invaded Idumea, and Joab, the commander of his army, was seeing to the burial of all its male inhabitants, who had been put to the sword.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	11	16	Joab, with all the fighting men of Israel, had spent six months there, exterminating every male survivor of the Edomite race,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	11	17	and meanwhile Adad, still in early boyhood, took refuge in Egypt, under the charge of certain Edomites, that had been his father’s servants.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	11	18	It was from Madian they began their journey, and when they reached Pharan they found adherents there; with these, they made their way into Egypt and had recourse to king Pharao, who gave Adad a house of his own, with an allowance of food and lands to cultivate.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	11	19	Great favour Adad won with king Pharao, who gave him his own sister-in-law, the sister of queen Taphnes, for his wife;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	11	20	by her he had a son, Genubath, whom Taphnes brought up at Pharao’s palace, so that he lived at court among Pharao’s own children.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	11	21	When news reached Adad, there in Egypt, that David had been laid to rest with his fathers, and that Joab, too, the commander of his army, was dead, he asked Pharao’s leave to go back to his own country.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	11	22	Why, Pharao asked, what is lacking to thee here, that thou shouldst be pining for thy home? Nothing, said he, but give me leave for all that.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	11	23	(Meanwhile, God gave Solomon another enemy to contend with, Razon, son of Eliada, that ran away from his master, Adarezer king of Soba,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	11	24	and levied war on him. When David conquered Soba, Razon became leader of a robber band, that went and settled in Damascus, where they made him king;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	11	25	and all through Solomon’s reign he was the enemy of Israel.) Such was the cause of Adad’s rebellion and his ill will against Israel, and he set up a kingdom in Syria.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	11	26	There was a servant, too, of king Solomon’s that turned against him, Jeroboam son of Nabat, an Ephraimite that lived at Sareda with his widowed mother, Sarva.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	11	27	And this is the story of his rebellion against his master. At the time when Solomon was building Mello, and filling up the gap his father had left in the walls of David’s Keep,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	11	28	this Jeroboam was a warrior at the height of his strength, and Solomon marked him out for a young man gifted and active, so he put him in charge of the labour that was exacted from the northern tribes.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	11	29	And now, as Jeroboam was leaving Jerusalem, he met the prophet Ahias, of Silo, that was clad in a new cloak, out in the open country, where none else was by.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	11	30	And Ahias, tearing the new cloak he wore into twelve pieces,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	11	31	bade Jeroboam take ten of them; This message, said he, the Lord God of Israel sends thee, I mean to wrest the kingship from the power of Solomon, and make over ten tribes to thee.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	11	32	One tribe shall remain his, for the sake of my servant David, and of Jerusalem, among all the cities of Israel the city of my choice.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	11	33	He has forsaken me, to worship Astarthe, goddess of the Sidonians, Chamos, god of Moab, and Moloch, god of Ammon; he has not followed the path I bade him follow, by doing my will and keeping command and decree of mine, like his father David before him.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	11	34	Not from his hand will I take the kingdom away, nor all of it; while he lives, I will grant him rule over it, for love of my chosen servant David, that kept command and decree of mine faithfully;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	11	35	but his son shall lose it. Ten tribes I will give to thee,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	11	36	and to his son one tribe only, so that my servant David may still have his lamp alight in my presence, there in Jerusalem, the favoured sanctuary of my name.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	11	37	On thee my choice shall fall; thou shalt have power to thy heart’s content, the king of Israel.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	11	38	And if thou wilt attend to the charge I lay upon thee, following the ways I bid thee follow and doing my will, keeping command and decree of mine as my servant David once did, then I will be with thee, and grant thee a dynasty abiding as David’s was.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	11	39	I will make Israel over to thee; such sorrow I will bring on the race of David, but not for ever.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	11	40	Solomon would fain have put Jeroboam to death, but he was up and gone; he took refuge with Sesac king of Egypt, and remained there till Solomon’s death.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	11	41	As for the rest of Solomon’s life and doings, and the stories told of his wisdom, they are all to be found in the Annals of king Solomon.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	11	42	He was forty years on the throne, with his capital at Jerusalem, but with all Israel for his subjects;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	11	43	and when he was laid to rest with his fathers, they buried him, David’s heir, in David’s Keep. And he was succeeded by his son Roboam.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	12	1	This Roboam betook himself to Sichem; at Sichem the whole of Israel had assembled to crown him king.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	12	2	But meanwhile Jeroboam, son of Nabat, who had fled to Egypt to be out of king Solomon’s reach, had come back home upon hearing the news of his death;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	12	3	and he, too, was summoned to meet them. He, and all Israel with him, came to make a request of Roboam;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	12	4	Thy father, they said, made us bear a bitter yoke. That cruel sway of his, that hard yoke, do thou mitigate, and we will be thy servants on that condition.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	12	5	Give me two days, said he, and then come back to hear my answer. So, when the people had left him,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	12	6	king Roboam asked advice first of the older men that had been courtiers in the life-time of his father, king Solomon; what answer should he make to the people?
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	12	7	Why, they told him, if thou dost defer to them and do their will, granting this request of theirs and speaking graciously to them, they will never cease giving thee loyal service.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	12	8	But he left their advice unheeded, and took counsel instead with the younger men who had grown up with him;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	12	9	How think you, he asked, I should make answer to the people’s request, that I would lighten the yoke my father laid on them?
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	12	10	And these, men of his own upbringing, gave him advice in their turn. Do they complain that thy father laid a heavy yoke on them, and ask for relief? Then tell them there is more strength in thy little finger than in all the breadth of thy father’s back;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	12	11	if his yoke fell heavy on them, thine shall be heavier still; if thy father’s weapon was the lash, thine shall be the scorpion.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	12	12	So the third day came, and Jeroboam, with all the people at his back, kept the tryst which the king had made with them for the third day following.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	12	13	And the king, instead of heeding the advice which the older men had given, spoke to the people harshly,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	12	14	with such words as the younger men had prescribed to him. If my father’s yoke fell heavy on you, he told them, mine shall be heavier still; if his weapon was the lash, mine shall be the scorpion.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	12	15	Thus the king refused to fall in with his people’s will; the Lord had left him to his own devices, in fulfilment of the promise Ahias the Silonite made, in his name, to Jeroboam son of Nabat.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	12	16	And when the people found that the king would not listen to them, they were quick with their answer. David is none of ours, they cried; not for us the son of Jesse; go back, men of Israel, to your homes! Let David look to the affairs of his own tribe! And with that, the people dispersed to their homes;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	12	17	none but the Israelites living in the cities of Juda would acknowledge Roboam as king.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	12	18	And now, when Adoram, who had charge of the levy, came to them in the king’s name, the Israelites stoned him to death; whereupon Roboam mounted his chariot and betook himself, with all speed, to Jerusalem.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	12	19	From that day to this, the men of Israel have refused allegiance to the dynasty of David.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	12	20	Hearing of Jeroboam’s return, they met and summoned him to be present; and so they made him king of all Israel, leaving none to take part with David’s line except the one tribe of Juda.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	12	21	Roboam, indeed, upon reaching Jerusalem, mustered the whole tribe of Juda, including Benjamin, a hundred and eighty thousand choice warriors, to make war on the men of Israel; their cry was that Roboam, Solomon’s heir, must be restored to his kingdom.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	12	22	But the Lord sent word to the prophet Semeias,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	12	23	Here is a message for Roboam, son of Solomon, king of Juda, and for the men of Juda and Benjamin, the loyal remnant of the people.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	12	24	You are not to march out, the Lord says, and make war upon the sons of Israel, your own brethren; go home, every man of you; all this is my doing. So they obeyed the Lord’s will, and gave up their journey at his bidding.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	12	25	As for Jeroboam, he fortified Sichem, in the hill-country of Ephraim, to be his capital; then he went on to fortify Phanuel.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	12	26	And it came into his mind, The kingdom will go back to the dynasty of David
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	12	27	if these subjects of mine are allowed to go and sacrifice in the Lord’s house at Jerusalem. Their loyalties will go out again to their old master, king Roboam of Juda; they will kill me, and return to his allegiance.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	12	28	And this was the plan he devised; he made two golden calves, and said to the men of Israel, Here are your gods; the same gods that rescued you from the land of Egypt; no need to make pilgrimage to Jerusalem any more.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	12	29	One of the calves he set up at Bethel, and the other at Dan.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	12	30	Here was great sin caused; all the way to Dan men would go on pilgrimage, to worship a calf.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	12	31	Jeroboam made shrines, too, on the hill-tops, and chose men to be priests here and there and everywhere among the people, men that were not of Levi’s race.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	12	32	And he appointed a feast-day of his own, on the fifteenth day of the month, to match the feast-day kept in Juda, but it was in the eighth month. He too, in Bethel, would mount the steps of the altar and do sacrifice, but to calf-gods of his own making. And at Bethel he established the priests that served the hill-shrines he had made.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	12	33	On the fifteenth day, then, of the eighth month, his self-devised feast-day for the sons of Israel, Jeroboam went up to the altar he had built in Bethel, and began, standing there, to offer incense.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	13	1	At that very moment, as Jeroboam stood at the altar and cast the incense down, a prophet came to Bethel, sent by the Lord from Juda;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	13	2	and in the Lord’s name he cried aloud against the altar, Listen, thou altar, listen to a message from the Lord. I see a prince that is to come, born of David’s race, Josias by name, that shall sacrifice on thee the very priests who now feed thee with incense; the bones of dead men shall be thy sacrifice.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	13	3	And he offered them proof, there and then; Here is a sign, he told them, to prove that this message comes from the Lord; see if this altar does not fall apart, and spill the ashes it holds!
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	13	4	So cried the prophet against the altar at Bethel; and the king, hearing it, lifted his hand from the altar, pointed to the prophet and cried, Seize him! With that, his outstretched hand withered up; no more could he bring it back to his side;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	13	5	and meanwhile, the altar fell apart, spilling its ashes; the very sign which the Lord had inspired his prophet to foretell.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	13	6	Plead with the Lord thy God, the king said to him, and pray for me, that I may have the use of my hand again. So the prophet entreated God’s mercy for him, and his hand was restored to him, as sound as before.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	13	7	And now the king would have the prophet come home with him to take food, and to be rewarded with gifts,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	13	8	but he answered, Thou mightest offer me half thy kingdom before I would come with thee, before a crust of bread or a drop of water should pass my lips.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	13	9	Such is the charge the Lord’s word laid upon me; I must neither eat nor drink, nor go home by the way I came hither.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	13	10	So he set out home by another road, not retracing the journey by which he had come to Bethel.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	13	11	There was an old seer dwelling at Bethel, whose sons came and told him what deeds the prophet of God had done in the town that day; told what words had passed, too, between him and the king.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	13	12	Whereupon their father asked what road he had taken, this prophet from Juda; and when he had found out this from his sons,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	13	13	he bade them saddle the ass for him. Saddle it they did, and he mounted,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	13	14	and went out in search of the prophet, whom he found sitting under an oak-tree. Asking whether he were the prophet from Juda, and learning that he was,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	13	15	he bade him come home and share his meal.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	13	16	But the other said, I must not turn back and go with thee, must not take food or drink here;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	13	17	when the Lord spoke to me, it was part of his message that I must neither eat nor drink at Bethel, nor leave it by the way I entered it.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	13	18	But he would take no denial; I too, said he, am a prophet like thyself, and an angel has brought me a message from the Lord that I am to take thee home and give thee food and drink. With such words the prophet was beguiled,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	13	19	and went back to eat and drink with him.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	13	20	Even as they sat at table, the Lord’s word came to the seer that had detained him.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	13	21	A message from the Lord, cried he to the prophet from Juda. Thou hast disobeyed him; he, the Lord thy God, gave thee a strict injunction, and thou hast not kept it.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	13	22	Thou hast turned back, there to eat and drink where he bade thee leave food and drink untasted. For thy punishment, thy body shall not be laid to rest in the burying-place of thy fathers.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	13	23	When their meal was done, he saddled his own ass for the prophet, his guest.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	13	24	And he, setting out on his journey, met with a lion, that slew him. There lay his body on the open road, with the ass close by; the lion, too, remained standing there beside its prey.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	13	25	Passers-by told how they had seen it, a lion standing beside a dead man’s body that lay in the road, when they reached the township where the old seer lived,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	13	26	and when it come to his ears, he bethought him of his guest; It must be the prophet, said he, that was disobedient to the Lord’s command; the Lord has suffered this lion to maul and kill him, in fulfilment of the divine threat that was made to him.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	13	27	Then he bade his sons saddle him an ass; and when it was saddled,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	13	28	he set out on his journey, and found the body lying there by the road with ass and lion standing over it; never a morsel of its prey had the lion eaten, and to the ass it did no harm.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	13	29	So the old seer took up the prophet’s body and put it on the ass, and returned with it to his own city, to mourn over the dead.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	13	30	In his own tomb he laid the corpse down, and they mourned for him, crying out, Alas, brother, alas the day!
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	13	31	And after they had finished mourning, he said to his sons, When I die, bury me in this tomb where God’s prophet rests, laying my bones beside his.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	13	32	It will come true past all doubt, the threat which he uttered in the Lord’s name against the altar at Bethel, and the hill-shrines in the cities of Samaria.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	13	33	All this notwithstanding, Jeroboam would not amend his sinful ways; still he appointed priests here and there and everywhere among the people, consecrating the first comer to minister at his hill-shrines.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	13	34	So it was that the race of Jeroboam became tainted with guilt, doomed to perish and to leave no trace behind it.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	14	1	And now Jeroboam’s son Abia fell sick.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	14	2	Whereupon Jeroboam said to his wife, Here is a journey needs to be made; but first disguise thyself, so that none may know thou art the wife of Jeroboam. It is to Silo thou must go, where Ahias lives, the prophet who foretold that I should be king of this realm;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	14	3	to him betake thyself, bearing ten loaves with thee, and some pastry, and a pot of honey; from him thou wilt learn what is to become of the boy.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	14	4	So Jeroboam’s wife did his bidding; to Silo she made her way, and found Ahias’ house. Ahias had no sight left now, so dim were his eyes grown with old age;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	14	5	but the Lord made it known to him that Jeroboam’s wife was coming to ask him about her son, that had fallen sick, and told him what words he must use to her. She, as she entered, would have given herself out to be other than she was;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	14	6	but Ahias, as soon as he heard the fall of her feet on the threshold, cried out, Come in, wife of Jeroboam; why dost thou feign thyself to be another? I am charged with bitter tidings for thee.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	14	7	Go and give Jeroboam this message from the Lord God of Israel: Was it for this I chose thee out among the common folk, and gave thee command of my people Israel,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	14	8	tearing David’s kingdom asunder to enthrone thee? My servant David was not such a man as thou art. He kept my commandments, obeying me with all his heart, and doing my will.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	14	9	And thou? Thou hast done more amiss than any who went before thee, making thyself molten images of alien gods; me thou hast defied, me thou hast rejected.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	14	10	And I, in return, mean to bring ruin on all Jeroboam’s race, smiting every man that belongs to it, bondman or free man, throughout all Israel; I mean to sweep away the last remnants of his race, like the dung that must be swept away till all is clean.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	14	11	Die they in the city, they shall be food for the dogs; die they in the open country, they shall be food for all the birds of heaven; it is the Lord’s decree.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	14	12	Up, then, betake thyself home, and as thy feet cross the threshold of the city, thy son will die.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	14	13	Lament and burial he shall have from the people of Israel; in him alone, of all Jeroboam’s race, some loyalty to the God of Israel is found, and he alone, of all Jeroboam’s race, shall be carried to the grave.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	14	14	This day, even as I speak, the Lord has marked out for the throne of Israel one who shall destroy the race of Jeroboam.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	14	15	And as for Israel itself, it shall tremble under the hand of the Lord God, as a reed trembles in the water; he will root them out from the fair land which he gave to their fathers, and scatter them beyond the Great River, men that defied the Lord with forest-shrines of their own fashioning.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	14	16	And if the Lord abandons Israel thus, it is for the guilt of Jeroboam, that sinned, and taught Israel to sin.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	14	17	So Jeroboam’s wife left him, and made her way back to Thersa, where her feet no sooner crossed the threshold than her son died.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	14	18	Burial he had, and all Israel mourned for him, as the prophet Ahias had promised in the Lord’s name.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	14	19	What else Jeroboam did, how he fought and how he reigned, is to be found written in the Annals of the kings of Israel.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	14	20	When his reign had lasted twenty-two years, he was laid to rest with his fathers, and the throne passed to his son Nadab.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	14	21	Meanwhile king Solomon’s son Roboam was reigning in Juda. He was forty-one years old when he came to the throne, and for seventeen years he reigned as king at Jerusalem, the city which the Lord chose out of all the cities of Israel to be the sanctuary of his name. His mother was an Ammonitess called Naama.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	14	22	In his reign the men of Juda earned the Lord’s displeasure by sinning against him more defiantly than their fathers ever had before them.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	14	23	They, like the men of Israel, raised altar and image and shrine, on every high hill and under every spreading tree;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	14	24	and these shrines had their prostitutes; they flourished again, all the unnatural deeds of the heathen, whom the Lord dispossessed at Israel’s coming.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	14	25	In Roboam’s fifth year, Sesac king of Egypt marched on Jerusalem,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	14	26	and took away all the treasures from temple and palace, plundering everywhere; took away, too, the shields of gold which Solomon had fashioned.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	14	27	In place of these, Roboam made shields of bronze, which he entrusted to the captains of his shield-bearers and palace guards;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	14	28	when he made a progress into the Lord’s house, they were carried by the officers that marched before him, and afterwards taken back to the shield-bearers’ armoury.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	14	29	What else Roboam did, all the history of his reign, is to be found in the Annals of the kings of Juda.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	14	30	All through his reign there was war between him and Jeroboam.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	14	31	So Roboam, son of the Ammonitess Naama, was laid to rest with his fathers, with the Keep of David for his burying-place; and the throne passed to his son Abiam.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	15	1	Abiam, coming to the throne of Juda in the eighteenth year of Jeroboam,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	15	2	reigned three years at Jerusalem. (His mother was called Maacha, daughter of Abessalom. )
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	15	3	Everywhere he followed the sinful example his father had set him, unworthy heir of David, that ever kept faith with the Lord his God.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	15	4	Yet, for David’s sake, the Lord suffered him to keep the lamp of the royal dynasty burning at Jerusalem; a son he must have to follow him, for the city’s preservation.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	15	5	Such reward David had for doing the Lord’s will, nor ever swerving, while life lasted, from his decrees, except in the matter of Urias the Hethite.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	15	6	While Roboam lived, he was at war with Jeroboam,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	15	7	and there was war, too, between Jeroboam and Abiam. What else Abiam did, all the history of his reign, is to be found in the Annals of the kings of Juda.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	15	8	So Abiam was laid to rest with his fathers, with the Keep of David for his burying-place, and the throne passed to his son Asa.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	15	9	Asa, coming to the throne of Juda in the twentieth year of Jeroboam, reigned as king at Jerusalem for forty-one years.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	15	10	His mother was called Maacha, daughter of Abessalom.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	15	11	And Asa did the Lord’s will, like king David, his ancestor,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	15	12	ridding the land of shrine-prostitutes, and sweeping away all the filth of idolatry his fathers had brought in with them.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	15	13	He even deprived his mother Maacha of her queenly rank, for her worship of Priapus and for dedicating a forest shrine to him; the grotto she had made he overthrew, broke the image and burnt the fragments of it and cast the ashes into the river Cedron.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	15	14	He did not abolish the hill-shrines; but all his days his heart was true to the Lord;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	15	15	and he enriched the Lord’s house with gold and silver and other offerings for its use, some dedicated by his father and some in performance of his own vows.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	15	16	This Asa and Baasa king of Israel were at war continually.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	15	17	Baasa would not be content with his own Israelite territory; he invaded Juda and began making a fortified city of Rama, so as to deny Asa’s subjects free passage.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	15	18	Whereupon Asa took out all the silver and gold that was left in the treasure-chambers of temple and palace; this was to be conveyed by his messengers to Damascus, to Benadad, son of Tabremon, son of Hezion, king of Syria.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	15	19	There is an alliance between us, he said, inherited from thy father and mine; witness these gifts of silver and gold I send thee. Do thou annul the treaty thou hast made with Baasa, king of Israel, and help me drive him out of my country.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	15	20	Benadad, falling in with the request, sent out his generals with orders to attack the cities of Israel; Ahion they overcame, and Dan, and Abel Beth-Maacha, and all Cenneroth, till Nephthali had no land remaining.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	15	21	So Baasa, when the news reached him, went back to Thersa, leaving the defences of Rama half finished;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	15	22	and the men of Juda, summoned by a royal decree which admitted of no denial, carried off all the stones and woodwork he had erected there; Asa made use of it to fortify Gabaa in Benjamin, and Maspha.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	15	23	What else Asa did, the power he wielded, all his history, and the record of the cities he built, are to be found in the Annals of the kings of Juda. At last old age came upon him, and with old age, disease attacked his feet.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	15	24	So he was laid to rest with his fathers, in the Keep of his ancestor David, and the throne passed to his son Josaphat.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	15	25	It was in the second year of Asa that Jeroboam’s son Nadab came to the throne of Israel, and his reign over Israel lasted two years;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	15	26	he defied the Lord’s will, following the evil example of his father, that sinned and taught Israel to sin.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	15	27	Then, while he was laying siege to the Philistine city of Gebbethon, at the head of the Israelite army, Baasa son of Ahias, a man of Issachar, conspired against him and killed him there.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	15	28	So, in the third year of Asa, Baasa succeeded Nadab as king.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	15	29	And he, on coming to the throne, put all Jeroboam’s kindred to death; not a man did he spare, so that the whole race perished, as the Lord’s servant, Ahias the Silonite, had prophesied in his name.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	15	30	So deep was Jeroboam’s guilt, that sinned and taught Israel to sin; so was he punished for defying the Lord God of Israel.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	15	31	What else Nadab did, all his history, is to be found in the Annals of the kings of Israel.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	15	32	It was this Baasa that was at war with Asa continually;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	15	33	Baasa, son of Ahias, who came to the throne in Asa’s third year, and for twenty-four years reigned over Israel at Thersa.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	15	34	He too defied the Lord’s will, and followed the sinful ways by which Jeroboam taught Israel to sin.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	16	1	To this Baasa the Lord sent a message by Jehu, son of Hanani:
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	16	2	Was it for this I raised thee up out of the dust, and made thee ruler of my people Israel, that thou shouldst follow the ways of Jeroboam, teaching my people Israel to sin, and by their sins to defy my anger?
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	16	3	See if I do not sweep away every trace of Baasa and Baasa’s line, treating thy race as I treated the race of Jeroboam son of Nabat.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	16	4	Die they in the city, they shall be food for the dogs, die they in the open country, they shall be food for all the birds of heaven.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	16	5	What else Baasa did, all his history and the record of all his battles, is to be found in the Annals of the kings of Israel.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	16	6	So he was laid to rest with his fathers, with Thersa for his burying-place, and the throne passed to his son Ela.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	16	7	(It was through the prophet Jehu, son of Hanani, that the Lord pronounced sentence upon Baasa and his line, and on all the provocations by which he had earned the Lord’s displeasure, following the example of Jeroboam’s race; and Baasa, for that reason, put the prophet Jehu to death. )
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	16	8	It was in the twenty-sixth year of Asa that Baasa’s son Ela came to the throne of Israel; and when he had reigned two years at Thersa,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	16	9	his own servant Zambri, that led half his cavalry, rebelled against him. Ela was at Thersa, drinking himself drunk at the house of Arsa, that was prefect of the city,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	16	10	when Zambri rushed in and gave him a mortal blow, taking the throne for himself, in the twenty-seventh year of Asa’s reign over Juda.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	16	11	Once he was king, and settled on the throne, he struck down all Baasa’s descendants, leaving no male among them alive, his kinsfolk, too, and his friends.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	16	12	When Zambri thus made an end of Baasa’s race, the sentence which the Lord had passed on Baasa through the prophet Jehu was carried out;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	16	13	they must atone for their guilt, Baasa and his son Ela, that sinned and taught Israel to sin, defying the Lord God of Israel with their false worship.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	16	14	What else Ela did, all his history, is to be found in the Annals of the kings of Israel.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	16	15	So, in the twenty-seventh year of Asa, Zambri reigned in Thersa for seven days. The army of Israel were then laying siege to the Philistine city of Gebbethon;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	16	16	and when news reached them of Zambri’s conspiracy and the king’s death, they chose, by common consent, a king of their own. This was Amri, who was then in command of the Israelite forces, and was present there in the camp.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	16	17	So Amri with all his men left Gebbethon and laid siege to Thersa;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	16	18	and Zambri, seeing that the city must needs fall, retired into the palace and burned it over his own head. So he died,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	16	19	in all the guilt of defying the Lord by following the example of Jeroboam; in all the guilt, too, he had brought on Israel by teaching them to sin.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	16	20	What else Zambri did, the story of his plot and of his tyranny, are to be found in the Annals of the kings of Israel.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	16	21	Thereupon the Israelite people divided itself into two factions; half of them espoused the cause of Thebni, son of Gineth, and would have made a king of him, the other half followed Amri.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	16	22	But Amri’s party gained the victory over Thebni’s; so Thebni came to his death, and Amri to a throne.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	16	23	It was in the thirty-first year of Asa that Amri began his reign over Israel, which lasted twelve years. For the first six, his capital was at Thersa;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	16	24	then, for two talents of silver, he bought the hill of Samaria from Somer, and built on it a city which he called Samaria, after Somer’s name.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	16	25	This Amri defied the Lord’s will more recklessly than any king before him,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	16	26	following the wicked ways of Jeroboam, son of Nabat, that taught Israel to sin, and provoking the Lord God of Israel to anger with his false worship.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	16	27	What else Amri did, the record of all the battles he fought, is to be found in the Annals of the kings of Israel.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	16	28	So Amri was laid to rest with his fathers, with Samaria for his burying-place, and the throne passed to his son Achab.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	16	29	It was in the thirty-eighth year of Asa that Achab, son of Amri, came to the throne of Israel; and for twenty-two years he reigned over Israel at Samaria.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	16	30	This Achab, son of Amri, defied the Lord’s will as no other had done before him;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	16	31	not content with following the evil example of Jeroboam, son of Nabat, he married Jezabel, daughter of the Sidonian king Ethbaal, and thenceforward enslaved himself to Baal’s worship.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	16	32	To Baal he built a temple, to Baal he raised an altar, in Samaria;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	16	33	planted, too, a sacred wood, and did more to earn the Lord’s displeasure than any king of Israel in earlier times.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	16	34	It was in his days that Hiel, a man of Bethel, rebuilt Jericho; the foundation of it cost him his eldest son Abiram, and the gates of it his youngest son Segub; such was the doom pronounced by Josue, son of Nun, in the Lord’s name.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	17	1	And now word came to Achab from Elias, the man of Thesbe, that dwelt in Galaad, As the Lord I serve is a living God, in these years that are coming neither dew nor rain shall fall, without word of mine to command it.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	17	2	Upon this, Elias himself had a message from the Lord,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	17	3	Withdraw thyself, and make thy way eastwards; thou shalt find a hiding-place in the valley of the Kerith, that flows to meet the Jordan.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	17	4	There the river shall provide drink for thee, and the ravens, at my command, shall feed thee.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	17	5	Withdraw himself he did, as the Lord bade him, and made his way to the river Kerith, that flows to meet the Jordan; there he took up his abode.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	17	6	Morn and eve the ravens brought him bread, morn and eve they brought him meat, and of the river’s water he drank,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	17	7	till, after a while, the land was parched, and the river dried up.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	17	8	Then the Lord said to him,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	17	9	Bestir thyself, and make thy way to Sarephtha, a town in Sidon, where thou shalt make thy dwelling, at my command, a widow there will support thee.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	17	10	So he rose up and went to Sarephtha, and he had but reached the city gate when he met a woman gathering fire-wood; whereupon he called out to her, asking her to give him a cup of water to drink.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	17	11	And as she went to fetch it, he cried after her, And when thou dost bring it, bring me, too, a mouthful of bread.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	17	12	Why, she told him, as surely as the Lord thou servest is a living God, I have no food except a handful of flour at the bottom of a jar, and a drop of oil left in a cruet. Even now I am gathering a stick or two, to serve my son and me for our last meal.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	17	13	Have no fear, Elias said; go home on this errand of thine; only use the flour to make me a little girdle-cake first, and bring it me here; cook what is left for thyself and thy son.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	17	14	This message the Lord God of Israel has for thee: There shall be no lack of flour in the jar, nor shall the oil waste in the cruet, till the Lord sends rain on this parched earth.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	17	15	At that, she went and did Elias’ bidding, and there was a meal for him and for her and for all her household; and from that day onwards
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	17	16	there was still flour in the jar, still oil left in the cruet, as the Lord’s message through Elias had promised her.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	17	17	Afterwards, the housewife’s son fell sick; and so violently did his disease take hold of him that at last he breathed no longer.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	17	18	Upon this, the woman said to Elias, Servant of God, why didst thou meddle with me? Didst thou come here to confront me, after all, with the record of my sins, and hand over my son to death?
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	17	19	Give me thy son, said Elias, and took the boy from her bosom; then carried him up to the room where he himself lodged, and laid him down on the bed.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	17	20	O Lord my God, said he, must thou bring trouble even upon this widow, who is all my support, by taking her son’s life away?
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	17	21	Then, three times, he measured his whole length upon the child’s body, crying out to the Lord, O Lord my God, send back life into the boy’s limbs.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	17	22	So Elias prayed, and the Lord granted his prayer; the boy’s life returned to him, and he revived.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	17	23	And when Elias took him down from the upper room into the house below, gave him back to his mother and shewed her that her son lived,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	17	24	the woman said to Elias, This proves to me that thou art God’s servant indeed, and his promise on thy lips is true.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	18	1	It was long before the Lord’s word came to Elias; but at last, when two years had gone by, he said, Go and confront Achab; it is time I should send rain on this parched earth.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	18	2	So Elias went out to confront Achab. Sore famine there was in Samaria;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	18	3	and Achab had called his steward Abdias to his aid. This Abdias was one that held the Lord in great reverence;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	18	4	and when Jezabel killed the Lord’s prophets, he rescued a hundred of them, by hiding them in two caves, fifty in each, and supplying them with food and water.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	18	5	To him Achab said, Go through the whole land in search of grass wherever it may be found, by spring or mountain torrent, to keep the horses and the mules alive, or we shall lose all the beasts.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	18	6	So they divided up the country into circuits and separated, Achab taking one way and Abdias the other;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	18	7	and it was Abdias that fell in with Elias in the course of his journey. Why, said he, bowing to the earth as he recognized him, it is my lord Elias!
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	18	8	None other, said he; go and tell thy master that Elias is here.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	18	9	Ah, my lord, answered Abdias, what wrong have I done thee, that thou wouldst hand me over to Achab to be slain?
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	18	10	As the Lord thy God is a living God, there is never race or realm to which my master has not sent in search of thee; and as each answered, Not here, he would take an oath of them, race by race and realm by realm, that thou wert not to be found.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	18	11	Go and tell thy master, sayest thou, that Elias is here;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	18	12	and what will be the issue of it? Why, when I have left thee, the spirit of the Lord will carry thee off I know not where; my errand done, and thou nowhere to be found, Achab will put me to death; and am not I, thy servant, one that has feared the Lord since he was a child?
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	18	13	Hast thou never had tidings, good master, of what I did when Jezabel was slaying the Lord’s prophets; how I rescued a hundred of them, by hiding them in two caves, fifty in each, and supplying them with food and water?
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	18	14	Why wouldst thou bid me court death by telling my master, Elias is here?
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	18	15	Nay, answered Elias, as the Lord I serve is a living God, I mean to confront Achab this day.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	18	16	So Abdias went to find Achab, and gave him the message. Whereupon Achab came to meet Elias;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	18	17	and his greeting was, So it is thou, the man that gives Israel no rest?
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	18	18	Nay, answered he, if Israel finds no rest, the fault lies not with me, but with thee and with thy father’s race, that have neglected the Lord’s command, and betaken yourselves to the gods of the country-side.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	18	19	But there is work to do; send out couriers, and gather me all Israel on mount Carmel, with Baal’s four hundred and fifty prophets, and those four hundred, prophets of the forest-shrines, that feed on Jezabel’s bounty.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	18	20	So Achab sent word to all the men of Israel, and gathered the prophets together, there on mount Carmel.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	18	21	And now Elias appeared before the whole of Israel, and thus reproached them, Will you never cease to waver between two loyalties? If the Lord is God, then take his part; if Baal is God, then take his. No word did the people give him in answer,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	18	22	and Elias began speaking to them again; Here am I, he said, the only prophet of the Lord left, while Baal has four hundred and fifty.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	18	23	Bring us two bulls; let them choose which they will, cut it up into pieces, and set these upon fire-wood, without kindling it. I will prepare the other bull, and I too will set it on fire-wood still unkindled.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	18	24	Then call upon the names of your gods, and I will call on the name of the Lord I serve; and the God who sends fire in answer shall be acknowledged as God. Well said, cried all the people, well said!
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	18	25	Thereupon Elias bade them choose their bull, and offer sacrifice first, since theirs was the greater number; let them call upon the names of their gods as they would, but kindle no fire.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	18	26	And they, accepting one of the bulls he offered them, prepared it for sacrifice; all day long they cried out on the name of Baal, Lord Baal, hear us; but never a sound came, and there was none to answer, dance as they would on the altar they had built there.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	18	27	When mid-day came, Elias fell to mocking them; Cry louder, he said, a God Baal is, past doubt, but it may be he is detained in talk, or lodging abroad, or on a journey; or he has fallen asleep, and needs awakening.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	18	28	Cry louder they did, cutting themselves with knives and lancets, till they were all bathed in blood;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	18	29	but mid-day passed, and they were still prophesying; and now it was time for the evening sacrifice to be offered, but still no sound came; there was none to answer them or listen to their supplications.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	18	30	Then Elias bade the people come near; and when they were standing close to him, he began repairing the altar of the Lord, that was broken down.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	18	31	Twelve stones he took, one for each tribe that sprang from the sons of Jacob, to whom the divine voice gave the surname of Israel;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	18	32	and with these stones he built up the altar again, calling on the Lord’s name as he did it. Then he made a trench round the altar, of some two furrows’ breadth;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	18	33	piled the wood high, cut the bull into joints, and laid these on the wood.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	18	34	Now, he said, fill four buckets with water, and pour it over victim and wood alike. And again he bade them do it, and when they had finished, a third time. When they had poured it out a third time,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	18	35	the water was running all round the altar, and the trench he had dug for it was full.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	18	36	The time was now come for offering the evening burnt-sacrifice; and as the prophet Elias went to the altar, thus he prayed, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, give proof this day that thou art the Lord God, and I am thy servant, and all I have done was done at thy command.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	18	37	Audience, Lord, give audience! Prove to all the people that thou art the Lord God, and art calling their hearts back to thee!
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	18	38	With that, the divine fire fell, consuming victim and wood and stones and dust, and swallowing up the very water in the trench.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	18	39	At the sight, the whole people fell face to earth, and raised a cry, It is the Lord is God, it is the Lord is God!
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	18	40	Seize the prophets of Baal, Elias told them, and do not let one of them slip through your hands. Seize them they did, and Elias took them down to the valley of Cison, where he put them to death.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	18	41	Then Elias said to Achab, Go back now, eat and drink; I hear a noise like a storm of rain.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	18	42	So Achab went back to eat and drink, while Elias climbed the heights of mount Carmel, and there sat, his face bowed to the ground between his knees.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	18	43	And he bade his servant go to the hill-top and look out seawards; so he went and looked, but came back with word that he had seen nothing. Seven times he must go back on the same errand;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	18	44	and at the seventh time, a little cloud shewed, no bigger than a man’s foot-print, rising up out of the sea. Go back, Elias said, and bid Achab mount his chariot and return home, before the rain overtakes him.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	18	45	This way and that he turned; and now the whole sky was dark, and clouds came, and a wind with the clouds, and a great storm of rain began. So Achab mounted his chariot and betook himself to Jezrahel;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	18	46	as for Elias, the power of the Lord came upon him, so that he girded his cloak about him and ran all the way to Jezrahel at Achab’s bridle.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	19	1	But when Achab told Jezabel of what Elias had done, how he had put all her prophets to the sword,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	19	2	she sent Elias a message, The gods punish me as I deserve, and more, if by this time tomorrow I have not sent thee the way yonder prophets went.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	19	3	Whereupon he took fright, and set out upon a journey of his own devising; made his way to Bersabee in Juda, and left his servant to wait there,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	19	4	while he himself went on, a whole day’s journey, into the desert. Betaking himself there, and sitting down under a juniper tree, he prayed to have done with life. I can bear no more, Lord, he said; put an end to my life; I have no better right to live than my fathers.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	19	5	With that, he lay down and fell asleep under the juniper tree; but all at once an angel of the Lord roused him, bidding him awake and eat.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	19	6	Then he found, close to where his head lay, a girdle-cake and a pitcher of water; so he ate and drank and lay down to sleep again.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	19	7	But once more the angel of the Lord roused him; Awake and eat, said he, thou hast a journey before thee that will tax thy strength.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	19	8	So he rose up, and ate and drank; strengthened by that food he went on for forty days and forty nights, till he reached God’s own mountain, Horeb.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	19	9	There he made his lodging in a cave; and all at once the Lord’s word came to him, Elias, what dost thou here?
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	19	10	Why, he answered, I am all jealousy for the honour of the Lord God of hosts; see how the sons of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thy altars, and put thy prophets to the sword! Of these, I only am left, and now my life, too, is forfeit.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	19	11	Then word came to him to go out and stand there in the Lord’s presence; the Lord God himself would pass by. A wind there was, rude and boisterous, that shook the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind, an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	19	12	And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire, the whisper of a gentle breeze.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	19	13	Elias, when he heard it, wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out to stand at the cave door. There a voice came to him, Elias, what dost thou here?
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	19	14	I am all jealousy, said he, for the honour of the Lord God of hosts; see how the sons of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thy altars, and put thy prophets to the sword! Of these, I only am left, and now my life, too, is forfeit.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	19	15	Then the Lord said to him, Retrace thy journey through the desert all the way to Damascus, and there anoint Hazael to be king of Syria.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	19	16	Over Israel, too, thou shalt anoint a king, Jehu the son of Namsi. And for thyself, thou shalt anoint a new prophet, Eliseus, the son of Saphat, from Abel-Meula, to take thy place.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	19	17	Those who escape the sword of Hazael shall be slain by Jehu, and those who escape the sword of Jehu shall be slain by Eliseus.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	19	18	Yet I mean to leave myself seven thousand men out of all Israel; knees that have never bowed to Baal, lips that have never kissed hand to do him worship.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	19	19	Even as he went on his journey, Elias found Eliseus, that was son of Saphat, ploughing with twelve pairs of oxen. He was with the last pair of all; and Elias, upon reaching him, threw his own cloak about the man’s shoulders.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	19	20	There and then he left his oxen behind, and ran after Elias; Give me leave, he said, to embrace father and mother in parting. Back home with thee, said Elias; I have but fulfilled my errand.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	19	21	Back then Eliseus went, and chose out a pair of oxen, which he slaughtered, and cooked there with the plough for fire-wood. Such was the feast he made for the folk with him; then he rose up and left them, to follow Elias and be his servant.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	20	1	After this, Benadad king of Syria mustered his whole army, with thirty-two princes at its head, mustered all his horses and chariots, and would take Samaria by siege.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	20	2	Achab, king of Israel, was within the city;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	20	3	and to him Benadad sent messengers demanding the surrender of his silver and gold, his wives, too, and all the likeliest of his sons.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	20	4	My lord king, answered Achab, I accept thy terms; all that I have is at thy disposal.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	20	5	But now the messengers came back to him with a fresh demand from Benadad, Silver and gold, wives and sons, thou must hand over to me;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	20	6	and meanwhile, at this time tomorrow, envoys of mine shall visit thee, to search thy palace and thy courtiers’ houses; to these thou must give up all they have a mind to carry away with them.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	20	7	Thereupon the king of Israel summoned all the elders of his land; Mark well, he said, how craftily this man deals with us; this is my reward for consenting to give up wives and sons, silver and gold, at his demand.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	20	8	Elders and people had but one thought; there must be no listening to Benadad, no granting his will.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	20	9	Achab, then, thus answered Benadad’s messengers, Tell my lord the king, I am thy servant, and ready to carry out that first demand of thine; but this I cannot grant.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	20	10	And he, when the answer was reported to him, sent them back with this message, May the gods punish me as I deserve, and more than I deserve, if I do not beat Samaria to dust! I have more than enough warriors here at my back to carry it away in handfuls.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	20	11	To that, the king of Israel made reply, Boast he may who ungirds, not he who girds for battle.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	20	12	This taunt came to the ears of Benadad when he sat drinking with his princes in his royal pavilions. Besiege me the city, he told his men, and besiege it they did.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	20	13	And now a prophet came with a message from the Lord to Achab, king of Israel: Thou canst see for thyself what a great multitude of warriors is here; over all that multitude I mean to give thee victory this day, and prove to thee that I am the Lord.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	20	14	Victory? said Achab. And who shall win it for us? Whereupon the prophet gave him this answer from the Lord, It shall be the lackeys the chiefs have brought with them. And when Achab asked who should lead them, he told him, Thou thyself.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	20	15	So he took count of the lackeys the chiefs had in their retinue, and found there were two hundred and thirty-two of these; then he took count of his army, the whole army of Israel, seven thousand strong.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	20	16	When it was high noon, they sallied out from the city, while Benadad still drank deep in his pavilion, with the princes that had come to aid him;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	20	17	and the lackeys marched at their head. Benadad, when his scouts told him that a sally was being made from Samaria,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	20	18	gave orders that the men should be taken alive, came they out peaceably or for battle.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	20	19	So on they went, the lackeys in the van, and the rest of the army at their heels,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	20	20	and none but slew the first enemy he met; so that the Syrians were routed, and Israel went in pursuit of them. Benadad king of Syria escaped on horse-back among his cavalry,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	20	21	and still horse and chariot fell before the king of Israel’s sally, till he won a great victory over the men of Syria.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	20	22	But the prophet sought him out again and warned him, Go back and strengthen thy forces; take good heed what thou art doing; in this next year the king of Syria will be marching against thee.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	20	23	In Syria, the king’s advisers told him, If the Israelites have defeated us, that is because their gods are gods of the hills; best to offer them battle on the low-lying ground, where we shall have them at our mercy.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	20	24	Meanwhile, something remains to be done; remove the princes, one and all, from their posts, and appoint commanders of thy own in place of them.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	20	25	Then fill up the gaps in the ranks of thy army, muster as many horses and chariots as thou hadst of old, and we will fight them in the plains; see if we do not get the mastery of them. Benadad was won over by their advice, and took it;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	20	26	when a year had passed, he marshalled the Syrian forces and led them out to Aphec, where he offered Israel battle.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	20	27	The men of Israel marshalled their forces too, provided themselves with food for the march and went out to meet the enemy. Where they lay encamped opposite, they seemed like two little herds of goats, while the Syrians swarmed over the country-side.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	20	28	To the king of Israel God sent out one of his servants with this message: Thus says the Lord, Thinks Syria that I am God of the hills, and not of the valleys too? Over all this great array I will give thee victory; such proof you shall have that I am the Lord.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	20	29	So, for seven days, the armies stood threatening one another, and on the seventh battle was joined; on that one day the men of Israel routed a hundred thousand Syrians that fought on foot.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	20	30	Those who survived took refuge in the city of Aphec, where the wall fell on them, twenty-seven thousand in number. As for Benadad, when he made his way into the city he took refuge in an inner room;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	20	31	and there his courtiers told him, This is the tale we have heard about the kings of Israel, that they are merciful men. Let us put sackcloth on our loins, and ropes on our heads, and give ourselves up to the king of Israel; it may be he will spare our lives.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	20	32	So, with sackcloth on their loins and ropes on their heads, they betook themselves to the king of Israel; Thy servant Benadad, they told him, pleads for his life. And Achab answered, Lives he yet, he is my brother.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	20	33	Whereupon, seizing from his lips that word of welcome augury, they cried, Benadad! He is thy brother! So Achab bade them fetch him; and when Benadad came out, would have him mount his own chariot.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	20	34	And now Benadad promised, I will give thee back the cities my father took from thine, and thou shalt have streets in Damascus, as my father had in Samaria, and I will go home at peace with thee. So Achab made peace with him, and let him go his way.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	20	35	But now the Lord sent his inspiration to a disciple in the schools of the prophets. He bade one of his fellow disciples strike him a blow, and when he refused,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	20	36	told him, Thou shalt be punished for disobeying the Lord’s voice thus. Thou shalt be mauled by a lion, said he; and they had barely parted when his fellow disciple met a lion, and was mauled by it.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	20	37	Meanwhile, his fellow disciple sought out another; Strike me a blow, he asked of him, and strike he did, leaving a wound on him.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	20	38	So the prophet went out to meet the king on the open road, first smearing his face and eyes with dust;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	20	39	and as the king passed, he cried out to him, My lord, a word with thee! I was lately in the thick of the battle, and one brought a fugitive to me, bidding me mount guard over him; did he slip through my hands, it was my life for his, or else I must pay a talent of silver.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	20	40	And then, as I looked this way and that in the press, all at once he was gone. Why then, said the king of Israel, thou must pay the forfeit that was named.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	20	41	With that, he wiped the dust from his face, so that the king of Israel knew him for one of the prophets;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	20	42	and he gave him this message from the Lord, And thou, hast thou not let a man worthy of death slip through thy hands? Thy life shall pay for his life, thy people for his people.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	20	43	A sullen man was the king of Israel and an ill man to cross when he reached his home in Samaria.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	21	1	Now turn we to the vineyard at Jezrahel, which belonged to Naboth the Jezrahelite, close to Achab’s palace, that was King of Samaria.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	21	2	Give me that vineyard of thine, Achab said to Naboth, so near adjoining my house, to make a herb-garden of it. In its place, I will give thee a better vineyard of my own, or its worth in money, if that likes thee better.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	21	3	The Lord be merciful to me, Naboth answered; should I give thee the land that was my fathers’ patrimony?
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	21	4	And at that, Achab went home sullen and ill to cross, only because Naboth had refused to give up his fathers’ patrimony. Down on his bed he lay, face to wall, and would take no food.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	21	5	So his wife Jezabel came in to see him, and know what ailed him, that he should refuse to eat;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	21	6	and he told her the story, how he had offered Naboth the Jezrahelite a sum of money for his vineyard, or a better vineyard, if he would, in place of it, and Naboth had refused to give the vineyard up.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	21	7	A fine king thou art, she said, as ever ruled in Israel! Up with thee, and eat, set thy heart at rest; I will give thee the vineyard of Naboth the Jezrahelite.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	21	8	Then she wrote a letter in Achab’s name, sealing it with his own seal, and despatched it to the elders and chief men that were Naboth’s fellow-citizens.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	21	9	The tenour of it was this; They were to proclaim a solemn fast, and where the greatest of the townspeople sat, there must be a seat for Naboth.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	21	10	Then two rogues must be suborned to bear false witness against him, accusing him of blasphemous speech about God and the king; and so they were to have him out, and stone him to death.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	21	11	So the elders and chief men, Naboth’s fellow-citizens, obeyed the instructions Jezabel’s letter had given them;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	21	12	they proclaimed a fast, and would have Naboth sit among the greatest of the townspeople;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	21	13	and there, opposite him, sat two rogues, whom they had brought in to that end. These, like the slanderers they were, accused Naboth of cursing God and the king; whereupon he was led out beyond the city walls, and stoned to death.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	21	14	Then a message was sent to Jezabel, telling her how Naboth had died by stoning;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	21	15	and no sooner had she heard of his death, than she bade the king bestir himself. Take for thy own, she said, the vineyard which Naboth the Jezrahelite would not sell thee; Naboth is dead, and can thwart thy will no longer.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	21	16	And away went Achab to take possession of Naboth’s vineyard; Naboth was dead.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	21	17	Thereupon the word of the Lord came to Elias the Thesbite,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	21	18	Up, and go to meet Achab, king of Israel, that dwells in Samaria; thou wilt find him now in the vineyard of Naboth; he has gone to take possession of it.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	21	19	And this message thou wilt give him from the Lord: Wouldst thou slay, and dispossess the slain? Then tell him, Thus says the Lord, Here, where the dogs licked the blood of Naboth, they shall lick thine.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	21	20	Here is one comes to seek me out, was Achab’s greeting, that is no friend of mine. Seek thee out I must, said he, to tell thee thou art a slave. Thou hast given thyself up to such doings as are hateful in the Lord’s sight.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	21	21	And hateful is the ruin I mean to bring on thee, sweeping away every trace of thee; every male of Achab’s house shall die, be he bondman or free man in the realm of Israel.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	21	22	No better shall thy race fare than Jeroboam’s, that was son of Nabat, or Baasa’s, that was son of Ahia; thou too hast earned my displeasure, thou too hast taught Israel to sin.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	21	23	And of Jezabel the Lord said, Here, in the purlieus of Jezrahel, the dogs shall have Jezabel for their food.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	21	24	As for Achab, die he in the city, he shall be food for the dogs, die he in the open country, he shall be food for all the birds of heaven.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	21	25	Never was such another as Achab, that gave himself up to doings hateful in the Lord’s sight, his wife Jezabel prompting him;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	21	26	very foully he did, in paying worship to the false gods of those Amorrhites whom the Lord dispossessed to make room for Israel.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	21	27	Yet Achab, when he heard Elias’ warning, tore his garments and clothed himself in sackcloth, fasted and made sackcloth his bed, and went ever with head bowed,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	21	28	till the Lord sent this word to Elias the Thesbite:
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	21	29	Achab, as thou seest, humbles his pride before me. Humbled for my sake, he shall have this reward; the doom shall not fall in his days. I will wait till his son is on the throne, and then bring calamity upon all his race.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	22	1	The peace between Syria and Israel lasted three years.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	22	2	In the third year, during a visit from king Josaphat, of Juda,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	22	3	the king of Israel said to his courtiers, Here is Ramoth-Galaad, a city (as you all know) that belongs to us; and yet we leave it in the king of Syria’s hands!
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	22	4	Then he turned to Josaphat and asked, Shall I have thy aid in attacking Ramoth-Galaad?
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	22	5	Why, said he, thou and I are at one; my army, my horses, they are all thine. But Josaphat would have Achab consult the Lord first.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	22	6	So Achab sent for his prophets, some four hundred in number, and asked whether he should attack Ramoth-Galaad or let it be? Go to the attack, they said; the Lord means to make the king’s grace master of it.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	22	7	But still Josaphat asked whether there was no prophet of the Lord to be found, so that they could make enquiry through him.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	22	8	Why yes, the king of Israel told him, there is one man through whom we might ask for the Lord’s counsel, Michaeas the son of Jemla, yet is he no friend of mine; still he will be prophesying that ill fortune is to befall me, never good. Nay, my lord king, said Josaphat, think better of it.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	22	9	So Achab summoned one of his chamberlains, and bade him fetch Michaeas the son of Jemla with all speed.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	22	10	There sat the king of Israel and Josaphat king of Juda, each on his throne, in all their royal state, in an open space by the gate of Samaria; and there in their presence all the prophets said their say.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	22	11	One of them, Sedecias the son of Chanaana, had provided himself with a pair of horns fashioned in iron; With these, he said, thou shalt toss Syria about, till thou hast made an end of it.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	22	12	And all the prophets had the same word for him; Go and attack Ramoth-Galaad, they told him, and a blessing on thy journey! The Lord means to make the king’s grace master of it.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	22	13	So the messenger who went to summon Michaeas told him, Here are all the prophets bidding the king good speed, like one man; do thou join thy voice to theirs, and prophesy good fortune.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	22	14	Nay, said Michaeas, as the Lord is a living God, the word I speak shall be the word he gives me.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	22	15	So he came into the king’s presence, and when he was asked whether it were better to attack Ramoth-Galaad, or to let it be, he answered, Go to the attack, and a blessing on thy journey! The Lord means to make the king’s grace master of it.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	22	16	What! cried Achab, must I never cease adjuring thee in the Lord’s name to tell me only the truth?
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	22	17	Listen then, said he; I had a vision of all Israel as sheep, that strayed because they had no shepherd, and the Lord’s word came, They have no master now; let them disperse to their home in peace.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	22	18	(It is as I told thee, Achab said to Josaphat; still he prophesies ill fortune, never good.)
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	22	19	Then Michaeas went on, Here is a message to thee from the Lord. I had a vision of the Lord sitting on his throne, with all the host of heaven waiting on his pleasure, to right and left.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	22	20	And the Lord said, Who is to beguile Achab, king of Israel, so that he will march to Ramoth-Galaad, and there meet his fall? One said this, one that;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	22	21	till at last a spirit came forward and stood in the Lord’s presence, offering to beguile Achab. And how wilt thou beguile him? the Lord asked.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	22	22	I will go abroad, said he, and on the lips of all his prophets I will make myself an influence to deceive. Deceive them thou shalt, the Lord said, and have thy way with them; go abroad, then, and carry out thy errand.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	22	23	And now, see what a lying influence the Lord has spread among these prophets of thine! For indeed the Lord has determined on thy ruin.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	22	24	At that, Sedecias son of Chanaana went up and gave Michaeas a blow on the cheek; Has the spirit of the Lord passed me by, he asked, and spoken to none but thee?
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	22	25	And Michaeas only answered, Thou shalt live to see the day when thou must needs take refuge in an inner room, to hide there.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	22	26	Then the king of Israel said, Take Michaeas hence, and put him in the charge of Amon, the city governor, and of Joas, son of Amelech.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	22	27	And give them this royal command of mine, that they are to imprison him, and give him scant allowance of food and drink till I come back safe and sound.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	22	28	Come thou back safe and sound, Michaeas said, and mine was no message from the Lord. Witness my words, all you that stand here!
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	22	29	So the king of Israel, and Josaphat king of Juda, marched out to attack Ramoth-Galaad.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	22	30	And Achab would have Josaphat go to battle in full armour and all his royal array, while he himself went to battle in disguise.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	22	31	Meanwhile, to all the thirty-two commanders who now marshalled his chariots, the king of Syria had given the same orders: Press for no other mark, high or low, but the king of Israel himself.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	22	32	And these, upon sight of Josaphat, supposed that they had the king of Israel here; it was against him, then, that they directed their onslaught;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	22	33	but when he cried aloud, they knew that this was not the king of Israel, and so let him be.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	22	34	It was an archer who bent his bow and let fly a shaft at haphazard that gave Achab a chance wound; it fell between lungs and gullet, and Achab bade his charioteer wheel about, and carry him away from the fight, so grievous his wound was.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	22	35	All that day the battle raged, and still the king of Israel stood upright in his chariot, facing the Syrians, and did not die till evening, though the blood from his wound flowed ever into the body of his chariot.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	22	36	Then, before sunset, a herald raised a cry all through the ranks, bidding every man return to his own region and city.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	22	37	So the king died, and was carried back to Samaria, where they buried him;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	22	38	and there the dogs licked his blood, for they washed his chariot and his chariot-reins in the pool at Samaria; and so the threat which the Lord had uttered was fulfilled.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	22	39	What else Achab did, all his history, and the record of the ivory palace he raised and the cities he built, is to be found in the Annals of the kings of Israel.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	22	40	Achab, then, was laid to rest with his fathers, and the throne passed to his son Ochozias.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	22	41	This Josaphat, son of Asa, had become king of Juda in the fourth year of Achab;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	22	42	he was thirty-five years old when he came to the throne, and his reign in Jerusalem lasted twenty-five years. His mother’s name was Azuba, daughter of Salai.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	22	43	He followed the example of his father Asa, and never swerved aside from the Lord’s will;
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	22	44	though indeed he did not abolish the hill-shrines; men still offered sacrifice and incense on the mountain-tops.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	22	45	With the king of Israel, he lived on terms of peace.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	22	46	What else Josaphat did, the record of his high exploits and of the battles he fought, is to be found in the Annals of the kings of Juda.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	22	47	He it was that rid the land of all the shrine-prostitutes his father Asa had left.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	22	48	Since there was no king in Edom at this time to bar his way,
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	22	49	Josaphat would build a fleet in the southern sea to sail out and fetch gold from Ophir, but sail they might not, for they were all wrecked, there at Asion-Gaber.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	22	50	(Achab’s son Ochozias had requested at this time that mariners from his own country might sail with Josaphat’s, but Josaphat would not consent.)
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	22	51	So Josaphat was laid to rest with his fathers, with the Keep of his ancestor David for his resting-place, and the throne passed to his son Joram.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	22	52	Ochozias, son of Achab, was crowned king of Israel at Samaria in the seventeenth year of Josaphat, and his reign over Israel lasted two years.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	22	53	He defied the Lord’s will, following the example of his own father and mother, and of Jeroboam, that taught Israel to sin.
 3 Kings	3Kgs	11	22	54	To Baal’s service he gave himself and Baal’s worship, and earned, as his father had earned, the displeasure of the Lord God of Israel.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	1	1	It was after Achab’s death that the Moabites threw off their allegiance to Israel.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	1	2	It went ill with Ochozias; he had a fall from the window of his upper room at Samaria. And he sent messengers to consult Beelzebub, the god they worship at Accaron, whether he might hope to recover from his sickness.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	1	3	But an angel of the Lord bade Elias go to meet these messengers from Samaria on their way, and ask them, Has Israel no God of its own, that you should go and consult Beelzebub, the god of Accaron?
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	1	4	Here, then, is the Lord’s message to Ochozias, Never shalt thou leave the bed thou liest on; thou art doomed to die. So Elias went on his errand;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	1	5	and Ochozias’ messengers returned to their master. When he asked why they had returned,
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	1	6	they told him how one had met them and bidden them go back to the king who sent them; of the Lord’s message, too, that rebuked him for sending to consult Beelzebub, god of Accaron, as if Israel had no God of its own, and doomed him to die where he lay.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	1	7	Then he would know what was the look of the man who had met them and so spoken.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	1	8	A shaggy fellow, they told him, with a skin girt about his loins. And he said, It was Elias the Thesbite.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	1	9	Thereupon the king sent a captain at the head of fifty men to find him. And this captain, climbing the mountain on which the prophet then dwelt, bade him come down in the king’s name.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	1	10	If prophet I am, Elias answered, let fire come down from heaven to consume thee and thy men with thee; and with that, came fire from heaven, and he and his fifty were consumed.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	1	11	So the king sent another captain with fifty men more, and he too would have the prophet come down in the king’s name.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	1	12	If prophet I am, said he, let fire come down from heaven to consume thee and thy men with thee; and once more, captain and men were consumed by fire.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	1	13	But when a third captain was sent out with his men, he came and knelt before Elias in entreaty; My lord prophet, he said, have some regard to my life, and the lives of these that follow me.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	1	14	Two other captains the fire from heaven has consumed, and fifty men with either of them; on my life, I pray thee, have pity.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	1	15	Then the angel of the Lord said to Elias, Go down with them; thou hast nothing to fear. So he set out to accompany the man into the royal presence.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	1	16	And he told the king, Thou, who hast sent to consult Beelzebub, Accaron’s god, as though God in Israel there were none, shalt never leave the bed thou liest on; thou art doomed to die.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	1	17	And die he did, as Elias had foretold in the Lord’s name, with never a son to follow him; the throne passed to his brother Joram. This was in the second year of Josaphat’s son, Joram, king of Juda.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	1	18	What else Ochozias did, all his history, is to be found in the Annals of the kings of Israel.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	2	1	And now the time had come when the Lord would have Elias carried up by a whirlwind into heaven. Elias was but then leaving Galgal, with Eliseus in his company;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	2	2	and he said to Eliseus, Pray stay on here awhile; the Lord has an errand for me at Bethel. As the Lord is a living God, said he, and thou a living soul, I will not part from thee.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	2	3	So together they journeyed to Bethel, where there was a school of prophets. And here the disciples greeted Eliseus by asking, Has it been made known to thee that the Lord means, this day, to carry off thy master? I, too, know it, he answered; say no more.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	2	4	Stay on here, Elias told him; the Lord has an errand for me at Jericho. As the Lord is a living God, said he, and thy soul a living soul, I will not part from thee. So together they reached Jericho,
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	2	5	and here, too, the disciples of the prophets asked Eliseus whether he knew his master was to be carried away from him. I, too, know it, he answered; say no more.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	2	6	Here, too, Elias would have him stay on; for himself, the Lord had an errand for him at the Jordan; but still he said, As the Lord is a living God, and thy soul a living soul, I will not part from thee. So they went still in company;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	2	7	fifty of the prophets’ disciples followed them, and stood watching, far away. They came to a halt, those two, at Jordan bank.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	2	8	And there Elias, taking off his mantle and folding it together, struck the waters of Jordan with it. Whereupon they parted, this way and that, allowing those two to pass over dry-shod.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	2	9	When they had crossed, Elias said to Eliseus, Make what request of me thou wilt, before I am carried away from thee. And he answered, I would have a double portion of the spirit thou leavest behind thee.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	2	10	It is no light request thou hast made, said he. If I am carried away in full view of thee, it means thy request is granted; if not, it is refused.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	2	11	And they were still going on, and talking as they went, when all at once, between them, a flaming chariot appeared, drawn by flaming horses, and Elias went up on a whirlwind into heaven.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	2	12	Eliseus watched it, crying out, My father, my father, Israel’s chariot and charioteer! But now he had sight of him no longer. He caught at his own clothes, and tore them across;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	2	13	then he took up the mantle of Elias, that had fallen from him; and when he reached Jordan bank again,
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	2	14	with this mantle that had fallen from Elias he struck the waters; but they did not part. Alas, cried he, where is he now, the God of Elias? With that, he struck the waters again, and they parted this way and that, for Eliseus to cross over.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	2	15	When they saw that, the disciples from Jericho that stood watching cried out, The spirit Elias had has come down to rest on Eliseus! And so, meeting him, they fell down face to earth;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	2	16	Lord prophet, they said, we can muster fifty strong men of our company to go out and look for this master of thine; it may be the Spirit of the Lord has carried him off and left him on some hill-top or in some cleft of the valleys. He would not have them send,
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	2	17	but they were urgent with him, till at last he relented and gave them leave. So the fifty men were sent, and for three days they searched in vain.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	2	18	When they came back (for he was still waiting at Jericho), all he said was, Did I not warn you not to send?
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	2	19	The citizens there had a complaint to bring before Eliseus; This city, my lord, has a fair site, as thou canst see for thyself, but the water is foul, and the soil barren.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	2	20	Bring me a new jar, said he, filled with salt. And when this was brought,
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	2	21	he went out to the spring from which the water came and cast the salt in. Here, he said, is a promise the Lord makes to you: I have healed this water, it shall bring death and dearth no longer.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	2	22	And from that day to this the water has been pure, in fulfilment of Eliseus’ promise.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	2	23	Then he went back to Bethel, and as he climbed up along the road, he was mocked by some young boys from the city; Up with thee, bald-pate, they cried, up with thee, bald-pate!
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	2	24	And he, turning to look, called down the Lord’s curse on them. Thereupon, out came two bears from the forest, and forty-two of the boys were torn in pieces.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	2	25	From Bethel he went on to mount Carmel, and afterwards made his way back to Samaria.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	3	1	It was in the eighteenth year of king Josaphat that Joram, son of Achab, began his reign over Israel at Samaria; it lasted twelve years.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	3	2	He too defied the Lord’s will, but not so openly as his father and mother before him; the images his father had raised to Baal he abolished,
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	3	3	but he clung to the sins of Jeroboam, that taught Israel to sin, and could not bring himself to leave them.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	3	4	The king of Moab, Mesa, had great flocks in his possession, and used to pay a tribute of a hundred thousand lambs, and as many rams unshorn;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	3	5	but when Achab died, he renounced his agreement with the kings of Israel.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	3	6	Whereupon king Joram lost no time in marching out from Samaria, mustering his whole forces,
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	3	7	and sending a message to Josaphat, king of Juda, bidding him come out and bear arms against the rebel king of Moab. I will march with thee, he answered; mine is thine, men and horses of mine are at thy disposal;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	3	8	what shall be our line of march? Through the desert of Edom, answered he;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	3	9	and march they did, the three kings of Israel, Juda and Edom, by so indirect a journey as took them seven days to accomplish, till the supply of water failed for man and beast.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	3	10	Alas, alas, the king of Israel cried, that the Lord should have gathered us here, kings three, to fall into the hands of Moab!
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	3	11	But Josaphat said, Is there no prophet of the Lord here, through whom we might win the divine favour? At that, one of Joram’s men said, Eliseus the son of Saphat is close by, that was body-servant once to Elias.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	3	12	He is a man that has the power of the Lord with him, said Josaphat. So to Eliseus the three kings of Israel, Juda and Edom betook themselves.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	3	13	And thus he greeted the king of Israel, What makest thou with me? To those other prophets betake thyself, whom thy father and thy mother knew. Tell me this, said Joram; why has the Lord gathered us here, kings three, to fall into the hands of Moab?
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	3	14	And Eliseus told him, As the Lord of hosts, the God I serve, is a living God, neither heed nor hearing thou shouldst have had from me, but for that reverence I bear for Josaphat, king of Juda.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	3	15	Bring a minstrel here. So a minstrel came, and while he played on his harp, the Spirit of the Lord came upon Eliseus, and he cried,
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	3	16	A message from the Lord; Dig channels here, channels there, in this dry river-bed.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	3	17	Thus says the Lord, Never a sign shall there be of wind or rain, but this river-bed shall fill with water, for you and yours and for your beasts to drink.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	3	18	And the Lord will not be content with that; he means to give you victory over Moab.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	3	19	Every fortress and every cherished city of theirs you must overthrow, cut down every fruit-tree, stop up every well, strew all their best plough-land with boulders.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	3	20	And so, next morning, at the time when sacrifice is offered, in came the water, flowing from Edom; water filled all the plain.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	3	21	And now the Moabites, who had heard that the kings were marching against them, called to arms every man that could wear a sword-belt, and stood ready to defend their frontier.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	3	22	They awoke that morning to find sunrise reflected in the water, so that it seemed, from their side of the valley, red as blood.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	3	23	Bloodshed! they cried; the kings have fallen out with one another and come to blows; men of Moab, there lies the spoil!
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	3	24	So they made straight for the Israelite camp; where the Israelites stood to their arms and overpowered them, so that they turned to flee. And now the victors, with Moab at their mercy,
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	3	25	overthrew the cities, smothered their best plough-land, every man throwing his stone, stopped up the wells, and cut down the fruit-trees. Only the City of Brick Walls was left, and even this, beleaguered by slingers, was in great part destroyed.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	3	26	The king of Moab, seeing that his cause was lost, tried to break through, at the head of seven hundred warriors, and attack the king of Edom. When this would not serve,
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	3	27	he took his own first-born son, the heir to the throne, and offered him up as a sacrifice on the walls. At this, great ruth came upon the men of Israel, so that they let him be, and went back to their own country.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	4	1	There was a woman once that appealed to Eliseus for aid; her husband had been among the disciples of the prophets. Master, she said, thou knewest my husband for a faithful servant of thine, and one that feared the Lord. Now he is dead, and here is a creditor of mine that will come and take away my two sons, to be his bondsmen.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	4	2	What wouldst thou have me do for thee? asked Eliseus. How much hast thou by thee? My lord, she answered, I have nothing left in my house at all but a drop of oil to anoint myself with.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	4	3	Go then, said he, and borrow empty jars from all thy neighbours, and do not stint thyself.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	4	4	Then go home, and lock the door on thyself and thy two sons within; fill all these jars with the oil, and set them aside when they are full.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	4	5	So the woman went, and locked the door on herself and her two sons, and they began holding out the jars for her, while she filled them.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	4	6	When she had filled them, and, asking one of her sons for a fresh jar, was told that he had no more, the oil gave out.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	4	7	So she came and told her story to the servant of God, and he said, Go and sell the oil, and pay thy creditor; what is left shall provide thee and thy sons with a living.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	4	8	At another time, Eliseus chanced to be passing through Sunam, and here there was a woman of rank that bade him to a meal, and would take no denial. He must needs go that way often, and ever this woman entertained him,
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	4	9	till at last she said to her husband, I find him to be a servant of God, and a holy one, this man that passes our way so often.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	4	10	It would be well if we kept a little room for his use, with bed and table and chair and lamp-stand in it, so that he may pass his time there whenever he visits us.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	4	11	And so, one day, when he had turned in to this room of his, to rest there,
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	4	12	he bade his servant Giezi fetch the woman of Sunam; and she, thus summoned, stood awaiting his audience.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	4	13	And Eliseus sent her, through his servant, this message, In all things thou hast bestowed thy constant care on us; what wouldst thou have me do for thee in return? Is there any business of thine, over which thou wouldst have me say a word for thee to the king, or to the commander of his army? And her answer was, Nay, my place is with my own folk.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	4	14	And now, as he wondered what he could do for her, Giezi told him, No need to ask; she has no son, and her husband is an old man.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	4	15	So Eliseus would have her brought to him, and as she stood there in the doorway,
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	4	16	When this time of year comes round again, he told her, at this very hour, live thou till then, thou shalt conceive a son. Nay, my lord, she said, wouldst thou, a prophet, trifle thus with thy handmaid?
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	4	17	But at that very season of the year, and at the very time Eliseus had foretold, she conceived, and bore a son.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	4	18	The child grew to boyhood, and one day, when he had gone out to be with his father where they were reaping the corn,
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	4	19	he told his father, My head aches, my head aches sorely. His father bade one of the servants carry him back to his mother;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	4	20	carry him back he did, and brought him to his mother, and she nursed him on her lap till noon came, but at noon he died.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	4	21	Thereupon she carried him up and laid him on the prophet’s own bed, and shut the door on him; then went out
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	4	22	and called her husband, and asked to have one of the servants with her, and an ass; she must go and see the prophet with all speed, and with all speed return.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	4	23	Why, said he, what means this journey of thine? This is no feast of the new moon, no sabbath day. But she answered, Go I must.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	4	24	Then she saddled the ass, and bade the servant lead on, and that in haste; let him lose no time over the journey, and wait ever on her bidding.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	4	25	So out she went, and found the servant of God on mount Carmel. And he, when he saw her approaching, said to his servant Giezi, That is the woman from Sunam;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	4	26	go to meet her, and ask her if all is well with her, all well, too, with her husband and her son. All is well, she said;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	4	27	but when she reached the servant of God, there on the mountain, she clasped him by the knees. Giezi would have pulled her away, but the servant of God said, Let her alone; here is great anguish of spirit, and I none the wiser; the Lord told me nothing of it.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	4	28	Then she said, My lord, did I not ask to have a son, imploring thee not to cheat me of my hopes?
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	4	29	Whereupon he said to Giezi, Gird thyself, and take this staff of mine with thee; go at once, greeting none and returning no greeting by the way, till thou reachest the boy; and lay down my staff on his face.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	4	30	As thou livest, the woman said, and servest a living Lord, I will not part from thee. So he rose up and went with her.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	4	31	Giezi had gone on before him, and put down the staff on the boy’s face; but no sound came, no sign of life, so he went back to meet his master with the news, The boy did not stir.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	4	32	Then Eliseus went into the house, where the boy lay dead in his bed;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	4	33	and there he shut himself in with the boy, and prayed to the Lord.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	4	34	So, rising from his prayer, he laid himself down on the dead body, mouth to mouth, eyes to eyes, hands to hands, bending down close, till the boy’s flesh grew warm.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	4	35	Then he went away, and walked to the end of the house and back, and now when he mounted the bed and lay down, the boy yawned seven times, and opened his eyes.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	4	36	Then Eliseus sent Giezi to fetch the woman of Sunam, and when she answered the summons, bade her take her son into her arms.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	4	37	So she came up, and fell at his feet, bowing down to the earth; then she took up her son and went out,
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	4	38	and Eliseus made his way to Galgal. There was once a famine in the country, at a time when Eliseus had some of the young prophets staying with him. And he bade one of his servants put on the greatest pot they had, and cook broth for these disciples of his.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	4	39	The man who had gone out afield to gather wild herbs for them found a creeping plant in the woods, from which he filled his lap with wild gourds; and these, when he came home, he shredded into the pot of broth, never enquiring what they were.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	4	40	When the time came for his guests to have their meal, the broth was poured out; but no sooner had they tasted it than they cried out, Death it were, lord prophet, to taste this broth of thine; drink it they might not.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	4	41	Thereupon he would have some flour brought him; brought it was, and when he threw it into the pot and had broth poured out for the company, all bitterness had left it.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	4	42	Once, too, a man came from Baal-Salisa, bringing with him twenty barley loaves, his first-fruit offering, and nothing besides except some fresh grain in his wallet. Eliseus would have a meal set before the company,
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	4	43	and when his servant asked how this would suffice for a hundred mouths, he said again, Set it before the company for their meal; they shall eat, the Lord says, and leave some over.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	4	44	And when he set it before them, eat they did and leave they did; so the Lord’s promise was fulfilled.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	5	1	At this time the armies of the king of Syria were commanded by a certain Naa man; a great captain, high in his master’s favour; brave, too, and a man of wealth, but a leper.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	5	2	Naaman’s wife had a servant, a young Israelite maid that had been captured by Syrian freebooters;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	5	3	and this maid said to her mistress, If only my lord would betake himself to the prophet in Samaria! He would have cured him soon enough of his leprosy.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	5	4	Upon this, Naaman went to his master, and told him what the Israelite maid had said;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	5	5	and the king of Syria promised to send him with a letter to the king of Israel. So he set out with thirty talents of silver, and six thousand gold pieces, and ten suits of clothing.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	5	6	And the letter he carried to the king of Israel ran thus, Know by these presents that I am sending my servant Naaman to thee, to be cured of his leprosy.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	5	7	Upon reading this letter, the king of Israel tore his garments about him, and asked, Am I God, with power to kill men and bring them to life again, that he should send a leper to me to be cured? Mark well how eager he is to pick a quarrel with me!
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	5	8	But God’s servant Eliseus, when he was told what ado the king of Israel had made over it, sent a message to him, Why rend those garments of thine? Send the man to me, and he shall learn that there is a prophet still left in Israel.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	5	9	So Naaman came with his horses and his chariots, and stood at the door of Eliseus’ house;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	5	10	where Eliseus sent word out to him, Go and bathe seven times in the Jordan, if thou wouldst have health restored to thy flesh, and be clean.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	5	11	At this, Naaman was for going back home; Why, he said angrily, I thought he would come out to meet me, and stand here invoking the name of his God; that he would touch the sore with his hand, and cure me.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	5	12	Has not Damascus its rivers, Abana and Pharphar, such water as is not to be found in Israel? Why may I not bathe and find healing there? But, as he turned indignantly to go away,
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	5	13	his servants came and pleaded with him; Good father, they said, if the prophet had enjoined some great task on thee, thou wouldst surely have performed it; all the more readily thou shouldst obey him when he says, Wash and thou shalt be clean.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	5	14	So down he went, and washed in the Jordan seven times, as the servant of God had bidden him. And with that, his flesh healed up, and became like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	5	15	So, coming back with all his retinue, he stood there in the presence of God’s servant; I have learned, he said, past doubt, that there is no God to be found in all the world, save here in Israel. And now, he said, pray accept a gift from thy servant, to prove his gratitude!
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	5	16	As the Lord I serve is a living God, Eliseus answered, I will accept nothing from thee; nor would any pleading bring him to consent.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	5	17	At last Naaman said, Have thy way, then, lord prophet, but grant me a gift instead. Let me take away with me part of the soil of Israel, as much as two mules can carry; my burnt-sacrifice, my offerings henceforward are for the Lord only, and for no alien god.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	5	18	Yet one fault pray the Lord to pardon in me thy servant. My master will still be going up to offer worship in the temple of Remmon, leaning on my arm for support. At such times, if I do reverence, as my master does reverence, in Remmon’s temple, the Lord grant me his pardon!
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	5	19	Go on thy way, said Eliseus, and peace go with thee. So there, on a spring day, they parted.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	5	20	But to Giezi, the prophet’s servant, the thought came, Here is this Syrian, this Naaman, with all his gifts, and my master has sent him away no poorer than he came. As the Lord is a living God, I mean to run after him and bring back some trifle with me.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	5	21	So after Naaman Giezi went; and Naaman, when he saw him running up, dismounted from his chariot and went to meet him; Is all well? he asked.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	5	22	All is well, said the other, but my master has sent me with a message to thee: Here are two young prophets but now come to visit me, from the hill-country of Ephraim; to these thou mayest well give a talent of silver, and two suits of clothing.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	5	23	Better two talents, Naaman said, and would take no denial. So two of his servants must shoulder a sack that held a talent of silver and a suit of clothes each of them, and carry these in front of Giezi.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	5	24	Evening had fallen when he reached home, took their load from them to lay it up in the house, and sent them away on their journey;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	5	25	then he went in to wait on his master. And when Eliseus asked whence he came, he said, Nay, my lord, I took no journey.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	5	26	What, said Eliseus, was not this heart of mine there to witness it, when yonder fellow turned back from his chariot to meet thee? And wouldst thou, at such a time, enrich thyself with a talent of silver here, a suit of clothes there, to buy thee oliveyard and vineyard, sheep and ox, man-servant and maid-servant?
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	5	27	To thee, and to thy race for ever, Naaman’s leprosy shall cling. And Giezi went out from his presence, a leper as white as snow.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	6	1	There was a time when his disciples complained to Eliseus that they had no room to live there in his company;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	6	2	and they asked leave to take the road for Jordan, cut down, each of them, his load of timber from the forest, and build themselves a house there. Then, when he had given them leave,
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	6	3	one of them said to him, Master, do thou come with us. Come with you I will said he,
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	6	4	and bore them company. So they reached the Jordan, and began felling wood.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	6	5	It chanced that one of them, in felling a beam, let his axe-head fall into the river; and at that he cried aloud, Alas, alas, master! It was a borrowed axe, too!
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	6	6	Where fell it? the prophet asked; and when the place was shewn to him, he cut a stick and threw it in there; whereupon the iron floated to the surface.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	6	7	It is there to thy hand, said he, and the disciple put out his hand and took it.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	6	8	When the king of Syria went to battle with Israel, he would hold a council of war, and name some place where he would lay an ambush;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	6	9	and ever word came from Eliseus to the king of Israel, Beware how thou marchest by such and such a place; the Syrians are lying in wait there.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	6	10	Then the king of Israel would send and make sure of the place the prophet had told him of; and so he avoided danger, not once but many times.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	6	11	At this, the king of Syria’s mind much misgave him; and at last he summoned his council and asked, was there no learning the name of this traitor that revealed his plans to the king of Israel?
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	6	12	Whereupon one of his courtiers told him, Nay, my lord king, it is the Israelite prophet, Eliseus, that discloses to him the secrets of thy council-chamber.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	6	13	Why then, the king said, go and find out where he is, so that I can send and take him prisoner. And when news came that Eliseus was in Dothain,
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	6	14	he sent horses and chariots and the pick of his army there, to surround the city at dead of night.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	6	15	The prophet had a servant that was early abroad next day, and found the whole city beleaguered by armed men and horses and chariots; and as he brought the news, he cried out, Alas, alas, master, what shift will serve us now?
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	6	16	Do not be afraid, said he; we have more on our side than they on theirs.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	6	17	Open his eyes, Lord, Eliseus prayed; give him clear sight. Thereupon the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and clear sight came to him; all at once he saw the whole mountain-side beset with flaming horses and chariots, there about Eliseus.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	6	18	Then, as the enemy closed in upon him, Eliseus prayed to the Lord anew, asking that this whole multitude might be smitten with blindness; and sightless the Lord smote them, at Eliseus’ prayer.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	6	19	Eliseus would have it that they had taken the wrong road and reached the wrong city; Come with me, he said, and I will shew you the man you are looking for. So he led them to Samaria;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	6	20	and once they were there, he prayed anew, that their eyes might be opened, and clear sight given them. In Samaria, then, they found themselves, once their eyes were opened;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	6	21	and the king of Israel, upon sight of them, asked Eliseus, My father, shall I strike them down?
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	6	22	Strike them down (said he) thou shalt not; they were not captured by sword or bow of thine, and wouldst thou slay them? Set food and drink before them, and let them go home to their master.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	6	23	So a great banquet was made for them, and when they had eaten and drunk their fill, back to their master he sent them. And Israel was rid, for a while, of freebooters from Syria.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	6	24	Some time after this, Benadad, king of Syria, mustered all his forces, and went to the siege of Samaria.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	6	25	And Samaria was famine-stricken; so long beleaguered, that men would pay eighty pieces of silver for an ass’s head, or five for a pint of dove’s droppings.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	6	26	And one day, as the king was making the round of the battlements, a woman cried out to him, Help me, my lord king!
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	6	27	Help from the Lord is none, said he, and what means of help have I, in threshing-floor or wine-press? What wouldst thou have of me? And she told him,
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	6	28	This woman who is with me bade me kill my son, to be food for us that day; hers should be our food the next.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	6	29	And then, my son’s flesh already cooked and eaten, when I bade her kill hers next day, she kept him in hiding.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	6	30	Upon hearing this tale, the king tore his garments across; and as he made his way along the battlements the people, one and all, could see how his shirt underneath was of sackcloth.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	6	31	May the Lord punish me as I deserve, said he, and more than I deserve, if I leave Eliseus the son of Saphat a head on his body by nightfall!
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	6	32	So he sent a man on before him, to find Eliseus where he sat at home, in conclave with the elders of the people. To these, before ever the messenger reached him, Eliseus said, You must know that my head is in danger. The murderer is on his way, sent by the murderer’s son. When he comes in, look to it that you keep the doorway barred; I hear his master’s tread not far behind him.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	6	33	Even as he spoke to them thus, in came the messenger that had set out to find him. And this was the king’s word, See what ruin the Lord has brought on me! Folly it were to expect relief from the Lord any longer.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	7	1	Thereupon Eliseus announced a message from the Lord; Thus says the Lord, by this time to-morrow a silver piece will be buying a peck of wheat, or two pecks of barley, in the market-place at the gate of Samaria.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	7	2	The king had one of his lords with him, to support him with his arm as he went; and this man mocked at the prophet’s words. Perhaps the Lord means to open the flood-gates of heaven, said he; then it might be as thou sayest. And Eliseus answered, The sight of it thou shalt have, but not the eating of it.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	7	3	Now turn we to four lepers, who were standing there in the open space round the city gate. They were saying to one another, This is no place to wait for death.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	7	4	Enter we the city, we starve; abide we here, we shall die none the less. Come, let us give ourselves up to the Syrian army; it may be they will spare our lives; if they kill us, it is but another form of death.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	7	5	So, when night fell, they ventured out, to make for the Syrian camp; and as they reached the edge of it, never a man was to be seen.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	7	6	That night, the Lord had made a noise heard in the camp of Syria like the stir of chariots and horses, and a great host of men; and the word went round, The Hethite chiefs, the Egyptians are upon us! The king of Israel has hired them to attack us!
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	7	7	And with that the Syrians took to their heels, and fled away in the darkness, leaving tents and horses and asses behind them, there in the camp; fled for their lives.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	7	8	So these lepers, still at the very edge of the camp, went into one of the tents, ate and drank there, carried off silver and gold and clothing and went off to hide it; came back to another tent, plundered that too, and hid away their plunder.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	7	9	Then one said to another, This is ill done; we are bearers of good news to-day. If we keep it secret, and wait till morning to spread it, that were shame to us. Back go we, and tell our tale in the king’s court.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	7	10	When they reached the city gate, and made it known how they had been to the Syrian camp, and found never a man there, only horses and asses that stood tethered, beside pitched tents,
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	7	11	the porters went off to the king’s palace, and there spread the story about.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	7	12	The king himself rose, and held a midnight council. This is the trick, said he, the Syrians are playing us; they know we are hard put to it by famine, and they think to lure us out by leaving their camp and hiding in the open country; so they hope to capture us alive, and make their way into the city.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	7	13	But one of his counsellors said, There are still half a dozen horses left in the city; so few among so many of us; all the rest have been slaughtered for food. Yet with these we may send out riders to report.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	7	14	So two horses were fetched, and on these men were sent to search the camp of Syria.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	7	15	All the way to Jordan they followed in the enemy’s track, and still all the road was strewn with garments and weapons which the Syrians had thrown away in the flight; and they brought back the report of it to the king.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	7	16	So the whole city went out and plundered the Syrian camp; and it was a silver piece for a peck of wheat, a silver piece for two pecks of barley, as the Lord had foretold.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	7	17	As for that courtier who had walked beside the king to support him, he was put in charge of the market-place; and such was the crowd at the gate entrance that he was trampled to death, as the servant of God had foretold when the king came to visit him.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	7	18	It was nothing but truth Eliseus had told the king, By this time to-morrow a silver piece will be buying a peck of wheat, or two pecks of barley, in the market-place at the gate of Samaria.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	7	19	Perhaps the Lord means to open the flood-gates of heaven, this courtier said; then it might be as thou sayest. And Eliseus told him he should have the sight of it but not the eating of it;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	7	20	which prophecy was fulfilled in its turn, when he sat in the gateway there and the folk trampled him to death.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	8	1	Now turn we to the mother of that boy whom Eliseus raised to life. Eliseus had said to her, Up, go on thy travels, thou and all thy household with thee, and there dwell where dwell thou canst; the Lord has a drought in store for us, which will fall upon this land for seven years together.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	8	2	She lost no time in carrying out the prophet’s command, went abroad with all her household, and for a long time dwelt in the Philistine country;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	8	3	then, when the seven years were over, she came back from the Philistine country, and sought an audience with the king, to reclaim her house and lands.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	8	4	The king, at that very time, was in talk with Giezi, the prophet’s servant, and had bidden him tell the story of all Eliseus’ marvellous deeds;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	8	5	and Giezi was even then describing how the dead boy had been raised to life, when in came the boy’s own mother, appealing to the king to restore her house and lands. My lord king, said Giezi, this is the very woman, and this is that son of hers, whom Eliseus restored to life.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	8	6	So the king, when he had questioned the woman and had the story from her, charged one of his own chamberlains to see that she came into her own, and recovered the revenues the lands had brought in ever since she left the country.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	8	7	Eliseus was on a visit to Damascus when Benadad, king of Syria, fell sick. And when he heard that the servant of God was there,
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	8	8	the king bade Hazael take gifts with him and go to meet the prophet; Bid him enquire of the Lord, he said, whether I shall recover from this sickness of mine or not.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	8	9	So Hazael went to meet him, and gifts went too, all the best Damascus had to offer, forty camels’ burden of them. And when he had made his way to Eliseus’ presence, and told how Benadad king of Syria had sent to know whether he would recover from his sickness,
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	8	10	Eliseus said, Go and assure him of health restored; but for all that, the Lord has revealed to me that he is doomed to die.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	8	11	Hazael, as he stood there talking to him, was in great confusion, so that his face blushed red; but the servant of God fell a-weeping.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	8	12	Why weeps my lord? asked Hazael; and his answer was, I weep for all the calamity I know thou art to bring on the sons of Israel. Their cities thou wilt burn down, their young men thou wilt slay in battle; dash little children to the ground, and rip open the pregnant womb.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	8	13	Nay, said Hazael, not for a low-born wretch like thy servant here such great exploits as these! Thou art to be king of Syria, Eliseus answered; the Lord has revealed it to me.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	8	14	So he parted from Eliseus and went back to his master. What said Eliseus? asked he, and Hazael gave him the message that he should recover his health;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	8	15	but next day he took a piece of cloth, soaked it in water, and held it over Benadad’s face till he was stifled; and thus he succeeded to the throne.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	8	16	It was in the fifth year of Joram, Achab’s son, king of Israel (and Josaphat, king of Juda), that Josaphat’s son Joram became king of Juda;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	8	17	he was thirty-two years old when he came to the throne, and his reign at Jerusalem lasted eight years.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	8	18	And he followed the example of the Israelite kings, just as Achab’s line did; he himself had married a daughter of Achab’s. So he defied the Lord’s will;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	8	19	but the Lord would not bring ruin upon Juda; had he not promised his servant David to keep the lamp of his line unquenched for ever?
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	8	20	It was in Joram’s days that the Edomites renounced their allegiance to Juda and set up a king of their own choice.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	8	21	Joram indeed attacked Seira with his whole force of chariots, and when the Edomites surrounded him, he broke through them with a night assault, broke through the commanders of the chariots and drove the foot-soldiers back to their tents;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	8	22	but Edom has never been subject to Juda from that day to this. Lobna, too, revolted at the same time.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	8	23	What else Joram did, all his history, is to be found in the Annals of the kings of Juda.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	8	24	So he was laid to rest with his fathers, and shared their burying-place in the Keep of David; and the throne passed to his son Ochozias.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	8	25	This Ochozias, son of king Joram of Juda, came to the throne in the twelfth year of Achab’s son Joram, king of Israel;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	8	26	he was twenty-two years old when he came to the throne, and he reigned at Jerusalem but one year; his mother was Athalia, descended from Amri, king of Israel.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	8	27	He, too, followed the example of Achab’s line, and defied the Lord’s will; to Achab’s house he was close allied.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	8	28	And with Joram, Achab’s son, he went to fight against Hazael, king of Syria, at Ramoth-Galaad. Joram was wounded in this engagement with the Syrians,
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	8	29	and went back to Jezrahel to recover his health. And when Joram, Achab’s son, lay sick at Jezrahel, recovering from the wound he had received in fighting against Hazael at Ramoth-Galaad, Ochozias son of Joram king of Juda came there to visit him.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	9	1	Thereupon the prophet Eliseus sent one of his disciples on an errand. Gird up thy tunic, said he, and make thy way to Ramoth-Galaad, with this phial of oil in thy hand.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	9	2	Once there, thou wilt find Jehu the son of Josaphat, son of Namsi, sitting among his brother-captains; bid him rise up, and take him with thee into an inner room.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	9	3	Then, holding up the phial of oil and pouring it out over his head, tell him, Thus says the Lord; herewith I anoint thee king of Israel. Then fling the door open and begone; I would not have thee linger there.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	9	4	So the young prophet made his way to Ramoth-Galaad,
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	9	5	and, reaching it, found the captains of the army met in conclave. He asked to have speech with the commander; and when Jehu asked which of them all he meant, he said, With thee, my lord.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	9	6	Thereupon Jehu rose up, and went into the inner room; where the prophet forthwith poured the oil over his head. This is my message, said he, from the Lord God of Israel; Herewith I anoint thee king over Israel, the Lord’s people.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	9	7	Thou art to overthrow the dynasty of King Achab that was thy master; so it is that I mean to take vengeance for all those prophets of mine, all those true servants of the Lord, that were slain by Jezabel.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	9	8	All Achab’s race I mean to destroy, sparing no male issue of his, free man or bondman in the realm of Israel;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	9	9	it shall have no better fortune than the race of Jeroboam, son of Nabat, or the race of Baasa, son of Ahia.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	9	10	As for Jezabel, she shall lie unburied in the purlieus of Jezrahel, for the dogs to eat. And with that he threw the door open, and was gone.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	9	11	Is all well? Jehu’s fellow officers asked, as he went back to them. What was this madman’s errand? Know the man, said he, and you know his ranting talk.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	9	12	That will not serve, they answered; tell us what he said. Then he told them all that had passed, and how the Lord had assured him that he was the anointed king of Israel.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	9	13	And they, without more ado, flung down their cloaks at his feet, to pay him all the honours of a throne; and loud the trumpets sounded to proclaim that Jehu was king.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	9	14	Thus Jehu, son of Josaphat, son of Namsi, entered into a conspiracy against Joram. (Joram himself had been in command of the Israelite army that held Ramoth-Galaad against king Hazael of Syria,
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	9	15	but had now gone to Jezrahel to recover from the wounds Hazael’s men had given him.) As you love me, Jehu said, let no one make his escape from the city, or news of this will reach Jezrahel.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	9	16	Then he mounted his chariot and set out for Jezrahel, where Joram lay sick, with Ochozias, king of Juda, come to visit him.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	9	17	And now the watchman that stood on the tower of Jezrahel espied Jehu’s company, and he cried out, I see a troop of men coming. So Joram would have a chariot sent out to meet them, with the message, Is all well?
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	9	18	But when the driver of the chariot met him, and asked, Is all peaceful? Jehu said, Talk not of peace; pass on behind me and follow. And the watchman cried, The messenger reached them, but never returns.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	9	19	Then a second chariot was sent out; once more the king asked whether all was peaceful, and once more the answer was, Talk not of peace; pass on behind me and follow.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	9	20	So the watchman cried out, The messenger reached them, but never returns. And he who comes yonder drives as Jehu the son of Namsi drives; it is headlong speed with him.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	9	21	Harness my chariot, said Joram. Harnessed it was, and side by side in their chariots these two kings went out, Joram king of Israel and Ochozias, king of Juda, to meet Jehu. And when they met him, it was on the land that once belonged to Naboth, the man of Jezrahel.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	9	22	Joram greeted him by asking, Is all well, Jehu? And he answered, Can aught be well, so long as thy faithless mother Jezabel will be at her sorceries still?
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	9	23	At that, Joram wheeled about and fled, crying aloud, Treason, Ochozias, treason!
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	9	24	But Jehu grasped his bow and bent it; right between the shoulder-blades the arrow struck Joram, and pierced through his heart, and he fell down in his chariot where he stood.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	9	25	Then Jehu said to his squire Badacer, Take up his body, and throw it down on the land that was once Naboth the Jezrahelite’s. I remember well, when thou and I were sitting in our chariot together, in attendance on his father Achab, how the Lord pronounced doom upon him:
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	9	26	I swear that I will avenge the murder of Naboth and his children, that was done in my sight yesterday, avenge it on the very ground where thou standest. Take it up and cast it down there; let the Lord’s word be fulfilled.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	9	27	As for Ochozias, king of Juda, he fled at the sight, past the lodge of the royal garden; but Jehu followed, crying, Shoot him down too where he drives! And shoot him they did, on the hill where Gaver stands, by Jeblaam. He escaped at last to Mageddo, but there he died.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	9	28	On his own chariot his servants laid him down, and so bore him back to Jerusalem, to bury him where his fathers were buried, in David’s Keep.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	9	29	It was during the eleventh year of Joram, Achab’s son, king of Israel, that Ochozias held the throne of Juda.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	9	30	Meanwhile, Jehu drove on to Jezrahel. As for Jezabel, when she heard of his coming, darken she must her eye-brows, and braid her hair; then she looked down from her window
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	9	31	as Jehu passed the gate, crying out: Is all well? There was one Zambri, that murdered his master.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	9	32	Jehu looked up at the window, and asked who this was. Thereupon two or three of the eunuchs leaned out to greet him.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	9	33	Throw her down, said he, and throw her down they did; blood spattered the wall, and the horses trampled her under foot.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	9	34	And he, going into the palace to eat and drink there, gave the word, Go find the accursed woman’s body, and give it burial; she was a king’s daughter.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	9	35	But when they went to bury her, nothing could they find but skull and feet and the tips of her fingers.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	9	36	When they went back to him with the news, he said, This is what the Lord foretold through his servant Elias the Thesbite. Jezabel, he said, shall be food for dogs in the purlieus of this city;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	9	37	in the purlieus of the city her corpse shall lie like dung on the ground, for the passers-by to wonder whether this is indeed Jezabel.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	10	1	Over in Samaria, Achab had still seventy male descendants to his name. So Jehu dispatched a letter to the chiefs and elders there, and to those who had the young princes in their charge; these were the terms of it:
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	10	2	Here is work to be done when this letter reaches you. You have the royal family among you; chariots and horses, strongholds and weapons of war, are at your disposal.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	10	3	Why then, you must pick out the likeliest among the princes, whichever enjoys your favour most, and put him on his father’s throne; then take up arms in the royal cause, and do battle.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	10	4	At this, they were thrown into consternation; here were two kings swept away by Jehu’s onset, and what resistance could they hope to offer him?
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	10	5	So all of them, guardians of the princes, chieftains and elders, sent word to Jehu, We are thy servants, awaiting thy commands; it is not for us to set up a king; do what is thy pleasure.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	10	6	And this was the second letter he sent them, If you are loyal lieges of mine, cut off the heads of the princes, and bring them to me at Jezrahel this time to-morrow. These leading men of the city had the seventy princes in their keeping,
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	10	7	and when the letter reached them, they killed all seventy, and sent back their heads in baskets to Jehu at Jezrahel.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	10	8	He, when news came to him that the princes’ heads had been brought there, would have them left in two heaps at the city gate till morning,
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	10	9	then, at dawn, he went out and confronted the people. You are without bias, he said to them; tell me, if I conspired against my master, who is to blame for the death of all these?
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	10	10	You see for yourselves that no word of the Lord’s curse upon the house of Achab has missed the mark; what the Lord prophesied through his servant Elias, he has here fulfilled.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	10	11	Then Jehu put to death all that was left of Achab’s race in Jezrahel, with all that had been nobles, courtiers and priests in his reign, till no trace of him was left.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	10	12	Then he made his way to Samaria; and when he reached the shepherds’ lodging by the road side,
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	10	13	he fell in with some of Ochozias’ kindred, that had been king of Juda. And when he asked who they were, and they told him kinsmen of Ochozias, that were on their way to greet the sons and brothers of the king,
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	10	14	he gave orders for their arrest. So they were seized as prisoners, forty-two of them in all, and their throats were cut over the pool by the shepherds’ lodging; not one of them was left alive.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	10	15	Passing on thence, he met Jonadab, son of Rechab, coming to greet him, and gave him welcome. Is thy heart true to me, he asked, as mine to thee? And when he learned that it was so, Give me thy hand, and lifted him up, by his outstretched hand, into the chariot.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	10	16	Come with me, he said, and witness my zeal in the Lord’s cause. So, in his own chariot,
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	10	17	he brought Jonadab to Samaria. And all of Achab’s household that were left in Samaria he destroyed to a man, so fulfilling that curse which the Lord pronounced through Elias.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	10	18	Next, Jehu called a general assembly of the people, and told them, It was but scant worship Achab paid to Baal; Jehu means to pay him greater worship yet.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	10	19	Summon me all Baal’s prophets, all his worshippers, all his priests; at this great sacrifice I mean to offer Baal, none must be absent; it is death to the man whose place is found empty. All this was but a design Jehu had in hand, for destroying Baal’s worshippers.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	10	20	So he would have a solemn feast proclaimed in Baal’s honour, and this summons of his
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	10	21	went out all through the confines of Israel; all Baal’s worshippers came in answer to it, not a man was left behind. And all made their way into Baal’s temple, till it was full from end to end.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	10	22	Then Jehu bade the wardrobe-keepers bring out garments for all Baal’s votaries, and when these had been brought,
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	10	23	he and Jonadab the son of Rechab went into Baal’s temple, and bade the worshippers look well to it that none of the Lord’s servants were among them, only the followers of Baal.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	10	24	And where they had entered, there was offering and burnt-sacrifice to be made. Without, Jehu had posted eighty men, telling them, If you let any of my quarry slip through your hands, it shall be life for life.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	10	25	And now, when the burnt-sacrifice was done, he gave orders to his bodyguard and his officers to go in and make an end of them; not one must escape. So these, his bodyguard and his captains, put them to the sword. Then they went to the Keep of Beth-baal,
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	10	26	and took out Baal’s statue from the temple, to burn it,
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	10	27	and crush it to pieces. As for Baal’s temple, they pulled it down, and made it a house of easement, as it is to this day.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	10	28	Thus Jehu abolished the worship of Baal in Israel.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	10	29	Yet he would not forgo the sins of Jeroboam son of Nabat, that taught Israel to sin; at Bethel and at Dan the golden calves had their worship still.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	10	30	For thy zeal in doing my will, the Lord told him, for carrying out my just decrees against the line of Achab, I will let thy heirs keep the throne of Israel up to the fourth generation;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	10	31	and still this Jehu was too careless to follow the law of Israel’s God with his whole heart, by abandoning the sins of Jeroboam, that taught Israel to sin!
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	10	32	It was in his days that the Lord began to grow aweary of Israel; and Hazael struck at all their frontiers,
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	10	33	where these lay east of the Jordan, Galaad, and Gad, and Ruben, and Manasses, and Aroer on the river Arnon, the whole territory of Galaad and Basan.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	10	34	What else Jehu did, all his history and the record of his great deeds, is to be found in the Annals of the kings of Israel.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	10	35	And at last he was laid to rest with his fathers at Samaria, and the throne passed to his son Joachaz;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	10	36	he had reigned over Israel, there in Samaria, for twenty-eight years.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	11	1	Upon the death of Ochozias, his mother Athalia put all the princes of the royal house to death,
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	11	2	except Ochozias’ son Joas, who was saved by his aunt Josaba, daughter to king Joram. When the princes were slain, she stole him away, with his nurse, out of the bed-room, and kept him in hiding so that Athalia could not make away with him.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	11	3	For six whole years she kept him by her secretly in the Lord’s house, while Athalia governed the country as queen.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	11	4	In the seventh year, Joiada sent for the commanders of the army and the royal bodyguard, took them into the temple and there made a compact with them, with the Lord’s own house to be witness of their oath; then he shewed them the young prince.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	11	5	And with that, he gave them their directions.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	11	6	A third of your number, this sabbath day, will be keeping guard over the palace; some will be at the Sur gate, some at the gate by the armourers’ lodging, and you have to guard, too, the house of Messa.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	11	7	The other two thirds, that are relieved of duty that day, must come and keep guard over the king’s person, in the Lord’s house.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	11	8	Hedge him about well, with your swords drawn; do not let anyone enter the temple precincts with his life; wherever the king goes, attend him closely.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	11	9	All the directions which the high priest Joiada gave them these commanders faithfully carried out; mustered their men, alike those who mounted guard and those who were relieved of duty on the sabbath, and presented themselves before Joiada,
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	11	10	who supplied them with the spears and other weapons king David had bequeathed to the Lord’s house;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	11	11	to right and to left of altar and temple stood armed men ready to protect the king.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	11	12	Then he brought the young prince out, and gave the royal crown and a copy of the law into his keeping. So was he crowned and anointed, while all clapped their hands and cried aloud, Long live the king!
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	11	13	Meanwhile, the stir which the soldiers made in going about their errand reached the ears of Athalia; and she made her way into the temple, there where all the crowds were gathered,
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	11	14	to find the king standing on a dais, as the king should, with singers and trumpeters at his side, while all the folk rejoiced, and the trumpets sounded. Well might she rend her clothes, and cry out, Treason, treason!
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	11	15	Thereupon Joiada gave word to the commanders of the army that she must be taken out beyond the temple precincts, and if anyone tried to follow, he should be put to the sword; she must not be slain in the Lord’s house, he told them.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	11	16	So they made her prisoner, and as she passed along the horse-way that leads to the palace, she was slain.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	11	17	After this, Joiada would have a covenant made, that bound king and people to the Lord, as the Lord’s own people; bound king and people to one another.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	11	18	And the whole populace went into Baal’s temple, where they pulled down his altars and broke his images for good and all; they killed Mathan, too, Baal’s priest, there at the altar. Then the high priest set guards over the Lord’s temple,
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	11	19	and presently he summoned the officers of the guard, with the Cerethite and Phelethite auxiliaries, and the whole populace with them; and together they brought the king back from the Lord’s house, by way of the armourers’ gate, into the palace, and he took his seat on the royal throne.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	11	20	All through the land were great rejoicings, and the city had rest, now that Athalia lay dead, there in the palace.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	11	21	Thus Joas came to his throne, a boy of seven years.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	12	1	Joas began his reign in the seventh year of Jehu, and for forty years he reigned as king at Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Sebia, a woman of Bersabee.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	12	2	As long as the high priest Joiada was his adviser, he obeyed the Lord’s will;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	12	3	only he did not abolish the hill-shrines, men still sacrificed and burned incense on the mountain-tops.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	12	4	This Joas made a proclamation to the priests; Here are gifts being brought to the temple all the while by pious folk that worship there, one paying a ransom for his life, another contributing as his devotion moves him.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	12	5	Such money the priests may take for their own, according to their rank; but they must be answerable for repairing the Lord’s house, if they find anything that needs to be made good.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	12	6	The twenty-third year of King Joas came, and still the priests had done nothing to repair the temple.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	12	7	Whereupon king Joas summoned Joiada and the other priests; What means it, he asked, that you have not made good the temple’s needs? Henceforth there must be no more taking money according to your rank; it must all be given up to the repairing of the temple.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	12	8	It was ordered, then, that the priests should no longer receive the gifts, and no longer be answerable for the repairs;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	12	9	instead, the high priest Joiada had a chest made, with a hole in the top of it, and put it close to the altar at the right hand side of the temple entrance; into this the priests who keep the door put all the money that was brought there.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	12	10	Whenever the chest seemed to be over full, one of the king’s secretaries betook himself to the temple, with the high priest, and together they emptied out and counted the money that was to be found there.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	12	11	This, when its value had been duly reckoned, they paid over to the master-builders, who distributed it to the carpenters and masons that worked in the Lord’s house
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	12	12	and carried out the repairs. The stone-cutters, too, must be paid, and wood and stone must be bought ready for fashioning. Thus the repairing of the Lord’s house would not go short for the money which the work needed.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	12	13	The money was not to be used for making pitcher or fork, censer or trumpet, or any other piece of gold or silver ware for the Lord’s house; all the offerings given to the temple
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	12	14	were paid out to the workmen that were repairing the temple;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	12	15	nor was any account asked of those who handled this money and distributed it to the workmen, they were trusted with the handling of it.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	12	16	Meanwhile the fines paid for fault or wrong done were not put into the treasury, since these belonged to the priests as of right.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	12	17	It was at this time that Hazael, king of Syria, marched on the town of Geth and took it by storm; then wheeled about and threatened to march on Jerusalem itself.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	12	18	Nor might Joas preserve the city from attack, till he had collected all the offerings dedicated in the temple by himself, or by Josaphat, Joram and Ochozias, that were kings of Juda before him, all the silver, too, that was to be found there or in the royal palace, and sent them to Hazael, king of Syria.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	12	19	What else Joas did, all his history, is to be found in the Annals of the kings of Juda.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	12	20	It was his own servants that set a conspiracy on foot against him, and slew him in the house at Mello, where the road goes down to Sella;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	12	21	Josachar son of Semaath and Jozabad son of Somer, his own attendants, gave him his death-blow. He was laid to rest with his fathers in the Keep of David, and the throne passed to his son Amasias.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	13	1	It was in the twenty-third year of Joas, son of Ochozias, king of Juda, that Joachaz, Jehu’s son, came to the throne of Israel, and reigned as king in Samaria for seventeen years.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	13	2	He defied the Lord’s will, following the sinful example of Jeroboam, son of Nabat, that taught Israel to sin, and never departing from it.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	13	3	His anger thus provoked, the Lord left Israel at the mercy of Hazael, king of Syria, and his son Benadad, without respite;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	13	4	till at last Joachaz besought the Lord’s favour. (This prayer the Lord answered, seeing Israel hard pressed by the Syrian king’s inroads upon them;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	13	5	and he gave them a champion to set them free from the Syrian yoke. Then once more the men of Israel could dwell in their old homes;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	13	6	but even so they did not forgo the sins of Jeroboam, son of Nabat, that taught Israel to sin; they clung to them still, and still the forest-shrine had its place in Samaria. )
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	13	7	In the time of Joachaz, nothing was left of the army but fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and ten thousand foot-soldiers; such havoc the king of Syria had made among them, sweeping them away like chaff on the threshing-floor.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	13	8	What else Joachaz did, all his history, and the record of his great deeds, is to be found in the Annals of the kings of Israel.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	13	9	He was laid to rest with his fathers, with Samaria for his burying-place, and the throne passed to his son Joas.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	13	10	This Joas, the son of Joachaz, came to the throne of Israel in the thirty-seventh year of Joas king of Juda; and his reign in Samaria lasted sixteen years.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	13	11	He defied the Lord’s will, and would not abandon the sins of Jeroboam, son of Nabat, that taught Israel to sin; he clung to them yet.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	13	12	What else Joas did, all his history, and the record of his great deeds, and his war with Amasias king of Juda, is to be found in the Annals of the kings of Israel.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	13	13	He was laid to rest with his fathers, and the throne passed to his son Jeroboam. (Joas was buried in Samaria, with the other Israelite kings.)
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	13	14	And now Eliseus lay sick in his mortal illness, and Joas, who was then king of Israel, went to visit him; My father, my father, he said weeping, Israel’s chariot and charioteer!
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	13	15	Eliseus bade him fetch bow and arrows, and when bow and arrows were brought,
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	13	16	he would have the king of Israel hold the bow in readiness. The bow was stretched, and Eliseus put his own hands over the king’s hands;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	13	17	Now, said he, open the window that looks east, and he opened it; Shoot, and he shot. Yonder shaft, Eliseus told him, betokens the divine deliverance, deliverance from the power of Syria. It is for thee to defeat the Syrians utterly, there at Aphec.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	13	18	Then he would have Joas take up his arrows, and when he had done so, bade him shoot, there on the ground. Shoot he did three times, and then held his hand.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	13	19	Whereupon the prophet said to him angrily, Five times thou shouldst have let fly, or six, or seven, to defeat the Syrians utterly; this signifies three defeats and no more.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	13	20	In the year of Eliseus’ death and burial, the country was being ravaged by freebooters from Moab.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	13	21	Some of these appearing suddenly when a dead man was being carried out to his funeral, the bearers took fright, and threw the corpse into the first grave they could find; it was that of Eliseus. And no sooner had it touched the prophet’s bones, than the dead man came to life again, and rose to his feet.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	13	22	All through the life-time of Joachaz, king Hazael of Syria had pressed Israel hard;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	13	23	but now the Lord relented and came to their aid once more. Faithful to his covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, he would not make an end of them and cast them off utterly as yet.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	13	24	So, when Hazael died, and his son Benadad succeeded him as king of Syria,
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	13	25	Joas was able to retake those cities which his father Joachaz had lost to Benadad’s father Hazael, and by right of conquest; three times Joas was victorious, and restored the lost cities to Israel.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	14	1	It was in the second year of Joas, son of Joachaz, king of Israel, that the throne of Joas, king of Juda, passed to his son Amasias.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	14	2	This Amasias was twenty-five years old when he came to the throne, and his reign at Jerusalem lasted twenty-nine years; his mother’s name was Joadan, a woman of Jerusalem.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	14	3	He obeyed the Lord’s will, not perfectly like his ancestor David, but in the manner of his father, king Joas;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	14	4	he too left the hill-shrines standing, so that men still sacrificed and burned incense on the mountain-tops.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	14	5	Once he was king, he put his father’s murderers to death,
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	14	6	but spared their children, in obedience to the law of Moses; whose terms are, A father must not die for his son’s guilt, or a son for his father’s; no guilt but his own shall bring a man to death.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	14	7	He also fought a battle against the Edomites in the Valley of the Salt-mines, killing ten thousand of them, and gaining possession of a rock-fortress, which he called by its present name of Jectehel.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	14	8	Then he sent a challenge to Joas, son of Joachaz, son of Jehu, king of Israel; Come, let us have a trial of strength!
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	14	9	And this answer Joas, king of Israel, sent to Amasias, king of Juda: Said Lebanon thistle to Lebanon cedar, Let my son have thy daughter to wife. But down came wild beasts from Lebanon forest, and all the thistle got was, he was trodden underfoot.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	14	10	Thou hast struck a shrewd blow at Edom, and now thy heart is puffed up with pride; keep thyself at home, content with the renown thou hast, do not invite disaster, to thy own and Juda’s ruin.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	14	11	But Amasias would have his way, so these two kings, Joas of Israel and Amasias of Juda, met at a town in Juda called Bethsames;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	14	12	and there the men of Juda were routed by the Israelites, and scattered to their homes in flight.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	14	13	Thus Amasias, son of Joas, son of Ochozias, King of Juda, was captured by Joas king of Israel at Bethsames, and taken back to his own city of Jerusalem; where Joas made a gap in the walls four hundred cubits long, from the gate of Ephraim to the Corner gate,
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	14	14	carried off all the gold and silver and other ware that was to be found in the temple or palace, took hostages besides, and made his way back to Samaria.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	14	15	(What else Joas did, and the record of his great victory over Amasias king of Juda, is to be found in the Annals of the kings of Israel.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	14	16	He was laid to rest with his fathers, with Samaria for his burying-place, and the throne passed to his son Jeroboam. )
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	14	17	Amasias, son of the Joas that was king of Juda, survived Joachaz’s son, Joas of Israel, by fifteen years;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	14	18	what else he did is to be found in the Annals of the kings of Juda.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	14	19	A conspiracy was made against him at Jerusalem, and when he escaped to Lachis they sent in pursuit of him and put him to death there;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	14	20	afterwards his body was brought back to Jerusalem in a horse-litter, and there buried with his fathers in David’s Keep.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	14	21	Thereupon the whole people of Juda chose Azarias, a boy sixteen years old, to succeed his father Amasias;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	14	22	he it was carried out the designs of his dead father by fortifying the harbour of Aelath and restoring it to the possession of Juda.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	14	23	It was in the fifteenth year of Amasias, son of king Joas of Juda, that Jeroboam, son of king Joas of Israel, began his reign in Samaria; it lasted forty-one years.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	14	24	He defied the Lord’s will, and would not forgo the sins of Nabat’s son Jeroboam, that taught Israel to sin.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	14	25	He it was restored to Israel its old territory, all the way from the pass of Emath in the North to the Dead Sea. So the Lord had foretold through a servant of his, the prophet Jonas, son of Amathi, from Geth-Opher:
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	14	26	the Lord has not been blind to the affliction, past all endurance, that has fallen on Israel, bondman and free man alike perishing with none to succour them.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	14	27	So the Lord resolved not to let Israel’s name vanish from the world; he would grant them redress through Jeroboam the son of Joas.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	14	28	What else Jeroboam did, all his history, and the record of his great deeds, how he fought and how he restored to Israel all of Damascus and Emath that once belonged to the Jewish kingdom, is to be found in the Annals of the kings of Israel.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	14	29	So Jeroboam was laid to rest with his fathers, the royal race of Israel, and his throne passed to his son Zacharias.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	15	1	It was in the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam that Azarias succeeded his father Amasias on the throne of Juda.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	15	2	He was then sixteen years old, and for fifty years he reigned at Jerusalem; his mother’s name was Jechelia, a woman of Jerusalem.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	15	3	He obeyed the Lord’s will, following in all things the example of his father Amasias,
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	15	4	but did not destroy the hill-shrines; men still sacrificed and burned incense on the mountain tops.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	15	5	On him the Lord’s hand fell, and he ended his days as a leper, dwelling apart in a house of his own, while his son Joatham had charge of the palace, and heard the complaints of his subjects.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	15	6	What else Azarias did, all his history, is to be found in the Annals of the kings of Juda.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	15	7	So he was laid to rest with his fathers; among his ancestors, in the Keep of David, they buried him; and Joatham came to the throne.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	15	8	It was in Azarias’ thirty-eighth year that Jeroboam’s son Zacharias began his reign in Samaria; it lasted six months.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	15	9	He defied the Lord’s will, like his fathers before him, and would not forgo the sins of Jeroboam, son of Nabat, that taught Israel to sin.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	15	10	But soon a conspiracy was made against him by Sellum, son of Jabes, who attacked and killed him in the open street, and took the throne for himself.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	15	11	What else Zacharias did is to be found in the Annals of the kings of Israel.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	15	12	Long before, in Jehu’s time, the Lord had promised, Thy heirs shall keep the throne of Israel till the fourth generation; and so it proved.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	15	13	For one month this Sellum reigned as king at Samaria, in the thirty-ninth year of Azarias;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	15	14	then he was killed and superseded by Menahem, son of Gadi, who marched on Samaria from Thersa;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	15	15	what else Sellum did, all the history of his secret conspiracy, is to be found in the Annals of the kings of Israel.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	15	16	(From Thersa), Menahem brought destruction on Thapsa, and all its inhabitants, and all their country-side, because they would not open the gates to him; ripped up the wombs, too, of the women that were pregnant.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	15	17	It was in Azarias’ thirty-ninth year that Menahem, son of Gadi, began his reign of ten years at Samaria;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	15	18	he defied the Lord’s will, and would not forgo the sins of Jeroboam, son of Nabat, that taught Israel to sin. All through his reign
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	15	19	the country suffered invasion by Phul, king of Assyria, and Menahem paid him a thousand talents of silver, to win support for his claim to the throne.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	15	20	To find this tribute for the Assyrian king, Menahem imposed a tax of fifty silver pieces on all the rich and powerful men in his kingdom. Thus the Assyrian king was induced to go home and rid the country of his presence.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	15	21	What else Menahem did, all his history, is to be found in the Annals of the kings of Israel;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	15	22	he was laid to rest with his fathers, and succeeded by his son Phaceia.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	15	23	It was in the fiftieth year of Azarias that this Phaceia, son of Menahem, began his reign of two years at Samaria;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	15	24	he defied the Lord’s will, and would not forgo the sins of Jeroboam, son of Nabat, that taught Israel to sin.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	15	25	A conspiracy was made against him by one of his own commanders, Phacee son of Romelia, who attacked and slew him in his castle keep (close by Argob and Arie), with fifty Galaadites, and so became king in his place.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	15	26	What else Phaceia did, all his history, is to be found in the Annals of the kings of Israel.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	15	27	It was in the fifty-second year of Azarias that Phacee, son of Romelia, came to the throne at Samaria; he reigned over Israel twenty years,
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	15	28	and defied the Lord’s will, never forgoing the sins of Jeroboam, son of Nabat, that taught Israel to sin.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	15	29	During the reign of Phacee, the Assyrian king Theglath-Phalasar invaded Israel, taking Aion, Abel-Beth-Maacha, Janoe, Cedes and Asor, with Galaad and Galilee and the whole territory of Nephthali, and carrying off their inhabitants into Assyria.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	15	30	As for Phacee, he was caught unawares and slain by a conspirator, Osee son of Ela, who succeeded him on the throne in the twentieth year of Joatham, son of Ozias.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	15	31	What else Phacee did, all his history, is to be found in the Annals of the kings of Israel.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	15	32	It was in the second year of Phacee, son of Romelia, that Joatham, son of Ozias, came to the throne of Juda.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	15	33	He was twenty-five years old when he came to the throne, and his reign at Jerusalem lasted sixteen years; his mother’s name was Jerusa, daughter of Sadoc.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	15	34	He obeyed the Lord’s will, following in all things the example of his father Ozias;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	15	35	but did not abolish the hill-shrines; men still sacrificed and offered incense on the mountain-tops. He it was built the high gate that leads into the Lord’s house.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	15	36	What else Joatham did, all his history, is to be found in the Annals of the kings of Juda.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	15	37	This was the time at which the Lord began subjecting Juda to attack from Rasin, king of Syria, and Phacee, son of Romelia.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	15	38	So Joatham was laid to rest with his fathers, with the Keep of David for his burying-place, and the throne passed to his son Achaz.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	16	1	It was in the seventeenth year of Phacee, son of Romelia, that Achaz, son of Joatham, came to the throne of Juda.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	16	2	He was twenty years old when he began his reign, which lasted at Jerusalem for sixteen years. This Achaz did not obey the Lord’s will like his ancestor David before him;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	16	3	he followed the example of the Israelite kings, even consecrating his son by passage through the fire, after the idolatrous wont of those nations which the Lord drove out to make room for Israel.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	16	4	Never a high hill or a mountain-slope or a leafy wood but Achaz must do sacrifice and offer incense there.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	16	5	And now Rasin king of Syria and Phacee son of Romelia marched on Jerusalem and besieged Achaz there, but could not get the mastery of him.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	16	6	(It was then that Rasin recovered Ailam for Syria, by driving the men of Juda out from it; but the Edomites came and took possession of it, and it remains theirs to this day. )
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	16	7	Thereupon Achaz sent a message to the Assyrian king, Theglath-Phalasar; Bring aid, master, to thy servant, father, to thy son; rescue me from the assault of Syria and Israel;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	16	8	gifts, too, he sent him, collecting all the silver and gold that was to be found in temple or palace.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	16	9	Nor was the king of Assyria unwilling; he marched on Damascus and laid it waste, carrying off the inhabitants to Cyrene and putting Rasin to death.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	16	10	When king Achaz went to meet Theglath-Phalasar at Damascus, he saw there an altar, of which he sent a likeness with a full account of all its workmanship, to the high priest Urias;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	16	11	and Urias built an altar in accordance with all the directions Achaz had sent him from Damascus, to greet his return.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	16	12	Returned from Damascus, Achaz went to see it and did reverence to it; then went up to make burnt-sacrifice and meal-offering;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	16	13	poured libations, and shed the blood of his welcome-offerings there.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	16	14	Then he removed the brazen altar, that stood ever in the Lord’s presence opposite the tabernacle, away from its place between the new altar and the temple, to the north side of the new altar.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	16	15	And king Achaz bade the high priest Urias bring to this greater altar the morning burnt-sacrifice and the meal-offering at nightfall; here king and people would present burnt-sacrifice and meal-offering and libations, here the blood of the burnt-sacrifice and all other offerings was to be spilt; as for the altar of bronze, it should await the king’s good pleasure.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	16	16	And the high priest Urias carried out all his bidding.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	16	17	King Achaz also took away the moulded stands and the smaller basins that rested on them; took away the oxen that supported the great basin and let it rest on a stone pavement instead;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	16	18	altered, too, the sabbath porch he had built in the temple, and the outer part of the royal entry. Of all these changes in the temple building the king of Assyria was the cause.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	16	19	What else Achaz did, all his history, is to be found in the Annals of the kings of Juda.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	16	20	So he was laid to rest with his fathers, with the Keep of David for his burying-place, and the throne passed to his son Ezechias.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	17	1	It was in the twelfth year of Achaz that Osee, son of Ela, began his reign at Sa-maria; it lasted nine years.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	17	2	He too defied the Lord’s will, yet not so wantonly as the other kings of Israel before him.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	17	3	This king was attacked by Salmanasar, king of the Assyrians, and made his vassal, and forced to pay tribute.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	17	4	Afterwards, the Assyrian king found out that he had sent an embassy to Sua, king of Egypt, hoping thus to rebel, and to be rid of his yearly tribute; whereupon he seized him, put him in chains, and imprisoned him.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	17	5	Then he overran the whole country with his troops, and marched against Samaria, which for three whole years he kept beleaguered.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	17	6	At last, in the ninth year of Osee, Samaria was taken, and all the Israelites carried off to the Assyrian country; where they were settled in Hala, in Habor, by the river of Gozan, and among the cities of Media.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	17	7	Such was their doom, who had no sooner escaped from Egypt and from the power of Pharao, than they wronged the God who had rescued them by worshipping alien gods instead.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	17	8	Afterwards, they took their forms of worship from the very nations the Lord had driven out to make room for them, or from kings who imitated their ways.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	17	9	With false inventions these Israelites offended the Lord that was their own God, making themselves mountain shrines in all their townships from lonely hamlet to walled city.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	17	10	No high hill, no leafy wood, but had its images and its sacred trees;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	17	11	and there they burnt incense on their altars, imitating the nations God had dispossessed before their onslaught. Foul deeds were done, to challenge the Lord’s anger,
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	17	12	shameless rites practised, such as the Lord had forbidden expressly.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	17	13	The Lord did not leave himself without witness; by prophet and seer he warned them, Come back from these graceless ways, follow precept and observance of mine; as the law bids you, that I enjoined on your fathers; as the prophets bade you, my servants that spoke in my name.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	17	14	But they gave him never a hearing; strained at his yoke; they would be like their fathers, obstinately defying the Lord their God.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	17	15	The usages he had taught them, the covenant he had made with their fathers, the warnings he had given them by his prophets, all lightly cast aside, to false rites they betook themselves, and learned false ways; imitated the forbidden example of the heathen round about them.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	17	16	Forgotten, all the commandments of the Lord their God; they must have two golden calves, they must have sacred trees, they must worship all the host of heaven, and become Baal’s servants;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	17	17	consecrate their sons and daughters by passage through the fire, take their orders from wizard and soothsayer; enslave themselves to defiance of the Lord’s will, and provoke his vengeance.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	17	18	So it was that the Lord, in anger, banished Israel from his presence, and the tribe of Juda stood alone
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	17	19	(not that even these kept the commandments of the Lord their God; these too strayed into false paths, of Israel’s making).
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	17	20	All Israel’s race, then, the Lord cast off; humbled them, and left them at the spoiler’s mercy; was ready, at last, to banish them from his presence altogether.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	17	21	So it was decreed, from the time when the Israelites first cut themselves off from David’s line, and made Jeroboam, son of Nabat, their king; Jeroboam it was that drove men away from the Lord’s worship, and taught them to commit heinous sin.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	17	22	To his evil example the men of Israel clung, and would never forgo it,
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	17	23	until at last the Lord banished them from his presence, as all his prophets had foretold in his name, and they were carried off from their own country into Assyria, where they remain to this day.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	17	24	And now the Assyrian king brought men from Babylon, and Cutha, and Avah, and Emath, and Sepharvaim, and settled these, instead of the Israelites, in the cities that belonged to Samaria. So they took possession of it, and made their homes in its cities,
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	17	25	but at their first coming they paid the Lord no reverence, and thereupon he sent a plague of lions, that preyed upon them.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	17	26	News of this came to the Assyrian king, and a warning with it: The nations thou hast removed, and settled down in the cities of Samaria, have never learned how the God of that land would be worshipped; and he, the Lord, has sent a plague of lions among them. Must they die for want of knowledge how their new God is to be worshipped?
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	17	27	So the Assyrian king gave orders that one of the priests carried away thence should be restored to his home; should go to live among them, and teach them how to worship the Lord.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	17	28	So one of the exiled priests from Samaria came to live at Bethel, and teach them he did;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	17	29	but still each nation would fashion the image of its own god, and they set up these images in the hill-shrines they had made, one in this city and another in that.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	17	30	The men of Babylon must have Socoth-Benoth, and the Chutaeans Nergel, and the Emathites Asima,
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	17	31	and the Hevites Nabahaz and Tharthac; while the men of Sepharvaim offered their own children to the gods of Sepharvaim, Adramelech and Anamelech.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	17	32	And in spite of it, they worshipped the Lord. They found priests among the dregs of the people, fit to serve hill-shrines, and in the hill-shrines they installed them;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	17	33	but though they worshipped the Lord, they still paid court to their own gods with the usages of their own folk, learned before ever they came to Samaria.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	17	34	And so it is to this day; the old habits still cling. This is not to fear the Lord, this is not to keep observance and decree, law and command, as the sons of Jacob should; Jacob, to whom the Lord gave his name of Israel.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	17	35	With them he made a covenant; and by that covenant they were to give alien gods neither fear nor reverence, neither worship nor sacrifice.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	17	36	To the Lord your God, he told them, the God who rescued you from Egypt with such signal proofs of his constraining power, all fear, all worship, all sacrifice belongs;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	17	37	his the observances, his the decrees, his the law of tabled precepts, that you must keep ever in mind, obey ever in act; no alien god must you fear.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	17	38	Never let his covenant go unremembered; the worship you deny to alien gods
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	17	39	give to him only; then he will deliver you from the power of your enemies.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	17	40	To all this they paid no heed; old custom was still the rule they lived by.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	17	41	Here then, were nations that worshipped the Lord, yet obeyed their own false gods still; their sons, their grandsons did no better; and such is the rule they follow down to this day.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	18	1	In the third year of Osee, son of Ela, king Achaz of Juda was succeeded by his son Ezechias.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	18	2	This king was twenty-five years old when he came to the throne, and his reign at Jerusalem lasted twenty-nine years.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	18	3	Here was one that obeyed the Lord’s will no less than his father David before him;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	18	4	scattered the hill-shrines, overthrew the images, cut down the sacred trees; broke in pieces, too, the brazen serpent Moses had made, because the Israelites, till his day, used to offer incense to it; the name given to it was Nohestan.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	18	5	In the Lord God of Israel he put all his trust; never was a king of Juda to rival him before or after;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	18	6	in the paths the Lord had traced he followed still, holding ever close to him, keeping ever the commands he had given through Moses.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	18	7	What wonder if the Lord was with him, if he was well advised in all he did? Against the king of Assyria he rose in rebellion, and denied him tribute;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	18	8	and harried the Philistine townships as far as Gaza, from lonely hamlet to walled city.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	18	9	It was in the fourth year of Ezechias, and the seventh year after Osee son of Ela came to the throne of Israel, that Salmanasar, king of Assyria, marched on Samaria and laid siege to it.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	18	10	And at the end of three years he took it; it was in the sixth year of Ezechias and the ninth of Osee that Samaria was captured,
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	18	11	and all the Israelites carried off to Assyria, where they were settled in Hala and Habor by the streams of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	18	12	And this, because they paid no heed to the Lord’s bidding; false to his covenant, they left the commands he had given through his servant Moses unheard and unheeded.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	18	13	Then, in the fourteenth year of Ezechias, the Assyrian king Sennacherib marched on the fortified cities of Juda and took them;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	18	14	whereupon king Ezechias sent word to the king of Assyria, then at Lachis: I have been to blame; withdraw thy troops, and I will pay whatever ransom thou dost demand. So the king of Assyria imposed on Ezechias king of Juda a tribute of three hundred talents of silver, and three hundred of gold.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	18	15	All the silver that was to be found in temple or treasury Ezechias gave him;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	18	16	broke up, too, the temple doors, with the golden plates he himself had nailed to them, and gave these to the king of Assyria.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	18	17	After this the Assyrian king, who was still at Lachis, sent Tharthan, Rabsaris and Rabsaces at the head of a strong force to Jerusalem, where king Ezechias was. They marched up to the city, and halted by the aqueduct that fed the upper pool, on the way that brings you to the Fuller’s Field.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	18	18	Their demand was to see the king, but they were met by Eliacim, son of Helcias, the controller of the royal household, and Sobna, the secretary, and Joahe, son of Asaph, the recorder.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	18	19	So Rabsaces bade them tell Ezechias, Here is a message to thee from the great king, the king of Assyria. What confidence is this that makes thee so bold?
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	18	20	Doubtless thou hast some design, in so committing thyself to the fortune of war. On whose help dost thou rely, that thou wouldst throw off my allegiance?
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	18	21	What, wilt thou rely on Egypt? That is to support thyself on a broken staff of cane, that will splinter and run into a man’s hand, if he presses on it, and pierce him through; such does Pharao, king of Egypt, prove himself to all those who rely on him.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	18	22	Or wilt thou answer, We trust, I and my people, in the Lord our God? Tell me, who is he? Is he not the God whose hill-shrines and altars Ezechias has cleared away, bidding Juda and Jerusalem worship at one altar here?
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	18	23	Come now, if thou wert to make terms with my master, the king of Assyria, by which I must hand over to thee two thousand horses, wouldst thou be able to do thy part by putting riders on them?
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	18	24	Why, thou art no match even for a city prefect, the least of my master’s servants. Trust, if thou wilt, in Egypt, its chariots and its horsemen;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	18	25	but dost thou doubt that I have the Lord’s warrant to subdue this land? It was the Lord himself who sent word to me, Make war on this land, and subdue it.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	18	26	At this, Eliacim and Sobna and Joahe said to Rabsaces, My lord, pray talk to us in Syriac; we know it well. Do not talk to us in the Hebrew language, while all these folk are standing on the walls within hearing.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	18	27	What, said Rabsaces, dost thou think my master hath sent me with this message for thee only, and for that master of thine? It is for the folk who man the walls, these companions of yours that have nothing left to eat or drink but the ventings of their own bodies.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	18	28	Then Rabsaces stood up and cried aloud, in Hebrew, Here is a message to you from the great king, the king of Assyria!
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	18	29	This is the king’s warning, Do not be deluded by Ezechias, he is powerless to save you;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	18	30	do not let Ezechias put you off by telling you to trust in the Lord; that the Lord is certain to bring you aid, he cannot allow the king of Assyria to become master of your city.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	18	31	No, do not listen to Ezechias; here are the terms the king of Assyria offers you. Earn my good will by surrendering to me, and you shall live unmolested, to each the fruit of his own vine and fig-tree, to each the water from his own cistern.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	18	32	Then, when I come back, I will transplant you into a land like your own, which will grudge you neither wheat nor wine, so rich is it in corn-fields and vineyards, neither olives, nor oil, nor honey, and you will be spared from the destruction that threatens you. No, do not listen to Ezechias when he tells you that the Lord will deliver you.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	18	33	What of other nations? Were their countries delivered, by this god or that, when the king of Assyria threatened them?
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	18	34	What gods had Emath and Arphad, what gods had Sepharvaim, Ana and Ava? Did any power rescue Samaria from my attack?
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	18	35	Which of all the gods in the world has delivered his country when I threatened it, that you should trust in the Lord’s deliverance, when I threaten Jerusalem?
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	18	36	But all kept silence, and gave him no word in answer; the king had given strict orders that they were not to answer him.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	18	37	So Eliacim, son of Helcias, the controller of the royal household, and Sobna, the secretary, and Joahe, son of Asaph, the recorder, went back to Ezechias, with their garments torn about them, to let him know what Rabsaces had said.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	19	1	No sooner had king Ezechias heard it, than he tore his garments open, and put on sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	19	2	Meanwhile, he sent word to the prophet Isaias, son of Amos. Eliacim, the controller of the household, and Sobna, the secretary, and some of the older priests, went on this errand.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	19	3	Here is a message for thee, they said, from Ezechias. Troublous times have come upon us, times to make us mend our ways, or else blaspheme God. What remedy, when children come to the birth, and the mother has no strength to bear them?
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	19	4	Unless indeed the Lord should take cognizance of what Rabsaces has been saying, Rabsaces, who was sent here by his master, the king of Assyria, to blaspheme the living God. Surely the Lord thy God has listened to the reproaches he uttered. Raise thy voice, then, in prayer for the poor remnant that is left.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	19	5	Thus visited by the servants of Ezechias,
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	19	6	Isaias answered, Give your master this message. Do not be dismayed, the Lord says, at hearing the blasphemies which the courtiers of the Assyrian king have uttered against me.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	19	7	See if I do not put him in such a mind, see if I do not make him hear such news, as will send him back to his own country. And when he reaches his own country, I will give the word, and the sword shall make an end of him.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	19	8	And now Rabsaces went back to find the king of the Assyrians before Lobna, hearing that he had raised the siege of Lachis.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	19	9	News had come that Taracha, king of the Ethopians, was on the way to do battle with him. And the king, as he went out to meet Taracha, despatched messengers to Ezechias;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	19	10	Give this warning, he said, to Ezechias, king of Juda, Do not let the God in whom thou puttest such confidence deceive thee with false hopes; do not think Jerusalem will never be allowed to fall into the hands of the Assyrian king.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	19	11	What, hast thou not heard what the kings of Assyria have done to the nations everywhere, destroying them utterly? And what hope hast thou of deliverance?
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	19	12	What saving power had the gods of those old peoples my fathers overthrew, Gozam, and Haram, and Repheth, and the race of Eden who lived in Thalassar?
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	19	13	Where are they, the kings of Emath, and Arphad, the kings who governed the city of Sepharvaim, and Ana, and Ava?
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	19	14	These despatches were handed by the messengers to Ezechias, and when he had read them, he went up into the house of the Lord, and held them out open in the Lord’s presence.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	19	15	And this was the prayer which Ezechias made to him, Lord God of Israel, who hast thy throne above the cherubim, thou alone art God over all the kingdoms of the world, heaven and earth are of thy fashioning.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	19	16	Give ear, and listen; open thy eyes, Lord, and see; do not let Sennacherib’s words go unheard, these blasphemies he has uttered against the living God.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	19	17	It is true, Lord, that the kings of Assyria have brought ruin on whole nations, and the lands they lived in,
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	19	18	and thrown their gods into the fire; but these were in truth no gods; men had made them, of wood or stone, and men could break them.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	19	19	Now it is for thee, O Lord our God, to rescue us from the invader, and shew all the kingdoms of the world that there is no other Lord, no other God, save thee.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	19	20	Then Isaias, son of Amos, sent word to Ezechias, A message to thee from the Lord, the God of Israel, granting the prayer thou hast made to him about Sennacherib, king of the Assyrians.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	19	21	This is what the Lord has to say of him: See how she mocks thee, flouts thee, Sion, the virgin city! Jerusalem, proud maiden, follows thee with her eyes and tosses her head in scorn.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	19	22	So thou wouldst hurl insults, and blaspheme, and talk boastfully, and brave it out with disdainful looks, against whom? Against the Holy One of Israel.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	19	23	In thy name, these servants of thine have hurled insults at the Lord. It was thy dream that thou hadst scaled, with those many chariots of thine, the slopes of Lebanon; thou hadst cut down its tall cedars, its noble fir-trees, till thou couldst reach the very summit of its ascent, the garden its woods enclosed.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	19	24	Thou wouldst dig wells and drink wherever it pleased thee, thou wouldst dry up, in thy march, the banked channels of the Nile.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	19	25	What, hast thou not heard how I dealt with this people in time past? This present design, too, is one I have formed long since, and am now carrying out; such a design as brings with it ruin for the mountain fastnesses, the walled cities that fight against thee.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	19	26	Sure enough, they were overawed and discomfited, the puny garrisons that held them, frail as meadow grass, or the stalks that grow on the house-top, withering before they can ripen.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	19	27	But I am watching thee where thou dwellest, thy comings and goings and journeyings, thy raving talk against me.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	19	28	Yes, I have listened to the ravings of thy pride against me, and now a ring for thy nose, a twitch of the bridle in thy mouth, and back thou goest by the way thou didst come.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	19	29	Here is a test for thee, Ezechias, of the truth of my prophecy; this year thou must be content with what crops are left thee, and next year the aftergrowth shall be thy food; in the third year you may sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	19	30	A remnant of Juda’s race will be saved, and this remnant will strike root deep in earth, bear fruit high in air;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	19	31	yes, it is from Jerusalem the remnant will come, from mount Sion that we shall win salvation; so tenderly he loves us, the Lord of hosts.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	19	32	This, then, is what the Lord has to tell thee about the king of the Assyrians; he shall never enter this city, or shoot an arrow into it; no shield-protected host shall storm it, no earth-works shall be cast up around it.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	19	33	He will go back by the way he came, and never enter into this city, the Lord says;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	19	34	I will keep guard over this city and deliver it, for my own honour and for the honour of my servant David.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	19	35	It was after this that an angel of the Lord went out on his errand, and smote down a hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp; when morning came, and he saw the corpses of the dead, the king broke up camp and was gone.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	19	36	So Sennacherib, king of the Assyrians, made his way home, nor did he leave Nineve again.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	19	37	And one day, when he was at worship in the temple of his god Nosroch, two sons of his, Adramelech and Sarasar, drew their swords on him, and so escaped into the land of Ararat; and the throne passed to his son Asarhaddon.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	20	1	And now Ezechias fell sick, and was at death’s door; indeed, the prophet Isaias, son of Amos, visited him with this message from the Lord, Put thy affairs in order; it is death that awaits thee, not recovery.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	20	2	At this Ezechias turned his face towards the wall, and prayed to the Lord thus:
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	20	3	Remember, Lord, I entreat thee, a life that has kept true to thee, an innocent heart; how I did ever what was thy will. And Ezechias wept bitterly.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	20	4	Whereupon, before ever Isaias reached the middle of the court-yard, the word of the Lord came to him,
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	20	5	Go back, and tell Ezechias, the ruler of my people, Here is a message to thee from the Lord, the God of thy father David. I have listened to thy prayer, and marked thy tears; be it so, I have granted thee recovery. Within three days thou shalt be on thy way to the Lord’s temple,
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	20	6	and I will add fifteen years to thy life. And I will save thee and thy city from the power of the Assyrian king; I will be its protector, for my own honour and the honour of my servant David.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	20	7	Then Isaias bade them bring a lump of figs, and when this was brought and laid on the king’s ulcer, he recovered.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	20	8	When Ezechias asked what sign should be given him that his health would be restored, and that he would set foot in the Lord’s temple within three days,
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	20	9	Isaias told him, Here is thy proof that the Lord will keep his promise. Wouldst thou have the shadow on the sun-dial climb forward by ten hours, or travel backwards as much?
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	20	10	Why, said he, it were no great matter that it should advance ten hours; rather, by my way of it, let it travel ten hours backwards.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	20	11	So the prophet Isaias made appeal to the Lord, and the shadow retraced the last ten hours it had advanced on the sun-dial of Achaz.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	20	12	And now, hearing of his sickness, the king of Babylon, Berodach Baladan, son of Baladan, sent a letter and gifts to Ezechias.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	20	13	Ezechias was delighted at the coming of these envoys, and shewed them his scented treasure-house, with its gold and silver and spices and rich ointments; the rooms where his ornaments were kept; all the wealth of his store-house. There was nothing in palace or domain but he shewed it to them.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	20	14	Then the prophet Isaias gained audience of king Ezechias, and asked him, What message did these men bring, and whence had they come? They came to see me, said Ezechias, from a country that is far away, from Babylon.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	20	15	And when Isaias asked what they had seen in his palace, he told them, They saw everything in my palace; I have no treasures I did not shew them.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	20	16	And at that Isaias said to Ezechias, I have a message for thy hearing from the Lord.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	20	17	Behold, a time is coming when all that is in thy house, all the treasures which thy fathers have amassed there in times past, will be taken away to Babylon; nothing shall be left of it, the Lord says.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	20	18	And sons of thine, men of thy own line, of thy own stock, shall be carried off to be eunuchs in the palace of the kings of Babylon.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	20	19	Why then, Ezechias said to Isaias, welcome be the word the Lord has spoken through thee! In my time at least may there be peace; may the promise hold good.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	20	20	What else Ezechias did, the record of his great deeds, and of the pool and conduit by which he stored water in Jerusalem, is to be found in the Annals of the kings of Juda.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	20	21	So Ezechias was laid to rest with his fathers, and the throne passed to his son Manasses.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	21	1	Manasses was twelve years old when he came to the throne, and his reign at Jerusalem lasted fifty-five years; his mother’s name was Haphsiba.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	21	2	This Manasses defied the Lord’s will, by courting the false gods of those nations which the Lord destroyed to make room for the sons of Israel.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	21	3	He restored once again the hill-shrines which his father Ezechias had overthrown; he raised altars to Baal, and set up sacred trees, like Achab king of Israel, and gave to all the host of heaven worship and observance.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	21	4	Nay, he must set up these altars of his in the Lord’s own house, the chosen shrine of his name;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	21	5	altars there must be for all the host of heaven in the two temple courts.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	21	6	He consecrated his own son by passing him through the fire; there was watching for auguries and taking of omens, there was divination, and sorcerers abounded, until this defiance of his provoked the Lord’s anger.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	21	7	He made an idol, too, after the fashion of the sacred trees, and set it up there in the Lord’s temple. And this was at Jerusalem, the Lord’s choice among all the cities of Israel; this was in the temple that was to be the everlasting shrine of his name; so he had promised David and Solomon,
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	21	8	Nevermore will I let the sons of Israel be dislodged from the land I gave their fathers, if only they will be true to all the observances I have enjoined, all the commands which my servant Moses taught them.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	21	9	That warning went unheeded; the very nations which the Lord destroyed to make room for the sons of Israel were guilty of less wrong than they themselves did, when they were led astray by the example of Manasses.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	21	10	Thereupon word came from the Lord through his servants the prophets:
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	21	11	King Manasses of Juda shall not go unpunished for these deeds of his, more detestable yet than any the Amorrhites did before him; by which foul example Juda has become no less guilty than Israel.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	21	12	This warning, then, the Lord God of Israel sends him: I mean to bring such calamity upon Jerusalem and Juda as shall ring in the ears of all who hear it.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	21	13	Level with Samaria shall Jerusalem lie, lean in ruin as the house of Achab leans; I mean to efface Jerusalem as a wax tablet is effaced, scraping it over and over with pen downwards turned.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	21	14	I mean to abandon this poor remnant of the people that once was mine, and let them fall into the hands of their enemies, so that every rival of theirs can lay their land waste and plunder it;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	21	15	since the day when their race left Egypt, they have never ceased defying me and provoking my anger.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	21	16	And Manasses, not content with leading Juda into all these sins of disobedience, took innocent lives without number, till all Jerusalem was brimming with blood.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	21	17	What else Manasses did, his history, and the record of his crimes, is to be found in the Annals of the kings of Juda.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	21	18	So Manasses was laid to rest with his fathers, within the domains of his own palace, in Oza’s garden, and the kingdom passed to his son Amon.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	21	19	Amon was twenty-two years old when he came to the throne, and his reign at Jerusalem lasted two years; his mother’s name was Messalemeth, daughter of Harus of Jeteba.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	21	20	He disobeyed the Lord’s will, like his father Manasses before him;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	21	21	never a path his father had marked out but he must follow it, never a shameful cult his father had honoured but he must be its slave;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	21	22	but the Lord, the God his ancestors had worshipped, he forsook utterly, and followed his bidding never.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	21	23	Then there was a conspiracy among the courtiers, and the king was slain in his own palace;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	21	24	but these conspirators were overthrown by a rising of the common people, who crowned Amon’s son Josias to succeed him.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	21	25	What else Amon did, is to be found in the Annals of the kings of Juda.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	21	26	So they buried him in the tomb he had made for himself, in Oza’s garden, and his son Josias came to the throne.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	22	1	Josias was eight years old when he came to the throne, and his reign at Jerusalem lasted thirty-one years; his mother’s name was Idida, the daughter of Hadaia of Besecath.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	22	2	He was obedient to the Lord’s will, and followed in all things the example of his ancestor, king David, never swerving to right or left.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	22	3	In the eighteenth year of his reign, Josias had an errand for the controller of the temple, Saphan, son of Aslia, son of Messula.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	22	4	He was to bid the high priest Helcias reckon up the sum collected by the temple door-keepers for the needs of the Lord’s house,
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	22	5	and pay it out to the workmen through the temple overseers. Pay must be given to these workmen, engaged on making good the temple fabric,
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	22	6	carpenters, masons, and builders alike; there was timber to be bought, too, and stone from the quarries, before the Lord’s temple could be repaired.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	22	7	No account need be kept of these expenses; the overseers could be trusted with full disposal of the money.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	22	8	It was then that the high priest Helcias told Saphan he had found, there in the temple, a copy of the law, which he gave him to read.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	22	9	And Saphan, going back to the king with news of his errand, to report that the temple offerings had been reckoned up and paid over to the temple overseers, for distribution to the workmen,
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	22	10	added that he had a book which the high priest Helcias had given him. This book, then, Saphan read out in the royal presence;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	22	11	and the king, upon hearing the terms of the Lord’s law, rent his garments about him.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	22	12	Then he gave his orders to Helcias, and Ahicam son of Saphan, and Achobor son of Micha, and Saphan the controller of the temple, and Asaia, one of his courtiers;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	22	13	Go and consult the Lord, he told them, in my name, and in the name of this whole people of Juda, about this new-found copy of the law. Fiercely the Lord’s anger burns against us, that the words of this book should have fallen on deaf ears, and our race should have disobeyed the commands enjoined upon us.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	22	14	So Helcias, Ahicam, Achobor, Saphan and Asaia betook themselves to the prophetess Holda. She was wife to Sellum, son of Thecua, son of Araas, that once kept the royal wardrobe; her dwelling was at Jerusalem, in the new part of the city. So they told her their business,
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	22	15	and she, in return, gave them this message from the Lord God of Israel for the man that sent them:
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	22	16	Thus says the Lord, For this city and its citizens I have punishments in store, all the punishments threatened in yonder book the king of Juda has read.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	22	17	The men of Juda have forsaken me, and offered sacrifice to alien gods; all they do is done in defiance of me; the fire of my vengeance must needs break out against this city, and there is no quenching it.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	22	18	But to the king of Juda, who sent you here to consult the Lord, give this message from the Lord God of Israel: Well for thee thou didst listen to the warnings this book gave thee!
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	22	19	Well for thee that fear caught at thy heart, and thou didst humble thyself before the Lord, at hearing him threaten city and citizens with despair and doom; that thou didst rend thy garments, and hadst recourse to me in tears! And thou hast won my audience, the Lord says;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	22	20	I will lay thee to rest with thy fathers, in quiet times thou shalt go to thy grave; not for thy eyes to witness the great calamities I mean to bring on this city of thine.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	23	1	When they brought the king his answer, he summoned all the elders of Juda and of Jerusalem;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	23	2	then he went up into the Lord’s temple, and all the warriors of Juda bore him company, and all the citizens of Jerusalem, priest and prophet, high and low. There, in their hearing, he read out the terms of the law from the book they had found in the Lord’s house.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	23	3	And the king, standing on the dais, made a promise, there in the Lord’s presence. They would make the Lord their leader, holding fast by command and decree and observance of his, heart and soul, with fresh loyalty to all the terms of the covenant which this book set on record. To that promise, the whole people gave its assent.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	23	4	Then the king bade the high priest Helcias, and the priests of lesser rank, and the door-keepers, cast out from the Lord’s temple all the appurtenances of worship that belonged to Baal and to the sacred tree and to all the host of heaven; these he burned in the valley of Cedron, and carried the ashes of them away to Bethel.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	23	5	All round Jerusalem, and all over Juda, he disbanded the priests whom the kings of Juda had appointed for the hill-shrines; priests, too, that burned incense to Baal, and sun, and moon, and the twelve stars, and all the host of heaven.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	23	6	The sacred tree must be carried away from the temple, away from Jerusalem, to Cedron valley, where they burned it to ashes, that were scattered over the common burying-ground.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	23	7	He destroyed the rooms in the Lord’s house which had belonged to the prostitutes, and were now used by the women that wove curtains for the sacred tree.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	23	8	He brought the priests together from all the cities of Juda, and defiled the hill-shrines where they used to sacrifice, all the way from Gabaa to Bersabee; pulled down, too, the wayside altars at the approach to the gate of Josue, the city governor, to the left of the main gate.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	23	9	As for these priests of the hill-shrines, they were not allowed to minister at the Lord’s altar at Jerusalem, but they shared the eating of the unleavened bread with their brother-priests.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	23	10	Tophet, in the valley of Ben-Ennom, he desecrated utterly, so that there might be no more devoting sons and daughters by fire to Moloch;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	23	11	and he rid the temple of those horses, sacred to the sun, which earlier kings had stabled at the entrance, by the hall of the chamberlain Nathan-Melech; the chariots of the sun he burned to ashes.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	23	12	There were altars, too, that had been set up by royal command on the roof of Achaz’s dining-parlour; altars Manasses had built in the two outer courts of the temple; these Josias beat into dust, and made short work of it in the valley of Cedron.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	23	13	He also desecrated the hill-shrines Solomon had made at Jerusalem itself, on the right hand side of the Hill of Shame, for Astaroth, the foul divinity of Sidon, and Chamos, that was Moab’s, and Melchom, that was Ammon’s;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	23	14	he broke their images, and cut down the sacred trees, and filled up the ruins with the bones of dead men.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	23	15	In Bethel, too, there was an altar and a hill-shrine, the work of Jeroboam, son of Nabat, that taught Israel to sin; altar and shrine both Josias overthrew and burned and pounded to dust, setting fire at the same time to the sacred trees.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	23	16	And when he looked about him; and saw the hill-side covered with graves, he had bones fetched from these and burned them on the altar, just as the prophet had threatened in the Lord’s name when he foretold all this.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	23	17	And now, seeing an inscription, he asked what this was; Why, the men of Bethel answered, it is the tomb of the prophet who came from Juda, and foretold how thou wouldst profane the altar here.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	23	18	Let him alone, then, said Josias; no one must touch these bones; so they rested on undisturbed, and with them the bones of that other prophet, that was Israelite born.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	23	19	All the hill-shrines in the cities that once belonged to Samaria, raised by kings of Israel in the Lord’s despite, Josias abolished, treating them as he had treated the shrine at Bethel;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	23	20	and the priests that served these altars he put to death, one and all. Then, having profaned the altars by burning men’s bones on them, he returned to Jerusalem.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	23	21	And now he bade all his subjects keep paschal holiday in honour of the Lord their God, with all the rites prescribed by the covenant which the book recorded.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	23	22	Many a judge had ruled, many a king had reigned in Israel and Juda, but never was pasch kept
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	23	23	like that pasch Jerusalem kept in the Lord’s honour, in the eighteenth year of Josias.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	23	24	Gone were the familiar spirits, the diviners, the images, gone were all the foul abominations of Juda and Jerusalem; Josias swept them all away; since Helcias had found the book in the Lord’s temple he had no thought but to carry out the law’s prescriptions in full.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	23	25	Never was there such a king as this; none before or after him came back to the Lord’s allegiance, heart and soul and strength, as he did, with the law of Moses to guide him.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	23	26	Yet the Lord would not relent, so deep his indignation, so pitiless his anger against the men of Juda, after all Manasses’ defiance of him;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	23	27	he was determined to banish Juda, no less than Israel, from his presence; to forsake his chosen city, Jerusalem, and the house in which he had promised to make a shrine for his name.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	23	28	What else Josias did, all his history, is to be found in the Annals of the kings of Juda.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	23	29	It was in his time that Pharao-Nechao, king of Egypt, marched against the king of Assyria, all the way to the river Euphrates; and Josias, going out to offer resistance, encountered him at Mageddo and met his death there.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	23	30	From Mageddo, his servants carried his body back to Jerusalem, and buried it in the tomb he had made for himself; and now the people’s choice fell on his son Joachaz, who was anointed to succeed his father as king.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	23	31	Joachaz was twenty-three years old when he came to the throne, and his reign at Jerusalem lasted but three months; his mother’s name was Amital, daughter of Jeremias of Lobna.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	23	32	This Joachaz disobeyed the Lord’s will, after the fashion of his ancestors;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	23	33	but he did not reign at Jerusalem long. Pharao-Nechao kept him imprisoned at Rebla, in the Emath country; meanwhile he levied a fine from Juda, a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold,
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	23	34	and put Josias’ son Eliacim on his father’s throne, changing his name to Joakim. Joachaz was carried off to Egypt, where he died.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	23	35	The fine Pharao-Nechao had imposed was paid by Joakim, who levied a tax on the whole country; thus it was the citizens, each according to his means, that must satisfy Pharao-Nechao with gold and silver alike.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	23	36	Joakim was twenty-five years old when he came to the throne, and his reign at Jerusalem lasted eleven years; his mother’s name was Zebida, daughter of Phadaia of Ruma.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	23	37	He, too, disobeyed the Lord’s will, after the fashion of his ancestors.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	24	1	In his time, Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon invaded the country, and for three years Joakim was his vassal; then he rebelled against him.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	24	2	But the Lord sent enemies to attack him, freebooters from Chaldaea, Syria, Moab and Ammon; sent them to attack Juda and lay it waste, in fulfilment of the threat which his servants the prophets had uttered in his name.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	24	3	It was by the Lord’s own decree that this befell; he would banish Juda from his presence, in return for all Manasses’ sins;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	24	4	and for all those innocent lives taken, in the days when Jerusalem ran with guiltless blood till the Lord refused to pardon it.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	24	5	What else Joakim did, all his history, is to be found in the Annals of the kings of Juda. So Joakim was laid to rest with his fathers,
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	24	6	and the throne passed to his son Joachin.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	24	7	Meanwhile, the king of Egypt advanced no more beyond his own frontiers; all the possessions he held, from the brook of Egypt right up to the river Euphrates, the king of Babylon had taken away from him.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	24	8	Joachin was eighteen years old when he came to the throne, and his reign in Jerusalem lasted but three months; his mother’s name was Nohesta, daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	24	9	He disobeyed the Lord’s will no less than his father before him.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	24	10	It was in his time that the forces of Nabuchodonosor, king of Babylon, marched against Jerusalem, and siege was laid to the city;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	24	11	and Nabuchodonosor came there in person to be with them, and to press on the siege.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	24	12	Whereupon Joachin, king of Juda, gave himself up, with his mother, his servants, his nobles, and his chamberlains; and the king of Babylon, in this, the eighth year of his reign, accepted the surrender.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	24	13	All the treasures of temple and palace he took away, and cut in pieces all the golden ornaments Solomon, king of Israel, had set up in the temple, so fulfilling what the Lord had prophesied.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	24	14	All the citizens of Jerusalem he carried off as prisoners, the noblemen, and the best warriors in the army, ten thousand of them, the craftsmen and the smiths; none were left except the poor folk in the country-side.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	24	15	To Babylon Joachin must go, with his mother and his wives and his chamberlains; for Babylon all the judges in the land must leave Jerusalem as exiles;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	24	16	to Babylon Nabuchodonosor removed seven thousand warriors, and a thousand craftsmen and smiths, all that had strength to bear arms.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	24	17	In place of Joachin, he made his uncle Matthanias king, giving him the name of Sedecias.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	24	18	Sedecias was twenty-one years old when he came to the throne, and his reign at Jerusalem lasted eleven years; his mother’s name was Amital, daughter of Jeremias of Lobna.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	24	19	He disobeyed the Lord’s will, as Joakim had;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	24	20	for now the Lord’s anger hung over Juda and Jerusalem, ready to banish them from his presence. And Sedecias in his turn revolted against the king of Babylon.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	25	1	And now, in the ninth year of Sedecias’ reign, on the tenth day of the twelfth month, Nabuchodonosor reached Jerusalem at the head of his army. They surrounded it and threw up siege-works about it;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	25	2	and so the city continued, cut off and hedged in, until king Sedecias’ eleventh year.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	25	3	Then, on the ninth day of the fourth month, when famine had broken out in the city, and the poorer folk had nothing left to eat,
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	25	4	a breach was made in the walls; and that night all the fighting men made their escape by way of the gate between the two walls, by the royal garden, leaving the Chaldaeans to continue the siege of the city. The road Sedecias chose for his flight was that which leads to the desert plain;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	25	5	and in the plain by Jericho he was overtaken by the Chaldaeans, who had set out in pursuit. All his army melted away from him, leaving him alone;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	25	6	and so, a prisoner, the king was borne away to Reblatha, where Nabuchodonosor passed sentence on him.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	25	7	He made him witness the death of his sons; then put out his eyes and carried him off in chains to Babylon.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	25	8	On the fifth day of the seventh month in the nineteenth year of Nabuchodonosor’s reign, the commander of his forces, Nabuzardan, came on his master’s errand to Jerusalem,
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	25	9	where he burned down temple and palace and private dwellings too; no house of note but he set it on fire.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	25	10	The troops he brought with him were employed in dismantling the walls on every side of it.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	25	11	Then Nabuzardan carried off the remnants of the people that were left in the city, the deserters who had gone over to Nabuchodonosor, and the common folk generally,
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	25	12	leaving only such of the poorer sort as were vine-dressers and farm labourers.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	25	13	Brazen pillars and brazen stands and the great basin of bronze that stood in the Lord’s temple the Chaldaeans broke up, and took away all the bronze to Babylon;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	25	14	for bronze, too, they carried away pot and ladle, cup and fork and saucer, all the appurtenances of worship that were of bronze;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	25	15	for gold, too, and for silver, bowl and censer of gold and silver; nothing did Nabuzardan leave behind him.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	25	16	There was no reckoning the weight of bronze, when the two pillars, the great basin, and the stands which Solomon had set up in the temple are included;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	25	17	each pillar was eighteen cubits high, and had a capital of three cubits’ height resting on it, with the net-work and pomegranate mouldings on the capital all of bronze.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	25	18	Prisoners, too, Nabuzardan carried away with him, the two chief priests, Saraias and Sophonias, the three door-keepers from the temple,
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	25	19	and among the citizens, the chamberlain who commanded the army, five other courtiers who were still left in the city, Sopher, the army leader who had the levying of recruits, and sixty citizens of the common sort.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	25	20	All these were carried away by Nabuzardan to Reblatha, into Nabuchodonosor’s presence;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	25	21	and there at Reblatha, in the Emath country, Nabuchodonosor put them to death. So the men of Juda were exiled from their country,
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	25	22	and over the few he left remaining there the king of Babylon put Godolias, son of Ahicam, son of Saphan, in charge.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	25	23	When they heard of his appointment, the chieftains came to meet him at Maspha, Ismael son of Nathanias, Johanan son of Caree, Saraias son of Thanehumeth from Netopha, and Jezonias son of Maachati, and all their men with them;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	25	24	and Godolias took an oath to chiefs and men alike. They need have no fear of living under Chaldaean rule; let them remain in the country as the king of Babylon’s vassals, and all should go well with them.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	25	25	None the less in the seventh month this Ismael, son of Nathanias, son of Elisama, who was of the royal blood, came to Maspha with twelve of his followers and gave Godolias his death-blow; killed, too, all his retinue, Jew and Chaldee alike.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	25	26	Whereupon all the inhabitants of the country, high and low, and the chieftains with them, removed to Egypt, fearing the vengeance of the Chaldaeans.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	25	27	On the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month, in the thirty-seventh year after king Joachin of Juda had been carried into exile, he was released from prison by Evil-Merodach, king of Babylon, then in the first year of his reign.
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	25	28	Graciously did Evil-Merodach receive him, gave him a seat of honour above the other captive kings,
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	25	29	and relieved him of his prisoner’s garb. All the rest of his life he was entertained at the royal table;
 4 Kings	4Kgs	12	25	30	all the rest of his life he received, day by day, a perpetual allowance made to him by the king’s bounty.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	1	1	From Adam, through Seth, Enos,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	1	2	Cainan, Malaleel, Jared,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	1	3	Henoch, Mathusale, Lamech,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	1	4	and Noe came Sem, Cham and Japheth.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	1	5	From Japheth came Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Thubal, Mosoch and Thiras;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	1	6	from Gomer, Ascenez, Riphath and Thogorma;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	1	7	from Javan, Elisa and Tharsis, the Cethim and the Dodanim.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	1	8	From Cham, Chus, Mesraim, Phut and Chanaan;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	1	9	from Chus, Saba, Hevila, Sabatha, Regma and Sabathacha; from Regma, Saba and Dadan.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	1	10	(Chus, too, was the father of Nemrod, who was the first great warrior.)
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	1	11	From Mesraim came the Ludim, the Anamim, the Laabim and the Nephthuim,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	1	12	the Phetrusim, too, and the Chasluim (from whom the Philistines sprang), and the Caphtorim.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	1	13	Chanaan was the father of Sidon; this was his first-born son. From him, too, come Hethites,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	1	14	Jebusites, Amorrhites, Gergesites,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	1	15	Hevites, Aracites, Sinites,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	1	16	Aradians, Samarites and Hamathites.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	1	17	From Sem came Aelam, Assur, Arphaxad, Lud, Aram, Hus, Hul, Gether and Mosoch;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	1	18	Arphaxad was the father of Sale, Sale of Heber,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	1	19	who had two sons; one was called Phaleg, Division, because in his time the territory was divided up, and his brother’s name was Jectan.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	1	20	This Jectan was the father of Elmodad, Saleph, Asarmoth, Jare,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	1	21	Adoram, Huzal, Decla,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	1	22	Hebal, Abimael, Saba,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	1	23	Ophir, Hevila and Jobab; all these were Jectan’s sons.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	1	24	From Sem, through Arphaxad, Sale,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	1	25	Heber, Phaleg, Ragau,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	1	26	Serug, Nachor and Thare,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	1	27	came Abram, who is the same as Abraham.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	1	28	And Abraham had two sons, Isaac and Ismahel.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	1	29	These had issue as follows. Ismahel’s first-born was Nabaioth; his other sons were Cedar, Adbeel, Mabsam,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	1	30	Masma, Duma, Massa, Hadad, Thema,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	1	31	Jetur, Naphis, Cedma; all these were sons of Ismahel.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	1	32	(Abraham begot other sons by his concubine Cetura, Zamran, Jecsan, Madan, Madian, Jesboc and Suë. From Jecsan came Saba, and Dadan who was the ancestor of the Assurim, Latussim and Laomim;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	1	33	from Madian Epha, Epher, Henoch, Abida and Eldaa; all these are descended from Cetura. )
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	1	34	Abraham’s other son Isaac was father of Esau and Israel.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	1	35	Esau was father of Eliphaz, Rahuel, Jehus, Ihelom and Core;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	1	36	Eliphaz of Theman, Omar, Sephi, Gatham, Cenez, Thamna and Amalec;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	1	37	Rahuel of Nahath, Zara, Samma and Meza.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	1	38	(It was Seir that was father of Lotan, Sobal, Sebeon, Ana, Dison, Eser and Disan.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	1	39	Lotan had a sister called Thamna, and his sons were Hori and Homam.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	1	40	From Sobal came Alian, Manahath, Ebal, Sephi and Onam; from Sebeon Aia, and Ana that had a son called Dison;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	1	41	from Dison Hamram, Eseban, Jethran and Charan;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	1	42	from Eser Balaan, Zavan and Jacan; from Disan Hus and Aran.)
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	1	43	There were kings ruling in the Edomite country before the Israelites had kings of their own; these are their names; Bale the son of Beor reigned in Denaba,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	1	44	and after his death Jobab, son of Zare, from Bosra,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	1	45	who was succeeded by Husam from the Themanite country;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	1	46	his successor was Adad, son of Badad, who defeated Madian in the territory of Moab; he ruled at Avith.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	1	47	Adad was succeeded by Semla from Masreca,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	1	48	and Semla by Saul from Rohoboth on its river,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	1	49	and Saul by Balanan son of Achobor,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	1	50	and Achobor by Adad who ruled at Phau; his wife’s name was Meëtabel, daughter of Matred, who was daughter of Mezaab.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	1	51	After Adad’s death there were chieftains in Edom instead of kings; Thamna, Alva, Jetheth,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	1	52	Oölibama, Ela, Phinon,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	1	53	Cenez, Theman, Mabsar,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	1	54	Magdiel and Hiram; these were the chieftains of Edom.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	2	1	The sons of Israel were Ruben, Simeon, Levi, Juda, Issachar, Zabulon,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	2	2	Dan, Joseph, Benjamin, Nephthali, Gad and Aser.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	2	3	Juda had three sons by the Chanaanitess Suë, Her, Onan and Sela; Her, his first-born, displeased the Lord by his evil life, and the Lord slew him.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	2	4	Then Juda had two more sons by his own daughter-in-law Thamar, Phares and Zara; so he was father of five sons in all.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	2	5	From Phares came Hesron and Hamul,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	2	6	from Zara Zamri, Ethan, Heman, Chalcol and Dara, five in all ….
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	2	7	From Charmi came Achar, who brought trouble on Israel by his sin in stealing the plunder that was forfeit.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	2	8	From Ethan came Azarias,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	2	9	from Hesron, Jerameel, Ram and Calubi;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	2	10	from Ram, Aminadab, and from Aminadab Nahasson, that was chieftain of the tribe of Juda.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	2	11	From Nahasson came Salmon, from Salmon, Booz,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	2	12	from Booz, Obed, and from Obed, Jesse.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	2	13	The name of Jesse’s first-born was Eliab; the second son was called Abinadab, the third Simmaa,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	2	14	the fourth Nathanael, the fifth Raddai,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	2	15	the sixth Asom; and David was the seventh.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	2	16	They had two sisters, Sarvia and Abigail; Sarvia was the mother of three sons, Abisai, Joab and Asael,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	2	17	and Abigail bore Amasa to Jether the Ismahelite.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	2	18	(From Hesron’s son Caleb, through Azuba and Jerioth, came Jaser, Sobab and Ardon.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	2	19	On Azuba’s death Caleb married Ephratha and begot Hur,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	2	20	father of Uri, father of Bezeleel.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	2	21	Hesron, at the age of sixty, took a second wife, the daughter of Machir, from whom came Galaad; and she bore him a son called Segub,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	2	22	father of that Jair who occupied twenty-three townships in Galaad,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	2	23	took Gessur, Aram, Jair’s Villages, and Canath with its sixty townships …. All these were sons of Machir, father of Galaad.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	2	24	It was after Hesron’s death that Caleb mated with Ephratha. Hesron had another wife called Abia, that bore him a son, Ashur, father of Thecua. )
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	2	25	The sons of Hesron’s eldest son Jerameel were called Ram, Buna, Aram, Asom and Achia;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	2	26	by his second wife Atara he begot Onam.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	2	27	And Jerameel’s eldest son Ram was father of Moös, Jamin and Achar.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	2	28	From Onam came Semei and Jada; from Semei, Nadab and Abisur;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	2	29	from Abisur, by his wife Abihail, Ahobban and Molid;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	2	30	from Nadab, Saled (who died without issue) and Apphaim;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	2	31	from Apphaim, Jesi, from Jesi, Sesan, from Sesan, Oholai.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	2	32	From Semei’s brother Jada came Jether (who died without issue) and Jonathan;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	2	33	from Jonathan, Phaleth and Ziza. Such were the descendants of Jerameel.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	2	34	Sesan died without male issue, and it was to an Egyptian servant of his, Jeraa,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	2	35	that he gave his daughter in marriage; she bore him Ethei.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	2	36	From Ethei, through Nathan, Zabad,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	2	37	Ophlal, Obed,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	2	38	Jehu, Azarias,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	2	39	Helles, Elasa,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	2	40	Sisamoi, Sellum
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	2	41	and Icamia came Elisama.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	2	42	Jerameel’s brother Caleb had a son called Mesa, father of Ziph, and another son called Maresa, father of Hebron.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	2	43	From Hebron came Core, Thaphua, Recem and Samma;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	2	44	from Samma, through Raham, Jercaam, and from Recem, through Sammai
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	2	45	and Maon, Bethsur.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	2	46	By his concubine Epha, Caleb was the father of Haran, Mosa and Gezez; Haran also had a son called Gezez;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	2	47	this Epha was a daughter of Johaddai, whose other children were Regom, Joathan, Gesan, Phalet, Epha and Saaph.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	2	48	By his concubine Maacha, Caleb was father of Saber and Tharana;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	2	49	(also of Saaph, father of Madmena, Suë, father of Machbena, and the father of Gabaa). Caleb’s daughter was called Achsa.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	2	50	(Hur, the first-born of Ephrata, had a son called Caleb; from him, through Sobal, comes Cariathiarim,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	2	51	through Salma, Bethlehem, and through Hariph, Bethgader.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	2	52	From Sobal, besides Cariathiarim, comes Haroe, part of the Manahathites;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	2	53	and the Jethrites, Aphuthites, Semathites and Maserites are also connected with Cariathiarim; the Saraites and Esthaolites derive from these.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	2	54	From Salma, besides Bethlehem, come the Netophathites, Ataroth, Beth-Joab, and the Saraites who are the other half of the Manahatthites;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	2	55	the clans, too, of the Sopherites at Jabes, the Tirathites, Simeathites, and Suchathites. These were Cinites that came from Emath, father of the family of Rechab. )
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	3	1	And these are the names of David’s sons. At Hebron, Achinoam the Jezrahelite gave birth to his first-born, Amnon, Abigail of Carmel to Daniel,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	3	2	Maacha daughter of Tholmai, king of Gessur, to Absalom, Aggith to Adonias,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	3	3	Abital to Saphatias, and Egla, that was also one of his wives, to Jethraham.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	3	4	Thus six sons were born to him during the seven years and six months of his reign at Hebron; during his thirty-three years at Jerusalem
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	3	5	Bethsabee, daughter of Ammiel, bore him four sons, Simmaa, Sobab, Nathan and Solomon;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	3	6	he also begot Jebaar, Elisama,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	3	7	(Elipheleth), Noge, Nepheg, Japhia,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	3	8	(Elisama), Eliada and Elipheleth, nine in all.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	3	9	All these, with their sister Thamar, were David’s children, and he had others by his concubines.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	3	10	From Solomon, the succession went from father to son, through Roboam, Abia, Asa, Josaphat,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	3	11	Joram, Ochozias, Joas,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	3	12	Amasias, Azarias, Joathan,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	3	13	Achaz, Ezechias, Manasses
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	3	14	and Amon to Josias.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	3	15	Josias had four sons, Johanan, Joakim, Sedecias and Sellum.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	3	16	Joakim had two sons, Jechonias and Sedecias,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	3	17	and Jechonias was father of Asir, Salathiel,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	3	18	Melchiram, Phadaia, Senneser, Jecemia, Sama and Nadabia.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	3	19	Phadaia again had two sons, Zorobabel and Semei, and Zorobabel was father of Mosollam, Hananias and a daughter, Salomith;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	3	20	besides five others, Hasaba, Ohol, Barachias, Hasadias, and Josabhesed.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	3	21	From Hananias, through Phaltias, Jeseias, Raphaia, Arnan, Obdia, and Sechenias,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	3	22	came Semeia, the father of six sons, Hattus, Jegaal, Baria, Naaria … and Saphat.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	3	23	Naaria had three sons, Elioenai, Ezechias and Ezricam,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	3	24	and of these Elioenai had seven sons, Oduia, Eliasub, Pheleia, Accub, Johanan, Dalaia and Anani.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	4	1	The men of Juda were descended from Phares, Hesron, Charmi, Hur, and Sobal.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	4	2	Sobal was father of Raia, Raia of Jahath, Jahath of Ahumai and Laad; thence come the Sarathite families.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	4	3	Jezrahel, Jesema, Jedebos and their sister Asalelphuni were children of Etam;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	4	4	he, like Gedor’s father Phanuel and Hosa’s father Ezer, was descended from Ephratha’s first-born son Hur, from whom came Bethlehem.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	4	5	Assur, father of Thecua, had two wives, Halaa and Naara;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	4	6	Naara bore him Oozam, Hepher, Themani and Ahasthari, and besides these sons of hers
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	4	7	he had three sons by Halaa, Sereth, Isaar and Ethnan ….
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	4	8	From Cos came Anob and Soboba, and all the family of Aharehel son of Arum ….
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	4	9	Jabes was renowned above all his brethren; his mother had called him by that name as if she would say, Painfully I bore him.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	4	10	And this was Jabes’ prayer to the Lord God of Israel, A full blessing, Lord! Wide lands, and thy hand with me, that enmity may never overcome me! And the Lord granted his request.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	4	11	… From Caleb, brother of Sua, through Mahir and Esthon,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	4	12	came Bethrapha, and from Bethrapha Phesse and Tehinna, and from Tehinna the city of Naas; these are the men of Recha ….
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	4	13	Cenez was father of Othoniel and Saraia, Othoniel of Hathath and Maonathi,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	4	14	and Maonathi of Ophra. Saraia’s son was Joab, founder of the Valley of the Smiths, where all the folk were craftsmen ….
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	4	15	Caleb, son of Jephone, had sons called Hir, Ela and Naham; from Ela came Cenez …
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	4	16	and from Jalaleel Ziph, Zipha, Thiria and Asrael ….
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	4	17	The sons of Ezra were Jether, Mered, Epher and Jalon; and Mered begot Mariam, and Sammai, and Jesba, father of Esthamo;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	4	18	his Jewish wife bore him Jared, father of Gedor, and Heber, father of Socho, and Icuthiel, father of Zanoe, but these others were his children by Bethia, daughter of Pharao, whom Mered took to wife ….
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	4	19	(And the sons of the wife of Odaias, that was sister to Naham, father of Garmite Ceila and Machathite Esthamo) ….
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	4	20	The sons of Simon were called Amnon, Rinna, Ben-Hanan and Thilon; and Jesi’s were called Zoheth and Ben-Zoheth.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	4	21	Juda’s son Sela begot Her, father of Lecha, and Laada, father of Maresa; from them, too, come the weaver-folk of Asbea
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	4	22	and Jokim, and the men of Choseba, and Joas and Saraph, lords once of Moab; the men, too, of Jasubi-lehem. But that was in bygone days;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	4	23	now they are potters, living about Netaim and Gedera to do the king’s work for him; that is why they are left there.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	4	24	And now for the sons of Simeon; these were Namuel, Jamin, Jarib, Zara, Saul;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	4	25	from him came Sellum, Mapsa and Masma;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	4	26	Masma that was father of Hamuel, Zachur and Semei.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	4	27	This Semei had sixteen sons and six daughters, but his brothers had not many children, and the whole clan could not rival the sons of Juda for numbers.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	4	28	They dwelt in Bersabee, Molada, Hasarsuhal,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	4	29	Bala, Asom, Tholad,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	4	30	Bathuel, Horma, Siceleg,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	4	31	Bethmarchaboth, Hasarsusim, Bethberai and Saarim; and these were the cities up to king David’s time.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	4	32	They had villages, too, the five townships of Etam, Aën, Remmon, Thochen and Asan,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	4	33	and other villages too round about their cities right up to Baal. So they dwelt, so their homes were distributed.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	4	34	For chiefs, they had Mosobab, Jemlech, Josa son of Amasias,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	4	35	Joel, Jehu son of Josabias, the sons of Saraia, the sons of Asiel,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	4	36	Elioenai, Jacoba, Isuhaia, Asaia, Adiel, Ismiel, Banaia,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	4	37	Ziza son of Sephei, son of Allon, son of Idaia, son of Semri, son of Samaia;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	4	38	all these named were chieftains of their clans. And now, their households growing more numerous,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	4	39	they went further afield till they reached Gador, on the eastern side of the valley, in quest of a feeding-ground for their flocks.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	4	40	Pasture they found, rich and nourishing; and all that wide, fruitful land was free from alarms, long inhabited by descendants of Cham.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	4	41	Hither they came, the chieftains named above, in the days of Ezechias king of Juda; smote tents and tent-dwellers there, so that to-day none of them are left, and occupied those fair pasture-lands instead.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	4	42	It was men of Simeon, too, five hundred strong, that invaded the hill-country of Seir, under Jesi’s sons, Phaltias, Naarias, Raphaia and Oziel;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	4	43	defeated the Amalecites who had taken refuge there, and occupy their land to this day.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	5	1	And now for the sons of Ruben, Israel’s first-born. First-born he was, yet never so reckoned, from the day when he came between his father’s sheets; his privilege went to another son of Israel, Joseph, instead.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	5	2	Of all those brethren, Juda was the most powerful, and from him chieftains sprang; but it was still Joseph that had the first-born’s privilege.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	5	3	The sons of Ruben, Israel’s first-born, were called Enoch, Phallu, Esron and Charmi ….
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	5	4	From Joel came Samaia, Gog, Semei,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	5	5	Micha, Reia and Baal;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	5	6	from him, too, came Beera, the Rubenite chieftain who was carried off as a prisoner by Thelgath-Phalnasar, king of the Assyrians.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	5	7	But the stock of his clan counted many households, who had still their own chieftains, Jehiel, and Zacharias,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	5	8	and Bala, that was descended from Joas through Samma and Azaz, and held lands in Aroer right up to Nebo and Beelmeon.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	5	9	On the east, they were bounded by the approaches of the desert, and the river Euphrates; many were the cattle they grazed in the Galaadite country.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	5	10	In Saul’s time, they had fought against the Agareans and made an end of them, occupying their tents thenceforward all over the eastern part of Galaad.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	5	11	Beyond them, the descendants of Gad held all Basan up to Selcha;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	5	12	Joel held the primacy, and after him came Saphan, Janai and Saphat, there in Basan.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	5	13	Seven kindred chiefs they had, all at the head of their clans, Michael, Mosollam, Sebe, Jorai, Jachan, Zie and Heber;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	5	14	all these were descended through Abihail, Huri, Jara, Galaad, Michael, Jesesi and Jeddo from Buz;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	5	15	their kinsmen, too, the sons of Abdiel, son of Guni, were chieftains of clans.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	5	16	In Galaad they dwelt, and in the townships of Basan, and on the common-lands of Saron, right up to its borders.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	5	17	All these were registered in the days when Joatham reigned in Juda, and Jeroboam in Israel.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	5	18	There were forty-four thousand seven hundred and sixty warriors from Ruben, Gad, and the eastern half of Manasses, with shield and sword and bow, trained men all, that went out to battle,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	5	19	and levied war on the Agareans, who had Ituraea and Naphis and Nodab
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	5	20	to lend them aid. They cried out to the Lord as they went into the fight, and he, to reward their faith, paid heed to them, giving them the mastery over the Agareans and their allies.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	5	21	All the enemy possessed fell into their hands, fifty thousand camels, two hundred and fifty thousand sheep, and two thousand asses, besides a hundred thousand prisoners;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	5	22	and many of them they slew in battle. The Lord had espoused his people’s quarrel, and the Agareans might never come by their own lands again till the time of the captivity.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	5	23	As for the men of eastern Manasses, the territory they held reached from the frontier of Basan as far as Baal-Hermon, and Sanir, and mount Hermon itself, so great their number was.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	5	24	Their clan chiefs were Epher, Jesi, Eliel, Ezriel, Jeremia, Odoia and Jediel; these were the men of rank and power who gave their names to the clans.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	5	25	But all these forsook the God of their fathers, and played the wanton by worshipping with the native folk whom God had dispossessed at their coming.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	5	26	So he, the God of Israel, would incite the Assyrian kings, Phul and Thelgath-Phalnasar, to remove Ruben and Gad and eastern Manasses; to Lahela, Habor, Ara and the river Gozan he carried them off, and there they remain to this day.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	1	Levi had three sons, Gerson, Caath and Merari.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	2	Caath was the father of Amram, Isaar, Hebron and Oziel,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	3	Amram of Aaron, Moses and Mary, Aaron of Nadab, Abiu, Eleazar and Ithamar.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	4	From Eleazar, through Phinees, Abisue,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	5	Bocci, Ozi,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	6	Zaraias, Meraioth,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	7	Amarias, Achitob,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	8	Sadoc, Achimaas,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	9	Azarias and Johanan
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	10	came the Azarias who was high priest when Solomon built his temple at Jerusalem.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	11	From this Azarias, through Amarias, Achitob,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	12	Sadoc, Sellum,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	13	Helcias, Azarias
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	14	and Saraia came Josedec,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	15	who went out into exile when the Lord banished the inhabitants of Juda and Jerusalem through Nabuchodonosor.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	16	All Levi’s sons, Gerson, Caath and Merari had issue;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	17	Gerson was the father of Lobni and Semei,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	18	Caath of Amram, Isaar, Hebron and Oziel,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	19	Merari of Moholi and Musi. The lines of descent from Levi ran thus,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	20	from Gerson, Lobni, Jahath, Zamma,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	21	Joah, Addo, Zara, Jethrai.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	22	From Caath, Aminadab, Core, Asir,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	23	Elcana, Abiasaph, Asir,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	24	Thahath, Uriel, Ozias, Saul.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	25	(Elcana had three sons, Amasai, Achimoth
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	26	and Elcana; from this Elcana the line ran through Sophai, Nahath,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	27	Eliab and Jeroham to another Elcana again ….
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	28	The sons of Samuel were called Vasseni and Abia.)
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	29	From Merari, Moholi, Lobni, Semei, Oza,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	30	Sammaa, Haggia, Asaia.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	31	It was from these that David chose singers for the Lord’s house, as soon as the ark found a resting-place;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	32	and in the tabernacle (until Solomon built the Lord a temple at Jerusalem) they rendered service of song, as well as waiting on the Lord in their turn.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	33	This hereditary service was rendered for the Caathites by a singer called Heman, descended through Johel, Samuel,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	34	Elcana, Jeroham, Eliel, Thohu,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	35	Suph, Elcana, Mahath, Amasai,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	36	Elcana, Joel, Azarias, Sophonias,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	37	Thahath, Asir, Abiasaph, Core
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	38	and Isaar from Caath; and so from Levi and Israel.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	39	On his right stood his confrater Asaph, descended through Barachias, Samaa,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	40	Michael, Basaia, Melchias,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	41	Athanai, Zara, Adaia,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	42	Ethan, Zamma, Semei,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	43	and Jeth from Gerson, and so from Levi.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	44	On his left stood the confraters from Merari, led by Ethan, who was descended through Cusi, Abdi, Maloch,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	45	Hasabias, Amasias, Helcias,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	46	Amasai, Boni, Somer,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	47	(Moholi) and Musi from Merari; and so from Levi.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	48	Their fellow Levites were appointed to wait on all the needs of the tabernacle, the Lord’s dwelling-place;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	49	but only Aaron and his descendants made offering on the altar of burnt-sacrifice and the altar of incense, busied themselves with the inner sanctuary, and made intercession for Israel; such was the command given through God’s servant Moses.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	50	The line of Aaron descended through Eleazar, Phinees, Abisue,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	51	Bocci, Ozi, Zarahia,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	52	Meraioth, Amarias, Achitob
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	53	and Sadoc to Achimaas.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	54	The descendants of Aaron had towns and enclosures to dwell in among the Caathites, appointed to them by lot.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	55	Juda gave them Hebron with the lands round it;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	56	the open country, with its villages, belonged to Caleb, son of Jephone.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	57	And besides Hebron, the city of refuge, Aaron’s race held Lobna,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	58	Jether, Esthemo, Helon, Dabir,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	59	Asan … and Bethsames, with the lands round them;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	60	and Benjamin gave them Gabee, Almath and Anathoth, with the lands round them; thus in all they had thirteen cities.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	61	The rest of the Caathite clan received ten cities from … the western half of Manasses;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	62	the Gersonites thirteen cities from Issachar, Aser, Nephthali, and the Manassites of Basan;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	63	and the Merarites twelve from Ruben, Gad and Zabulon.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	64	The Israelites gave the Levites cities and lands round them,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	65	just as Juda, Simeon and Benjamin allotted to them the cities which have been named.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	66	The Caathites had cities of their own in Ephraim;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	67	Sichem in the hill-country of Ephraim was given to them as a city of refuge, and besides this Gazer,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	68	Jecmaam, Bethoron,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	69	Helon and Gethremmon …
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	70	and the western half of Manasses gave them Aner and Baalam; all these cities, with the lands round them, belonged to the rest of the Caathites.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	71	The Gersonites received from the eastern half of Manasses Gaulon and Astharoth;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	72	from Issachar Cedes, Dabereth,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	73	Ramoth and Anem;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	74	from Aser Masal, Abdon,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	75	Hucac and Rohob;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	76	from Nephthali Cedes in Galilee, Hamon and Cariathaim, with the lands round them.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	77	The Merarites received from Zabulon Remmono and Thabor;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	78	and on the further side of Jordan, opposite Jericho, Ruben gave them Bosor, Jassa,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	79	Cademoth and Mephaat;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	80	Gad gave them Ramoth-Galaad, Manaim,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	6	81	Hesebon and Jezer; and they had lands round each of these cities.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	7	1	Issachar had four sons, Thola, Phua, Jasub and Simeron.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	7	2	Thola’s sons were Ozi, Raphaia, Jeriel, Jemai, Jebsem and Samuel, all heads of clans. A powerful chief was this Thola, and his clan, in David’s time, counted twenty-two thousand six hundred men.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	7	3	Ozi’s son Izrahia was the father of Michael, Obadia, Johel and Jesia; from Ozi came all these five chieftains,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	7	4	and under them were thirty-six thousand brave warriors, divided into families and clans, with many wives and children among them;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	7	5	and their fellow tribesmen of Issachar counted eighty-seven thousand, all fighting men.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	7	6	Benjamin had three sons, Bela, Bechor and Jadihel.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	7	7	Bela was father of Esbon, Ozi, Oziel, Jerimoth and Urai, five valiant chiefs, whose clans put twenty-two thousand and thirty-four men into the field.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	7	8	From Bechor came Zamira, Joas, Eliezer, Elioenai, Amri, Jerimoth, Abia, Anathoth and Almath. All these came from Bechor,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	7	9	and their clans counted twenty thousand two hundred men, brave warriors all.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	7	10	Jadihel had a son Balan, who was father of Jehus, Benjamin, Aod, Chanana, Zethan, Tharsis and Ahisahar.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	7	11	All these were descended from Jadihel, chieftains of clans that went bravely into battle seventeen thousand two hundred strong.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	7	12	Other clans there were, Sepham and Hapham, descended from Hir, and the Hasim, that came from Aher.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	7	13	Nephthali’s chieftains were Jasiel, Guni, Jeser and Sellum, the sons of Bala.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	7	14	Manasses had a son called Esriel; and by a Syrian concubine he was father also of Machir, from whom came Galaad.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	7	15	And Machir found wives for his sons (Happhim and Saphan) …. And he had a sister called Maacha …. And the name of the second son was Salphaad; his children were daughters ….
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	7	16	Machir’s wife Maacha bore a son; he was called Phares and his brother Sares, and his sons were called Ulam and Recen;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	7	17	Ulam was the father of Badan. All these came from Galaad, that came from Machir, son of Manasses.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	7	18	And his sister Hammolecet was mother of Isahod, Abiezer and Mohola ….
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	7	19	And these were sons of Semida, Ahin, Sechem, Leci, and Aniam.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	7	20	Ephraim had a son called Suthala, the ancestor, through Bared, Thahath, Elada and Thahath of Zabad.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	7	21	Suthala, Ezer and Elad his sons were; but they went to Geth on a foray, and there were slain by the native folk.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	7	22	Long did their father Ephraim mourn for them, till his brethren gathered round to comfort him;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	7	23	so, at last, he bedded his wife again, and she, conceiving, bore him a son. This son he called Beria, as if he would say, At a time of misfortune for my race this one was born to me.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	7	24	He had a daughter, too, called Sara, that founded Bethoron, Lower and Upper, and Ozensara as well.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	7	25	Beria was the ancestor, through Rapha, Reseph, Thale, Thaan,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	7	26	Laadan, Ammiud and Elisama
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	7	27	of Nun, the father of Josue.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	7	28	The places they dwelt in were Bethel, and Noran to the east, Gazer, Sichem and Aza, with their dependent villages.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	7	29	Next to them came the descendants of Manasses, dwelling at Bethsan, Thanach, Mageddo and Dor, with their dependent villages; all these, too, belonged to Israel’s son Joseph.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	7	30	Aser had four sons, Jemna, Jesua, Jessui and Baria, and a daughter, Sara.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	7	31	Baria was father of Heber, and of Melchiel, from whom came Barsaith.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	7	32	Heber had three sons, Jephlat, Somer and Hotham, and a daughter, Suaa;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	7	33	Jephlat was father of Phosech, Chamaal and Asoth,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	7	34	Somer of Ahi, Roaga, Haba and Aram,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	7	35	and their brother (Helem) of Supha, Jemna, Selles and Amal.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	7	36	From Supha came Suë, Harnapher, Sual, Beri, Jamra,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	7	37	Bosor, Hod, Samma, Salusa, Jethran and Bera.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	7	38	There were other chiefs, too, Jephone, Phaspha, and Ara, sons of Jether,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	7	39	and Aree, Haniel and Resia, sons of Olla.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	7	40	All these were heads of their clans and brave warriors, chieftains with chieftains under them, all descended from Aser; and their clan counted twenty-six thousand men that were of age to bear arms.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	8	1	Benjamin’s first-born was called Bale; his other sons were Asbel, Ahara,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	8	2	Nohaa and Rapha.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	8	3	From Bale came Addar, Gera, Abiud,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	8	4	Abisue, Naaman, Ahoe,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	8	5	Gera, Sephuphan and Huram.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	8	6	These are the sons of Ahod, chiefs of clans in Gabaa, that were removed to Manahath …
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	8	7	(and Naaman and Achia and Gera;) he it was who removed them, and was afterwards the father of Oza and Ahiud.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	8	8	Saharaim, too, after he had put away his wives, Husim and Bara, begot sons in the land of Moab;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	8	9	his wife Hodes bore him Jobab, Sebia, Mosa, Molchom,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	8	10	Jehus, Sechia and Marma; all these children of his were clan chieftains.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	8	11	Ahitob and Elphaal were his sons by Husim;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	8	12	and Elphaal’s sons were Heber, and Misaam, and Samad that founded Ono and Lod with their dependent villages.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	8	13	The men who dwelt in Aialon, whence they had dislodged the Gethites, had Baria and Sama for their chieftains.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	8	14	Ahio, Sesac, Jerimoth,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	8	15	Zabadia, Arod, Heder,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	8	16	Michael, Jespha and Joha all came down from Baria.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	8	17	Zabadia, Mosollam, Hezeci, Heber,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	8	18	Jesamari, Jezlia and Jobab were descended from Elphaal.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	8	19	Jacim, Zechri, Zabdi,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	8	20	Elioenai, Selethai, Eliel,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	8	21	Adaia, Baraia and Samarath were descended from Semei.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	8	22	Jespham, Heber, Eliel,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	8	23	Abdon, Zechri, Hanan,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	8	24	Hanania, Aelam, Anathothia,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	8	25	Jephdaia and Phanuel were descended from Sesac ….
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	8	26	Samsari, Sohoria, Otholia,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	8	27	Jersia, Elia and Zechri were descended from Jeroham.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	8	28	All these were fathers of clans and chieftains, with their home at Jerusalem.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	8	29	Gabaon was the dwelling-place of Abigabaon, whose wife was called Maacha,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	8	30	and his eldest son Abdon. From him came Sur, Cis, Baal, Nadab,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	8	31	Gedor, Ahio, Zachar, and Macelloth
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	8	32	that was father of Samaa; these lived separate from their brethren but had their home, like their brethren, at Jerusalem.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	8	33	Ner was the father of Cis, Cis of Saul; and Saul had four sons, Jonathan, Melchisua, Abinadab and Esbaal.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	8	34	From Jonathan, through Meribbaal, came Micha,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	8	35	who was father of Phithon, Melech, Tharaa and Ahaz;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	8	36	from Ahaz Joada, who was father of Alamath, Azmoth and Zamri; from Zamri, through Mosa,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	8	37	Banaa, Rapha and Elasa, Asel,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	8	38	who had six sons, Ezricam, Bocru, Ismael, Saria, Obdia and Hanan. All these were Asel’s sons;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	8	39	his brother, Esec, begot Ulam, Jehus, and Eliphalet.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	8	40	The sons of Ulam were great warriors, with strong arms to bend the bow; and their sons and grandsons multiplied till there were a hundred and fifty of them. All these were of the race of Benjamin.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	9	1	The whole people was registered, and the Annals of the kings of Israel and Juda shew what their numbers were, at the time when they were exiled to Babylon in expiation of their sins;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	9	2	the names, too, of the leading men, with the lands and cities they dwelt in, temporal holders of land, priests, Levites and Nathinim.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	9	3	Jerusalem had citizens belonging to Juda and Benjamin; some, too, from Ephraim and Manasses.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	9	4	The line of Phares was headed by Othei, descended through Ammiud, Amri and Omrai from Bonni;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	9	5	the Silonites by Asaia and his younger brethren,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	9	6	the line of Zara by Jehuel and his brothers; this clan was six hundred and ninety strong.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	9	7	Of the Benjamites, there were Salo, descended through Mosollam and Oduia from Asana,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	9	8	Jobania son of Jeroham, Ela, son of Ozi, son of Mochori, and Mosollam, descended through Saphatias and Rahuel from Jebanias.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	9	9	And brethren of theirs bore rule in their various clans, nine hundred and fifty-six heads of families.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	9	10	And there were priests, Jedaia, Joiarib and Jachin;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	9	11	Azarias, too, descended from Achitob through Helcias, Mosollam, Sadoc and Maraioth, the high priest of God’s temple;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	9	12	Adaias, descended from Melchias through Jeroham and Phassur, and Maasai, descended from Emmer through Adiel, Jezra, Mosollam and Mosollamith.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	9	13	And brethren of theirs bore rule in their various clans; seventeen hundred and sixty priests there were, well endowed with strength for all the service they did in the house of God.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	9	14	There were Levites, too, of name; Semeia, descended through Hassub and Ezricam from Hasebias, of the race of Merari,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	9	15	Bacbacar that was a craftsman in wood, and Galal, and Mathania, descended through Micha and Zechri from Asaph,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	9	16	and Obdia, descended through Semeia and Galal from Idithun, and Barachia, son of Asa, son of Elcana, whose home was close to Netophat.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	9	17	The chief men among the porters were Sellum, Accub, Telmon and Ahimam; but of all that brotherhood Sellum was the first in rank.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	9	18	Up to that time, it was the Levites who kept watch, by turns, at the royal gate to the east;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	9	19	the Corites, Sellum son of Core son of Abiasaph son of Core and all his kindred, attended to the needs of public worship and also guarded the approaches to the tabernacle. It was their households that were in charge of the entry,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	9	20	marshalled, in former times, by Phinees son of Eleazar, there in the Lord’s presence;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	9	21	meanwhile Zacharias son of Mosellomia was porter at the tabernacle gate itself.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	9	22	There were two hundred and twelve of these men chosen for the porter’s office, and registered in the villages where they dwelt. David, and Samuel the seer, had appointed them to their charge,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	9	23	bidding them keep watch in their turn over the gates of the Lord’s house, in those days a tabernacle;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	9	24	on every side, east, west, north and south, there were porters keeping watch.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	9	25	Meanwhile their brethren stayed at home in their villages, waiting for the week when it should be their turn for duty.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	9	26	The four Levites named were in charge of all the porters, and of the store-houses and treasuries of the Lord’s house;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	9	27	all round the temple they kept watch, and opened the doors when morning came.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	9	28	Others looked after the appurtenances of worship, that must be brought in and out in due order;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	9	29	and others had the needs of the sanctuary itself entrusted to them, taking care of the flour, wine, oil, incense and spices,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	9	30	(although the work of preparing the sacred ointment from the spices was done by priests).
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	9	31	It was a Levite, Mathathias, eldest son of Sellum the Corite, who had charge of all that was cooked in the pans;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	9	32	and their kinsmen of the race of Caath must prepare the loaves that were set before the Lord, fresh every week ….
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	9	33	These were the chief singers, chosen out of the Levite families, to dwell ever in the temple precincts and perform their duties day and night.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	9	34	The heads, too, of the Levite families had their dwelling at Jerusalem.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	9	35	(Gabaon was the dwelling-place of Jehiel, its founder, whose wife was called Maacha,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	9	36	and his eldest son Abdon. From him came Sur, Cis, Baal, Ner, Nadab,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	9	37	Gedor, Ahio, Zacharias, and Macelloth
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	9	38	that was father of Samaa; these lived separate from their brethren but had their home, like their brethren, at Jerusalem.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	9	39	Ner was the father of Cis, Cis of Saul; and Saul had four sons, Jonathan, Melchisua, Abinadab and Esbaal.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	9	40	From Jonathan, through Meribbaal, came Micha,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	9	41	who was father of Phithon, Melech, Tharaa and Ahaz;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	9	42	from Ahaz Jara, who was father of Alamath, Azmoth and Zambri; from Zambri, through Mosa,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	9	43	Banaa, Raphaia and Elasa, Asel,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	9	44	who had six sons, Ezricam, Bocru, Ismahel, Saria, Obdia and Hanan. All these were sons of Asel. )
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	10	1	… And now the Philistines had engaged Israel; and the Israelites fled at their onslaught, and were cut down on mount Gelboe as they fled.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	10	2	Ever harder the Philistines pressed on the retreat of Saul and of his sons, till at last his sons, Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Melchisua had fallen,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	10	3	and he himself bore the whole weight of the attack. The archers were following close on his heels, and sorely the archers wounded him.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	10	4	Then Saul bade his own squire draw on him and kill him; he would not have uncircumcised foes kill him with outrage. And when the squire’s heart failed him, so that he would not obey, Saul himself caught up a sword, and fell on it.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	10	5	Whereupon, seeing his master dead, the squire fell upon his own sword, and died with him.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	10	6	So perished Saul, and his three sons; his dynasty died with him.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	10	7	And now the Israelites who lived in the plain took to flight; Saul and his sons killed, they dispersed and abandoned their cities, leaving the Philistines to come in and settle there.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	10	8	Next day, coming to plunder the slain, the Philistines found Saul and his three sons, where they lay on mount Gelboe,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	10	9	and they cut off Saul’s head, and stripped him of his armour, and sent these from place to place in their own country, to publish the news in the temples of their gods, and among their people.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	10	10	His arms they dedicated in the temple of their own god, and nailed up his head in the temple of Dagon.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	10	11	But the men of Jabes-Galaad came to hear of what the Philistines had done to Saul;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	10	12	whereupon all their fighting men went and took down the bodies of Saul and of his sons; and reaching Gabes they buried them under the oak-tree there, and fasted seven days to lament them.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	10	13	So died king Saul, for his guilt in disobeying the Lord’s command instead of carrying it out faithfully; for consulting the witch, too,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	10	14	instead of trusting in the Lord; to death the Lord doomed him, and passed on his kingdom to David the son of Jesse.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	11	1	After this, all the men of Israel rallied to David at Hebron; We are kith and kin of thine, they said.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	11	2	It is not so long since Israel marched under thy orders, when Saul was still reigning; and the Lord has promised thee that thou shouldst be its shepherd and its captain.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	11	3	And so the elders of Israel went to his court at Hebron; and there, at Hebron, in the Lord’s presence, David made a covenant with them, and they anointed him king of Israel, so fulfilling the promise which the Lord made to him through Samuel.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	11	4	When David and his army marched on Jerusalem, which was then called Jebus, and its native inhabitants Jebusites,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	11	5	the defenders of it told him, Thou shalt never make thy way in here. But take it he did, the keep of Sion that is called David’s Keep.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	11	6	Chief and leader shall he be, David promised, that is the first to dislodge these Jebusites; and Joab son of Sarvia was first to scale the walls, so he became leader of the army.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	11	7	There, then, in the keep David made his dwelling, and called it the Keep of David;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	11	8	he built walls about it, too, with Mello for their outer bastion, and left Joab to build the rest of the city.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	11	9	So he went on, prospering and gaining strength, and the Lord God of hosts was with him.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	11	10	And these are the names of David’s champions, that helped him to attain that rule over Israel which the Lord had promised,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	11	11	the great warriors that were enlisted in David’s service. First among all the thirty was Jesbaam the son of Hachamoni; his spear it was that slew three hundred men in one assault.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	11	12	After him his cousin, Eleazar the Ahohite, one of the three champions
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	11	13	that were with David at Phesdomim, where the Philistines had mustered for battle. There in a field of barley, when Israel had fled in confusion,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	11	14	these three stood in the middle of it and held it against the Philistines till they had defeated them; a great victory the Lord gave Israel that day.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	11	15	And once these three leaders of the Thirty were at David’s side in the cave of Odollam; the Philistines had encamped in the Valley of the Giants,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	11	16	and David kept close in his stronghold. The Philistines had a garrison at this time in Bethlehem;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	11	17	and now David, overcome with longing, said aloud, Oh for a cup of water from the well by Bethlehem gate!
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	11	18	Whereupon the three champions broke through the Philistine lines, drew water from the well by the gate of Bethlehem, and brought it to David. Instead of drinking it, he poured it out as a libation to the Lord;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	11	19	As God sees me, he cried, never that! That were to drink men’s blood; they brought it to me at the peril of their lives; it is not for my drinking. Such were the feats of the first three champions.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	11	20	Abisai, too, Joab’s brother, was one of three champions; with his own spear he engaged three hundred men and slew them.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	11	21	A great name he had as one of the second three, among whom he was foremost, leading the others, but he could not rival the first three.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	11	22	There was Banaias, too, whose father, Joiada of Cabseel, was a warrior famous for his exploits. Banaias it was that slew the two Heroes of Moab; he also went down into a cavern on a day of snow, and killed a lion there.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	11	23	And there was an Egyptian he slew; a man five cubits high, that carried a spear as big as a weaver’s beam; Banaias went into battle with a club, and killed the Egyptian with his own spear, wresting it from his hand.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	11	24	Such were the feats of Banaias son of Joiada; he too was famous as one of the three champions,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	11	25	and of foremost rank among the Thirty, but he could not rival the first three. He was the man David appointed to carry out his secret commands.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	11	26	And these were great warriors in David’s army, Asahel, Joab’s brother, and his cousin Elchanan of Bethlehem,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	11	27	Sammoth from Aror, Helles from Phalon,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	11	28	Ira son of Acces from Thecua, Abiezer from Anathoth,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	11	29	Sobbochai from Husath, Ilai the Ahohite,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	11	30	Maharai the Netophathite, and Heled son of Baana, also from Netophath,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	11	31	Ethai son of Ribai from Gabaath in Benjamin, Banaia the Pharathonite,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	11	32	Hurai from the valley of Gaas, Abiel the Arbathite, Azmoth the Bauramite, Eliaba from Salaboni,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	11	33	the sons of Assem (that was a Gezonite), Jonathan son of Sage, the Ararite,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	11	34	another Ararite, Ahiam son of Sachar,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	11	35	Eliphal the son of Ur,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	11	36	Hepher the Mecherathite, Ahia the Phelonite,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	11	37	Hesro of Carmel, Naarai son of Asbai,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	11	38	Joel that was brother to Nathan, Mibahar son of Agarai,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	11	39	Selec the Ammonite, Naharai the Berothite (that was squire to Joab son of Sarvia),
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	11	40	the Jethrites Ira and Gareb,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	11	41	Urias the Hethite, Zabad son of Oholi,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	11	42	the Rubenite Adina son of Siza, that led a band of thirty Rubenites,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	11	43	Hanan son of Maacha, Josaphat the Mathanite,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	11	44	Ozia the Astarothite, Samma and Jehiel the sons of Hotham (that was an Arorite),
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	11	45	Jedihel son of Samri and his brother Joha, from Thosa,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	11	46	Eliel the Mahumite, Jeribai and Josaia the sons of Elnaem, Jethma the Moabite, Eliel, Obed, and Jasiel from Masobia.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	12	1	Here are the names of the men who rallied to David’s side at Siceleg, while he was yet being hunted down by Saul, the son of Cis; brave men all, and tried warriors,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	12	2	archers, too, that could sling stone or shoot arrow as well with the left hand as with the right; fellow tribesmen of Saul himself, from Benjamin.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	12	3	Ahiezer and his brother Joas, the sons of Samaa, from Gabaath; Jaziel and Phallet, sons of Asmoth; Baracha, Jehu of Anathoth,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	12	4	Samaias of Gabaon (one of the thirty chiefs, with thirty men behind him), Jeremias, Jeheziel, Johanan, Jezabad of Gaderoth,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	12	5	Eluzai, Jerimuth, Baalia, Samaria, Saphatia the Haruphite,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	12	6	Elcana, Jesia, Azareel, the Carehites Joezer and Jesbaam,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	12	7	Joela, and Zabadia that was son to Jeroham of Gedor.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	12	8	There were men of Gad, too, that went over to David’s allegiance when he was taking refuge in the desert, strong men, brave warriors, armed with shield and spear; no lion so terrible of aspect, no hind on the mountains so fleet of foot.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	12	9	These were their names in order of rank, Ezer, Obdias, Eliab,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	12	10	Masmana, Jeremias,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	12	11	Ethi, Eliel,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	12	12	Johanan, Elzebad,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	12	13	Jeremias, Machbanai.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	12	14	All these eleven were Gadites, and all held command, the last with a hundred men under him, the first with a thousand.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	12	15	It was in the first month, a time of flood, that they came across Jordan; and all the dwellers in those valleys, east and west of it, fled at their coming.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	12	16	There were others that came to the stronghold where David lay, from Benjamin and Juda.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	12	17	To these David said, as he went out to meet them, If you come as friends, to aid me, knit be my heart with yours; if you are abetting my enemies, by laying a trap for an innocent man, then may the Lord God of our fathers look down and judge between us.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	12	18	With that, inspired to utterance, Amasai answered him, that was one of the thirty chiefs: Thine, David, we are; with thee, son of Jesse, our lot is cast. Peace be to thee, peace to all who take part with thee; thou hast thy God with thee, taking thy part. So David welcomed them, and made them captains in his army.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	12	19	And there were Manassites that went over to David; this was at the time when he would march out with the Philistines against Saul, but bring them aid he might not; the Philistine chiefs agreed to send him home, fearing he might go back to Saul’s allegiance, to their great peril.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	12	20	So he had returned to Siceleg before these men of Manasses reached him, Ednas, Jozabad, Jedihel, Michael, (Ednas, Jozabad,) Eliu and Salathi, all chiefs of battalion among the Manassites.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	12	21	Brave warriors these were, and helped David to make war on the freebooters, as captains in his army.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	12	22	And now no day could pass but it brought David fresh allies, till his company reached great strength, like a host of God’s own mustering.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	12	23	And here is the muster-roll of the armed men who came to find David in Hebron, and make him heir, as the Lord had promised, to Saul’s kingdom.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	12	24	There were six thousand eight hundred men of Juda that bore shield and sword, all in battle array;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	12	25	Simeon sent seven thousand one hundred fighting men,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	12	26	and Levi four thousand six hundred.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	12	27	(Among these were Joiada, chief of Aaron’s clan, with three thousand seven hundred at his back,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	12	28	and Sadoc, a young man of rare promise, with twenty-two other chieftains, his kinsmen.)
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	12	29	Saul’s tribe of Benjamin sent but three thousand, since the greater part of them were loyal to Saul’s race;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	12	30	Ephraim twenty thousand eight hundred, men well known among their clans for their prowess in war;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	12	31	and from the western half of Manasses came eighteen thousand, each one of them sworn to make David king.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	12	32	From Issachar came two hundred clan chiefs, men of good parts, that could give sure advice to Israel as the times demanded; the rest of their tribe was of the same mind with them.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	12	33	From Zabulon, fifty thousand fighting men, all armed for battle, rallied to David with loyalty unfeigned.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	12	34	Nephthali sent a thousand chiefs, in command of thirty-seven thousand that carried shield and spear;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	12	35	Dan twenty-eight thousand six hundred men in arms;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	12	36	and Aser forty thousand warriors prepared to do battle.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	12	37	Besides these, there were a hundred and twenty thousand men in battle array from the tribes beyond Jordan, Ruben and Gad and the eastern half of Manasses.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	12	38	So many armed warriors came to Hebron with loyal hearts, there to make David king of all Israel; and the rest of Israel, too, had but one thought, that David should be king.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	12	39	There they spent three whole days in the royal presence, and of food and drink had no lack, so well had their fellow tribesmen made provision for them;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	12	40	nay, there were asses and camels and mules and oxen bringing them food from their neighbours, as far away as Issachar, Zabulon and Nephthali; flour and figs and raisins and wine and oil; cattle, too and rams they had in great abundance. Such high festival they kept in the land of Israel.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	13	1	And now, taking counsel first with his captains and commanders and all the men of rank,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	13	2	David had a word for the whole assembly of the Israelites: What say you, does it come from God, this thought of mine? How if we should send word to the rest of our brethren, all over the land of Israel, the priests, too, and the Levites, where they dwell clustered round their cities, bidding them all muster here,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	13	3	and help us bring home the ark of our God? Never, in Saul’s days, have we had recourse to it.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	13	4	To this, there was no voice but was raised in agreement; here was a project that pleased all alike.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	13	5	So David summoned the whole people of Israel, from Sihor by Egypt right up to the pass of Emath, to help him bring back God’s ark from Cariathiarim.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	13	6	To Cariathiarim hill, in Juda’s country, they went up, great and small, to fetch the ark home, the ark which takes its name from the Lord God, dwelling there above it between the cherubim.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	13	7	And they carried it away from Abinadab’s house, putting it on a newly-made waggon, with Oza and Oza’s brother for its drivers.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	13	8	There were David and all the men of Israel, playing music at their best in the Lord’s presence, singing to harp and zither and tambour and cymbals and trumpet.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	13	9	They had reached the threshing-floor of Chidon, when one of the oxen, frisking as it went, tilted the ark a little to one side, whereupon Oza put out his hand to steady it.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	13	10	This rashness of his in touching the ark provoked the Lord’s anger; there, in the divine presence, the Lord smote him, and he fell dead.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	13	11	Great grief it was to David, this ruin the Lord had brought on Oza, and he called the place by the name it bears still, Oza’s Ruin.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	13	12	And a dread of the Lord came upon him that day; How shall I, he asked, give shelter to the Lord’s ark?
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	13	13	No longer was he minded to give the Lord’s ark a lodging in the Keep of David; he took it to the house of Obededom the Gethite instead.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	13	14	There, in the house of Obededom, the ark of God was left for three months, bringing a blessing upon all his household and all that was his.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	14	1	Hiram, too, king of Tyre, sent messages offering David cedar planks and car-penters and stone-masons, to build a house for him.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	14	2	No doubt could David have that the Lord had ratified his sovereignty over Israel, and made him the king of a great people.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	14	3	So, in Jerusalem, he provided himself with fresh wives, and had sons and daughters born to him.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	14	4	Jerusalem was the birth-place of Samua, Sobad, Nathan, Solomon,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	14	5	Jebahar, Elisua, (Eliphalet),
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	14	6	Noga, Napheg, Japhia,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	14	7	Elisama, Baaliada and Eliphalet.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	14	8	When news reached the Philistines that David had been anointed as king of all Israel, they mustered all their forces to hunt him down, and David, hearing of it, went out to meet them.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	14	9	They had come in and occupied the whole valley of Raphaim.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	14	10	Thereupon David consulted the Lord; should he attack the Philistines? Would he be given the mastery? And he was bidden go to the attack; the Philistines would be at his mercy.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	14	11	And now they advanced to Baalpharasim, where David defeated them; The Lord has parted the enemy’s ranks before me, he said, as easily as water parts this way and that; so the place came by its name, Baalpharasim, The Master of the Breach.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	14	12	They left their idols behind them there, and David had these burnt.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	14	13	But once more the Philistines came to the attack, and occupied the Raphaim valley;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	14	14	and this time, when David asked counsel of God, the answer was, Do not go to the attack; withdraw first, and then come upon them from the direction of the pear-trees yonder.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	14	15	Wait till thou hearest, in the tops of the pear-trees, the sound of marching feet; then offer battle; it is a sign that the Lord marches on before thee, to smite down the army of the Philistines.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	14	16	So David did as the Lord had bidden him, and he drove the Philistines before him all the way from Gabaon to Gazera.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	14	17	After this, David’s renown was noised abroad everywhere, and the Lord struck terror of him into all the nations’ hearts.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	15	1	When he put up buildings in the Keep of David, he was careful to leave a plot of ground for God’s ark, and pitch a tent for it there.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	15	2	He thought to himself, too, God’s ark must not be carried this way and that by the first comer; the Levites, whom the Lord has chosen out to be his servants for all time, have the duty of carrying it.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	15	3	So now, summoning all Israel to Jerusalem, for the removal of the ark to the site he had prepared for it,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	15	4	he summoned among the rest Aaron’s descendants, and the Levites.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	15	5	There were a hundred and twenty Caathites, under Uriel,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	15	6	two hundred and twenty Merarites, under Asaia,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	15	7	a hundred and thirty Gersonites, under Joel,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	15	8	two hundred of Elisaphan’s clan, under Semeias,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	15	9	eighty of Hebron’s, under Eliel,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	15	10	and a hundred and twelve of Oziel’s, under Aminadab.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	15	11	These six David sent for, with the chief priests, Sadoc and Abiathar;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	15	12	You, he said, are the chiefs of the Levite clans; look well to it that you and your brethren are purified of all defilement before you bring the ark of the Lord God of Israel to the site prepared for it.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	15	13	Earlier, when you were not there, we brought on ourselves the Lord’s chastisement; there must be no such happening now, for want of due order taken.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	15	14	So priest and Levite cleansed themselves for carrying the ark of the Lord God of Israel;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	15	15	and the ark was carried by Levites, with poles resting on their shoulders, as Moses, speaking in the Lord’s name, had enjoined.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	15	16	Then David would have the Levite chiefs appoint some of their brethren to be singers, chanting there with instruments of music, zither and harp and cymbals, till heaven rang with the echoes of their rejoicing.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	15	17	So they appointed two Gersonites, Joel’s son Heman and Asaph son of Barachias, and Ethan, son of Casias, of the clan of Merari,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	15	18	with others of lesser degree, their fellow clansmen, Zacharias, Ben, Jaziel, Semiramoth, Jahiel, Ani, Eliab, Banaias, Maasias, Mathathias, Eliphalu, Macenias, Obededom and Jehiel, that all held the office of door-keeper.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	15	19	Of these singers, Heman, Asaph and Ethan beat cymbals together,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	15	20	Zacharias, Oziel, Semiramoth, Jahiel, Ani, Eliab, Maasias and Banaias played, on their zithers, the Alamoth,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	15	21	while Mathathias, Eliphalu, Macenias, Obededom, Jehiel and Ozaziu led the triumph-song, Seminith-fashion, with the harps they bore.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	15	22	And Chonenias, chief of the Levites, was burden-master, a burden-master chosen for his excellent skill.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	15	23	The doors of the ark were guarded by Barachias and Elcana;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	15	24	and there were seven priests, Sebenias, Josaphat, Nathanael, Amasai, Zacharias, Banaias and Eliezer, that blew trumpets before it. (And the doors of the ark were guarded by Obededom and Jehias. )
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	15	25	So with great rejoicing went David, and with him went all the elders of Israel and all his captains, to Obededom’s house, to fetch the ark that bears witness of the Lord’s covenant.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	15	26	And as the Lord sped the Levites on their journey, with the ark for their load, seven bulls and seven rams were offered in sacrifice.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	15	27	Like the Levites who carried the ark, the singers, and Chonenias that went as burden-master among the singers, David was clad in a robe of lawn; and he had a mantle of linen as well.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	15	28	Thus all Israel brought the ark home, keeping high festival, to the sound of horn and trumpet and cymbals and zither and harp.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	15	29	Only Michal, Saul’s daughter, watching from her window as the ark reached David’s Citadel, thought scorn of king David as she saw him dancing and making music there.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	16	1	When the ark had been brought into the city, they set it up in the midst of the tabernacle which David had spread out for it, and brought burnt-sacrifices and welcome-offerings into the Lord’s presence there.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	16	2	And David, when his offering was done, blessed the people in the Lord’s name,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	16	3	and gave to every Israelite, man or woman, a roll of bread and a piece of roast beef and a flour cake fried in oil.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	16	4	Then he arranged that the Levites should serve by courses before the Lord’s ark, by courses, too, should bear record of his great deeds, and honour the Lord God of Israel with hymns of praise.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	16	5	Asaph came first of all, and Zacharias second; then Jahiel, Semiramoth, Jehiel, Mathathias, Eliab, Banaias and Obededom. Harp and zither should be Jehiel’s province, Asaph should make the cymbals echo again;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	16	6	Banaias and Jaziel, that were priests, should ever be in attendance on the Lord’s ark to sound the trumpet there.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	16	7	It was then that David gave Asaph and his brethren their first lesson in offering thanks to the Lord.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	16	8	Praise the Lord, and call upon his name; tell the story of his doings for all the nations to hear;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	16	9	greet him with song and psalm, recount his acts of miracle.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	16	10	Triumph in that holy name; let every heart that longs for the Lord rejoice.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	16	11	To the Lord, to the Lord’s strength, have recourse; evermore court his presence.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	16	12	Remember the marvellous acts he did, his miracles, his sentences of doom;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	16	13	are you not the posterity of Israel, his own servant, sons of that Jacob on whom his choice fell?
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	16	14	And he, the Lord, is our own God, wide though his writ runs through all the world.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	16	15	Keep in everlasting memory that covenant of his, that promise which a thousand generations might not cancel.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	16	16	He gave Abraham a promise, bound himself to Isaac by an oath;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	16	17	by that law Jacob should live, his Israel, engaged to him by an eternal covenant.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	16	18	To thee, he said, I will give the land of Chanaan, as the portion which thou and thine must one day inherit.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	16	19	So few they were in number, only a handful, living there as strangers!
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	16	20	And ever they passed on from country to country, the guests of king or people;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	16	21	but he suffered none to harm them; to kings themselves the warning came,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	16	22	Lay no hand on them, never hurt them, servants anointed and true spokesmen of mine.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	16	23	In the Lord’s honour, let the whole earth make melody; never cease bearing record of his power to save.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	16	24	Publish his glory among the heathen, his wonderful acts for all the world to hear.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	16	25	How great is the Lord, how worthy of honour! What other god is to be feared as he?
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	16	26	They are but false gods the heathen call divine; the Lord, not they, made the heavens.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	16	27	Honour and beauty wait on his presence; worship and magnificence are the attendants of his shrine.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	16	28	Lands of the heathen, make your offering to the Lord, an offering to the Lord of glory and praise,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	16	29	an offering of glory to the Lord’s name; bring sacrifice, come into his presence; with reverent grace worship the Lord.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	16	30	Before the Lord let the whole earth bow in awe; he has built the earth on foundations immovable.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	16	31	Rejoice, heaven, and let the earth be glad; tell the heathen, The Lord is king now.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	16	32	Let the sea, and all the sea contains, give thunderous applause; smiling the fields, and all the burden they bear;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	16	33	no tree in the forest but will sing for joy to greet its Lord’s coming. He comes to judge the earth.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	16	34	Praise the Lord, the Lord is gracious; his mercy endures for ever.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	16	35	Cry we to God, our deliverer, Deliver us now, gather us again in safety, scattered as we are among the heathen, to praise thy holy name, to triumph in thy renown.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	16	36	Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, from all eternity to all eternity; let all the people cry, Amen, hymning the Lord.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	16	37	So he left Asaph and his brethren there, with the ark that bears witness of the Lord’s covenant, to attend it by turns on their appointed days.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	16	38	Obededom and his brethren, sixty-eight of them …. And he made Obededom, son of Idithun, and Hosa door-keepers.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	16	39	Sadoc and the other priests, his brethren, were left with the tabernacle, at the hill-sanctuary of Gabaon,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	16	40	ever to offer the Lord victims on the altar of burnt-sacrifice, morning and evening; such was the charge the Lord had laid on Israel.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	16	41	And with Sadoc were Heman and Idithun, and others of less name, chosen to give the Lord thanks for his everlasting mercy;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	16	42	it was for Heman and Idithun to sound the trumpet and beat the cymbals at the divine music, and Idithun’s sons he made door-keepers.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	16	43	And so the people dispersed to their homes, and David himself went back to bless his own household.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	17	1	Now that David had a palace of his own to dwell in, he said to the prophet Nathan, Here am I dwelling in a house all of cedar, while the ark that bears witness of the Lord’s covenant has nothing better than curtains of hide to cover it!
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	17	2	And Nathan answered, Fulfil thy own purpose; the Lord is with thee.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	17	3	But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	17	4	Go and give my servant David a message from the Lord: Not thine to build me a house to dwell in.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	17	5	House was never mine, since I rescued the sons of Israel from Egypt; still in a tabernacle, a wanderer’s home, I journeyed this way and that,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	17	6	ever at Israel’s side. Now to this ruler, now to that, I gave the leadership of my people Israel, and never did I reproach any of them for not building me a house of cedar.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	17	7	This message, then, thou wilt give to my servant David from the Lord of hosts: Out in the pasture-lands, where thou wast tending the sheep, I summoned thee away to bear rule over my people Israel;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	17	8	go where thou wouldst, I was ever at thy side, exterminating thy enemies to make room for thee, granting thee such renown as only comes to the greatest on earth.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	17	9	Henceforth my people are to have a settled home, taking root in it and remaining in undisturbed possession of it, no longer harassed by godless neighbours, as they have been
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	17	10	ever since I first gave Israel judges to rule them. Now, I have crushed all thy enemies, and this too thou must know, that the Lord means to grant thy line continuance.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	17	11	So, when thy days are ended, and thou hast become part of thy race, I will grant thee for successor a son of thy own body, established firmly on his throne.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	17	12	He it is that shall build me a house. I will prolong for ever his royal dynasty;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	17	13	he shall find in me a father, and I in him a son. I will not cancel my merciful promises to him, as I cancelled my promise to the king who went before thee.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	17	14	Sovereignty undisturbed I will give him among this people of mine, in this kingdom of mine, for ever; his throne, to endless time, is secure.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	17	15	All this message, all this revelation, was handed on by Nathan to king David.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	17	16	And David went into the Lord’s presence, and betook himself to prayer: Lord God, he said, that one such as I am, sprung from such a house as mine, should receive such gifts!
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	17	17	But it was not enough, thou wouldst do more, wouldst foretell the destiny of thy servant’s line in days far hence; Lord God, thou hast honoured me as no man ever yet was honoured.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	17	18	No words can thy servant David find; such glory thou dost grant, such favour thou dost shew him.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	17	19	Lord, thou wilt have thy great deeds known, and it has been thy pleasure to do great things in thy servant’s behalf;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	17	20	none is like thee, Lord, thou alone art God, read we the history of past days aright.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	17	21	Can any other nation say, like thy people Israel, that its God came to buy it back for himself as his own people, as thou didst, in rescuing us from Egypt, in dispossessing the nations, through thy dread power, to make room for us?
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	17	22	So thou didst pledge this people of Israel to be thy people eternally, and thou, Lord, didst become their God.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	17	23	This promise then, Lord, which thou hast made concerning thy servant and his line, do thou for ever fulfil; make thy word good,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	17	24	so that thy name may for ever live, for ever be glorified. In one breath let men say, Israel has the Lord of hosts for its God, and, Through his favour, the dynasty of his servant David ever abides.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	17	25	O Lord my God, thou hast given me secret knowledge of thy will, promised me a long posterity; what wonder that I am emboldened to make this prayer before thee?
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	17	26	So be it, Lord; thou art God, and it is thy word that promises thy servant such bounty;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	17	27	thou dost vouchsafe to bless his line and keep it always under thy protection; through this blessing of thine my race shall be blessed for ever.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	18	1	After this, David defeated the Philistines and brought their pride low; wrested from them, too, the possession of Geth and its daughter cities.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	18	2	He also defeated Moab, and Moab became tributary to king David.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	18	3	He defeated Adarezer, king of Soba in the Hemath country, when he marched out to extend his domains up to the river Euphrates;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	18	4	a thousand chariots he took from him, with seven thousand horsemen, and twenty thousand that fought on foot, and cut the hamstrings of the horses, but kept a hundred teams for himself.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	18	5	When the Syrians of Damascus came out to reinforce Adarezer king of Soba, David routed their army of twenty-two thousand,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	18	6	and put a garrison of his own in Damascus, to make Syria his tributary vassal. In every enterprise he undertook, the Lord stood by him.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	18	7	All the golden trappings which Adarezer’s men wore, David carried off and brought to Jerusalem;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	18	8	from Thebath, too, and from Chun, cities in Adarezer’s dominion, he carried away great stores of bronze, that Solomon used afterwards for the basin, the pillars, and the other brazen furnishings of the temple.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	18	9	When the news of David’s victory over Adarezer’s forces reached Thou, king of Hemath,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	18	10	he sent his son Adoram to make a treaty with him, and to wish him well over the conquest and rout of Adarezer, who was Thou’s enemy.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	18	11	All the gold and silver and bronze ornaments, all the silver and the gold he took from so many nations, Edomites, Moabites, Ammonites, Philistines and Amalecites, king David consecrated to the Lord.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	18	12	It was Abisai, son of Sarvia, that defeated eighteen thousand Edomites in the Valley of the Salt-pits,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	18	13	and put a garrison in Edom to secure its loyalty to king David. Thus the Lord protected David in all his enterprises;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	18	14	the whole of Israel was under his rule, and to all his people he administered justice and gave award.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	18	15	His army was commanded by Joab, son of Sarvia, and Josaphat, son of Ahilud, kept the records;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	18	16	the priests were Sadoc, son of Achitob, and Achimelech, son of Abiathar, and Susa was secretary;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	18	17	Banaias, son of Joiada was at the head of the Cerethites and Phelethites, and David’s sons, too, held high office about the king’s person.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	19	1	When Naas, king of the Ammonites, died, and his son came to the throne,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	19	2	David thought to himself, I will shew friendliness to Hanon, as his father Naas did to me; and he dispatched envoys to condole with him over his father’s death. But when these reached the Ammonite country on their mission,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	19	3	the chiefs there said to Hanon, What, David send messengers to comfort thee, in honour of thy father’s memory? Nay, if he has sent men here, they are spies ready to search thy land and make report on it.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	19	4	So Hanon robbed David’s men of their shoes, shaved them, and cut off the skirts of their clothes, feet to buttocks, and in that guise sent them back.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	19	5	When the news reached him of their return, David sent to meet them, covered with confusion as they were, and bade them wait in Jericho, not returning home until their beards were grown again.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	19	6	Meanwhile Hanon and the Ammonites, well aware that they had made an enemy of David, sent and hired mercenaries, with a thousand talents of silver, from Mesopotamia, and the Syrians of Maacha, and from Soba, with chariots, too, and horsemen.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	19	7	Thirty-two thousand they hired, as well as the king of Maacha with his army; all these came and pitched their tents before Medaba, and the Ammonites themselves left their cities, to offer battle.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	19	8	Upon hearing the news, David sent the whole of his forces to engage them, under Joab.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	19	9	The Ammonites had come out from the city, and drawn up their line at its gates; the kings who had come to aid them were at a distance, out in the open country.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	19	10	And Joab, seeing that he would be attacked both in front and from the rear, chose the best of his troops and led them out against the Syrians,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	19	11	leaving the rest, under his brother Abisai, to march against the Ammonites.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	19	12	Bring me aid, said Joab, if the Syrians are too strong for me, and I, if the Ammonites have the mastery, will bring thee aid instead.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	19	13	Play the man; fight we valiantly for our people, and for the city walls that are sacred to our God; the Lord’s will be done.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	19	14	So Joab and his men engaged the Syrians and routed them;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	19	15	and the Ammonites, seeing the Syrians in full flight, gave way in their turn before the onslaught of his brother Abisai, retreating into the city. Thereupon Joab went back to Jerusalem.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	19	16	Thus defeated, the Syrians dispatched messengers and brought their fellow tribesmen on the further side of the river to their aid; Sophach, Adarezer’s general, was in command of them.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	19	17	David, as soon as he heard the news, mustered the whole forces of Israel, and marched across the Jordan; he went straight to the attack, and they, seeing him drawn up in battle array, prepared to meet him.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	19	18	But the Syrians were routed by Israel, with a loss of seven thousand chariots and forty thousand foot soldiers; Sophach himself was among the slain.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	19	19	And now all the vassals of Adarezer, seeing that they were no match for Israel, went over to David and became his subjects; and no more was heard of the Syrians bringing aid to the men of Ammon.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	20	1	And now spring returned, the time when kings march out to battle; and Joab mustered an army, the pick of all the fighting men, to ravage the Ammonite territory. He marched against Rabba and laid siege to it; nor had David himself yet left Jerusalem when Joab overcame Rabba and destroyed it.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	20	2	David took the crown from Melchom’s image, which he found to be of a full talent’s weight, set with the rarest jewels, and made himself a crown out of it; much spoil he took from the city besides.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	20	3	As for the people in the city, he brought them out and had harrows and sleds and chariots of iron driven over them, till they lay cut to pieces or crushed, and the same treatment he gave to all the cities of Ammon. Then he and all his men returned to Jerusalem.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	20	4	There was another battle against the Philistines at Gazer, in which Sobochai the Husathite overcame them, slaying Saphai, that was of the Raphaim breed;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	20	5	and another in which Elehanan the son of Jair slew the brother of Goliath the Gethite, that had a shaft to his spear big as a weaver’s beam.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	20	6	In another battle, at Geth, there was a man of huge stature that had twelve fingers and twelve toes; he too was of the Rapha breed;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	20	7	and when he challenged the Israelites, Jonathan, son of David’s brother Samaa, smote him down. All these were Raphites from Geth, all slain by David and his men.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	21	1	But now Satan disturbed the peace of Israel, by inciting David to make a re-gister of the people.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	21	2	From David the word came to Joab and to the rulers of the people, Go through all the tribes from Dan to Bersabee, make a muster-roll, and let me know the full tale of them.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	21	3	Why, said Joab, my prayer is that the Lord may increase the number of his people a hundredfold. But, my lord king, are we not all at thy service? What need, my lord, to carry out such a design as may bring guilt on the whole of Israel?
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	21	4	But the king’s will might not be thwarted; so Joab left his presence to make a review of the whole country, and when he came back to Jerusalem
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	21	5	he handed in to David the number of those he had registered; the full muster-roll was one million one hundred thousand that bore arms in Israel, with four hundred and seventy thousand in Juda.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	21	6	Levi and Benjamin were never counted, so loth was Joab to execute the king’s will.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	21	7	But meanwhile, in his displeasure at the command given, the Lord had begun to smite down Israel;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	21	8	whereupon David confessed to the Lord, I have sinned greatly in what I have done; give my sin quittance; I have played a fool’s part.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	21	9	And the word of the Lord came to Gad, that was David’s seer,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	21	10	Go and give David this message from the Lord; Here are three choices I grant thee, to choose thy own punishment.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	21	11	So Gad presented himself before David, bidding him in the Lord’s name make his choice.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	21	12	Wilt thou have three years of famine, he asked, or three months of flight before thy enemies, and yet no escape, or three days in which the Lord’s own sword of pestilence shall pass through the land, his angel dealing death all through the realm of Israel? Think well, and tell me what answer I shall make to him whose message I bear.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	21	13	I am hard pressed on all sides, David told him; but it is better to fall into the hands of the Lord, so rich is he in mercy, than into the hands of men.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	21	14	So the Lord sent a plague on Israel, by which seventy thousand men perished.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	21	15	But when his angel reached Jerusalem, ready to carry out his errand and smite it, the Lord was moved with pity over their great calamity; and he said to the angel that would have smitten them, It is enough, stay thy hand. The angel of the Lord stood close, then, to the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	21	16	and David, looking up, saw him standing there with drawn sword between heaven and earth, with his face towards Jerusalem. At that, both he and all the elders, that went clad in sack-cloth, fell prostrate on the ground.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	21	17	Nay, said David to the Lord, was it not at my command that the muster-roll was taken? The sin is mine, the fault is mine; these poor sheep of mine, what wrong have they done? Against me turn thy hand, O Lord my God, and against my father’s race; let the people be smitten no more.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	21	18	Then, at the bidding of the Lord’s angel, Gad would have David go up to Ornan’s threshing-floor and build an altar there to the Lord his God;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	21	19	and Gad’s word, that was the Lord’s word, the king made haste to obey.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	21	20	Ornan and his four sons, that were threshing wheat there, had hidden themselves upon sight of the angel standing above them;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	21	21	but now, as he saw David approaching, Ornan went to meet him, and did reverence, bowing down to earth.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	21	22	Give me, David said, this site of thy threshing-floor, to build an altar to the Lord here; ask what price thou wilt, only let the people be plagued no more.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	21	23	Why, said Ornan, let the king’s grace take all he needs and do what he will with it; here are oxen for the sacrifice, here is the sled for kindling-wood, here is corn for the offering; most readily I make the gift of them all.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	21	24	Nay, said the king, I must pay thee their price in money; should I accept them from thee, and offer the Lord a sacrifice which costs me nothing?
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	21	25	So David paid Ornan six hundred golden sicles, duly weighed out, for the price of his land;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	21	26	and there he built an altar to the Lord, and brought burnt-sacrifice and welcome-offering. Fire came down from heaven upon his altar of burnt-sacrifice, to prove the divine acceptance of his plea;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	21	27	and with that, at the Lord’s bidding, the angel put his sword back in its sheath.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	21	28	So David, finding that the Lord had granted his prayer upon Ornan’s threshing-floor, offered more victims there.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	21	29	As for the tabernacle which Moses made for the Lord in the wilderness, and its altar of burnt-sacrifice, they were still, at this time, in the hill-sanctuary at Gabaon;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	21	30	and to that altar David might not repair, in his need of the Lord’s help, so adread was he of the sword which the angel of the Lord carried.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	22	1	Here, said David, is the Lord’s home; here Israel shall find an altar for its burnt-sacrifices.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	22	2	And thereupon he held a muster of all the men of alien birth that dwelt in Israel, and chose out from these masons that should cut and dress the stone for building God’s house.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	22	3	It was David that procured iron in abundance for door-nail and flange and socket, a weight of bronze, too, beyond all reckoning;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	22	4	nor was there any counting the cedar planks that were provided for David by the men of Sidon and Tyre.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	22	5	My son Solomon, thought he, is but a boy and still untried; and this house I mean to have built for the Lord must be such that all the world tells of its renown; I must store up for him what he needs. So it was that before his death he had all the preparations made for it.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	22	6	Then he summoned the young prince and laid a charge upon him, bidding him build a house for the Lord God of Israel.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	22	7	My son, he told him, it was my thought to have built such a house myself, to be a shrine for the name of the Lord my God; but this message came to me from the Lord:
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	22	8	Blood thou hast spilt in rivers and wars thou hast waged a many; not for thee to build me a house, that comest before me with so much blood on thy hands.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	22	9	Thou shalt have a son born to thee whose reign shall be all peace; on every side I will secure his frontiers from attack, and he will be well named Solomon, the Peaceful, such untroubled ease shall Israel enjoy during his reign.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	22	10	He it is that shall build a house to be the shrine of my name; I shall find in him a son, and he in me a father, and I will maintain his dynasty on the throne of Israel for all time.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	22	11	Courage, then, my son; the Lord be with thee, and prosper thou ever. Build a house for the Lord thy God, as he himself has promised;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	22	12	and may he grant thee prudence and discernment, in ruling thy people of Israel and in holding fast by the law of the Lord thy God.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	22	13	Do thou but keep decree and award of his, handed on through Moses to Israel, and all shall be well with thee; play the man, and keep thy courage high, never doubting, never daunted.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	22	14	My hard-earned store thou hast, to build the house with; a hundred thousand talents of gold, and a million talents of silver, bronze and iron of what weight I know not, past all reckoning; wood and stone too I have made ready against all thy needs.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	22	15	Many workmen thou hast in thy service, stone-cutters and stone-masons and carpenters, and masters of every craft to work for thee,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	22	16	fashioning the gold and silver, the bronze and iron, that passes all reckoning. To the task, then! The Lord will be ever at thy side.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	22	17	On all the rulers of Israel David laid the same charge, bidding them lend Solomon their aid.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	22	18	You can see for yourselves, he told them, that the Lord your God is with you; has he not secured all your frontiers from attack, and given you the mastery over your enemies, so that the whole land now gives ready obedience to the Lord and to the Lord’s people?
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	22	19	Give yourselves, then, heart and soul, to the following of the Lord your God; bestir yourselves, and build the Lord God a sanctuary, a house dedicated to his name, where the ark that bears witness of the Lord’s covenant, and all the holy things consecrated to him, may find a resting-place.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	23	1	David was already an old man, and near his end, and had already designated his son Solomon as king of Israel,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	23	2	when he held this muster of the rulers, priests and Levites.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	23	3	There were thirty-eight thousand Levites over the age of thirty;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	23	4	twenty-four thousand of these were appointed to carry out various duties in the Lord’s house; of the rest, six thousand were rulers and judges,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	23	5	four thousand were porters, and as many more were musicians, to sound the Lord’s praises with the instruments David had made for psalmody.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	23	6	It was David who prescribed courses of service for the various Levite families, all coming down from Gerson, Caath, and Merari.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	23	7	From Gerson came Leedan and Semei,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	23	8	from Leedan Jahiel, Zethan and Joel,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	23	9	(from Semei Salomith, Hosiel and Aran; all these of Leedan’s race).
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	23	10	From Semei Leheth, Ziza, Jaus and Baria,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	23	11	the first two taking rank separately, while Jaus and Baria counted as one family, so few were their descendants.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	23	12	From Caath came Amram, Isaar, Hebron and Oziel,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	23	13	from Amram Aaron and Moses. Aaron and his sons were set apart to serve in the inner sanctuary for all time, to make the Lord due offering of incense and pronounce eternal blessing in his name.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	23	14	Moses, too, the man of God’s choice, had descendants who were reckoned among the Levites;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	23	15	from him came Gersom and Eliezer.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	23	16	Gersom’s first-born son was Subuel,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	23	17	and Eliezer’s Rohobia; Eliezer had no other sons, but he had many descendants through Rohobia.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	23	18	Isaar’s first-born son was called Salomith.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	23	19	From Hebron came Jeriau, Amarias, Jahaziel and Jecmaan,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	23	20	from Oziel Micha and Jesia.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	23	21	From Merari came Moholi and Musi, from Moholi Eleazar and Cis;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	23	22	of these, Eleazar died without male issue, but his daughters married their cousins, the sons of Cis.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	23	23	Musi’s sons were Moholi, Eder and Jerimoth.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	23	24	Clan and family of the Levites, their courses named after these clan chieftains, used to do duty in the Lord’s house after reaching the age of twenty;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	23	25	the Lord God of Israel, thought David, has given his people a resting-place, and made Jerusalem their home for ever;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	23	26	no more need of Levites to carry the tabernacle and all its furniture this way and that.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	23	27	It was by David’s last dispositions that the Levites were registered as soon as they reached the age of twenty.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	23	28	They were to assist the sons of Aaron in the care of the Lord’s temple, in court and chamber, wash-house and shrine, wherever their service was needed.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	23	29	There was work (for the priests) to do in setting out the consecrated loaves, looking after the unleavened cakes, the frying and the roasting, the weights and the measures.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	23	30	There was work to do (for the Levites) in waiting upon the Lord with songs of praise morning and evening;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	23	31	there was burnt-sacrifice to be offered on sabbaths, and at the new moon, and on all other days of solemnity; every occasion had its due ceremonies that must still be carried out in the Lord’s presence.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	23	32	The tabernacle with its usages, the sanctuary with its worship, the needs of their brethren, the sons of Aaron, as they ministered in the Lord’s house, were all in the Levites’ charge.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	24	1	The descendants of Aaron were also divided into separate clans. Of Aaron’s sons,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	24	2	Nadab and Abiu predeceased him, dying childless, so the priesthood passed to Eleazar and Ithamar.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	24	3	Sadoc represented the sons of Eleazar, and Achimelech the sons of Ithamar, when David appointed them the different duties they were to perform;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	24	4	and it proved there was no parity in their numbers, the division must take place between sixteen heads of families in Eleazar’s clan, eight in Ithamar’s.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	24	5	The order of these families was arranged by lot, the heads of families in either clan taking rank as overseers of the sanctuary and of all divine things.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	24	6	In the presence of the king and his nobles, of the high priest Sadoc, Abiathar’s son Achimelech, and all the heads of the priestly and Levitical families, the Levite scribe Semeias, son of Nathanael, inscribed the names, precedence being given first to one of Eleazar’s households, then to one of Ithamar’s.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	24	7	And the lot gave the names in this order: Joiarib, Jedei,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	24	8	Harim, Seorim,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	24	9	Melchia, Maiman,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	24	10	Accos, Abia,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	24	11	Jesua, Sechenia,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	24	12	Eliasib, Jacim,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	24	13	Hoppha, Isbaab,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	24	14	Belga, Emmer,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	24	15	Hezir, Aphses,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	24	16	Pheteia, Hezechiel,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	24	17	Jachin, Gamul,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	24	18	Dalaiau, Maaziau.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	24	19	These were the courses under which they exercised their office in turn, duly entering the Lord’s house after the manner prescribed by their father Aaron at the bidding of the Lord God of Israel.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	24	20	Among the other Levite clans, the following gave their names to courses; of Amram’s sons, Subael, of Subael’s, Jehedeia,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	24	21	of Rohobia’s, Jesias,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	24	22	of Isaar’s, Salemoth and his son Jahath, …
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	24	23	and his four sons, Jeriau, Amarias, Jahaziel and Jecmaan;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	24	24	of Oziel’s, Micha, his son Samir,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	24	25	his brother Jesia and Jesia’s son Zacharias.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	24	26	Of Merari’s Moholi and Musi, … Benno son of Oziau …
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	24	27	Oziau son of Merari … Soam, Zachur and Hebri …
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	24	28	(Moholi had a son Eleazar who died without issue) …
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	24	29	Jerameel son of Cis.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	24	30	And of Musi’s sons, Moholi, Eder and Jerimoth. Thus were Levi’s descendants arranged by clans;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	24	31	and these too, in the presence of king David, and Sadoc, and Achimelech, and all the chiefs of the priestly and Levitical families, drew lots to match their brethren the sons of Aaron; greater or less, all must abide by the lot’s arbitrament.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	25	1	Next, David and his captains set apart the sons of Asaph, Heman and Idithun to give praise with harp and zither and cymbals, each fulfilling their appointed office in turn.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	25	2	The sons of Asaph, Zacchur, Joseph, Nathania and Asarela were under the direction of their father, that took his commands from the king.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	25	3	The six sons of Idithun, Godolias, Sori, Jeseias, (Semeias), Hasabias and Mathathias, were under the direction of their father Idithun, that played the harp while they sang the Lord’s praise.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	25	4	Heman’s sons were called Bocciau, Mathaniau, Oziel, Subuel, Jerimoth, Hananias, Hanani, Eliatha, Geddelthi, Romemthiezer, Jesbacassa, Mellothi, Othir and Mahazioth.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	25	5	This Heman was the king’s seer, interpreting the divine utterance to him; and God had made him the proud father of all these; fourteen sons he gave him and three daughters.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	25	6	Thus were the sons of Asaph, Idithun and Heman marshalled, at the king’s express order, for their temple service of making music with cymbals, harp and zither.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	25	7	The whole number, including those brethren of theirs who had skill in the divine chant, all masters of their craft, was two hundred and eighty-eight;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	25	8	and they cast lots for the order in which they were to take turns, without regard to seniority or to skill.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	25	9	The first lot fell to Joseph, that was of Asaph’s clan. Of the rest, each had twelve more, his brethren and his sons, associated with him; their names were Godolias,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	25	10	Zacchur,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	25	11	Sori,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	25	12	Nathania,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	25	13	Bocciau,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	25	14	Oziel,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	25	15	Jesaias,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	25	16	Mathaniau,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	25	17	Semeias,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	25	18	Asarela,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	25	19	Hasabias,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	25	20	Subuel,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	25	21	Mathathias,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	25	22	Jerimoth,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	25	23	Hananias,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	25	24	Jesbacassa,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	25	25	Hanani,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	25	26	Mellothi,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	25	27	Eliatha,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	25	28	Othir,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	25	29	Geddelthi,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	25	30	Mahazioth,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	25	31	Romemthiezer.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	26	1	The door-keepers, too, were divided into families. For the Corites, there was Meselemia, a son of Asaph,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	26	2	and his seven sons, Zacharias, Jadihel, Zabadias, Jathanael,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	26	3	Aelam, Johanan and Elioenai;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	26	4	together with the eight sons of Obededom, Semeias, Jozabad, Joaha, Sachar, Nathanael,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	26	5	Ammiel, Issachar and Phollathi; such blessing had Obededom from the Lord.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	26	6	His grandsons, too, through Semeias, were tried warriors and heads of separate families,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	26	7	Othni, and his warrior brothers, Raphael, Obed, Elzabad, Eliu, and Samachias.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	26	8	All these were descended from Obededom, and with their sons and brethren, sturdy ministrants, they made a company of sixty-two;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	26	9	the descendants of Meselemia, with their sons and brethren, valorous men too, were but twenty-eight.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	26	10	And for Merari there were the sons of Hosa; their father, his first-born lost, gave the chief place among them to Semri;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	26	11	the others were Helcias, Tabelias and Zacharias. Sons and brethren Hosa had in all thirteen.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	26	12	These were the men appointed to serve as commanders of the temple watch, sharing the duty with their brethren.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	26	13	Lots were cast between the various families, without regard to seniority, and so the various gates were assigned to them;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	26	14	the eastern side fell to Meselemias, the northern to his son Zacharias, a shrewd man and skilful;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	26	15	the south, where the elders sat in council, to Obededom’s family,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	26	16	(to Sephim and) to Hosa the western side by the gate at the head of the ascent; to each family its own watch.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	26	17	Each day there must be six Levites on guard to the east, four to the north, four to the south, with two more on each side of the council-chamber,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	26	18	and on the west, where the door-keepers had their guard-rooms, four without and two in either guard-room.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	26	19	Thus were duties assigned to the door-keepers, all of the Corite and Merarite families.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	26	20	The Levites, too, under Achias, had charge of the temple treasury, and of the votive offerings.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	26	21	Some of these came down from Ledan, son of Gersom; the heads of their families were named after Jehiel, who was descended from Gersom by Ledan,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	26	22	and Jehiel’s two sons, Zathan and Joel. These families had the permanent treasures of the Lord’s house in their charge, representing the whole Caathite clan,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	26	23	Amramites, Isaarites, Hebronites and Ozihelites alike;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	26	24	and the treasurer was Subael, descended through Gersom from Moses.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	26	25	Meanwhile Gersom’s brother Eliezer was represented by Selemith, his descendant through Rahabia, Isaias, Joram and Zechri;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	26	26	it was Selemith and his kindred that were treasurers of the votive offerings made by king David, by head of clan and captain and chief and general under him;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	26	27	out of their wars and the spoils of their wars, they made these offerings for the maintenance and furnishing of the Lord’s house.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	26	28	There was much that had been dedicated by the prophet Samuel, by Saul the son of Cis, Abner son of Ner, and Joab son of Sarvia; everything so dedicated was under the care of Selemith and his kindred.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	26	29	The Isaarite clan, under Chonenias and his sons, had the affairs of Israel, beyond the confines of the city, in their charge, as teachers and judges;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	26	30	and for the Lord’s service and the king’s business in general the Hebronites, a thousand and seven hundred active men under Hasabias and his brethren, commanded the whole of Israel west of the Jordan.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	26	31	And of the Hebronites … with all their clans and families, Jeria was the chief. In the fortieth year of king David, a register was taken at Jazer in Galaad, and the active men of his clan,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	26	32	all in the prime of life, counted two thousand and seven hundred (heads of families). These, for the Lord’s service and for the king’s business, David put in charge of Ruben and Gad and the eastern half of Manasses.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	27	1	The men of Israel were marshalled under clan chiefs and commanders and captains; the king had, besides, his commissioners, serving him at the head of their several regiments. Each of them, with twenty-four thousand men under him, went on duty once a year and was relieved at the end of a month.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	27	2	The first regiment of twenty-four thousand was on duty in the first month, under Jesbaam son of Zabdiel;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	27	3	he was descended from Phares, and he took the first month as having precedence among the commissioners.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	27	4	The second regiment, in the second month, was under an Ahohite, Dudia, and afterwards under another called Macelloth.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	27	5	The third regiment was under Banaias son of Joiada, the king’s minister,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	27	6	the same Banaias that was a leader among the thirty, and had thirty under him; his son Amizabad commanded the regiment as his deputy.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	27	7	The fourth was under Joab’s brother Asahel, and afterwards under his son Zabadias;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	27	8	the fifth under Samaoth of Jezer;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	27	9	the sixth under a man of Thecua, Hira son of Acces;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	27	10	the seventh under the Phallonite Helles, from Ephraim;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	27	11	the eighth under Sabochai the Husathite, of the race of Zarahi;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	27	12	the ninth under Abiezer the man of Anathoth, from Benjamin;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	27	13	the tenth under Marai the Netophathite, of the race of Zarai;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	27	14	the eleventh under Banaias the Pharathonite, from Ephraim;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	27	15	the twelfth under Holdai the Netophathite, of the race of Gothoniel.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	27	16	Meanwhile the tribes had their own chiefs; Eliezer son of Zechri for Ruben, Saphatias son of Maacha for Simeon,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	27	17	Hasabias son of Camuel for Levi, Sadoc for the race of Aaron,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	27	18	Eliu, David’s brother, for Juda, Amri son of Michael for Issachar,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	27	19	Jesmaias son of Abdias for Zabulon, Jerimoth son of Ozriel for Nephthali,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	27	20	Osee son of Ozaziu for Ephraim, Joel son of Phadaia for western Manasses,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	27	21	Jaddo son of Zacharias for Manasses in Galaad, Jasiel son of Abner for Benjamin,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	27	22	and Ezrihel son of Jeroham for Dan; these were the chiefs of Israel.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	27	23	There was no register giving the number of Israelites under twenty years of age; had not the Lord promised that they should be countless as the stars of heaven?
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	27	24	And indeed, when Joab son of Sarvia went about to register them, he left the task incomplete, because of the divine vengeance that fell on Israel; thus the annals of king David do not give the full number of those registered.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	27	25	The controller of the king’s own treasure-house was Azmoth, son of Adiel; what was stored in cities, townships and fortresses was in the keeping of Jonathan, son of Ozias.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	27	26	As for husbandry, the farmers were under Ezri son of Chelub,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	27	27	the vine-growers under Semeias the Romathite, the cellarage under Zabdias the Aphonite,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	27	28	the olive and fig plantations all through the country-side under Balanan of Geder, the store-houses of oil under Joas.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	27	29	Care of the herds that grazed in Saron belonged to the Saronite Satrai, of the cattle in the low grounds, to Saphat son of Adli,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	27	30	of the camels to the Ismahelite Ubil, of the asses to Jadias the Meronathite,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	27	31	and of the sheep to Jaziz the Agarean. These were the controllers of the king’s property.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	27	32	David had an uncle called Jonathan, a prudent counsellor and a man of letters; he, with Jahiel son of Hachamoni, had charge of the royal princes.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	27	33	Achitophel was the king’s counsellor, and Chusai the Arachite held the title of king’s friend;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	27	34	after Achitophel came Banaias’ son Joiada, and Abiathar. And the army was commanded by Joab.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	28	1	All these notables of Israel king David now summoned to his presence, the clan chiefs, and the commissioners that were the king’s own servants; commanders and captains, controllers of the royal property, princes and chamberlains, all that was powerful and all that was valiant in the city of Jerusalem.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	28	2	Rose he, and stood before them; Listen, he said, fellow tribesmen of mine and true lieges. I thought to have built a house, in which the ark that bears witness to the Lord’s covenant should find a home, in which God’s feet should have their resting-place; and all that could be prepared to that end, prepare I did.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	28	3	But God warned me that it was not for me to build such a shrine for his name; I was a war-maker and a shedder of blood.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	28	4	Yet, when he would grant Israel an abiding dynasty, it was on me, alone of my father’s house, that his choice fell. Out of all the tribes he has chosen Juda, out of all Juda my father’s house; and of all my father’s sons, who but I was to be king of all Israel?
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	28	5	And he is choosing still; many sons he has given me, and among all these it is Solomon that is to reach a throne, king of the Lord’s own people.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	28	6	So the Lord himself has told me: It is Solomon, thy heir, that shall build house and court for me. I have chosen him for my son, and he shall find in me a true father;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	28	7	let him ever observe decree and award of mine as they are observed this day, and his dynasty shall endure for all time.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	28	8	Let me speak, then, as in the presence of all Israel, with our own God listening to us. Obey, all of you, the will of the Lord our God, study, all of you, to learn it; then it shall be yours to enjoy this fair land, and bequeath it to your posterity for ever.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	28	9	And do thou, my son Solomon, acknowledge ever thy father’s God, serving him faithfully, serving him willingly; no heart but is open to the Lord’s scrutiny, no thought in our minds but he can read it. Search for him, and thou shalt find him; forsake him, and he will for ever reject thee.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	28	10	Meanwhile, here is this house to be built, the Lord’s sanctuary; on thee his choice has fallen; courage! To the task!
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	28	11	Then David handed over to his son Solomon the full plan of porch and temple, of store-house and parlour and inner chamber, of the throne of mercy itself;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	28	12	all his designs, too, for the outer courts and for the surrounding rooms in which the permanent treasures of the Lord’s house and the votive offerings were to be laid up.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	28	13	He told him of the order in which priest and Levite were to do all that had to be done, keep all that had to be kept, in the Lord’s temple.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	28	14	He gave him gold by weight and silver by weight for all the appurtenances of worship, varied for various needs.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	28	15	Gold and silver in due measure for every lampstand and lamp of gold and silver;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	28	16	gold for the table on which the hallowed loaves were set forth, gold and silver for every table of gold and silver.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	28	17	Pure gold for fork and bowl and censer and cup; no cup of gold or silver but had its due weight apportioned;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	28	18	pure gold for the altar of incense, pure gold for the equipage of cherubs that should spread their wings to overshadow the Lord’s ark.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	28	19	This came to me, said he, with the Lord’s own sign-manual; all the pattern he would make clear to me.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	28	20	Play a man’s part, said David to Solomon; courage! To the task! Never doubting, never daunted; the Lord thy God will be at thy side, never failing thee, never forsaking thee, and see that thou hast strength to do all that must be done for his temple.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	28	21	Priest and Levite are there, ready to fulfil their appointed duties in the Lord’s house; chieftains and common folk are all minded to do thy bidding.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	29	1	This, too, David said to all who were assembled there: The Lord’s choice has fallen on my son Solomon, and no other, a prince still young and untried. Heavy the task, to house God, not man.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	29	2	Whatever lies in me I have done, to make ready the material for the temple of my God; gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood where they were needed, onyx and jet and precious stones of all colours, abundance, too, of the best marble.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	29	3	Such love had I to the house of my God; and now, over and above the preparations I have made for this holy work, I offer gold and silver out of my own purse for the temple’s needs;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	29	4	three thousand talents of Ophir gold and seven thousand talents of tried silver. All this, for gilding the temple walls,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	29	5	and to put more gold and silver into the craftsmen’s hands. Let every man that has the will to offer make to the Lord here and now, with open hand, his gift.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	29	6	So chief and commissioner, commander and captain and overseer, promised to do their part;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	29	7	and their gift to God’s house was five thousand talents of gold, and ten thousand gold pieces, ten thousand talents of silver, eighteen thousand of bronze, and a hundred thousand of iron;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	29	8	others, who had precious stones in their possession, gave these in, through Jaziel the Gersonite, to the temple treasury.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	29	9	Great was the rejoicing of the people that day, as promise after promise was made, so generously they offered what they had to the Lord; and greatly might David himself rejoice.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	29	10	Then, before all the people, he blessed the Lord’s name thus: Blessed art thou, O Lord, the God of our father Israel, from the beginning to the end of time.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	29	11	Thine, Lord, the magnificence, thine the power, splendour and glory and majesty are thine; to thee all that is in heaven, all that is on earth, belongs, to thee the kingdom, of all princes thou art overlord.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	29	12	Riches and honour come from thee; all things obey thy will; from thee power comes and dominion; only thy hand exalts, only thy hand makes strong.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	29	13	To thee, then, our God, we pay homage this day, to thy glorious name bring renown.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	29	14	That I, that this people of mine, should have the means to make thee such promises! All things belong to thee; all that thou hast from us is thy own gift;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	29	15	as thou seest us, we are exiles and wanderers, no less than our fathers were; our days on earth pass like a shadow, and there is no abiding here.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	29	16	O Lord our God, all this store we have in readiness, for the building of a shrine to thy name, comes from thy hands; all things are thine.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	29	17	My God, thou readest our hearts, I know it well, and it is the honest heart thou lovest. With honesty of intent I have made all these offerings gladly, and gladly have I seen all that are here assembled make their gifts to thee.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	29	18	O Lord God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, keep this will of theirs for ever unchangeable; still be that mind theirs, a mind set on thy worship.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	29	19	And oh, to my son Solomon give integrity of heart; command and decree and observance of thine may he hold ever in honour, and ever perform; be it his to build the temple for which I have made provision.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	29	20	Then David would have the whole assembly bless the Lord’s name, and bless it they did, the name of the Lord God of their fathers; and so made reverence, to God first and then to the king.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	29	21	Victims, too, they slaughtered in sacrifice to the Lord; on the day following they offered in burnt-sacrifice a thousand bulls, a thousand rams, and a thousand lambs, with due libations made, and with a sacrificial banquet in which the whole of Israel shared to their heart’s content.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	29	22	So ate they and drank that day, keeping high festival in the Lord’s presence, and anointed Solomon to be their prince, Sadoc to be their priest, in the Lord’s service.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	29	23	Thus Solomon took his seat, instead of his father David, upon the throne the Lord had appointed; winning favour and obedience from all;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	29	24	not one of the chiefs and rulers, not one of the royal princes themselves, but did homage and accepted Solomon as king.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	29	25	High pre-eminence the Lord gave him over the whole people, and such royal majesty as never yet king had in Israel.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	29	26	So reigned David the son of Jesse over the whole of Israel,
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	29	27	for forty years’ space, seven at Hebron and thirty-three at Jerusalem.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	29	28	And he died grown old in comfort, neither length of days nor riches nor honours wanting to him, and with his son Solomon to reign as his heir.
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	29	29	All his deeds, first and last, stand recorded by the seer Samuel, and the prophet Nathan, and Gad the man of visions;
 1 Paralipomena	1Par	13	29	30	the history of his reign, and the greatness of his reign, and the times that passed during his reign, in Israel and in all the kingdoms of the world.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	1	1	Solomon, then, king David’s heir, was firmly seated on his throne, and the Lord his God was with him, brought him to great renown.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	1	2	And now he sent out his summons to the whole of Israel, to commander and captain and warrior chief, to all judges of the people and heads of their families,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	1	3	and, with such great retinue, betook himself to the hill-sanctuary at Gabaon. Gabaon was still the resting-place of that tabernacle which God’s servant Moses fashioned, out in the desert, to be the witness of the divine covenant.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	1	4	The ark of God had left it, first for Cariathiarim, then for the site in Jerusalem where David had brought it, giving it a tent of its own.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	1	5	But the brazen altar which Beseleel made, Beseleel, son of Uri and grandson of Hur, was there still before the entrance of the Lord’s tabernacle. To it Solomon repaired, and the whole assembly with him;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	1	6	on that brazen altar, before the tabernacle that bore witness of the Lord’s covenant, he offered a thousand victims in sacrifice.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	1	7	That same night, the Lord appeared to him, bidding him choose what gift he would.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	1	8	Thou hast been very merciful, Solomon answered, to my father David, in granting him a son to succeed him;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	1	9	and now, Lord God, make good thy promise to him. Since thou hast made me king over thy people, a great people countless as the dust,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	1	10	grant me wisdom and discernment in all my dealings with them. How else should a man sit in judgement over such a people as this, great as thy people is great?
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	1	11	And the Lord answered, For this choice thou hast made, thou shalt be rewarded. Thou didst not ask for riches or possessions, for glory, or vengeance upon thy enemies, or a long life. Thy prayer was for wisdom and discernment, to make thee a better judge for the subjects I have given thee.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	1	12	Wisdom and discernment thou shalt have; and I will give thee riches and possession too, and such glory as never king shall have before or after thee.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	1	13	So from the hill-sanctuary at Gabaon, from the entrance of that tabernacle which bears witness of the covenant, Solomon returned to Jerusalem. There he reigned over Israel,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	1	14	and mustered a great force of chariots and of horsemen; a thousand and four hundred chariots, and horsemen twelve thousand; some of these were kept in towns set apart for stabling them, others in Jerusalem at the king’s side.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	1	15	Silver he made as common in Jerusalem as stone, and cedars as plentiful as the sycamores that grow in the valleys.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	1	16	And horses were brought to him from Egypt and from Coa, where his agents went to buy them for a fixed sum;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	1	17	six hundred silver pieces for a chariot, and for a horse a hundred and fifty; the kingdoms of the Hethites, too, and the kings of Syria sold him horses at the same price.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	2	1	A house Solomon would build, to be a shrine for the Lord’s name, and for himself a royal palace.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	2	2	So he made a register of seventy thousand men that should carry burdens on their backs, and eighty thousand to quarry stone in the hills; of overseers, he would have three thousand six hundred.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	2	3	And he sent a message to Hiram, king of Tyre: When my father David was building the palace in which he dwelt, thou didst send him planks of cedar.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	2	4	Do as much for me, now that I would build a temple dedicated to the Lord, the God I worship; there to burn incense of rich spices, keep hallowed loaves set forth continually, offer sacrifice at morning and evening, at sabbath and at new moon, and on all the feasts our changeless rite enjoins in the Lord’s honour.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	2	5	A great fabric it needs must be; great above all gods is the God we worship,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	2	6	and to build a house worthy of him is indeed too high a task for man’s powers; who am I, that I should be his architect, whom heaven itself, and the heaven above the heavens, cannot contain? Yet into his presence we must come, to offer incense there.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	2	7	A craftsman I would have of thee, that can work skilfully in gold and silver, bronze and iron, tapestry of purple and scarlet and blue; that can help the workmen my father David has left me, here in Jerusalem, carve the figures they would.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	2	8	Send me planks, too, of cedar and juniper and pine; I know well how deftly thy men can fell trees on Lebanon; mine shall be apprenticed to them,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	2	9	and cut me planks in abundance; it is a great temple, a famous temple, I would build.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	2	10	Thy woodmen shall have for their maintenance forty thousand quarters of wheat, and as many of barley, of wine and of oil six hundred and forty tuns.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	2	11	To this Hiram, prince of Tyre, wrote in answer, A loving Lord this people has, to give them such a king as thou art.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	2	12	Blessed be the name of the Lord God of Israel, maker of heaven and earth, for giving David an heir so wise and so versed in affairs, so prudent and so discerning, fit to build a temple for the Lord, a palace for the king!
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	2	13	I am sending thee a wise man and a skilful, one Hiram, that is a master of his craft.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	2	14	A woman of Dan was his mother, his father a Tyrian. Well he knows how to work in gold and silver, bronze and iron, in marble and in wood, in tapestry of purple and blue, lawn and scarlet thread; to carve what carving thou wilt, and devise all that needs devising, thy craftsmen to aid him, and the craftsmen the king’s grace, thy father, left thee.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	2	15	For the rest, my lord, do thou send us wheat and barley, wine and oil, as thou hast promised,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	2	16	and we will set about cutting the planks thou needest, on mount Lebanon. They shall be brought in rafts by sea to Joppe, and it shall be thy part to carry them to Jerusalem.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	2	17	It was king Solomon, not content with the register his father David had made, who registered afresh all the aliens that dwelt in Israel; the number of these proved to be a hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	2	18	seventy thousand to carry burdens on their backs, eighty thousand to quarry stone in the hills, and three thousand six hundred overseers.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	3	1	Solomon, then, set about the building of the Lord’s house, there on mount Moria, the place of David’s vision, where David had bought the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	3	2	It was in the second month of his fourth year as king that he began building,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	3	3	and the foundations he laid for the Lord’s house, using the old cubit measure, were sixty cubits long and twenty cubits wide.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	3	4	In front was a porch twenty cubits long, to match the width of the temple, and (a hundred and) twenty cubits high, the gilding within was of the purest gold.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	3	5	The main building was faced with planks of pine, that had plates of fine gold attached to them, and it had a pattern of palm branches and chains interlaced;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	3	6	its floor was laid in precious marble, nobly patterned.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	3	7	The whole building, beam and pillar and wall and doorway, was faced with none but the purest gold, and on the walls of it were carvings of cherubim.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	3	8	He made, too, an inner shrine, twenty cubits long like the width of the main building, and twenty cubits wide. Some six hundred talents of gold were used in the facing of it;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	3	9	the very nails were of gold, each of fifty sicles’ weight; even the upper rooms were faced with gold.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	3	10	Within the inner shrine stood two carved cherubs, all plated with gold;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	3	11	the four wings of them had twenty cubits’ stretch,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	3	12	either touching the wall with one of its wings, five cubits long, and its fellow cherub with the other.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	3	13	Thus, with outspread wings both of them, they occupied the whole space of twenty cubits; upright they stood on their feet, with their faces turned towards the outer building.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	3	14	A veil, too, he made, of fine linen thread twined with threads of blue, purple and scarlet, with a tapestry of cherubs.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	3	15	And before the doors of the temple he set up two pillars thirty-five cubits high, with capitals of five cubits;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	3	16	and he made chains (within the inner shrine) which he hung round the capitals, each interspersed with a hundred figured pomegranates.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	3	17	At the very entrance of the temple he set up these pillars, one on the right, to which he gave the name of Jachin, and one on the left, to which he gave the name of Booz.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	4	1	He made a brazen altar, too, twenty cubits in length and width, ten in height.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	4	2	And he cast a great round basin ten cubits from brim to brim, five cubits high, and with a girth of thirty cubits.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	4	3	It rested on figures of oxen, and without, a chain of moulding ran round its belly in two rows.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	4	4	The oxen were cast in metal, and supported the basin, twelve of them, three facing north, three west, three south, three east, with the basin so resting on them that their hind-quarters were hidden beneath it.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	4	5	The basin was a palm’s breadth thick and its brim curved as the brim of a cup does, or of an open lily; it held ninety-six tuns.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	4	6	He also made ten smaller basins, and put five on the right, five on the left, for the washing of all that was to be offered in burnt-sacrifice; in the great basin the priests themselves washed.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	4	7	Within the temple were ten golden lamp-stands, of a prescribed pattern, five to the right and five to the left,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	4	8	and ten tables disposed in the same way. And there were a hundred goblets, all of gold.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	4	9	There were precincts, too, for the priests, and a great court; the doors of this court were covered with bronze.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	4	10	The great basin was put on the right, towards the south-east.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	4	11	Pot and fork and bowl Hiram made, and all that the king needed for the service of the Lord’s temple;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	4	12	pillar and soffit and capital, and net-work over capital and soffit;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	4	13	four hundred figured pomegranates, and two lengths of net-work pattern, two rows of pomegranates to each length of net-work, draped over capital and soffit alike.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	4	14	He made stands, and smaller basins for the stands to carry,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	4	15	the large basin, with the twelve oxen beneath it,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	4	16	and pot and fork and bowl besides all else. All such ornaments for the Lord’s house did Hiram, king Solomon’s master craftsman, fashion out of the purest bronze;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	4	17	the king had them cast in the clay soil of the Jordan valley, between Socoth and Saredatha;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	4	18	a great multitude of them, so that the weight of bronze was never counted or known.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	4	19	Other appurtenances, too, of the Lord’s house must Solomon make; the golden altar, and the golden tables on which the hallowed loaves were set out,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	4	20	the lamp-stand with its lamps, all of pure gold, ready to burn in due course before the shrine,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	4	21	and the flowered bosses for them, and the lamps themselves, and the tongs, of pure gold too.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	4	22	Nothing but must be made of the purest gold, incense-boat and censer and bowl and spoon. Carved doors within, leading to the shrine, temple doors without, alike were plated with gold. Thus Solomon completed all the work needed for the service of the Lord’s house.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	5	1	And now Solomon must bring into the temple all the votive offerings his father David had made; silver and gold and lesser ware, all must be stored up in its treasure-chamber.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	5	2	Then he sent for the elders of Israel, the chiefs of the tribes and the heads of clans; all must meet at Jerusalem to bring the Lord’s ark home from its resting-place in the Keep of David, which we call Sion.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	5	3	It was on the great feast day of the seventh month that all Israel obeyed the king’s summons;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	5	4	and when the last of the chieftains had arrived, the Levites took up the ark
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	5	5	and brought it in; the tabernacle, too, with all its equipment, and all the furniture of the sanctuary that remained still in the tabernacle, priests and Levites brought to the spot.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	5	6	Meanwhile king Solomon, with the whole Israelite assembly, all that had gathered before the ark, offered rams and bulls; so many were the victims that there was no counting them.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	5	7	So the ark that bears witness of the Lord’s covenant was borne by the priests to the place designed for it, there in the temple’s inner shrine where the cherubim spread their wings;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	5	8	spread them over the very place where the ark rested, to protect it and protect the poles that bore it.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	5	9	These poles jutted out indeed, being longer than the ark they bore, so that the ends of them could be seen by one standing before the shrine; but beyond the temple limits they were seen no more; and so they have remained to this day.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	5	10	And nothing was in the ark except the two tablets Moses laid up there on mount Horeb, when the Lord gave the sons of Israel a law to live by, after their escape from Egypt.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	5	11	At last the priests left the sanctuary; all of them who were present had purified themselves so as to gain admission, for as yet they had no times and manners of service planned out for them.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	5	12	To the east of the altar stood Levites and singers, the clans of Asaph, Heman and Idithun alike, all robed in lawn, playing on their cymbals, zithers and harps; and now they had a hundred and twenty priests with them, sounding with trumpets.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	5	13	Trumpet and voice, cymbals and flute, with all the other instruments, sounded aloud so that the noise of them could be heard far off, as they praised the Lord together; Praise the Lord, they sang, the Lord is gracious; his mercy endures for ever. And with that, the whole of the Lord’s house was wreathed in cloud;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	5	14	lost in that cloud, the priests could not wait upon the Lord with his accustomed service; his own glory was there, filling his own house.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	6	1	Where the cloud is, cried Solomon, the Lord has promised to be.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	6	2	It is true, then, the house I have built in his honour is to be, for ever, his dwelling-place.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	6	3	With that, the king turned to bless the whole assembly; all Israel, that stood waiting there.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	6	4	Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, he said, who has fulfilled in act the promise he made to my father David.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	6	5	So many years since he had rescued his people from Egypt, and never a city among all the tribes of Israel had he chosen to be the site of his dwelling-place or the shrine of his name, never a prince had he appointed over his people of Israel,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	6	6	till at last he chose Jerusalem, to enshrine his name there, and David for his people’s ruler.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	6	7	And when he, my father, would have built a house in honour of the Lord God of Israel,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	6	8	the Lord told him that he had done well to conceive such a purpose in his heart;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	6	9	But it is not for thee, he said, to build me a house. A house shall be built in my honour, but by thy son, the heir of thy body.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	6	10	That promise of his the Lord has fulfilled; I have come forward in my father David’s place, sit upon the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised I should; it has been mine to build a house to the honour of the Lord, Israel’s God,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	6	11	and to find a home for this ark, witness of the covenant he made with Israel’s sons.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	6	12	Then Solomon stood before the Lord’s altar in full view of all Israel, and stretched out his hands.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	6	13	In the midst of the great court he had bidden them set down a block of bronze, five cubits across either way and three feet in height; on this he mounted, and there, in the sight of all Israel, kneeling down with his hands lifted up towards heaven, he prayed.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	6	14	Lord God of Israel, he said, thou reignest without rival in heaven and earth, making good thy merciful promises to all who follow thee with undivided hearts.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	6	15	And thou hast not disappointed thy servant, my father David; thy act matches thy word; this day, who doubts it?
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	6	16	Do not forget, Lord God of Israel, that other promise of thine to David, that he should always have an heir to sit on the throne of Israel, would but his sons guide their steps, like David himself, as in thy presence;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	6	17	let that promise too, Lord God of Israel, be ratified!
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	6	18	Folly it were to think that God has a dwelling-place on earth. If the very heavens, and the heaven that is above the heavens, cannot contain thee, what welcome can it offer thee, this house which I have built?
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	6	19	Yet it has not been built in vain, O Lord my God, if thou wilt give heed to thy servant’s prayer, that sues for thy favour, listen to the cry of entreaty he makes before thee.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	6	20	This I ask, that thy eyes should be ever watching, night and day, over this temple of thine, the chosen sanctuary of thy name;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	6	21	be this the meeting-place where thou wilt listen to thy servant’s prayer. Whatever requests I or my people Israel make shall find audience here; thou wilt listen from thy dwelling-place in heaven, and listening, wilt forgive.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	6	22	Has a man wronged his neighbour, and is he ready to clear himself of the charge by an oath? Then, if he comes to this house of thine, to swear the lie before thy altar,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	6	23	thou, in heaven, wilt be listening, and wilt do justice between thy servants, passing sentence upon the guilty and avenging the wrong, acquitting the innocent and granting him due redress.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	6	24	Are thy people of Israel condemned to flee before their enemies, in punishment of the sins they will surely commit? Then, if they come back to thee in repentance, call on thy name and plead with thee in this temple of thine,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	6	25	thou wilt be listening in heaven; forgive the sins of thy people Israel, and restore them to the land which thou gavest to their fathers.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	6	26	Does the sky bar its gates against them, and give no rain, in punishment for their sins? Then, if they come here acknowledging thee with prayer and repentance, and turn away, in their sore need, from their sins,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	6	27	do thou, in heaven, listen, and grant thy servants the people of Israel forgiveness; teach them to guide their steps aright, and send rain on the land thou hast given them for their home.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	6	28	Is there famine in the land, or pestilence, blight or mildew, plague of locust or caterpillar? Does some enemy press hard on it, besieging its city gates? Whatever be the plague or the sickness that weighs us down,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	6	29	if any one among thy people, accepting that plague or sickness as his own, makes prayer to thee, stretching out his hands in this temple,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	6	30	thou, in heaven, thy high dwelling-place, wilt be listening; do thou relent, and send to each man the lot his deeds deserve, thou, who alone readest the hearts of human kind.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	6	31	So will men learn to fear thee and to follow in thy paths, long as they live to enjoy the land thou gavest to our fathers.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	6	32	Nay, is it some stranger, with no part in thy people Israel, who yet comes here from distant lands, for love of thy renown, for the constraining force thy power displays, and worships thee in this temple?
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	6	33	Still, in heaven, thy secure dwelling-place, thou wilt grant the alien’s prayer. So shall all the world come to hear of thy renown, and fear thee no less than Israel itself; shall doubt no more that this temple I have built claims thy protection.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	6	34	Sometimes thy people will go out to levy war upon their enemies, here and there at thy bidding. Then, as they fall to prayer, let them but turn in the direction of the city thou hast chosen, the temple I have built there in thy honour,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	6	35	and thou, in heaven, wilt listen to their prayer for aid, wilt maintain their cause.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	6	36	But what, if they have offended thee by their faults? No man but is guilty of some fault; it may be thou wilt give them up, in thy anger, into the power of their enemies, and as prisoners they will be banished into countries far away, or alien countries within sight of home.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	6	37	But ere long, in their banishment, they will come back to thee with repentant hearts, crying out to thee, poor exiles, We are sinners, we have done amiss, rebels all!
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	6	38	In that alien land, the land of their captivity, they will turn back to thee with all the purpose of their heart and soul. Then, if they turn in prayer towards the land thou gavest their fathers, the city of thy choice, and the temple I have built in thy honour,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	6	39	thou, in heaven, on thy peaceful throne, wilt once more listen to their prayer for aid, wilt maintain their cause still. And thou wilt relent towards thy people, though they have sinned against thee.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	6	40	My God! Ever be thy eyes open, ever thy ears attentive to the prayer that is offered here.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	6	41	Up, Lord, take possession of this, thy home, with the ark that makes known thy power; Lord God, let thy priests go clad in triumph, thy faithful people rejoice in thy bounty.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	6	42	Lord God, do not reject my prayer, the king thou hast anointed; bethink thee of the loving designs thou hadst for thy servant David before him.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	7	1	Scarce had Solomon finished his praying, when fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt-sacrifice, consumed all the victims; the glory of the Lord, too, filled the temple,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	7	2	and the priests might not enter; his own glory was there, filling his own house.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	7	3	The fire that fell, the brightness of the Lord’s visible presence, was seen by all Israel; there on the stone pavement they fell down to earth in worship, crying, Praise the Lord, the Lord is gracious, his mercy endures for ever.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	7	4	King and people offered their victims in the Lord’s presence;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	7	5	the beasts king Solomon slew that day, when he and all the people dedicated the Lord’s house, were twenty-two thousand bulls and a hundred and twenty thousand rams.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	7	6	There stood the priests at their task, and the Levites with the instruments of sacred music, that king David had given them to praise the Lord with, playing David’s own chant of everlasting mercy, while the priests led with their trumpets, and all the people stood around.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	7	7	That day, the king must needs hallow the middle part of the court before the Lord’s house, burning there the burnt-sacrifice and the fat taken from the welcome-victims; the brazen altar he had made would not suffice for these and for the bloodless offerings too.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	7	8	After this, king Solomon spent seven days in keeping the feast of Tabernacles, and with him a great multitude from the whole land of Israel, that stretched from the pass of Emath down to the river of Egypt;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	7	9	and the eighth day he kept as a great holiday, after seven days given up to the temple dedication, and seven to the feast.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	7	10	At last, on the twenty-third day of the month, he sent the people home, rejoicing with full hearts over the mercies the Lord had shewn to David, to Solomon, and to his own people of Israel.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	7	11	When Solomon had finished building the temple, and his own palace, and brought all his plans for one and the other to a prosperous issue,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	7	12	the Lord spoke to him in a vision seen by night. I have listened to thy prayer, he said; this place, none other, shall be the home of my sacrifices.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	7	13	Shut I the heavens, so that no rain should fall, give I charge to the locust to ravage the country-side, send I pestilence to destroy my people;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	7	14	if they, this people of mine, thus dedicated to my name, will betake themselves to my presence in entreaty, and repent of their ill doings, I, in heaven, will listen, will pardon their sins, will bring healing to their country.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	7	15	Open my eyes shall be, my ears attentive to every man’s prayer that here prays to me;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	7	16	I have set this place apart and hallowed it, to be the shrine of my name for all time; never a day but my eyes shall be watching, my heart be attentive here.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	7	17	Do thou guide thy steps, like thy father, as in my presence, do thou fulfil all I command, hold true to observance and decree of mine;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	7	18	and I will raise up a dynasty to follow thee; such was my promise to thy father David, that he should always have an heir to sit on the throne of Israel.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	7	19	But if you are content to turn your backs upon me, neglecting the decrees and commands I have given you, betaking yourselves to the service and the worship of alien gods,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	7	20	then I will pluck you up by the roots out of the land I gave you, and this temple, which I have hallowed as the shrine of my name, shall be thrust away out of my sight; it shall be a proverb and a by-word among the nations.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	7	21	It shall be a monument to the passers-by, and they will ask in wonder, Why has the Lord treated this land, this house so cruelly?
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	7	22	And the answer will come, Because they forsook the Lord their God, who rescued their fathers from the land of Egypt, and betook themselves to the worship and service of alien gods; that is why all this ruin has come upon them.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	8	1	Twenty years passed, after Solomon had built the Lord’s temple and his own palace;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	8	2	then he set about fortifying the towns which Hiram had made over to him, and establishing Israelite inhabitants there.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	8	3	He marched against Emath Suba, and took possession of it,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	8	4	fortified Palmyra, out in the desert, and other fastnesses in the Emath country.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	8	5	He rebuilt Bethoron, upper and lower, making two walled cities there, bolted and barred against attack;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	8	6	Baalath, too, and all those other fortress-cities which bear Solomon’s name, cities where he stationed his chariots and his horsemen. In Jerusalem, on Lebanon, all through his kingdom Solomon built whatever he had the whim to design.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	8	7	Some of the old population was still left, Hethites, Amorrhites, Pherezites, Hevites, Jebusites, that were no true breed of Israel,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	8	8	but came down from the stock which had been spared by the invaders; these king Solomon made into bondservants, as they are to this day. Among the Israelites,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	8	9	he would have no man enslaved to the royal service; it was from these he drew his warriors and his courtiers, the commanders of his chariots and his horsemen.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	8	10	Five hundred and fifty captains king Solomon had, that issued his commands to the people at large.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	8	11	He must build a new house, too, for Pharao’s daughter, so that she might dwell in David’s Keep no longer. I will not house wife of mine, said he, in David’s home, that was king of Israel; the ark of the Lord has found its way there, and it is hallowed ground now.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	8	12	Solomon used the altar he had built to the Lord in front of the temple porch for offering burnt-sacrifice
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	8	13	day by day, as the law of Moses enjoined, on sabbaths, too, and at the new moon, and for the three feasts that came round yearly, the feasts of Unleavened Bread, of Weeks, and of Tabernacles.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	8	14	And he assigned to the priests the duties they were to perform, as his father David had prescribed them; and to the Levites their duties of singing praise, and of helping the priests with their task, as the needs of each day required; and to the door-keepers their various posts. All that God’s servant David had enjoined must be done;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	8	15	neither priest nor Levite might go beyond the king’s orders, in this or in the keeping of the sacred treasures.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	8	16	All that he needed king Solomon had by him, from the day when he laid the foundations of the Lord’s house till the day when he finished it;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	8	17	after that, he betook himself to Asiongaber, and Ailath, in Edom, on the shore of the Red Sea,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	8	18	where Hiram’s men met him with ships and skilful mariners. These, with Solomon’s own men, sailed for Ophir, and brought back four hundred and fifty talents of gold to the royal coffers.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	9	1	And now Solomon was visited by the queen of Saba. His fame had reached her, and she came to make trial of his power with knotty questions. Great was the wealth she brought with her to Jerusalem; her camels were loaded with spices and abundant gold and precious stones. And when she met Solomon, she told him all the thoughts that exercised her mind;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	9	2	every doubt he resolved, no question of hers but found an answer.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	9	3	And when she saw how wise a man he was, saw, too, the house he had built,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	9	4	the food that was on his table, the lodging of his servants, the order and splendour of his court, the fine attire of his cup-bearers, and what victims he offered in the Lord’s temple, she stood breathless in wonder.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	9	5	And she said to the king, It was no false tale I heard in my own country, of the powers thou hast, of the wisdom which is thine.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	9	6	I could not believe what they told me, without coming and seeing it for myself; now I find that half of it was lost in the telling, here are wonders surpassing all I heard.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	9	7	Happy thy folk, happy these servants of thine who wait ever on thy presence, and listen to thy wise words.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	9	8	Blessed be the Lord thy God, that would have a throne for himself, and thee, a king of his own, to sit on it! He loves Israel indeed, and means to preserve it evermore, that has appointed such a king to do justice and to make award for it.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	9	9	A hundred and twenty talents’ weight of gold she gave to king Solomon, with many spices and precious stones; never were such spices as the queen of Saba gave to king Solomon.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	9	10	(Though indeed Hiram’s fleet, when it brought back gold from Ophir, brought sandal-wood, as well as precious stones;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	9	11	and of this sandal-wood king Solomon made pedestals for temple and palace, harp and zither for his musicians; never was such wood seen in Juda.)
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	9	12	Solomon, in his turn, gave the queen of Saba all she desired and asked for, more than ever she brought with her; and so she went back to her own country, with all her retinue.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	9	13	The weight of gold that reached Solomon every year was six hundred and sixty-six talents,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	9	14	not counting what was brought by the envoys of different countries, by his own merchantmen, and by the kings of Arabia, with the governors of their provinces; these, too, brought gold and silver to king Solomon.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	9	15	Two hundred shields king Solomon made of the gold; six hundred sicles of gold went to one shield;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	9	16	besides three hundred golden bucklers, three hundred sicles of gold being used for the plating of each; and all these the king put away in the store-chamber of the building that was called the Forest of Lebanon.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	9	17	He also made a great throne of ivory, and lined it with gold unalloyed;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	9	18	six steps led up to it, and the footstool was all of gold. This throne had an arm at either side, and a lion standing by it;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	9	19	twelve other lions stood on the steps, six on either side; no other kingdom had a throne to match it.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	9	20	Of gold all the plate was when the king feasted, of pure gold all the ornaments in the house called the Forest of Lebanon; in those days, silver was little thought of.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	9	21	Every three years the king’s fleet and Hiram’s would sail to Tharsis, whence they came back laden with gold and silver; with ivory, too, and apes and peacocks for their freight.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	9	22	So, both in riches and in renown, Solomon outvied all the kings of the world;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	9	23	and kings from every part of the world craved his audience, to make proof for themselves of the wisdom God had put in his heart.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	9	24	And all these brought him gifts, so that gold and silver ware, presents of clothes and armour, spices, too, and horses and mules came in year by year.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	9	25	Forty thousand horses king Solomon had in his stables, twelve thousand chariots, and horsemen with them; some he kept in his chariot cities, and others at his side in Jerusalem.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	9	26	And he was overlord of all the kings from the river Euphrates to Philistia, and to the frontiers of Egypt.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	9	27	Silver he made as common in Jerusalem as stone, and cedars as plentiful as the sycamores that grow in the valleys;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	9	28	horses he had from Egypt and from all the world over.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	9	29	What else Solomon did, first and last, is to be found in the book that was written by the prophet Nathan, in the prophecy of Ahias the Silonite, and in the vision of the seer Addo that pronounces doom against Jeroboam son of Nabat.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	9	30	For forty years Solomon reigned at Jerusalem over all Israel;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	9	31	then they laid him to rest with his fathers, with the Keep of David for his burying-place, and the throne passed to his son Roboam.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	10	1	This Roboam betook himself to Sichem; at Sichem the whole of Israel had assembled to crown him king.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	10	2	But meanwhile Jeroboam, son of Nabat, who had fled to Egypt to be out of king Solomon’s reach, had come back on hearing the news of his death;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	10	3	and he, too, was summoned to meet them. He, and all Israel, came to make a request of Roboam;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	10	4	Thy father, they said, made us bear a bitter yoke. Less thou must ask of us than those cruel exactions, those stern commands, if we are ever to be servants of thine.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	10	5	Give me three days, he said, and then come back to hear my answer. So, when the people had left him,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	10	6	he asked advice first of the older men that had been courtiers in the life-time of his father; what answer should he make to the people?
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	10	7	Why, they told him, if thou wilt but court their favour, and win them with gracious words, they will never cease giving thee loyal service.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	10	8	But he left their advice unheeded, and began to take counsel instead of the younger men who had grown up with him, and were of his following;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	10	9	How think you? he asked. What answer shall I make to the people’s request that I would lighten the yoke my father laid on them?
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	10	10	And these, men that had been brought up with him in luxurious ways, gave him advice in their turn. Do they complain that thy father laid a heavy yoke on them, and ask for relief? Then tell them there is more strength in thy little finger than in all the breadth of thy father’s back;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	10	11	if his yoke fell heavy on them, thine shall be heavier still, if thy father’s weapon was the lash, thine shall be the scorpion.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	10	12	So the third day came, and Jeroboam, with all the people at his back, kept their tryst with him.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	10	13	And the king, instead of heeding the advice which the older men had given him, spoke to the people harshly,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	10	14	with such words as the younger men would have him use, If my father’s yoke fell heavy on you, mine shall be heavier still, if his weapon was the lash, mine shall be the scorpion.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	10	15	Thus the king refused to fall in with the people’s request; the Lord’s will was to give effect to the promise he had made, through Ahias the Silonite, to Jeroboam son of Nabat.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	10	16	The people, thus churlishly answered, cried out, David is none of ours, not for us the son of Jesse; go back, men of Israel, to your homes! David’s rule for David’s tribe! And with that, Israel dispersed to their homes,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	10	17	leaving Roboam to reign over such Israelites as lived in the cities of Juda.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	10	18	And now, when Aduram, who had charge of the levy, came to them in the king’s name, the Israelites stoned him to death; whereupon Roboam mounted his chariot and betook himself, with all speed, to Jerusalem.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	10	19	From that day to this, the men of Israel have refused allegiance to the dynasty of David.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	11	1	Upon reaching Jerusalem, Roboam mustered the whole forces of Juda and Benjamin, a hundred and eighty thousand tried warriors, to do battle with the Israelites and recover his kingdom.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	11	2	But the Lord sent word to the prophet Semeias,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	11	3	Here is a message for Roboam, son of Solomon, king of Juda, and for all the Israelites of Juda and Benjamin.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	11	4	You are not to march out, the Lord says, and make war upon your own brethren; go home, every man of you; all this is my doing. Learning that this was the Lord’s will, all went home, and never marched out against Jeroboam.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	11	5	Roboam had his capital at Jerusalem, but there were many other cities in Juda he fortified,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	11	6	Bethlehem, Etam, Thecue,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	11	7	Bethsur, Socho, Odollam,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	11	8	Geth, Maresa, Ziph,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	11	9	Aduram, Lachis, Azecha,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	11	10	Saraa, Aialon and Hebron. All these cities of Juda and Benjamin were fastnesses of his,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	11	11	each of them walled about, and furnished with a commander, and stores of food, wine and oil,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	11	12	and an armoury full of shields and spears; no pains did he spare in making them secure. Juda and Benjamin were his subjects,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	11	13	and from their homes in every part of Israel the priests and Levites rallied to him.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	11	14	Precincts and lands must be left behind, to Juda and Jerusalem they must betake themselves, now that Jeroboam and his heirs would have none of their divinely appointed ministrations;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	11	15	Jeroboam must have his own priests, to serve the hill-shrines, and the devil-gods, and the calves he had made.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	11	16	Nay, in all the tribes of Israel there were dedicated hearts that had recourse still to the Lord God of Israel; these, when they had victims to offer, would present themselves at Jerusalem, before the Lord God of their fathers.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	11	17	These added strength to the kingdom of Juda, and lent courage to Roboam, the son of Solomon, but only for three years. Only for three years did they follow loyally in the steps of David and Solomon.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	11	18	Roboam married, first Mahalath, daughter of David’s son Jerimoth, then Abihail, daughter of Jesse’s son Eliab,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	11	19	the mother of Jehus, Somoria and Zoöm,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	11	20	then Absalom’s daughter Maacha, who bore him Abia, Ethai, Ziza and Salomith.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	11	21	Roboam had eighteen wives and sixty concubines, who bore him twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters; but Maacha, Absalom’s daughter, he loved best of all.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	11	22	And it was to Maacha’s son Abia that he gave the foremost place among the royal princes, meaning to make him king.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	11	23	This prince was abler than the rest, and had more influence up and down Juda and Benjamin, as well as in the garrison cities. All alike must be well cared for, and wives a many found for the royal house.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	12	1	Now that Roboam was strong, and firmly seated on his throne, he defied the divine law, and all his people did the like.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	12	2	Then, in his fifteenth year, their sin against the Lord was punished; Sesac, king of Egypt, marched on Jerusalem
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	12	3	with a thousand and two hundred chariots, with sixty thousand horsemen; nay, there was no counting the hordes that followed with him, Libyan and Troglodyte and Ethiopian all at once.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	12	4	All the strongest cities fell before him, and at last he reached Jerusalem itself.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	12	5	Thereupon the prophet Semeias came into Roboam’s presence, where he sat with all the chief men of Juda, that had taken refuge in Jerusalem at Sesac’s approach. This is the Lord’s message for you, he told them; You have abandoned me, and now I am abandoning you to the mercy of Sesac.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	12	6	King and chieftains cried out in dismay, The Lord’s sentence is just.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	12	7	And now, seeing them humbled, the Lord sent his word to Semeias, Their pride is humbled; I will spare them from ruin. A little aid they shall have from me, nor shall my vengeance rain down upon Jerusalem with Sesac for its instrument.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	12	8	But he shall be their master; they shall learn the difference between serving me and serving an earthly king.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	12	9	Thus Sesac, king of Egypt, raised the siege of Jerusalem, but not until he had removed all the treasures of temple and palace. Among the spoils he carried away were the golden shields Solomon had made,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	12	10	and in place of these, Roboam made shields of bronze, which he handed over to the chief shield-bearers that kept guard at the palace entrance.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	12	11	When he made a progress into the Lord’s house, they were brought in by the shield-bearers, and carried back afterwards to their armoury.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	12	12	Well for the men of Juda that their pride was humbled; they were spared the Lord’s vengeance; were not doomed to perish, like a race in whom no good is to be found.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	12	13	So Roboam took courage, and ruled his people yet. He was forty-one years old when he came to the throne, and for seventeen years he reigned at Jerusalem, the city the Lord chose, out of all Israel’s tribes, to be the shrine of his name. His mother was called Naama, an Ammonitess.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	12	14	An ill life his; here was no heart that learned to have recourse to the Lord.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	12	15	All he did, first and last, is to be found set out fully in the writing of the prophet Semeias and the seer Addo. All through his reign there was war between him and Jeroboam.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	12	16	Then he was laid to rest with his fathers, with the Keep of David for his burying-place; and the throne passed to his son Abia.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	13	1	Abia, coming to the throne of Juda in the eighteenth year of Jeroboam,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	13	2	reigned three years at Jerusalem; his mother was called Michaia, daughter of Uriel from Gabaa. Between Jeroboam and Abia, a state of war continued.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	13	3	With four hundred thousand warriors, picked men all, Abia came out to offer battle, and with eight hundred thousand, picked men too, Jeroboam came out to meet him.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	13	4	It was at mount Semeron, in Ephraim, and there Abia took his stand; Here is a message, he cried, for Jeroboam, a message for all the men of Israel.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	13	5	Doubt there is none that the Lord God of Israel has pledged the kingship of it to David and all his heirs for all time, by an oath inviolable.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	13	6	Yet here is Jeroboam, son of Nabat, that held office under king Solomon, David’s heir, rebelling against his own master;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	13	7	here are restless spirits, upstart rogues, have rallied to his side, and had their way against Roboam, that was true heir to Solomon. What could he do to withstand them, so new to his task and so faint-spirited?
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	13	8	Think you now to maintain yourselves against that kingdom which David’s line rules by divine commission? Your numbers indeed are many; but what gods protect you? Only the golden calves Jeroboam made for you.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	13	9	For these, you have cast out the priests of the Lord, Aaron’s race, and the Levites with them; you must needs make priests of your own, like the heathen around you; the first comer, bring he a bull with him or seven rams for his hallowing, may be a priest, fit priest for the gods that are no gods.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	13	10	Our God is the Lord, unforsaken still; the priests that serve him are of Aaron’s true breed; we have Levites to be their ministers.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	13	11	Day in, day out, they offer the Lord burnt-sacrifice; incense is ours, made as the law prescribes, and the loaves set out on the hallowed table; the golden lamp-stand is ours, and the lamps ever lit at evening; the commands of the Lord our God, among you so slighted, we keep.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	13	12	Here, then, is an army that has God for its leader; it is his priests that will sound their trumpets for the attack. Men of Israel, do not fight against the Lord, or it will go ill with you.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	13	13	While he thus addressed himself to them, Jeroboam was laying an ambush in his rear; still confronting them, he would surround the men of Juda unawares.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	13	14	And they, when they looked about them and found themselves attacked from front and rear at once, cried out to the Lord, while the priests with their trumpets sounded the alarm;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	13	15	a great shout went up from the men of Juda, and as they shouted, the Lord struck terror into Jeroboam’s heart, and the hearts of all Israel that were Abia’s and Juda’s enemies;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	13	16	to Juda the Lord gave the mastery, and they drove Israel before them in flight.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	13	17	A great victory Abia won that day, and there were five hundred thousand of Israel’s warriors that fell;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	13	18	a sore blow for Israel’s pride, and a day of great rejoicing for Juda, that put their trust in the Lord God of their fathers.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	13	19	Abia pursued Jeroboam in his flight, and took three cities of his, Bethel and Jesana and Ephron, with their daughter villages,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	13	20	nor, while Abia reigned, might Jeroboam any more withstand him. Afterwards the Lord’s vengeance fell on Jeroboam, and he died.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	13	21	So was Abia firmly established on his throne; fourteen wives he wedded, and had twenty-two sons by them, and sixteen daughters.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	13	22	What else Abia did, the life he led and all his exploits, may be found fully set down in the writings of the prophet Addo.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	14	1	So Abia was laid to rest with his fathers, with the Keep of David for his burying-place, and the throne passed to his son Asa; for the first ten years of his reign, the land was at peace.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	14	2	His was a life well lived, in obedience to the Lord’s will; altar and hill-shrine of alien worship he overthrew,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	14	3	broke the images, cut down the forest sanctuaries,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	14	4	and bade Juda have recourse to the Lord, the God of their fathers, carrying out all his law enjoined.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	14	5	No city in Juda but he rid it of altar and of shrine, and so he reigned in peace.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	14	6	And now, the Lord so blessing him with peace, his reign free from every alarm of battle, he set about fortifying the cities in his realm.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	14	7	Rebuild we these cities, he said to the men of Juda, and wall them about, making them fast with tower and bolt and bar, while we are still free from wars, and the Lord God of our fathers grants to us, his worshippers, a time of peace with our neighbours. So build they did, without let or hindrance.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	14	8	Three hundred thousand men of Juda this Asa had in his army, that carried shield and spear, besides two hundred and eighty thousand men of Benjamin, armed with shield and bow, trained warriors all.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	14	9	When Zara the Ethiopian marched in, and reached as far as Maresa, he had a million of fighting men and three hundred chariots to match against them.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	14	10	But Asa went to meet him, and offered battle in the valley of Sephata, close by Maresa.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	14	11	And there he made his plea to the Lord God; It is all one to thee, Lord, be they few or many to whom thou wouldst bring thy aid. Help us now, O Lord our God; in thee, in thy name we put our trust, boldly offering battle to such hordes as these. Lord, thou art our own God; do not let man have the mastery of thee.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	14	12	With that, the Lord struck terror into the Ethiopians as Asa and the men of Juda approached, so that they turned and fled;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	14	13	all the way to Gerara Asa and his men pursued them, till nothing was left of them; it was the Lord that smote them, his army that did battle against them; and rich were the spoils of that victory.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	14	14	All the cities about Gerara, now overcome with terror, they conquered and plundered, carrying away their booty with them;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	14	15	the sheep-folds, too, they broke down, and drove away sheep and camels in abundance. And so they returned to Jerusalem.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	15	1	It was then that the spirit of the Lord moved Azarias, son of Oded, to prophesy.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	15	2	He it was went out to meet Asa, and thus greeted him: Listen to me, Asa, listen to me, tribes of Juda and Benjamin. If the Lord declares for you, it is because you have declared yourselves for him; have recourse to him, and he is yours, forsake him, and you will find yourselves forsaken.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	15	3	Israel he has abandoned; long must they wait without true God, true prophet or true law,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	15	4	till affliction brings them back to the Lord, their own God, and they look for him again, and find him.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	15	5	Meanwhile no peace, only constant marching to and fro; alarm of battle in the kingdoms all around,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	15	6	nation fighting against nation, city against city, because the Lord would have them ever restless, ever in sore straits.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	15	7	But you, take courage; never slacken your resolve; still for your loyal service you shall have reward.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	15	8	Upon hearing the inspired words of this prophet, Azarias son of Oded, Asa’s courage rose; never an idol was left in Juda or Benjamin, or the cities he had recovered in the hill-country of Ephraim. He also dedicated anew the altar of the Lord before the temple porch,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	15	9	summoning all Juda and Benjamin, and with them new-comers from Ephraim, Manasses and Simeon; not a few of these Israelites had transferred their allegiance to him, when they saw what favour he enjoyed with the Lord his God.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	15	10	In the third month of Asa’s twenty-fifth year they assembled at Jerusalem,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	15	11	and sacrificed to the Lord that day, out of their spoil and out of the cattle they had driven away, seven hundred bulls and seven thousand rams.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	15	12	Then he set about solemnly ratifying the covenant which bound them to have recourse to the Lord God of their fathers, heart and soul.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	15	13	Death to high or low, death to man or woman, Asa cried, that turns to any god save the Lord God of Israel!
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	15	14	Loud were their cries of acclaim, loud rang trumpet and horn, as the oath was taken,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	15	15	binding every man in the territory of Juda under a curse. Loyally they swore, loyally kept their oath, nor did they turn to the Lord in vain; peace undisturbed on every frontier was their reward.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	15	16	His own mother, Maacha, Asa deprived of her royal dignity, for making a forest shrine that had Priapus’ image in it; the image he broke, and burnt the fragments of it, and cast the ashes into the river Cedron.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	15	17	He did not abolish the hill-shrines, but all his days his heart was true to the Lord;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	15	18	and he enriched the Lord’s house with gold and silver and great array of other ornaments, some dedicated by his father, some in performance of his own vows.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	15	19	And war there was none till Asa’s reign had reached its thirty-fifth year.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	16	1	Then, in the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s reign, Baasa king of Israel invaded Juda, and began making a fortified city of Rama, so as to deny Asa’s subjects free passage.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	16	2	Whereupon Asa took out all the silver and gold that was left in the treasure-chambers of temple and palace; this he sent to Benadad, king of Syria, at Damascus, with the message,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	16	3	There is an alliance between us; were not thy father and mine ever at peace? Witness these gifts of silver and gold I send thee; do thou annul the treaty thou hast made with Baasa, king of Israel, and help me drive him out of my country.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	16	4	Thus approached, Benadad sent out his generals with orders to attack the cities of Israel; Ahion they overcame, and Dan, and Abelmaim, and all the fortified cities of Nephthali.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	16	5	So Baasa, when the news reached him, left his plan of fortifying Rama half-finished;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	16	6	and Asa, with all Juda at his back, carried off the stones and wood-work that should have been used towards it, and with these fortified Gabaa and Maspha instead.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	16	7	Thereupon the prophet Hanani came into the royal presence, with this message: This was ill done, to call the king of Syria to thy aid. If thou hadst put thy trust in the Lord, the army of Syria itself should have been at thy mercy.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	16	8	Stronger in chariots and horsemen, stronger in their huge array, were the Libyans and Ethiopians over whom the Lord gave thee mastery, in return for thy trust.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	16	9	Wide as earth is the Lord’s scrutiny, and there he gives mastery where he finds hearts that have utter faith in him. Thou hast played a fool’s part; henceforward, there shall be no lack of wars to threaten thee.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	16	10	At this, Asa fell into a rage, and had the prophet committed to prison, to vent his high displeasure; it was at this time, too, that he put many of his subjects to death.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	16	11	All that Asa did, first and last, is set down in the Annals of the kings of Israel and Juda.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	16	12	In the thirty-ninth year of his reign, a malignant disease attacked his feet; nor, in that sickness, did he have recourse to the Lord, trusting rather in the skill of physicians.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	16	13	So, dying in the fortieth year of his reign, he was laid to rest with his fathers,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	16	14	and they buried him in the tomb that had been dug for him by his own orders, in the Keep of David. There he lay, on his own bed, that was piled high with spices and rare ointments, mingled with all the perfumer’s art; and these, in high funeral pomp, they burned over his grave.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	17	1	The throne passed to his son Josaphat, who made his territories secure against threat from Israel;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	17	2	all the fortified cities of Juda he garrisoned, and kept troops on guard throughout Juda, and in the cities his father Asa had taken from Ephraim.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	17	3	Josaphat reigned, and the Lord was with him, because the first years of his father (David) were the example he followed; he put his trust, not in gods of the country-side,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	17	4	but in his own father’s God; kept close to the divine commandments, far from the sins of Israel.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	17	5	So the Lord gave him a firm hold on the reins of government; from all parts of Juda gifts came to Josaphat, till riches and renown were his in abundance.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	17	6	Boldly he upheld the Lord’s commandments, sweeping away hill-shrine and forest sanctuary from Juda.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	17	7	In the third year of his reign, he would have some of his chief officers go out and give instruction in the townships of Juda, Benhail, Obdias, Zacharias, Nathanael, and Michaeas,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	17	8	and with them certain Levites, Semeias, Nathanias, Zabadias, Asael, Semiramoth, Jonathan, Adonias, Tobias and Tob-Adonias, and two priests, Elisama and Joram.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	17	9	They took a copy of the Lord’s law with them, the better to instruct the men of Juda, and went round all its cities, teaching the common folk.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	17	10	Never a king in all the countries about Juda durst levy war against Josaphat, such terror the Lord had struck into their hearts;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	17	11	the very Philistines brought him gifts, and paid a tribute of silver, and the Arabs must bring in their herds, seven thousand seven hundred rams and as many goats.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	17	12	Josaphat, then, grew to great magnificence, filling Juda with fortresses and walled towns;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	17	13	and all through the cities of Juda he had store in abundance. At Jerusalem, he was surrounded by brave warriors,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	17	14	clans thus enrolled: from Juda, three hundred thousand fighting men under the command of Ednas, one of his chieftains;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	17	15	two hundred and eighty thousand under Johanan,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	17	16	and two hundred thousand under Amasias son of Zechri, that was set apart for the Lord’s service.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	17	17	And (from Benjamin) two hundred thousand with bow and spear under brave Eliada,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	17	18	and a hundred and eighty thousand, well equipped for battle, under Jozabad.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	17	19	All these were close to the king’s side, not counting those he had marshalled in the walled cities from end to end of Juda.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	18	1	Rich and renowned, Josaphat had allied his house by marriage with the house of Achab;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	18	2	and now, when some years had passed, he went to visit him at Samaria. Many a ram, many a bullock did Achab slaughter to make him and his retinue welcome; then he had a plan to put before him, that they should march against Ramoth-Galaad.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	18	3	And what answer made Josaphat, king of Juda, when Achab, king of Israel, proposed that they should attack Ramoth-Galaad together? Thou and I, said he, are all at one; my army is all thine, we will stand at thy side in battle.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	18	4	But he would have Achab consult the Lord first.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	18	5	So Achab sent for his prophets, four hundred in number, and asked whether they should attack Ramoth-Galaad or let it be? Go to the attack, they said; the Lord means to make the king’s grace master of it.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	18	6	But still Josaphat asked whether there was no prophet of the Lord to be found, so that they could make enquiry through him.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	18	7	Why yes, the king of Israel told him, there is one man through whom we might ask for the Lord’s counsel; yet is he no friend of mine, still he will be prophesying that ill fortune is to befall me, never good; Michaeas is his name, the son of Jemla. Nay, my lord king, said Josaphat, think better of it.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	18	8	So Achab summoned one of his chamberlains, and bade him fetch Michaeas the son of Jemla with all speed.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	18	9	There sat the king of Israel and Josaphat king of Juda, each on his throne, in all their royal state, in an open space by the gate of Samaria; and there in their presence all the prophets said their say.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	18	10	One of them, Sedecias the son of Chanaana, had provided himself with a pair of horns fashioned in iron; With these, he said, thou shalt toss Syria about, till thou hast made an end of it.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	18	11	And all the prophets had the same word for him; Go and attack Ramoth-Galaad, they told him, and a blessing on thy journey! The Lord means to make the king’s grace master of it.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	18	12	So the messenger who went to summon Michaeas told him, Here are all the prophets bidding the king good speed, like one man; pray join thy voice to theirs, and prophesy good fortune.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	18	13	Nay, answered he, as the Lord is a living God, the word I speak shall be the word he gives me.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	18	14	So he came into the king’s presence, and when he was asked whether it were better to attack Ramoth-Galaad, or to let it be, he answered, Go to the attack; all shall be well with you, and your enemies shall be at your mercy.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	18	15	What, cried Achab, shall I never cease adjuring thee in the Lord’s name to tell me only the truth?
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	18	16	Listen then, said he; I had a vision of all Israel straying over the mountains like sheep that had no shepherd, and the Lord’s word came, They have no master now; let them disperse to their homes in peace.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	18	17	(It is as I told thee, Achab said to Josaphat; still he prophesies ill fortune, never good.)
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	18	18	Then Michaeas went on, Here is a message to thee from the Lord. I had a vision of the Lord sitting on his throne, with all the host of heaven waiting on his pleasure, to right and left.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	18	19	And the Lord said, Who is to beguile Achab, king of Israel, so that he will march to Ramoth-Galaad, and there meet his fall? One said this, one that;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	18	20	till at last a spirit came forward and stood in the Lord’s presence, offering to beguile Achab. And how wilt thou beguile him? the Lord asked.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	18	21	I will go abroad, said he, and on the lips of all his prophets I will make myself an influence to deceive. Deceive them thou shalt, the Lord said, and have thy way with them; go abroad, then, and carry out thy errand.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	18	22	And now, see what a lying influence the Lord has spread among these prophets of thine! For indeed the Lord has determined on thy ruin.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	18	23	At that, Sedecias son of Chanaana went up and gave Michaeas a blow on the cheek; Has the spirit of the Lord passed me by, he asked, and spoken to none but thee?
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	18	24	And Michaeas only answered, Thou shalt live to see the day when thou must needs take refuge in an inner room, to hide there.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	18	25	Then the king of Israel gave his orders; Take Michaeas hence, said he, and put him in the charge of Amon, the city governor, and of Joas, son of Amelech.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	18	26	And give them this royal command of mine, that they are to imprison him, and give him scant allowance of food and drink, till I come back safe and sound.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	18	27	Come thou back safe and sound, Michaeas said, and mine was no message from the Lord. Witness my words, all you that stand here!
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	18	28	So the king of Israel, and Josaphat king of Juda, marched out to attack Ramoth-Galaad.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	18	29	And Achab said he himself would go into battle in disguise; let Josaphat, meanwhile, wear his royal robes. So none knew the king of Israel by his array, when he went into battle.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	18	30	To all the captains of his cavalry the king of Syria had given the same orders: Press for no other mark, high or low, but the king of Israel himself.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	18	31	And these, upon sight of Josaphat, cried out that this was the king of Israel, so that armed men surrounded him on all sides; but he cried out to the Lord, who brought him succour, and turned aside their attack.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	18	32	Then, seeing that this was not the king of Israel, the captains of the cavalry let him be.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	18	33	It was an archer, letting fly a shaft at haphazard, that gave Achab a chance wound; it fell between neck and shoulder-blades, and Achab bade his charioteer wheel about, and carry him away from the fight, wounded as he was.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	18	34	With night, the battle came to an end; all day, the king of Israel had stood upright in his chariot, facing the Syrians, and did not die till evening.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	19	1	But Josaphat came home safe and sound to Jerusalem.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	19	2	There he was met by the prophet Jehu, son of Hanani, who said, What, wilt thou comfort the sinner, ally thyself with the Lord’s enemies? Nay, thou wouldst have brought the Lord’s vengeance on thyself,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	19	3	but for those worthy deeds thou hast to shew. Well for thee that thou hast rid Juda of those shrines, taken that resolve to have recourse only to the God of thy fathers!
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	19	4	And now, returned to his capital, Josaphat set out on a progress all through his kingdom, from Bersabee to the hill country of Ephraim, recalling the Lord God of their fathers to his people’s minds anew.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	19	5	In every fortified city he appointed judges;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	19	6	and this was the charge he gave them: Take heed how you perform your office; it is the Lord’s commission you hold, not man’s, and according to the award you make, yourselves will be judged.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	19	7	As you fear the Lord’s vengeance, do not spare yourselves any pains; when the Lord our God gives sentence, there is no wrongful award, no room for flattery of the great, or for bribery.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	19	8	At Jerusalem, too, he set up courts, under Levites, and priests, and heads of families, to give sentence and award in the Lord’s name to the citizens.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	19	9	As you fear the Lord’s vengeance, he warned them, go about your work faithfully, with sincere hearts.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	19	10	Suits will be remitted to you by your brethren in the other cities, of feud between clan and clan, of issues between law and decree, between statute and award given; yours to resolve their doubts, lest they should incur guilt in the Lord’s eyes, and bring punishment on you and themselves alike. So shall your duty be done faultlessly;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	19	11	where God’s rights are concerned, your high priest Amarias will preside over you, and Zabadias son of Ismahel, Juda’s own chieftain, will have charge of every case that touches the king’s prerogative. The Levites are at your side to instruct you; boldly and carefully set about your task, and the Lord will be with you to defend the right.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	20	1	After this the Moabites and the Ammonites, with certain tribesmen that lived in the Ammonite country, mustered their forces to levy war on Josaphat;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	20	2	and messengers came to tell him that a great army was marching against him, from the country beyond the Dead Sea and from Syria; they were encamped even now at Asasonthamar (which is the same as Engaddi).
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	20	3	Most fervently, in his great dismay, Josaphat betook himself to prayer, proclaiming a fast for the whole of Juda;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	20	4	whereupon all Juda gathered to offer the Lord their plea; from every city they assembled to prefer their common request.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	20	5	There, then, Josaphat stood in the Lord’s house, at the entrance to the New Court, with all Jerusalem and Juda assembled round him.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	20	6	Lord God of our fathers, he prayed, from thy throne in heaven thou rulest all earthly kingdoms, holding a sceptre of such majesty that none may resist thee.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	20	7	Thou it was didst overthrow all the dwellers in this land to make room for thy people Israel; thy irrevocable gift it was to the sons of Abraham, thy friend.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	20	8	Here, then, they dwelt, and built a temple in thy honour.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	20	9	And if we come into thy presence, they said, here in the shrine of thy own name, crying out to thee in time of need, when disaster falls upon us, pestilence, or famine, or the avenging sword, then do thou hear, and save.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	20	10	See now what need is here! We are attacked by Ammon, Moab and Edom, the very nations whose frontiers thou didst forbid Israel to cross, after the march out of Egypt. Our fathers turned aside, leaving them unharmed,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	20	11	and this is our reward; we are to be driven out from the home thou hast given us.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	20	12	It is for thee, our God, to grant redress; we have no strength of our own to meet such an onslaught as this; despairing hearts, that know not where else to turn, we look to thee!
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	20	13	All Juda stood about him, there in the Lord’s presence, even mothers with babes in their arms, children at their side.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	20	14	And now, upon one man in all that throng, the Lord’s spirit fell; it was a Levite of Asaph’s clan, Jahaziel, come down from Mathanias through Zacharias, Banaias and Jehiel.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	20	15	Listen, Juda, he cried, listen, citizens of Jerusalem, listen, king Josaphat, to a message from the Lord. Put an end to your fears, do not be dismayed at the sight of this great army; it is God’s battle, not yours.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	20	16	Go down to-morrow and offer them battle, as they climb up the slope of Sis; it is there you will find them, at the head of the ravine which faces the Jeruel desert.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	20	17	Not yours the battle, you have but to stand firm, Juda and Jerusalem, and watch the Lord coming to your aid. No flinching, no faint hearts; go down to-morrow, and the Lord will be at your side.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	20	18	At this, Josaphat and Juda and all the citizens of Jerusalem fell down face to earth, there in the Lord’s presence;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	20	19	and the Levites, sons of Caath and Core, cried aloud till the heavens rang, in praise of the Lord God of Israel.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	20	20	Dawn came, and they began their march across the desert of Thecue; Josaphat, as they set out, came forward to speak. Listen to me, he said, men of Juda; listen, citizens of Jerusalem. Trust in the Lord your God, and you have nothing to fear; trust his prophets, and all shall go well with you.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	20	21	Thus he encouraged them, and would have the Lord’s minstrels praise him in chorus, marching before the army and singing, Praise the Lord, the Lord is gracious; his mercy endures for ever.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	20	22	As the chant rose, the Lord turned the stealthy approach of Juda’s enemies, Ammon and Moab and Edom, to their own discomfiture.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	20	23	First Ammon and Moab fell on the Edomites, cutting them down till there was nothing left of them; and when this was done, the two armies turned against one another, till their feud brought destruction on both.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	20	24	And when the men of Juda reached the vantage-ground that overlooks the desert, nothing was to be seen, look where they would, but the corpses of the slain; not a man was left there alive.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	20	25	So Josaphat and his men went down to strip them of their spoil, and found there, among the dead, such plunder of harness and clothes and precious ornaments as they could not carry with them; it was three days before all the booty was taken away.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	20	26	Then, on the fourth day, they mustered in the Valley of Blessing, which still bears the name they gave it when they returned thanks to the Lord there;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	20	27	and so went back to Jerusalem, men of Jerusalem and men of Juda alike, with Josaphat at their head, full of joy at the triumph the Lord had given them over their enemies;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	20	28	into Jerusalem they came, and into the Lord’s house, with harp and zither and trumpets playing.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	20	29	So the Lord struck terror into the hearts of the heathen, with the news that he himself had fought against Israel’s enemies;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	20	30	Josaphat reigned in security, and on every frontier God gave him peace.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	20	31	This reign of his over Juda began when he was thirty-five years old, and for twenty-five years it lasted, there in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Azuba, daughter of Selahi.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	20	32	He followed the example of his father Asa, and never swerved aside from the Lord’s will;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	20	33	though indeed he did not abolish the hill-shrines; not yet had his people turned their whole minds to worshipping the Lord, the God of their fathers.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	20	34	What else Josaphat did, first and last, is told in the record preserved by Jehu son of Hanani, among the Annals of the kings of Israel.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	20	35	At the end of his life, Josaphat made an alliance between Juda and Israel, under king Ochozias, that reigned very evilly.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	20	36	Together they would build a fleet that should sail for Tharsis; and build it they did, in Asiongaber;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	20	37	but Eliezer, son of Dodau from Maresa, prophesied to king Josaphat, The Lord has shattered those hopes of thine, because of thy alliance with Ochozias; and the ships were wrecked before ever they reached Tharsis.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	21	1	Josaphat, then, was laid to rest with his fathers, with the Keep of David for his burying-place, and the throne passed to his son Joram.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	21	2	Many brothers Joram had, princes of the blood; Azarias, Jahiel, Zacharias (Azarias), Michael and Saphatias were all sons of Josaphat, king of Juda,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	21	3	and to all these their father gave rich presents of silver and gold, money for their needs, and walled cities in Juda to be their homes, but to Joram, the eldest, he left his kingdom.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	21	4	So Joram came to his father’s throne, and when he was firmly established on it, he slew all these brethren of his, and some of the chief men of Juda with them.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	21	5	This Joram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and his reign at Jerusalem lasted eight years.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	21	6	He followed the example of the Israelite kings, just as Achab’s line did; he himself had married a daughter of Achab’s. So he defied the Lord’s will;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	21	7	but the Lord would not bring ruin upon David’s race; had he not made a covenant with him, promising to keep the lamp of his line unquenched for ever?
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	21	8	It was in Joram’s days that the Edomites renounced their allegiance to Juda, and set up a king of their own choice.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	21	9	Joram indeed marched out across the river, with his captains and all the horsemen he could muster, and when the Edomites surrounded him, he broke through them with a night attack, broke through the commanders of their chariots;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	21	10	but Edom has never been subject to Juda from that day to this. Lobna, at the same time, revolted from his allegiance. An ill day it was for him when he forsook the Lord, the God of his fathers,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	21	11	raised hill-shrines in the cities of his realm, taught Jerusalem to betray her troth, and made sinners of Juda.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	21	12	A letter, too, was brought to him, written by the prophet Elias, with a message from the Lord, the God of his father David: Not for thee the example of thy father Josaphat, and of king Asa, that reigned in Juda before thee;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	21	13	thou wouldst play the wanton, like the house of Achab, teach the men of Juda and Jerusalem to betray their troth, after Israel’s fashion, and wouldst slay thy brethren, princes of thy own father’s line, better men than thyself.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	21	14	A heavy punishment the Lord will send upon thee, taking toll of thy people, of thy sons, of thy wives, and of all thou hast;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	21	15	and for thyself, a foul disease shall attack thy inward parts, that grows worse from day to day until thy very bowels drop out.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	21	16	After this, the Lord embroiled the Philistines against Joram, and the Arab tribesmen, too, that dwell next the Ethiopians.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	21	17	These marched upon Juda and ravaged it, carrying off all the palace treasures, and his sons and wives with them; never a son was left to Joram but Joachaz, the youngest of all.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	21	18	And, not content with this, the Lord smote him with an incurable disease of his inward parts.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	21	19	Wearily the days passed, lengthened themselves out till two whole years had run their course; till at last he voided his very bowels, and his sickness ended only with death. Right foul was the manner of his ending, and his subjects made no burning at his funeral, as they did for his ancestors.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	21	20	He had reigned but eight years, that was thirty-two years old when he came to the throne; a life ill lived. And they laid him to rest in David’s Keep, but not in the burying-place of the kings.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	22	1	It was his youngest son, Ochozias, that the citizens of Jerusalem made king in his place. All his elder brothers had been killed by Arab freebooters, that fell on the camp where they were lodged; and so Ochozias became Joram’s heir, and reigned in Juda.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	22	2	When he came to the throne, he had lived (twice) a score of years and two, and his reign at Jerusalem lasted but a year. His mother’s name was Athalia, descended from Amri.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	22	3	He too followed the example of Achab’s line, his mother prompting him to impious deeds.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	22	4	Little wonder if he defied the Lord’s will no less than Achab’s race, since these were his counsellors, to his undoing, after his father died.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	22	5	He shared, too, their designs, and marched with the king of Israel, Joram that was son to Achab, against Hazael, king of Syria. They met at Ramoth-Galaad, and there Joram was wounded by the Syrians,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	22	6	so that he must go back to Jezrahel to recover; wounds a many he had received in the battle we speak of. And when Joram, son of Achab, lay sick at Jezrahel, Ochozias son of Joram king of Juda came there to visit him.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	22	7	It was the divine will, for Ochozias’ punishment, that he should pay Joram this visit, and with him should offer battle to Jehu, son of Namsi, whom the Lord had anointed king to make an end of Achab’s line.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	22	8	Jehu it was that fell in with the princes of Juda, sons of Ochozias’ kinsmen and courtiers of his, and slew them, at the time when he was exterminating the line of Achab;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	22	9	Jehu it was that made enquiry after Ochozias himself, who was found still hiding in the kingdom of Samaria, and so brought before him and slain. Yet he was given burial; was he not descended from king Josaphat, a king who had set his whole heart on following the Lord? Little hope there seemed then of Juda being governed any longer by Ochozias’ kindred.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	22	10	The more so because his mother, Athalia, no sooner heard the news of her son’s death, than she set about exterminating all the blood royal of Joram’s dynasty.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	22	11	Only Joas, Ochozias’ son, was rescued by the princess Josabeth, who stole him away while all the other princes were being slain, and hid him, with his nurse, in the room where the bedding was stored up. This Josabeth, who hid him, was a daughter of king Joram’s, sister to Ochozias and wife to the high priest Joiada. Joas, then, escaped murder at Athalia’s hands,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	22	12	and for the six years of her life that remained he was hidden away in the house of God.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	23	1	Then, in the seventh year, Joiada was emboldened to act. He took some of the captains into his confidence, Azarias son of Jeroham, Ismahel son of Johanan, Azarias son of Obed, Maasias son of Adaia and Elisaphat son of Zechri;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	23	2	and these went round the whole of Juda, mustering the Levites and the clan chiefs in each city and summoning them to Jerusalem.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	23	3	There, in the Lord’s own house, they all engaged their loyalty to the king; Here, said Joiada, is the heir to the throne; we must make him king, in pursuance of the Lord’s will for the posterity of David.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	23	4	And now, here is your task.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	23	5	Those of you, priests, Levites and door-keepers, whose turn it is to mount guard this week, will be keeping watch, a third of them over the gates, a third over the royal palace, and a third at the Foundation-stone Gate. All the rest are to be in the temple courts,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	23	6	none entering the Lord’s house itself, except those who have kept themselves free of defilement for that end, priests and Levites who are their ministers, but all alike attentive to the Lord’s command.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	23	7	The king must have a bodyguard of Levites, all fully armed, ready to slay anyone else who tries to enter the temple, attending the king closely wherever he goes.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	23	8	All the commands which the high priest Joiada gave them, the Levites, and the rest of Juda with them, faithfully carried out; mustered their men, alike those who mounted guard and those who were relieved of duty that week, since the high priest would not let the companies who had finished go home.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	23	9	Joiada supplied the captains with spears, shields and bucklers, that king David had put up as offerings in the Lord’s house;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	23	10	and from right to left of the temple, facing the altar and the temple itself, he drew up the whole array of his supporters, that were armed with daggers, to protect the king.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	23	11	Then they brought the young prince out, and gave him the crown and the pledge that went with it, a copy of the law to be held in his hand, and so they made him king. The high priest Joiada, with his sons, anointed him and prayed over him, and cried out, Long live the king!
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	23	12	Meanwhile, the noise of all this stir and shouting reached the ears of Athalia, and she made her way into the temple, where the crowd was gathered,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	23	13	to find the king standing on a dais, there at the entry, with chieftains and bodyguard about him, while all the folk rejoiced, blowing trumpets and playing on instruments of many kinds, and shouting their praises. Well might she rend her clothes, and cry out, Treason, treason!
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	23	14	Thereupon Joiada came out, and bade the captains and the commanders of the army lead her away beyond the temple precincts, and there dispatch her; She must not be slain in the Lord’s house, the priest told them.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	23	15	So they caught her by the neck, and as she passed along the horse-way that leads to the palace, she was slain.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	23	16	After this, Joiada would have a covenant made, that bound himself and the people and the new king to be the Lord’s own people.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	23	17	And the whole populace went into Baal’s temple and destroyed it, breaking down its altars and its images, and killing Mathan, that was Baal’s priest, there before the altar.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	23	18	Then Joiada set up officers to look after the Lord’s temple; but under the direction of those priests and Levites to whom David had assigned their tasks there, in offering burnt-sacrifice to the Lord as Moses bade them, and singing praise after David’s own fashion.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	23	19	Porters, too, he placed at all the temple gates, that should forbid entry to all who were in any way defiled.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	23	20	Then, with the captains and the men of renown, with the nobles and all the common folk of the land, he escorted the king from the Lord’s house by way of the upper gate into the palace, and there they set him on his royal throne.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	23	21	All through the land were great rejoicings, and the city had rest, now that Athalia lay dead.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	24	1	Thus Joas came to the throne as a boy of seven years old, and his reign at Jerusalem lasted forty years. His mother’s name was Sebia, a woman of Bersabee.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	24	2	As long as the high priest Joiada was alive, Joas obeyed the Lord’s will,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	24	3	and it was Joiada who found him his two wives, that bore sons and daughters to him.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	24	4	And now Joas had a mind to put the Lord’s house in repair.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	24	5	He summoned priests and Levites, and bade them go round the cities of Juda, collecting money from all that were of Israel’s race every year, so as to repair the temple of the Lord their God; and this he would have them do with all speed. But the Levites went about their work slowly,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	24	6	and the king must needs send for the high priest Joiada; Why hast thou been at no pains, he asked, to make the Levites collect money throughout Juda and Jerusalem, the same money which the Lord’s servant Moses bade all Israel devote to the needs of the tabernacle?
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	24	7	Here is God’s house all laid waste by Athalia, the godless queen, and those sons of hers, that would deck Baal’s temple with all the votive offerings that were once in the temple of the Lord.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	24	8	Then the king bade them have a chest made, and this they put by the outer gate of the Lord’s house.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	24	9	And word went round Juda and Jerusalem that each man was to pay the tax Moses enjoined on all Israel, out in the desert.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	24	10	Gladly did chieftains and common folk together come in with their gifts for the Lord’s treasury, piling the chest high till it was full.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	24	11	When the Levites saw that a great sum was amassed, it was time they should take it into the royal presence. The king’s secretary would come in, and with him one that was appointed by the high priest; together they poured out the money that was in the chest, which they then put back in its place. Every day this was done, and the great sum thus collected
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	24	12	was paid over by the king and Joiada to the master-builders, who hired stone-cutters with it, and other craftsmen, to repair the Lord’s house; workers, too, in iron and bronze, so as to prop up what was like to fall down.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	24	13	Busily these men went about their tasks, till the breach was healed under their hands, and the building restored to its former state; the house stood firm once more.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	24	14	It was only when they had finished all this that the rest of the money collected was brought before the king and Joiada; with this they made all the appurtenances for worship and offering sacrifice in the temple; bowls, too, and other ornaments of gold and silver. All through Joiada’s life-time burnt-sacrifice was offered in the Lord’s house;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	24	15	but at last he grew old, and the full tale of his years was complete; he died at the age of a hundred and thirty.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	24	16	And for his great services to Israel and to David’s house, they buried him in David’s own Keep, among the kings.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	24	17	But now that he was dead, the chieftains of Juda came in to do the king reverence, and with their smooth speech won him over to another mind;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	24	18	forgotten, now, was the Lord’s temple, God of their fathers though he were; they must worship before forest shrines, and carved images. This guilt of theirs brought the Lord’s vengeance on Juda and Jerusalem;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	24	19	still he would send them prophets, to bring them back to him, but their protest went unheeded.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	24	20	At last the divine spirit fell on the high priest Zacharias, that was son to Joiada; full in the presence of the people he stood up and gave them a message from the Lord God: What means it that you so transgress the Lord’s command, to your peril, forsaking him, and by him forsaken?
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	24	21	But they, at the king’s orders, gathered about him and stoned him, there in the court of the Lord’s house.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	24	22	Such was the gratitude of Joas; for the great services the father had done him, the son must die. And as he died, he said, May the Lord look on this, and exact the penalty.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	24	23	A year passed, and the army of Syria was on the march against Joas. Into Juda, into Jerusalem they came, killed all that were of note among the people, plundered, and sent back what they had plundered to their master at Damascus.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	24	24	It was but a small force of Syrians that came, yet the Lord gave them the mastery over a great host; and all because Juda had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers. A shameful punishment Joas must undergo,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	24	25	and when they left him, they left him a prey to heavy sickness. Then, in vengeance for the murder of the high priest’s son, courtiers of his own conspired against him and slew him in his bed. So dying, he received burial in the Keep of David, but not in the burying-place of the kings.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	24	26	It was Zabad, son of the Ammonitess Semmaath, and Josabad, son of the Moabitess Semarith, that made the plot against him.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	24	27	What sons he had, what moneys he amassed, how he restored the house of God, may all be found set out in the Records of the Kings; and the throne passed to his son Amasias.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	25	1	Amasias was twenty-five years old when he came to the throne, and his reign at Jerusalem lasted twenty-nine years; his mother’s name was Joadan, a woman of Jerusalem.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	25	2	This Amasias obeyed the Lord’s will, but not with full obedience.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	25	3	Once his power was firmly established, he put his father’s murderers to death,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	25	4	but not their children; the Lord’s injunction, laid down by the terms of Moses’ law, was that a father must not die for his son’s guilt, or a son for his father’s; no guilt but his own should bring a man to death.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	25	5	Then he mustered the whole of Juda, marshalling them by their clans, and appointing commanders and captains for the whole of Juda and Benjamin. When the count was taken of all that were above the age of twenty, he found himself in command of three hundred thousand fighting men, armed with spear and shield.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	25	6	To these he added a force of a hundred thousand warriors from Israel, hired for a hundred talents of silver.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	25	7	But now a messenger from God came and told him, My lord king, this force of Israelites must not march with thee; to Israel, to the whole kingdom of Ephraim, the Lord denies his aid.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	25	8	Count as thou wilt on the strength of thy array, God will give thy enemies the mastery; he alone sends victory and defeat.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	25	9	And when Amasias asked what was to become of the hundred talents he had spent on the mercenaries from Israel, the answer came, Worse losses yet the Lord can make good to thee.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	25	10	Thereupon Amasias drew off the Israelite troops and bade them go home; go home they did, but full of indignation against Juda.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	25	11	And he, with renewed confidence, led his own army out to the Valley of the Salt-pits, where they killed a thousand Edomites on the field;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	25	12	ten thousand more they captured alive, and took them to a steep rock, from whose summit they threw them down headlong, so that all were dashed to pieces.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	25	13	But meanwhile the army which Amasias had sent home, instead of taking them into battle with him, scattered here and there among the cities of Juda, all the way (from Samaria) to Bethoron, killing three thousand of the inhabitants, and carrying away great store of plunder.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	25	14	After this victory over the Edomites, Amasias brought home with him some of the idols men worshipped there in Seir; and these gods he made his own, worshipping them himself and burning incense before them.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	25	15	And the Lord, much angered with him, sent a prophet to ask, What gods are these thou worshippest, that could not rescue their own people from thy onslaught?
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	25	16	He answered, What, wouldst thou be the king’s counsellor? Peace, or thy life shall pay for it! And the prophet said, as he turned to go, So much ill done, and no heed paid to my counsel! Certain it is the Lord has doomed thee to die.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	25	17	And now Amasias, upon ill advice taken, sent a challenge to Joas, son of Joachaz, son of Jehu, king of Israel, Come, let us have a trial of strength!
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	25	18	And this message he had in answer: Said Lebanon thistle to Lebanon cedar, Let my son have thy daughter to wife. But down came wild beasts from Lebanon forest, and all the thistle got was, he was trampled underfoot.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	25	19	At the thought of thy victory over Edom, thy heart is puffed up with pride. Keep thyself at home, do not invite disaster, to thy own and Juda’s ruin.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	25	20	But Amasias would have his way; the Lord’s will was that he should fall into his enemy’s hands, to punish him for worshipping the gods of Edom.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	25	21	So Joas, king of Israel, marched out, and they faced one another while Amasias, king of Juda, was still in his own territory, at Bethsames;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	25	22	here the men of Juda were routed by the Israelites, and scattered to their homes in flight.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	25	23	Thus Amasias, son of Joas, son of Joachaz, king of Juda, was captured by Joas king of Israel at Bethsames, and taken back to his own city of Jerusalem; where Joas made a breach in the wall four hundred cubits long, from the gate of Ephraim to the Corner gate,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	25	24	carried off all the gold and silver and other ware that was to be found in the temple, in the treasury of Obededom, and in the royal treasury, took hostages besides, and so made his way back to Samaria.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	25	25	Amasias, son of Joas, king of Juda, survived this Joas, son of Joachaz, king of Israel, but fifteen years.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	25	26	What else Amasias did, first and last, is set down in the Record of the kings of Israel and Juda.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	25	27	But ever since he forsook the Lord, fresh troubles befell him. A conspiracy was made against him in Jerusalem, and when he fled to Lachis they sent in pursuit of him and put him to death there;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	25	28	afterwards his body was brought back to Jerusalem in a horse-litter, and there buried with his fathers in David’s Keep.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	26	1	Thereupon the whole people of Juda chose one of his sons, Ozias, a boy of sixteen years, to succeed his father Amasias;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	26	2	he it was who carried out the designs of his dead father by fortifying the harbour of Ailath and restoring it to the possession of Juda.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	26	3	Sixteen years old he was when he came to the throne, and his reign at Jerusalem lasted fifty-two. His mother’s name was Jechelia, a woman of Jerusalem.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	26	4	He obeyed the Lord’s will, as faithfully as once his father Amasias did.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	26	5	As long as Zacharias lived, a man taught by divine visions, Ozias had recourse to the Lord, and as long as he had recourse to the Lord, all went well with him.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	26	6	He it was that marched out to battle with the Philistines, and laid in ruins the walls of Geth, and Jabnia, and Azotus; and built towns to command Azotus and the Philistines.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	26	7	Such victory God gave him over the Philistines, the Arabs, too, that dwelt in Gurbaal, and the Ammonites;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	26	8	the Ammonites paid him tribute, and the renown of his many victories reached the very frontiers of Egypt.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	26	9	It was Ozias, too, that fortified the Corner Gate, the Valley gate, and the other gates on that side of Jerusalem, by building towers over them.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	26	10	Towers, too, he built out in the desert, and dug cisterns in plenty, for his many herds that grazed both in the lowlands and in the desert solitudes; he had vines, too, and vine-dressers to tend them, in the hill-country and about the town of Carmel; he was a man that loved husbandry.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	26	11	He had an army of fighting men, marshalled in readiness for battle by the scribe Jehiel and the controller Maasias; and out of all his generals he chose Hananias to command it.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	26	12	The clan chiefs that led it, all tried warriors, were two thousand six hundred in number;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	26	13	and the whole force under their command was one of three hundred and seven thousand five hundred fighting men, to maintain the king against his enemies.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	26	14	For all this great array Ozias provided shield and spear, helmet and breastplate, bows, too, and slings for shooting stones.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	26	15	At Jerusalem, he contrived engines of many sorts, poised on tower or on wall-corner, that discharged arrows and great boulders. Far spread his fame, such help the Lord gave him, and such greatness.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	26	16	But this greatness of his made his heart proud, to his own undoing. He slighted the Lord his God; into the temple he would go, and there burn incense at the censing-altar.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	26	17	Close at his heels the high priest Azarias entered, and eighty priests with him, strong men all,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	26	18	to withstand the royal will. Not for thee, Ozias, they cried, to burn incense in the Lord’s honour; that is for the priests, the sons of Aaron, that are set apart for this office. Leave this holy place, and profane it no more; thou wilt win no favour from the Lord God by such doings as these.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	26	19	At this, Ozias turned round in anger, the censer already in his hand with the incense ready for lighting, and began to threaten them. And with that, in the priests’ presence, there in the Lord’s house, by the censing-altar, the mark of leprosy started out on his brow.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	26	20	No time they lost, Azarias and his fellow priests, that sign once seen, in thrusting out the leper; he himself, feeling the stroke of the Lord’s present judgement, was in haste to be gone.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	26	21	King Ozias remained a leper till the day of his death, dwelling apart in a house of his own, while his son Joatham had charge of the palace, and heard the complaints of his subjects.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	26	22	What else Ozias did, first and last, stands recorded by the prophet Isaias, son of Amos.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	26	23	At last he was laid to rest with his fathers, not among the royal tombs, because he was a leper, but in the same burying-ground. And the throne passed to his son Joatham.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	27	1	This Joatham was twenty-five years old when he came to the throne, and his reign at Jerusalem lasted sixteen years; his mother’s name was Jerusa, daughter of Sadoc.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	27	2	He obeyed the Lord’s will, imitating the piety of Ozias, but not his sacrilege; among the people, there were corrupt ways of worship still.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	27	3	He it was built the high gate that leads into the Lord’s house, and added much to the Ophel wall;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	27	4	there are walled cities, too, in the hill-country of Juda, fortresses and towers in woodland places, that are of his building.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	27	5	He gave battle to the Ammonites and defeated them; a hundred talents of silver the Ammonites must pay him, with ten thousand measures of wheat, and as many of barley, that year and in the two years that followed.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	27	6	Such greatness Joatham achieved by his obedience to the Lord’s will.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	27	7	What else he did, the battles he fought and the life he lived, may be found set down in the Record of the kings of Israel and Juda.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	27	8	So, when he had lived forty-one years, and reigned sixteen years at Jerusalem,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	27	9	Joatham was laid to rest with his fathers, with the Keep of David for his burying-place, and the throne passed to his son Achaz.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	28	1	This Achaz was twenty years old when he came to the throne, and his reign at Jerusalem lasted sixteen years. He did not obey the Lord’s will like his father David before him;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	28	2	he followed the example of the Israelite kings, casting images of the countryside gods.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	28	3	He it was that burnt incense in the ravine of Benennom, and consecrated his sons by passage through the fire, after the wont of those nations which the Lord overthrew to make room for Israel.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	28	4	Never a high hill or a mountain slope or a leafy wood but Achaz must do sacrifice and offer incense there.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	28	5	So the Lord his God left him at the mercy of the king of Syria, who defeated him, and robbed his kingdom of rich spoils, which he carried off to Damascus. The king of Israel, too, had the mastery of him, and inflicted grievous loss;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	28	6	a hundred and twenty thousand men of Juda, all tried warriors, did Phacee son of Romelia slay in one day’s space, and all because they had forsaken the Lord, the God of their fathers.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	28	7	At the same time Maasias, a royal prince, and Ezrica, the controller of the household, and Elcana, that was the king’s chief minister, were put to death by Zechri, one of the great warriors of Ephraim.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	28	8	Two hundred thousand captives the men of Israel took, women, and boys, and girls, their own flesh and blood, with much booty besides, and conveyed them to Samaria.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	28	9	But there was a prophet of the Lord dwelling there at this time, Oded by name, who went out to meet the army on their way into the city, and expostulated with them. Here are the men of Juda, said he, left at your mercy, only because the Lord, the God of your fathers, is angry with them; and you have made murderous use of your victory; the tale of your cruelties mounts up to heaven.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	28	10	That is not enough for you; against all right, you would seize bondmen and bondwomen from Juda and Jerusalem. What, have you no sins of your own to account for?
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	28	11	Be guided by me; take the captives home, that are your own flesh and blood; if not, a bitter punishment from the Lord awaits you.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	28	12	And now four of Ephraim’s chieftains barred the way against the returning army; Azarias son of Johanan, Barachias son of Mosollamoth, Ezechias son of Sellum, and Amasa son of Adali.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	28	13	Never offend the Lord, they cried, by bringing in these captives with you! Would you add sin to sin, crown the guilt that long stands at our door? Here is grievous wrong; here is a bitter punishment from the Lord threatening Israel!
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	28	14	So, before their chieftains and before all the multitude assembled, the warriors gave up their booty and their prey.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	28	15	And the four men we have named stood there befriending the captives; those that went naked must be clothed out of the spoils; then, clothed and shod, they must be refreshed with food and drink, must be anointed after their journey. No care was wanting; some, that could not walk, or were of feeble age, must ride on asses. And so they escorted them to Jericho, the city of palm trees, and restored them to their kindred, and themselves went back to Samaria.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	28	16	So evil were those times, that Achaz must send to the king of the Assyrians to beg for aid.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	28	17	The Edomites came in and slew many of Juda’s folk, taking rich spoils besides,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	28	18	and the Philistines spread out their forces among the cities of the plain, and over the southern part of Juda, taking Bethsames, Aialon, Gaderoth, Socho, Thamnan, Gamzo and their daughter townships to settle in.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	28	19	Thus did the Lord humble Juda, to shew how Achaz had robbed them of all aid, by slighting the divine will.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	28	20	As for the king of the Assyrians, Thelgath-Phalnasar, the Lord made him an enemy, not an ally, to Juda, which he oppressed and plundered, with none to oppose him,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	28	21	till Achaz was fain to court his favour with gifts, stripping temple and royal palace and princely palace of their treasures, but no help did he win thereby.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	28	22	Such a man was this Achaz, that times of adversity did but minister to the contempt he shewed for the Lord;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	28	23	he would even offer victims to the gods of Damascus, that were his enemies; These Syrian gods, thought he, help their own country now, they will be on my side instead, if I win them over with gifts. But in truth these gods were his ruin, and all Israel’s.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	28	24	All the ornaments of the Lord’s house he had already taken away and broken up; now he closed the temple doors, and built altars of his own in every corner of Jerusalem;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	28	25	altars, too, in every city of Juda, the smoke of whose incense enraged the Lord, the God of his fathers.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	28	26	What else he did, all his history, first and last, may be found in the Record of the kings of Juda and Israel.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	28	27	So Achaz was laid to rest with his fathers, with the city of Jerusalem for his burying-place; but among the tombs of Israel’s kings they would not lay him. And the throne passed to his son Ezechias.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	29	1	Ezechias was twenty-five years old when he came to the throne, and his reign at Jerusalem lasted twenty-nine years. His mother’s name was Abia, the daughter of Zacharias.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	29	2	Here was one that obeyed the Lord’s will no less than his father David before him.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	29	3	In the first year of his reign, when the first month came round, he opened the gates of the Lord’s house again, and put them in repair.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	29	4	Then he summoned the priests and the Levites to assemble in the open space east of the temple.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	29	5	Men of Levi, he said, it is my will that you should cleanse yourselves; cleanse, too, the house of the Lord, the God of your fathers, and rid his sanctuary of all defilement.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	29	6	Ours is an inheritance of guilt, from fathers who have disobeyed the Lord our God, and forsaken him; turned their backs on his dwelling-place, where their eyes should ever be.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	29	7	Fast shut were the gates of yonder porch, spent the lamps, never did incense smoke, never was victim offered in the sanctuary of the God of Israel.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	29	8	What wonder if the Lord was angry with Juda and Jerusalem, doomed them to unrest, and ruin, and disgrace, such as you see all around?
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	29	9	What wonder if they fell in battle, these fathers of ours; if sons and daughters and wives were carried off into exile?
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	29	10	Here, then, is my resolve; we must bind ourselves by a covenant to the Lord our God, if his fierce anger is to relent.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	29	11	As my own sons I charge you, do not stand by with folded hands; on you the Lord’s choice has fallen, to wait upon his presence, ministering, and doing worship, and burning incense before him.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	29	12	Well did the Levites answer his call; Mahath son of Amasai and Joel son of Azarias, Caathites; Cis son of Abdi and Azarias son of Jalaleel, Merarites; Joah son of Zemma and Joah’s son Eden, Gersonites;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	29	13	of Elisaphan’s sons, Samri and Jahiel, of Asaph’s, Zacharias and Mathanias,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	29	14	of Heman’s, Jahiel and Semei, of Idithun’s, Semeias and Oziel.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	29	15	Mustering their brethren, they purified themselves, and so, obedient to the royal command and the divine will, entered into God’s house to cleanse it.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	29	16	The priests, too, were in the Lord’s temple for the cleansing; no unhallowed thing they found in porch or temple but the Levites carried it away, into the Cedron valley beyond.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	29	17	It was on the first day of the first month that they set about their task; on the eighth day of the same month they were still in the porch, and then they took eight days more ridding the temple itself of defilement; by the sixteenth day, their undertaking was complete.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	29	18	And now they craved audience with king Ezechias; We have cleansed the Lord’s house, they told him, and the altar of burnt-sacrifice, with all that belongs to it, the table of hallowed loaves, and all that belongs to the table.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	29	19	We have cleansed all the temple furniture that was profaned in the time of king Achaz, when he fell a-sinning; all this thou wilt find laid out before the Lord’s altar.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	29	20	Next day, Ezechias was abroad early, with all the chief men of the city gathered about him, to make his way into the house of the Lord.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	29	21	Seven bulls they offered, seven rams, seven lambs; seven goats, too, as an offering for fault; all this on behalf of the royal house, of the priestly line, and of Juda. And the king bade the priests, Aaron’s sons, offer the victims at the Lord’s altar.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	29	22	So bulls and rams and lambs were slaughtered, and the altar received their blood;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	29	23	the goats were brought out into the presence of king and people, who laid their hands on them,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	29	24	and then the priests slaughtered them, and poured out their blood at the altar to expiate Israel’s common guilt; the king’s command was that burnt-sacrifice and offering for fault should both be offered on behalf of the whole people.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	29	25	He had bidden the Levites take their stations, there in the Lord’s house, with cymbals, harp, and zither, as David enjoined; as Gad, the man of visions, and the prophet Nathan enjoined, for it was through these prophets of his that David had learned the Lord’s will.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	29	26	There stood the Levites, with instruments of David’s own, and the priests with their trumpets;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	29	27	and when Ezechias gave the word, and the burnt-sacrifice began, loud echoed their praises to the Lord, loud the trumpets blew, loud rang the music planned by David, king of Israel, long ago.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	29	28	Still must singer and trumpeter be at their task among the throng of worshippers, till all the sacrifice was consumed;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	29	29	and when this was over, while the king and all his company bowed down to adore,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	29	30	these Levites were bidden by the king and his nobles to praise the Lord with psalms of David, and of Asaph, the man of visions. Praise him they did with hearts full of joy, and they too bowed down to worship.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	29	31	It was not enough; Here, said Ezechias, are hands consecrated to the Lord afresh; come forward, and present victim and thank-offering in the Lord’s house. Thereupon the whole multitude brought victims and thank-offerings, and some, in their devotion, whole burnt-sacrifice.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	29	32	In burnt-sacrifice they offered seventy bulls, a hundred rams, and two hundred lambs,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	29	33	and consecrated to the Lord six hundred cattle and three thousand sheep.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	29	34	The priests were too few in number to flay so many burnt-offerings at once, and the Levites must needs help them to finish their task, till such time as more priests should have rid themselves of defilement; such cleansing is an easier matter for Levite than for priest.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	29	35	So much work there was to do with all the burnt-sacrifice that must be performed; the fat, too, of the welcome-offerings must be burned, and libations poured over the sacrifices.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	29	36	Thus was the worship of the Lord’s house restored in full. Greatly did Ezechias and all the people rejoice over their duty well done, for all that the resolve was taken so suddenly.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	30	1	Then Ezechias sent out a summons to Juda and all Israel (for his word went out by letter even to Ephraim and Manasses), bidding them come up to the Lord’s house at Jerusalem, and keep his paschal feast there.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	30	2	The king and his nobles and all Jerusalem were of this advice, that the pasch should be kept in the second month;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	30	3	keep it at the appointed time they might not, but must wait till priests had cleansed themselves in sufficient number, and the people could assemble at Jerusalem.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	30	4	Such was the resolve taken by the king and his subjects;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	30	5	and because so many had long neglected the law’s injunction, the summons should go out to all Israel, from Bersabee to Dan, bidding them keep the pasch there at Jerusalem, in the Lord’s honour, that was all Israel’s God.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	30	6	So couriers went out in the king’s service, bearing letters in his name and in the name of his nobles to Israel and Juda alike, and this was their purport; Come back, Israelites, to the Lord, all that remnant of you the Assyrian king has spared; and he, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, will come back to your side.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	30	7	See how your fathers and brethren have deserted the Lord, the God of their race, and been left to their doom; be wiser than they.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	30	8	Do not rebel, as your fathers did, against his yoke; surrender to the Lord, and come up to this sanctuary, which he has hallowed for all time; obey him, the Lord, the God of your fathers, and his fierce anger will be appeased.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	30	9	When you have come back to the Lord, the victors will relent, and allow your banished sons and brethren to return home; so gracious the Lord is, so merciful; turn back to him, and his face shall be hidden from you no more.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	30	10	Swiftly the couriers went from city to city of Ephraim and Manasses, right up to Zabulon, meeting everywhere with scorn and derision;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	30	11	but there were some tribesmen of Aser, Manasses and Zabulon that fell in with the proposal, and came.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	30	12	In Juda, such was the Lord’s enabling power, they had but one thought, to obey the Lord’s will, obey the command of the king and of his nobles.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	30	13	So it was a great throng that came to Jerusalem to keep this feast of unleavened bread in the second month.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	30	14	First they set about destroying the altars up and down Jerusalem, overthrowing all the shrines at which incense had been burned to false gods; and these they threw down into Cedron valley.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	30	15	Then, on the fourteenth day of the second month, they slew the paschal victim. Priest and Levite, cleansed of their defilement at last, offered burnt-sacrifice in the Lord’s house,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	30	16	keeping their due order, according to the terms of that law which God’s servant Moses gave. Only it was the Levites that must hand over to the priests the blood which was to be poured out,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	30	17	so many of the worshippers were still uncleansed; for all those who had not come in time to rid themselves of their defilement, the Levites must slay the victim.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	30	18	There were many from Ephraim, Manasses, Issachar and Zabulon that must overstep the bounds of the law by eating their paschal meal while they were yet defiled; but Ezechias made intercession for these; surely the Lord, in his goodness, would pardon
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	30	19	such as made the Lord God of their fathers their whole heart’s quest; cleansed or no, he would not find fault with them.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	30	20	In answer to this prayer, the Lord gave his people quittance.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	30	21	So, amid great rejoicing, for seven days together, all the Israelites assembled at Jerusalem kept the feast of unleavened bread. Day by day priest and Levite stood there praising the Lord as best their music might;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	30	22	Ezechias himself spoke to hearten them, sons of Levi that had such skill in the Lord’s service. All the seven days of the feast they ate the victims of their own welcome-offerings, giving thanks to the Lord, their fathers’ God.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	30	23	And now the whole multitude resolved to keep festival seven days more, and right gladly they did it.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	30	24	A thousand bulls and seven thousand sheep were given to them by king Ezechias, a thousand bulls and ten thousand sheep by the nobles; task enough for the many priests that had cleansed themselves by now.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	30	25	Glad was Juda that day, glad were priest and Levite, and new-comers from Israel, and men of alien birth from Israel’s domain and Juda’s alike;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	30	26	such high festival was kept in Jerusalem as the city had never seen since the days of David’s son Solomon, that was king of all Israel.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	30	27	Then priests and Levites stood up to bless the people, nor did their voices go unheard; heaven’s holy dwelling-place echoed to their prayer.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	31	1	When this was duly done, all the Israelites there assembled went about among the cities of Juda, breaking the idols and cutting down the shrines from forest and hill-side, and destroying the altars; and this they did not only in Juda and Benjamin, but all over the territory of Ephraim and Manasses, till none were left. Then the Israelites made their way home to their own cities.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	31	2	And now Ezechias assigned the various companies of priests and Levites their duties; for each his own task, attending to burnt-sacrifice and welcome-offering, thanking and praising the Lord, or watching over his gates, where his tent was pitched on earth.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	31	3	The offering of burnt-sacrifice each morning and evening, on the first day of the month and at other times when the law of Moses required it, should be defrayed at the royal expense;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	31	4	it was for the citizens of Jerusalem to provide for the priests and Levites, so that they might devote all their time to the demands of the Lord’s law.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	31	5	No sooner was this decree made public, than the people began sending in the first-fruits of their corn, wine and oil; tithes, too, of their honey and of all their lands produced;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	31	6	and all who dwelt in Juda’s cities, men of Israel and of Juda alike, gave tithes of cattle and sheep, and of all the offerings they had vowed to the Lord. These tithes they brought themselves, and piled them up all around;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	31	7	from the third month to the sixth, ever greater grew these heaps,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	31	8	and when Ezechias and his nobles came to see them, they blessed the Lord’s name, and blessed the people of Israel.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	31	9	But when Ezechias asked the priests and Levites why the offerings were left to lie in heaps thus,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	31	10	their answer was, they had eaten their fill ever since the first-fruits began to come in, and now, such plenty had the Lord granted to his people, much was left unconsumed; it was this surplus that lay before him.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	31	11	So Ezechias bade them make granaries in the Lord’s house; and in these granaries, once built,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	31	12	they bestowed carefully first-fruits and tithes and vowed gifts alike. They were in charge of the Levite Chonenias, with his brother Semei to aid him;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	31	13	and under Chonenias and Semei were ten others, Jahiel, Azarias, Nahath, Asael, Jerimoth, Jozabad, Elel, Jesmachias, Mahath and Banaias. But king Ezechias and Azarias, that was controller of God’s house, had the direction of all.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	31	14	Gifts that were freely made, and what was set apart for the priests and for holy uses, were in charge of Core, son of Jemna, the Levite that was door-keeper of the eastern gate.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	31	15	Under him were Eden, Benjamin, Jesue, Semeias, Amarias and Sechenias; their office was to distribute portions to their brethren in the various priestly cities, young and old alike,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	31	16	except men (and their sons of three years and over) who were on duty at the time in the Lord’s house, and had portions assigned to them during their turn of office.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	31	17	The priests, family by family, the Levites of twenty years and more, company by company,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	31	18	together with all who belonged to them, wives and sons and daughters, had their food duly allotted to them out of the consecrated gifts.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	31	19	Other officers were appointed here and there to distribute the allowance to boys and men of priestly or Levitical race in the country-side, and in the precincts round each of their cities.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	31	20	Such were the provisions Ezechias made for his whole realm, a king ever true and loyal to the will of the Lord his God;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	31	21	such loving care he bestowed on the Lord’s house, its laws and observances, resolved to make God his whole heart’s quest; and so doing he reigned prosperously.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	32	1	After all this faithful service done, Juda was invaded by Sennacherib, king of the Assyrians, who laid siege to its fortified cities, thinking to make them his own.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	32	2	Ezechias, warned by his approach that Jerusalem was the chief object of his attack,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	32	3	bade his nobles and commanders consider the plan of shutting in the water courses that ran beyond the city walls.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	32	4	To this all agreed, and he set a multitude of hands to work stopping up all the springs, as well as the stream that flowed through the open country; should there be water flowing freely for the kings of Assyria to profit by it?
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	32	5	No pains did he spare to rebuild the wall where it had fallen into disrepair, with towers to crown it and a second wall within; Mello, too, in the Keep of David he fortified anew, and prepared shields and all other weapons of defence.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	32	6	Then he appointed commanders for his army; and these he bade assemble in the open space by the city gate, where he spoke to them for their encouragement.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	32	7	Play the man, he said, and keep your courage high; let there be no shrinking, no faint hearts, at the sight of the Assyrian king and the hordes that follow him; we have many more on our side than they on theirs.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	32	8	Theirs is but mortal strength; we have the Lord our God to aid us, and fight on our side. In such words from king Ezechias the hearts of the men of Juda found support.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	32	9	Sennacherib, the Assyrian king, was laying siege with his army to Lachis; and now he sent envoys to Jerusalem with a message for king Ezechias and for all the citizens;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	32	10	Word to you, they said, from the king of Assyria. What confidence is it that makes you so bold, cooped up there in Jerusalem?
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	32	11	Will you die there of hunger and thirst, deluded by Ezechias’ promise that the Lord your God will deliver you from the power of the Assyrian king?
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	32	12	Tell me, who is Ezechias? Is he not the man who has robbed this God of hill-shrine and altar, leaving you but one altar to repair to, when you would do worship and burn incense before him?
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	32	13	See how I and my fathers have subdued the world, and the gods of a whole world could not rescue it from me!
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	32	14	Tell me, in all these countries my fathers and I have laid waste, was there ever a god found could save his people from my power, that you should trust this God of yours when the same power threatens you?
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	32	15	Do not be deluded by the persuasions of Ezechias; do not listen to him. All those peoples and kingdoms my fathers and I have conquered, their gods notwithstanding; will your God do better?
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	32	16	Much else these courtiers said in dispraise of the Lord God, and his servant Ezechias;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	32	17	there was a letter, too, Sennacherib wrote, full of blasphemy against the Lord God of Israel, boasting that Ezechias’ God could not save his people from attack, where the gods of so many other nations had failed them.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	32	18	Nay, they must needs raise a cry in the Hebrew tongue, to daunt the folk who sat on Jerusalem walls, and persuade them to yield up the city.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	32	19	Lightly did they speak of Jerusalem’s God, as if he had been all one with those old gods the Chanaanites worshipped, idols made by human hands.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	32	20	Against such blasphemers, king Ezechias and the prophet Isaias, son of Amos, fell to prayer, crying out to heaven for aid;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	32	21	and with that, the Lord sent out his angel, who smote down warrior and chieftain and commander in the Assyrian king’s camp, so that he went home in sorry plight. And there, when he was at worship in the temple of his god, two sons of his own body drew their swords on him and slew him.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	32	22	Thus it was the Lord rescued Ezechias and the men of Jerusalem from the Assyrian king’s power, and of all else that assailed them; on every side he kept them free from alarm.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	32	23	Many were the victims and offerings that were brought to the Lord at Jerusalem; many were the gifts made by Ezechias king of Juda, whom all the nations held thenceforward in high renown.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	32	24	And now Ezechias fell sick, and was at death’s door; but he prayed to the Lord, and the Lord answered his prayer, giving him a sign of his recovery.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	32	25	Yet it was an ill return he made for all these benefits; his heart was puffed up with pride, so that he brought punishment upon himself, on Juda, too, and Jerusalem;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	32	26	for this pride of his, both he and the citizens of Jerusalem afterwards humbled themselves, and it was not in Ezechias’ own time that the Lord’s vengeance fell.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	32	27	Great were the riches of Ezechias and his fame; great was the store of silver and gold, of jewels and spices, of weapons for every purpose and of precious ware, that king Ezechias laid up.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	32	28	He had store-houses too, for corn, wine and oil, stables full of beasts, and folds full of flocks;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	32	29	new cities he must build, so many were his herds of sheep and cattle, so abundant were the possessions the Lord had given him.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	32	30	It was this Ezechias that blocked the upper waters of the Gihon stream, and conveyed them under ground into the western part of the Keep of David. In all that he did, he prospered;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	32	31	and if, when the princes of Babylon came to enquire about the portent that had happened in his country, God left him to his own counsel, it was but to try him, and test the dispositions of his heart.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	32	32	What else Ezechias did, all his acts of piety, may be found set down in the Vision of Isaias, son of Amos, and in the Record of the kings of Juda and Israel.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	32	33	So Ezechias was laid to rest with his fathers, on the slope where the tombs of David’s sons are; and all Juda and Jerusalem did honour to his funeral. And the throne passed to his son Manasses.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	33	1	This Manasses was twelve years old when he came to the throne, and his reign at Jerusalem lasted fifty-five years.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	33	2	And he defied the Lord’s will, by courting the false gods of those nations which the Lord destroyed to make room for the sons of Israel.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	33	3	He restored once again the hill-shrines which his father Ezechias had overthrown; he raised altars to the gods of the country-side, and set up sacred trees, and gave to all the host of heaven worship and observance.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	33	4	Nay, he must set up these altars of his in the temple itself, where the Lord fulfilled his promise that Jerusalem should be the shrine of his name for ever;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	33	5	altars there must be for all the host of heaven in the two temple courts.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	33	6	He consecrated his own sons by passing them through the fire in the ravine of Benennom; there was watching for dreams and taking of auguries, there was practising of magical arts; he surrounded himself with diviners and soothsayers, until this defiance of his provoked the Lord’s anger.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	33	7	He carved an image, too, and cast a sheath for it, and set this up in the Lord’s house. And this was at Jerusalem, the Lord’s choice among all the cities of Israel; this was in the temple that was to be the everlasting shrine of his name; so he had promised David and Solomon,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	33	8	Nevermore will I let the sons of Israel be dislodged from the land I gave their fathers, if only they will be true to law and observance and decree Moses enjoined on them in my name.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	33	9	The very nations which the Lord destroyed to make room for the sons of Israel were guilty of less wrong than Juda and Jerusalem did, when they were led astray by the example of Manasses.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	33	10	Warnings enough the Lord sent to him and to his people, but they went unheeded;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	33	11	and the next emissaries he sent to them were the captains of the Assyrian army, who made Manasses their prisoner, and carried him away, loaded with chains and fetters, to Babylon.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	33	12	It was to his own God, the Lord, that he turned in this time of distress; before him, the God of his fathers, he made humble amends,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	33	13	and sought his favour with earnest prayer. That prayer the Lord answered, and restored him to his throne at Jerusalem. Such good proof had Manasses that the Lord only was God.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	33	14	It was after this that he built the wall beyond David’s Keep, out in the ravine west of Gihon, all the way round from the Fishmongers’ Gate to Ophel, raising it to a great height; set captains, too, on garrison duty in all the fortified towns of Juda.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	33	15	Meanwhile, there was an end of the false gods, of the idol that stood in the Lord’s house, of the altars he had set up on the temple hill and all over Jerusalem; he cast them away beyond the city walls.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	33	16	The Lord’s altar must be restored; to this he brought his victims, his welcome-offerings and thank-offerings, and bade Juda serve the Lord, the God of Israel.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	33	17	None the less, men still sacrificed at the hill-shrines, but only to the Lord their God.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	33	18	What else Manasses did, the prayer he offered to his God, and the warnings that were given to him by prophets in the name of the Lord God of Israel, may be found set down in the Record of the Israelite kings.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	33	19	The Chronicle of Hozai, too, tells of his prayer and how his prayer was answered; of his defiance, and of all the places where he set up hill-shrine and forest shrine and image, before the time of his repentance.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	33	20	So Manasses was laid to rest with his fathers, with his own house for his burying-place, and the throne passed to his son Amon.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	33	21	This Amon was twenty-two years old when he came to the throne, and his reign at Jerusalem lasted two years;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	33	22	he defied the Lord like his father Manasses. No idol Manasses had made but Amon must sacrifice and pay worship to it;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	33	23	nor did he ever imitate his father by making humble amends, rather he outwent him in guilt.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	33	24	He was slain in his own house, through a conspiracy among his own servants;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	33	25	but the common folk put them to death, and gave the crown to the son of Amon, that was called Josias.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	34	1	Josias was eight years old when he came to the throne, and his reign at Jerusalem lasted thirty-one years;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	34	2	he was obedient to the Lord’s will, and followed the example of his ancestor, king David, never swerving to right or left.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	34	3	It was while he was still a boy, in the eighth year of his reign, that he betook himself to the God his father David worshipped; and in the twelfth year of his reign he rid Juda and Jerusalem of hill-shrine and forest shrine, carved image and molten image.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	34	4	All the altars of the countryside gods must be destroyed in his presence; sacred trees and statues he cut down everywhere and broke in pieces, which he scattered on the tombs of their worshippers;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	34	5	and on the altars that were raised to false gods he burned the bones of their own priests, till Juda and Jerusalem were defiled no more.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	34	6	Then he must carry out the same work of destruction in the cities of Manasses, Ephraim and Simeon, and all the way to Nephthali;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	34	7	altars were thrown down, images crushed to pieces, and shrines demolished, all over the land of Israel; and so he returned to Jerusalem.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	34	8	Then, in the eighteenth year of his reign, the land and the temple now purged, he commissioned Saphan, son of Eselias, and Maasias that was governor of the city, and Joha son of Joachaz, that kept the records, to see that the house of the Lord their God was put in repair.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	34	9	So they made their way to the high priest, Helcias, who handed over to them the offerings collected by Levites and door-keepers for the temple fabric; offerings from Manasses and Ephraim and all the rest of Israel, as well as Juda, Benjamin and Jerusalem.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	34	10	These they paid out to the overseers of the Lord’s house, bidding them restore it and put it in repair.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	34	11	And they, in their turn, gave it to the craftsmen and masons, that must buy stone from the quarries; wood, too, for joiner’s work, and for roofing the buildings which earlier kings had left in ruins.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	34	12	All this was faithfully carried out; the work was hastened on by these overseers, the Merarites Jahath and Abdias, the Caathites Zacharias and Masollam, Levites all and musicians;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	34	13	the workmen that did but carry burdens at need were under the command of the secretaries and the chief door-keepers.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	34	14	It was just when they came to take away the temple offerings that Helcias found a copy of the law which the Lord gave through Moses;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	34	15	and he told Saphan, the secretary, how he had found, there in the temple, a copy of the law, which he gave him to read.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	34	16	Saphan took the book with him when he went to the king to report that the commission had been faithfully executed.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	34	17	They have collected all the money, said he, that was there in the temple, and paid it out through the overseers to craftsmen and to masons.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	34	18	And here is a book the high priest, Helcias, has given me.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	34	19	This book, then, Saphan read out in the royal presence; and the king, upon hearing the terms of the law, rent his garments about him.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	34	20	Then he gave orders to Helcias, and Ahicam son of Saphan, and Abdon son of Micha, and Asaas, one of his courtiers;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	34	21	Go and consult the Lord, he told them, for me and all that is left of Israel and Juda, about this new-found copy of the law. What wonder if the Lord should rain down vengeance on us, a race that has left his warnings unheeded, his bidding undone?
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	34	22	So Helcias and his companions went on the king’s errand to the prophetess Olda. She was wife to Sellum, son of Thecuath, son of Hasra, that once kept the royal wardrobe; her dwelling was at Jerusalem, in the new part of the city. So they told her their business,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	34	23	and she, in return, gave them this message from the Lord God of Israel for the man that sent them;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	34	24	Thus says the Lord, For this city and its citizens I have punishments in store, all the punishments threatened in yonder book which has been read out to the king of Juda.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	34	25	The men of Juda have forsaken me, and offered sacrifice to alien gods; all they do is done in defiance of me; the fire of my vengeance must needs rain down on this city, and there is no quenching it.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	34	26	But to the king of Juda, who sent you here to consult the Lord, give this message from the Lord God of Israel: Well for thee thou didst listen to the warnings this book gave thee!
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	34	27	Well for thee that thy heart failed thee, and thou didst humble thyself before God, at hearing him threaten city and citizens with doom; that thou didst make amends, by tearing thy garments about thee, and hadst recourse to me with tears.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	34	28	And thou hast won my audience, the Lord says; I will lay thee to rest with thy fathers, in quiet times thou shalt go to thy grave. Not for thy eyes the great calamities I mean to bring on city and citizens of thine.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	34	29	When they brought the king his answer, he summoned all the elders of Juda and Jerusalem;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	34	30	then he went up to the Lord’s temple, and all the men of Juda bore him company, all the citizens of Jerusalem, priest and Levite and common folk high and low. There, in their hearing, he read the whole book out to them.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	34	31	Standing on the dais, he made a promise, there in the Lord’s presence; they would make the Lord their leader, holding fast by command and decree and observance of his, heart and soul, obeying all the terms of the law they had listened to.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	34	32	And he bound them by an oath, all the men of Jerusalem and of Benjamin. This pact with the Lord God of their fathers was kept loyally.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	34	33	So Josias swept away from the whole realm of Israel all detestable worship, and made the remnant that were left in Israel obey the Lord their God. Never again did they forsake the Lord, their fathers’ God, while Josias’ life lasted.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	35	1	And now Josias proclaimed a paschal feast at Jerusalem; the victims should be duly slain on the fourteenth day of the first month.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	35	2	To the priests, he assigned their several tasks, and put heart into them for their long ministrations in the Lord’s house.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	35	3	And he had his word for the Levites, too, that must teach all Israel and hallow it to the Lord’s service: Let the ark of God rest in its shrine, in the temple David’s son Solomon, that was king of all Israel, built for it; no need any longer for you to carry it this way and that. You have tasks to perform for the Lord your God, and for his people of Israel.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	35	4	Range yourselves by the order of your clans and families, as David king of Israel and his son Solomon prescribed,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	35	5	each household, each company of Levites ready to do its own office in the sanctuary.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	35	6	Rid yourselves of defilement, to keep the pasch, and make all in readiness for your brethren, so that they can carry out the commands which the Lord gave them through Moses.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	35	7	For those who were present at this paschal feast, Josias provided the flocks they had need of, thirty thousand lambs and kids, as well as three thousand bulls, all of the king’s bounty.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	35	8	Other gifts had been promised, for priests, Levites and people, by the men of his court; the controllers of the Lord’s house, Helcias, Zacharias and Jahiel, gave the priests, for their paschal victims, two thousand six hundred lambs and kids, and three hundred bulls;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	35	9	and there were five thousand lambs and kids and five hundred bulls for the Levites’ pasch, from Chonenias, his brothers Semeias and Nathanael, and the Levite chiefs Hasabias, Jehiel and Jozabad.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	35	10	Thus preparation was made for the ceremony, and the priests stood ready for their task, with the Levites to aid them, ranged at the king’s bidding in their several companies.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	35	11	The paschal victims were killed; blood was sprinkled from priestly hands, Levites flayed the burnt-sacrifice,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	35	12	and victims were distributed to all the worshippers, clan by clan, household by household, ready to be offered to the Lord as Moses commanded, the bulls with the rest.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	35	13	The paschal victim itself was roasted over the fire, as the law enjoins; the welcome-offerings were cooked in pan and pot and caldron, and so divided among the people without more ado.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	35	14	This done, the Levites had still the paschal feast to make ready for themselves and for the priests; these had been busy over the burnt-sacrifice up to night-fall, so that Aaron’s sons must be served last, and the Levites with them.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	35	15	All the musicians had kept their ranks, as David would have them, and his royal spokesmen Asaph, Heman and Idithun; all the door-keepers had remained on guard at their several gates, never released from duty for an instant; for these, too, their brother Levites must needs make ready the feast.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	35	16	Nothing of due observance was left unfulfilled that day; the pasch was kept, and burnt-sacrifice, too, was offered to the Lord on his altar, at king Josias’ bidding.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	35	17	And all the Israelites who were present kept, at this time, not only the pasch but the feast of unleavened bread, for seven days together.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	35	18	Never was such a paschal feast as this in all Israel’s history since the days of the prophet Samuel; never a king, of all who reigned in Israel, so kept it as Josias did, with priests and Levites and pilgrims from Juda and Israel, besides the citizens of Jerusalem.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	35	19	It was the eighteenth year of his reign when the pasch was so kept.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	35	20	After Josias’ restoration of the temple was finished, news came that Nechao, king of Egypt, was on his way to attack Charcamis, on the Euphrates.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	35	21	Josias marched out to bar his way, whereupon he sent him a message, Nay, king of Juda, I have no quarrel with thee. At God’s bidding I march, and with all speed, against another kingdom, not thine; God is on my side; cross his will, and he will slay thee.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	35	22	But there was no turning Josias back from his warlike intent; listen to Nechao he would not, though it was God’s own lips that warned him; he was for offering battle in the plain of Mageddo.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	35	23	And there, wounded by a volley from the archers, he bade his men carry him out of the fight; My hurt, said he, is grievous.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	35	24	He had a second chariot, as kings will, that followed behind him; into this they removed him out of his own chariot, and bore him away to Jerusalem. So he died, and was buried where his fathers lay. All Juda and Jerusalem mourned for him, but none so grievously as Jeremias;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	35	25	to this day man and maid, singing the dirge for Josias, say …, till it has become a custom in Israel; it is all to be found in the book of Dirges.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	35	26	What else Josias did, all his acts of piety in carrying out the terms of the divine law,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	35	27	all his history, first and last, is set down in the Record of the kings of Juda and Israel.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	36	1	The choice of the people now fell upon Josias’ son Joachaz, whom they crowned at Jerusalem to succeed his father.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	36	2	He was twenty-three years old when he came to the throne, and his reign at Jerusalem lasted but three months;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	36	3	then he was deposed by the king of Egypt, who marched to Jerusalem and levied a fine from the country, a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	36	4	Joachaz he carried off with him to Egypt, and set up one of the other princes to rule Juda and Jerusalem, Eliakim, whose name he changed to Joakim.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	36	5	This Joakim was twenty-five years old when he came to the throne, and his reign at Jerusalem lasted eleven years, during which he defied the will of the Lord his God.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	36	6	Then he was attacked by the king of Babylon, Nabuchodonosor, who led him off to Babylon in chains;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	36	7	he also carried off (some of) the furniture of the Lord’s house, and laid it up in his own temple there.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	36	8	What else Joakim did, all his idolatry and the story of the life he lived, may be found in the Record of the kings of Juda and Israel; he was succeeded by his son Joachin.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	36	9	This Joachin was eight(een) years old when he came to the throne, and his reign at Jerusalem lasted three months and ten days. He too defied the Lord’s will,
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	36	10	and when the spring came round, Nabuchodonosor had him brought to Babylon, with all the most precious of the furniture that was left in the Lord’s house. And he set up as king of Juda and Jerusalem Joachin’s uncle Sedecias.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	36	11	This Sedecias was twenty-one years old when he came to the throne, and he reigned at Jerusalem eleven years.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	36	12	He defied the Lord’s will, nothing abashed by the prophet Jeremias, that carried threats to him from the Lord’s own lips.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	36	13	He rebelled against Nabuchodonosor, though he had plighted his allegiance to him in the name of God; refused ever the yoke, steeled ever his heart, and would not come back to the Lord, the God of Israel.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	36	14	All the chief priests, too, and the common folk did heinous wrong by following the detestable ways of the heathen; desecrated that sanctuary the Lord had set apart for himself at Jerusalem.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	36	15	He, the God of their fathers, sent messengers to warn them; never a day dawned but he was already pleading with them, so well he loved his people and his dwelling-place.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	36	16	And they? They mocked the Lord’s own messengers, made light of his warnings, derided his prophets, until at last the Lord’s anger was roused against his people, past all assuaging.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	36	17	Then it was that he embroiled them with the king of Babylon, who came and put their young men to the sword in the sanctuary itself, pitying neither young man nor maid, old man nor cripple; none might escape his attack.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	36	18	All the furniture of the Lord’s house, great and small, all the treasures of temple and king and princes, must be carried off to Babylon.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	36	19	Enemy hands set fire to the Lord’s house, pulled down Jerusalem’s walls, burnt its towers to the ground, destroyed all that was of price.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	36	20	Those who escaped massacre were carried off to Babylon, where they must live as slaves to the king and his heirs until their empire should pass to the king of Persia;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	36	21	then, at last, the Lord’s prophecy through Jeremias would be fulfilled, then the land of Juda would have lain fallow long enough. Fallow it must lie, until seventy years had come and gone.
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	36	22	So, in the first year of the Persian king, Cyrus, the Lord made good the promise which Jeremias had uttered in his name. He put a resolve into the heart of Cyrus, king of Persia; who thereupon published a written decree all through his dominions;
 2 Paralipomena	2Par	14	36	23	A message, it said, from Cyrus, king of Persia. The Lord God of heaven has made me master of the world, and now he will have me rebuild his own temple for him at Jerusalem, a city of Judaea. Who is left among you of his own people? Let him go to the task, with the Lord his God to speed him.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	1	1	In the first year of the Persian king, Cyrus, the Lord fulfilled the promise which he had made through Jeremias. He put a new resolve into the heart of Cyrus, king of Persia, who thereupon published a written decree all through his dominions;
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	1	2	A message, it said, from Cyrus, king of Persia. The Lord God of heaven has made me master of the world, and now he will have me rebuild his own temple for him at Jerusalem, a city of Judaea.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	1	3	Who is left among you of that race? To Jerusalem let him go, in Judaea, with divine aid to speed him; and there let him help to build the temple of the Lord God of Israel, who is the true God.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	1	4	And let all others take note, that such a man is to receive assistance from his neighbours; silver and gold, stores and beasts are to be put at his disposal, apart from the offerings they may make, of their own free will, to this temple of God at Jerusalem.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	1	5	Thereupon the clan chiefs of Juda and Benjamin, with priests and Levites and all whom God had so inspired, set out for Jerusalem to rebuild the Lord’s temple there;
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	1	6	and all their neighbours lightened the task for them with presents of silver ware and gold, of stores, beasts and furniture, over and above the offerings that were freely made.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	1	7	King Cyrus himself brought the temple ornaments out again; these had been carried off from Jerusalem by Nabuchodonosor, who laid them up in the temple of his own god,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	1	8	but now, at the orders of the Persian king Cyrus, Mithridates son of Gezabar must bring them out again, and give full account of them to Sassabasar, chief of the tribe of Juda.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	1	9	And this was the count made: gold trays thirty, and silver trays a thousand, knives twenty-nine, cups of gold thirty,…
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	1	10	baser cups of silver four hundred and ten,… and a thousand other appurtenances;
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	1	11	in all, of gold and silver appurtenances, five thousand four hundred. All these were taken back to Jerusalem by Sassabasar and the exiles who returned with him from Babylon.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	1	In what numbers, then, did they come back to Jerusalem, and to the various cities of Juda, these exiles that had been taken to Babylon by the Chaldaean king Nabuchodonosor, and were now on the march for home?
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	2	Their leaders were Zorobabel, Josue, Nehemia, Saraia, Rahelaia, Mardochai, Belsan, Mesphar, Beguai, Rehun and Baana. These were the numbers the various clans of Israel provided:
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	3	Pharos, two thousand one hundred and seventy-two,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	4	Sephatia, three hundred and seventy-two,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	5	Area, seven hundred and seventy-five,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	6	Phahath-Moab… Josue-Joab, two thousand eight hundred and twelve,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	7	Aelam, one thousand two hundred and fifty-four,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	8	Zethua, nine hundred and forty-five,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	9	Zachai, seven hundred and sixty,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	10	Bani, six hundred and forty-two,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	11	Bebai, six hundred and twenty-three,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	12	Azgad, one thousand two hundred and twenty-two,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	13	Adonicam, six hundred and sixty-six,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	14	Beguai, two thousand and fifty-six,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	15	Adin, four hundred and fifty-four,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	16	Ather, coming from Ezechias, ninety-eight,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	17	Besai, three hundred and twenty-three,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	18	Jora, a hundred and twelve,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	19	Hasum, two hundred and twenty-three.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	20	And the various townships provided: Gebbar, ninety-five,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	21	Bethlehem, a hundred and twenty-three,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	22	Netupha, fifty-six,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	23	Anathoth, a hundred and twenty-eight,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	24	Azmaveth, forty-two,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	25	Cariathiarim, Cephira and Beroth, seven hundred and forty-three,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	26	Rama and Gabaa, six hundred and twenty-one,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	27	Machmas, a hundred and twenty-two,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	28	Bethel and Hai, two hundred and twenty-three,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	29	Nebo, fifty-two,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	30	Megbis, a hundred and fifty-six,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	31	(the other Aelam, one thousand two hundred and fifty-four),
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	32	Harim, three hundred and twenty,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	33	Lod, Hadid and Ono, seven hundred and twenty-five,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	34	Jericho, three hundred and forty-five,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	35	Senaa, three thousand six hundred and thirty….
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	36	And the various priestly clans provided: Jadaia, in the line of Josue, nine hundred and seventy-three,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	37	Emmer, a thousand and fifty-two,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	38	Pheshur, one thousand two hundred and forty-seven,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	39	Harim, a thousand and seventeen.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	40	And the various Levite clans provided: Josue and Cedmihel, that came down from Odovias, seventy-four,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	41	Asaph’s sons, the musicians, a hundred and twenty-eight,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	42	Sellum, Ater, Telmon, Accub, Hatita and Sobai, the door-keepers, a hundred and thirty-nine in all.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	43	The Nathinaeans included the sons of Siha, Hasupha, Tabbaoth,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	44	Ceros, Siaa, Phadon,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	45	Lebana, Hagaba, Accub,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	46	Hagab, Semlai, Hanan,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	47	Gaddel, Gaher, Raaia,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	48	Rasin, Necoda, Gazam,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	49	Aza, Phasea, Besee,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	50	Asena, Munim, Nephusim,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	51	Bacbuc, Hacupha, Harhur,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	52	Besluth, Mahida, Harsa,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	53	Bercos, Sisara, Thema,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	54	Nasia and Hatipha;
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	55	and Solomon’s servants, including Sotai, Sopheret, Pharuda,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	56	Jala, Dercon, Geddel,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	57	Saphatia, Hatil, Phochereth from Asebaim, and Ami;
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	58	these Nathinaeans, including those descended from the servants of Solomon, amounted to three hundred and ninety-two in all.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	59	Some of those who came back from Thelmala, Thelharsa, Cherub, Adon and Emer could not prove whence their ancestors came or whether they were of Israelite stock;
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	60	they were descendants of Dalaia, Tobia and Necoda, amounting to six hundred and fifty-two.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	61	Such, too, among the priests were the sons of Hobia, of Accos, and of that Berzellai who married a daughter of Berzellai the Galaadite and took his name;
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	62	they could find no written record of their ancestry, and were excluded from the priesthood;
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	63	they might not partake of the food reserved for the priests, the governor told them, until there should be a high priest that bore the touchstones of wisdom and truth.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	64	The whole number, taken together, amounted to forty-two thousand three hundred and sixty,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	65	not counting the men and women servants, of whom there were seven thousand three hundred and thirty-seven, with two hundred men and maids that were singers.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	66	They had with them seven hundred and thirty-six horses, two hundred and forty-five mules,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	67	four hundred and thirty-five camels, six thousand seven hundred and twenty asses.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	68	Some of the clan chiefs, upon entering the Lord’s temple at Jerusalem, made of their own accord an offering for rebuilding God’s house where it stood;
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	69	contributing to that end, as their means allowed, sixty-one thousand gold pieces, five thousand silver pieces, and a hundred sets of vestments for the priests.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	2	70	And now priests and Levites (and some of the people), singers, door-keepers and Nathinaeans were back in their own precincts, and all Israel in the cities that were their homes.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	3	1	And now, for the first time since Israel’s home-coming, it was the seventh month of the year; the people, with one consent, had gathered at Jerusalem.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	3	2	Josue son of Josedec and his brother priests, Zorobabel son of Salathiel and his brother chiefs, must bestir themselves; the God of Israel must have an altar built for him, if the law given by his servant Moses was to be obeyed, by the offering of burnt-sacrifice.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	3	3	No more they dared to do, with hostile nations threatening them all around, than erect God’s altar on its ruined base; here, morning and evening, burnt-sacrifice was offered,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	3	4	and with that daily offering, with the due observance of each day as it came, they held the feast of Tent-dwelling.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	3	5	After that, burnt-sacrifice went on uninterruptedly, on the feast days set apart for the Lord, and on other days, too, when gifts were brought to the Lord out of devotion.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	3	6	From the first day of this seventh month onwards the offering of burnt-sacrifice to the Lord began; and still they had not laid the very foundations of God’s temple.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	3	7	But meanwhile, money was being spent on quarrymen and stone-masons; on food, too, and drink, and oil for the men of Tyre and Sidon, who must convey cedar planks from Lebanon by sea to Joppe, in pursuance of the Persian king’s decree.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	3	8	And in the second month of the second year after their return to God’s temple at Jerusalem, Zorobabel and Josue with their brethren, priests and Levites and citizens returned from exile, began their task. Levites that were above the age of twenty were appointed to hasten on the execution of the divine command,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	3	9	and at the head of these Levites, clansmen of Henadad’s clan, were Josue’s clan and Cedmihel’s (and the men of Juda), insisting that they should give the temple workmen no rest.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	3	10	So at last the masons laid the foundation of the Lord’s temple. There stood the priests in full array with their trumpets; there stood the Levites, come down from Asaph, with their cymbals, ready to praise God as David bade them, that long ago was king of all Israel.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	3	11	And as their hymn of praise went up to the Lord, The Lord is gracious, his mercy to Israel endures for ever, the whole people raised a great shout, thanking the Lord that now the foundation of his temple was laid.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	3	12	Among the priests and Levites and chiefs of clans there were many older men who had seen the earlier temple when it stood built there. In their eyes, that was the Temple, and they cried aloud in lament, while these others shouted and huzza’d for joy.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	3	13	Shouts of folk rejoicing, and cries of folk lamenting, none could tell them apart; it was all a confused uproar of men’s voices, that echoed far away.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	4	1	When news reached the enemies of Juda and Benjamin that the returned exiles were rebuilding the temple of the Lord, the God of Israel,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	4	2	they had a request to make of Zorobabel and the chieftains. Let us help you to build it, they said; we too have recourse to the same God whom you worship; witness the sacrifices we have been offering to him ever since the Assyrian king Asar-Haddon settled us here.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	4	3	But Zorobabel and Josue and the clan chiefs told them, To build a house to our God can be no common task of yours and ours. The Lord is our God, and we alone must be the builders of it; such were the orders given to us by Cyrus, king of Persia.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	4	4	Nothing would serve the neighbouring folk after that but they must thwart Juda’s purpose and interfere, as best they could, with the enterprise.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	4	5	All through the reign of Cyrus, and right up to the time when Darius came to the throne of Persia, they were still hiring pleaders to baulk the design.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	4	6	At the beginning of Assuerus’ reign, they sent a letter which brought accusations against the men of Juda and Jerusalem;
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	4	7	and when Artaxerxes came to the throne, Beselam, Mithridates and Thabeel, with their partisans, addressed another to king Artaxerxes, in Syrian script and in the Syrian dialect.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	4	8	This letter about Jerusalem, sent by the procurator Reum and the notary Samsai to king Artaxerxes, is given below;
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	4	9	it is addressed in the name of Reum and Samsai and their partisans, the Dinaeans, Apharsathachaeans, Terphalaeans, Apharsaeans, Erchuaeans, Babylonians, Susanechaeans, Dievites and Adamites,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	4	10	and men of other nations besides, settled anew by Asenaphar, of great and glorious memory, in the cities of Samaria, and elsewhere beyond the Euphrates. Peace be with us!
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	4	11	(here the text of their letter begins). Greetings to king Artaxerxes from his subjects beyond the Euphrates.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	4	12	Be it known to the king’s grace, that the Jews he sent here have betaken themselves to Jerusalem, a city ever infamous for its rebellions, where they have set about building up the ramparts and repairing the walls.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	4	13	We warn the king’s grace that if this city is rebuilt, and its walls restored, there will be an end of all tribute, toll and custom, to the prejudice of the royal revenues.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	4	14	To us, beholden as we are to the royal bounty, the sight of any wrong done to the king is something not to be borne; that is why we are sending him this information.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	4	15	Let him consult the archives of the kings who went before him, and he will learn, from what is set down in their annals, that this is a rebellious city, the bane of king and governor; time out of mind, wars were ever brewing there, and for that very reason it was laid in ruins.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	4	16	We warn the king’s grace, then, that once this city is rebuilt, and its walls restored, he must not look to have any dominions left on this side of the river.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	4	17	Thereupon the king wrote to Reum, Samsai, and their partisans in Samaria and beyond Euphrates, wishing them health and peace.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	4	18	Your accusation (he said) has been read out in my presence, and its sense is clear to me.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	4	19	I have had research made, and it proves that this city rebelled ever against the royal allegiance, a nursery of wars and revolts.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	4	20	Time was when Jerusalem had kings most powerful, that were overlords of the whole country beyond Euphrates, receiving tribute, toll and custom from it.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	4	21	It is my pleasure that you should restrain these men from rebuilding their city, until I take further order.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	4	22	See that these commands of mine are not neglected, to the imperilling, by slow degrees, of the royal power.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	4	23	No sooner had the text of this decree from king Artaxerxes been read out to them, than Reum, Samsai and their partisans went post-haste to Jerusalem, and prevented the Jews by main force from any further enterprise.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	4	24	And so it was now; even the raising of a temple at Jerusalem must needs be abandoned, nor was it ever resumed till the second year of Darius’ reign over Persia.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	5	1	But the God of Israel had still his prophets, Aggaeus, and Zacharias son of Addo, to give his message to the Jews, now that they had returned to their own country and city.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	5	2	With these prophets to aid them, Zorobabel son of Salathiel and Josue son of Josedec did set about providing the Lord with a temple of his own at Jerusalem;
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	5	3	and all at once there were protests from Thathanai, who had charge of affairs west of the river, and Stharbuzanai, and all their partisans; Who commissioned you, they asked, to rebuild this temple, and put its walls in repair?
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	5	4	We must ask of you besides the names of those who are promoting the enterprise.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	5	5	But there was no withholding the elders of the Jews, so sure were they of the divine protection; the matter must be referred to Darius himself before they would meet the charge against them.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	5	6	Here is a copy of the letter sent by the governor Thathanai, by Stharbuzanai, and their Arphasachite partisans west of the river, to king Darius.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	5	7	To king Darius, all peace (their message ran).
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	5	8	This is to inform the king’s grace that we have paid a visit to Judaea, where they are building a temple of rough-hewn stone in honour of the great God; timber is already being fitted into the walls; they are busily employed, and have the work well in hand.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	5	9	We summoned their elders, and asked who had given the commission for such building and such repairs,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	5	10	and also demanded, for thy better information, a list of their leaders, which is given below.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	5	11	Their answer was, The God we worship is the Lord of heaven and earth; the temple we are rebuilding is an edifice built by a great king of Israel, long ago.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	5	12	Years passed, and the God of heaven, goaded to anger by our fathers, left them at the mercy of Nabuchodonosor, the Chaldaean king who then ruled in Babylon; he it was laid the temple in ruins, and carried off as exiles to Babylon the men who worshipped there.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	5	13	Then Cyrus became king of Babylon; and Cyrus, in his first year, gave order that this house of God should be rebuilt.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	5	14	There was gold ware and silver in the temple of our God; all this Nabuchodonosor had carried off from Jerusalem and laid it up in another temple, there at Babylon. What did Cyrus? He stripped the Babylonian temple in his turn; all must be given over to one Sassabasar, the man he had appointed to rule us;
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	5	15	Take these, he said, and lay them up in the temple at Jerusalem. The house of God, he said, must be rebuilt on its old foundations.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	5	16	But all Sassabasar did, when he reached Jerusalem, was to lay the foundations of God’s temple; it has been in building ever since, and remains unfinished.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	5	17	May it please the king’s grace to have research made in the royal archives, there at Babylon, to find out whether Cyrus did indeed give any orders for God’s house at Jerusalem to be rebuilt; meanwhile, we await the royal pleasure.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	6	1	Thereupon, at king Darius’ orders, research was made in the archives laid up at Babylon;
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	6	2	and at last in Ecbatana, a city of the Median province, a document was found to this effect:
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	6	3	In the first year of king Cyrus a royal decree was made about the house of God at Jerusalem. It is to be rebuilt, for the better offering of sacrifice; foundations to be laid that will support a structure sixty cubits… high and sixty wide;
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	6	4	upon these three rows of rough-hewn stone, and then courses of timber. For all this, the expense to be defrayed by the royal treasury.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	6	5	All the gold and silver ware from the temple at Jerusalem that was brought to Babylon by Nabuchodonosor is to be restored, and carried back to Jerusalem, to find its fitting place in the temple of God.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	6	6	… It is my will that Thathanai, governor of the province beyond the river, and Stharbuzanai, and the Apharsachites beyond the river, their associates, should cease interfering with the Jews;
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	6	7	the Jewish ruler and the Jewish elders must be allowed to go on with their temple-building, so that this house of God may be re-established on its ancient site.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	6	8	And to the intent that these elders of the Jews may be able to continue the said building without intermission, my will is that moneys should be paid to them with all diligence out of the royal chest, and namely out of the tribute that is collected beyond the river;
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	6	9	moreover that if there is need of calves, lambs or kids for burnt-sacrifice to the God of heaven, or of corn, salt, wine and oil to perform the ceremonies practised at Jerusalem, supplies of these should be given them daily, without fail.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	6	10	So let them be enabled to make their offerings to the God of heaven, and let them pray for the welfare of the king and royal princes.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	6	11	My will is, further, that if any man presume to alter the tenour of this decree, a beam should be taken from his house, and himself nailed up on it; the said house to be confiscated.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	6	12	And may the God, who has made Jerusalem the shrine of his name, destroy every kingdom and people which attempts to injure or destroy this temple of his that is built there. I, Darius, am the author of this decree, and will have it carried out with all diligence.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	6	13	Carry it out they did, and diligently, both Thathanai and Stharbuzanai and all their partisans.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	6	14	As for the elders of the Jews, they built on, and all went favourably; true prophets were Aggaeus and Zacharias son of Addo; higher and higher the fabric rose, with the God of Israel for its speed, with Cyrus for its speed, and Darius, (and Artaxerxes), kings of Persia.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	6	15	It was on the third day of the month Adar, in the sixth year of king Darius, that they finished God’s house;
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	6	16	great joy had priest and Levite, great joy had all the returned exiles, as they consecrated God’s house together.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	6	17	The offerings they made at the dedication were a hundred calves, two hundred rams, and four hundred lambs; besides twelve goats to atone for the faults of all Israel, one for each of Israel’s tribes.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	6	18	Row upon row the priests stood, turn and turn about the Levites ministered, as the law of Moses bade them, doing the Lord’s errand there at Jerusalem.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	6	19	Afterwards, on the fourteenth day of the first month, Israel’s sons, returned from captivity, kept the paschal feast.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	6	20	All the priests had rid themselves of defilement, and so had the Levites to a man; cleansed they must be, to slay the paschal victim for the returned exiles, and for their brethren the priests, and for themselves besides.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	6	21	So the Israelites who had come back from Babylon ate the pasch; and with them those others who had remained in the country, and been defiled by contact with its inhabitants; now they united with their brethren in having recourse to the Lord, the God of Israel.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	6	22	And all through the week following they kept the feast of unleavened bread, glad at heart. Glad indeed the Lord had made them, Assyria’s king no more their enemy, their task so lightened for them in building a house for the Lord God of Israel.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	7	1	Now turn we to the reign of Artaxerxes in Persia, and to Esdras. This Esdras was descended through Saraias, Helcias,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	7	2	Sellum, Sadoc, Achitob,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	7	3	Amarias, Azarias, Maraioth,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	7	4	Zarahias, Ozi, Bocci,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	7	5	Abisue, Phinees and Eleazar from Aaron, that was the first priest of all.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	7	6	He was a scribe, well versed in the law given to Israel by the Lord God through Moses; and now he came from Babylon armed, under God’s favour, with all the powers he had asked from the king.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	7	7	Some of the common folk made the journey to Jerusalem with him, as well as priests, Levites, singers, door-keepers and Nathinaeans. This was in the seventh year of king Artaxerxes;
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	7	8	they reached Jerusalem in the fifth month of this seventh year,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	7	9	on the first day of the month, after leaving Babylon on the first day of the first month, such was the favour God shewed him.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	7	10	His was a heart given up to study of the Lord’s law, ready to hold fast by it and teach the men of Israel decree and award.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	7	11	Here is a copy of the letter Artaxerxes sent with him, addressed to, The priest Esdras, a scribe well versed in the Lord’s utterances, all the commands and observances he enjoined upon Israel.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	7	12	Artaxerxes, king of kings, to Esdras, a scribe most learned in the law of the God of heaven, health and greeting.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	7	13	My will is, that any Israelite, priest or Levite who desires it should have leave to accompany thee to Jerusalem.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	7	14	Thou art commissioned by the king and his seven counsellors to visit Juda and Jerusalem in the name of that divine law thou carriest with thee,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	7	15	and to convey thither such silver and gold as the king and his council are sending to the God who dwells there, the God of Israel, as their own free gift.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	7	16	Whatever silver and gold in all Babylon is at thy disposal, all that is willingly offered by people and priests for the temple of their God at Jerusalem,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	7	17	thou art free to accept; and so with all thy diligence buy calf and ram and lamb and all the offerings and libations that go with them, gifts, when you reach Jerusalem, for the temple of your God.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	7	18	Use what remains of the sum as thou and thy brethren, in obedience to the will of your God, shall see fit.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	7	19	There at Jerusalem, in the presence of thy God, consecrate those appurtenances of his worship thou hast with thee.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	7	20	All else thou must needs spend upon thy God’s house shall be defrayed by the treasury and the royal purse, at my own cost.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	7	21	King Artaxerxes to all that have charge of the royal revenues beyond Euphrates; My will and decree is, that if the priest Esdras, a scribe of the God of heaven, demands any payment of you, it should be made without more ado;
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	7	22	so long as this payment does not exceed a hundred talents of silver, two hundred quarters of wheat, or six hundred and fifty gallons of oil; for salt, there is no limit prescribed.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	7	23	What the God of heaven needs for his temple worship, the God of heaven must receive; let there be no remissness, that may call down his vengeance on the king, and the king’s heirs.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	7	24	We make it known to you further that priests, Levites, singers, door-keepers, Nathinaeans, and other persons ministering in the temple of this God, are exempt from all tax, toll and custom of your imposing.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	7	25	It is for thee, Esdras, who dost carry with thee the wise precepts of thy God, to appoint judges and magistrates, that will try the causes of all such persons beyond the river as are acquainted with thy God’s law; and such as do not know it, you may instruct freely.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	7	26	If anyone neglects to observe that law, or the king’s law either, these judges shall have power to pronounce sentence on him of death, exile, confiscation of his goods, or imprisonment.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	7	27	Blessed be the Lord God of our fathers, that moved the king so to honour his temple at Jerusalem,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	7	28	and deigned so to aid me when king and councillor and noble gave me audience! My task lightened by such favour shewn me, I set about finding men of name in Israel to bear me company.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	8	1	The leaders, who took part with me in this migration under Artaxerxes, were descended as follows:
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	8	2	Gersom was of the stock of Phinees, Daniel of Ithamar, Hattus of David.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	8	3	These were the numbers the various clans provided: Pharos (of the sons of Sechenias), a hundred and fifty under Zacharias;
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	8	4	Phahath-Moab, two hundred under Elioenai, son of Zarehe;
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	8	5	Sechenias, three hundred under…, son of Ezechiel;
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	8	6	Adan, fifty under Abed son of Jonathan;
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	8	7	Alam, seventy under Isaias son of Athalias;
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	8	8	Saphatia, eighty under Zebedia son of Michael;
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	8	9	Joab, two hundred and eighteen under Obedia son of Jahiel;
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	8	10	Selomith, a hundred and sixty under…, son of Josphia;
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	8	11	Bebai, twenty-eight under Bebai’s son Zacharias;
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	8	12	Azgad, a hundred and ten under Johanan son of Eccetan;
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	8	13	Adonicam, sixty, under his last remaining sons, Elipheleth, Jehiel and Samaias;
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	8	14	Begui, seventy under Uthai and Zachur.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	8	15	We made a halt of three days by the Ahava river; and there I found that I had common folk with me and priests, but no Levites.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	8	16	So I despatched some of the chiefs, Eliezer, Ariel, Semeias, Elnathan, Jarib, (a second Elnathan,) Nathan, Zacharias and Mosollam, with two prudent counsellors, Joiarib and Elnathan,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	8	17	to Eddo, who was in command at Casphia; I bade them ask Eddo and the Nathinaeans who were there with him to supply us with ministers for the house of our God.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	8	18	And they, by God’s favour, sent us…, a Levite of Moholi’s clan, with Sarabias and eighteen more of his kinsmen;
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	8	19	also a Merarite, Hasabias, with Isaias and twenty more of his.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	8	20	There were also two hundred and twenty Nathinaeans; these Nathinaeans were men bound over by David and David’s councillors to the service of the Levites. A list of all their names was supplied to us.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	8	21	There, by the Ahava river, I proclaimed a fast; we would do penance, and ask of the Lord our God a safe journey for ourselves, for the children who went with us, and for all that was ours.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	8	22	I would have asked the king for an escort of horsemen to defend us from attack, but shame withheld me; had we not boasted in the king’s presence that our God graciously protected all who had recourse to him, that only faithless servants of his brought down on themselves the constraining power of his vengeance?
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	8	23	So fast we did, to win the favour we asked of God, and all went well.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	8	24	Then I chose twelve of the leading priests, Sarabias and Hasabias with ten others,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	8	25	and handed over to them the offerings made by king, councillors, and nobles, and by such Israelites as came forward with gifts; the whole weight of silver and gold, and all the hallowed appurtenances of our God’s temple.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	8	26	It was six hundred and fifty talents of silver I paid over to them, with a hundred pieces of silver ware; and a hundred talents of gold,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	8	27	with twelve bowls of the same metal, each of ten pounds’ weight, and two pieces of the finest bronze ware, like gold itself for beauty.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	8	28	You are consecrated to the Lord, I told them, and here are consecrated things; here are silver and gold offered as a free gift to the Lord God of our fathers.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	8	29	Keep watchful guard over them; you are answerable for delivering them safely, in the presence of priest and Levite and clan chief there in Jerusalem, into the treasury of our God.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	8	30	So these priests and Levites took all that weight of silver and gold into their keeping, and the ornaments besides, that must be brought safely to the house of our God at Jerusalem.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	8	31	We left the Ahava river on the twelfth day of the first month, bound for Jerusalem; and, with our God protecting us from all peril on the way, of open enemy or secret,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	8	32	to Jerusalem we came. We had been there but three days
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	8	33	before silver, gold and ornaments, were delivered safe in our God’s temple. Meremoth, son of the priest Urias, and Eleazar, son of Phinees, with two Levites, Jozabed son of Josue and Noadaia son of Bennoi,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	8	34	handed it over, all counted and weighed, and its weight was duly entered.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	8	35	And these exiles, restored now from captivity, offered the God of Israel burnt-sacrifice; twelve calves for the twelve tribes of Israel, ninety rams and seventy-seven lambs, besides twelve goats as an offering for fault. Such was the burnt-sacrifice they made in the Lord’s honour;
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	8	36	then they delivered the royal edict to the governors, that were the king’s officers; and now God’s people and God’s house were held in honour by all that bore rule in the country west of Euphrates.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	9	1	When all this was done, a complaint was brought to me by the chieftains, against priest and Levite and common folk alike. They had not kept themselves apart from the old inhabitants of the land, Chanaanite, Hethite, Pherezite, Jebusite, Ammonite, Moabite, Egyptian and Amorrhite, or from their detestable practices;
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	9	2	foreign wives and daughters-in-law had contaminated the sacred stock of Israel, and the chief blame for this lay with the rulers and magistrates themselves.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	9	3	At this news I tore cloak and tunic both, plucked hair from head and beard, and sat there lamenting.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	9	4	Such as feared God’s warnings, defied by these restored exiles, rallied to my side; and still I sat lamenting until the time came for the evening sacrifice.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	9	5	Then, at the time of the evening sacrifice, I rose up from my posture of grief; cloak and tunic still torn about me, I fell on my knees and stretched out my hands to the Lord my God.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	9	6	And thus I prayed: O my God, I am all confusion, I am ashamed to lift my eyes towards thee; so deep, head-deep, are we sunk in the flood of our wrong-doing, so high, heaven-high, mounts the tale of our transgressions.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	9	7	Sinful fathers begot us, sinners are we to this day; in vain have we fallen a prey, we and our kings and our priests, to the power of Gentile kings, to massacre, exile, rapine, and the humiliation that is with us now.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	9	8	For a brief moment it seemed as if the Lord our God had listened to our prayers; he would leave a remnant of our race surviving, leave us a foot-hold on this holy ground; some gleam of hope our God would afford us, some breath of life in our bondage.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	9	9	Slaves we were, but in our slavery the Lord did not abandon us; he deigned to win us the favour of the Persian king; we were to live still, the house of our God was to rise anew, restored from its ruins, Juda and Jerusalem should have a wall to defend them.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	9	10	And now, O Lord our God, after all this, what plea can we offer? Thy will stands defied.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	9	11	That will of thine, through thy servants the prophets, thou hast made fully known to us. They warned us, The land in whose conquest you are engaged is a heathen land, like heathen lands everywhere, unclean; detestable rites have filled it to the brim with defilement.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	9	12	Never a daughter of yours for their sons, never a daughter of theirs for yours; never peace or good will between them and you, while time lasts! So you shall rise to greatness, so you shall enjoy all the blessings this land of yours can give, and bequeath them evermore to your sons for their inheritance.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	9	13	And now, after so much wrong-doing, such punishment for lives ill lived, such pardon for our sins, and the deliverance that is with us this day,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	9	14	should we turn back? Should we defy thy commandments, by mating with these, the abominable? Oh, then indeed thy patience is at an end; no remnant of us is to be left surviving!
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	9	15	Lord God of Israel, the fault is not with thee; that we are alive to-day is proof of it. Ours is the fault; we stand before thee guilty, and without excuse.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	10	1	While Esdras thus prayed for mercy, lying in tears before God’s temple, a great throng of Israelites gathered round him, men, women and children alike, and loud was their lament.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	10	2	At last Sechenias the son of Jehiel, of Aelam’s clan, said to him, We have offended our God by marrying foreign wives, women of the neighbouring peoples; but is there no hope of pardon for Israel?
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	10	3	Come, let us make a covenant with the Lord our God; let us send away these wives, and the children born of them. That is the Lord’s counsel; that is the counsel of all who reverence his commands; let the law be obeyed!
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	10	4	With thee, Esdras, the decision rests; count on our obedience; up, and go boldly about thy task.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	10	5	So Esdras rose up, and bound them by an oath, priests, Levites, and common folk, to do their part.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	10	6	Then, leaving the temple fore-court, he betook himself to Johanan’s lodging, that was son of Eliasib; but here too he would neither eat nor drink, so bitterly he grieved over the restored exiles and their faithlessness.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	10	7	And now word went round Juda and Jerusalem, that all those who had returned from captivity must meet together in the city;
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	10	8	it had been decreed by the rulers and the elders that any man who did not appear there within three days should be deprived of all his goods and should be cut off from the restored community.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	10	9	Meet together they did, all the men of Juda and Benjamin, within the three days prescribed (that is, on the twentieth day of the ninth month), at Jerusalem. There they sat, a whole people, in the open space before the house of God, their spirits cowed by guilt, and by the rain that was falling.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	10	10	And the priest Esdras rose up and spoke to them. There is guilt among you, he said; by mating with aliens you have made the reckoning against Israel heavier yet.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	10	11	Confess your fault to the Lord God of your fathers, and obey his will; separate yourselves from the peoples that live around you, from the foreign wives you have married.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	10	12	At that, the whole multitude gave a loud cry, At thy bidding it shall be done!
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	10	13	Only, because the throng was so great, and it was the rainy season, when there was no standing out of doors, because their task could not be performed in one day or two, so many were the faults thus committed,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	10	14	they would have their rulers go bail for the rest. Then, in each township, those who had married alien wives should meet the elders and judges of it at a fixed time, till at last no faults were left to earn their God’s vengeance.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	10	15	So Jonathan, son of Azahel, and Jaasia, son of Thecue, took charge of this, with two Levites, Mesollam and Sebethai, to help them;
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	10	16	and the restored exiles kept their word, and separated themselves. The priest Esdras, with the clan chiefs… family by family and man by man; they began making their enquiries on the first day of the tenth month,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	10	17	and by the first day of the first month all the husbands of foreign wives had passed before them.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	10	18	Some members of the priestly families had made such marriages,… and his brothers, Maasia, Eliezer, Jarib and Godolia, sons of Josue, son of Josedec;
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	10	19	all these engaged themselves to send their wives away and sacrifice a ram as an offering for fault.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	10	20	Besides these, there were Hanani and Zebedia, of Emmer’s family,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	10	21	Maasia, Elia, Semeia, Jehiel and Ozias, of Harim’s,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	10	22	Elioenai, Maasia, Ismael, Nathanael, Jozabed and Elasa, of Pheshur’s.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	10	23	The Levites were Jozabed, Semei, Celaia (or Calita), Phataia, Juda and Eliezer;
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	10	24	there was one of the singers, Eliasib, and three of the door-keepers, Sellum, Telem and Uri.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	10	25	Of the common folk, there were Remeia, Jezia, Melchia, Miamin, Eliezer (Melchia), and Banea, of Pharo’s family;
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	10	26	Mathania, Zacharias, Jehiel, Abdi, Jerimoth and Elia, of Aelam’s;
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	10	27	Elioenai, Eliasib, Mathania, Jerimuth, Zabad and Aziza, of Zethua’s;
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	10	28	Johanan, Hanania, Zabbai and Athalai, of Bebai’s;
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	10	29	Mosollam, Melluch, Adaia, Jasub, Saal and Ramoth, of Bani’s;
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	10	30	Edna, Chalal, Banaias, Maasias, Mathanias, Beseleel, Bennui and Manasses, of Phahath-Moab’s.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	10	31	Of Herem’s family there were Eliezer, Josue, Melchias, Semeias, Simeon,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	10	32	Benjamin, Maloch and Samarias,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	10	33	and of Hasom’s, Mathanai, Mathatha, Zabad, Eliphelet, Jermai, Manasses and Semei.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	10	34	Of Bani’s family there were Maaddi, Amram, Uel,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	10	35	Baneas, Badaias, Cheliau,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	10	36	Vania, Marimuth, Eliasib,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	10	37	Mathanias, Mathanai, Jasi,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	10	38	Bani, Bennui, Semei,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	10	39	Salmias, Nathan, Adaias,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	10	40	Mechnedebai, Sisai, Sarai,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	10	41	Ezrel, Selemiau, Semeria,
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	10	42	Sellum, Amaria and Joseph.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	10	43	Of Nebo’s family, Jehiel, Mathathias, Zabad, Zabina, Jeddu, Joel and Banaia.
 1 Esdras	Esd	15	10	44	All these had taken foreign wives, some of whom had already given birth to children.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	1	1	These are the memoirs of Nehemias, son of Helchias. One day in the month of Casleu, the year, the twentieth of Artaxerxes, in the royal city of Susa,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	1	2	I was visited by a kinsman of mine, Hanani, who brought with him certain travellers just come from Juda. So I asked them how it went with Jerusalem, and with the Jews still left there, survivors of the exiles who returned.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	1	3	Survivors there are, said they, in various parts of the province, left over from the days of the exile. But they are in great distress, and count for nothing; Jerusalem is but broken walls and charred gates.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	1	4	For a long time after hearing this news I kept my house, all tears and lament; I fasted, and sought audience with the God of heaven in prayer.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	1	5	Mercy, I cried, thou God of heaven, the strong, the great, the terrible! Thou who ever keepest thy gracious promises to the souls that love thee, and are true to thy commandments!
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	1	6	Let thy ears be attentive, thy eyes watching still; listen to the prayer I offer thee now, thy servant, interceding day and night for my fellow-servants, the men of Israel. Listen to the confession I make of our sins; they, the men of Israel, have sinned, I and my father’s race have sinned;
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	1	7	led away by false aims, we have neglected decree and observance and award of thine, enjoined on thy servant Moses.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	1	8	But do not forget that this servant of thine, Moses, had a promise of thee too. Far and wide though thou shouldst scatter us among the nations, when we disobeyed thee,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	1	9	yet if we came back to thee, if we kept thy bidding in mind and performed it, then wouldst thou reunite us, though the furthest corner of earth were our place of banishment, and bring us home to that city which is the chosen shrine of thy name.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	1	10	Are they not thy own servants, thy own people, won for thee by thy great deeds, by thy constraining power?
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	1	11	Let not thy ears be deaf, Lord, I beseech thee, to thy servant’s prayer, to the prayer of all these servants of thine who love to hold thy name in reverence. Speed thy servant well this day, and win for him the pity of a human heart. It was of the king I spoke; I was the royal cup-bearer.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	2	1	It was the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of king Artaxerxes’ reign. The king sat at his wine, and as I took it up to hand it to him, I stood there sad of mien in the royal presence.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	2	2	Why, what mean these pale looks? he asked. Ill I know thou art not; this can be nothing else than some sorrow gnawing at thy heart. At this, I was in an extreme of fear;
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	2	3	and, wishing the king long life, I answered, Little wonder if my looks are sad, when the city where my father lies buried is but a wilderness, and its gates blackened with fire.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	2	4	What wouldst thou have of me? the king asked. And I, first praying to the God of heaven,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	2	5	made answer thus, Did I but stand so high in the royal favour, my request would be that thou wouldst send me to Judaea, to this city where my father lies buried, and give me leave to rebuild it.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	2	6	No question had the king to ask, or his consort that was there beside him, but how long my journey would last? When did I think to return? So the king was content to let me go, and it was for me to name the time of my absence.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	2	7	Then I said, May it please the king’s grace to entrust me with letters for the governors of the country beyond Euphrates, bidding them see me safe on my way to Judaea;
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	2	8	a letter, moreover, to Asaph, the ranger of the royal forest, bidding him supply me with timber for coping the gates of the temple palace and the city walls, and roofing my own house besides. All this, by God’s favour, the king granted me.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	2	9	So I made my way to the governors beyond Euphrates, with royal letters to give them, and a royal escort of captains and horsemen.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	2	10	Sick and sorry men were Sanaballat the Horonite, and Tobias the Slave, one of the breed of Ammon, to hear of any visitor that had Israel’s welfare at heart.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	2	11	Then I went on to Jerusalem, and waited three days before telling anyone what purpose God had put into my heart, to bring me there.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	2	12	When I stirred abroad, it was at dead of night, with only a few men to attend me, and none mounted but myself.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	2	13	At dead of night, I went out by the Valley Gate, past the Dragon’s Well, and on to the Scavengers’ Gate, and all the way I found the wall of Jerusalem lying in ruins, and its gates blackened with fire.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	2	14	The next gate I came to was that of the Well, and beyond that was the royal aqueduct; here the beast I was mounted on could find no way to pass.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	2	15	So, at midnight, I passed along the ravine and examined the wall, returning home again by the Valley Gate;
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	2	16	none of the rulers knew whither I had gone, or on what errand; I had not opened my mind yet to the Jewish folk, priest or noble or ruler or any other whom the task concerned.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	2	17	But now I called upon them to witness the sore strait we had been brought to, Jerusalem a wilderness, the gates blackened with fire; Come, I said, let us build Jerusalem walls, and endure contempt no longer!
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	2	18	Then I told them what favour God had shewn me, what speech I had had with the king’s grace; Up, I cried, to the task! And with the good news, courage came back to them.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	2	19	When word came to Sanaballat the Horonite, and Tobias the Slave, that was of Ammon’s breed, and Gosem the Arabian, all was mockery and disdain; Here are fine doings! they said. Are you for rebelling against the king’s majesty?
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	2	20	But I had my answer ready for them: The Master we serve is the God of heaven; he will be our helper. Leave us to set about our task of building; for you there is no right of possession, no privilege, no citizenship here at Jerusalem.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	3	1	Up rose the high priest Eliasib, and his priestly brethren with him, and rebuilt the Shepherds’ Gate; handselled it, and set up its doors, handselled the work all the way to Hundred-cubit Tower, all the way to the Tower of Hananeel.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	3	2	Next to him toiled, on this side, the men of Jericho; toiled, on that side, Zachur the son of Amri.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	3	3	The Fishmongers’ Gate was restored by the sons of Asnaa, coping and doors, bolts and bars; then came Marimuth, son of Urias, son of Accus,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	3	4	then Mosollam, son of Barachias, son of Mesezebel; then Sadoc, son of Baana;
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	3	5	then the folk of Thecue, though never a shoulder did their chieftains put to the Lord’s work.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	3	6	The Old Gate was restored by Joiada son of Phasea and Mosollam son of Besodia, coping and doors, bolts and bars;
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	3	7	then came Meltias of Gabaon and Jadon the Meronathite, (and the) men of Gabaon and Maspha, but they were working for the governor of the country beyond Euphrates;
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	3	8	then Eziel son of Araia, of the gold-merchants, then Ananias, of the apothecaries; these let out Jerusalem as far as the wall round the open square.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	3	9	Then came Raphaia, son of Hur, that was in charge of a whole district of the city;
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	3	10	then Jedaia, son of Haromaph, for the part abutting on his own house; then Hattus, son of Hasebonias.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	3	11	Half of that district of the city, with the Furnace Tower, was restored by Melchias, son of Herem and, next to him, Hasub of the clan of Phahath-Moab;
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	3	12	next him again came Sellum son of Alohes, that had half one of the districts of Jerusalem in his charge, and his daughters with him.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	3	13	The Valley Gate was restored by Hanun and the men of Zanoe, coping and doors, bolts and bars, and a thousand cubits of the wall besides, right up to the Scavengers’ Gate.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	3	14	This was restored, bolt and bar and door, by Melchias son of Rechab, that had charge of the Bethacharam district;
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	3	15	and the Gate of the Well by Sellum son of Cholhoza, chief of the Maspha district; coping and door and bolt and bar he finished it, built the wall, too, of Siloe pool right up to the royal garden, and to the steps that lead down from David’s Keep.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	3	16	Nehemias son of Azboc, that had half the district of Bethsur in his charge, restored as far as David’s tomb, and the artificial pool, and the House of the Heroes.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	3	17	Then came the Levites… Rehum son of Benni; then Hesebias, along that part of the Ceila district which was in his charge;
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	3	18	then their brethren… Bavai son of Enadad, who had charge of the rest of the Ceila district…
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	3	19	Then came a second length of wall restored by Azer son of Josue, that was chieftain at Maspha, where the steps go up by the great bastion;
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	3	20	another second length by Baruch son of Zachai, from the bastion up to the door of the house where the high priest Eliasib lived;
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	3	21	and another by Merimuth son of Urias son of Accus, from the door all along the side of the house.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	3	22	Then came some of the priests, men that dwelt in the plains of Jordan,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	3	23	then Benjamin and Hasub for the part opposite their house, then Azarias, son of Maasias, son of Ananias, for the part opposite his.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	3	24	Then Bennui son of Enadad built a second length, from the house of Ananias to the corner where the wall turns;
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	3	25	then came Phalel, son of Ozi, for the part by the corner itself and the high tower of the royal palace that looks out on the prison yard; then Phadaia, son of Pharos,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	3	26	and the Nathinaeans (who) lived in the Ophel quarter, for the part by the eastern water-gate, and the jutting tower.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	3	27	Then the men of Thecue built a second length on the other side, from the great jutting tower to the temple wall.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	3	28	All the way up from the Stable Gate the priests restored, each along the front of his own house.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	3	29	Then came Sadoc the son of Emmer, opposite his own house, then Semaia son of Sechenias, that had charge of the eastern gate;
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	3	30	then Hanania, son of Selemias, then Hanun, the sixth son of Seleph, a second length, then Mosollam son of Barachias, opposite his store-room, then Melchias, of the goldsmiths, past where the Nathinaeans and the chapmen lived, opposite the Judgement Gate, right up to the room in the wall corner.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	3	31	And from the room in the wall corner back to the Shepherds’ Gate, the restoration was done by the goldsmiths and by the merchants.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	4	1	Great was the rage of Sanaballat when news reached him that we were rebuild-ing the walls, and cruel were the taunts he uttered against the Jews in his anger.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	4	2	There among his kinsmen, there before a throng of Samaritan folk, he taunted us: What are they about, these starveling Jews? Do they think we Gentiles will let them have their way? Or do they think to handsel their work at dawn and have it finished by nightfall? From those charred ashes can they make stones to build with?
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	4	3	Let them build, said his gossip, Tobias the Ammonite; come a fox by, he will leap over all the stones they can put together.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	4	4	Mark it well, Lord God, how they turn us into a laughing-stock; on their own heads let the mockery recoil; exile and ignominy be their own lot!
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	4	5	Do not hide away their guilt; imperishable in thy presence be the record of the wrong they did, in flouting such a design as this!
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	4	6	Meanwhile we did not cease building, and now we had completed the whole circuit of the wall up to half its full height, so eagerly did the people set about their task.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	4	7	And when this news came, that the breach in Jerusalem walls was healing, and the gaps were being filled, great was the indignation of Sanaballat and Tobias, of Arab, Ammonite and Philistine alike;
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	4	8	and now, making common cause, they would attack Jerusalem and throw all into confusion.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	4	9	But still we asked help of our God, and set watchmen on the walls, day and night, to defeat their purpose.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	4	10	Already the Jews were complaining that they had no strength left for carrying burdens, that the ground was choked with rubble; our task would never be finished;
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	4	11	and now our enemies thought to steal upon us unawares, and put an end to it by taking our lives.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	4	12	On ten several occasions Jews that lived near them came back to us from different parts with the same news;
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	4	13	and at last I must array a force, armed with sword and lance and bow, behind the wall round its whole circuit.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	4	14	That provision made, I set about encouraging them, nobles and chiefs and common folk alike; Fear no assault, I told them; bethink you how great, how fearsome the Lord is, and fight well each for his own kindred, for son and daughter and wife, for house and home.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	4	15	And so, when word came to our enemies that we had been forewarned, God threw all their plot into confusion. Back we went to our several posts at the wall;
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	4	16	and thenceforward the warriors among us were divided into two companies; one of these remained at work, while behind them, under the clan chiefs of Juda, the rest stood arrayed for battle, with lance and shield, bow and breastplate.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	4	17	And even while they were at work, built they or loaded or carried loads, it was one hand to work with, and one closing still on a javelin;
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	4	18	nor was there ever a workman but must build with his sword girt at his side. And the men that blew the trumpets were close beside me;
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	4	19	I had warned nobles and chiefs and common folk, Here is a task for many to do; spread wide apart, we are sundered far here on the wall and there;
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	4	20	rally, all of you, to any point where you hear the trumpet sound, and our God will be our speed.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	4	21	We officers too must take our share in the work, only half of us standing by with our spears, from dawn till the stars rise.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	4	22	And to the common folk I said, Each of you, and his manservant with him, must lodge here in Jerusalem itself, taking turn and turn about, day and night.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	4	23	As for myself, and my clansmen and servants, and the men of my body-guard, we never took our garments off all the while, save when we stripped for washing.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	5	1	And now there was a great outcry of the common sort, men and women, against their richer neighbours, that were Jews too.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	5	2	Poor folk, who had sons and daughters in great number, had bethought themselves of bartering these for the corn they must have if they would live;
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	5	3	some, in the great scarcity, had been ready to pledge lands, vineyards and house in return for corn;
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	5	4	some had offered vineyard or lands for a pledge when they would borrow money to pay the royal tribute.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	5	5	And now they complained, These men are our brothers; of one race, they and we, of one race, their sons and ours; and here are we, with some of our daughters bondwomen already, giving up sons and daughters to slavery still, and no hope of ransoming them; here are lands and vineyards of ours given over to the enjoyment of others!
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	5	6	Great was my anger when I heard such cause of complaint was theirs.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	5	7	I took deep thought over it, and then taxed nobles and rulers with their fault; would they play the usurer with their own brethren? Summoning a great assembly of the citizens to confront them,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	5	8	I reminded them that we in Babylon had been at pains to ransom our Jewish brethren who were enslaved to the heathen; must we now ransom them anew, from masters of their own flesh and blood? At this, there was silence; nothing could they find to say.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	5	9	Here are sorry doings, I told them. Have you no fear of God’s vengeance, of the reproach this will earn from our heathen neighbours?
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	5	10	You are not the only creditors; I myself, my kinsmen and my servants have been lending money and corn on all sides. Come, let us conspire to forgo our rights, let us all remit the debt due to us;
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	5	11	and do you restore, here and now, lands, vineyards, olive-yards and houses; restore, too, the interest charge you claim of a hundredth, for money and corn, wine and oil alike.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	5	12	Restore it we will, they answered, and make no further claim; thy bidding shall be done. Thereupon I summoned the priests, and would have this undertaking secured by an oath.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	5	13	I shook the dust, too, from the folds of my lap, and cried out: God give no gentler handling than this to the man who plays me false; sweep away house and lands, and leave him a beggar! Amen, answered the whole assembly, and gave praise to God. And loyally the agreement was kept.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	5	14	For twelve years, ever since Artaxerxes gave me my commission in Juda (that is, from the twentieth to the thirty-second year of his reign) my kinsmen and I refused to take the allowance which was granted to the governors.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	5	15	My predecessors, by accepting corn, wine, and money, at the rate of forty sicles a day, had been a burden to the people, who suffered also from the exactions of their servants. Not so I, God’s fear preventing me;
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	5	16	instead of buying lands, my care was to help build the wall, and there was no servant of mine but took his place among the workmen.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	5	17	A hundred and fifty Jews, (the rulers, and those) who came in to help us from the country round about, fed at my expense;
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	5	18	every day an ox and six fat rams, and fowls besides, were dressed for me, and every tenth day brought a fresh supply of various wines; yet for this and much else I would take no allowance as governor in return; to such straits had the men of Juda been brought.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	5	19	Not unremembered, Lord, not unrewarded, be these services done to thy people.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	6	1	And now news reached Sanaballat and Tobias and the Arabian, Gosem, and the rest of our enemies, that I had finished building the wall, and never a gap was left in it; although in truth I had not yet been able to set up doors in the gateways.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	6	2	Thereupon Sanaballat and Gosem sent a message proposing that I should meet them in some unfortified town on the plains of Ono, and there make a treaty; it was their design to do me some mischief.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	6	3	But I bade my own messengers answer, It is a hard task I must perform here; I am not for the plain. There would be folk standing idle here, while I came down to meet you.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	6	4	Four times they sent word to the same purpose, and ever had the same answer from me;
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	6	5	and once more Sanaballat repeated it, but this time the servant who brought it had a letter in his hand. And this was the tenour of it:
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	6	6	The Gentiles will have it, and Gosem says the tale is true, that thou and the Jews are rebuilding the walls because you are plotting rebellion. It is said that thou wouldst be king thyself, and to that end
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	6	7	hast put forward prophets to preach thee up in Jerusalem, and announce that Juda has a king. All this will reach the ears of Artaxerxes; come hither thou must, and we will devise measures between us.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	6	8	But I sent word back, There is no truth in the tale; it is of thy own imagining.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	6	9	It was but a conspiracy to frighten us; their thought was we would cease building, and bide our time; but I pressed on the harder.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	6	10	I went once to visit Semaias, son of Dalaias, son of Metabeel; he was then keeping his house. Nay, said he, let us go to the temple and there hold converse, there in the heart of the temple, behind shut doors. They are coming to murder thee; this very night they are coming to murder thee.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	6	11	What, I answered, I take flight? I am not the man to save my life by skulking in God’s house. The temple is not for me.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	6	12	And well I knew that his was no errand from God, though he spoke to me as one inspired to prophesy. It was Tobias and Sanaballat that had him in their pay;
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	6	13	they had bribed him, hoping that through terror I would commit a fault, and they would have ill tales to spread about me.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	6	14	Not unremembered, Lord, be all this that I suffered on account of Tobias and Sanaballat; of the prophet Noadia, too, and all those prophets that would have daunted me!
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	6	15	The wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of the month Elul; it had taken fifty-two days a-building.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	6	16	And when this reached the ears of our enemies, fear overtook all the nations round about us; their stature fell in their own eyes, and they doubted no longer that it was God who had inspired the enterprise.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	6	17	Tobias, at this time, was exchanging letters with many of the Jewish nobles;
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	6	18	he had married the daughter of Sechenias, son of Area, and wedded his son Johanan to the daughter of Mosollam, son of Barachias, and so had a great following in Judaea.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	6	19	Still they sang his praises to me, still sent him news of all I did; this very Tobias who was writing letters to fill me with alarm.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	1	When the wall was finished, and I had set up the gates, I made a register of the door-keepers; of the singers, too, and the Levites.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	2	Then I entrusted the defence of the city to my kinsman Hanani, and to Hananias, who was controller of the temple palace at Jerusalem, and eminent, as it seemed to me, in honour and piety;
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	3	these I made answerable for seeing to it that the gates should never be opened till the sun was up. At nightfall, the gates must be bolted and barred in their presence. And such citizens of Jerusalem as had houses facing the wall must take their turn at keeping watch.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	4	Far and wide the city stretched, and its citizens were few and far between; the houses in it had not yet been repaired.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	5	But I, God putting such a resolve into my heart, mustered them all, nobles, rulers and common citizens alike, to make a register of them. I found the old register, with the names of those who first returned from exile, and their numbers, it proved, were as follows.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	6	These were the numbers in which they came back to Jerusalem, and to the various cities of Juda, these exiles that had been taken to Babylon by the Chaldaean king Nabuchodonosor, and afterwards returned home.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	7	Their leaders were Zorobabel, Josue, Nehemias, Azarias, Raamias, Nahamani, Mardochaeus, Belsam, Mespharath, Begoai, Nahum and Baana. These were the numbers the various clans of Israel provided:
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	8	Pharos, two thousand one hundred and seventy-two,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	9	Saphatia, three hundred and seventy-two,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	10	Area, six hundred and fifty-two,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	11	Phahath-Moab… Josue-Joab, two thousand eight hundred and eighteen,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	12	Aelam, one thousand two hundred and fifty-four,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	13	Zethua, eight hundred and forty-five,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	14	Zachai, seven hundred and sixty,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	15	Bannui, six hundred and forty-eight,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	16	Bebai, six hundred and twenty-eight,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	17	Azgad, two thousand three hundred and twenty-two,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	18	Adonicam, six hundred and sixty-seven,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	19	Beguai, two thousand and sixty-seven,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	20	Adin, six hundred and fifty-five,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	21	Ater, coming from Hesecias, ninety-eight,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	22	Hasem, three hundred and twenty-eight,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	23	Besai, three hundred and twenty-four,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	24	Hareph, a hundred and twelve.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	25	And the various townships provided: Gabaon, ninety-five,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	26	Bethlehem and Netupha, a hundred and eighty-eight,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	27	Anathoth, a hundred and twenty-eight,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	28	Bethazmoth, forty-two,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	29	Cariathiarim, Cephira and Beroth, seven hundred and forty-three,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	30	Rama and Geba, six hundred and twenty-one,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	31	Machmas, a hundred and twenty-two,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	32	Bethel and Hai, a hundred and twenty-three,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	33	(the other) Nebo fifty-two,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	34	(the other Aelam, one thousand two hundred and fifty-four),
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	35	Harem, three hundred and twenty,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	36	Jericho, three hundred and forty-five, Lod,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	37	Hadid and Ono, seven hundred and twenty-one,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	38	Senaa, three thousand nine hundred and thirty…
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	39	And the various priestly clans provided: Idaia, in the line of Josue, nine hundred and seventy-three,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	40	Emmer, a thousand and fifty-two,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	41	Phashur, a thousand two hundred and forty-seven,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	42	Arem, a thousand and seventeen. Levites there were,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	43	named after Josue and Cedmihel, that came down
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	44	from Oduias, seventy-four; singers,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	45	after Asaph, a hundred and forty-eight;
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	46	door-keepers, after Sellum, Ater, Telmon, Accub, Hatita and Sobai, a hundred and thirty-eight.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	47	The Nathinaeans included the sons of Soha, Hasupha, Tebbaoth,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	48	Ceros, Siaa, Phadon, Lebana, Hagaba, Selmai,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	49	Hanan, Geddel, Gaher,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	50	Raaia, Rasin, Necoda,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	51	Gezem, Aza, Phasea,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	52	Besai, Munim, Nephussim,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	53	Bacbuc, Hacupha, Harhur,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	54	Besloth, Mahida, Harsa,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	55	Bercos, Sisara, Thema,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	56	Nasia, and Hatipha,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	57	Solomon’s servants, Sothai, Sophereth, Pharida,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	58	Jahala, Darcon, Jeddel, Saphatia,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	59	Hatil, Phochereth, son of Sabaim, son of Amon;
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	60	these Nathinaeans, including those descended from the servants of Solomon, amounted to three hundred and ninety-two in all.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	61	Some of those who came back from Thelmela, Thelharsa, Cherub, Addon and Emmer could not prove whence their ancestors came or whether they were of Israelite stock;
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	62	they were descendants of Dalaia, Tobia and Necoda, amounting to six hundred and forty-two.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	63	Such, too, among the priests were the sons of Habia, of Accos, and of that Berzellai who married a daughter of Berzellai the Galaadite and took his name;
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	64	they could find no written record of their ancestry, and were expelled from the priesthood;
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	65	they might not partake of the food reserved for the priests, the governor told them, until there should be a high priest that bore the touchstones of wisdom and truth.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	66	The whole number, taken together, amounted to forty-two thousand three hundred and sixty,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	67	not counting the men and women servants, of whom there were seven thousand three hundred and thirty-seven, with two hundred and forty-five men and maids that were singers.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	68	They had with them seven hundred and thirty-six horses, two hundred and forty-five mules,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	69	four hundred and thirty-five camels, six thousand seven hundred and twenty asses. (End of the register. The narrative of Nehemias continues. )
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	70	… Some of the chief families made contributions to help the enterprise. The governor handed over to the treasury a thousand gold pieces, fifty bowls, and five hundred and thirty tunics for the priests;
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	71	the heads of clans, twenty thousand gold pieces, and two thousand two hundred silver pieces,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	72	the rest of the people, twenty thousand gold pieces, two thousand silver pieces, and sixty-seven tunics for the priests.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	7	73	And now priests and Levites, singers and door-keepers (and the rest of the people) and the Nathinaeans and all Israel were back in the cities that were their homes.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	8	1	When the seventh month had come after the return of the Israelites to their cities, the whole people gathered, like one man, in the open space before the Water-gate; and there they would have the scribe Esdras go and fetch the book in which the law of Moses, the Lord’s prescription to Israel, was written down.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	8	2	So there and then, on the first day of the seventh month, the priest Esdras fetched out the book, in the presence of a great throng of men and women, with such children as were old enough to understand it.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	8	3	And there in the open space before the Water-gate he proclaimed the law, before men and women and such younger folk as could take it in, from daybreak to noon, and all listened attentively while the reading went on.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	8	4	A wooden pulpit had been erected to carry the sound better, and at this the scribe Esdras stood; with him were Mathathias, Semeia, Ania, Uria, Helcia and Maasia on his right, Phadaia, Misael, Melchia, Hasum, Hasbadana, Zacharia and Mosollam on his left.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	8	5	Esdras was plainly seen, as he opened the book, by all the people underneath. When he had opened it, all rose;
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	8	6	and when he blessed the name of the Lord, the great God, all lifted their hands and answered, Amen, amen; and with that they bowed down and worshipped with their faces close to the ground.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	8	7	Then the Levites came forward, Josue, Bani, Serebia, Jamin, Accub, Sebthai, Odia, Maasia, Celita, Azarias, Jozabed, Hanan and Phalaia; these enjoined silence on the people, as they stood there in their places for the reading of the law.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	8	8	And they read out the book of the law, clear and plain to give the sense of it, so that all could understand the reading.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	8	9	And now the governor, Nehemias, with Esdras, priest and scribe, and these Levites who interpreted to the people what was read, must needs remind them that it was a feast-day set apart to the Lord; there must be no lamenting and weeping; already the whole multitude were in tears, as they listened to the words of the law.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	8	10	Go home, said Nehemias, and regale yourselves with rich meat and honeyed wine, sharing your good things with those who have none. There must be no sadness on this day, the Lord’s feast-day. To rejoice in the Lord, there lies our strength.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	8	11	The Levites, too, called for silence everywhere; Peace there, no lamenting, they said, this is a day of rejoicing.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	8	12	So all the throng dispersed, to eat and drink and share their good things with glad hearts, the message of the law made plain to them.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	8	13	Next day, all the clan chiefs and priests and Levites thronged about the scribe Esdras, to hear him interpret the law’s meaning.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	8	14	And there they found it set down, as the Lord’s injunction through Moses, that the sons of Israel, at the feast of the seventh month, should make their dwelling in tents.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	8	15	They were to proclaim it far and wide at Jerusalem and in all their cities, Go out to the mountain-side, and bring in boughs of olive, or of some favourite tree, branches of myrtle and palm, leafy boughs, to make arbours, as the law prescribes.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	8	16	So the men of Juda went out, and brought green boughs home; arbours they made everywhere, in their own dwellings and fore-courts, in the courts of the Lord’s house, and in the open spaces before the Water-gate and the Gate of Ephraim.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	8	17	Thus the whole body of those who had come back from exile made arbours and lodged in them; since the days of Josue son of Nun the rite had fallen into abeyance, and now there was great rejoicing.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	8	18	Day after day while the feast continued Esdras read out the book of God’s law to them. So for seven days they kept high festival, and on the eighth there was a gathering of the whole people, held with due solemnity.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	9	1	Then, on the twenty-fourth day of this same month, the men of Israel met together, fasting, and with sackcloth about them, and sprinkled with dust,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	9	2	and the whole breed of Israel severed itself from all contact with alien folk. They met to confess their sins, and all the guilt their fathers had brought on them.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	9	3	The day was divided into four parts; first they would stand in their places, while the terms of the Divine law were read to them, then they would make confession, and offer worship to the Lord their God.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	9	4	It was for the Levites to mount upon the pulpit, Josue, Bani, Cedmihel, Sabania, Bonni, Sarebias (Bani), and Chanani, and cry out in a loud voice to the Lord their God.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	9	5	…This was the prayer offered by the Levites, Josue, Cedmihel, Bonni, Hasebnia, Serebia, Odaia, Sebnia and Phathahia. Up, friends, and bless the Lord your God, as blessed he must be from the beginning to the end of time! Blessed be thy glorious name, O Lord, that is beyond all blessing, and all praise!
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	9	6	Heaven is of thy fashioning, and the heaven of heavens, and all the hosts that dwell there, earth and sea, and all that earth and sea hold; to all these thou givest the life they have; none so high in heaven but must pay thee worship.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	9	7	It was thou, Lord God, that didst make choice of Abram, and beckon him away from Chaldaea, from the City of Fire. And now thou wouldst call him Abraham;
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	9	8	a loyal servant thou didst find him, and didst make a covenant with him, promising that his race should inherit the lands of Chanaanite and Hethite, Amorrhite and Pherezite, Jebusite and Gergesite. That promise, in thy faithfulness, thou didst make good.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	9	9	Thou hadst an eye for the affliction our fathers suffered in Egypt, an ear for their cry of distress at the Red Sea;
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	9	10	the pride of Pharao and Pharao’s court and all his people had not passed unregarded; there were portents, and marvels, and thy name won renown, as it has won renown this day.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	9	11	Thou didst part the waters at their coming, so that they crossed the sea dry-shod, didst hurl their pursuers into the depths of it, so that they sank like a stone beneath the rushing waves.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	9	12	Thou thyself didst lead thy people on their journey, hidden by day in a pillar of cloud, by night in a pillar of fire, to light the path they must tread.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	9	13	There, on mount Sinai, thou didst keep tryst with them; thy voice came from heaven to teach them thy just decrees, thy abiding law with all its observances, all its wholesome bidding.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	9	14	There thou didst reveal to them how thy sabbath should be kept holy; law and observance and award thou, through Moses, didst hand down to them.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	9	15	When they were hungry, thou didst give them bread from heaven; when they were thirsty, thou didst bring water out of the rock; and for the goal of their journey didst beckon them on to take possession of this same land, which thou hadst sworn to give them.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	9	16	But now our fathers sinned through pride in their turn; spurned the yoke, and would not listen to thy commandments.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	9	17	No memory of the wondrous protection thou hadst given them could win their obedience; they would spurn the yoke, and take their own defiant path, the path that led back to slavery. But thou, a God so indulgent, so kind, so merciful, so patient, so pitying, wouldst not abandon them;
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	9	18	not even when they made a molten calf, and hailed it very blasphemously as the God that had rescued them from Egypt;
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	9	19	still in thy great mercy thou wouldst not cast them off in the desert. Never lacked they by day the pillar of cloud that led them, never by night the pillar of fire that shone upon their path;
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	9	20	still thy gracious spirit gave its warnings, still thou wouldst not refuse manna to feed them, water to quench their thirst.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	9	21	All those forty years in the desert thou didst feed them, and nothing did they lack; never a garment threadbare, never a foot sore with travel.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	9	22	Whole kingdoms, whole nations thou didst subdue before them, to allot them lands of their own; nothing Sehon possessed, that reigned at Hesebon, or Og, that was king in Basan, but should be theirs.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	9	23	By now, thou hadst given increase to their race till they were countless as the stars in heaven; it was the fathers thou hadst first bidden to invade the land and take possession of it,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	9	24	but it was their sons that reached the goal. At their coming, thou didst crush the pride of the Chanaanites that dwelt here, kings and people alike were a prey for the conqueror, left at his mercy.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	9	25	So it was that our fathers gained cities well fortified, lands well tilled; houses full of all they needed, wells other men had dug for them, vineyard and olive-yard and orchard already planted. Now they might eat their fill, glut their appetites with all the good things thy mercy had bestowed.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	9	26	Then it was they defied thy anger, thy worship forsaken, thy laws forgotten, and slew the prophets that adjured them to come back to thee. And thou, in return for such foul impieties,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	9	27	didst give their enemies the mastery over them, till they fell into sore distress. But when, in their misery, they cried out to thee, thou, in heaven, didst not refuse them audience; ever thou wouldst send, of thy great mercy, a champion to bring them rescue.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	9	28	Still the days of peace saw them defying thy will, until thou must needs put them at their enemies’ mercy; still their repentant cries reached thy hearing, and won them merciful deliverance.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	9	29	And thou, all the while, wast pleading with them to return to thy allegiance, while they, too proud to heed thy bidding, transgressed the commandments that bring man life; always the unwilling shoulder, the stubborn neck, the deaf ear.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	9	30	Through long years thy patience lasted, and thou wast content to warn them through inspiration given to thy prophets; then at last, when these went unheard, thou didst give thy people up into the hands of the Gentiles.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	9	31	And even so, in thy clemency, thou wouldst not make an end of us; even now thou hast not abandoned us, so pitying, so merciful a God thou art.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	9	32	To thee, then, we turn, who art our God, to thee, the great, the strong, the terrible God, who dost not forget thy covenant, or the mercy thou hast promised. Do not think scorn of all the misery that has come upon us, king and prince, priest and prophet, in our fathers’ time and since, from the day when the king of Assyria became our enemy.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	9	33	The fault was never thine, if all this has overtaken us; thine the faithfulness, ours the unnatural rebellion.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	9	34	King and prince and priest together, our fathers have neglected thy law; the decrees thou hadst enjoined, the warning thou gavest, went alike unheeded.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	9	35	The royal majesty, the blessings showered on them, the wide domains thou didst subdue at their onslaught, were not enough to win obedience from them, or recall them from their rebellious ways.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	9	36	Here are we, this day, living as slaves; here are the wide lands, the rich lands thou gavest to our fathers, to till and to enjoy, and we are living on them in slavery.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	9	37	The harvests ripen for alien kings, our masters now in punishment of our guilt; our bodies, our beasts are theirs, to treat as they will, and oppression is all about us.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	9	38	In such a plight we turn to thee, binding ourselves by a covenant; that covenant we here record in writing, rulers and Levites and priests have set their names to it.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	10	1	At the head of those who signed this covenant was the governor, Nehemias the son of Hachelai; then came Sedecias,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	10	2	Saraias, Azarias, Jeremias,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	10	3	Pheshur, Amarias, Melchias,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	10	4	Hattus, Sebenia, Melluch,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	10	5	Harem, Merimuth, Obdias,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	10	6	Daniel, Genthon, Baruch,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	10	7	Mosollam, Abia, Miamin,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	10	8	Maazia, Belgai and Semeia, all priests.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	10	9	Then the Levites, Josue son of Azanias, Bennui of Henadad’s clan, Cedmihel,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	10	10	Sebenia, Odaia, Celita, Phalaia, Hanan,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	10	11	Micha, Rohob, Hasebia,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	10	12	Zachur, Serebia, Sabania,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	10	13	Odaia, Bani and Baninu.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	10	14	Then the clan chiefs of Pharos, Phahath-Moab, Aelam, Zethu, Bani,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	10	15	Bonni, Azgad, Bebai,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	10	16	Adonia, Begoai, Adin,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	10	17	Ater, Hezecia, Azur,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	10	18	Odaia, Hasum, Besai,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	10	19	Hareph, Anathoth, Nebai,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	10	20	Megphias, Mosollam, Hazir,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	10	21	Mesizabel, Sadoc, Jeddua,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	10	22	Pheltia, Hanan, Anaia,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	10	23	Osee, Hanania, Hasub,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	10	24	Alohes, Phalea, Sobec,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	10	25	Rehum, Hasebna, Maasia,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	10	26	Echaia, Hanan, Anan,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	10	27	Melluch, Haran and Baana.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	10	28	The oath was taken by the whole people, priests, Levites, door-keepers, singers, Nathinaeans and the rest, all who had broken off their contact with the Gentiles to keep the law of God. Wives as well as husbands took it; sons and daughters, too,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	10	29	where these were of age to understand its import. Their leaders did but go bail for the rest; all alike entered into a sworn undertaking that they would obey God’s law, given through his servant Moses. Never a decree or award or observance the Lord our God had enjoined but they would keep it sacred and live by it.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	10	30	Never shall our children mate with the children of Gentile parents, or theirs with ours.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	10	31	Never shall Gentile wares, exposed on sabbath or feast-day, furnish our needs. Every seventh year the land shall lie fallow, and all debts shall be remitted.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	10	32	We impose upon ourselves a tax, of one third of a sicle yearly, for our God’s temple;
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	10	33	for the loaves that must be set out, and the continual offering, the burnt-sacrifice on sabbath and new moon and feast-day, welcome-offering and offering for fault that win Israel mercy, and all the needs of our God’s house.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	10	34	For the provision of wood, we have cast lots between priests, Levites and the people at large so that each clan must take its turn, season and season about, bringing in logs to burn on the altar of the Lord our God, as the law of Moses enjoins.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	10	35	Year by year, too, we will bring to the Lord’s house the first-fruits of all that our lands or fruit-trees yield;
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	10	36	due offering shall be made there of all our first-born, man or beast, ox or sheep, as the law bids, before the priests that minister there in the Lord’s house;
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	10	37	food and drink, the fruit of all our trees, our grapes and our olives, shall be taxed by the priests that have charge of our God’s treasury. Our lands shall be tithed, too, for the Levites; in all our cities the Levites themselves shall collect a tithe from all our crops.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	10	38	A priest of Aaron’s line shall accompany the Levites when they make the collection, and the Levites themselves shall contribute a tithe of their tithe to the house of our God, to the treasury where his wealth is stored.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	10	39	To that treasury all alike must contribute, Levites and people out of their corn and wine and oil; that house must have its furniture of worship, priest and singer, door-keeper and ministrant. It is the house of the Lord our God; shall we leave it forsaken?
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	11	1	The rulers must needs have their dwelling in Jerusalem; the common folk had their residence assigned by lot, every tenth man going to live in the holy city, while the other nine remained in the country parts;
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	11	2	whoever offered of his own free will to be a Jerusalem-dweller earned the blessings of his fellow-citizens.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	11	3	And these were the leading men of the colony that lived at Jerusalem, leaving the rest, the people at large, the priests, the Levites, the Nathinaeans, and the line of Solomon’s servants, to occupy the country parts, each in the cities allotted to them.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	11	4	In Jerusalem, the population was mixed, men of Juda and men of Benjamin living side by side. The chief men of Juda were Athaias, descended through Aziam, Zacharias, Amarias and Saphatias from Malaleel…, and for the line of Phares,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	11	5	Maasia, descended through Baruch, Cholhoza, Hazia, Adaia, Joiarib and Zacharias from Silonitess;
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	11	6	altogether, there were four hundred and sixty-eight fighting men at Jerusalem that came down from Phares.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	11	7	The chief men of Benjamin were Sellum, descended through Mosollam, Joed, Phadaia, Colaia, Masia and Ethael from Isaia,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	11	8	and next to him Gebbai… Sallai … nine hundred and twenty-eight in all.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	11	9	All these were under the charge of Joel son of Zechri; Judas son of Senua was next in command of the city.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	11	10	Among the leading priests were Idaia son of Joiarib, Jachin,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	11	11	and Saraia, the temple prefect, that came down through Helcias, Mosollam, Sadoc and Meraioth from Achitob;
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	11	12	their clansmen, engaged in the service of the temple, amounted to eight hundred and twenty-two. Also Adaia, that came down through Jeroham, Phelelia, Amsi, Zacharias and Pheshur from Melchias,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	11	13	with two hundred and forty-two heads of families, his clansmen. Also Amassai, descended through Azreel, Ahazi and Mosollamoth from Emmer,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	11	14	with the clansmen of his line, a hundred and twenty-eight, valiant men all. And these were in charge of Zabdiel; his fathers, too, were valiant men before him.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	11	15	The Levite chiefs were Semeia, descended through Hasub, Azaricam and Hasabia from Boni,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	11	16	and Sabathai and Jozabed, these were in charge of the work the Levites did beyond the temple precincts;
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	11	17	Mathania, descended through Micha and Zebedei from Asaph, led the music of praise and thanksgiving and prayer, with his kinsman Becbecia to aid him, and Abda, descended through Samua and Galal from Idithun.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	11	18	There were two hundred and eighty-four of these Levites in the city;
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	11	19	and door-keepers besides, Accub and Telmon, with a hundred and seventy-two clansmen of theirs who shared their watch at the gates.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	11	20	The rest of Israel, priests and Levites included, had their homes in the various cities of Juda,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	11	21	but the Nathinaeans, with Siaha and Gaspha over them, all lived together in the Ophel quarter.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	11	22	The Levites at Jerusalem were in charge of Azzi, that came down through Bani, Hasabias and Mathanias from Michas. He was of the clan of Asaph, that were musicians in the service of the temple
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	11	23	by royal command, taking their turns, day in, day out, with the chant.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	11	24	The king’s representative in all that concerned the citizens was Phathahia, son of Mesezebel, of Zara’s clan, that was son to Juda.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	11	25	All over the countryside the men of Juda had their homes, at Cariatharbe, Dibon and Cabseel, with their daughter townships,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	11	26	at Jesue, Molada, Bethphaleth,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	11	27	Hasersual, Bersabee and its neighbourhood,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	11	28	Siceleg, Mochona and its neighbourhood,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	11	29	Remmon, Saraa, Jerimuth,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	11	30	Zanoa and Odollam and the towns near them, Lachis and its district, Azeca, too, and its neighbourhood. Their territory stretched all the way from Bersabee in the south to the valley of Ennom.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	11	31	The Benjamites, with Geba for their capital, were spread about at Mechmas, Hai, Bethel and its daughter townships,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	11	32	Anathoth, Nob, Anania,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	11	33	Asor, Rama, Gethaim,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	11	34	Hadid, Seboim, Neballat, Lod
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	11	35	and Ono, down in the Valley of the Craftsmen.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	11	36	And the precincts of the Levites were spread over Juda and Benjamin alike.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	12	1	Here is a list of the priests and Levites who came back from exile with Zoro-babel, Salathiel’s son, and Josue. Saraia, Jeremias, Esdras,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	12	2	Amaria, Melluch, Hattus,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	12	3	Sebenias, Rheum, Merimuth,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	12	4	Addo, Genthon, Abia,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	12	5	Miamin, Madia, Belga,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	12	6	Semeia, Joiarib, (Joiada), Sellum, Amoc, Helcias
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	12	7	and Idaia were the chief priests who had the preeminence among their brethren in Josue’s time.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	12	8	The chief Levites were Jesua, Bennui, Cedmihel, Sarebia, Juda and Mathanias, who, with their clansmen, had charge of the music;
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	12	9	also Becbecia and Hanni, whose clansmen had various other offices assigned to them.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	12	10	The high priesthood passed from Josue through Joacim, Eliasib,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	12	11	Joiada and Jonathan to Jeddoa.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	12	12	In Joacim’s time the clan of Saraia was represented by Maraia, that of Jeremias by Hanania,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	12	13	and the other twenty by Mosollam, Johanan,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	12	14	Jonathan, Joseph,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	12	15	Edna, Helci,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	12	16	Zacharia, Mosollam,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	12	17	Zechri, Phelti (who represented both Miamin and Madia),
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	12	18	Sammua, Jonathan,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	12	19	Mathanai, Azzi,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	12	20	Celai, Heber,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	12	21	Hasebia and Nathanael.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	12	22	There was a list made, at the time when Darius was king of Persia, of all who had been heads of the Levitical and priestly clans in the days of Eliasib, Joiada, Johanan and Jeddoa.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	12	23	In the book of Annals, the Levite chiefs are only entered down to the days of Eliasib’s grandson Jonathan.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	12	24	… The duties of the Levite chiefs were thus divided; Hasebia, Serebia, Josue, (Bennui), Cedmihel and their clansmen took their turn in due order at singing of praise and giving of thanks, as David bade, that was God’s servant;
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	12	25	Mathania, Becbecia, Obedia, Mosollam, Telmon and Accub must keep the gates and the courts before the gates.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	12	26	These held office in the days of Joacim, son of Josue son of Josedec, when Nehemias was governor and Esdras was priest and scribe.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	12	27	At the time when the wall of Jerusalem was dedicated, the Levites, from all their scattered homes, were summoned up to Jerusalem; theirs to interpret the joy and thanksgiving which this dedication brought, with song and cymbals, with harp and zither.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	12	28	From the lowlands about Jerusalem they came, these makers of music, from the townships of Nethuphati,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	12	29	from their residence at Galgal, from Geba and Azmaveth, and wherever there were colonies of singers at a distance from Jerusalem itself.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	12	30	Priests and Levites rid themselves of all defilement, then did as much for the people, and for the walls and gates themselves.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	12	31	And I, Nehemias, would have the chief men of Juda mount on the wall, and two choirs of singers to escort them with chants of praise. One choir went along the wall to the right, in the direction of the Scavengers’ Gate,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	12	32	with Osaias and half the chiefs of Juda behind it;
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	12	33	then Azarias, Esdras and Mosollam; then (half) the men of Juda and Benjamin; then Semeia and Jeremias;
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	12	34	then some of the priests with trumpets, led by Zacharias, that came down through Jonathan, Semeia, Mathanias, Michaias and Zechur from Asaph himself;
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	12	35	the others were Semeia, Azareel, Malalai, Galalai, Maai, Nathanael, Judas and Hanani. So they went, and with them went the music planned by God’s servant David, and the scribe Esdras marched at their head. When they reached the Gate of the Well,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	12	36	an upward climb confronted them; up the steps of David’s Keep they went, and up the slope that passes David’s palace, till they reached the Water-gate in the east wall.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	12	37	The second choir, with the same chant of praise, marched in the other direction, I myself and half the people accompanying it; climbed the wall and the Furnace Tower, and so went on where the wall was broadest,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	12	38	past the Gate of Ephraim, and the old gate, and the Fishmongers’ Gate, and the Tower of Hananeel and the Tower of Emath, and on to the Shepherds’ Gate. At last they reached the Watch-tower Gate, and came to a halt there.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	12	39	Then the two choirs stood together at God’s house giving praise. I, too, and the chiefs who were with me
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	12	40	had priests with trumpets for our escort, Eliachim, Maasia, Miamin, Michea, Elioenai, Zacharia and Hanania;
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	12	41	also Maasia, Semeia, Eleazar, Azzi, Johanan, Melchia, Aelam and Ezer. Loud sang the singers, and loud sang Jezraia at their head.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	12	42	Great was the slaughtering of victims that day, and greatly they rejoiced, women and children with the rest, at the signal mercy the Lord had shewn them; such a cry of triumph went up from Jerusalem as was heard far away.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	12	43	At this time they appointed certain priests and Levites to take charge of the treasury, and receive offering and first-fruit and tithe from the city chiefs, in honour and gratitude; so well content were the men of Juda with the ministrations of priest and Levite both.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	12	44	And ever they kept true to the old observances, God honoured, defilement cleansed away, singers and porters fulfilling the duties which David, and David’s son Solomon, enjoined upon them.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	12	45	Ever since David’s time and Asaph’s there had been masters of the choir to give praise and thanks;
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	12	46	and now, in the times of Zorobabel and of Nehemias, men assigned a daily portion both to choristers and to door-keepers; Israel honoured Levi with gifts, and Levi Aaron.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	13	1	And now a new discovery came to light, while the law of Moses was being read out to the people. It was found set down there, that no Ammonite or Moabite might be admitted to the Lord’s assembly. And this was a disability they had incurred for all time,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	13	2	by refusing to provide food and drink, when Israel came by; it was they, too, that hired Balaam to curse Israel, only our God transformed that curse into a blessing.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	13	3	No sooner was this injunction made known, than the Israelites began to rid themselves of all contact with alien folk.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	13	4	Till now, it had been otherwise; here was the high priest Eliasib, that had the treasury of our God’s temple in his keeping, a close friend of Tobias;
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	13	5	and so Tobias had one of the great store-rooms put at his disposal. (It was the room where at one time they used to store up the bloodless offerings, and the incense, and certain ornaments, and the tithe or corn, wine and oil, given to Levite, singer and door-keeper, and the first-fruits that belonged to the priests.)
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	13	6	All this had happened while I was away from Jerusalem. During the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes’ reign I went to court, and it was only at the end of the year that I had leave to return.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	13	7	When I was back at Jerusalem, and learned what harm had come of Eliasib’s love for Tobias, that he would give him a store-house in the very temple of God,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	13	8	I cried shame on him; out went all Tobias’ furniture from the treasury,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	13	9	and I gave orders besides that the treasure-rooms should be cleansed, and put back the furniture of God’s house there, the offerings, too, and the incense.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	13	10	And now I learned that the Levites were not having their portions granted them; Levite and singer and all the ministrants had gone back to their homes in the country-side.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	13	11	So I attacked the rulers, asking them whether the house of God was to be left deserted; and I brought the Levites back, and reinstalled them;
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	13	12	from all over Juda, tithe of corn and wine and oil flowed into their store-houses once more;
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	13	13	and we gave the charge of these store-houses to men whose honour we could trust, the priest Selemias, the scribe Sadoc, the Levite Phadaia, and Hanan, son of Zachur, son of Mathanias.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	13	14	My God, let not this go unremembered; do not blot out the record of the service I have done to thy temple, my God, and to thy ceremonies.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	13	15	Even now I found Jewish folk treading out their wine-presses and carrying burdens on the sabbath day. On the sabbath day they would load their asses with wine-skins, or grapes, or figs, or some other freight, and bring them to Jerusalem for sale. These I warned that they must find some other day for selling their wares;
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	13	16	but there were still traders from Tyre in the city itself, importing fish and all manner of goods, who sold them to their Jewish neighbours on the sabbath, there in Jerusalem.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	13	17	So I took my complaint to the Jewish rulers; Here are fine doings of yours, I said, that profane the sabbath day!
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	13	18	All these late afflictions that God brought on us and on our city were a punishment for such disobedience as this; would you crown Israel’s guilt by breaking the sabbath?
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	13	19	When the sabbath came, and the traffic of the market-place had died away, and the gates were shut, I gave orders that they should not be opened till the sabbath was over; I set a guard there, too, of my own men, to make sure that no load came in that day.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	13	20	That week and the next, the merchants waited beyond Jerusalem walls and did all their trading there;
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	13	21	but that would not serve; I warned them not to loiter about the walls, and threatened to use force if they did the like again; so there was no more trafficking on the sabbath.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	13	22	Meanwhile, I bade the Levites rid themselves of defilement and keep watch over the gates, for the better hallowing of the sabbath day. For this too, O my God, let me not go unremembered; as thou art rich in mercy, grant me pardon still.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	13	23	Even now I found men of Juda that had married wives from Azotus, or Ammon, or Moab,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	13	24	with children that spoke half in the Philistine dialect, not like true Jews; they would use the speech first of one race and then of another.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	13	25	I remonstrated with such men, and called down a curse on them; with some I came to blows, and plucked the hair from their heads. Then I made them take an oath in God’s name; there should be no more alien sons-in-law, or daughters-in-law, or wives. Why, I said,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	13	26	was not this king Solomon’s undoing? Here was a man that had not his like on earth, the favourite of his God, that gave him all Israel for his kingdom; yet such a man alien women could bend to sinful ways.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	13	27	Here is heinous rebellion, and great despite done to our God, if we take wives of another race, as Solomon did.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	13	28	Eliasib himself, the high priest, had a grandson, one of the sons of Joiada, that had married a daughter of Sanaballat the Horonite; of his company I soon rid myself.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	13	29	Not unremembered, O Lord my God, be their profanation of the priesthood, unworthy sons of Aaron and of Levi both.
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	13	30	Thus it was mine to rid Israel of the alien-born, to marshal priests and Levites for their due service,
 2 Esdras	Neh	16	13	31	to plan the offering of wood at appointed times, and of the first-fruits. Not unremembered, my God, be all this, not unrewarded.
 Tobias	Tob	17	1	1	There was a man of Nephthali dwelling in the city of that name, which lies in the hill-country of Galilee, beyond Naasson, by the road leading westwards with Sephet on the left of it. His name was Tobias;
 Tobias	Tob	17	1	2	and when he was carried off as a prisoner by the Assyrians under king Salmanasar, he would not make his exile an excuse for deserting true religion.
 Tobias	Tob	17	1	3	Every day he would share whatever means he had with his fellow-captives, that were men of his own clan.
 Tobias	Tob	17	1	4	Even when he was a boy, and was of least regard among the men of Nephthali, no boyish levity did his acts display.
 Tobias	Tob	17	1	5	While the rest had recourse to the golden calves Jeroboam had set up when he reigned in Israel, Tobias shunned their company and went his own way;
 Tobias	Tob	17	1	6	went up to Jerusalem to the Lord’s temple, and worshipped the Lord that was God of Israel. First-fruit and tithe he duly offered,
 Tobias	Tob	17	1	7	and every third year he tithed his goods afresh, for the needs of wanderers and homeless folk.
 Tobias	Tob	17	1	8	By such acts as these he shewed, even in boyhood, what loyalty he had for the law of God;
 Tobias	Tob	17	1	9	when he grew up it was a maiden of his own tribe, called Anna, that he wedded, and their son, called by his father’s name,
 Tobias	Tob	17	1	10	was brought up to fear God and keep clear of every fault.
 Tobias	Tob	17	1	11	Such was he, when, like all his tribe, he was carried away, with his wife and his son, to Nineve.
 Tobias	Tob	17	1	12	All the rest might share the food of the Gentiles, he would not lose his innocence, he would not defile himself by eating what the law forbade.
 Tobias	Tob	17	1	13	And God, finding his heart so loyal to the divine commands, won him favour with king Salmanasar.
 Tobias	Tob	17	1	14	From this king he had leave to go where he would, and spend his time as he would;
 Tobias	Tob	17	1	15	so he made a round of all his fellow-exiles, giving them such good counsel as might avail them.
 Tobias	Tob	17	1	16	Once he was at a Median city called Rages, and had with him ten talents of silver, a gift from the king’s bounty.
 Tobias	Tob	17	1	17	To what use should he put it? He found there a fellow-tribesman of his own, called Gabelus, who was in great need; to him, then, he lent the aforesaid silver under a bond.
 Tobias	Tob	17	1	18	Time passed; Salmanasar died, and the throne passed to his son Sennacherib, who was no friend to the Jews;
 Tobias	Tob	17	1	19	and now it was Tobias’ daily task to visit his own clansmen, comforting them and providing for each of them as best he could, out of what store he had;
 Tobias	Tob	17	1	20	it was for him to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to honour with careful burial men that had died of sickness, and men slain.
 Tobias	Tob	17	1	21	When Sennacherib came home from Judaea, escaping while he might from the divine vengeance his blasphemies had brought upon him, he killed many an Israelite in his anger; and these too Tobias would bury.
 Tobias	Tob	17	1	22	When this came to the king’s ears, he gave orders that Tobias should be put to death, and seized all his property;
 Tobias	Tob	17	1	23	but he escaped, with his wife and son, into safe hiding; destitute as he was, he had many friends.
 Tobias	Tob	17	1	24	And then, forty-five days later, Sennacherib was murdered by his own sons,
 Tobias	Tob	17	1	25	whereupon Tobias came back home, and had all his goods restored to him.
 Tobias	Tob	17	2	1	Soon after this, one of the Lord’s feast-days came round, and Tobias, his table richly spread,
 Tobias	Tob	17	2	2	would have his son go out and invite fellow-tribesmen and fellow-worshippers of theirs, to share the banquet.
 Tobias	Tob	17	2	3	Go out he did, but came back bearing ill news; he had found an Israelite lying murdered in the open street. His father, without more ado, sprang up from where he sat, leaving his dinner untasted; he would not break his fast till he had found the body,
 Tobias	Tob	17	2	4	wrapped it about and carried it home with him, to bury it in secret when night fell.
 Tobias	Tob	17	2	5	A sad and anxious meal was his, with such a guest hidden under his roof;
 Tobias	Tob	17	2	6	he remembered those words the Lord had put into the mouth of Amos, Your feast-days shall end in lamentation and sad thoughts.
 Tobias	Tob	17	2	7	Night fell at last, and the body was buried in safety;
 Tobias	Tob	17	2	8	but his neighbours shook their heads over it, Here was sentence of death passed on thee for such doings of thine; from that sentence thou wast barely reprieved, and art thou back at thy grave-digging?
 Tobias	Tob	17	2	9	But still Tobias feared God much, and the king little; still the bodies of murdered men were stolen away, hidden in his house, and at dead of night buried.
 Tobias	Tob	17	2	10	But toil brought weariness, and one morning, when he came home, he threw himself down in the shadow of the wall, and quickly fell asleep.
 Tobias	Tob	17	2	11	As he slept, warm droppings from a swallow’s nest fell into his eyes, and he became blind.
 Tobias	Tob	17	2	12	This was but a trial which the Lord allowed to befall him, so that he might leave to later ages, as God’s servant Job did, a document of patience.
 Tobias	Tob	17	2	13	Here was a man that had feared God and obeyed his commandments from infancy; he was smitten with blindness; did he thereupon complain, God was using him ill?
 Tobias	Tob	17	2	14	No, he remained as stout-hearted a worshipper of God as before, and never a day passed but he returned thanks for the gift of life.
 Tobias	Tob	17	2	15	Kinsman and clansman might taunt him, as Job was taunted by his fellow chieftains; might call him a fool for his pains,
 Tobias	Tob	17	2	16	and ask whether this was the reward he had hoped for when he gave alms, and went a-burying;
 Tobias	Tob	17	2	17	Tobias took them up short. Nay, said he, never talk thus;
 Tobias	Tob	17	2	18	we come of holy stock, you and I, and God has life waiting for us if we will but keep faith with him.
 Tobias	Tob	17	2	19	His wife Anna went every day to work at the loom, bringing home what earnings she could;
 Tobias	Tob	17	2	20	and one day it was a kid that was given her for her wages. When she brought this home,
 Tobias	Tob	17	2	21	and its bleating reached her husband’s ears, he made great ado for fear it had been stolen; Nay, he said, this must be restored to its owner; never shall it be said that we ate stolen food, or soiled our hands with theft!
 Tobias	Tob	17	2	22	Fine talk, said she, but the like hopes have played thee false already; what hast thou to shew, now, for all thy almsgiving?
 Tobias	Tob	17	2	23	With such taunts as these even his wife assailed him.
 Tobias	Tob	17	3	1	So at last Tobias fell a-sighing, and he prayed still, but wept as he prayed.
 Tobias	Tob	17	3	2	Lord, he said, thou hast right on thy side; no award of thine but is deserved, no act of thine but tells of mercy, of faithfulness, and of justice.
 Tobias	Tob	17	3	3	Yet bethink thee, Lord, of my case; leave my sins unpunished, my guilt, and the guilt of my parents, forgotten.
 Tobias	Tob	17	3	4	If we are doomed to loss, to banishment and to death, if thou hast made us a by-word and a laughing-stock in all the countries to which thou hast banished us, it is because we have defied thy commandments;
 Tobias	Tob	17	3	5	it was fitting punishment, Lord, for the men who neglected thy bidding, and were half-hearted followers of thine.
 Tobias	Tob	17	3	6	And now, Lord, do with me as thy will is, give the word, and take my spirit to thyself in peace; for me, death is more welcome than life.
 Tobias	Tob	17	3	7	Now turn we to Rages, a city in Media, and another soul that must undergo taunts on this same day, Sara, the daughter of Raguel. It was one of her father’s maid-servants that taunted her;
 Tobias	Tob	17	3	8	and the ground of it was that she had been married seven times, but each of her husbands in turn had been killed, at the time of his bedding with her, by an evil spirit that was named Asmodaeus.
 Tobias	Tob	17	3	9	This maid, then, upon being reproved for some fault, had answered, God send we never see son or daughter of thine brought to light! Murderess, where are those husbands of thine?
 Tobias	Tob	17	3	10	Wouldst thou make as short work with me as thou didst with those seven? At that, Sara withdrew to an upper room of the house, and for three days and nights would neither eat nor drink;
 Tobias	Tob	17	3	11	all this time she spent in prayer, begging with tears that God would free her of the suspicion.
 Tobias	Tob	17	3	12	And at last on the third day, her time of prayer ended, she blessed the name of the Lord after this fashion:
 Tobias	Tob	17	3	13	Blessed is thy name, O God of our fathers, who, though thy anger be roused, shewest mercy still, who dost pardon the sinner that cries out to thee in time of need!
 Tobias	Tob	17	3	14	To thee, Lord, I turn; on thee my eyes are fixed;
 Tobias	Tob	17	3	15	and, Lord, my prayer is that thou wouldst either rid me of this clogging suspicion, or else take me away from earth.
 Tobias	Tob	17	3	16	Thou, Lord, canst bear me witness that I lusted never after man; still have I guarded my soul from shameful desire,
 Tobias	Tob	17	3	17	nor kept company with the wanton, nor cast in my lot with the lovers of dalliance.
 Tobias	Tob	17	3	18	If I consented to take a husband, law of thine was my rule, not lust of mine.
 Tobias	Tob	17	3	19	It seems I was unworthy of these men’s love, or perhaps they of mine; it may be thou wast reserving me for another husband;
 Tobias	Tob	17	3	20	thy designs are beyond our human reach.
 Tobias	Tob	17	3	21	But this at least all thy true worshippers know; never was a life of trials but had its crown; never distress from which thou couldst not save; never punishment but left a gateway to thy mercy.
 Tobias	Tob	17	3	22	Not thine to plot eagerly for our undoing; the storm passes, and thou grantest clear weather again; tears and sighs are over, and thou fillest the cup with rejoicing;
 Tobias	Tob	17	3	23	blessed be thy name, God of Israel, for ever!
 Tobias	Tob	17	3	24	Two prayers that day reached the bright presence of the most high God;
 Tobias	Tob	17	3	25	and Raphael, one of the Lord’s holy angels, was sent out, bearing common deliverance to the suppliants of a single hour.
 Tobias	Tob	17	4	1	And now, thinking that his prayer for death was to be granted, the elder Tobias called his son to him
 Tobias	Tob	17	4	2	and gave him a charge; Let these rules of mine, said he, be the frame-work of thy life, my son.
 Tobias	Tob	17	4	3	When God takes my soul to himself, give this body of mine burial, and give thy mother her due while her life lasts;
 Tobias	Tob	17	4	4	do not forget what hazard she underwent to bear thee in her womb;
 Tobias	Tob	17	4	5	and when she, too, has lived out her allotted span of years, bury her at my side.
 Tobias	Tob	17	4	6	And do thou, while thou hast life, think ever upon God, nor lend thyself to any sinful design, nor leave the commandments of the Lord our God unfulfilled.
 Tobias	Tob	17	4	7	Use thy wealth in giving of alms; never turn thy back on any man who is in need, and the Lord, in thy own need, will have eyes for thee.
 Tobias	Tob	17	4	8	Shew to others what kindness thy means allow,
 Tobias	Tob	17	4	9	giving much, if much is thine, if thou hast little, cheerfully sharing that little.
 Tobias	Tob	17	4	10	To do this is but to lay up a store against the day of distress;
 Tobias	Tob	17	4	11	alms-deeds were ever a sovereign way of escape from guilt and death, a bar against the soul’s passage into darkness;
 Tobias	Tob	17	4	12	none has less to fear when he stands before the most high God than he who does them.
 Tobias	Tob	17	4	13	Keep clear, my son, of fornication; save for thy wife, never let woman’s name be linked with thine.
 Tobias	Tob	17	4	14	In thought and word of thine, pride must never bear rule; thence it was all our undoing came.
 Tobias	Tob	17	4	15	There and then pay thy workman his wages; do not let the hire he has earned remain in thy keeping;
 Tobias	Tob	17	4	16	never use another as thou wert loth thyself to be used.
 Tobias	Tob	17	4	17	Share thy bread with the hungry and the poor; in thy garments let the naked go clad.
 Tobias	Tob	17	4	18	Bestow thy meat and thy drink upon a just man’s burying, never share them with sinners.
 Tobias	Tob	17	4	19	Still take a wise man’s counsel over thy doings;
 Tobias	Tob	17	4	20	but praise God all the while, and ask him to guide thy paths aright; let all thy designs repose in him.
 Tobias	Tob	17	4	21	This too I would have thee know, my son, that long since, when thou wert but a child, I lent ten talents of silver to a citizen of Rages in Media, called Gabelus, and I have his bond still.
 Tobias	Tob	17	4	22	Do thou find means to reach his home, and so recover from him the sum I speak of, in return for his bond.
 Tobias	Tob	17	4	23	Never lose heart, my son, though we lead, thou and I, the life poor men lead. Fear we but God, shun guilt, and do the good we can, blessings shall be ours in abundance.
 Tobias	Tob	17	5	1	Father, answered the young Tobias, I will do all thy bidding;
 Tobias	Tob	17	5	2	but as for recovering the money, I have little hope. Here is one who is a stranger to me, and I to him; what proof can I bring forward? Meanwhile, I must find my way to Rages, and of that I have no experience.
 Tobias	Tob	17	5	3	Nay, said his father, I have the man’s bond here; do but shew him that, and he will restore the money without more ado.
 Tobias	Tob	17	5	4	Up then, and find some man of credit, that will go with thee upon condition of a due reward; must I die before thou bring the money back to me?
 Tobias	Tob	17	5	5	With that, his son went out, and at the door stood a young man of noble mien, all girt about, as if he were ready for a journey.
 Tobias	Tob	17	5	6	Little he knew that this was an angel of God, as he gave him welcome; Fair sir, he asked, whence comest thou?
 Tobias	Tob	17	5	7	And on hearing that he had been among the men of Israel, Why then, said he, thou knowest the road from here to Media?
 Tobias	Tob	17	5	8	I know it well, he answered; no step of it but I have marched often enough, when I would visit a fellow-countryman of ours who lives there; one Gabelus. The city where he dwells, Rages, is in Media, in the hill-country about Ecbatana.
 Tobias	Tob	17	5	9	Wait for me here, Tobias asked of him, while I give my father news of this.
 Tobias	Tob	17	5	10	Then he went back, and told the story to his father, who was all astonishment, and would have the stranger brought in.
 Tobias	Tob	17	5	11	So in he came, and wished him abiding happiness.
 Tobias	Tob	17	5	12	Happiness! Tobias said; little happiness for me, that sit here in the dark, and see never the light of day!
 Tobias	Tob	17	5	13	Take courage, the stranger said, God means thy soon recovery.
 Tobias	Tob	17	5	14	Then Tobias asked, Wilt thou take my son with thee, and guide him to Media, to Rages, and so to the house of Gabelus? There shall be a reward awaiting thee on thy return.
 Tobias	Tob	17	5	15	I will take him there, said the angel, and bring him home again besides.
 Tobias	Tob	17	5	16	Then Tobias would know of what household or tribe he came.
 Tobias	Tob	17	5	17	It was indeed no other than the angel Raphael that spoke to him; What, he answered, is it my lineage, not myself, thou wouldst have for thy son’s escort?
 Tobias	Tob	17	5	18	But set thy mind at rest; my name is Azarias, and a man of renown, Ananias, was my father.
 Tobias	Tob	17	5	19	Forgive me, Tobias said, for doubting thy lineage; thou comest of good stock indeed.
 Tobias	Tob	17	5	20	Raphael, then, promised to conduct the boy safely and bring him safely home,
 Tobias	Tob	17	5	21	and Tobias bade them good speed; God be with you, said he, on your journey, and may his angel bear you company!
 Tobias	Tob	17	5	22	Then, when his pack was ready, the young Tobias bade his father and mother farewell, and the travellers set out together.
 Tobias	Tob	17	5	23	Now that the boy had gone, his mother fell a-weeping; Here was the only support of our old age, said she, why hast thou passed him on into other hands?
 Tobias	Tob	17	5	24	Would to God the money thou hast sent him to claim had never been thine!
 Tobias	Tob	17	5	25	We were content in our poverty; the very sight of the lad was riches enough.
 Tobias	Tob	17	5	26	Dry thy tears, Tobias answered; safe will he fare, this son of ours, and safe return; those eyes shall have sight of him again.
 Tobias	Tob	17	5	27	I hold it for truth that some good angel of the Lord escorts him, to see that all goes well with him and grant him happy return.
 Tobias	Tob	17	5	28	Thus comforted, the mother dried her tears and complained no more.
 Tobias	Tob	17	6	1	Tobias, meanwhile, was on the march, with his dog at his heels; they did not make their first halt until they reached the river Tigris.
 Tobias	Tob	17	6	2	And when he went down to wash the dust from his feet, up came a monstrous fish as if it would have devoured him.
 Tobias	Tob	17	6	3	At this, he cried out in an extreme of fear, Help, sir; he means mischief.
 Tobias	Tob	17	6	4	But the angel bade him catch it by the gill and pull it towards him; so catch it he did, and brought it out on to the dry land, where it lay struggling at his feet.
 Tobias	Tob	17	6	5	This fish, the angel told him, is worth the bowelling; heart and gall and liver of it thou must keep by thee, sovereign remedies all.
 Tobias	Tob	17	6	6	This done, he roasted part of the meat, which they ate on their journey, and salted the rest, to serve them for provisions till they should reach Rages in Media.
 Tobias	Tob	17	6	7	And now Tobias had a question to ask of the angel; Tell me, good Azarias, said he, what healing virtue lies in those parts of the fish I must needs keep by me?
 Tobias	Tob	17	6	8	Its heart, answered he, has this virtue, that if a morsel of it be laid on the coals, the smoke will rid man or woman of the fiend’s harassing, and that for ever.
 Tobias	Tob	17	6	9	As for the gall, it is a sovereign salve for healing eyes that have a white film binding them.
 Tobias	Tob	17	6	10	And for our journey, said Tobias, what is the next stage of that?
 Tobias	Tob	17	6	11	Our host’s name is Raguel, the angel told him, a tribesman and a kinsman of thy own. He has a daughter called Sara, and neither chick nor child besides.
 Tobias	Tob	17	6	12	Of all he possesses thou mayest be heir, if thou wilt claim his daughter’s hand in marriage;
 Tobias	Tob	17	6	13	thou hast but to ask him, and she is thine.
 Tobias	Tob	17	6	14	I hear stories told of this maid, Tobias answered; how she has been betrothed seven times, and to every bridegroom it brought death; how it was a fiend, if the tale be true, that made away with them.
 Tobias	Tob	17	6	15	If the like befall me too, it would go hard with those parents of mine; I am all the children they have, they are old now, and this were to give them a cheerless passage to the grave.
 Tobias	Tob	17	6	16	Heed me well, answered Raphael, and thou shalt hear why the fiend has power to hurt some and not others.
 Tobias	Tob	17	6	17	The fiend has power over such as go about their marrying with all thought of God shut out of their hearts and minds, wholly intent on their lust, as if they were horse or mule, brutes without reason.
 Tobias	Tob	17	6	18	Not such be thy mating, when thou hast won thy bride. For three days deny thyself her favours, and the time you spend together, spend all in prayer.
 Tobias	Tob	17	6	19	The first night, burn the liver of yonder fish, and therewith the fiend shall be driven away.
 Tobias	Tob	17	6	20	On the second night, union thou shalt have, but with the company of the holy patriarchs.
 Tobias	Tob	17	6	21	The third night, thy prayer shall win thee a blessing, of children safely born to thee and to her.
 Tobias	Tob	17	6	22	Then, when the third night is past, take the maid to thyself with the fear of the Lord upon thee, moved rather by the hope of begetting children than by any lust of thine. So, in the true line of Abraham, thou shalt have joy of thy fatherhood.
 Tobias	Tob	17	7	1	To Raguel, then, they went, and right gladly he welcomed them;
 Tobias	Tob	17	7	2	he no sooner caught sight of Tobias than he said to his wife Anna, Here is a young man has the very look of my cousin Tobias!
 Tobias	Tob	17	7	3	Then he asked them, Whence come you, fellow-countrymen?
 Tobias	Tob	17	7	4	And, upon hearing that they were of Nephthali’s tribe, exiles dwelling at Nineve,
 Tobias	Tob	17	7	5	Do you know my cousin, Tobias? Yes, they said, we know him well.
 Tobias	Tob	17	7	6	With that, Raguel fell to singing his cousin’s praises, but the angel cut him short: Thou dost well to ask about Tobias; this is his son.
 Tobias	Tob	17	7	7	Thereupon Raguel threw his arms about him, and wept, and kissed him, and wept again; A blessing on thee, my son, cried he; ‘tis a good man, a good excellent man, thou hast for thy father!
 Tobias	Tob	17	7	8	And there stood his wife Anna, and their daughter Sara, in tears like himself.
 Tobias	Tob	17	7	9	When they had spent some time in talk, Raguel would have a ram killed, and a feast made. But it was in vain he urged them to fall to;
 Tobias	Tob	17	7	10	Neither eat nor drink will I in this house, Tobias said, until thou dost grant a request of mine. And my request is for the hand of thy daughter Sara in marriage.
 Tobias	Tob	17	7	11	Upon hearing this, Raguel was much taken aback; he had not forgotten what befell those other seven men that went near her bed; and the fear assailed him, What if this one fares no better? But while he hummed and hawed over his answer,
 Tobias	Tob	17	7	12	the angel said, Do not be afraid to give him thy daughter’s hand; for his pious care she was destined, that is why those other wooers could not gain their suit.
 Tobias	Tob	17	7	13	Why then, answered Raguel, all those prayers and sighs of mine were not wasted; God has granted them audience;
 Tobias	Tob	17	7	14	and I doubt not his design in bringing you here was to have my daughter matched with one of her own kin, as the law of Moses bade. Then he said to Tobias, Have no fear, she is thine.
 Tobias	Tob	17	7	15	And so, taking his daughter’s right hand and putting it into the right hand of Tobias, he gave them his blessing: May the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob be with you and himself join you in one, and fulfil his merciful purpose in you.
 Tobias	Tob	17	7	16	So they took paper, and signed a contract of marriage;
 Tobias	Tob	17	7	17	then they sat down to their feasting, and gave thanks to God.
 Tobias	Tob	17	7	18	Meanwhile Raguel called Anna aside, and bade her have a fresh room in readiness.
 Tobias	Tob	17	7	19	Into this she brought her daughter Sara, weeping as she did so;
 Tobias	Tob	17	7	20	then she said, Do not lose heart, daughter; thou hast had sadness enough; may the Lord of heaven give thee gladness in exchange.
 Tobias	Tob	17	8	1	When the feasting was over, bridegroom was led to bride-chamber.
 Tobias	Tob	17	8	2	And now, remembering what the angel had said, he took out from his wallet a piece of the fish’s liver, which he burnt on live coals.
 Tobias	Tob	17	8	3	With that, the evil spirit fled; it was overtaken by the angel Raphael in the waste lands of Upper Egypt, and there held prisoner.
 Tobias	Tob	17	8	4	Next, Tobias must plead with his bride; Leave thy bed, Sara; today, and to-morrow, and the day after, let us pray God for mercy. These three nights are set apart for our union with God; when the third is over, we will be joined in one, thou and I.
 Tobias	Tob	17	8	5	We come of holy lineage; not for us to mate blindly, like the heathen that have no knowledge of God.
 Tobias	Tob	17	8	6	Side by side they kept vigil, and prayed together that no plague should mar their mating.
 Tobias	Tob	17	8	7	Lord God of our fathers, Tobias said, praise be to thee from heaven and earth, from seas and fountains and rivers, and from all creatures of thine that make in these their homes!
 Tobias	Tob	17	8	8	When Adam was made of earth’s clay, it was by thy hand; when Eve was sent to cheer him, it was of thy gift.
 Tobias	Tob	17	8	9	Thou, Lord, art my witness that I wed this sister of mine not from love of dalliance; only in the dear hope of leaving a race behind me, a race in whose destiny, Lord, may thy name be ever blessed!
 Tobias	Tob	17	8	10	And thus Sara prayed, Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy on us; safe from all harm grow we old together, he and I!
 Tobias	Tob	17	8	11	And now it was cock-crow, and Raguel had all his men out betimes to help him dig the grave;
 Tobias	Tob	17	8	12	Like enough, thought he, this one will have fared no better than the other seven that took her to wife.
 Tobias	Tob	17	8	13	Their digging done, he went back to his wife, and bade her
 Tobias	Tob	17	8	14	send one of her maids to find out if Tobias were dead; it were best to have him in his grave before the sun was up.
 Tobias	Tob	17	8	15	So the maid went on her errand, and ventured into the bride-chamber, where both lay asleep together, safe and sound.
 Tobias	Tob	17	8	16	When she returned with that good news, Raguel and Anna fell to praising the Lord;
 Tobias	Tob	17	8	17	God of Israel, said they, we thank thee that our fears were vain!
 Tobias	Tob	17	8	18	Great mercy hast thou shewn us, in ridding us of the fiend’s pursuit;
 Tobias	Tob	17	8	19	great mercy hast thou shewn on these two, Tobias’ only child and ours. Ever may their hearts, Lord, swell with thankfulness, ever may these lives thou hast preserved be a sacrifice of praise to thee, till all the Gentiles around them know thee for the only God that rules on earth!
 Tobias	Tob	17	8	20	With that, Raguel bade his men fill up the newly dug grave before sunrise;
 Tobias	Tob	17	8	21	bade his wife spread a feast, and prepare such food as the travellers needed.
 Tobias	Tob	17	8	22	Two fat heifers and four rams must be slaughtered and a banquet made for all his neighbours and friends.
 Tobias	Tob	17	8	23	And now he was urgent with Tobias to be his guest for two whole weeks;
 Tobias	Tob	17	8	24	half of all his goods he bestowed upon him there and then, while the rest, as he declared in writing, should follow when he and Anna died.
 Tobias	Tob	17	9	1	And now Tobias took the angel aside and, though he still did not guess this was more than man, spoke as follows: Pray bear with this request of mine, friend Azarias.
 Tobias	Tob	17	9	2	No return could I make for all thy watchful care of me, though I should dedicate myself to be thy slave.
 Tobias	Tob	17	9	3	Instead of that, I am still asking thee for a favour; that thou wouldst journey on to Rages in Media, with what beasts, what retinue thou wilt, and seek out Gabelus there. Give him back his bond, recover the debt, and bid him to my wedding-feast.
 Tobias	Tob	17	9	4	Thou canst guess how my father is counting the days till my return; no fresh day of my absence but brings with it a fresh sorrow;
 Tobias	Tob	17	9	5	yet thou seest how earnestly Raguel pleads with me to stay on, and that plea I cannot bring myself to refuse.
 Tobias	Tob	17	9	6	So Raphael took with him four of Raguel’s men, and two camels; went to Rages in Media and sought out Gabelus there; gave him the bond, and recovered the debt in full.
 Tobias	Tob	17	9	7	Then he recounted to him the younger Tobias’ history, and brought him back to take part in the wedding-feast.
 Tobias	Tob	17	9	8	Tobias, who was sitting at table when Gabelus entered the house, sprang up to welcome him; and when they had embraced, Gabelus wept, and praised God for their meeting.
 Tobias	Tob	17	9	9	The God of Israel bless thee, he cried, for the son of an excellent honest man, his true worshipper, and a great giver of alms!
 Tobias	Tob	17	9	10	May the name of this thy bride, the names of her parents and thine, be used for an example of blessedness!
 Tobias	Tob	17	9	11	May you live to see sons of yours, and sons of theirs again, and a fourth generation to succeed the third! May your posterity win a blessing from the God of Israel, that reigns everlastingly!
 Tobias	Tob	17	9	12	All said Amen to that, and so they fell to and feasted; yet was there no merry-making over this wedding but such as became God’s worshippers.
 Tobias	Tob	17	10	1	While the younger Tobias lingered thus over his marriage, his father fell into an extreme of anxiety. What means this long delay on my son’s part? he asked. What has detained him?
 Tobias	Tob	17	10	2	Can it be that Gabelus is dead, and there is no recovering the debt?
 Tobias	Tob	17	10	3	Great lament he made, and his wife Anna with him, and fast fell the tears of both, that the appointed day was over and their son not yet returned.
 Tobias	Tob	17	10	4	The mother’s grief there was no consoling; My son, my son, she cried, why did we ever let thee go on thy travels? The light of our eyes, the support of our old age, our comfort in life, our hope of posterity when we are gone;
 Tobias	Tob	17	10	5	all this thou wert, and thou alone; how could we let thee leave our sight?
 Tobias	Tob	17	10	6	All in vain did Tobias try to comfort her, with, Peace, woman; never disquiet thyself; there is nought amiss with our son; it was a trusty companion we sent with him.
 Tobias	Tob	17	10	7	Comfort she would have none; no day passed but she would rise from her place and view the landscape all about, or roam the streets, hoping she might get some rumour, some distant glimpse of his return.
 Tobias	Tob	17	10	8	Meanwhile, Raguel was pressing his son-in-law to stay on; I will send a message to thy father, said he, to assure him of thy safety.
 Tobias	Tob	17	10	9	But Tobias would have none of it; No question, said he, but my father and mother are counting the days, and tormenting their hearts over me.
 Tobias	Tob	17	10	10	Still Raguel plied him with entreaties, and still could not win his consent. So at last he gave Sara into Tobias’ keeping, and with her half his goods, men and maid servants, sheep and camels and cows, and of money a great sum, and let him go his way, safe and content.
 Tobias	Tob	17	10	11	The Lord’s holy angel, said he, go with you on your journey, and bring you home without scathe, to find that all is well, Tobias and Anna both. And may my life be spared to see children born of you.
 Tobias	Tob	17	10	12	So Raguel and Anna embraced their daughter, and kissed her, and set her on her way,
 Tobias	Tob	17	10	13	full of good counsel to the last; how she was to give father-in-law and mother-in-law their due, love her husband, be mistress in her own house, order it well, and prove herself the perfection of a woman.
 Tobias	Tob	17	11	1	On the eleventh day of their homeward journey, they halted in the middle of it at a place that looks out towards Nineve (called Charan).
 Tobias	Tob	17	11	2	And here the angel said, Friend Tobias, remember how eagerly thy father awaits thee.
 Tobias	Tob	17	11	3	How sayest thou? Should not we two hurry on together, and leave thy wife to follow at leisure with the servants and the beasts?
 Tobias	Tob	17	11	4	When this was agreed upon, he bade Tobias take some of the fish’s gall with him, for he would need it; take it he did, and they set out together.
 Tobias	Tob	17	11	5	There sat Anna, where she sat every day, on the brow of the hill, whence she could scan the country far and wide.
 Tobias	Tob	17	11	6	From that seat of hers she saw them coming, a long distance away, and knew at once it was her son that came. Back home she ran, and told her husband, Thy son! He is coming!
 Tobias	Tob	17	11	7	Thy home once reached, Raphael said to Tobias, pay worship to the Lord thy God first, and return thanks to him. Then go up to thy father, and embrace him,
 Tobias	Tob	17	11	8	and rub on his eyes, without more ado, some of the fish’s gall thou hast with thee. I promise thee it will not be long before his eyes are opened; once more he will look on the light of day, and have a father’s joy at the sight of thee.
 Tobias	Tob	17	11	9	Yet he was not to reach the house first. The dog that had accompanied him on his travels ran on before him, heralding the good news with the caress of his wagging tail.
 Tobias	Tob	17	11	10	Up sprang the father, blind though he were, and made for the door, running and stumbling as he ran. A servant must take him by the hand before he could go out to meet his son;
 Tobias	Tob	17	11	11	but meet him he did, embraced and kissed him, and his wife too must embrace the boy and kiss him, and then they both wept over him; but they were tears of joy.
 Tobias	Tob	17	11	12	So they paid God worship, and gave him thanks, and sat down together.
 Tobias	Tob	17	11	13	Then it was that Tobias took out the fish’s gall, and rubbed it on his father’s eyes.
 Tobias	Tob	17	11	14	He waited, maybe, for half an hour, and then a white film, like the white of an egg, began to separate itself from the eyes;
 Tobias	Tob	17	11	15	he took hold of this and pulled it away, and immediately his father’s sight was restored.
 Tobias	Tob	17	11	16	How they praised God, he and his wife and all who knew them!
 Tobias	Tob	17	11	17	I thank thee, Lord God of Israel, the old man cried; from thee my chastisement, from thee my deliverance came; I thank thee for eyes that see, and eyes that see Tobias, my son!
 Tobias	Tob	17	11	18	It was a week before his daughter-in-law Sara reached Nineve, with all her retinue safe and sound; the farm stock, too, she brought with her, and the camels, and all the money she was dowered with, besides the sum paid over by Gabelus.
 Tobias	Tob	17	11	19	Meanwhile, her husband told his parents the whole story; all the mercies God had shewn him through the man that was his guide.
 Tobias	Tob	17	11	20	Tobias’ cousins, Achior and Nabath, came with glad hearts to congratulate him over the blessings he had received;
 Tobias	Tob	17	11	21	and for a whole week they all kept high festival, and rejoiced together.
 Tobias	Tob	17	12	1	And now Tobias took his son aside and asked him, What payment shall we make to this heaven-sent companion of thine?
 Tobias	Tob	17	12	2	Payment? answered he; why, what reward can ever suffice for all the services he did me?
 Tobias	Tob	17	12	3	He it was that escorted me safely, going and coming; recovered the debt from Gabelus; won me my bride; rid her of the fiend’s attack; engaged the gratitude of her parents; rescued me from the fish’s onslaught; and to thee restored the light of day. Through him, we have been loaded with benefits; is it possible to make any return for all these?
 Tobias	Tob	17	12	4	Do this, father, at least; ask him to accept half of all the wealth that has come to us.
 Tobias	Tob	17	12	5	So both of them, father and son, beckoned him aside, and would have prevailed on him to accept half of their new-found wealth.
 Tobias	Tob	17	12	6	But he, with a finger on his lip, bade them give their thanks to the God of heaven. To him, he said, offer your praises for all men to hear; he it is that has shewn mercy to you.
 Tobias	Tob	17	12	7	Kings have their counsel that must be kept secret; God’s ways are open, and he honours them best who proclaims them openly.
 Tobias	Tob	17	12	8	Prayer, fasting, and alms, said he, here is better treasure to lay up than any store of gold.
 Tobias	Tob	17	12	9	Almsgiving is death’s avoiding, is guilt’s atoning, is the winning of mercy and of life eternal;
 Tobias	Tob	17	12	10	the sinners, the wrong-doers, are enemies to their own souls.
 Tobias	Tob	17	12	11	Come, let me tell you the whole truth of the matter, bring the hidden purpose of it to light.
 Tobias	Tob	17	12	12	When thou, Tobias, wert praying, and with tears, when thou wert burying the dead, leaving thy dinner untasted, so as to hide them all day in thy house, and at night give them funeral, I, all the while, was offering that prayer of thine to the Lord.
 Tobias	Tob	17	12	13	Then, because thou hadst won his favour, needs must that trials should come, and test thy worth.
 Tobias	Tob	17	12	14	And now, for thy healing, for the deliverance of thy son’s wife Sara from the fiend’s attack, he has chosen me for his messenger.
 Tobias	Tob	17	12	15	Who am I? I am the angel Raphael, and my place is among those seven who stand in the presence of the Lord.
 Tobias	Tob	17	12	16	Upon hearing this, they were both mazed with terror, and fell down trembling, face to earth.
 Tobias	Tob	17	12	17	Peace be with you, the angel said; do not be afraid.
 Tobias	Tob	17	12	18	It was God’s will, not mine, brought me to your side; to him pay the thanks and praise you owe.
 Tobias	Tob	17	12	19	I was at your side, eating and drinking, but only in outward show; the food, the drink I live by, man’s eyes cannot see.
 Tobias	Tob	17	12	20	And now the time has come when I must go back to him who sent me; give thanks to God, and tell the story of his great deeds.
 Tobias	Tob	17	12	21	With that, he was caught away from their eyes, and no more might they see of him.
 Tobias	Tob	17	12	22	For three hours together, face to earth, they gave thanks to God; and when they rose up, it was to tell the story of all these marvels.
 Tobias	Tob	17	13	1	It was thus, when he found utterance, that the elder Tobias sang praise to the Lord: Great is thy name, Lord, for ever; thy kingdom cannot fail.
 Tobias	Tob	17	13	2	Thine to scourge, thine to pity; thou dost bring men to the grave and back from the grave; from thy power there is no deliverance.
 Tobias	Tob	17	13	3	Sons of Israel, make his name known, publish it for all the Gentiles to hear;
 Tobias	Tob	17	13	4	if he has dispersed you among heathen folk who know nothing of him, it was so that you might tell them the story of his great deeds, convince them that he, and no other, is God all-powerful.
 Tobias	Tob	17	13	5	He it is that has scourged us for our sins; he it is that will deliver us in his mercy.
 Tobias	Tob	17	13	6	Look and see how he has dealt with us, and then give thanks to him, but with trembling awe in your hearts; let your own deeds acclaim him, king of all the ages.
 Tobias	Tob	17	13	7	I, at least, in this land of exile, will be the spokesman of his praise, tell the story of his dread dealings with a sinful race.
 Tobias	Tob	17	13	8	Come back, sinners, and do his will; doubt not that he will shew you mercy.
 Tobias	Tob	17	13	9	Here at least, while I live, is a soul that finds content in him.
 Tobias	Tob	17	13	10	Bless the Lord, souls whom the Lord has chosen; keep high festival in his honour.
 Tobias	Tob	17	13	11	Jerusalem, city of God, what divine punishments thy own ill deeds have brought on thee!
 Tobias	Tob	17	13	12	Yet thank the Lord for the blessings that are thine, praise him, the eternal God. So may he rebuild thy dwelling-place, recall thy exiles, give thee joy that shall last for ever.
 Tobias	Tob	17	13	13	Thou shalt yet shine with dazzling brightness, for all the ends of the world to worship thee.
 Tobias	Tob	17	13	14	From far away, nations shall come bringing their gifts, to worship the Lord within those walls of thine; shall reckon thy soil holy ground,
 Tobias	Tob	17	13	15	so great the name they shall invoke within thee.
 Tobias	Tob	17	13	16	Cursed shall they be that despise thee, condemned shall they be that blaspheme thee, blessed shall they be that build thee again.
 Tobias	Tob	17	13	17	What joy wilt thou have of thy children, a blessed race, gathered in the Lord’s fold anew!
 Tobias	Tob	17	13	18	A blessing on all that love thee, on all that welcome thy good news!
 Tobias	Tob	17	13	19	Give thanks, my soul, to the Lord, the Lord our God who has delivered Jerusalem, his own city, from all the afflictions she endured;
 Tobias	Tob	17	13	20	happy I count myself, if any posterity of mine is left to see Jerusalem in her splendour.
 Tobias	Tob	17	13	21	Sapphire and emerald Jerusalem’s gates shall be, of precious stones the wall that rings her round;
 Tobias	Tob	17	13	22	shining white and clean the pavement of her streets; no quarter of her but shall echo the Alleluia-chant of praise.
 Tobias	Tob	17	13	23	Blessed be the Lord, that has set her on the heights; may he reign there for ever, reign for ever as her king. Amen.
 Tobias	Tob	17	14	1	Such was the song of Tobias. He lived forty-two years after recovering his sight, lived to see his great-grandchildren;
 Tobias	Tob	17	14	2	then, dying at the age of a hundred and two, he was buried with due honour in the town of Nineve.
 Tobias	Tob	17	14	3	He lost his sight at the age of fifty-six, recovered it at the age of sixty,
 Tobias	Tob	17	14	4	and lived out the rest of his life in great content, his course ever untroubled, his conscience ever more tender towards God.
 Tobias	Tob	17	14	5	On his death-bed, he called his seven grandsons to him, with their father Tobias, and spoke thus:
 Tobias	Tob	17	14	6	The Lord’s words must needs come true; it will not be long before Nineve is destroyed. After that, our exiled brethren will be able to return to the land of Israel;
 Tobias	Tob	17	14	7	the deserted country-side will be populous once again, and its temple, long since destroyed by fire, will be built anew, and all those who fear God will find their way back to it.
 Tobias	Tob	17	14	8	Then the Gentiles, too, will forsake their false gods; will betake themselves to Jerusalem, and find a home there;
 Tobias	Tob	17	14	9	all the kings of the earth will take pride in it, as they pay worship to the king who reigns in Israel.
 Tobias	Tob	17	14	10	This, then, my sons, is your father’s testament: Keep true to the Lord’s service, studying ever to carry out his will;
 Tobias	Tob	17	14	11	and hand on this charge to your children, that they should do what the law enjoins and give alms freely, that they should keep God ever in mind, offering him faithful praise at all times, and with all their strength.
 Tobias	Tob	17	14	12	And you, my sons, heed well this warning of mine; do not linger in this country, but leave it as soon as you have laid your mother to rest at my side, to share my grave;
 Tobias	Tob	17	14	13	there is guilt at Nineve, I see well, that must needs bring it to ruin.
 Tobias	Tob	17	14	14	So, when his mother died, Tobias, with his wife, sons and grandsons left Nineve. He betook himself to his wife’s parents instead,
 Tobias	Tob	17	14	15	and found them thriving still, well content in their old age. Tenderly he cared for them, and when they died it was he that closed their eyes in death. Then he became heir to all Raguel possessed, and himself lived to see a fresh generation yet, descendants of his own.
 Tobias	Tob	17	14	16	Ninety-nine years he lived in the fear of God, and with full hearts they buried him.
 Tobias	Tob	17	14	17	No kith or kin of his but persevered in uprightness and holy living; God’s favour they had and man’s alike, well loved by all their neighbours.
 Judith	Jdt	18	1	1	Arphaxad, king of Media, the conqueror of many nations, built a princely city, which he called Ecbatana.
 Judith	Jdt	18	1	2	Of stones cut and squared he built it, with walls seventy cubits thick and thirty cubits high, and towers reaching the height of a hundred cubits. Each of these towers was twenty feet square,
 Judith	Jdt	18	1	3	and at the foot of them he set gates to match their height.
 Judith	Jdt	18	1	4	And he boasted much of his great army, of his fine chariots;
 Judith	Jdt	18	1	5	till at last war was levied upon him by the Assyrian king Nabuchodonosor, then in the twelfth year of his reign, with his capital at Nineve. This Nabuchodonosor defeated him
 Judith	Jdt	18	1	6	in the great plain called Ragua, where Euphrates flows, and Tigris, and Jadason, in the lowland country belonging to Erioch, king of the Elici.
 Judith	Jdt	18	1	7	Thus to Nabuchodonosor in his turn, came power and pride. To distant lands he had sent out his demand for aid; to Cilicia, Damascus, and the Lebanon,
 Judith	Jdt	18	1	8	to Carmel, and Cedar, and Galilee about the wide Esdrelon plain,
 Judith	Jdt	18	1	9	Samaria, and all the country beyond Jordan as far as Jerusalem, and the land of Gessen right up to the borders of Ethiopia.
 Judith	Jdt	18	1	10	And of all the peoples to whom Nabuchodonosor, the Assyrian king, sent out his messengers,
 Judith	Jdt	18	1	11	there was not one but had refused, and sent them away thwarted and despised.
 Judith	Jdt	18	1	12	So now, in anger, Nabuchodonosor swore by his royal throne to avenge himself on these countries, one and all.
 Judith	Jdt	18	2	1	It was on the twenty-second day of the first month, in the thirteenth year of his reign, that this resolve was taken at Nabuchodonosor’s court.
 Judith	Jdt	18	2	2	He summoned all his councillors, chieftains and commanders, and put before them his secret design;
 Judith	Jdt	18	2	3	his thought, he told them, was to bring the whole world under his allegiance.
 Judith	Jdt	18	2	4	With this, all agreed; whereupon he summoned Holofernes, that commanded his forces,
 Judith	Jdt	18	2	5	and said, March out and make war on the western kingdoms, those especially that made light of my summons.
 Judith	Jdt	18	2	6	Nowhere let pity melt thy eye; no fortified town but must be brought under my dominion.
 Judith	Jdt	18	2	7	Thereupon Holofernes summoned all the chieftains and commanders of the Assyrian army, and mustered a force to march out and do the king’s bidding, a hundred and twenty thousand that went on foot, and twelve thousand mounted archers.
 Judith	Jdt	18	2	8	And his baggage-train he sent on beforehand, a long array of camels, well laden with all his army needed, herds of oxen, too, and flocks of sheep, past all counting.
 Judith	Jdt	18	2	9	A supply of corn from the whole of Syria was to meet him as he passed,
 Judith	Jdt	18	2	10	and he had great store of gold and silver from the royal treasury.
 Judith	Jdt	18	2	11	Then he himself set out at the head of his forces, chariots and horsemen and archers and the rest, that swarmed like locusts on the ground.
 Judith	Jdt	18	2	12	Leaving Assyria, he first reached the high mountains of Ange, on the left-hand side of Cilicia, scaling all their fastnesses and reducing all their garrisons.
 Judith	Jdt	18	2	13	Then he broke into the city of Melothi, that resisted him stubbornly, and ravaged all the country which belonged to the sons of Tharsis, and to the Ismaelites, facing the desert, to the south of Cellon.
 Judith	Jdt	18	2	14	Then he crossed Euphrates into Mesopotamia, and stormed every stronghold between the river Mambre and the sea.
 Judith	Jdt	18	2	15	All the land of Mesopotamia he overran, from Cilicia on the north to the frontier of Japheth on the south,
 Judith	Jdt	18	2	16	drove the Madianites from their homes and plundered their goods, putting all who resisted him to the sword.
 Judith	Jdt	18	2	17	And at last he came down on to the plain of Damascus, in harvest time, burnt all the crops there and had all the trees and vineyards cut down.
 Judith	Jdt	18	2	18	And a great dread of him fell upon the whole country-side.
 Judith	Jdt	18	3	1	And now from every city and province, from the Syrians of Mesopotamia and Sobal and from (Libya and) Cilicia, king and chieftain sent envoys to Holofernes.
 Judith	Jdt	18	3	2	Spare us thy further vengeance, they said; better we should live as slaves to the great king Nabuchodonosor, under thy commands, than be reduced by slaughter, undergoing massacre and slavery both.
 Judith	Jdt	18	3	3	Cities and lands, mountain and hill and plain, ox and sheep and goat and horse and camel, all that we have, and our own households too, lie at thy mercy;
 Judith	Jdt	18	3	4	dispose of them all as thou wilt;
 Judith	Jdt	18	3	5	we, and our children with us, are thy slaves.
 Judith	Jdt	18	3	6	Come to us as our master, so thou come to us in peace, and make what use thou wilt of our surrender.
 Judith	Jdt	18	3	7	Then, with his horsemen and all his armed strength, he came down from the hill-country and made city and citizen his own,
 Judith	Jdt	18	3	8	levying from their townships all the bravest men, all the picked warriors, for his own service.
 Judith	Jdt	18	3	9	Such dread of him lay on these provinces, that chiefs and nobles came out from every town, with the common sort at their heels, to meet him,
 Judith	Jdt	18	3	10	welcoming him with crowns and processions by torch-light, dancing in his honour to the music of tambour and flute.
 Judith	Jdt	18	3	11	Yet might they not, even so, win over that relentless heart;
 Judith	Jdt	18	3	12	cities must be razed to the ground, and forest-shrines cut down;
 Judith	Jdt	18	3	13	king Nabuchodonosor had bidden him destroy all traces of the countryside gods, so that the nations overpowered by Holofernes might acknowledge no other god but himself.
 Judith	Jdt	18	3	14	Then, after traversing the Syrian country of Sobal, and Apamea, and Mesopotamia, he reached the Idumæans that dwelt in the land of Gabaa.
 Judith	Jdt	18	3	15	Their cities surrendered to him, and he made a halt of thirty days there, during which he bade all the forces under his command rally to his side.
 Judith	Jdt	18	4	1	Consternation fell on all the Israelites that dwelt in Juda, at the news of his coming;
 Judith	Jdt	18	4	2	fear struck deep at their anxious hearts, that Jerusalem and its temple might fare as other cities and temples had fared.
 Judith	Jdt	18	4	3	So they sent the word round all the Samaritan country, and back again to Jericho, that all the mountain-heights were to be occupied;
 Judith	Jdt	18	4	4	the villages on them were put in a state of defence, and corn stored up in readiness for the campaign.
 Judith	Jdt	18	4	5	Nay, the high priest Eliachim sent letters even further afield; the hill-folk that lived facing Esdrelon across the wide plain around Dothain, controlling the passes to the south,
 Judith	Jdt	18	4	6	must occupy all the hill-paths leading to Jerusalem, standing ever on guard where the defile was narrowest.
 Judith	Jdt	18	4	7	Such orders from Eliachim, the Lord’s high priest, the Israelites faithfully carried out.
 Judith	Jdt	18	4	8	Meanwhile, in good earnest, the whole nation made appeal to the Lord, doing penance, men and women alike, with fast and prayer.
 Judith	Jdt	18	4	9	Garb of sackcloth the priests wore, and bade the very infants lie prostrate before the temple gates; in sackcloth they veiled the Lord’s own altar;
 Judith	Jdt	18	4	10	and so with one voice they made appeal to the Lord, the God of Israel. Were they to see their children slaves, their women-folk allotted as spoil, their cities razed, their sanctuary profaned? Were they to become the scorn of the Gentiles?
 Judith	Jdt	18	4	11	And Eliachim, the Lord’s high priest, went about everywhere among the Israelite folk with words of comfort.
 Judith	Jdt	18	4	12	Be sure, said he, that the Lord will listen to your plea, if you pray on, fast on, in his presence.
 Judith	Jdt	18	4	13	Remember how Amelec, long ago, boasted of their overwhelming strength, of their great army, shields and chariots and horsemen; and it was by the holy prayers he offered, not by the sword, that the Lord’s servant Moses defeated them.
 Judith	Jdt	18	4	14	So shall it be with all Israel’s enemies, will you but persevere in your undertaking.
 Judith	Jdt	18	4	15	Thus encouraged, they kept their posture of entreaty, there in the Lord’s presence;
 Judith	Jdt	18	4	16	the very priests who offered him sacrifice, did so in sackcloth, with ashes on their heads;
 Judith	Jdt	18	4	17	and with all their hearts they prayed, every one of them, that God would bring deliverance to his people of Israel.
 Judith	Jdt	18	5	1	When news reached Holofernes, the Assyrian commander, that the Israelites were for offering resistance, and had secured the mountain passes,
 Judith	Jdt	18	5	2	he broke out into a great fury of indignation. He summoned all the chiefs of Moab and Ammon to his presence;
 Judith	Jdt	18	5	3	What folk are these, he asked, that would hold the mountain-heights? Are their cities so prosperous or so well defended, are they so brave or so numerous, have they a commander so skilled in war,
 Judith	Jdt	18	5	4	that they alone defy us, and will not come out to meet and welcome us, like the other nations around them?
 Judith	Jdt	18	5	5	It was Achior, chief paramount of the Ammonites, that answered him. My lord, said he, if thou wilt hear me out, I will tell the whole truth to thy face, about these mountain-folk; never a false word shalt thou hear from me.
 Judith	Jdt	18	5	6	They come of Chaldaean stock,
 Judith	Jdt	18	5	7	but they made their abode in Mesopotamia, because they had no mind to worship the old gods of Chaldaea;
 Judith	Jdt	18	5	8	gods a many their fathers’ worship owned, but they forsook it,
 Judith	Jdt	18	5	9	to worship one God only, the God of heaven. He it was bade them remove thence, and dwell in Charan. At a time when famine overspread the world, they took refuge in Egypt; and there, when four hundred years had passed, they had grown so numerous that there was no counting the muster of them.
 Judith	Jdt	18	5	10	The king of Egypt oppressed them, forcing them to make bricks of clay and build cities for him; so they cried out to this Lord of theirs, and he smote the whole land of Egypt with plagues of every sort,
 Judith	Jdt	18	5	11	till at last the Egyptians were fain to be rid of them. But not for long; plagued no more, they tried to capture the men of Israel and make slaves of them anew.
 Judith	Jdt	18	5	12	To these, as they fled, the God of heaven opened a path through the sea, whose waves stood firm as a wall to right and left while they marched across its floor dry-shod;
 Judith	Jdt	18	5	13	and when a great army from Egypt sought to follow them, it was overwhelmed in those waters, so that never a man escaped to tell his children the story.
 Judith	Jdt	18	5	14	The Red Sea once passed, they took for their own the desert country about Sinai, that never yet gave man a home, gave wanderer a resting-place;
 Judith	Jdt	18	5	15	there from brackish fountains fresh water sprang, there, for forty years, heaven itself sent them nourishment.
 Judith	Jdt	18	5	16	Go where they would, without bow or arrow, shield or spear, God fought for them, and won the victory;
 Judith	Jdt	18	5	17	there was no beating down such a people as this, save when they forsook the worship of the Lord their God;
 Judith	Jdt	18	5	18	only when they worshipped some god other than himself, their own God, would he let them be plundered, and slaughtered, and treated with insult.
 Judith	Jdt	18	5	19	Even then, did they but repent of their revolt from his allegiance, the God of heaven would give them strength to resist their assailants.
 Judith	Jdt	18	5	20	So it was they overthrew kings a many, Chanaanite and Jebusite, Pherezite and Hethite and Hevite; the Amorrhite king, too, and all the warrior chiefs of Hesebon; took possession of their lands, and garrisoned their cities.
 Judith	Jdt	18	5	21	All went well with them, so long as no sin of theirs offended his eye, the God that is an enemy to all wrong.
 Judith	Jdt	18	5	22	But there was a time, these many years back, when they forsook the old paths God had given them to follow; then, in battle after battle, nation after nation defeated them, and a multitude of them were borne away as captives into an alien land;
 Judith	Jdt	18	5	23	it was but lately that they turned to their God again, and he reunited the scattered remnants of them. So they returned to these hills, and took possession anew of Jerusalem, where their sanctuary is.
 Judith	Jdt	18	5	24	Of this, then, my lord, assure thyself first; has any guilt of theirs lost them the favour of their God? Then indeed march we against them; none more ready than this God of theirs to hand them over to thee, fit subjects for thy overmastering yoke.
 Judith	Jdt	18	5	25	If fault he has none to find with his own people, then meet them in battle we may not; he himself will be their defender, and ours will be a plight for all the world to mock at.
 Judith	Jdt	18	5	26	At these words of Achior’s, Holofernes’ lords were full of indignation, and thought to make an end of him. What talk is this? they said to one another.
 Judith	Jdt	18	5	27	Can the men of Israel, without arms, without valour, without skill in war, hold out against king Nabuchodonosor and his troops?
 Judith	Jdt	18	5	28	Scale we yonder heights, to prove Achior a liar, and when we have mastered the defenders, let Achior be put to the sword with the rest.
 Judith	Jdt	18	5	29	Let us prove to the whole world that Nabuchodonosor rules it, and other god there is none.
 Judith	Jdt	18	6	1	When their talk had died down, Holofernes himself, in a transport of rage, said to Achior,
 Judith	Jdt	18	6	2	This, then, is thy prophecy, that the race of Israel will find protection in their God? Thou hast a lesson still to learn; that Nabuchodonosor is god, and he only.
 Judith	Jdt	18	6	3	So be it; when the Israelites fall like one man, thou too shalt feel the sword of Assyria, and share their utter ruin.
 Judith	Jdt	18	6	4	Proof thou shalt have first, that Nabuchodonosor is the world’s supreme lord; then, no more breathing-space given thee, thou shalt perish with the rest, shalt lie where Israel lies, with Assyrian steel between thy ribs.
 Judith	Jdt	18	6	5	What, does thy face fall, sir Oracle? Why those pale cheeks, if thou knowest all my threats are vain?
 Judith	Jdt	18	6	6	Nay, be assured thou shalt learn the truth when the Israelites learn it, no sooner. Henceforth thy lot shall be thrown in with theirs; only when my sword falls on them shalt thou feel my vengeance.
 Judith	Jdt	18	6	7	With that, Holofernes bade his men lay hold of Achior and bear him off to Bethulia, and so hand him over to the men of Israel.
 Judith	Jdt	18	6	8	Lay hold of him they did, and set out on their journey across the plain, but when they reached the mountain spurs, out came slingers to meet them.
 Judith	Jdt	18	6	9	So they let the mountains alone, tied Achior hand and foot to a tree, and went back to their master, leaving Achior there with the ropes round him.
 Judith	Jdt	18	6	10	But now the men of Israel ventured down from Bethulia, and came to his side; he was set free and taken back to the town with them. There he must stand up before the general assembly of the people and satisfy their questioning: what moved the Assyrians to leave him thus bound?
 Judith	Jdt	18	6	11	The chieftains there at this time were the Simeonite, Ozias son of Micha, and Charmi, who was also called Gothoniel.
 Judith	Jdt	18	6	12	Before these and all the elders, in full view of the people, Achior told them what answer he had made to Holofernes’ question; how the bystanders had been for killing him outright;
 Judith	Jdt	18	6	13	in what angry fashion Holofernes had given orders for his surrender to Israel, only so that he too, in the hour of their defeat, might be doomed to execution; and of all the punishments he was threatened with, only for saying, They have the God of heaven to defend them.
 Judith	Jdt	18	6	14	When Achior had finished his story, the people bowed down with one accord, face to earth, offering the Lord worship and entreaty; all was weeping and lament.
 Judith	Jdt	18	6	15	Lord, they cried, God of heaven and earth, leave not this insolence unregarded, our distress unrelieved, the prayer of thy chosen servants unheeded! Give proof, now, that those who trust in thee are never forsaken, that the presumptuous, who boast of their own strength, are ever brought low!
 Judith	Jdt	18	6	16	So they made an end of weeping; and now, their day of public prayer over, they offered Achior consolation.
 Judith	Jdt	18	6	17	The God of our fathers, they told him, will give thee thy reward. Thou hast been the herald of his great deeds, and thou shalt live to see the downfall of thy enemies.
 Judith	Jdt	18	6	18	Then, when the Lord our God has granted his servants deliverance, may he still be with thee, thy own God, here in our midst; thou and thine shall be made free of our company.
 Judith	Jdt	18	6	19	And now Ozias, dismissing the assembly, bade Achior to his house and made a great feast for him;
 Judith	Jdt	18	6	20	all the elders, too, were bidden, and together they refreshed themselves, now the fast was over.
 Judith	Jdt	18	6	21	But afterwards all the people were summoned from their homes anew; and in solemn assembly, the whole night long, they prayed to the God of Israel, to win deliverance.
 Judith	Jdt	18	7	1	Next day, Holofernes ordered his troops to march on Bethulia.
 Judith	Jdt	18	7	2	He had a hundred and twenty thousand foot and twenty-two thousand horse under his command, besides forced levies from the manhood of all the regions and cities he had overrun.
 Judith	Jdt	18	7	3	This whole army now prepared to attack the Israelites, advancing up the mountain-slopes to a height which commands the Dothian plain, all the way from Belma to Chelmon, near Esdrelon.
 Judith	Jdt	18	7	4	Face to earth the men of Israel bowed down, and threw dust on their heads, as they saw the enemy’s numbers, beseeching God with one accord to grant his people deliverance;
 Judith	Jdt	18	7	5	then, taking up their arms, they mounted guard over the approaches of the narrow defile that leads between the mountains, where they kept watch day and night.
 Judith	Jdt	18	7	6	Holofernes, looking for a devious path to circumvent them, came upon the springs which fed their aqueduct, south of the city and beyond its enclosure; so he gave orders that their supply of water should be cut off.
 Judith	Jdt	18	7	7	A few springs remained, not far from the wall, from which they still drew water, enough to revive their spirits but scarce enough to quench their thirst. This they did by stealth, but not unobserved;
 Judith	Jdt	18	7	8	and now the men of Ammon and Moab offered their advice to Holofernes. Not in bow or lance, said they, do the Israelites put their trust; it is the hill-country that befriends them; these mountains with their headlong slopes are all the defence they need.
 Judith	Jdt	18	7	9	Wouldst thou defeat them without battle joined? Then set a guard over these springs of theirs, and let them draw water no longer. Either thou wilt compass their deaths, and no blood shed, or, worn down at last, they will yield into thy hands the city they think impregnable.
 Judith	Jdt	18	7	10	This advice commended itself to Holofernes and his lords, and he set a hundred men to guard each of the wells all about.
 Judith	Jdt	18	7	11	When this watch had been kept for twenty days together, the people of Bethulia had no water left in tank or cistern, not a full supply for one day; for now a daily allowance was made to each.
 Judith	Jdt	18	7	12	Thereupon all of them, husbands and wives, young men and children, gathered about Ozias, all uttering a single cry of complaint.
 Judith	Jdt	18	7	13	God give judgement, they said, between us and thee; an ill turn thou hast done us, in refusing to come to terms with the Assyrians. Now God has given them the mastery over us;
 Judith	Jdt	18	7	14	none brings aid; we lie at their mercy, cruelly undone by thirst.
 Judith	Jdt	18	7	15	Come, muster all the citizens, and let us all surrender at discretion to the army of Holofernes.
 Judith	Jdt	18	7	16	Better we should be prisoners, still thanking the Lord for our lives spared, than ourselves be slaughtered, first winning the whole world’s reproaches by letting our wives and little ones be slaughtered before our very eyes.
 Judith	Jdt	18	7	17	We adjure you by heaven and earth, and by the God of our fathers, who now takes such vengeance on us for our sins, to surrender the town to Holofernes’ army. If we must die, let it be a swift death at the sword’s point, not a lingering death from this parching thirst.
 Judith	Jdt	18	7	18	All this was said, and with that the whole throng fell to weeping and lamenting bitterly; and for many hours together they cried out to God as with a single voice:
 Judith	Jdt	18	7	19	We have taken part in our fathers’ sins; we are guilty men, rebels against thee.
 Judith	Jdt	18	7	20	Do thou, in thy great love, take pity on us; or if punished we must be, let it be under thy own rod; do not abandon us, that still acknowledge thy name, to the mercy of men who never knew thee!
 Judith	Jdt	18	7	21	Wouldst thou have the heathen asking, What has become of their God?
 Judith	Jdt	18	7	22	At last they grew weary of their clamour; they had wept enough; and when silence was restored,
 Judith	Jdt	18	7	23	Ozias rose from his place, bathed in tears, and spoke to them. Brethren, said he, be calm and patient. These five next days, let us still look to the Lord for deliverance;
 Judith	Jdt	18	7	24	perhaps his anger will relent, perhaps he means to win himself fresh renown.
 Judith	Jdt	18	7	25	If at the end of those five days no help has reached us, rest assured we will act on the counsel you have given.
 Judith	Jdt	18	8	1	Now turn we to one whom all this news concerned; a widow called Judith, that was descended (from Ruben) through Merari, Idox, Joseph, Ozias, Elai, Jamnor, Gedeon, Raphaim, Achitob, Melchias, Enan, Nathanias, Salathiel and Simeon.
 Judith	Jdt	18	8	2	She had been married to one Manasses, but lost him when the barley was a-reaping;
 Judith	Jdt	18	8	3	he must needs be hurrying his men on as they bound the sheaves on his farm, while the sun beat fierce on his head, and of that stroke he died, and was laid to rest with his fathers, there in his native town of Bethulia.
 Judith	Jdt	18	8	4	Judith had now been left a widow these three years and six months past;
 Judith	Jdt	18	8	5	ever she dwelt cloistered among her maid-servants, in a secret bower she had made for herself on the roof of her house,
 Judith	Jdt	18	8	6	wearing sackcloth about her waist and keeping fast continually, save on the sabbath and the new moon and what other holidays were observed in Israel.
 Judith	Jdt	18	8	7	She was a woman very fair to see, and her husband had left her great wealth, a full household, and lands well stocked with cattle and sheep;
 Judith	Jdt	18	8	8	a woman of high repute everywhere, and the Lord’s devout worshipper; no man had a word to say in her dispraise.
 Judith	Jdt	18	8	9	This Judith, then, when she heard how Ozias had promised to surrender the city in five days’ time, would have two of the elders, Chabri and Charmi, pay her a visit.
 Judith	Jdt	18	8	10	And thus she greeted them, Is it true Ozias has promised he will hand the city over to the Assyrians, if in five days no rescue comes to you?
 Judith	Jdt	18	8	11	By what right, sirs, do you put the Lord’s goodness to such a test?
 Judith	Jdt	18	8	12	This is no way to win it; rather, we shall earn his displeasure, add fuel to his vengeance.
 Judith	Jdt	18	8	13	What, would you set a date to the Lord’s mercies, bid him keep tryst with you on a day of your own appointing?
 Judith	Jdt	18	8	14	Well for us that he, at least, is patient; repent we, and with flowing tears ask his pardon!
 Judith	Jdt	18	8	15	He will not overwhelm us with reproaches, as men do; not his the human anger that bursts into flame.
 Judith	Jdt	18	8	16	Abate we our pride, and wait on him with chastened spirits;
 Judith	Jdt	18	8	17	entreat him with tears to grant us relief at a time of his own choosing. Then shall we, who stand aghast now at the pride of our enemies, triumph in the reward of our humility.
 Judith	Jdt	18	8	18	It is something that we have not followed the evil example of our forefathers, who forsook their own God and worshipped alien gods instead,
 Judith	Jdt	18	8	19	dooming themselves thus to massacre, to plunder, and to insult at the hands of their enemies. At least we acknowledge one God, and him only.
 Judith	Jdt	18	8	20	Wait we humbly till he sends us relief; he will avenge our wrongs by bringing misfortune on our enemies; he, the Lord our God, will bring the invader low, and disappoint him of his prize.
 Judith	Jdt	18	8	21	You, brethren, are among the elders of the people; their lives are in your charge. Yours to hearten them, by reminding them what trials our fathers underwent, to shew whether they were God’s worshippers indeed;
 Judith	Jdt	18	8	22	how Abraham was put to the proof, tested by long endurance, before he became God’s friend;
 Judith	Jdt	18	8	23	how Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and all who won God’s favour, must be loyal to him under great affliction first.
 Judith	Jdt	18	8	24	And what of those others, who could not hold out, submitting to the divine will, under these trials; who bore themselves impatiently, and did the Lord despite by complaining against him?
 Judith	Jdt	18	8	25	These were the men the destroying angel slew, the men who fell a prey to serpents.
 Judith	Jdt	18	8	26	It is our turn to suffer now, and never a word said in remonstrance;
 Judith	Jdt	18	8	27	think we the Lord’s rod too light a punishment for our sins, believe we that he is punishing us as his servants, to chasten, not to destroy.
 Judith	Jdt	18	8	28	All thou sayest is true, Ozias and the elders confessed, beyond cavil.
 Judith	Jdt	18	8	29	Pray for us, holy woman as thou art, and the Lord’s true worshipper.
 Judith	Jdt	18	8	30	Why then, said Judith, if you recognize the words I say as God’s words,
 Judith	Jdt	18	8	31	judge for yourselves whether the deed I mean to do is of God’s ordaining; and pray him to bring my design to effect.
 Judith	Jdt	18	8	32	Stand at the gate this night, while I pass beyond it with my handmaid for company, and pray that the Lord bring Israel relief within the five days you spoke of.
 Judith	Jdt	18	8	33	But what my design is, never ask me; till I come back and give you news, I would have nothing of you but your prayers to the Lord our God.
 Judith	Jdt	18	8	34	Go in peace, Ozias said, and the Lord be with thee, to the confusion of our enemies. And with that they left her, and withdrew.
 Judith	Jdt	18	9	1	When they had gone, Judith went to her place of prayer, sackcloth her garb, ashes sprinkled over her head, and thus, falling down before the Lord, she cried for mercy:
 Judith	Jdt	18	9	2	Lord God of my father Simeon, thou didst put a sword in his hand to punish the alien for foul wrong done, for a virgin stripped and shamed;
 Judith	Jdt	18	9	3	thou didst mark down their wives for spoil, their daughters for slavery, their goods as forfeit, to reward the men who had thy honour at heart. Listen now, O Lord my God, to a widow’s prayer.
 Judith	Jdt	18	9	4	Thine are the deeds of long ago; that this event should succeed that, was of thy contriving;
 Judith	Jdt	18	9	5	all thy designs are long a-brewing, all thy awards made in full foreknowledge.
 Judith	Jdt	18	9	6	Turn thy eyes now to yonder Assyrian camp, as thou didst let them fall long ago on the Egyptians, the armed host that went in pursuit of thy servants, boasting so proudly of its chariots and horsemen, its warrior strength.
 Judith	Jdt	18	9	7	One glance from thee, and on that camp darkness fell;
 Judith	Jdt	18	9	8	their feet were sucked down into the depths, and the waters closed above them!
 Judith	Jdt	18	9	9	So be it, Lord, with these others, that boast of their great array,now of chariots, now of pike and shield, of arrow and lance,
 Judith	Jdt	18	9	10	and know not the name thou bearest, thou, our God, crushing the invader still.
 Judith	Jdt	18	9	11	Lift up thy hand, as it was lifted up long ago; break power of theirs with power of thine! Helpless may they lie beneath thy vengeance, who now think to profane thy holy place, dishonour the very shrine of thy name, violate, at the sword’s point, the sanctity of thy altar.
 Judith	Jdt	18	9	12	The sword of Holofernes! Lord, if it might be his own pride’s undoing!
 Judith	Jdt	18	9	13	Be the eyes he casts on me a lure to catch himself, the professions of love I make, his death-blow!
 Judith	Jdt	18	9	14	Too bold be my heart to fear, too resolute to spare him!
 Judith	Jdt	18	9	15	Let him fall by a woman’s hand, and all the glory of it will be ascribed to thy name.
 Judith	Jdt	18	9	16	Not in the mustering of great armies, Lord, thy power is shewn; not on the well-horsed warrior thy choice falls; never did boasting earn thy favour. Still from a humble soul, an obedient will, the prayer must come that wins thee.
 Judith	Jdt	18	9	17	God of the heavens, maker of the floods, Lord of this universal frame, listen to the defenceless plea of one who trusts only in thy mercy.
 Judith	Jdt	18	9	18	Bethink thee, Lord, of thy covenant; grant my lips utterance, my heart firm resolve; so shall thy temple ever remain inviolate,
 Judith	Jdt	18	9	19	so shall all the Gentiles learn that thou art God, and hast none to rival thee.
 Judith	Jdt	18	10	1	Then, her plea for the divine succour ended, Judith rose from the ground where she lay prostrate in the Lord’s presence,
 Judith	Jdt	18	10	2	called her maidservant to her, and went downstairs into her house. Flung aside, now, the sackcloth, folded away her widow’s weeds;
 Judith	Jdt	18	10	3	she bathed herself, anointed herself with the finest myrrh, parted and tied her hair. The garments of happier days she donned anew, put on her sandals, took bracelet and anklet, ear-ring and finger-ring; decked herself with every ornament she had.
 Judith	Jdt	18	10	4	The Lord himself lent grace to her mien; manly resolve, not woman’s wantonness, was the occasion of her finery, and he would enhance her beauty till all beholders should vow there was never woman so fair.
 Judith	Jdt	18	10	5	A bottle of wine she bade her serving-maid carry, and a phial of oil, parched corn and dry figs, and bread, and cheese, and so she went out on her journey.
 Judith	Jdt	18	10	6	When they reached the gates, they found Ozias and the elders of the city awaiting them there;
 Judith	Jdt	18	10	7	and no sooner did these catch sight of her, than they fell into a great wonderment of her beauty.
 Judith	Jdt	18	10	8	Still they did not question her, but let her pass; May the God of our fathers, they said, grant thee his favour, and his strength speed whatever design is in thy heart. Cause may Jerusalem have to be proud of thee; may thy name live among the holy and the just!
 Judith	Jdt	18	10	9	And all the bystanders, as with one voice, said Amen to that.
 Judith	Jdt	18	10	10	So, with a prayer to the Lord, Judith passed out at the gate, and her maidservant with her.
 Judith	Jdt	18	10	11	At break of day, while she was yet making her way down the mountain-slope, she fell in with the advance-guard of the Assyrians, who stopped her, and asked whence she came, whither she was bound?
 Judith	Jdt	18	10	12	A Hebrew, she said, but I have given my fellow-countrymen the slip, well knowing that the city must fall into your hands. Why did they defy you, and refuse to surrender, instead of throwing themselves on your mercy?
 Judith	Jdt	18	10	13	What was I to do? I determined to win audience with your general, Holofernes, and tell him of their secret plans; shew him, too, means by which he may reduce the city without losing a man of his army.
 Judith	Jdt	18	10	14	Her story told, they must next scan her face; and now their eyes dazzled with the admiration they had of her beauty.
 Judith	Jdt	18	10	15	It has been the saving of thy life, they told her, this plan thou hast formed of betaking thyself to our master yonder.
 Judith	Jdt	18	10	16	Of this be well assured, once thou hast found thy way to his presence he will use thee well; none so welcome as thou. And so they led her to Holofernes’ tent, and advised him of her coming.
 Judith	Jdt	18	10	17	No sooner did she stand before him, than Holofernes’ eyes made him her prisoner.
 Judith	Jdt	18	10	18	Meanwhile, his lords were saying to one another, Who shall belittle the Hebrew folk, or doubt they are worth the attacking, when for prize there are such women as this?
 Judith	Jdt	18	10	19	As for Judith, she saw only Holofernes, as he sat there with a canopy over him, a canopy of purple, with gold and emeralds and other precious stones worked into it.
 Judith	Jdt	18	10	20	She looked him full in the face, then did reverence, bowing down to earth, until his servants raised her to her feet, at their master’s bidding.
 Judith	Jdt	18	11	1	Compose thyself, Holofernes said; no need thy heart should misgive thee. None ever yet came to harm through me, that would do homage to my lord Nabuchodonosor;
 Judith	Jdt	18	11	2	never had lance of mine been raised against thy own people, if they had not defied me.
 Judith	Jdt	18	11	3	Tell me, what moved thee to part from their company and betake thyself to us?
 Judith	Jdt	18	11	4	My lord, said Judith, I have counsel for thee; do but take the advice this handmaid of thine offers, and the Lord shall do great things with thee.
 Judith	Jdt	18	11	5	By the life of Nabuchodonosor I swear it, by the power of Nabuchodonosor, committed to thee here and now for the punishment of rebellious spirits! All men, nay, the brute beasts themselves, thou tamest to his will;
 Judith	Jdt	18	11	6	of thy unwearied labours all nations know; a world acclaims thee for the best and greatest of his subjects; no province but speaks of thy wise government.
 Judith	Jdt	18	11	7	It is common knowledge among us what Achior said to thee, and what doom thou hast pronounced in return.
 Judith	Jdt	18	11	8	His words have come true; God is indeed angered by our sins, so angered that he has sent warning through his prophets, he means to put our guilty race in thy power,
 Judith	Jdt	18	11	9	and if the Israelites tremble at thy coming, it is because they know they have lost their God’s favour.
 Judith	Jdt	18	11	10	And now, with famine threatening them, doomed to perish from lack of water,
 Judith	Jdt	18	11	11	they have taken a worse resolve. They mean to kill their cattle and drink the blood;
 Judith	Jdt	18	11	12	they mean to satisfy their own needs with the hallowed corn, wine, and oil offered to the Lord their God, tasting what they are forbidden to touch. This done, it is certain they will involve themselves in ruin.
 Judith	Jdt	18	11	13	Hearing such news, what marvel if I shun their fellowship? Thy handmaid now; the Lord has sent me to tell thee of all this.
 Judith	Jdt	18	11	14	Thy handmaid, but my own God I must still worship, though I be dwelling in thy camp. Suffer me, my lord, to go beyond its bounds, and offer prayer to God;
 Judith	Jdt	18	11	15	so he will make it known to me, when he means to punish their guilt, and I will come and tell thee. Then I will take thee into the heart of Jerusalem, and thou wilt find the whole people of Israel defenceless as strayed sheep, not a dog to bark at thee.
 Judith	Jdt	18	11	16	It is God’s providence has advised me of all this;
 Judith	Jdt	18	11	17	his vengeance that has sent me to warn thee of it.
 Judith	Jdt	18	11	18	This was welcome hearing for Holofernes and all that served under him; what prudence was hers! They told one another,
 Judith	Jdt	18	11	19	Never was a woman such as this, so fair to look upon, so wise to listen to.
 Judith	Jdt	18	11	20	And Holofernes said to her, God has been good indeed, sending thee here in advance of thy people, so as to give them up into our hands.
 Judith	Jdt	18	11	21	These are fair promises thou makest; will he but bring them to fulfilment, thy God shall be my God too, and thou thyself, at Nabuchodonosor’s court, shalt be held in high honour; wide as the world shall be thy renown.
 Judith	Jdt	18	12	1	And now Holofernes would have her repair to the tent where he kept his treasures, and lodge there; and he was for sending food to her there from his own table.
 Judith	Jdt	18	12	2	But Judith told him, Eat I may not of the portion thou wouldst assign me; that were a grave fault; I have brought my own provisions with me.
 Judith	Jdt	18	12	3	Ay, thou hast brought them, Holofernes said, but how if they should not suffice? How shall we fend for thee?
 Judith	Jdt	18	12	4	My lord, answered Judith, as thou art a living man, God will prosper thy handmaid’s undertaking before ever these are spent. So his servants shewed her to the tent he had designed for her;
 Judith	Jdt	18	12	5	but as she entered it, she asked that she might be allowed to leave it each night, before day broke, and, praying, make her peace with the Lord.
 Judith	Jdt	18	12	6	So he gave orders to his chamberlains, that for the next three days she should be allowed to come and go as she would, for the worship of her God;
 Judith	Jdt	18	12	7	each night she went out to the vale of Bethulia, and washed herself in a fountain there,
 Judith	Jdt	18	12	8	and prayed, as she came up out of the water, the God of Israel would speed her errand for his people’s deliverance.
 Judith	Jdt	18	12	9	Then she guarded herself against defilement by keeping her tent all day, till she made her meal at sun-down.
 Judith	Jdt	18	12	10	On the fourth day, Holofernes made a banquet for his own attendants, and sent his chamberlain Vagoa with an invitation to her. Prevail if thou canst, said he, on this Hebrew woman to grant me, of her own free will, her favours.
 Judith	Jdt	18	12	11	(Great shame the Assyrians hold it in a man, if any woman fools him, and contrives to escape from his company unmolested.)
 Judith	Jdt	18	12	12	So Vagoa waited on Judith, and said, Fair lady, make no scruple to appear as an honoured guest in my master’s presence, to eat with him, and make merry over the wine.
 Judith	Jdt	18	12	13	It is not for me, Judith answered, to gainsay my lord in this.
 Judith	Jdt	18	12	14	Whim and will of his shall be whim and will of mine; I ask no better, all my life, than to obey his pleasure.
 Judith	Jdt	18	12	15	With that, she rose up and threw her robe about her, and so made her way into Holofernes’ presence;
 Judith	Jdt	18	12	16	fast beat his heart within him, such was his longing for her charms.
 Judith	Jdt	18	12	17	Drink with me, he said; fall to, and make merry; thou art right welcome.
 Judith	Jdt	18	12	18	And Judith answered, Drink I will, my lord; never was a day in my life so proud as this.
 Judith	Jdt	18	12	19	So she ate and drank with him, but only what her serving-maid had prepared for her.
 Judith	Jdt	18	12	20	And Holofernes, basking in her smiles, drank ever deeper; never drank Holofernes as on that night.
 Judith	Jdt	18	13	1	And now it was late; his attendants were fain to make for their beds, leaving Vagoa, the last of them, to shut the doors of the banqueting-room;
 Judith	Jdt	18	13	2	the wine had made drowsy men of them.
 Judith	Jdt	18	13	3	In the banqueting-room, Judith was now left alone,
 Judith	Jdt	18	13	4	save for Holofernes, that lay full length on his couch by the table, in drunken sleep.
 Judith	Jdt	18	13	5	Her maid she left at the door, to keep watch;
 Judith	Jdt	18	13	6	she herself, standing by the couch, wept silently, and silently moved her lips in prayer.
 Judith	Jdt	18	13	7	Lord God of Israel, she said, give me strength! Now guide these hands aright, and give Jerusalem the relief thou hast promised; now be the task performed, but for the hope of thy aid, undreamed of!
 Judith	Jdt	18	13	8	With that, she went to the head of the couch, and unfastened the scimitar that hung there;
 Judith	Jdt	18	13	9	unsheathed it, and caught the sleeping man by the hair; Lord God, she said, strengthen me now!
 Judith	Jdt	18	13	10	Twice the scimitar fell on his neck, and cut clean through it; down came the canopy from the pillars, down fell the headless body to the earth,
 Judith	Jdt	18	13	11	and ere long she was at the doors, giving the severed head to her maid-servant and bidding her thrust it away into the wallet she carried.
 Judith	Jdt	18	13	12	Then they went out, both of them, right through the camp, as if bound on their customary errand of prayer; but this time they took the winding path along the valley, right up to the city gates.
 Judith	Jdt	18	13	13	Far away rang the cry of Judith to the watchmen on the city walls, Open the gates! God is on our side. Open the gates! His power yet lives in Israel.
 Judith	Jdt	18	13	14	These, upon hearing her voice, ran to tell the elders of the city,
 Judith	Jdt	18	13	15	and all, high and low, went out to meet her; they had thought never to see her again.
 Judith	Jdt	18	13	16	There, by torch-light, they gathered round her, and she, mounting on to higher ground, bade them keep silence. Silence was made,
 Judith	Jdt	18	13	17	and thus Judith began, Praise the Lord our God; he does not forsake those who put their trust in him.
 Judith	Jdt	18	13	18	Through me, his handmaid, deliverance has come to Israel’s race, as he promised; through me, this night, the enemy of his people lies slain.
 Judith	Jdt	18	13	19	With that, she took Holofernes’ head out of the wallet where it lay hidden. Look upon this head, she cried, and know that the Assyrian army has lost its general. Look upon this, the canopy he lay under, in drunken sleep, when the Lord our God smote him, and by the hand of a woman.
 Judith	Jdt	18	13	20	And, as the Lord is a living God, well did his angel watch over me, thither going, there abiding, and thence returning. The Lord would not have his own handmaid stained with sin; he has brought me back to you inviolate, to glory in his triumph, my preservation, and your deliverance.
 Judith	Jdt	18	13	21	One and all, then, give thanks to the Lord; the Lord is gracious, his mercy endures for ever!
 Judith	Jdt	18	13	22	Thereupon all of them offered the Lord worship; and to her they said, With his own power the Lord has blessed thee, and by thy means has brought our enemies to nothing!
 Judith	Jdt	18	13	23	And Ozias, that was the Israelites’ commander, said to her, Blessing be thine, my daughter, from the Lord God, the most high, such as no other woman on earth can claim!
 Judith	Jdt	18	13	24	Blessed be the Lord, maker of heaven and earth, for sending thee out to wound the head of our arch-enemy.
 Judith	Jdt	18	13	25	Such high renown he has given thee this day, that the praise of thee shall never die on men’s lips, so long as they hold the Lord’s power in remembrance. Thy own life thou wouldst not prize, when thy countrymen were in need and great affliction; thou wouldst avert our ruin, with our God to speed thee.
 Judith	Jdt	18	13	26	And to that all the people said Amen.
 Judith	Jdt	18	13	27	Then Achior was summoned, and thus Judith greeted him: No credit hast thou lost, by averring that the God of Israel did not spare his enemies; by my hand, this night, he has cut down the chief of those who gave thee the lie.
 Judith	Jdt	18	13	28	Was it not Holofernes that defied the God of Israel, in his proud insolence, and threatened thyself with death? When Israel was conquered, thou too, he said, shouldst be put to the sword. To prove which was the truer prophet, here is his head.
 Judith	Jdt	18	13	29	Upon seeing the head of Holofernes, Achior was in such a great taking of fear that he fell to earth in a swoon.
 Judith	Jdt	18	13	30	Then, coming back to his senses and taking heart again, he did reverence, bowing low at her feet;
 Judith	Jdt	18	13	31	Wherever the sons of Jacob dwell, said he, God has made thy name a name of blessing; wherever thy renown reaches through the world, the God of Israel shall be glorified in the telling of it.
 Judith	Jdt	18	14	1	Hang we this head from the battlements, Judith said to the people; and now, brethren, here is my plan.
 Judith	Jdt	18	14	2	At sunrise, arm all of you, and go out to the attack; but this attack of yours will be a feint, you will not go down into the plain.
 Judith	Jdt	18	14	3	It will suffice to make the advance guards retreat, and rouse their general;
 Judith	Jdt	18	14	4	and when their leaders hasten to the tent of Holofernes, to find his headless body lying in a pool of blood, they will be overcome by terror.
 Judith	Jdt	18	14	5	Then, once assured that they are ready for flight, go out after them undismayed, and the Lord will beat them to dust under your feet.
 Judith	Jdt	18	14	6	(Meanwhile Achior, such visible proof before his eyes of what Israel’s God could do, cast heathenry aside and learned to believe in God. He would be circumcised, and reckoned among Israel’s folk, and so his posterity remain to this day.)
 Judith	Jdt	18	14	7	No sooner was day dawned, and Holofernes’ head raised aloft on the battlements, than all took up their arms, and sallied out with a great stir and noise of shouting,
 Judith	Jdt	18	14	8	whereupon the enemy’s advance guard hastened back to Holofernes’ tent.
 Judith	Jdt	18	14	9	The guards there went to the door of the banqueting-room and bustled to and fro; rouse their lord they must, but they had rather make this show of commotion and disturb him with their din, than wake him outright;
 Judith	Jdt	18	14	10	never a man in all the Assyrian army durst knock at the door or go in.
 Judith	Jdt	18	14	11	But now chief and captain and commander in the Assyrian king’s service were waiting there, and they said to Holofernes’ attendants,
 Judith	Jdt	18	14	12	Go in and rouse him; these Israelite rats have left their holes, and are boldly offering battle.
 Judith	Jdt	18	14	13	Upon this, Vagoa went into the room where he lay, and stood behind the curtain clapping his hands; no doubt had he but Holofernes was there with Judith for his bed-fellow.
 Judith	Jdt	18	14	14	Then, when his ears told him that the sleeper had not moved, he went closer to the curtain and lifted it. And when he saw the headless body of Holofernes lying there on the ground, weltering in its own blood, he gave a loud cry of lament, and tore his garments about him.
 Judith	Jdt	18	14	15	Making his way to Judith’s tent, and finding her gone, he ran out to where the others stood;
 Judith	Jdt	18	14	16	Here is great despite done, he cried, to the court of king Nabuchodonosor, and one Jewish woman its author! Holofernes lies there felled to the earth, and no head on his body!
 Judith	Jdt	18	14	17	At this news, all the Assyrian leaders tore their garments; a craven fear fell on them they could not master, and their spirits were cowed utterly;
 Judith	Jdt	18	14	18	never was such a cry as went up then from the heart of the Assyrian camp.
 Judith	Jdt	18	15	1	When word of this outrage upon Holofernes spread through the army, plan and purpose had they none; taking counsel only of the fear that shook their limbs, they sought refuge in flight.
 Judith	Jdt	18	15	2	None might say a word to his neighbour, none might lift his head; they left all behind, and hastened to make good their escape from the rumoured onslaught of the Hebrews, some taking the roads across the plain, some the mountain tracks.
 Judith	Jdt	18	15	3	The Israelites, when they saw their backs turned, went in pursuit, and swept down the hill-side with blowing of trumpets and a great shouting at their heels.
 Judith	Jdt	18	15	4	The Assyrians, in their headlong flight, could not hold together, and their enemies, pursuing them in orderly array, need only catch them to overpower them;
 Judith	Jdt	18	15	5	so Ozias sent out messengers to all Israel, city-dwellers and country-dwellers alike,
 Judith	Jdt	18	15	6	and none but sent out the flower of their manhood, ready armed for the pursuit. At the sword’s point they followed them, to the very frontiers of their domain.
 Judith	Jdt	18	15	7	As for the folk who had been left behind in Bethulia, they made their way into the Assyrian camp, whence they carried off all the Assyrians had left behind when they fled, and it was no light load they brought home with them.
 Judith	Jdt	18	15	8	When the victorious army returned, with the spoils taken from their enemies, there was no counting the cattle and the pack-beasts and the plunder of all sorts; none, high or low, but was enriched with the booty.
 Judith	Jdt	18	15	9	And now the high priest Joacim came to Bethulia, with all that were his fellow elders at Jerusalem, asking to see Judith;
 Judith	Jdt	18	15	10	and when she answered his summons, all with one voice began to extol her; Thou art the boast of Jerusalem, the joy of Israel, the pride of our people;
 Judith	Jdt	18	15	11	thou hast played a man’s part, and kept thy courage high. Not unrewarded thy love of chastity, that wouldst never take a second husband in thy widowhood; the Lord gave thee firmness of resolve, and thy name shall be ever blessed.
 Judith	Jdt	18	15	12	And to that all the people said Amen.
 Judith	Jdt	18	15	13	Scarce did thirty days suffice for the men of Israel to gather the Assyrian spoils.
 Judith	Jdt	18	15	14	Among these, all that proved to be Holofernes’ own went to Judith herself, gold and silver, clothes and jewels, and furniture of every sort; all these the people handed over to her,
 Judith	Jdt	18	15	15	keeping high festival, while man and maid, wed and unwedded, played flute and harp together.
 Judith	Jdt	18	16	1	Then Judith herself sang to the Lord, and this was Judith’s song:
 Judith	Jdt	18	16	2	Strike up, tambour, and cymbals beat in the Lord’s honour, sound a fresh song of praise; high enthrone him, call aloud upon his name!
 Judith	Jdt	18	16	3	What power divine crushes the enemy, but the Lord’s great name?
 Judith	Jdt	18	16	4	Here in the midst of his people he lies encamped; come what enemy may, he grants deliverance.
 Judith	Jdt	18	16	5	Came the Assyrian from the northern hills in his great strength, the valleys choked with his marching columns, the mountain glens black with his horses;
 Judith	Jdt	18	16	6	to send fire through our country-side, put our warriors to the sword, mark down our children for slavery, our maidens for spoil.
 Judith	Jdt	18	16	7	Great despite the Lord Almighty did him, that he should fall into a woman’s power for his death-blow.
 Judith	Jdt	18	16	8	Not by warriors’ hands the tyrant fell; not giants smote him, not heroes of the old time barred his path; it was Judith, Merari’s daughter, Judith’s fair face that was his undoing.
 Judith	Jdt	18	16	9	Laid aside, now, her widow’s weeds; festal her array must be; a feast waits for the sons of Israel.
 Judith	Jdt	18	16	10	Ointment, there, for her cheeks, a band for her straying locks, a robe new-wrought to ensnare him!
 Judith	Jdt	18	16	11	Her very sandals thralled his eyes; he lay there, his heart beauty’s prisoner, while the sharp steel pierced his neck through.
 Judith	Jdt	18	16	12	Stood Persian, stood Mede aghast at the boldness of her resolve;
 Judith	Jdt	18	16	13	loud rang the cry of the Assyrian camp, when the hard-pressed defenders sallied out against them, parched with thirst!
 Judith	Jdt	18	16	14	Slaves, did they call us? But we gave them cold steel; cut them down where, like slaves, they ran; one glance from the Lord our God, and the battle was lost.
 Judith	Jdt	18	16	15	A hymn, a new hymn, sing we to the Lord our God.
 Judith	Jdt	18	16	16	Great and glorious thou art, Lord Adonai; there is no outmatching thy wondrous power.
 Judith	Jdt	18	16	17	Let all thy creatures do thee service; were they not made at thy word, fashioned by a breath from thee? When thou commandest, none but must obey.
 Judith	Jdt	18	16	18	Rain-swept, the mountains quake from their depths, the rocks melt like wax at thy coming.
 Judith	Jdt	18	16	19	Yet great, by thy measure, are those that fear thee, in all their doings great.
 Judith	Jdt	18	16	20	Woe to the nations that levy war on my people; when the time comes for judgement, the Lord Almighty will execute vengeance on them; he will not spare.
 Judith	Jdt	18	16	21	Their flesh the fire shall scorch, the worm shall devour; lament they must and bear their pain for ever.
 Judith	Jdt	18	16	22	And now, their victory won, all went to Jerusalem to worship the Lord there; once they were cleansed of defilement, burnt-sacrifice was done, vow and promise were paid by all alike.
 Judith	Jdt	18	16	23	As for Judith, she kept none of Holofernes’ spoil, that the people had given her, nor the canopy she had carried off from his banqueting-room, for herself; she offered them up as a thing forfeit.
 Judith	Jdt	18	16	24	High festival the people kept, there before the sanctuary; for three whole months they solemnized their victory, and Judith among them.
 Judith	Jdt	18	16	25	Then they dispersed to their homes, and Judith, back at Bethulia, was held in great renown; in all Israel, none so honoured as she.
 Judith	Jdt	18	16	26	So well, in her, did chastity mate with valour; once her husband was dead, she never had knowledge of man again.
 Judith	Jdt	18	16	27	When she left her house on festival days, great reverence was hers indeed.
 Judith	Jdt	18	16	28	And for the serving-maid, Judith let her go free. There, then, Judith lived on in her husband’s dwelling-place, and a hundred and five years had passed before she was laid to rest at his side at Bethulia;
 Judith	Jdt	18	16	29	and the whole people bewailed her for seven days together.
 Judith	Jdt	18	16	30	All the while she lived, and long after her death, was never enemy that disturbed the peace of Israel.
 Judith	Jdt	18	16	31	In the Hebrew calendar, a day of rejoicing commemorates her victory; in such honour have the Jews held it from that day to this.
 Esther	Est	19	1	1	Now turn we to the days of Assuerus, that was lord of a hundred and twenty-seven provinces, from India on this side to Ethiopia on that,
 Esther	Est	19	1	2	and was firmly established on the throne of his kingdom, with the city of Susan for his capital.
 Esther	Est	19	1	3	It was now the third year of his reign, and he held high feast for all his lords and vassals; Persian warriors, Median notables, and the governor of every province, were his guests.
 Esther	Est	19	1	4	All should have proof of his royal splendour, of the power and pride that were his; and long they kept holiday, for a hundred and eighty days together.
 Esther	Est	19	1	5	And when the festivity drew to an end, he would entertain all the folk of Susan, high and low; for a whole week a banquet was spread for them at the gates of his garden, amid trees planted by art at the royal bidding.
 Esther	Est	19	1	6	On every side, fastened by ivory rings to marble columns, hung canopies, some white, some flaxen, some violet, with cords of fine linen and purple thread; couches of gold and silver were set here and there on a floor of malachite and marble, wondrously patterned.
 Esther	Est	19	1	7	From golden cups they drank, and the very trenchers on which the meat was served were ever of new design. Wine they had in plenty, and of rare vintage, as befitted a king’s state;
 Esther	Est	19	1	8	nor was any man compelled to drink; the king had set one of his nobles at the head of each table, bidding him see that each man drank as drink he would.
 Esther	Est	19	1	9	For the women the queen, Vasthi, held a banquet too, in Assuerus’ own palace.
 Esther	Est	19	1	10	The seventh day had come; the king’s heart was merry, warmed by long draughts of wine; and now he had an errand for the seven chamberlains that waited on him, Maumam, Bazatha, Harbona, Bagatha, Abgatha, Zethar and Charchas.
 Esther	Est	19	1	11	They were to bring queen Vasthi into the king’s presence, wearing the royal crown, so that he might display her person to the rabble as well as to his lords; hers was no common beauty.
 Esther	Est	19	1	12	Vain was the royal summons the chamberlains brought her; she would not come. Whereupon the king broke out into a great passion of rage,
 Esther	Est	19	1	13	and was fain to take counsel of the wise men that were ever about his person, after the fashion of courts; theirs was still the advice he followed, theirs the knowledge of ancient law and precedent.
 Esther	Est	19	1	14	(The chief of them, and the nearest to his person, were Charsena, Sethar, Admatha, Tharsis, Mares, Marsana and Mamuchan; these seven princes of Persia and Media attended on him always, and had places next himself.)
 Esther	Est	19	1	15	What sentence should he pass on queen Vasthi, to whom he, king Assuerus, had sent a summons through his chamberlains, and in vain?
 Esther	Est	19	1	16	Thereupon, in the hearing of the king and his nobles, Mamuchan thus spoke: Queen Vasthi has put a slight, not upon the king’s grace only, but on all men, high and low, in his dominions.
 Esther	Est	19	1	17	All our women-folk will hear what she has done, and all will set their husbands at defiance, reminding them how king Assuerus sent for queen Vasthi, and she would not come.
 Esther	Est	19	1	18	Not a wife in Persia or Media but will disobey her husband more lightly for this example; the king has good reason to be angry.
 Esther	Est	19	1	19	So please thee, let an edict go out in thy name, by the laws of Persia and Media irrevocable, forbidding Vasthi ever to come into the royal presence again. Let the crown pass to some head worthier than hers.
 Esther	Est	19	1	20	In all the broad lands under thy domain let this decree be published; so to all husbands, high and low, their wives shall pay due honour henceforward.
 Esther	Est	19	1	21	King and nobles liked the plan well, and the king did as Mamuchan had advised,
 Esther	Est	19	1	22	sent a letter to each nation in the tongue it spoke, the characters it used, decreeing that a man should be lord and master in his own house, and the whole world must take note of it.
 Esther	Est	19	2	1	With time, the rage of Assuerus cooled down, but he had not forgotten Vasthi’s offence, or her dismissal.
 Esther	Est	19	2	2	And now his courtiers and attendants offered him their counsel, It is time we made search for beauty and maidenhood, to console the king’s grace.
 Esther	Est	19	2	3	It would be well if commissioners were sent into all the provinces, to look out fair damsels that are maidens still, and bring them here to Susan. There let them be handed over to the chamberlain Egeus, that has charge of the women’s quarters in the palace, and an allowance be made them for adding art to their beauty, and for all else they need.
 Esther	Est	19	2	4	And she, who most of all wins the royal favour, shall be queen instead of Vasthi. The king liked this counsel well, and gave orders that it should be put into effect.
 Esther	Est	19	2	5	There was a Jew called Mardochaeus living at Susan, descended through Jair and Semei from Cis the Benjamite,
 Esther	Est	19	2	6	who was carried off from Jerusalem by the Babylonian king Nabuchodonosor at the same time as king Jechonias of Juda.
 Esther	Est	19	2	7	A ward this man had, a niece of his called Edissa, or Esther, that had lost both her parents. Beauty was hers of form and face, and when her parents died, Mardochaeus adopted her as his own daughter.
 Esther	Est	19	2	8	In accordance with the king’s bidding, Esther was carried off among many other fair maidens to Susan, and there handed over to the chamberlain Egeus, to be kept in waiting with the rest.
 Esther	Est	19	2	9	Her charms won his favour, and he bade her attendant set about the anointing of her without more ado; choice foods should be allotted to her, and seven maids, the fairest in all the palace, to wait on her, adorning with all his art her person and theirs.
 Esther	Est	19	2	10	Of her race and country she had told him nothing; concerning that, Mardochaeus had enjoined silence on her;
 Esther	Est	19	2	11	and he himself walked to and fro, every day, before the lodging of those fair pensioners, so great was his care for Esther and of what would befall her.
 Esther	Est	19	2	12	It was a full twelvemonth before a maiden’s turn came, to be the king’s bride; first she must add art to her beauty, anointing herself for six months with oil, and for six with paints and powders.
 Esther	Est	19	2	13	Ever the bride was given what adornment she would, and so, in finery of her own choosing, passed out from the maidens’ lodging to the royal bed-chamber.
 Esther	Est	19	2	14	Each morning, the bride of yesternight was escorted to a new home, where the chamberlain Susagazi, master of the royal concubines, had charge of her, nor might she ever find her way back to the king, save at his will and on his express summons.
 Esther	Est	19	2	15	So the day came when it was the turn of Esther, Abihail’s child, daughter now to his brother Mardochaeus, to be a king’s bride. For her adorning, she had no request to make; let the chamberlain Egeus, since the maidens were under his charge, deck her as he would. But oh, she was fair; she had beauty past all belief, to win men’s favour and their love.
 Esther	Est	19	2	16	It was in Tebeth, the tenth month, in the seventh year of Assuerus’ reign, that she was escorted to the royal bed-chamber.
 Esther	Est	19	2	17	More than all those others she won the king’s heart, more than all she enjoyed his loving favour; on her head he set the old royal crown, and made her his queen in place of Vasthi.
 Esther	Est	19	2	18	And he had a great feast prepared for all his lords and vassals, Esther’s bridal feast. To all his dominions he granted a public holiday, and made them gifts, with princely liberality, besides.
 Esther	Est	19	2	19	And now, the brides summoned and housed anew, Mardochaeus took up his post at the gates of the palace itself.
 Esther	Est	19	2	20	Still faithful to his bidding, Esther had said no word about her race or her country; still, as in her nursery days, she remembered and did all he told her.
 Esther	Est	19	2	21	And it was while Mardochaeus haunted the palace gates that two of the royal chamberlains, Bagathan and Thares, door-keepers both at the palace entry, grew disaffected, and would have made a murderous attack on the king’s person.
 Esther	Est	19	2	22	Mardochaeus came to hear of it, and told queen Esther; she, naming him as her informant, told her husband.
 Esther	Est	19	2	23	The charge was investigated, and found true; the two conspirators were hanged, and the circumstance was put on record, being entered in the king’s own archives.
 Esther	Est	19	3	1	It was after this that king Assuerus bestowed high rank upon an Agagite, Aman the son of Amadathi, bidding him take precedence of all his other nobles.
 Esther	Est	19	3	2	And all the royal attendants at the palace gates must bow the knee and do Aman reverence, such were their orders. But Mardochaeus went his own way, and would neither bow nor bend.
 Esther	Est	19	3	3	Often the king’s men asked him at the palace doors why he thus defied the royal bidding,
 Esther	Est	19	3	4	but still he gave them no heed, till at last they told Aman of it. Would he still be so stiff in his opinions? They had learned from him by now that he was a Jew.
 Esther	Est	19	3	5	Aman, when he heard their story, and proved the truth of it for himself, that Mardochaeus would neither bow nor bend,
 Esther	Est	19	3	6	fell into a great passion of rage; and, hearing that he was a Jew, he would not be content with laying hands on Mardochaeus only; the whole race, throughout all Assuerus’ dominions, should be brought to ruin for it.
 Esther	Est	19	3	7	It was in the twelfth year of the reign, in Nisan, the first month of it, that the lot (which the Hebrews call Pur) was cast into the urn in Aman’s presence, to determine the day and month when he would make an end of the Jews; and the month chosen was the twelfth month, Adar.
 Esther	Est	19	3	8	So now Aman said to king Assuerus, There is a race spread here and there throughout thy domains that follows strange law and custom, in defiance of the royal decrees; judge whether it consorts with thy royal dignity that licence should embolden them.
 Esther	Est	19	3	9	Be it thy pleasure to decree their destruction, and I promise thee an increase of ten thousand talents to thy revenue.
 Esther	Est	19	3	10	There and then Assuerus took off the ring he wore on his hand, and gave it to the Agagite Aman, son of Amadathi, the Jews’ enemy;
 Esther	Est	19	3	11	Keep it for thy own use, said he, the money thou offerest, and as for the people, do what thou wilt with them.
 Esther	Est	19	3	12	So, on the thirteenth day of that month, Nisan, the royal secretaries were summoned, and a decree was made in Aman’s sense. Governor and chieftain must receive a letter, each in the language and the characters of his own province or tribe, sent in the name of king Assuerus and sealed with his royal seal.
 Esther	Est	19	3	13	All through his dominions the couriers went out on their errand, bearing death and ruin to all the Jews, to young and old, to women and little children with the rest. The day fixed for their massacre and the seizing of their goods was the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, Adar.
 Esther	Est	19	3	14	The tenour of the letter, sent out to warn all the provinces and have them in readiness for the stated day, was this…
 Esther	Est	19	3	15	No time the couriers lost in following out the royal command; at Susan, the decree was posted up forthwith, and before the king and Aman had finished their wine, all the Jewish citizens were in tears.
 Esther	Est	19	4	1	When the news reached Mardochaeus, he tore his garments about him; put on sackcloth, and sprinkled ashes on his head; and as he went through the open square in the heart of the city, loud lament betrayed the bitterness of his grief.
 Esther	Est	19	4	2	Lamenting he made his way to the outer gates of the palace; further than that he might not go, into the royal court, with sackcloth for his wear.
 Esther	Est	19	4	3	So it was everywhere; never a province, town or district the cruel edict reached but there was mourning and fasting, wailing and weeping among the Jewish folk, and of sackcloth and ashes many among them made their beds.
 Esther	Est	19	4	4	Esther heard, from her maidservants and from the chamberlains, what Mardochaeus did; she was bewildered at the news, and sent out clothes for him to wear instead of his sackcloth, but he would have none of it.
 Esther	Est	19	4	5	Then she sent for Athach, the chamberlain whom the king had deputed for her needs, bidding him go and ask Mardochaeus what his doings meant.
 Esther	Est	19	4	6	There in the public square, before the gate that led to the palace, Athach found him,
 Esther	Est	19	4	7	and heard from him all the news; of the money Aman had promised to the royal treasury in return for the Jews’ destruction.
 Esther	Est	19	4	8	Mardochaeus gave him a copy, too, of the edict which had been posted in Susan, bidding him shew it to the queen; go she must into the king’s presence, and plead there the cause of her people.
 Esther	Est	19	4	9	So Athach went back with his message.
 Esther	Est	19	4	10	But she sent this answer:
 Esther	Est	19	4	11	No subject of the king’s grace, no province in his domains, but knows the inner court of the palace to be sacred. Man or woman entering it unbidden dies there and then; unless indeed the king should grant them life, by holding out his gold sceptre in token of pardon. These thirty days past I have not been summoned to the king’s presence; how can I venture in?
 Esther	Est	19	4	12	Upon receiving this message,
 Esther	Est	19	4	13	Mardochaeus answered, Do not flatter thyself that a royal court will shelter thee in the general massacre of thy countrymen.
 Esther	Est	19	4	14	Keep silence, and the Jews will find some other means of deliverance; on thee and thine destruction shall fall. Who knows, but thou hast reached the throne only to be ready for such an opportunity as this?
 Esther	Est	19	4	15	Then Esther sent word,
 Esther	Est	19	4	16	Go and muster all the Jews thou canst find in Susan, and pray for me. Spend three days and nights without food or drink, while I and my maidens fast too. Then I will break the law by appearing in the king’s presence unsummoned, though I must die for it.
 Esther	Est	19	4	17	And Mardochaeus went away, to do as Esther had bidden him.
 Esther	Est	19	5	1	The third day came, and Esther put on her royal robes; and, so clad, made her appearance before the king’s palace, within the royal (that is, the inner) court. There sat the king on his throne, in the palace council chamber, facing the main door;
 Esther	Est	19	5	2	he saw Esther, his queen, standing there without, and the sight of her won his heart. Out went the golden sceptre he bore, and as she drew near to kiss the tip of it,
 Esther	Est	19	5	3	Why, Esther, said he, what is thy errand? Ask me for half my kingdom, and it is thine.
 Esther	Est	19	5	4	My lord king, she answered, do me the honour of dining with me to-day; I have a feast prepared; and bring Aman with thee.
 Esther	Est	19	5	5	The king, without more ado, had Aman summoned to wait, there and then, on Esther’s pleasure; and both of them went to the feast she had prepared.
 Esther	Est	19	5	6	Deep drank the king that day, and said to Esther, What wouldst thou? Tell me what thy desire is? Be it half my kingdom, it shall not be denied thee.
 Esther	Est	19	5	7	What would I have? said she. I ask no more than this;
 Esther	Est	19	5	8	since the king’s grace is ready to humour my whim, to grant me what I ask, do me the favour to dine with me to-morrow, and Aman with thee; then I will make known to the royal ear what my request is.
 Esther	Est	19	5	9	A proud man was Aman that day, and he went home treading on air. But Mardochaeus still sat at the palace door; rise up he would not, nor stir from his post. And Aman, seeing it, fell into a rage.
 Esther	Est	19	5	10	He gave no mark of it then, but when he reached home he called all his friends about him, and his wife Zares among them,
 Esther	Est	19	5	11	and opened his mind. He recounted to them how great his wealth was, how many children were his, what honour the king had done him by promoting him to be the chief of all his nobles and courtiers.
 Esther	Est	19	5	12	More, he said; it was but this day queen Esther gave the king a banquet, and would have me and none other for his fellow-guest; to-morrow I must dine with her again, with the king present.
 Esther	Est	19	5	13	All this is mine, he said, and all this is nothing to me, while I yet see Mardochaeus sitting there at the palace gate.
 Esther	Est	19	5	14	But they had a remedy for this, his wife Zares and those friends of his. Have a gallows made, fifty cubits high, so that tomorrow thou canst bid the king have Mardochaeus hanged on it. Then thou mayst go light-hearted enough, to feast with the king. This counsel Aman liked well, and he gave his men orders to have a high gallows in readiness.
 Esther	Est	19	6	1	All that night the king could not sleep; so he would have the annals of his reign brought to him, the record of times past, and they began to read these out in his presence.
 Esther	Est	19	6	2	In the reading of them, they came upon the story of the plot made by two chamberlains, Bagathan and Thares, to murder the king, and how Mardochaeus gave information of it.
 Esther	Est	19	6	3	And for this loyalty, the king asked, what honours or rewards were given to Mardochaeus? But page and courtier were agreed, Mardochaeus was never the better for it.
 Esther	Est	19	6	4	Who is out there in the court? the king asked. It was Aman, come into the inner court to find audience with the king, and have Mardochaeus hanged on his gallows;
 Esther	Est	19	6	5	so when they told him it was Aman, Let him come in, the king said.
 Esther	Est	19	6	6	Aman, said Assuerus, when he came in, what should a king do, if his heart is set on raising one of his subjects to great honour? And Aman, casting about in his mind, could think of no other man that would be so marked out for the royal favour, but himself.
 Esther	Est	19	6	7	Why, said he, if such a man is to be honoured indeed,
 Esther	Est	19	6	8	he should be dressed in royal robes, mounted on the king’s own horse, and crowned with the royal crown;
 Esther	Est	19	6	9	and let him ride through the city streets, with the noblest of all the king’s vassals crying out at his bridle-rein, So he rides, whom most the king would honour.
 Esther	Est	19	6	10	Lose no time, then, the king answered; bring robe and horse, and do as much thyself for the Jew Mardochaeus, that sits there at the palace gates. And have a care that none of the ceremonies thou speakest of goes unobserved.
 Esther	Est	19	6	11	So Aman must bring robe and horse, must dress Mardochaeus and mount him, and then go through the city streets at his bridle-rein, crying out, So he rides, whom most the king would honour.
 Esther	Est	19	6	12	That done, Mardochaeus went back to his post at the palace gates, while Aman made the best of his way home, weeping loud and hiding away his head.
 Esther	Est	19	6	13	To his wife Zares and to all his friends he told the story of what befell; but from wife and counsellors he could get no comfort. If he is of the Jewish race, they said, this Mardochaeus who has begun to outmatch thee, thou wilt never get the better of him; yield to him thou must.
 Esther	Est	19	6	14	And even as they spoke, in came the royal chamberlains, and hurried him off to the feast the queen had prepared for him.
 Esther	Est	19	7	1	So met they once again, the king and Aman, over the queen’s wine.
 Esther	Est	19	7	2	And once again, his heart warmed by drinking, Assuerus would know what Esther’s mind might be; what was it she would have? Half of his kingdom should be hers for the asking.
 Esther	Est	19	7	3	My lord king, she said, if this is indeed thy gracious pleasure, one gift I would ask, my life; one boon, the preservation of my people.
 Esther	Est	19	7	4	Must we be crushed to nothing, I and my people; must we perish by massacre? To that we are doomed. If we were only marked down for slaves and bondwomen, our lot should be bravely borne; I would have nursed my grief in silence. But here is an enemy whose cruel designs concern the king’s grace.
 Esther	Est	19	7	5	Who is this man? Assuerus asked. Where is the insolence to be found that would make such an attempt as this?
 Esther	Est	19	7	6	One enemy we have, said Esther, one schemer’s malice we fear, and he is here in thy presence; Aman. Upon hearing this, Aman was struck dumb, and could look neither king nor queen in the eyes.
 Esther	Est	19	7	7	The king rose angrily from his place, left the banqueting-room, and went out to walk in the garden, among his trees. With that, Aman rose too, intent on winning his pardon from queen Esther; doubt he might not that the king was bent on his undoing.
 Esther	Est	19	7	8	Thus minded, he fell sprawling across the couch on which Esther lay; and so the king found him, when he returned from garden to banqueting-room. What, cried he, will he ravish the queen before my eyes, and in my own house? And before the words were out of his mouth Aman was gagged and blindfold.
 Esther	Est	19	7	9	And now Harbona, one of the chamberlains in attendance on the king’s person, came forward; What of the gallows, said he, fifty cubits high, that stands there by Aman’s house, ready for Mardochaeus, that saved the king’s life? Let Aman himself hang on it, said the king.
 Esther	Est	19	7	10	So Aman was hanged on the gallows he had raised for Mardochaeus; and with that, the king’s angry mood was appeased.
 Esther	Est	19	8	1	That same day, Assuerus made a present to Esther of Aman’s house, that was the Jews’ enemy, and gave audience to Mardochaeus; for now Esther had told him that this was her uncle.
 Esther	Est	19	8	2	He took back, too, the ring he had bade Aman wear, and gave it to Mardochaeus instead; and Mardochaeus was given charge of Esther’s house.
 Esther	Est	19	8	3	Nor would Esther be content, till she had fallen weeping at the king’s feet and prayed him to prevent the mischief Aman had thought to do by his false plotting against the Jews.
 Esther	Est	19	8	4	The golden sceptre was held out, in sign of the royal favour, and she rose to her feet and stood fronting him.
 Esther	Est	19	8	5	Please it the king’s grace, she said, to look favourably on my suit, and find nothing in it to his disadvantage. I would have new dispatches sent out, to revoke the order made by Aman, our crafty enemy, for the slaying of the Jews in all thy domains.
 Esther	Est	19	8	6	How can I bear to see my own people exterminated by massacre?
 Esther	Est	19	8	7	Nay, said the king to Esther and Mardochaeus; Aman’s house I have granted to Esther, and Aman himself I have sent to the gallows, for daring to lift his hand against the Jews.
 Esther	Est	19	8	8	But letters sent in the king’s name and signed with his ring, by the custom of the realm, none must ever revoke. Write rather in my name, under the royal seal, orders for the Jewish people to obey, in whatever sense likes you best.
 Esther	Est	19	8	9	So, on the twenty-third day of the third month, Siban, they summoned notary and scribe of the royal household, and at Mardochaeus’ bidding they issued orders to the Jewish people. Letters were sent to all the chieftains, governors and judges who ruled the hundred and twenty-seven provinces between India and Ethiopia, written to each province or tribe in the characters it used and in the language it spoke; to the Jews, in their own characters and their own language.
 Esther	Est	19	8	10	And these letters, written under the royal seal in the king’s name, were sent out by post-boys, that must carry them from province to province before the earlier decree could be executed.
 Esther	Est	19	8	11	City by city the Jews must be brought together, so that they could muster their whole number and fight for their lives. They might slay their enemies till they made an end of them, with their wives and children and all their households, and divide their goods as plunder.
 Esther	Est	19	8	12	The day fixed everywhere for this act of retribution was the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, Adar….
 Esther	Est	19	8	13	A copy of the letter warning the Jews everywhere in Assuerus’ empire, to be prepared for vengeance….
 Esther	Est	19	8	14	Swiftly the post-boys went about their errand, and in Susan the royal edict was hung up for all to see.
 Esther	Est	19	8	15	When Mardochaeus came out from his audience with the king, resplendent in royal robes of violet and white, a gold crown on his head, his cloak of purple and lawn, the whole city welcomed him with rejoicing and applause;
 Esther	Est	19	8	16	for the Jews, it was a dawn of new hope, a day of gladness and triumphant glory.
 Esther	Est	19	8	17	As each tribe, city and province received the royal letter, there was feasting and carousal and holiday; and many there were, of alien race and alien creed, that submitted themselves to Jewish rite and observance; such terror the name of Jewry struck into their hearts.
 Esther	Est	19	9	1	So Adar came, the last month of the year, and the thirteenth day of Adar. All preparations had been made, by blood-thirsty enemies, for a massacre of the Jews on that day, but instead, the Jews had the better of them, and could set about avenging themselves.
 Esther	Est	19	9	2	City by city, town by town, region by region they banded themselves together, ready to strike the first blow against the men that hated and persecuted them. None dared withstand them, so wide-spread the fear their rise to power had engendered;
 Esther	Est	19	9	3	judge and governor and chieftain, ruler and administrator everywhere had no praise too high for the Jewish people, for dread of Mardochaeus;
 Esther	Est	19	9	4	did he not hold the first place at court, high in the royal favour? Every day his fame grew, and he was in all men’s mouths.
 Esther	Est	19	9	5	Great havoc the Jews wrought among their enemies that day, slaying the very men who had marked them down for slaughter;
 Esther	Est	19	9	6	in Susan alone they put five hundred men to death, not counting the ten sons of Aman the Agagite. Ten sons he had,
 Esther	Est	19	9	7	Pharsandatha, Delphon, Esphatha,
 Esther	Est	19	9	8	Phoratha, Adalia, Aridatha,
 Esther	Est	19	9	9	Phermestha, Arisai, Adirai and Jezatha;
 Esther	Est	19	9	10	all these they slew, and would take nothing of theirs for plunder.
 Esther	Est	19	9	11	And now, learning the number of those who had been killed at Susan,
 Esther	Est	19	9	12	the king said to the queen, In Susan alone the Jews have slain five hundred men, and Aman’s ten sons besides; here is massacre indeed, if in all my dominions they have done the like. Tell me, what more wouldst thou have me do for thee?
 Esther	Est	19	9	13	Please it the king’s grace, she answered, let the Jews be free to continue this day’s work to-morrow; and let the bodies of Aman’s sons be hanged on gibbets.
 Esther	Est	19	9	14	So the king gave orders as she asked. No sooner was the decree posted up, than gallows were made for the bodies of Aman’s sons;
 Esther	Est	19	9	15	and on the fourteenth day of Adar the Jews mustered afresh, killing three hundred citizens of Susan, but taking nothing of theirs for plunder.
 Esther	Est	19	9	16	All over the king’s dominions, the Jews fought for their lives, and put to death the enemies that persecuted them, till seventy-five thousand of them lay slain, and no plunder taken.
 Esther	Est	19	9	17	Everywhere it was on the thirteenth of Adar they began laying about them, and next day they slew no more; so it was this day, the fourteenth, they made into a holiday, to be observed thenceforward with feast, and rejoicing, and carousal.
 Esther	Est	19	9	18	In the city of Susan itself, the killing went on for two days; it was the fifteenth day, when their work was over, that they set apart for feasting and merry-making;
 Esther	Est	19	9	19	but in the unwalled towns and villages round about, carouse and rejoicing and the sharing out of dainties began on the fourteenth.
 Esther	Est	19	9	20	So Mardochaeus wrote to all the king’s Jewish subjects, near and far,
 Esther	Est	19	9	21	setting all this out and bidding them observe both the fourteenth and the fifteenth, year by year,
 Esther	Est	19	9	22	as the days of Jewry’s vengeance, when weeping and lament gave place to mirth and gladness. There was to be feasting on both days, and on both days rejoicing; dainties should be exchanged, and gifts made to the poor.
 Esther	Est	19	9	23	So the will they then had and the orders Mardochaeus sent became a yearly rite;
 Esther	Est	19	9	24	to recall how Amadathi’s son, Aman the Agagite, thought to vent his enmity against the Jews by murderously destroying them, and how he consulted Pur, the lot;
 Esther	Est	19	9	25	how Esther sought audience with the king, praying for a royal decree that should thwart his design, and make his malice fall on his own head; and how Aman and his sons went to the gallows.
 Esther	Est	19	9	26	This feast has ever been known as the feast of Purim, because of Aman’s lot-taking. Here in this letter, nay, this book you have been reading, the whole story has been set out, deeds done,
 Esther	Est	19	9	27	griefs borne, and strange vicissitudes. And the Jews pledged themselves and their children, with all who in after times should seek admission to their way of worship, to observe two days in each year, at the fixed time by this record determined.
 Esther	Est	19	9	28	Never must the observance die out with the passing of years, where there are Jews living in any part of the world; in every city the feast of Lots must be kept by the Jews, and by all those on whom their ancestral customs are binding.
 Esther	Est	19	9	29	There was a second letter written by queen Esther, Abihail’s daughter, and the Jew Mardochaeus, confirming this ordinance for ever;
 Esther	Est	19	9	30	it went out to all the Jews in the hundred and twenty-seven provinces of Assuerus’ realm, wishing them health and assuring them that they had her warrant
 Esther	Est	19	9	31	for keeping Purim feast with yearly rejoicing. And they, at the bidding of Mardochaeus and Esther, bound themselves and their children to keep it in mind; the fasting, and the cries for aid, the casting of the lots,
 Esther	Est	19	9	32	and all else that is recorded in this book, the book of Esther.
 Esther	Est	19	10	1	This Assuerus received tribute from the whole mainland, and from the islands out at sea;
 Esther	Est	19	10	2	how great his reign was, you may learn from the Annals of the Medes and Persians. There, too, you will read of the high honours to which he raised Mardochaeus;
 Esther	Est	19	10	3	how Mardochaeus, a Jew, became next in rank to the king himself, a great name among Jewish names, a man well loved by his fellows, that sought his people’s good and brought blessings on their race.…
 Esther	Est	19	10	4	All this has been God’s doing, Mardochaeus said.
 Esther	Est	19	10	5	I have not forgotten the dream I had, and all this was foretold in it; not a word but has come true.
 Esther	Est	19	10	6	I dreamt of a little spring that grew into a river, spreading out into sun and sunlight, and so went rolling on in full tide. This was Esther, the king’s bride that became his queen.
 Esther	Est	19	10	7	I dreamt of two dragons; of these, I was one, and Aman the other.
 Esther	Est	19	10	8	I dreamt of nations mustering for battle; these were the men that would have blotted out the Jewish name.
 Esther	Est	19	10	9	And the single nation in my dream was Israel; did not Israel cry out to the Lord, and win his protection, win deliverance from its wrongs? Wondrous proof he gave of his power, for all the world to see.
 Esther	Est	19	10	10	Two dooms he ordained, one for God’s people and one for the Gentiles,
 Esther	Est	19	10	11	and either should take effect, all the world over, after an interval of time divinely decreed;
 Esther	Est	19	10	12	then it was the Lord shewed he remembered his own people still, pitied his own servants still.
 Esther	Est	19	10	13	With eager and glad hearts all must come together and observe that time, the fourteenth and fifteenth days of Adar, as long as Israel’s race shall last.
 Esther	Est	19	11	1	This document about the feast of Purim, said to have been translated by Lysimachus son of Ptolemy, a native of Jerusalem, was first made public in the fourth year of king Ptolemy and queen Cleopatra, by Dosithaeus, who claimed to be a priest of true Levite descent, and his son, who was also called Ptolemy.
 Esther	Est	19	11	2	On the first day of the month Nisan, in the second year of the great Artaxerxes, a vision came in a dream to Mardochaeus the Benjamite, who was descended from Cis through Jairi and Semei.
 Esther	Est	19	11	3	Although a Jew, he dwelt at Susan, and was a man of consequence in the royal court;
 Esther	Est	19	11	4	he belonged to that band of exiles who were carried off from Jerusalem by Nabuchodonosor, king of Babylon, together with the king of Juda, Jechonias.
 Esther	Est	19	11	5	His dream was this: Mutterings and uproar at first, thunder and earthquake, and commotion all over the world,
 Esther	Est	19	11	6	and from these two dragons disengaged themselves, ready to join battle.
 Esther	Est	19	11	7	Roused by their clamour, the whole world rose to levy war against one innocent nation;
 Esther	Est	19	11	8	it was a time of darkness and of peril, of affliction and sore need, and great fear brooded over all the earth.
 Esther	Est	19	11	9	Then this innocent nation, terrified by the misfortunes which threatened it, already marked down to die,
 Esther	Est	19	11	10	cried out to the Lord. And at their cry, a great river grew out of a little spring, and rolled on in full flood;
 Esther	Est	19	11	11	the sun returned, and the sunlight, the weak triumphed now, and tyranny fell a prey to their onslaught.
 Esther	Est	19	11	12	All this Mardochaeus saw, and rose from his bed still wondering what the divine purpose was; still the vision haunted his mind, and he longed to know what was the meaning of it.
 Esther	Est	19	12	1	… At this time his days were passed at the king’s palace, and two of the royal chamberlains, Bagatha and Thara, were much in his company.
 Esther	Est	19	12	2	When he came to know their minds better, and read the secret of their ambitions, he became aware that they were plotting against the king’s life, and warned the king of his danger.
 Esther	Est	19	12	3	Both, upon examination, confessed their guilt, and were sent to execution;
 Esther	Est	19	12	4	and the king had the story recorded in his archives; Mardochaeus himself has also left an account of it.
 Esther	Est	19	12	5	The royal orders were, that he should be rewarded for the information given, and lodged at the palace;
 Esther	Est	19	12	6	but already he had an enemy, Aman son of Amadathi, the Bugaean. This Aman was in high favour with the king, and owed both Mardochaeus and his nation a grudge for bringing the two chamberlains to their death. Here is a copy of the letter.)
 Esther	Est	19	13	1	The great king Artaxerxes, to the governors of the hundred and twenty-seven provinces between India and Ethiopia, and to all his vassal chiefs, sends greeting.
 Esther	Est	19	13	2	Wide as I rule, the world’s conqueror, I would not abuse this great power of mine; mild and indulgent my sway should be, and my subjects live in undisturbed tranquillity; peace is man’s greatest boon.
 Esther	Est	19	13	3	So I asked my counsellors how this end might best be achieved; and among them Aman, who ranks next to my person; no counsellor so wise or so trusty as he.
 Esther	Est	19	13	4	He it was told me of a race scattered about the world that lives by strange laws, and usages unknown to the rest of mankind; thinks lightly of the royal decrees, and by dissenting from them mars the concord of nations.
 Esther	Est	19	13	5	Strange news, that one people should revolt against the whole of mankind; should follow misguided customs, slight our edicts, and disturb the peaceful order of our empire!
 Esther	Est	19	13	6	This Aman, next to the king in dignity, is one we reverence like a father; in all our provinces, he is supreme. He will name the malefactors, who must be put to death with their wives and children, and no mercy shewn, on the fourteenth of Adar in this present year.
 Esther	Est	19	13	7	In one day let them all be hurried to the grave, so that our realm may recover the peace they have denied it.
 Esther	Est	19	13	8	So Mardochaeus bethought him of all the Lord’s great deeds in time past,
 Esther	Est	19	13	9	and thus he prayed: O Lord, thou art the sovereign Lord and King of all things; nothing but is subject to thy power; who then can withstand thy will, if thou art minded to deliver Israel?
 Esther	Est	19	13	10	Heaven and earth and all that heaven’s vault contains is thy creation;
 Esther	Est	19	13	11	thy dominion is universal, thy royalty unchallengeable.
 Esther	Est	19	13	12	Thou knowest, who knowest all things, that if I refused proud Aman yonder my greeting, it was no pride of mine, no scorn, no ambition of mine that moved me.
 Esther	Est	19	13	13	For Israel’s sake, willingly enough would I kiss the dust his feet have trodden,
 Esther	Est	19	13	14	did not fear withhold me from giving man that reverence which is God’s due, from worshipping aught else than thee, my God.
 Esther	Est	19	13	15	God of Abraham, our Lord and King, now as ever have mercy on thy people, now when our enemies threaten to destroy us, and put an end to thy ancient right.
 Esther	Est	19	13	16	Wilt thou make so little of the possession thou didst win for thyself in Egypt?
 Esther	Est	19	13	17	Nay, listen to my prayer, have mercy on the people thou claimest for thy own; turn our sadness, Lord, into rejoicing, and let us live to bless thy name; do not silence the lips that sing thy praise.
 Esther	Est	19	13	18	Such was the mind, such was the prayer of all Israel, as they cried out to the Lord that day, with doom hanging over their heads.
 Esther	Est	19	14	1	And what of queen Esther? She too had recourse to the Lord, in her fear of the danger that threatened.
 Esther	Est	19	14	2	Laid aside were those royal robes of hers, her array must tell only of grief and lament; dust and dung should be all her anointing now. Her body she tamed with fasting; only her torn locks hung where once she had loved to adorn her beauty.
 Esther	Est	19	14	3	In such guise she made her plea to the Lord, the God of Israel; Lord, our King, thou reignest alone; befriend a lonely heart that can find help nowhere but in thee.
 Esther	Est	19	14	4	The peril I must take upon me is plain to view.
 Esther	Est	19	14	5	Lord, my childhood’s lessons are still unforgotten; I know that Israel, for all time, is the people of thy choice, chosen stock of a chosen race; I know that thy warnings have come true,
 Esther	Est	19	14	6	and if thou hast given our enemies the mastery, it is because we sinned against thee,
 Esther	Est	19	14	7	by worshipping the gods they worshipped; in all this, Lord, thou art nothing to blame.
 Esther	Est	19	14	8	But now they are not content with holding us down under a cruel yoke; strong in the fancied protection of these false gods,
 Esther	Est	19	14	9	they would fain set all thy promises aside, leave thee no possession on earth at all. They would silence the voices that praise thee, dim the glories of thy temple and thy altar;
 Esther	Est	19	14	10	nothing must be heard but the chant of the Gentiles boasting of their false gods, offering their endless praises to a mortal king.
 Esther	Est	19	14	11	Lord, wilt thou yield thy sceptre to gods that are no gods? Must the heathen laugh over our downfall? Let their own scheming recoil on them; bring him to a swift end, the man who has loosed his fury on us!
 Esther	Est	19	14	12	Lord, bethink thee of our need, give proof of thy power; Lord, that hast no rival in heaven or earth, grant me confidence.
 Esther	Est	19	14	13	Frame my utterance, as I speak with this fierce lord of mine, and embitter him against our enemy, bringing ruin on Aman and all that take Aman’s part.
 Esther	Est	19	14	14	So let thy power deliver us; grant help where help save thine is none. Lord, thou knowest all things;
 Esther	Est	19	14	15	thou knowest how I hate the splendours of a godless court, how unwillingly I mate with an alien lord, a lord uncircumcised.
 Esther	Est	19	14	16	The sport of ill-chance, how little I love the proud emblem of royalty I must wear before the world! Loathsome to me as the rags we women cast aside, how gladly I tear it from my brow, in this cool hour!
 Esther	Est	19	14	17	At Aman’s board I would never sit; even the king’s banquets have no taste for me, nor would I drink the wine from which he pours libation.
 Esther	Est	19	14	18	Ever since they brought me here, comfort thy handmaid had none, Lord God of Abraham, save in thee!
 Esther	Est	19	14	19	Lord, that hast power over all men, listen to this cry of despair; save us all from the clutches of our enemies, and rid me of these fears that daunt me!
 Esther	Est	19	15	1	… So he bade her claim audience with the king, and intercede for her people and for her country.
 Esther	Est	19	15	2	Remember, said he, the days of thy humbler fortunes, and how it was my care nurtured thee. Now thou art matched against Aman, that is next to the king’s person; he pleads for our overthrow, and it is thine to plead for our preservation.
 Esther	Est	19	15	3	Ask aid of the Lord, and seek the king’s audience….
 Esther	Est	19	15	4	When the third day came, she laid aside the garb of prayer, and put on all her fine array,
 Esther	Est	19	15	5	queenly robes that dazzled the eye. One prayer she offered to the God who alone rules, alone can save; then bade two of her waiting-maids bear her company.
 Esther	Est	19	15	6	On one she leant, as though her dainty form must needs be supported;
 Esther	Est	19	15	7	the other followed her mistress as train-bearer.
 Esther	Est	19	15	8	Alluring beauty of flushed cheek and shining eye hid a heart grief-stricken, a heart chilled with an overwhelming fear.
 Esther	Est	19	15	9	Door after door she passed, till she reached the king’s presence, where he sat on his royal throne, royally clad, amid a glitter of gold and jewels; terrible of mien.
 Esther	Est	19	15	10	No sooner had he looked up, his fiery glance betraying his angry humour, than the queen swooned away; white went her cheeks, as she leaned her head, fainting, on the maid that stood by.
 Esther	Est	19	15	11	And now God changed the king’s mood all at once to mildness; he started from his throne in trembling haste, and was fain to hold her in his arms till she came to herself; and still with soothing words he reassured her:
 Esther	Est	19	15	12	Esther, what is amiss with thee? Were I thy own brother, thou hadst not less cause to fear.
 Esther	Est	19	15	13	Thy life is safe; to others the law forbids entry, never to thee;
 Esther	Est	19	15	14	thou hast but to come near, and touch my sceptre.
 Esther	Est	19	15	15	And with that, for she was voiceless still, he raised his golden sceptre and touched her neck with it; then kissed her, and asked, What, hast thou no word for me?
 Esther	Est	19	15	16	My lord, she said, the sight of thee overawed me, as if I had seen one of God’s angels; such reverence does thy majesty inspire.
 Esther	Est	19	15	17	For indeed, my lord, there is nothing about thee but must be admired, nothing in thy looks but is gracious.
 Esther	Est	19	15	18	Even as she spoke, once again her strength failed her; and she was near to fainting;
 Esther	Est	19	15	19	the king was all anxiety, and his courtiers must needs come about him, seeking to allay her fears.
 Esther	Est	19	16	1	The great king Artaxerxes, to the governors of the hundred and twenty-seven provinces between India and Ethiopia, and to all his vassal chiefs, sends greeting.
 Esther	Est	19	16	2	The favour of princes has often bred insolence in those whom they advanced to high rank;
 Esther	Est	19	16	3	they oppress their fellow-subjects, and are even prompted by their good fortune to plot against the authors of it;
 Esther	Est	19	16	4	deaf to the claims of gratitude and of humanity, they think to escape the all-seeing scrutiny of God.
 Esther	Est	19	16	5	A madness comes over them, and they assail with false charges the very men who win the praise of all by faithfulness to their duties;
 Esther	Est	19	16	6	what easier, than to abuse with calumny the confidence of an unsuspecting ruler, who fancies all men to be as honest as himself?
 Esther	Est	19	16	7	That men will so practise on the credulity of princes is evident both from history and from daily experience;
 Esther	Est	19	16	8	no little foresight is needed, if the welfare of a great empire is to be preserved.
 Esther	Est	19	16	9	The orders given yesterday must be reversed to-day; not from any caprice of ours, but because we have to consider the changing needs of the moment, in the best interests of the commonwealth.
 Esther	Est	19	16	10	But to our matter. We took under our protection, some time since, one Aman, son of Amadathi, a stranger; a Macedonian by race, with no share of our Persian blood, a Macedonian in his nature, whose cruel temper sorts ill with our Persian kindliness.
 Esther	Est	19	16	11	He received from us nothing but friendly usage; we would have him called our father, we would have reverence paid to him as one that stood next to the king’s person.
 Esther	Est	19	16	12	And he? So was his heart swelled with pride, that he went about to deprive us of our royalty, and of life itself.
 Esther	Est	19	16	13	First, with daring unheard-of, he would compass the death of two persons, through the general massacre of their race; Mardochaeus, to whose loyalty we owe life itself, and Esther, the queen-consort of our realm.
 Esther	Est	19	16	14	Then, when their deaths had left us unbefriended, he would plot against our own empire and transfer it to the Macedonians.
 Esther	Est	19	16	15	Meanwhile, the race this inhuman wretch had marked down for slaughter, the Jewish race, proves to have deserved no blame whatever. The laws they follow are just;
 Esther	Est	19	16	16	they are the children of that most high, most powerful and ever-living God by whose favour my fathers won this realm, and I maintain it.
 Esther	Est	19	16	17	Take note, then, that the directions which were sent out by Aman under our name are to be left unheeded.
 Esther	Est	19	16	18	He, the author of this plot, hangs now on a gibbet, here at the gates of Susan, with all his kindred; to God, not to us, thanks are due that he has received his deserts.
 Esther	Est	19	16	19	The decree we are now sending you, giving the Jews liberty to follow their own laws, is to be posted up in every city of the realm;
 Esther	Est	19	16	20	and you must furnish them with the means to make an end of all those who would have compassed their murder, on the thirteenth day of Adar, the last month of the year.
 Esther	Est	19	16	21	Here is a day marked down for mourning and lament, turned by God Almighty into a day of triumph for them;
 Esther	Est	19	16	22	you too must keep it as one of the year’s holidays, and observe it with due rejoicing; so making it known to posterity
 Esther	Est	19	16	23	that Persia’s loyal subjects are well rewarded for their loyalty, and that all who plot against her sovereignty atone for their crime with death.
 Esther	Est	19	16	24	Be there province or city that will not take its part in this observance, let it be laid waste with fire and sword; man nor beast shall tread its ways hereafter; to warn men what doom they suffer, that set edict of ours at defiance.
 Job	Job	20	1	1	There was a man dwelling in the land of Hus once, Job was the name of him, that was true and honest; ever he feared God, and kept far from wrong-doing.
 Job	Job	20	1	2	Seven sons he had, and three daughters;
 Job	Job	20	1	3	and for wealth, he had seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred she-asses, and servants a many; in all the East none was Job’s rival.
 Job	Job	20	1	4	And this custom his sons had in feasting, each invited the rest in turn; at such times they would send for their three sisters to eat and drink beside them.
 Job	Job	20	1	5	And ever when their week of feasting was over, Job would send for them, and have them rid of all defilement; next morning, it was his first care to offer burnt-sacrifice for each of them. Who knows, thought he, but they may have committed some fault, these children of mine? Who knows but they may have slighted God in their secret thoughts? Never would he let the day pass without burnt-sacrifice.
 Job	Job	20	1	6	One day, when the heavenly powers stood waiting upon the Lord’s presence, and among them, man’s Enemy,
 Job	Job	20	1	7	the Lord asked him, where he had been? Roaming about the earth, said he, to and fro about the earth.
 Job	Job	20	1	8	Why then, the Lord said, thou hast seen a servant of mine called Job. Here is a true man, an honest man, none like him on earth; ever he fears his God, and keeps far from wrong-doing.
 Job	Job	20	1	9	Job fears his God, the Enemy answered, and loses nothing by it.
 Job	Job	20	1	10	Sheltered his life by thy protection, sheltered his home, his property; thy blessing on all he undertakes; worldly goods that still go on increasing; he loses nothing.
 Job	Job	20	1	11	One little touch of thy hand, assailing all that wealth of his! Then see how he will turn and blaspheme thee.
 Job	Job	20	1	12	Be it so, the Lord answered; with all his possessions do what thou wilt, so thou leave himself unharmed. And with that, the Enemy left the Lord’s presence, and withdrew.
 Job	Job	20	1	13	And now it was the turn of Job’s children to sit over their feasting and their wine at the house of the eldest brother.
 Job	Job	20	1	14	That day, a messenger brought Job news of his oxen and asses. The oxen were a-ploughing, said he, and the asses grazing near them,
 Job	Job	20	1	15	when on a sudden a band of Sabæans swept down on them, and carried all away. As for thy men, the Sabæans put them to the sword, and none lives to tell the tale but I.
 Job	Job	20	1	16	Even as he spoke, another messenger came in with news of the sheep, how God’s lightning had fallen, devouring sheep and shepherd, so that none was left to tell the tale but he.
 Job	Job	20	1	17	And upon the heels of that, in came a third to say that robbers from Chaldæa, in three several bands, had closed in upon the camels and driven them away, killing the men who tended them, so that none was left to tell the tale but he.
 Job	Job	20	1	18	And before this one had finished his story, a fourth messenger came in. I come, said he, from thy eldest son’s house, where but now thy sons and daughters sat at their feasting and their wine.
 Job	Job	20	1	19	All on a sudden, came a tempestuous wind from across the desert, and beat so on every corner of the house that it fell in, crushing thy children to death amid the ruins of it; none lives to tell the tale but I.
 Job	Job	20	1	20	Then rose up Job, and rent his garments about him; and he shaved his head bare, and fell down to earth to do reverence.
 Job	Job	20	1	21	Naked I came, said he, when I left my mother’s womb, and whence I came, naked I must go. The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away; nothing is here befallen but what was the Lord’s will; blessed be the name of the Lord.
 Job	Job	20	1	22	In all this, Job guarded his lips well, nor challenged with human folly God’s wisdom.
 Job	Job	20	2	1	Once again the heavenly powers came to wait upon the Lord’s presence; and there, waiting with the rest of them, was the Enemy of man.
 Job	Job	20	2	2	And of his travels he still said the same; he had been roaming about the earth, to and fro about the earth.
 Job	Job	20	2	3	Why then, the Lord said, thou hast seen for thyself that this servant of mine, Job, has not his like on earth; a man so true and honest, ever fearing his God, and keeping far from wrong-doing. And still he maintains his innocence. Shame it is that thou hast set me on to do him a mischief, and all to no purpose.
 Job	Job	20	2	4	Nay, answered the Enemy, skin must suffer before skin grieves. Nothing a man owns, but he will part with it to keep his skin whole.
 Job	Job	20	2	5	That hand of thine, let it fall on bone of his, flesh of his; see if he does not turn and blaspheme thee.
 Job	Job	20	2	6	And thereupon said the Lord to man’s Enemy, Have what power over him thou wilt, so his life be kept safe in him.
 Job	Job	20	2	7	And with that, the Enemy left the Lord’s presence, and withdrew. And cruelly he smote Job; smote him with the foul scab from head to foot,
 Job	Job	20	2	8	so that he was fain to sit him down on the dung-hill, and scratch himself with a shard where he itched.
 Job	Job	20	2	9	Little comfort his own wife gave him; What, she said, still maintaining thy innocence? Better thou shouldst renounce God, and have done with living.
 Job	Job	20	2	10	Spoken like a foolish wife, Job answered. What, should we accept the good fortune God sends us, and not the ill? So well, even now, did Job guard his lips.
 Job	Job	20	2	11	News of the calamity that had befallen him reached three of his friends, Eliphaz the Themanite, Baldad the Suhite, and Sophar the Naamathite. From their far homes all, by agreement made, came to visit him, and give him comfort.
 Job	Job	20	2	12	Scarcely, upon a distant view, could they recognize him; loud they cried out, and sore they wept, tore their garments about them and threw the dust over their heads heaven-high.
 Job	Job	20	2	13	And for seven days and seven nights they sat there on the ground beside him, and no word spoken; here, they saw plainly, was overmastering grief.
 Job	Job	20	3	1	At last, Job himself broke into utterance, and fell to cursing the day on which he was born.
 Job	Job	20	3	2	And this was his plaint:
 Job	Job	20	3	3	Blotted out for ever be the day of my birth; that night, too, which gave word that a human life had been conceived in the womb!
 Job	Job	20	3	4	Plunged be that day in darkness; may God on high forget it, and grant it never shine of sun;
 Job	Job	20	3	5	shades, like the shades of death, claim it for their own; deep gloom lie heavy on it, and wrap it all in desolation.
 Job	Job	20	3	6	Shrouded be that night in a black storm, let it not be reckoned among the days of the year, nor marked in the moon’s calendar;
 Job	Job	20	3	7	a night doomed to exile, a night that never wakes the sound of praise.
 Job	Job	20	3	8	Wizards that can overcast the sun, and rouse old Chaos from his lair, on that night lay your ban;
 Job	Job	20	3	9	blacken its starlight, let it wait for the morning light, and see it never, nor break of rising dawn;
 Job	Job	20	3	10	the night that should have closed the doors of the womb against me, shut these eyes forever to sights of woe!
 Job	Job	20	3	11	Had but the womb been the tomb of me, had I died at birth,
 Job	Job	20	3	12	had no lap ever cherished me, no breast suckled me,
 Job	Job	20	3	13	all would be rest now, all would be silence. Deeply I would take my repose,
 Job	Job	20	3	14	with the old kings and senators, that once restored cities for their whim,
 Job	Job	20	3	15	the chieftains that had such wealth of gold, houses full of silver;
 Job	Job	20	3	16	with babe still-born and babe unborn, hidden away in the sunless grave.
 Job	Job	20	3	17	There the unquietness of the wicked is stilled, and the weary are at rest;
 Job	Job	20	3	18	untroubled the thrall sleeps, his tyrant’s bidding cannot reach him now;
 Job	Job	20	3	19	master and slave are there, and the slave masterless.
 Job	Job	20	3	20	Why should they see the light, that groan to see it; why should they live, that must live in bitterness of soul?
 Job	Job	20	3	21	Why should they be like treasure-seekers, longing for the death that still cheats them,
 Job	Job	20	3	22	a grave the prize they covet?
 Job	Job	20	3	23	Such men as I, that must tread blindfold in a maze of God’s making!
 Job	Job	20	3	24	Ever as I sit down to meat the sighs come, grief floods over me unrestrained.
 Job	Job	20	3	25	Must I have nothing left to daunt me? Must each calamity be felt as soon as feared?
 Job	Job	20	3	26	And still I kept my own counsel, still patient and silent I, till my angry mood overcame me at last.
 Job	Job	20	4	1	Thereupon Eliphaz the Themanite made answer:
 Job	Job	20	4	2	Speak we, it may be thou wilt take our words amiss, yet speech will out.
 Job	Job	20	4	3	Well thou knewest how to teach others, strengthen the drooping hands,
 Job	Job	20	4	4	give courage to the waverer, support to flagging knees, by counsel of thine.
 Job	Job	20	4	5	Now the blow has fallen on thyself, and thy strength is gone; the nearer neighbourhood of misfortune unmans thee.
 Job	Job	20	4	6	No more we hear now of that fear of God, that life perfectly lived, which once gave thee confidence, gave thee strength to endure!
 Job	Job	20	4	7	And, sure enough, ruin never fell yet on the innocent; never yet was an upright soul lost to memory.
 Job	Job	20	4	8	The men that traffic in wrong-doing, that sow a crop of mischief they themselves must reap at last, these I have seen undone;
 Job	Job	20	4	9	one breath, one blast of the divine anger withers them quite, and they are gone.
 Job	Job	20	4	10	Roar lion and growl lioness, the fangs of the lion-cubs will yet be shattered.
 Job	Job	20	4	11	For lack of prey, the tiger goes his way at last, the young lions wander wide.
 Job	Job	20	4	12	Listen; here is a secret that was made known to me; it was but the breath of a whisper overheard.
 Job	Job	20	4	13	It was the hour when night visions breed disquiet, as men lie chained by sleep;
 Job	Job	20	4	14	fear took hold of me, a fit of trembling that thrilled my whole frame,
 Job	Job	20	4	15	and made every hair bristle. All at once a spirit came beside me and stopped; there it stood,
 Job	Job	20	4	16	no face I knew, yet I could see the form of it, and catch its voice, light as a rustling breeze.
 Job	Job	20	4	17	Can man have right on his side, the voice asked, when he is matched with God? Can a mortal creature shew blameless in its Creator’s presence?
 Job	Job	20	4	18	Nay, in his own retinue God finds loyalty wanting; angels may err.
 Job	Job	20	4	19	What, then, of Man, earth-bound in his house of clay, eaten away by the moth of time?
 Job	Job	20	4	20	What of Man, cut down between morn and eve, doomed to perish unregarded,
 Job	Job	20	4	21	even the straggler marching on at last? Will he not die before he learns wisdom?
 Job	Job	20	5	1	Who will listen to thy plaint against God? Wilt thou turn to one of his angels for redress?
 Job	Job	20	5	2	Impatience is a great murderer of fools; in their simpleness of heart, they repine at the injury, to their ruin.
 Job	Job	20	5	3	Never yet did I see a fool secure in his possessions but I prophesied disaster, there and then, for his fair prospects.
 Job	Job	20	5	4	And still would I see his children bereft of hope, ground down by false judgement, and none to bring redress;
 Job	Job	20	5	5	his harvest a prey for hungry neighbours, himself for the armed robber, his wealth drunk up by thirsty mouths.
 Job	Job	20	5	6	Never was ill without a cause; never did mischief spring up self-sown.
 Job	Job	20	5	7	Man’s bent is for mischief, as sure as birds will fly.
 Job	Job	20	5	8	Wiser counsels for me; to the Lord himself my plaint shall be made, of God himself I will seek audience.
 Job	Job	20	5	9	His magnificent counsels none may fathom, none reckon up his marvellous deeds.
 Job	Job	20	5	10	His to grant the parched earth rain, watering the countryside;
 Job	Job	20	5	11	his to exalt men of low esteem, to comfort the mourner with new hope.
 Job	Job	20	5	12	Through him the crafty schemer is baulked of his aims;
 Job	Job	20	5	13	cunning overreaches itself, and knavish plots are scattered to the winds;
 Job	Job	20	5	14	wise fools, that blink in daylight, and grope their way blindly at full noon!
 Job	Job	20	5	15	So, from their slander and their violence, he rescues the poor and the unbefriended;
 Job	Job	20	5	16	now, misery, take heart, let malice stand dumb with confusion!
 Job	Job	20	5	17	Happy the man, whom God chastens for his faults! The correction he sends thee never, on thy life, refuse.
 Job	Job	20	5	18	Wounds he, it is but to heal; the same hand, which smote, shall medicine thee.
 Job	Job	20	5	19	So in six perils thou shalt go unharmed, and find yet one deliverance more;
 Job	Job	20	5	20	hunger shall not starve thee, sword wound thee,
 Job	Job	20	5	21	slander find thee out, havoc reach thee;
 Job	Job	20	5	22	rapine and dearth thou shalt defy. And besides all this, ravening beasts shall not daunt thee;
 Job	Job	20	5	23	friendly soil for thee are the desert rocks, and the wild things are in league with thee;
 Job	Job	20	5	24	secure thou shalt keep thy tent, or visit thy fair lands, and nought shall go amiss.
 Job	Job	20	5	25	Be sure that thy posterity will increase; like the green grass thy race shall flourish;
 Job	Job	20	5	26	and when go to the grave thou must, it shall be with strength undiminished, like ripe corn at harvest-home.
 Job	Job	20	5	27	Here are thoughts tested and found true; well for thee if thou wilt heed them, and ponder them in thy heart.
 Job	Job	20	6	1	But Job answered:
 Job	Job	20	6	2	Oh that I had such a pair of scales as might weigh provocation of mine against the ills I suffer!
 Job	Job	20	6	3	The sand on the shore of ocean could not match the burden of them, and do you wonder that my utterance is all reproach?
 Job	Job	20	6	4	Deep the Lord’s arrows rankle in me, draining my life; all his terrors are arrayed against me.
 Job	Job	20	6	5	Brays the wild ass, be sure he lacks pasture; lows the ox, he stands before an empty crib.
 Job	Job	20	6	6	Would you have me relish food unseasoned, lick my lips over the taste that brings death?
 Job	Job	20	6	7	The food I had no stomach for, in my hard straits eat I must.
 Job	Job	20	6	8	Might it be granted, this is the boon I long for, this the request I would make of God,
 Job	Job	20	6	9	that he would finish what he has begun, crush me altogether, strike a full blow and make an end of me!
 Job	Job	20	6	10	Consolation enough, if he will but torment me to my death; no repining, then, against his will!
 Job	Job	20	6	11	In what strength should I hold out? In what hope repose?
 Job	Job	20	6	12	Have I the endurance of flint? Is my flesh brass?
 Job	Job	20	6	13	Help in myself is none; human aid keeps its distance from me now.
 Job	Job	20	6	14	Nay, who defies the Lord’s vengeance more surely than friend who refuses compassion to a friend?
 Job	Job	20	6	15	See how the men that are my brothers have failed me, fickle as the mountain brooks that run headlong down their ravines;
 Job	Job	20	6	16	first shrivelled with frost, then piled high with snow,
 Job	Job	20	6	17	then, when the snows melt, gone, vanished away at the first touch of the heat!
 Job	Job	20	6	18	This way and that their winding channels turn, but all to no purpose, all are lost to view.
 Job	Job	20	6	19	They must take heed, now, that would pass by Thema, and travel into Saba; they must wait awhile on their journey.
 Job	Job	20	6	20	Some hope I had in my friends, but all is disappointment; with eyes that will not meet mine, they come to visit me.
 Job	Job	20	6	21	Ay, you have come, but finding me so sorely smitten you dread my company.
 Job	Job	20	6	22	It was little enough I asked; I never bade you diminish your own wealth by bringing gifts to me,
 Job	Job	20	6	23	never begged your aid to rid me of some enemy that was too strong for me.
 Job	Job	20	6	24	Come, be my instructors; I will hear you out in silence; tell me what is the fault I have committed, all unknowing?
 Job	Job	20	6	25	Ill fare the claims of truth with such as you; not one of you can shew me in the wrong,
 Job	Job	20	6	26	yet for very love of reproof you must be reproving still, all your words wasted on the air.
 Job	Job	20	6	27	Is it well done, to make a prey of the defenceless, to conspire against the good name of your friend?
 Job	Job	20	6	28	Browbeat me, then, at your pleasure; try if close scrutiny can prove me false;
 Job	Job	20	6	29	only let there be no contentiousness in your pleadings; in all honesty bring your complaint.
 Job	Job	20	6	30	You will not fasten guilt on any word of mine; reckless utterance never these lips shall frame.
 Job	Job	20	7	1	What is man’s life on earth but a campaigning? Like a hired drudge, he passes his time away;
 Job	Job	20	7	2	nor ever was slave so weary, longing for the shade, or drudge so weary, waiting to earn his hire,
 Job	Job	20	7	3	as I have been, counting these months of emptiness, these nights that never brought rest.
 Job	Job	20	7	4	Lie I down to sleep, I weary to be up with the day; comes the day, I weary for the evening, comfortless until dark.
 Job	Job	20	7	5	Overgrown my flesh with worms, matted with dust; my skin dried up and shrivelled.
 Job	Job	20	7	6	Frail as the weaver’s thread my years vanish away, spent without hope.
 Job	Job	20	7	7	Bethink thee, Lord, it is but a breath, this life of mine, and I shall look on this fair world but once;
 Job	Job	20	7	8	when that is done, men will see me no more, and thou as nothing.
 Job	Job	20	7	9	Like a cloud dislimned in passing, man goes to his grave never to return;
 Job	Job	20	7	10	never again the home-coming, never shall tidings of him reach the haunts he knew.
 Job	Job	20	7	11	And should I utter no word? Nay, the crushed spirit will find a voice, the embittered heart will not keep its own counsel.
 Job	Job	20	7	12	Am I a raging sea, a ravening monster, that thou guardest me so close?
 Job	Job	20	7	13	When I would find rest on my pillow, take refuge in night thoughts,
 Job	Job	20	7	14	what dreams thou sendest to daunt me, what sights of terror to unman me!
 Job	Job	20	7	15	The rope for me! Death only will content this frame.
 Job	Job	20	7	16	To despair I yield myself, I will live on no more; loose thy hold of me; this life of mine is but the shadow of a life.
 Job	Job	20	7	17	Why is it that thou wilt make so noble a thing of man, wilt pay so much heed to him?
 Job	Job	20	7	18	Never a day dawns but thou wilt surprise him at his post; never a moment when thou art not making proof of him.
 Job	Job	20	7	19	Nay, gaze on me no more; leave me, though it were but for a breathing-space, to myself!
 Job	Job	20	7	20	If sinned I have, does human act of mine claim thy watchful regard? Must my path always cross thine, my life always be a burden to me?
 Job	Job	20	7	21	Would it cost thee much to forgive sin of mine, pass over fault of mine, when I, so soon, shall be lying in the dust, missing at my post, as thou makest thy rounds at dawn?
 Job	Job	20	8	1	Then answered Baldad the Suhite:
 Job	Job	20	8	2	What, still at thy old complaining; blustering still, like a high wind, on and on?
 Job	Job	20	8	3	Can sentence undeserved come from God, unjust award from the Almighty?
 Job	Job	20	8	4	What if these children of thine committed some fault, and he allowed justice to take its course?
 Job	Job	20	8	5	For thyself, thou hast but to keep early tryst with God, make thy plea to his omnipotence.
 Job	Job	20	8	6	Then, if thou comest before him innocent and upright, he will give thee audience betimes; he will establish thee in thy possessions again, as one that enjoys his favour.
 Job	Job	20	8	7	A poor thing thy old prosperity will seem, matched with the abundance he gives thee now.
 Job	Job	20	8	8	Ask counsel of the ages that are long past; let the experience of former men overrule thee.
 Job	Job	20	8	9	How blind are we, creatures of a day, whose time on earth passes like a shadow!
 Job	Job	20	8	10	Those fathers of ours will be thy best teachers, and this is the advice their wisdom offers thee:
 Job	Job	20	8	11	Never yet grew bulrush without moisture, nor reed-bed that lacked water;
 Job	Job	20	8	12	fade it must, no leaf so soon, in its first flower, before men have time to gather it.
 Job	Job	20	8	13	So frail their happiness, who leave God unremembered; so fade the hopes of false hearts.
 Job	Job	20	8	14	Little shall their recklessness avail them; in threads of gossamer they put their trust.
 Job	Job	20	8	15	Vain his reliance on the house he has built, vainly he seeks to underpin it.
 Job	Job	20	8	16	Here is a plant that seems well-watered enough, spreads abroad its early shoots, but only till the sun rises;
 Job	Job	20	8	17	wrapped about stones are the roots of it, and stones all its dwelling-place;
 Job	Job	20	8	18	yonder sun must needs drain its life, and the garden will keep no memory of its passage.
 Job	Job	20	8	19	So brief its pride; they are waiting even now underground, the shoots that will fill its place.
 Job	Job	20	8	20	Trust me, God will not cast off the innocent, will not lend his aid to the malice of their enemies.
 Job	Job	20	8	21	Ere long, he will teach those lips to smile, that mouth to sing praise;
 Job	Job	20	8	22	brief shall be the triumph of thy foes, brief the security of the wrong-doer.
 Job	Job	20	9	1	But Job answered:
 Job	Job	20	9	2	No need to teach me that; how should a man win his suit, matched against God?
 Job	Job	20	9	3	Who would go to law, where one plea on this side is arrayed against a thousand on that?
 Job	Job	20	9	4	His all-knowing mind, his all-conquering arms, what man ever throve yet that defied them?
 Job	Job	20	9	5	God, the unseen power that can thrust mountains this way and that, uproot them in his anger,
 Job	Job	20	9	6	can move earth from its place, and set all its pillars quaking,
 Job	Job	20	9	7	can prevent, with a word, the sun’s rising, or imprison, under his royal seal, the very stars?
 Job	Job	20	9	8	He it was, and no other, that spread out heaven to be his covering, made ocean a floor under his feet;
 Job	Job	20	9	9	that created Arcturus, and Orion, and the Hyades, and the nooks of the south;
 Job	Job	20	9	10	great wonders he does, beyond all our understanding and all our reckoning.
 Job	Job	20	9	11	Hidden from my sight, hidden from my thought, he comes and goes;
 Job	Job	20	9	12	comes suddenly, and how should I defend my doings? goes suddenly, and how should I question his?
 Job	Job	20	9	13	There is no braving the anger of such a God, when even the Titanic powers obey him;
 Job	Job	20	9	14	and what am I that I should use phrases of studied eloquence for my pleading?
 Job	Job	20	9	15	Nay, though I had right on my side, I would not plead against him as an adversary, I would sue to him for mercy as a judge.
 Job	Job	20	9	16	What though I should cry upon him, and he should answer my summons? Well I know he would listen to no pleadings of mine;
 Job	Job	20	9	17	his storms would overwhelm me, faster than ever the unmerited blows would fall;
 Job	Job	20	9	18	never a breathing-space, never a draught but of gall!
 Job	Job	20	9	19	Nought avails might, when a giant threatens me; nought avails right, when none dares to support my quarrel.
 Job	Job	20	9	20	Would I plead in defence, he turns my own words against me; be I never so upright, he will prove me hypocrite.
 Job	Job	20	9	21	And innocent I am, but of that I take regard no longer; I am aweary of life itself.
 Job	Job	20	9	22	Still unchanged is the burden of my complaint; innocent and guilty, he sweeps all away.
 Job	Job	20	9	23	If his scourge must fall, should not a single blow suffice? Why does he look on and laugh, when the unoffending, too, must suffer?
 Job	Job	20	9	24	So the whole world is given up into the power of wrong-doers; he blinds the eyes of justice. He is answerable for it; who else?
 Job	Job	20	9	25	Swift as a royal courier my days pass, and joyless each one,
 Job	Job	20	9	26	like a pinnace gliding down stream, or an eagle swooping on its prey.
 Job	Job	20	9	27	Ere now, I have been minded to put away such talk as this, wear a sad face and live on the rack no more; still would I have pains to daunt me;
 Job	Job	20	9	28	still thou wouldst hold me guilty, wouldst not spare.
 Job	Job	20	9	29	Blamed I must be, in spite of all; vain was my striving,
 Job	Job	20	9	30	vainly I washed me in water pure as snow, kept my hands shining clean;
 Job	Job	20	9	31	thy condemnation must roll me in the mire again, till the very clothes I wear shun the touch of me!
 Job	Job	20	9	32	I cannot meet him in judgement as man to man, claim an impartial hearing for my plea;
 Job	Job	20	9	33	there can be no arbiter between us, to claim jurisdiction over both.
 Job	Job	20	9	34	Let him lay by his rod, let his terrors cease to daunt me;
 Job	Job	20	9	35	then I will speak out bravely to his face; it is fear that holds me dumb.
 Job	Job	20	10	1	Oh, I am weary of life; I will speak out, come what may; my soul is too embit-tered for silence.
 Job	Job	20	10	2	I will protest against God’s sentence, demand to know why his judgement is so cruel.
 Job	Job	20	10	3	Is it well done in thee to play the tyrant, to spurn me, the creature of thy own hands, to smile on the ill designs of the godless?
 Job	Job	20	10	4	Are those eyes of thine human after all; is thy sight, too, blinded, like the sight of men?
 Job	Job	20	10	5	Hast thou a mortal’s span of life, a destiny brief as ours,
 Job	Job	20	10	6	that thou must search for faults in me, labour to convict me of wrong done,
 Job	Job	20	10	7	when thou knowest full well that I am innocent, knowest that I am in thy power beyond hope of rescue?
 Job	Job	20	10	8	It was thy hand that made me, no part of me but is thy fashioning; and wilt thou cast me aside all in a moment?
 Job	Job	20	10	9	Thou the craftsman, though of clay thy handiwork, and must all be ground to dust again?
 Job	Job	20	10	10	Milk of thy milking, cheese of thy pressing,
 Job	Job	20	10	11	were flesh and skin that clothed me, bone and sinew that built up my frame;
 Job	Job	20	10	12	the life given by thee, by thee was spared; thy vigilance was all my safety.
 Job	Job	20	10	13	Only in thy heart the memory of this is stored, but I know thou hast not forgotten.
 Job	Job	20	10	14	And was it thy purpose to spare me for a little, if I sinned, but absolve me never?
 Job	Job	20	10	15	Woe to me, if I rebelled against thee! And if I remained innocent, what then? Why, I would be drowned in misery and despair till I could lift up my head no more!
 Job	Job	20	10	16	Or if I did, that were pride in me, to be hunted down as a lioness is hunted; thou wouldst devise fresh miracles of torment;
 Job	Job	20	10	17	wouldst bring fresh witnesses against me, redouble thy avenging strokes, array against me a new host of punishments.
 Job	Job	20	10	18	Why didst thou ever take me from the womb; why could I not perish there, never to meet men’s eyes;
 Job	Job	20	10	19	a being without being, carried from womb to tomb?
 Job	Job	20	10	20	Brief, brief is my span of days; for a little leave me to myself, to find some comfort in my misery.
 Job	Job	20	10	21	Soon I must go to a land whence there is no returning, a land of darkness, death’s shadow over it;
 Job	Job	20	10	22	a land of gloomy night, where death’s shadow lies over all, and no peace haunts it, only everlasting dread.
 Job	Job	20	11	1	Then answered Sophar the Naamathite:
 Job	Job	20	11	2	Ready to speak should be ready to listen; glibness will not make an innocent man of thee.
 Job	Job	20	11	3	Must all keep silence till thou hast done; shall none make answer to thy raillery?
 Job	Job	20	11	4	Still thou wilt have it that all thy dealings are upright, that thy heart, as God sees it, is pure.
 Job	Job	20	11	5	Would he but speak one word in thy ear, make thee his confidant!
 Job	Job	20	11	6	Would he but reveal to thee the secrets of his wisdom, in its ordered variety! Then wouldst thou learn that the penalty he is exacting of thee is less, far less, than thy sins deserve.
 Job	Job	20	11	7	What, wouldst thou search out the ways of God, have knowledge unconfined of his omnipotence?
 Job	Job	20	11	8	High as heaven is that wisdom, and thy reach so small; deep as hell itself, and thy thought so shallow!
 Job	Job	20	11	9	Far as earth it stretches, wide as ocean;
 Job	Job	20	11	10	will he sweep them all away, or confine them all in a little space, there is no gainsaying him.
 Job	Job	20	11	11	He knows the false hearts of men, sees wickedness there, and wouldst thou have him overlook it?
 Job	Job	20	11	12	Poor fools, that will have a mind of their own, and think they were born free as the wild ass!
 Job	Job	20	11	13	But see, thy heart once guided aright, thy hands outspread to him in prayer,
 Job	Job	20	11	14	thou hast but to cleanse thy hands of their wrong-doing, rid thy dwelling-place of the guilt that defies it.
 Job	Job	20	11	15	Then thou mayst lift up thy head again, free from reproach, waver no more, tremble no more.
 Job	Job	20	11	16	These miseries of thine shall be forgotten, or remembered gratefully, like floods that are overpast.
 Job	Job	20	11	17	Radiance of noon shall dispel twilight, dawn shall rise where darkness seemed to envelop thee;
 Job	Job	20	11	18	fresh confidence shall be thine, fresh hope; hidden away in safety thou shalt sleep secure;
 Job	Job	20	11	19	and that rest of thine, none shall disturb, suitors a many shall come to court thy favour.
 Job	Job	20	11	20	The godless another doom awaits; their eyes shall grow faint with watching, and no rescue shall ever reach them; no other prospect they have but despair.
 Job	Job	20	12	1	But Job answered:
 Job	Job	20	12	2	Strange, that you alone should have the gift of reason; that when you die, wisdom must die too!
 Job	Job	20	12	3	Well, I too have my thoughts; I am yet a match for you; this knowledge you bring me is knowledge common to all.
 Job	Job	20	12	4	For all his friends’ raillery, a man such as I will still cry upon God, and have him answer the summons; the simplicity of the upright was ever a laughing-stock,
 Job	Job	20	12	5	and indeed, it is but a rushlight, despised by shrewd and prosperous folk, but it waits its turn.
 Job	Job	20	12	6	Meanwhile, see how well the robbers store their houses, braving God’s anger, and yet in all things he lets them have their way!
 Job	Job	20	12	7	Dost thou doubt it? The very beasts will tell thee, the birds in air will be thy counsellors;
 Job	Job	20	12	8	the secret is known in every cranny of the earth, the fish in the sea will make it known to thee;
 Job	Job	20	12	9	none doubts, I tell thee, that all this is the Lord’s doing;
 Job	Job	20	12	10	all living things that breathe, all the spirits of all mankind, lie in the hollow of his hand.
 Job	Job	20	12	11	As surely as the ear judges words, and the mouth relishes the taste of food,
 Job	Job	20	12	12	so surely is there truth in ancient sayings; it is time brings experience.
 Job	Job	20	12	13	All God’s doing; his are the wisdom and the power; to him belong prudence in act and discernment.
 Job	Job	20	12	14	The ruins he makes, none can rebuild, his imprisonment none can escape;
 Job	Job	20	12	15	withholds he the rain, all is dried up; sends he rain, it floods all the ground.
 Job	Job	20	12	16	Yes, he is strong, he is wise; reads the knave’s heart as easily as the fool’s.
 Job	Job	20	12	17	He can thwart the counsellor, bemuse the judge,
 Job	Job	20	12	18	exchange the king’s baldrick for the rope of a prisoner,
 Job	Job	20	12	19	lead the priest away ungowned, dispossess the noble,
 Job	Job	20	12	20	bewitch the lips that never erred, rob the elder of his prudence,
 Job	Job	20	12	21	bring princes into contempt, unman the strong.
 Job	Job	20	12	22	Things deep hidden in darkness he reveals, kindles the light where death’s shadow lay,
 Job	Job	20	12	23	brings growth or ruin to a people, and what he has ruined restores.
 Job	Job	20	12	24	The hearts of chieftains he bewilders, leading them by false paths to vain ends,
 Job	Job	20	12	25	till all light fails, and they grope about in darkness, wander aimless like a drunkard after his wine.
 Job	Job	20	13	1	Eyes nor ears nor wits are wanting to me,
 Job	Job	20	13	2	and I know all this as well as you, but I am still a match for you.
 Job	Job	20	13	3	Or rather, it is to God, the omnipotent, I will speak; with him I remonstrate;
 Job	Job	20	13	4	but first I would prove you what you are, unskilful plasterers all of you, that follow false rules of your craft.
 Job	Job	20	13	5	Would you but hold your tongues once for all! It were your best wisdom.
 Job	Job	20	13	6	Listen while I refute you; mark well what are my pleadings.
 Job	Job	20	13	7	Do you think God stands in need of your shifts, your lying advocacy?
 Job	Job	20	13	8	Are you God’s hired partisans, resolved to acquit him?
 Job	Job	20	13	9	Why then, beware of his own infallible scrutiny; think you he will be blinded, as men are blinded, by your sophistries?
 Job	Job	20	13	10	Nay, he himself will be the first to blame you for wrongful attachment to his cause;
 Job	Job	20	13	11	your turn, then, to fear every movement of his, to cower before his terrors!
 Job	Job	20	13	12	Your wise memories will vanish into dust, your pride will prove to be a thing of clay.
 Job	Job	20	13	13	Nay, hold your tongues for a little, while I say out my mind.
 Job	Job	20	13	14	Do not ask why I set my teeth so firmly, take my life in my hand;
 Job	Job	20	13	15	let him slay me if he will! I await his decree; needs must that I should make my defence before him,
 Job	Job	20	13	16	and spare me he will; let the guilty shun his presence, not I.
 Job	Job	20	13	17	Nay, hear me out; let me open my mind in full;
 Job	Job	20	13	18	should I stand my trial, I know that I must be found innocent!
 Job	Job	20	13	19	Only let me meet my accuser! Why must I die unheard?
 Job	Job	20	13	20	But two rights I claim, if I am to face thee openly;
 Job	Job	20	13	21	withdraw thy chastising hand, and daunt me with thy terrors no longer.
 Job	Job	20	13	22	Then, if thou wilt call me in question, I will make reply; or let me speak, and be thou ready with thy answer.
 Job	Job	20	13	23	Tell me, what are all these transgressions, these faults thou findest in me? What crime, what wrong-doing is mine?
 Job	Job	20	13	24	Why is it that thou turnest thy back on me, and wilt treat me as an enemy?
 Job	Job	20	13	25	As well wrestle with a flying leaf, chase a wisp of straw,
 Job	Job	20	13	26	as keep this jealous record against me, tax me with the offences of my youth!
 Job	Job	20	13	27	To hold me so close a prisoner, watch me wherever I go, track my foot-prints,
 Job	Job	20	13	28	when I am no better than rotting carrion, than a garment fretted away by the moth!
 Job	Job	20	14	1	So frail man’s life, woman-born, so full of trouble,
 Job	Job	20	14	2	brief as a flower that blooms and withers, fugitive as a shadow, changing all the while;
 Job	Job	20	14	3	and is he worth that watchfulness of thine, must thou needs call him to account?
 Job	Job	20	14	4	(Who can cleanse what is born of tainted stock, save thou alone, who alone hast being? )
 Job	Job	20	14	5	Brief, brief are man’s days; thou keepest count of the months left to him, thou dost appoint for him the bound he may not pass.
 Job	Job	20	14	6	And wilt thou not leave him undisturbed for a little, till the welcome day comes when drudgery is at an end?
 Job	Job	20	14	7	Were he but as the trees are! A tree has hope to live by: pollarded, it still grows green, and fresh branches spring from it.
 Job	Job	20	14	8	Root and stock old and withered, down in the dusty earth,
 Job	Job	20	14	9	but at the breath of water it revives, and the leaves come, as they came when it first was planted.
 Job	Job	20	14	10	For us mortal men, death; a stripping, and a breathing out of the soul, and all is over.
 Job	Job	20	14	11	Where is the sea, when its waters dry up, the river when its bed is empty?
 Job	Job	20	14	12	So man falls asleep, never to rise again while heaven endures; from that sleep there is no waking, there is no rousing him.
 Job	Job	20	14	13	Ah, if the grave were only a place of shelter, where thou wouldst hide me away until thy anger was spent, with a time appointed when thou wouldst bethink thyself of me again!
 Job	Job	20	14	14	Ah, if the dead might live again! Then I could wait willingly enough, all the time of my campaigning, till I were relieved at my post;
 Job	Job	20	14	15	thou wouldst summon me at last, and I would answer thy summons, thy creature, safe in thy loving hand!
 Job	Job	20	14	16	So jealous a record thou keepest of every step I take, and hast thou never a blind eye for my faults?
 Job	Job	20	14	17	Instead, must thou seal up every wrong-doing of mine, as in a casket; embalm the memory of my transgressions?
 Job	Job	20	14	18	Nay there is no help for it; mountain-side or cliff that begins to crumble scales away and vanishes at last,
 Job	Job	20	14	19	water hollows into the hard rock, and floods wear away the firm ground at last, and thou hast made no less inevitable man’s doom.
 Job	Job	20	14	20	His brief mastery thou takest away for ever; the lively hue changes, and he is gone.
 Job	Job	20	14	21	His children rise to honour, sink to shame, and he none the wiser;
 Job	Job	20	14	22	nothing man feels save the pains that rack him in life, the griefs that fret his soul.
 Job	Job	20	15	1	Then answered Eliphaz the Themanite:
 Job	Job	20	15	2	This is not a wise man’s way, to answer with windy sophistries, as if thou hadst the sirocco in thy blood,
 Job	Job	20	15	3	ill matched for the contest, prating to thy hurt.
 Job	Job	20	15	4	Worse, if thou hadst thy way, all reverence should be abolished, all devotion at an end.
 Job	Job	20	15	5	Thy tongue takes its instructions from a sinful heart; this is rebel speech.
 Job	Job	20	15	6	No need for me to prove thee a guilty man, thy words prove it; thy own lips arraign thee.
 Job	Job	20	15	7	Tell me, was thine some primeval birth; wast thou made before the hills?
 Job	Job	20	15	8	Hast thou overheard the secrets of God’s council-chamber, that thou thinkest him no match for thee in wisdom?
 Job	Job	20	15	9	What knowledge hast thou but we share it, what discernment greater than ours?
 Job	Job	20	15	10	We too have ancients among us, grey-headed men that have seen more days than any father of thine.
 Job	Job	20	15	11	It should be no great matter for God to comfort thee, if thy untimely speech did not forbid it;
 Job	Job	20	15	12	what mean these transports, why does that eye roll so wildly?
 Job	Job	20	15	13	What pride is this that would cross God himself, moving thee to rash utterance?
 Job	Job	20	15	14	It is not in man to live a life all blameless; never son of woman yet found acquittal.
 Job	Job	20	15	15	Fickle natures God finds among his very angels; the purity of heaven itself does not suffice him;
 Job	Job	20	15	16	what of man, the abominable, the defiled, athirst ever for wrong-doing?
 Job	Job	20	15	17	Listen, while I tell thee my mind; thou shalt hear what my own eyes have witnessed;
 Job	Job	20	15	18	thou shalt hear what wise men have said, making known the tradition of their fathers,
 Job	Job	20	15	19	that dwelt ever in their own land, and held no commerce with strangers.
 Job	Job	20	15	20	Proudly though he carry himself all his days, the godless man is on the rack; how long will his tyrannous reign last?
 Job	Job	20	15	21	All the while, terror whispers in his ear; danger there is none, but he sees plots everywhere.
 Job	Job	20	15	22	Treads he by dark ways, he never hopes to see light again, swords here, swords there to threaten him;
 Job	Job	20	15	23	ventures he out in search of food, he doubts not his last hour is at hand;
 Job	Job	20	15	24	dangers threaten him, difficulties hedge him round, as though he were a king making ready for battle.
 Job	Job	20	15	25	And all because he chose God for his enemy, matched himself against omnipotence;
 Job	Job	20	15	26	head high in air he made the onslaught, proud of his strong sinews,
 Job	Job	20	15	27	like a bull with hanging dewlap and well-covered flanks.
 Job	Job	20	15	28	Now he is like some plant that grows amid deserted streets, upon houses uninhabited that lie in ruins;
 Job	Job	20	15	29	no root shall he strike into the earth, of true wealth or abiding prosperity;
 Job	Job	20	15	30	never leave the shadows, but he is withered up by the heat or carried away by the blast.
 Job	Job	20	15	31	Let no fond hope delude him that he can buy off his doom;
 Job	Job	20	15	32	fall he must before his time; withered every branch,
 Job	Job	20	15	33	despoiled the vine with clusters yet unripe, shed the olive’s flower.
 Job	Job	20	15	34	Barren, barren the schemer’s plot; the house of the bribe-taker shall burn about his ears.
 Job	Job	20	15	35	Vainly engendered, borne in the womb, brought forth, their load of misery and infamy and shame.
 Job	Job	20	16	1	But Job answered:
 Job	Job	20	16	2	Old tales and cold comfort; you are all alike.
 Job	Job	20	16	3	Words are but wind; there is no end to them, and they cost thee nothing.
 Job	Job	20	16	4	Believe me, I could do as well, were you in my case,
 Job	Job	20	16	5	talk the language of consolation, and mock you all the while,
 Job	Job	20	16	6	speak of encouragement; my lips should tremble with a show of pity.
 Job	Job	20	16	7	But here is grief words cannot assuage, nor silence banish;
 Job	Job	20	16	8	grief that bows me down till my whole frame is lifeless;
 Job	Job	20	16	9	these furrowed cheeks are the witness of it. And now a false accuser dares me to my face and baits me!
 Job	Job	20	16	10	One that vents all his spite against me, gnashes his teeth malignantly, watches me with fierce eyes like an enemy.
 Job	Job	20	16	11	Mouths that deride me, hands that smite me on the cheek in reproof, hearts that delight in my anguish,
 Job	Job	20	16	12	to what ill neighbourhood God has condemned me, what tyrants hold me in their grip!
 Job	Job	20	16	13	So free from care my life was, and now, suddenly as though a wild beast had fastened on me, dashed me to the ground, he has broken that life to pieces. I am a mark for his archery,
 Job	Job	20	16	14	his arrows are all about me; still they pierce me to the marrow, drain my life,
 Job	Job	20	16	15	wound upon wound; giant hands assail me.
 Job	Job	20	16	16	No wonder if I go clad in sackcloth, disfigured with ashes,
 Job	Job	20	16	17	if my face is swollen with weeping, and on my eyelids the darkness falls.
 Job	Job	20	16	18	Such is the reward of a guiltless life, of prayer offered without stain.
 Job	Job	20	16	19	I charge thee, earth, to leave my blood unburied, never to muffle the echoes of my protest;
 Job	Job	20	16	20	there is one in high heaven that knows the truth and must bear witness.
 Job	Job	20	16	21	Friends, prate on; these tears of mine issue their challenge to a God!
 Job	Job	20	16	22	Ah, could but a mortal bring God to justice, as man impleads man!
 Job	Job	20	16	23	Mortal am I; swiftly my years pass, and by the road I tread there is no returning.
 Job	Job	20	17	1	Broken my will to live, shortened my days, the grave my only prospect;
 Job	Job	20	17	2	my eye lingers on sights of bitterness, never through my fault!
 Job	Job	20	17	3	Lord, wouldst thou but vindicate me, and set me right with thee! I care not who else is for or against me.
 Job	Job	20	17	4	For these, at least, I care not; thou hast robbed their hearts of all discernment, and they shall have no cause for boasting.
 Job	Job	20	17	5	Small thanks a man has for counting out the spoils, while his children go hungry!
 Job	Job	20	17	6	A public by-word God has made me, a warning in all men’s sight,
 Job	Job	20	17	7	my eyes grown dim, my whole frame wasted away, in my resentment.
 Job	Job	20	17	8	Here is sore bewilderment for honest hearts; angrily do innocent men complain, to see knaves prosper,
 Job	Job	20	17	9	will the just be true to their resolve any longer? Will they be encouraged to keep their hands clean?
 Job	Job	20	17	10	Nay, sirs, return to the charge as often as you will; I do not look to find a wise man among you.
 Job	Job	20	17	11	Swift pass my days, my mind distracted with whirling thoughts,
 Job	Job	20	17	12	that make night into day for me, as through the hours of darkness I await the dawn.
 Job	Job	20	17	13	Waiting for what? The grave is my destined home; among the shadows I must make my bed at last;
 Job	Job	20	17	14	only from corruption I claim a father’s welcome, mother’s and sister’s greeting the worms shall offer me;
 Job	Job	20	17	15	what hope is this? Wait I patiently or impatiently, who cares?
 Job	Job	20	17	16	Into the deep pit I must go down, all of me; even there, in the dust, shall I find rest?
 Job	Job	20	18	1	Then answered Baldad the Suhite:
 Job	Job	20	18	2	Ah, you word-mongers, you have never had enough! First grasp our meaning, and we might argue to some purpose;
 Job	Job	20	18	3	but no, to men like thee we are worthless as dumb beasts.
 Job	Job	20	18	4	See with what fury he rends his own bosom! Must earth be dispeopled, must the rocks be torn from their place, to gratify one man’s despairing mood?
 Job	Job	20	18	5	Nay, the hopes of the wicked man are a light that shall be put out; a very will of the wisp;
 Job	Job	20	18	6	darkness shall fall over his dwelling-place, and the lamp that shone there will shine no more.
 Job	Job	20	18	7	The boldness of his own stride takes him prisoner; his own devices recoil against him;
 Job	Job	20	18	8	into the trap he walks, struggles vainly with its meshes;
 Job	Job	20	18	9	now he is laid by the heels! Mounts ever higher his burning thirst.
 Job	Job	20	18	10	The ground sown with snares, pit-falls about his path,
 Job	Job	20	18	11	fears attend him everywhere, catch everywhere at his feet.
 Job	Job	20	18	12	His strength brought low by famine, hunger gnawing at his sides
 Job	Job	20	18	13	and wasting all his beauty, death in its primal guise shall devour those limbs.
 Job	Job	20	18	14	Gone the security of his home, now its master lies under the heels of tyrant death;
 Job	Job	20	18	15	in his house strangers shall dwell, on his lands brimstone be scattered,
 Job	Job	20	18	16	root never grow beneath nor harvest rise from it.
 Job	Job	20	18	17	Gone the fame of him, gone the name of him, from street and country-side,
 Job	Job	20	18	18	eclipsed in utter darkness, lost to the world.
 Job	Job	20	18	19	Root nor branch of his posterity shall remain among his folk, vanished every trace of him from the lands he knew.
 Job	Job	20	18	20	That doom with terror and amazement high and low shall witness.
 Job	Job	20	18	21	Here (they will say) was a home of wrong-doing; he who lived here, lived a stranger to God.
 Job	Job	20	19	1	But Job answered:
 Job	Job	20	19	2	What, will you torment me still? Every word of yours a fresh weight to crush me?
 Job	Job	20	19	3	How many times is this you have fallen on me, trampled me down without ruth?
 Job	Job	20	19	4	If, unawares, I have committed some fault, it concerns none but myself;
 Job	Job	20	19	5	not for you to claim authority over me, bring home to me my disgrace!
 Job	Job	20	19	6	How to make you understand that God has misjudged me, caught me in his toils!
 Job	Job	20	19	7	If I cry out upon that my wrongs, there is none to hear me, none to take cognisance of my plea;
 Job	Job	20	19	8	my path hedged in, so that there is no escape, my direction lost, and I benighted.
 Job	Job	20	19	9	By him discredited, discrowned,
 Job	Job	20	19	10	by him left defenceless on every side, I go my ways; a tree torn up by the roots has more to hope for than I.
 Job	Job	20	19	11	Against me all his anger is aroused; I am that enemy
 Job	Job	20	19	12	against whom he musters all his forces, to ride over me, to beleaguer my dwelling place.
 Job	Job	20	19	13	Sundered am I from my brethren, a stranger to all that knew me,
 Job	Job	20	19	14	forsaken by my kindred, by my friends forgotten.
 Job	Job	20	19	15	Guests that dwell in my house, ay, and the very serving-women, stare at me, the alien, the unknown;
 Job	Job	20	19	16	my servants do not come at my call, I must speak them fair;
 Job	Job	20	19	17	my wife shuns the breath of me, to my own flesh and blood I am a suppliant.
 Job	Job	20	19	18	The very innocents despise me, jeer at me when my back is turned;
 Job	Job	20	19	19	no counsellor so trusted but he is weary of me, no friend so loved but he abandons me now.
 Job	Job	20	19	20	And I so wasted! Skin clinging to bone, save where the lips cover my teeth, is all that is left of me.
 Job	Job	20	19	21	Friends, friends, do you at least have pity, now when God’s hand has fallen on me!
 Job	Job	20	19	22	Would you take part in God’s hue and cry against me, slander me to your hearts’ content?
 Job	Job	20	19	23	Could but these words of mine be written down in a book,
 Job	Job	20	19	24	graven with a pen of iron upon tablets of lead, chiselled on hard flint!
 Job	Job	20	19	25	This at least I know, that one lives on who will vindicate me, rising up from the dust when the last day comes.
 Job	Job	20	19	26	Once more my skin shall clothe me, and in my flesh I shall have sight of God.
 Job	Job	20	19	27	I myself, with my own eyes; it will not be something other than myself that sees him. Deep in my heart is this hope reposed.
 Job	Job	20	19	28	You that would raise the hue and cry, finding matter of complaint against me,
 Job	Job	20	19	29	should rather take flight yourselves, the sword at your heels; the sword that avenges wrong, proof to you that justice shall be done.
 Job	Job	20	20	1	Then answered Sophar the Naamathite:
 Job	Job	20	20	2	Strange hesitation thy words breed in me; my thoughts veer to and fro.
 Job	Job	20	20	3	Not deaf am I to thy pleadings, but there is a voice in my heart gives me pause.
 Job	Job	20	20	4	Certain it is that never since man found a place on earth
 Job	Job	20	20	5	did the wrong-doer win lasting triumph; only for a brief moment does knavery bring him content.
 Job	Job	20	20	6	Let his pride overtop heaven itself, his head be lifted high as the clouds,
 Job	Job	20	20	7	he is for the dung-hill at last; none knows what has become of him.
 Job	Job	20	20	8	Vanished and gone like a dream, the phantom of yesternight,
 Job	Job	20	20	9	unmarked by human eyes, lost to the scenes he knew!
 Job	Job	20	20	10	Crushing poverty shall be his children’s lot; his acts shall yield their own harvest of shame,
 Job	Job	20	20	11	all the lusty vigour of his frame doomed, like himself, to silence and the dust.
 Job	Job	20	20	12	Sweet in the mouth is the taste of evil-doing; how the tongue cherishes it!
 Job	Job	20	20	13	How he treasures it, loth to lose the secret pleasure of his palate!
 Job	Job	20	20	14	But once let that food reach his belly, not the gall of adders is so venomous.
 Job	Job	20	20	15	The wealth he loved to swallow, disgorge he must; God will make his belly return it;
 Job	Job	20	20	16	poisonous as the asp’s head or the viper’s tongue were those juices he sucked,
 Job	Job	20	20	17	when he thought to enjoy streams of plenty; honey and cream should have been his in rich abundance.
 Job	Job	20	20	18	Endlessly he shall pay for the wrong he did, plagued in the measure of his own false dealings.
 Job	Job	20	20	19	He who oppressed and robbed the poor shall never prosper with his ill-gotten fortunes;
 Job	Job	20	20	20	he, the insatiable, will not keep what he so coveted;
 Job	Job	20	20	21	he, that never had a crust to spare, will be stripped now of all his goods.
 Job	Job	20	20	22	Once so full fed, now he goes in need; stands in doubt, with distress crowding in on every side;
 Job	Job	20	20	23	ah for a meal to fill his belly with! But no, God’s angry vengeance is let loose on him, raining down all its weapons;
 Job	Job	20	20	24	shuns he the steel, to the bow of bronze he falls a prey.
 Job	Job	20	20	25	Bright and bitter the drawn sword threatens; about him, dread warriors come and go.
 Job	Job	20	20	26	He hides away, where thick darkness broods over him; straightway a fire no human hand has kindled threatens to devour him; woe betide any that would take refuge in that dwelling!
 Job	Job	20	20	27	Heaven will reveal the story of his crimes, earth itself rise in revolt against him;
 Job	Job	20	20	28	all the promise of his race will be laid bare and torn away, in that hour of the Lord’s vengeance.
 Job	Job	20	20	29	Such is the lot God sends to the wicked, such their divinely appointed doom.
 Job	Job	20	21	1	But Job answered:
 Job	Job	20	21	2	Listen, do but listen to me, and then, if you will, repent of your charity;
 Job	Job	20	21	3	let me have my say, and then mock on.
 Job	Job	20	21	4	It is not as if I bore a grudge against man; I have better reason than that to be indignant.
 Job	Job	20	21	5	Mark my complaint well, and you shall be astonished, hold your breath in amazement,
 Job	Job	20	21	6	as I too tremble with dismay at the thought of it.
 Job	Job	20	21	7	How is it that godless men live on, meet with advancement, enjoy their riches undisturbed?
 Job	Job	20	21	8	Long they live, to see their posterity thrive about them, kinsmen and grandsons thronging all around.
 Job	Job	20	21	9	Safe and sound their dwelling-place; God’s scourge passes them by;
 Job	Job	20	21	10	never bull of theirs failed to gender, cow to calve;
 Job	Job	20	21	11	blithe as lambs the little children go out to play;
 Job	Job	20	21	12	everywhere is tambour and harp-playing, everywhere the pipe’s merry note.
 Job	Job	20	21	13	So, full of ease, their life passes, and they go down at last without a struggle to the grave.
 Job	Job	20	21	14	And these are the men who bade God keep his distance from them, refused to learn his will;
 Job	Job	20	21	15	what right had he, the Omnipotent, to their obedience, what advantage would they gain by offering prayer to him?
 Job	Job	20	21	16	These are the godless folk whose counsel I must shun because they cannot command their own good fortune!
 Job	Job	20	21	17	Tell me, how often in very deed are the hopes of the wicked extinguished, engulfed by the flood? Does God’s vengeance often deal out misfortune to them,
 Job	Job	20	21	18	sweeping them away like chaff before the wind, ashes beneath the storm?
 Job	Job	20	21	19	But perhaps God is reserving for the children punishment of their father’s sins? Nay, let the sinner himself feel the retribution when it comes;
 Job	Job	20	21	20	his own eyes must see the blow fall, his own lips drink in the divine vengeance!
 Job	Job	20	21	21	Little he cares what befalls his posterity after he is gone, though halved be the time of its continuance.
 Job	Job	20	21	22	The God that passes judgement on his angels needs none to instruct him!
 Job	Job	20	21	23	Here is one man goes to his death sound and strong, rich and happy,
 Job	Job	20	21	24	well covered with flesh, his bones full of marrow;
 Job	Job	20	21	25	another, all misery and poverty,
 Job	Job	20	21	26	and he, no less than the other, has dust for bed, worms for coverlet.
 Job	Job	20	21	27	Spare me those thoughts I know already, those reasons that would crush me!
 Job	Job	20	21	28	What becomes of the tyrant’s palace, of the evil-doer’s home, at last?
 Job	Job	20	21	29	Ask any wayfarer (you say) that knows them, and you shall hear the same account of the matter:
 Job	Job	20	21	30	The rogue’s villainy is being reserved for future punishment, he is being slowly drawn on to his doom.
 Job	Job	20	21	31	Fools, how can anyone bring home his guilt to him now, punish the wrong he did?
 Job	Job	20	21	32	He is being slowly drawn on to his tomb, where he shall wait on in the ranks of the dead;
 Job	Job	20	21	33	made welcome in the dark valley, whither all men shall follow, as numberless that went before him.
 Job	Job	20	21	34	Vain is all your consolation, while the answer you give me matches so ill with truth.
 Job	Job	20	22	1	Then answered Eliphaz the Themanite:
 Job	Job	20	22	2	A man cannot hope to implead God, even a man of perfect wisdom.
 Job	Job	20	22	3	Just though thou be, how is God the better for knowing thou art just? Can stainless life of thine advantage him?
 Job	Job	20	22	4	Or dost thou think that fear of thee will persuade him to appear in court, and prove thee in the wrong?
 Job	Job	20	22	5	Must he browbeat thee over a long record of guilt, over many heinous deeds done;
 Job	Job	20	22	6	remind thee of the usurer’s pledge needlessly taken, of thy brother left to go naked while thou hadst his garment by thee,
 Job	Job	20	22	7	of water grudged to thirsty men, bread refused to the hungry?
 Job	Job	20	22	8	Must he tell the story of a rich tyrant that had lands and held to them;
 Job	Job	20	22	9	of widows sent away without redress, orphans left without support, through thy means?
 Job	Job	20	22	10	Must he say, that is why thou art caught in the snare, dismayed by sudden peril,
 Job	Job	20	22	11	left benighted when thou thoughtest to see day, overwhelmed by the unexpected flood?
 Job	Job	20	22	12	Bethink thee, God is high as heaven itself, reaches beyond the uttermost star.
 Job	Job	20	22	13	Wouldst thou tell us that he has no knowledge of what passes, that he issues his decree blindly,
 Job	Job	20	22	14	gives no heed to our mortal doings, there where he walks above heaven’s vault, all wrapped in cloud?
 Job	Job	20	22	15	That were to follow old paths of error, trodden long ago by impious feet.
 Job	Job	20	22	16	Snatched away before their time were the men that reasoned so; a flood engulfed the solid ground beneath them.
 Job	Job	20	22	17	These, beyond doubt, were men who bade God keep his distance from them, thought the Omnipotent could give them no aid,
 Job	Job	20	22	18	when he had filled their abode with blessings! Not for nothing do I shun their counsels!
 Job	Job	20	22	19	Here was a sight to make the just triumphant, make innocent folk laugh aloud in scorn,
 Job	Job	20	22	20	to see how their proud hopes vanished, and all that was left of them perished in the flames.
 Job	Job	20	22	21	Fall in with the Lord’s ways, and be his friend; thou shalt be well rewarded.
 Job	Job	20	22	22	Let his lips be thy oracle, his words written on thy heart.
 Job	Job	20	22	23	Turn back to the Almighty for thy healing, and rid thy dwelling-place of guilt.
 Job	Job	20	22	24	Firm rock thou shalt have for shifting dust, and for firm rock streams of gold;
 Job	Job	20	22	25	the Almighty himself will be thy shield, and silver thou shalt never lack.
 Job	Job	20	22	26	In those omnipotent arms thou shalt rest content, thy face upturned towards God himself,
 Job	Job	20	22	27	thy prayer heard as soon as offered, thy vows paid as soon as due;
 Job	Job	20	22	28	all thy desire thou shalt have, and all thy paths will be sunshine.
 Job	Job	20	22	29	He that was once brought low shall be high in renown; the downcast eye shall win deliverance.
 Job	Job	20	22	30	But the innocent shall be kept safe; in a pair of clean hands there was safety ever.
 Job	Job	20	23	1	But Job answered:
 Job	Job	20	23	2	And still I repine bitterly as ever, no groaning too heavy for the wounds I bear.
 Job	Job	20	23	3	Ah, if I could but find my way to God, reach his very throne,
 Job	Job	20	23	4	in reproachful accents plead my suit before him,
 Job	Job	20	23	5	and learn what he would say in his defence, grasp the meaning of it!
 Job	Job	20	23	6	Will he match his strength with mine, use all his majestic power to crush me?
 Job	Job	20	23	7	The justice of my cause once made known to him, I should triumph at last.
 Job	Job	20	23	8	But no; travel I east or west, I find no trace of him,
 Job	Job	20	23	9	turn I north or south, I have no skill to catch sight of him.
 Job	Job	20	23	10	And he, all the while, keeps watch over my doings, tests me like gold the fire assays;
 Job	Job	20	23	11	he knows how close I have kept to the path he traced for me, swerving never aside,
 Job	Job	20	23	12	true to every command of his, every utterance of his cherished in my heart.
 Job	Job	20	23	13	But what of that? He reigns without a rival, none can cross his purposes; he does what likes him best.
 Job	Job	20	23	14	His will once fully accomplished in me, he has many another like purpose to fulfil.
 Job	Job	20	23	15	What wonder if I am all adread in his presence, if the thought of him racks me with terror?
 Job	Job	20	23	16	It is God that melts my heart with fear, his omnipotence that daunts me;
 Job	Job	20	23	17	that thought unmans me, not the surrounding darkness, not the mists which hide my view.
 Job	Job	20	24	1	Since he, who is omnipotent, determines every event, how is it that those who know him wait in vain for his doom to fall?
 Job	Job	20	24	2	Here are men that alter their neighbour’s landmark, drive stolen cattle to pasture,
 Job	Job	20	24	3	rob the orphan of his ass, take the widow’s ox in pawn,
 Job	Job	20	24	4	shoulder the poor aside, conspire to oppress the friendless;
 Job	Job	20	24	5	leave others to make their living as best they may, like the wild ass in the desert, waking betimes to scrape food for hungry mouths at home.
 Job	Job	20	24	6	Reap they the field that is none of theirs, strip they the vineyard wrongfully seized from its owner;
 Job	Job	20	24	7	let men go bare, their garments snatched away,
 Job	Job	20	24	8	defenceless against cold and rain on the mountain-side, so that they are fain to hug the rocks for lack of shelter.
 Job	Job	20	24	9	Their violence robs the helpless children, despoils the poor and simple;
 Job	Job	20	24	10	back and side must go bare, and never a stalk left for hungry men to glean;
 Job	Job	20	24	11	nor any vintager of theirs lies down between the rows at noon, but goes thirsty!
 Job	Job	20	24	12	A cry goes up from the city streets, where wounded men lie groaning; tell me, does not God allow it to pass unheeded?
 Job	Job	20	24	13	How they shun the light, these rebels who ignore God’s precepts, leave his paths untrodden!
 Job	Job	20	24	14	The murderer must be stirring before daybreak, to catch his helpless prey, or prowl, as the thieves prowl, at night.
 Job	Job	20	24	15	For darkness, too, the adulterer waits, no eye must scan his muffled features;
 Job	Job	20	24	16	under cover of darkness he will break into the house, to keep the tryst made yesterday; no daylight for him.
 Job	Job	20	24	17	To him, the first flush of dawn is death’s shadow; deep gloom is the sunshine he walks by.
 Job	Job	20	24	18	Light as foam on the waters, nor light the doom, surely, that awaits him on earth; not for him the vineyard’s sunny slope!
 Job	Job	20	24	19	Swift as snow melts under the noon-day heat, let his guilty soul pass to the grave,
 Job	Job	20	24	20	unpitied, with worms for its boon-companions, forgotten, overthrown like an unfruitful tree!
 Job	Job	20	24	21	The childless woman was his prey; in vain the widow looked to him for mercy;
 Job	Job	20	24	22	now, surely, God has pulled the tyrant down; firm he has stood, but now he despairs of life itself!
 Job	Job	20	24	23	Time for repentance God gave him, by his pride misused, but ever on his doings kept a watchful eye;
 Job	Job	20	24	24	now, their brief renown over, such men must pass, as all things pass, into the dust, be carried off, swept away like ears of corn!
 Job	Job	20	24	25	But no, never the day comes! Who dares give me the lie, challenge me in God’s sight?
 Job	Job	20	25	1	Then answered Baldad the Suhite:
 Job	Job	20	25	2	Ay, but what power, ay, but what terrors he wields, who reigns peacefully, there in high heaven!
 Job	Job	20	25	3	He, the lord of countless armies, he, whose light dazzles every eye!
 Job	Job	20	25	4	And shall man, born of woman, win his suit, prove his innocence, when he is matched with God?
 Job	Job	20	25	5	Dim shews the moon, tarnished the stars, under his eye;
 Job	Job	20	25	6	and what is man but waste and worm in his presence?
 Job	Job	20	26	1	But Job answered:
 Job	Job	20	26	2	Bravely spoken, for a cause that so much needed it! That arm of thine ever upheld the weak.
 Job	Job	20	26	3	Brave advice offered in that great discernment of thine, to one who so lacks wisdom!
 Job	Job	20	26	4	A fine lesson thou hast read him, the God who gave thee breath!
 Job	Job	20	26	5	Sure enough, there is none but trembles before him; even the old heroes, and those who share their dwelling-place under the lower depths;
 Job	Job	20	26	6	bare to his eyes is the place of shadows, oblivion lies revealed.
 Job	Job	20	26	7	He it was spread out the northern skies over emptiness, poised earth on nothing;
 Job	Job	20	26	8	cloud-bound he holds the rain, that else would spill on earth all at once,
 Job	Job	20	26	9	veiled and shut in with cloud his unseen throne.
 Job	Job	20	26	10	While day and night last, the waters keep the bounds he has decreed for them;
 Job	Job	20	26	11	the very pillars of heaven tremble awe-struck at his will.
 Job	Job	20	26	12	His the power, his the wisdom, that drew the seas together all in a moment, and the rebellious dragon struck down;
 Job	Job	20	26	13	his the spirit that clothed the heavens, his the hand that drew yonder writhing serpent from the womb.
 Job	Job	20	26	14	Here is but a small part of his doings, here is but the whisper of his voice; who dares to contemplate the thunder of his full magnificence?
 Job	Job	20	27	1	And thus Job continued to lay bare his thought:
 Job	Job	20	27	2	As sure as he is a living God, he, the omnipotent, who so refuses me justice, who makes my lot in life so bitter;
 Job	Job	20	27	3	while life is in me, while he still grants me breath,
 Job	Job	20	27	4	never shall these lips justify the wrong, never this tongue utter the lie!
 Job	Job	20	27	5	Gain your point with me you shall not; I will die sooner than abandon my plea of innocence.
 Job	Job	20	27	6	That claim, once made, I will not forgo; not one act in all my life bids conscience reproach me.
 Job	Job	20	27	7	Count him a knave that is my enemy, every detractor of mine a friend of wrong!
 Job	Job	20	27	8	(What is the sinner’s hope worth after all his greedy getting, when God takes the life away from him? In that hour of need,
 Job	Job	20	27	9	his cry for reprieve will go unheard;
 Job	Job	20	27	10	he cannot go on for ever basking in the Almighty’s favour, calling God to his aid.
 Job	Job	20	27	11	Now be God’s hand laid bare, now let me acknowledge openly the counsels of omnipotence!
 Job	Job	20	27	12	Not one of you but knows the truth of it already; yet one and all you must be urging a false plea, without the need for it!
 Job	Job	20	27	13	What spoil, after all, does God grant to the wicked? From his almighty hand, what abiding possession does the man of violence receive?
 Job	Job	20	27	14	Sons beget he never so many, what avails it, when the sword overtakes them, and their children in turn must go wanting bread,
 Job	Job	20	27	15	when the plague gives all the rest of his line their burial, and never a widow to bemoan them?
 Job	Job	20	27	16	What avails it, to heap up silver like the sand, buy fine clothes, too, and think such treasures cheap as dirt,
 Job	Job	20	27	17	if more upright men than he, more innocent than he, must have the wearing of those clothes, share out that silver at last?
 Job	Job	20	27	18	Light as the moth he builds; not so frail a shelter the vineyard-watcher weaves about him.
 Job	Job	20	27	19	Rich he is laid to rest, but nothing takes with him; rich he shall wake no more.
 Job	Job	20	27	20	Helpless in the flood, driven in darkness by the storm,
 Job	Job	20	27	21	carried off, as if sirocco or whirlwind had swept him away,
 Job	Job	20	27	22	he is routed before the pitiless onslaught,
 Job	Job	20	27	23	hands clapped in triumph, tongues hissing in derision as he goes.)
 Job	Job	20	28	1	Where, then, does wisdom lie? Easy to trace where the veins of silver run, where gold-ore is refined,
 Job	Job	20	28	2	where iron is dug from the depths of earth, and rocks must be melted to yield copper.
 Job	Job	20	28	3	See how man has done away with the darkness, has pierced into the very heart of things, into caves under ground, black as death’s shadow!
 Job	Job	20	28	4	Where yonder ravine cuts them off from the shepherd-folk, the miners toil, forgotten; lost to all track, far from the haunts of men.
 Job	Job	20	28	5	That earth, from whose surface our bread comes to us, must be probed by fire beneath,
 Job	Job	20	28	6	till the rocks yield sapphires, and the clods gold.
 Job	Job	20	28	7	Here are passages no bird discovers in its flight, no vulture’s eye has seen;
 Job	Job	20	28	8	that never gave roving merchant shelter, or the lioness a lair.
 Job	Job	20	28	9	Boldly man matches himself against the flint, uproots the mountain,
 Job	Job	20	28	10	cuts channels through the rock, where things of price have dazzled his eye;
 Job	Job	20	28	11	narrowly he scans the river’s depths, and brings to light all they hide.
 Job	Job	20	28	12	But wisdom, tell me where to search for wisdom; tell me in what cache discernment lies?
 Job	Job	20	28	13	How should man set a price on it? This earth our pleasant home, yields no return of it;
 Job	Job	20	28	14	Not here, cries the abyss beneath us, and the sea echoes, Not here.
 Job	Job	20	28	15	Not for pure gold is it bartered, or weighed against silver in the balance;
 Job	Job	20	28	16	not the bright wares of the Indies, nor jewel of sardonyx, nor sapphire can vie with it;
 Job	Job	20	28	17	it is not to be matched with treasures of glass or gold, rivalled by all the goldsmith’s workmanship.
 Job	Job	20	28	18	Do not talk of coral or of crystal; for wisdom you must make deeper search still;
 Job	Job	20	28	19	with wisdom the topaz from Ethiopia and the finest gold-leaf cannot compare.
 Job	Job	20	28	20	Whence, then, does wisdom come to us; where is discernment to be found?
 Job	Job	20	28	21	That is the secret kept hidden from beast on earth and bird in heaven;
 Job	Job	20	28	22	the shadow-world of death claims no more than to have heard the rumour of it.
 Job	Job	20	28	23	Only God knows the way to it, only God can tell where it lies,
 Job	Job	20	28	24	he whose view reaches to the world’s end, sees all that passes under the wide heavens.
 Job	Job	20	28	25	He, when first he took scale and measuring-line to set wind and water their task,
 Job	Job	20	28	26	when he appointed a time for the rain’s abating, and a track for the whistling storm,
 Job	Job	20	28	27	descried wisdom already; traced its plan, and set all in order, and mastered it.
 Job	Job	20	28	28	To man, he has told this much, that wisdom is fearing the Lord; there lies discernment, in refusing the evil path.
 Job	Job	20	29	1	And thus Job continued to lay bare his thought:
 Job	Job	20	29	2	Alas for the changes the months have brought with them! Alas for the old days, when God was my protector,
 Job	Job	20	29	3	when his light shone above me, its rays guiding me through the darkness!
 Job	Job	20	29	4	Days of ripe manhood, when God was my home’s familiar guest,
 Job	Job	20	29	5	he, the Almighty, at my side! I had my children still about me;
 Job	Job	20	29	6	the milk frothed in pools at my feet, no rock so hard but my olives bathed it in oil.
 Job	Job	20	29	7	Went I to the city gate, there was my seat ready for me in the open square;
 Job	Job	20	29	8	rose the young men to make place for me, rose the aged to do me honour;
 Job	Job	20	29	9	nobles fell silent, and waited, finger on lip,
 Job	Job	20	29	10	words failed the chieftains, and counsel they gave no more.
 Job	Job	20	29	11	None heard the fame of me then, but called me a happy man; none watched my doings then, but spoke in my praise.
 Job	Job	20	29	12	Poor man nor helpless orphan cried to me in vain;
 Job	Job	20	29	13	how they blessed me, souls reprieved from instant peril; with what comfort the widow’s heart rejoiced!
 Job	Job	20	29	14	Dutiful observance was still the vesture I wore, my robe and crown integrity;
 Job	Job	20	29	15	in me, the blind found sight, the lame strength,
 Job	Job	20	29	16	the poor a father. None so ready to give the stranger’s cause a hearing,
 Job	Job	20	29	17	break open the fangs of the wrong-doer and snatch the prey from his teeth.
 Job	Job	20	29	18	Here, thought I, I have built myself a nest to die in; here, like some palm-tree, I shall defy the years,
 Job	Job	20	29	19	palm-tree that spreads out its roots to the river-bank, on whose leaves lodges the dew;
 Job	Job	20	29	20	my fame never diminishing, never worn out the bow I bear.
 Job	Job	20	29	21	How eagerly men hung upon my words, intent to learn what counsel I would give,
 Job	Job	20	29	22	nor ventured to speak when I had done! A gracious influence my words fell,
 Job	Job	20	29	23	like autumn rain or the spring showers on lips athirst.
 Job	Job	20	29	24	Were they faint-hearted, they found me smiling still, and the encouragement of my glance never failed them.
 Job	Job	20	29	25	Deigned I to be their leader, the first place was mine; yet ever when I sat like a king with his retinue about him, I would comfort the mourner’s tears.
 Job	Job	20	30	1	And now? Now I am a laughing-stock, even to younger men; a flock of such base breed as theirs sheep-dog of mine never tended!
 Job	Job	20	30	2	So profitless their puny strength, I would have let them die before ever they came to maturity.
 Job	Job	20	30	3	Starveling creatures, they should browse in the waste, unkempt, haggard and woe-begone,
 Job	Job	20	30	4	cropping mallow and tree-bark and juniper-root for their diet,
 Job	Job	20	30	5	and making great hue and cry after such dainties, as they pluck them from the hill-slopes!
 Job	Job	20	30	6	Barren ravine and cave and rock their dwelling-place,
 Job	Job	20	30	7	they were glad of so much shelter; a bramble thicket should be their welcome refuge.
 Job	Job	20	30	8	A senseless and a nameless breed, earth is well rid of them.
 Job	Job	20	30	9	O that I should be a song and a by-word on such lips as these!
 Job	Job	20	30	10	That they loathe and shun me, and make bold to spit in my face, being what they are!
 Job	Job	20	30	11	Now God has made me a mark for his archery, now he has put a bit in my mouth;
 Job	Job	20	30	12	when my fair spring was overcast by calamity, every passer-by might throw me down; like a flood they swept over me,
 Job	Job	20	30	13	trampled down my path, took me unawares and overcame me, when there was none to bring rescue.
 Job	Job	20	30	14	One breach made, one gate forced, they might fall upon me all at once, and add their weight to my misery.
 Job	Job	20	30	15	All that I was, is gone, the ambition, the happiness that was mine swept away like clouds before the storm;
 Job	Job	20	30	16	my heart is dead within me, a prey to long despairs.
 Job	Job	20	30	17	By night, anguish racks my frame; sleepless the cares that consume me,
 Job	Job	20	30	18	their poison seems to eat away the very garments I wear, clings fast about me like the collar of my coat.
 Job	Job	20	30	19	No better I than mud in the streets, little thought of as dust or ashes;
 Job	Job	20	30	20	unheard I cry to thee, unregarded I stand in thy presence;
 Job	Job	20	30	21	so hardened is thy heart, so pitilessly thy blows fall upon me.
 Job	Job	20	30	22	Didst thou exalt me, lift me so high in air, only to hurl me down in ruin?
 Job	Job	20	30	23	I know well enough that thou wilt bring me to the grave at last; it is the home thou hast appointed for all living men;
 Job	Job	20	30	24	but surely thou dost not exert thy power only to destroy, surely thou hast mercy on the fallen?
 Job	Job	20	30	25	I myself know what it is to pity the afflicted, to shed tears over human need!
 Job	Job	20	30	26	But no, hope I for better things, I hope in vain; ever deeper the darkness shews to eyes straining for the light.
 Job	Job	20	30	27	Still my heart is in turmoil, greeted still by fresh despairs;
 Job	Job	20	30	28	I go mourning, my face blacker than ever the sun’s heat made it, rise up in public, and claim audience for my wrongs;
 Job	Job	20	30	29	crying so dismally as if I had jackals for my brothers, ostriches for my company.
 Job	Job	20	30	30	And all the while, fever to discolour this flesh, to shrivel this frame!
 Job	Job	20	30	31	What wonder if all, with me, is mourning and lament, if the music of harp and flute is heard no more?
 Job	Job	20	31	1	And this was a man that had bound his eyes over by covenant; never should even his fancy dwell upon the thought of a maid!
 Job	Job	20	31	2	Well I knew that God Almighty in high heaven would have neither part nor lot with me else;
 Job	Job	20	31	3	ruin for the sinner his doom is, disinheritance for the wrong-doer.
 Job	Job	20	31	4	Tell me, does not this God watch over every path I take, trace my footsteps one by one?
 Job	Job	20	31	5	Walk I by crooked ways, run I eagerly after false dealing,
 Job	Job	20	31	6	he can weigh my offence with true scales; let God himself bear witness to my innocence!
 Job	Job	20	31	7	Have I strayed from my course; has my heart followed the lure of my eyes; are my hands stained with wrong?
 Job	Job	20	31	8	Then let another man enjoy the harvest I have sowed, then let my race be doomed to extinction!
 Job	Job	20	31	9	Have wiles of woman entangled my heart; did I lie in wait under my neighbour’s window?
 Job	Job	20	31	10	Then be my own wife another’s whore, strangers be her bedfellows!
 Job	Job	20	31	11	That were sin in me, and foul wrong done;
 Job	Job	20	31	12	that fire, once lighted, will rage till all is consumed, never a crop shall escape it.
 Job	Job	20	31	13	Did I refuse justice to man-servant of mine or woman-servant, when they had complaint to bring?
 Job	Job	20	31	14	Then it shall go hard with me when it is God’s turn to pronounce judgement; how shall I meet his scrutiny,
 Job	Job	20	31	15	who fashioned in the womb this one and that, man and master alike?
 Job	Job	20	31	16	Did I deny some poor man the alms he craved, keep the widow waiting for her pittance,
 Job	Job	20	31	17	sit over my meal alone, and never an orphan boy to share it?
 Job	Job	20	31	18	That were an ill return for the loving care that has borne me company as I grew up from childhood, ever since I left my mother’s womb.
 Job	Job	20	31	19	Did I spurn the naked that were ready to perish of cold, too poor to find clothing;
 Job	Job	20	31	20	did I never earn thanks, from the back that went bare till fleece of my flock warmed it?
 Job	Job	20	31	21	Did I threaten the friendless, whenever I could secure judgement against them in the market-place?
 Job	Job	20	31	22	Then let shoulder of mine hang from shoulder-blade, every bone in my arm broken!
 Job	Job	20	31	23	Nay, but God’s terrors overwhelmed, his majesty overbore me.
 Job	Job	20	31	24	In wealth did I put my trust, hail the bright gold as my life’s protector;
 Job	Job	20	31	25	doted I upon my great riches, upon all my toil had earned?
 Job	Job	20	31	26	When I gazed on the sun in its splendour, on the moon in her royal progress,
 Job	Job	20	31	27	did these things steal my heart away, so that mouth kissed hand in adoration?
 Job	Job	20	31	28	That were great wrong done, to deny the God who is higher than all.
 Job	Job	20	31	29	Did I triumph over a fallen foe, rejoice at his ruin;
 Job	Job	20	31	30	lend my lips to ill uses, cursing my enemy’s life away?
 Job	Job	20	31	31	Rather, it was of myself men were fain to speak evil, men of my own household, and to their hearts’ content.
 Job	Job	20	31	32	Never had the stranger to lodge in the open, my doors were open to every wayfarer that passed.
 Job	Job	20	31	33	Men are frail; does sin lie on my conscience undisclosed, does the memory of guilt rankle in my bosom?
 Job	Job	20	31	34	Was I daunted by fear of the throng, of my neighbours’ contemptuous looks? Did I hold my tongue, and keep within doors?
 Job	Job	20	31	35	O that my cause might be tried; that he, the Almighty, would grant my request, that he, my judge, would write my record down;
 Job	Job	20	31	36	how proudly I would bear it with me, shoulder-high, wear it as a crown!
 Job	Job	20	31	37	I would proclaim it wherever I went, fit for a king’s eyes to read.
 Job	Job	20	31	38	Can these lands of mine bear testimony against me, can their furrows tell a sad tale
 Job	Job	20	31	39	of harvests enjoyed, and no price paid for them, of labourers cruelly treated?
 Job	Job	20	31	40	Then thistles for wheat, thorns for barley may it yield me. Ended herewith are the sayings of Job.
 Job	Job	20	32	1	So they answered Job no more, those others, a man persuaded of his own inno-cence.
 Job	Job	20	32	2	But there was one who stood by in anger and thought scorn of them, Eliu the Buzite, son of Barachel, of Ram’s kindred. Angry he was with Job, for claiming that God did him an injury,
 Job	Job	20	32	3	and thought scorn of those friends of his, that could find no reasonable answer, but were content to find Job a guilty man.
 Job	Job	20	32	4	Eliu, then, waited till Job had finished speaking; was he not younger than the rest?
 Job	Job	20	32	5	But when he found that the other three had no answer to give, he could contain himself no longer.
 Job	Job	20	32	6	Thus, then, spoke Eliu the Buzite, son of Barachel: Late in time was I born, and you are older men than I; with bowed head I kept my own counsel,
 Job	Job	20	32	7	ready to listen, while old age spoke, and learn from you the garnered wisdom of years.
 Job	Job	20	32	8	But I see now that man speaks by inspiration; only the breath of the most High can grant discernment;
 Job	Job	20	32	9	long life does not make men wise, it is not always the aged that give true award.
 Job	Job	20	32	10	So it is that I would fain have you listen while I make known my thought to you.
 Job	Job	20	32	11	I have waited long on your words, heard you out, while you searched about for reasons,
 Job	Job	20	32	12	attentive enough, while I still hoped to hear the truth from you; but no, not one of you has convinced Job, or answered his riddle.
 Job	Job	20	32	13	Do not flatter yourselves that you have tracked down the truth; God must put him down, not man.
 Job	Job	20	32	14	Not against me has he drawn up these pleadings of his; not with your shiftless answers will I meet him.
 Job	Job	20	32	15	What, all abashed, these wise men, no answer ready, the words driven from their lips?
 Job	Job	20	32	16	I have had enough of waiting for them to speak, and seeing them stand dumb;
 Job	Job	20	32	17	I will take my turn at pleading, tell out my thoughts.
 Job	Job	20	32	18	I am full of matter, in labour with ripe utterance;
 Job	Job	20	32	19	fresh wine that has no vent will burst even a new wine-skin.
 Job	Job	20	32	20	Speak I must, if I would get relief, unburden my lips of their answer.
 Job	Job	20	32	21	Human respect shall not daunt me; how should I match man with God?
 Job	Job	20	32	22	Uncertain my span of days; what if he should call me suddenly to account, he, my Creator?
 Job	Job	20	33	1	Listen, then, Job, to my remonstrances, and hear me out;
 Job	Job	20	33	2	flows my speech free, tongue and throat are loosed;
 Job	Job	20	33	3	here be plain words, uttered in all honesty.
 Job	Job	20	33	4	A creature I; God’s spirit made me, the breath of omnipotence woke me to life;
 Job	Job	20	33	5	if answer thou hast, thou canst meet me fearlessly,
 Job	Job	20	33	6	since God made us both, and we were fashioned of one clay;
 Job	Job	20	33	7	here are no terrors to daunt thee, no threats to overbear thee.
 Job	Job	20	33	8	Openly thou hast said, with my own ears to witness it,
 Job	Job	20	33	9	Innocent though I be of all wrong, free from the stain of guilt,
 Job	Job	20	33	10	God has picked a quarrel with me; that is the reason, and no other, why he treats me as an enemy,
 Job	Job	20	33	11	holds me so close a prisoner, and watches me wherever I go.
 Job	Job	20	33	12	But there is no substance in thy plea; I tell thee, man cannot be matched with God.
 Job	Job	20	33	13	What, wouldst thou complain that he does not meet these charges of thine?
 Job	Job	20	33	14	Know, then, that God warns us once, but does not repeat his warning.
 Job	Job	20	33	15	Sometimes in visions of the night, when deep sleep falls upon men as they lie abed,
 Job	Job	20	33	16	he speaks words of revelation, to teach them the lesson they need.
 Job	Job	20	33	17	This is one means by which he will turn a man away from his designs, purge him of his pride;
 Job	Job	20	33	18	and so the grave is disappointed, the sword misses its prey.
 Job	Job	20	33	19	Or else he will use the pains of the sick-bed for a man’s correction, and leave his whole frame wasted with disease.
 Job	Job	20	33	20	Evil days, when he sickens at the thought of food, of all the dainties he once loved so well;
 Job	Job	20	33	21	when the flesh pines and the bones have nought to cover them,
 Job	Job	20	33	22	when death encroaches on life, and the powers of darkness daunt his spirits!
 Job	Job	20	33	23	Then it is an angel’s task, as many angels there be, to interpret his need, and shew him where man’s good lies;
 Job	Job	20	33	24	and the word of mercy will be spoken, Let be, the grave is not for him; I have found the secret of his ransoming;
 Job	Job	20	33	25	enough, now, torment has racked him, let him return to the vigour of his youth!
 Job	Job	20	33	26	So, God’s pardon wooed and won, the sick man stands in his presence once more, all thankfulness, restored to favour.
 Job	Job	20	33	27	He turns to the bystanders and makes acknowledgement, A sinner I, no doubt but I have greatly offended, my punishment was less than I deserved!
 Job	Job	20	33	28	Now God has reprieved me from death’s exile, I am to live still, and see the light.
 Job	Job	20	33	29	Such mercy, not once or twice, God shews to man,
 Job	Job	20	33	30	rescuing him from the grave, rekindling the lamp of life for him.
 Job	Job	20	33	31	Listen to me, then, Job, and hear me out;
 Job	Job	20	33	32	make answer to me, if answer thou canst, for I would fain see thee acquitted.
 Job	Job	20	33	33	If answer thou hast none, listen to me in silence while I unfold the truth.
 Job	Job	20	34	1	And Eliu spoke on:
 Job	Job	20	34	2	A word for the wise; listen, you that are the world’s sages;
 Job	Job	20	34	3	for food, the discerning palate, for wisdom, the discerning ear.
 Job	Job	20	34	4	Award we must give, this way or that; of two ways we must choose the better.
 Job	Job	20	34	5	Here is Job telling us that he is innocent, that God denies him his rights,
 Job	Job	20	34	6	judges him falsely, and plies him with punishment undeserved.
 Job	Job	20	34	7	Are there many such, many that thirst so greedily for the opportunity to cavil?
 Job	Job	20	34	8	What is this but to take part with wrong-doers, range himself among the impious,
 Job	Job	20	34	9	when he complains that there is no pleasing God, however ready a man is to do his will?
 Job	Job	20	34	10	Listen to me, then, discerning hearts! From God, the Almighty, far removed is all wickedness, is every thought of wrong;
 Job	Job	20	34	11	he treats men only as they deserve, giving due reward to each.
 Job	Job	20	34	12	What, should Almighty God pervert justice by condemning the innocent?
 Job	Job	20	34	13	Is the care of the wide earth entrusted to some other; is not the maker of the world himself the world’s judge?
 Job	Job	20	34	14	He has but to turn his thought towards men, reclaiming the spirit he once breathed into them,
 Job	Job	20	34	15	and all life would fail everywhere; mankind would return to its dust.
 Job	Job	20	34	16	Is Job wise? Then let him listen to these words of mine, heed well my warning.
 Job	Job	20	34	17	Can there be healing, where there is no love of right? Wouldst thou find fault with him whose justice runs so deep?
 Job	Job	20	34	18	He it is that says Traitor to a crowned king, and finds princes themselves guilty of rebellion.
 Job	Job	20	34	19	Nothing cares he for royal dignity, nor takes the oppressor’s part against the friendless; are not all alike his creatures?
 Job	Job	20	34	20	Suddenly death falls; there is a stir among the people at midnight, and they pass by to see the tyrant carried out, and yet no hand laid on him!
 Job	Job	20	34	21	Still God’s eye watches over men, whatever they do, wherever they take their path;
 Job	Job	20	34	22	darkness is none, though it were the shadow of death itself, that can hide the wrong-doer;
 Job	Job	20	34	23	not at a time of his own choosing man meets God in judgement.
 Job	Job	20	34	24	A whole world of men he will destroy, and put others in their place;
 Job	Job	20	34	25	weary of their ill deeds, he bids darkness fall, and there is an end of them.
 Job	Job	20	34	26	In some place where many triumph at the sight, he beats down the rebels
 Job	Job	20	34	27	that hitherto of set purpose defied him, recked nothing of his commandments,
 Job	Job	20	34	28	till at last the despairing cry of poor folk unbefriended reached his ears.
 Job	Job	20	34	29	So long as he grants prosperity, redress there is none; it is when he frowns upon man or nation that no eye can meet him.
 Job	Job	20	34	30	Yet for a people’s sins, he will appoint a false-hearted king to rule them.
 Job	Job	20	34	31	Such is the testimony I give to God; now let us hear thine;
 Job	Job	20	34	32	shew me my error, and if thou canst prove that I have spoken amiss, I will speak no more.
 Job	Job	20	34	33	Perhaps thou thinkest it part of the punishment God asks of thee, hearing what it pains thee to hear? But it was thou, not I, wert the first to speak. If thou hast better advice to offer, say on.
 Job	Job	20	34	34	O for wise tongues to speak, for discerning ears to listen to me!
 Job	Job	20	34	35	This Job has spoken as fools do; no word of his that echoes true doctrine!
 Job	Job	20	34	36	Father, let Job be tried still, tried to the uttermost; have no patience with a man so perverse,
 Job	Job	20	34	37	that sets a crown on his sins by blasphemy! For a while, let us see all ease denied him; and let him cite God to judgement if he will!
 Job	Job	20	35	1	And Eliu spoke on:
 Job	Job	20	35	2	What substance is there in this contention of thine, when thou claimest to have right on thy side against God?
 Job	Job	20	35	3	He cares nothing (so runs thy complaint) for man’s good deeds; they are of no advantage to him, that he should care for sin of mine!
 Job	Job	20	35	4	Here is my answer, to thee, Job, and to thy friends alike.
 Job	Job	20	35	5	Look heavenward, mark how the skies tower above thee, and read thy lesson there.
 Job	Job	20	35	6	Multiply thy wrong-doing as thou wilt, no sin of thine can harm or touch him;
 Job	Job	20	35	7	be honest as the day, no gift thou makest him, he is none the richer for thy pains.
 Job	Job	20	35	8	Only to thy fellow man thy malice does a hurt; only Adam’s children profit by thy uprightness.
 Job	Job	20	35	9	… Cries and groans there are in plenty when oppression abounds, when tyranny holds unchecked sway;
 Job	Job	20	35	10	Where is God? men ask; yet never did they seek to find him when he brought triumph in the hour of distress,
 Job	Job	20	35	11	the God who teaches them such lessons as he never gave to beast or bird.
 Job	Job	20	35	12	Only then, only when the wicked lord it over them, men cry out, but their cry goes unheard;
 Job	Job	20	35	13	should God concern himself with these random complaints, he, the Almighty, examine their pleadings one by one?
 Job	Job	20	35	14	Nay, when he seems to take no heed, submit thyself to his judgement and await his hour;
 Job	Job	20	35	15	thy present sufferings do not betoken his anger, he is not taking vengeance to the full.
 Job	Job	20	35	16	See, then, how all Job’s utterance misses the mark; glib words with no tincture of knowledge!
 Job	Job	20	36	1	And still Eliu would have his say:
 Job	Job	20	36	2	Bear with me a little while I declare my thought to thee; I have more to say yet on God’s behalf.
 Job	Job	20	36	3	From a deep source I will draw my reasons, proving him, my Maker, to be just;
 Job	Job	20	36	4	here is no delusive eloquence, the full truth shall be made known to thee.
 Job	Job	20	36	5	He, the all-powerful, does not grudge men power;
 Job	Job	20	36	6	it is only to the wicked he denies his aid; the friendless shall have redress.
 Job	Job	20	36	7	Never from the just is his favour withdrawn; a royal throne is theirs for ever, so high he exalts them.
 Job	Job	20	36	8	If he should leave them in chains, caught in the toils of sore need,
 Job	Job	20	36	9	it is but to apprise them of their own ill deeds, their own tyrannous deeds;
 Job	Job	20	36	10	he will speak home to them for their correction, warn them to turn back from their guilty ways.
 Job	Job	20	36	11	Hear they and heed, they shall live long in ease and renown;
 Job	Job	20	36	12	if hear they will not, it is the sword’s point for them, to their last gasp fools still.
 Job	Job	20	36	13	It is the cunning, the false-hearted, that are God’s sworn enemies; from them no cry comes when the chains close about them;
 Job	Job	20	36	14	the storm sweeps them away, forgotten in death as the temple minions are forgotten;
 Job	Job	20	36	15	it is the friendless he rescues in their need, speaks home to them through the afflictions they endure.
 Job	Job	20	36	16	From the pit’s mouth, where the ground seems lost under thy feet, he will bring thee out into full freedom; thou shalt take thy ease at a table loaded with dainties.
 Job	Job	20	36	17	Is sentence passed on thee such as rebels undergo? Thou shalt have justice yet, and a true award.
 Job	Job	20	36	18	Never let the thought that God is angry lure thee into tyranny and corruption;
 Job	Job	20	36	19	lay aside thy greatness, forbear to oppress, away with the body-guard which attends thee;
 Job	Job	20	36	20	put an end to the dark time when nations must march under their orders.
 Job	Job	20	36	21	Do not yield to the rebellious mood thou hast cherished since affliction came upon thee.
 Job	Job	20	36	22	God, that is so great and powerful, man’s sovereign teacher,
 Job	Job	20	36	23	how should anyone fathom his designs, or charge him with injustice?
 Job	Job	20	36	24	Bethink thee, how high beyond thy thought are those creatures of his which men praise;
 Job	Job	20	36	25	how mortals see, but see, like mortals, from afar.
 Job	Job	20	36	26	Truly there is no measuring God’s greatness, no reckoning his length of days.
 Job	Job	20	36	27	He hoards up the rain-drops, or showers them down in full flood
 Job	Job	20	36	28	from the cloud-fountains that curtain us overhead.
 Job	Job	20	36	29	With those clouds, when it is his pleasure, he spreads his pavilion,
 Job	Job	20	36	30	flashes his lightning on high, brings darkness on the depths of the sea.
 Job	Job	20	36	31	Has he not a whole world to rule, a whole race of mortals to supply with food?
 Job	Job	20	36	32	Now he hides the light away with the shadow of his hand, now he bids it shine out again,
 Job	Job	20	36	33	as if to shew a friend at his side that he is the owner of it, that he can reach its high fastness when he will.
 Job	Job	20	37	1	What wonder if my heart trembles and fails me at the thought?
 Job	Job	20	37	2	Listen to the bruit of it, the voice that speaks amid such terrors, the dread accents of that utterance!
 Job	Job	20	37	3	Under what part of heaven, into what corner of earth does he not look, do not his lightnings flash?
 Job	Job	20	37	4	Then what a crash resounds, the magnificent peal of his thunder; a voice heard, and none can tell whence it comes!
 Job	Job	20	37	5	God’s voice in the thunder, a marvel worthy of him, whose deeds are so great and so unsearchable.
 Job	Job	20	37	6	He it is that bids the snows fall over earth, and winter shower, and his fierce storms of rain.
 Job	Job	20	37	7	No hand of man but is shut up close now under his seal, that owns him Master-workman of all;
 Job	Job	20	37	8	cowers the beast in its lair, or lurks in its cave;
 Job	Job	20	37	9	from his treasure-house in the north, tempest comes and cold.
 Job	Job	20	37	10	At God’s breath the frost binds fast, till he bids the waters flow again in plenty.
 Job	Job	20	37	11	And now the crops must have rain; far and wide the clouds scatter their rays of hope;
 Job	Job	20	37	12	this way and that they turn at the guidance of his will, to do their appointed task on earth,
 Job	Job	20	37	13	among distant tribes, or here in his own land, let his mercy bid them appear where it may.
 Job	Job	20	37	14	Matter enough, Job, for thy heeding! Halt where thou standest, and consider the marvellous acts of God.
 Job	Job	20	37	15	Canst thou tell us when it was God bade the rain bring hope to us from those clouds of his,
 Job	Job	20	37	16	tell us the course of their journeyings? Is thy knowledge so perfect?
 Job	Job	20	37	17	See if thy garments do not cling warm about thee when the south wind cheers the earth!
 Job	Job	20	37	18	And was it with help of thine God fashioned the heavens, firm as cast bronze?
 Job	Job	20	37	19	Tell us, what words we shall use to him, we, shut up in our darkness?
 Job	Job	20	37	20	What messenger shall deliver my complaint to him, a human messenger that will bring on himself only ruin?
 Job	Job	20	37	21	Light fails men’s eyes; all of a sudden, the air is thick with clouds; then a breath of passing wind has driven them away!
 Job	Job	20	37	22	As well search for the treasures of the north, as for the majestic praise which is God’s due;
 Job	Job	20	37	23	find speech worthy of it we cannot, so great he is in strength, so prudent in counsel, so faithful in right dealing, past all that tongue can tell.
 Job	Job	20	37	24	Well may men fear him; none that think themselves wise but will tremble to meet his look.
 Job	Job	20	38	1	Then, from the midst of a whirlwind, the Lord gave Job his answer:
 Job	Job	20	38	2	Here is one that must ever be clouding the truth of things with words ill considered!
 Job	Job	20	38	3	Strip, then, and enter the lists; it is my turn to ask questions now, thine to answer them.
 Job	Job	20	38	4	From what vantage-point wast thou watching, when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me, whence comes this sure knowledge of thine?
 Job	Job	20	38	5	Tell me, since thou art so wise, was it thou or I designed earth’s plan, measuring it out with the line?
 Job	Job	20	38	6	How came its base to stand so firm; who laid its corner-stone?
 Job	Job	20	38	7	To me, that day, all the morning stars sang together, all the powers of heaven uttered their joyful praise.
 Job	Job	20	38	8	Was it thou or I shut in the sea behind bars? No sooner had it broken forth from the womb
 Job	Job	20	38	9	than I dressed it in swaddling-clothes of dark mist,
 Job	Job	20	38	10	set it within bounds of my own choosing, made fast with bolt and bar;
 Job	Job	20	38	11	Thus far thou shalt come, said I, and no further; here let thy swelling waves spend their force.
 Job	Job	20	38	12	Dost thou, a mortal, take command of the day’s breaking, and shew the dawn its appointed post,
 Job	Job	20	38	13	twitching away earth’s coverlet, scaring away the ill-doers?
 Job	Job	20	38	14	The dawn, that stamps its image on the clay of earth; stands there, flung over it like a garment,
 Job	Job	20	38	15	taking away from the ill-doers the darkness that is their light, so that all their power goes for nothing.
 Job	Job	20	38	16	Didst thou ever make thy way into the sea’s depths, walk at thy ease through its hidden caverns?
 Job	Job	20	38	17	When did the gates of death open to thee, and give thee sight of its gloomy threshold?
 Job	Job	20	38	18	Nay, hast thou viewed the whole surface of earth itself? Tell me, if such knowledge is thine, all its secrets;
 Job	Job	20	38	19	where the light dwells, where darkness finds its home;
 Job	Job	20	38	20	hast thou followed either of these to the end of its journey, tracked it to its lair?
 Job	Job	20	38	21	Didst thou foresee the time of thy own birth, couldst thou foretell the years of life that lay before thee?
 Job	Job	20	38	22	Hast thou found thy way in to see the chambers where snow and hail lie stored,
 Job	Job	20	38	23	my armoury against the times of stress, when there are wars to be fought, battles to be won?
 Job	Job	20	38	24	Tell me by what means the light is scattered over earth, the heat diffused;
 Job	Job	20	38	25	tell me what power carved out a channel for the tempestuous rain, a vent for the echoing thunderstorm,
 Job	Job	20	38	26	that they should fall on some lonely desert where foot of man never trod,
 Job	Job	20	38	27	water those trackless wastes, and make the green grass spring?
 Job	Job	20	38	28	What sire gendered the rain, or the drops of dew;
 Job	Job	20	38	29	what mother’s womb bore the ice, the frost that comes from heaven
 Job	Job	20	38	30	to make water hard as stone, imprison the depths beneath its surface?
 Job	Job	20	38	31	Is it at thy command the glittering bright Pleiads cluster so close, and Orion’s circlet spreads so wide?
 Job	Job	20	38	32	Dost thou tell the day star when to shine out, the evening star when to rise over the sons of earth?
 Job	Job	20	38	33	Is it thine to understand the motions of the heavens, and rule earth by their influence?
 Job	Job	20	38	34	Can thy voice reach the clouds, and bid their showers fall on thee;
 Job	Job	20	38	35	canst thou send out lightnings that will do thy errand, and come back to await thy pleasure?
 Job	Job	20	38	36	What power gives either man’s heart its prescience, or the cock its sure instinct,
 Job	Job	20	38	37	knows all the motions of heaven, and lulls the music of the spheres?
 Job	Job	20	38	38	When was it that earth’s dust was piled, and the solid ground was built up?
 Job	Job	20	38	39	Is it thou or I that finds the lioness her prey, to satisfy those hungry whelps of hers,
 Job	Job	20	38	40	where they lie in rocky caves, their lurking-places? Which of us feeds the ravens?
 Job	Job	20	38	41	Is it not to God their nestlings cry so shrilly, homeless for want of food?
 Job	Job	20	39	1	Not thine to know when the wild goats give birth on their high crags, to watch the hinds in their throes;
 Job	Job	20	39	2	count the months while they carry their young, and know the time of their delivery.
 Job	Job	20	39	3	Without thy aid they travail; born of those pangs,
 Job	Job	20	39	4	the calves are soon weaned, and make for the pastures, go out to return no more.
 Job	Job	20	39	5	Who gives the wild ass untrammelled liberty
 Job	Job	20	39	6	to roam the wilderness, and make the salt plains his dwelling-place;
 Job	Job	20	39	7	to spurn the din of cities, no driver crying after him,
 Job	Job	20	39	8	and look about him at the slopes where he feeds, all that green world his pasturage?
 Job	Job	20	39	9	Canst thou tame the wild ox to thy service, feed him at thy stall,
 Job	Job	20	39	10	bind him to the plough with thongs and lead him out to break clods in the valley?
 Job	Job	20	39	11	Wouldst thou trust that great strength of his to do thy work for thee,
 Job	Job	20	39	12	bring in thy harvest and fill thy threshing-floor?
 Job	Job	20	39	13	Here is the ostrich, of one feather with heron and hawk,
 Job	Job	20	39	14	yet she will leave her eggs on the bare earth; and canst thou give warmth to the dust to hatch them?
 Job	Job	20	39	15	Heedless, though foot of man should trample or wild beast devour them,
 Job	Job	20	39	16	she steels herself to pity as if the brood was none of hers; throws away all her hopes in causeless alarm.
 Job	Job	20	39	17	God’s will it was to deny her sense; wisdom she might have none,
 Job	Job	20	39	18	though she were swift, at need, to hoist her wings aloft, mocking the pains of horse and rider.
 Job	Job	20	39	19	Ay, and what of the horse? Is it of thy gift his great strength comes, was it thou didst caparison with him terrors?
 Job	Job	20	39	20	Thou wilt not scare him away like a locust; fiercely he breathes,
 Job	Job	20	39	21	deeply he paws the ground, bravely he prances, as he goes out to meet the shock of battle.
 Job	Job	20	39	22	Fear cannot daunt him, nor the sword drive him back;
 Job	Job	20	39	23	clang quiver, let shield and spear dazzle as they may,
 Job	Job	20	39	24	he swallows up the intervening distance, all heat and rage. Little recks he of the trumpet’s blast;
 Job	Job	20	39	25	echoes exultantly the bugle’s note, while he scents from afar the combat, hears the shouting of captains, and the din of armies.
 Job	Job	20	39	26	Is it of thy devising the hawk grows full-fledged, in time to spread her wings for the southward journey?
 Job	Job	20	39	27	Is it at thy bidding the eagle soars, to make her eyrie in the heights,
 Job	Job	20	39	28	cave and crag and inaccessible rock her familiar home,
 Job	Job	20	39	29	whence her far-seeing eyes look round, searching for prey?
 Job	Job	20	39	30	Blood-thirsty her brood, and where the carcase waits, waits she.
 Job	Job	20	39	31	All this the Lord said to Job, and added besides,
 Job	Job	20	39	32	What is this? One that would match himself with God, so easily put down! Nay, God thou didst challenge, God thou must refute.
 Job	Job	20	39	33	And thus Job made the Lord answer:
 Job	Job	20	39	34	So vain a pleader, I have no suit to make; finger on lip I will listen.
 Job	Job	20	39	35	Once and again I have spoken the word I would fain unsay; more I dare not.
 Job	Job	20	40	1	And once more, from the midst of a whirlwind, the Lord gave Job his answer:
 Job	Job	20	40	2	Strip, then, and enter the lists; it is my turn to ask questions, thine to impart knowledge.
 Job	Job	20	40	3	My awards thou wouldst fain reverse; wouldst prove me unjust, to prove thyself innocent;
 Job	Job	20	40	4	why then, let us see thee shew strength like the strength of God, let us hear thee thunder as God thunders.
 Job	Job	20	40	5	Come, deck thyself with glory, up with thee to the heights; shew all thy splendours, robe thyself in dazzling array!
 Job	Job	20	40	6	Scatter the proud in that indignation of thine, with thy frown abase the tyrant;
 Job	Job	20	40	7	here is an oppressor for thee to thwart; here is one that defies thee, crush him!
 Job	Job	20	40	8	Bury them in the dust, one and all, hide them from sight, deep in the abyss;
 Job	Job	20	40	9	then I will acknowledge thee for one whose own strength can bring him victory.
 Job	Job	20	40	10	Here is Behemoth, my creature as thou art, fed on the same grass the oxen eat;
 Job	Job	20	40	11	yet what strength in his loins, what lustihood in the navel of his belly!
 Job	Job	20	40	12	Stiff as cedar-wood his tail, close-knit the sinews of his groin,
 Job	Job	20	40	13	bones like pipes of bronze, gristle like plates of steel!
 Job	Job	20	40	14	None of God’s works can vie with him, the maker of such a beast has his sword ready for use;
 Job	Job	20	40	15	whole mountain-sides, the playground of his fellow beasts, he will lay under tribute,
 Job	Job	20	40	16	as he lies there under the close covert of the marsh-reeds,
 Job	Job	20	40	17	thick boughs for his shadow, among the willows by the stream.
 Job	Job	20	40	18	The flooded river he drinks unconcerned; Jordan itself would have no terrors for that gaping mouth.
 Job	Job	20	40	19	Like a lure it would charm his eye, though it should pierce his nostrils with sharp stakes.
 Job	Job	20	40	20	Or Leviathan, wilt thou find a hook that will draw him to land, a line that will hold his tongue fast?
 Job	Job	20	40	21	Canst thou ring him, or pierce his jaw with a clasp?
 Job	Job	20	40	22	Will he importune thee with entreaties, or cajole thee with blandishments,
 Job	Job	20	40	23	till thou makest a covenant that binds him to be thy servant for ever?
 Job	Job	20	40	24	Wilt thou make a plaything of him, as if he were a tame bird, chain him up to make sport for thy maid-servants?
 Job	Job	20	40	25	Is he to be divided up among fellow fishermen, sold piece-meal to the merchants?
 Job	Job	20	40	26	Is that skin a spoil for the net, that head for the fishermen’s cabins?
 Job	Job	20	40	27	Do but try conclusions with him, and see if the memory of the combat does not keep thee dumb!
 Job	Job	20	40	28	Fond hope, that must be dashed to the ground for all to see it!
 Job	Job	20	41	1	It is in mercy that I forbear to make him a plague for mankind. But indeed, there is no resisting me,
 Job	Job	20	41	2	nor can any deserve my thanks by lending me the aid I lacked; nothing on earth but is at my disposal.
 Job	Job	20	41	3	I give him no quarter, for all his boastful, all his flattering words.
 Job	Job	20	41	4	Who can strip the skin of him, who can penetrate into the cavern of his mouth,
 Job	Job	20	41	5	forcing the gates that guard it, the terrors of his teeth?
 Job	Job	20	41	6	The body of him is like shields of cast metal, scale pressing on scale,
 Job	Job	20	41	7	so close to one another as to leave no vent between;
 Job	Job	20	41	8	so well joined that nothing will part them.
 Job	Job	20	41	9	Let him but sneeze, the fire flashes out; let him open his eyes, it is like the glimmer of dawn;
 Job	Job	20	41	10	flames come from his jaws, bright as a burning torch,
 Job	Job	20	41	11	smoke from his nostrils, thick as the fumes of a seething pot;
 Job	Job	20	41	12	his very breath will set coals aflame, such fire issues from that mouth.
 Job	Job	20	41	13	What strength dwells in that neck of his, what terrors play about him!
 Job	Job	20	41	14	Firm-set are the folds of his flesh, unyielding though a thunder-bolt should strike them;
 Job	Job	20	41	15	firm-set, too, is the heart of him, firm as ever stone was, or smith’s anvil.
 Job	Job	20	41	16	Rises he up, angels themselves are afraid, and take sanctuary in their dread.
 Job	Job	20	41	17	Sword-thrust, nor spear, nor breast-plate can hold their own against him;
 Job	Job	20	41	18	to him, steel is but chaff, bronze but touch-wood,
 Job	Job	20	41	19	nor fears he the archer; sling-stones he counts as straw,
 Job	Job	20	41	20	as straw the hammer-blow, laughs at the brandished spear.
 Job	Job	20	41	21	Sunlight flashes beneath him as he goes, a path of gold through the slime;
 Job	Job	20	41	22	he makes the deep sea boil like a pot where ointment simmers;
 Job	Job	20	41	23	how it shines in his wake, as though ocean itself had grown hoary with age!
 Job	Job	20	41	24	He has not his like among the strong things of earth, that fearless nature,
 Job	Job	20	41	25	that heaven-confronting eye. Over all the pride of earth he reigns supreme.
 Job	Job	20	42	1	And thus Job answered the Lord:
 Job	Job	20	42	2	I acknowledge it, thou canst do all thou wilt, and no thought is too difficult for thee.
 Job	Job	20	42	3	Here indeed is one that clouds over the truth with his ignorance! I have spoken as fools speak, of things far beyond my ken.
 Job	Job	20	42	4	Henceforth it is my turn to speak, thine to listen; my turn to ask questions, thine to impart knowledge!
 Job	Job	20	42	5	I have heard thy voice now; nay, more, I have had sight of thee;
 Job	Job	20	42	6	now I am all remorse, I do penance in dust and ashes.
 Job	Job	20	42	7	And now, his converse with Job finished, the Lord said to Eliphaz the Themanite, You have earned my displeasure, thou and these two friends of thine, by speaking amiss of me as my servant Job never did.
 Job	Job	20	42	8	To Job you must go for your ransoming, with seven bulls and seven rams to offer in burnt-sacrifice; he, my servant, shall intercede for you, and for his sake your folly shall be pardoned, that spoke amiss of me when he spoke the truth.
 Job	Job	20	42	9	So away they went, Eliphaz the Themanite, Baldad the Suhite, and Sophar the Naamathite, and did the Lord’s bidding. For Job’s sake the Lord pardoned them;
 Job	Job	20	42	10	and, as he prayed for these friends of his, the Lord relented at the sight of his penitence. So he gave back to Job twice over all that he had lost.
 Job	Job	20	42	11	Clansmen and clanswomen and all his old acquaintances gathered about him now, and sat down as guests in his house, and made great ado bemoaning all the afflictions the Lord had sent him; not one of them but gave him presents, a sheep and a gold ear-ring apiece.
 Job	Job	20	42	12	A richer man the Lord made Job now than ever he had been in old days; fourteen thousand sheep he had, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she-asses.
 Job	Job	20	42	13	Seven sons he had, and three daughters,
 Job	Job	20	42	14	the first he called Fair as the Day, and the second Sweet as Cassia, and the third Dark Eye-lids.
 Job	Job	20	42	15	Nowhere might women be found fair as Job’s daughters, and each had the same patrimony as her brothers.
 Job	Job	20	42	16	Job himself lived on for a hundred and forty years, to see sons and grandsons and a new generation yet of his descendants; so he died at last as old men die, that have taken their full toll of the years.
 Psalms	Ps	21	1	1	Blessed is the man who does not guide his steps by ill counsel, or turn aside where sinners walk, or, where scornful souls gather, sit down to rest;
 Psalms	Ps	21	1	2	the man whose heart is set on the law of the Lord, on that law, day and night, his thoughts still dwell.
 Psalms	Ps	21	1	3	He stands firm as a tree planted by running water, ready to yield its fruit when the season comes, not a leaf faded; all that he does will prosper.
 Psalms	Ps	21	1	4	Not such, not such the wicked; the wicked are like chaff the wind sweeps away.
 Psalms	Ps	21	1	5	Not for the wicked, when judgement comes, to rise up and plead their cause; sinners will have no part in the reunion of the just.
 Psalms	Ps	21	1	6	They walk, the just, under the Lord’s protection; the path of the wicked, how soon is it lost to sight!
 Psalms	Ps	21	2	1	What means this turmoil among the nations? Why do the peoples cherish vain dreams?
 Psalms	Ps	21	2	2	See how the kings of the earth stand in array, how its rulers make common cause, against the Lord, and against the King he has anointed,
 Psalms	Ps	21	2	3	crying, Let us break away from their bondage, rid ourselves of the toils!
 Psalms	Ps	21	2	4	He who dwells in heaven is laughing at their threats, the Lord makes light of them;
 Psalms	Ps	21	2	5	and at last, in his displeasure, he will speak out, his anger quelling them:
 Psalms	Ps	21	2	6	Here, on mount Sion, my sanctuary, I enthrone a king of my own choice. Mine to proclaim the Lord’s edict;
 Psalms	Ps	21	2	7	how he told me, Thou art my son; I have begotten thee this day.
 Psalms	Ps	21	2	8	Ask thy will of me, and thou shalt have the nations for thy patrimony; the very ends of the world for thy domain.
 Psalms	Ps	21	2	9	Thou shalt herd them like sheep with a crook of iron, break them in pieces like earthenware.
 Psalms	Ps	21	2	10	Princes, take warning; learn your lesson, you that rule the world.
 Psalms	Ps	21	2	11	Tremble, and serve the Lord, rejoicing in his presence, but with awe in your hearts.
 Psalms	Ps	21	2	12	Kiss the rod, do not brave his anger, and go astray from the sure path.
 Psalms	Ps	21	2	13	When the fire of his vengeance blazes out suddenly, happy are they who find their refuge in him.
 Psalms	Ps	21	3	1	(A psalm David wrote, when he fled before his son Absalom.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	3	2	See how they surround me, Lord, my adversaries, how many rise up in arms against me;
 Psalms	Ps	21	3	3	everywhere voices taunting me, His God cannot save him now.
 Psalms	Ps	21	3	4	Yet, Lord, thou art my champion, thou art the pride that keeps my head erect.
 Psalms	Ps	21	3	5	I have but to cry out to the Lord, and my voice reaches his mountain sanctuary, and there finds hearing.
 Psalms	Ps	21	3	6	Safe in God’s hand I lay down, and slept, and have awoken;
 Psalms	Ps	21	3	7	and now, though thousands of the people set upon me from every side, I will not be afraid of them. Bestir thyself, Lord; my God, save me;
 Psalms	Ps	21	3	8	thine to smite my enemies on the cheek, thine to break the fangs of malice.
 Psalms	Ps	21	3	9	From the Lord all deliverance comes; let thy blessing, Lord, rest upon thy people.
 Psalms	Ps	21	4	1	(To the choir-master. On stringed instruments. A psalm. Of David. )
 Psalms	Ps	21	4	2	When I call on thy name, listen to me, O God, and grant redress; still, in time of trouble, thou hast brought me relief; have pity on me now, and hear my prayer.
 Psalms	Ps	21	4	3	Great ones of the world, will your hearts always be hardened, will you never cease setting your heart on shadows, following a lie?
 Psalms	Ps	21	4	4	To the souls he loves, be sure the Lord shews wondrous favour; whenever I call on his name, the Lord will hear me.
 Psalms	Ps	21	4	5	Tremble, and sin no more; take thought, as you lie awake, in the silence of your hearts.
 Psalms	Ps	21	4	6	Offer sacrifices with due observance, and put your trust in the Lord. There are many that cry out for a sight of better times;
 Psalms	Ps	21	4	7	do thou, then, Lord, shew us the sunshine of thy favour.
 Psalms	Ps	21	4	8	Never did rich harvests of corn and wine bring gladness like the gladness thou puttest into my heart.
 Psalms	Ps	21	4	9	Even as I lie down, sleep comes, and with sleep tranquillity;
 Psalms	Ps	21	4	10	what need, Lord, of aught but thyself to bring me confidence?
 Psalms	Ps	21	5	1	(To the choir-master. On the flute. A psalm. Of David.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	5	2	Lord, listen to my plea, let me not sigh in vain;
 Psalms	Ps	21	5	3	pay heed to my cry of petition, my King, my God.
 Psalms	Ps	21	5	4	To thee, Lord, my prayer goes up, early to win thy audience;
 Psalms	Ps	21	5	5	early in the morning I lay my petition before thee and await thy pleasure. No evil thing claims thy divine assent;
 Psalms	Ps	21	5	6	with thee baseness cannot dwell; nor rebellion hold its ground at thy coming.
 Psalms	Ps	21	5	7	Thou hatest the wrongdoer, and wilt bring the liar to destruction; blood-thirsty and treacherous men the Lord holds in abhorrence.
 Psalms	Ps	21	5	8	I, then, encompassed by thy mercy, will betake myself to thy house, and in reverence of thee bow down before thy sanctuary.
 Psalms	Ps	21	5	9	Lord, do thou lead me with faithful care; clear show the path, while I walk beset by enemies.
 Psalms	Ps	21	5	10	In their speech no truth can be found; their hearts are all treachery,
 Psalms	Ps	21	5	11	their mouths gaping tombs; flattering is ever on their lips. Thy scourge, O God! Cheat them of their hopes, cast them out in all their wickedness; have they not defied thee?
 Psalms	Ps	21	5	12	But for all those who trust in thee there is joy and everlasting triumph; welcome protection they have from thee, true lovers of thy name.
 Psalms	Ps	21	5	13	Lord, thou givest thy benediction to the just; thou dost throw thy loving-kindness about us like a shield.
 Psalms	Ps	21	6	1	(To the choir-master. On stringed instruments. Over the octave. A psalm. Of David.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	6	2	Lord, when thou dost reprove me, let it not be in anger; when thou dost chastise me, let it not be in displeasure.
 Psalms	Ps	21	6	3	Lord, pity me; I have no strength left; Lord, heal me; my limbs tremble;
 Psalms	Ps	21	6	4	my spirits are altogether broken; Lord, wilt thou never be content?
 Psalms	Ps	21	6	5	Lord, turn back, and grant a wretched soul relief; as thou art ever merciful, save me.
 Psalms	Ps	21	6	6	When death comes, there is no more remembering thee; none can praise thee in the tomb.
 Psalms	Ps	21	6	7	I am spent with sighing; every night I lie weeping on my bed, till the tears drench my pillow.
 Psalms	Ps	21	6	8	Grief has dimmed my eyes, faded their lustre now, so many are the adversaries that surround me.
 Psalms	Ps	21	6	9	Depart from me, all you that traffic in iniquity; the Lord has heard my cry of distress.
 Psalms	Ps	21	6	10	Here was a prayer divinely heard, a boon divinely granted.
 Psalms	Ps	21	6	11	All my enemies will be abashed and terrified; taken aback, all in a moment, and put to shame.
 Psalms	Ps	21	7	1	(A lament of David’s, which he sang to the Lord because of Chus, the Benjamite.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	7	2	O Lord my God, my confidence is in thee; save me from all my pursuers, and grant me deliverance:
 Psalms	Ps	21	7	3	else must I fall a helpless prey to the lion, be torn in pieces, with none to bring me aid.
 Psalms	Ps	21	7	4	O Lord my God, if I too have been at fault, if these hands are stained with guilt;
 Psalms	Ps	21	7	5	if I have been a false friend, and not rather spared even those that wronged me,
 Psalms	Ps	21	7	6	then indeed let some enemy overtake me with his relentless pursuit, trample me to earth, and level my pride with the dust!
 Psalms	Ps	21	7	7	Lord, rise up in thy anger, countervail the malice of my enemies; bestir thyself, O Lord my God, in defence of the laws thou thyself hast given us.
 Psalms	Ps	21	7	8	All the nations will gather about thee, if thou wilt come back to thy throne and rule them,
 Psalms	Ps	21	7	9	the Lord judging the nations! Give me redress, Lord, in my uprightness, in all the innocence of my heart.
 Psalms	Ps	21	7	10	Surely thou wilt put an end to the wrong-doing of the wicked, and prosper the innocent; no thought or desire of ours can escape the scrutiny of thy divine justice.
 Psalms	Ps	21	7	11	From the Lord, refuge of true hearts, my protection comes.
 Psalms	Ps	21	7	12	God judges ever true; day by day his indignation mounts up;
 Psalms	Ps	21	7	13	if they do not repent, his sword will flash bright; he has bent and aimed his bow;
 Psalms	Ps	21	7	14	deadly are the weapons he is preparing for them; he has barbed his arrows with fire.
 Psalms	Ps	21	7	15	Here was a heart pregnant with malice, that conceived only spite, and gave birth only to empty promise!
 Psalms	Ps	21	7	16	Here was one who dug a pit and sunk it deep, and fell into a snare of his own setting!
 Psalms	Ps	21	7	17	All his spite will recoil on himself, all his violence will fall his own head.
 Psalms	Ps	21	7	18	I will ever thank the Lord for his just retribution, singing praises to the name of the Lord, the most High.
 Psalms	Ps	21	8	1	(To the choir-master. To the mood of the song, The Wine-presses. A psalm. Of David.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	8	2	O Lord, our Master, how the majesty of thy name fills all the earth! Thy greatness is high above heaven itself.
 Psalms	Ps	21	8	3	Thou hast made the lips of children, of infants at the breast, vocal with praise, to confound thy enemies; to silence malicious and revengeful tongues.
 Psalms	Ps	21	8	4	I look up at those heavens of thine, the work of thy hands, at the moon and the stars, which thou hast set in their places;
 Psalms	Ps	21	8	5	what is man that thou shouldst remember him? What is Adam’s breed, that it should claim thy care?
 Psalms	Ps	21	8	6	Thou hast placed him only a little below the angels, crowning him with glory and honour,
 Psalms	Ps	21	8	7	and bidding him rule over the works of thy hands.
 Psalms	Ps	21	8	8	Thou hast put them all under his dominion, the sheep and the cattle, and the wild beasts besides;
 Psalms	Ps	21	8	9	the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, that travel by the sea’s paths.
 Psalms	Ps	21	8	10	O Lord, our Master, how the majesty of thy name fills all the earth!
 Psalms	Ps	21	9	1	(To the choir-master. To the mood of the song, Mut Ladben. A psalm. Of David.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	9	2	Lord, I give thee all the thanks of my heart, recounting thy wonderful do-ings;
 Psalms	Ps	21	9	3	glad and triumphant in thee, I will sing psalms to thy name, O God most high.
 Psalms	Ps	21	9	4	See how my enemies turn back, how they faint and melt away at the sight of thee!
 Psalms	Ps	21	9	5	Thou hast given me redress and maintained my cause; thou art there on thy throne, seeing justice done.
 Psalms	Ps	21	9	6	Thou hast checked the heathen in their course; thou hast brought the wicked to nothing, blotting out their name for all time.
 Psalms	Ps	21	9	7	Spent is the enemy’s power, doomed to everlasting ruin; the memory of them has died with the fall of their cities.
 Psalms	Ps	21	9	8	But the Lord abides for ever on the throne of judgement he has prepared,
 Psalms	Ps	21	9	9	still judging the world rightly, still awarding each people its due;
 Psalms	Ps	21	9	10	the Lord is a stronghold to the oppressed, a stronghold in time of peril.
 Psalms	Ps	21	9	11	Those who acknowledge thy name, Lord, can trust in thee; never was man forsaken that had recourse to thee.
 Psalms	Ps	21	9	12	Sing, then, to the Lord, who dwells in Sion, tell the Gentiles of his great deeds;
 Psalms	Ps	21	9	13	how he, the avenger of blood, cares for the afflicted, does not forget them when they cry to him.
 Psalms	Ps	21	9	14	Have pity on me, Lord, look upon all that I suffer at my enemies’ hands;
 Psalms	Ps	21	9	15	thou who didst ever rescue me from the gate of death, to proclaim thy praises at the gate of thy loved Sion,
 Psalms	Ps	21	9	16	to exult in thy saving power. The heathen have been caught in their own deadly devices; their feet have been trapped in the very toils they had laid;
 Psalms	Ps	21	9	17	now it will be seen how the Lord defends the right, how the wicked contrive their own undoing.
 Psalms	Ps	21	9	18	To the place of death the wicked must return, heathens that have no thought of God.
 Psalms	Ps	21	9	19	He does not forget the helpless; their time will come; the patience of the afflicted will not go for nothing.
 Psalms	Ps	21	9	20	Bestir thyself, Lord, let not human strength prevail; let the heathen stand upon their trial before thee;
 Psalms	Ps	21	9	21	let the heathen, too, feel thy terrors, and learn they are but men. (HERE, IN THE HEBREW TEXT, PSALM 10 BEGINS.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	9	22	Lord, why dost thou stand far off? In days of affliction, why dost thou make no sign?
 Psalms	Ps	21	9	23	The hearts of the oppressed burn within them, so triumphant is the schemer that has entrapped them;
 Psalms	Ps	21	9	24	so proud of his wicked end achieved, still robbing men, blaspheming and despising the Lord.
 Psalms	Ps	21	9	25	God there is none to punish me, the sinner thinks in his pride, and makes that thought his rule;
 Psalms	Ps	21	9	26	still, as he goes on prospering, he banishes thy laws from his mind, and makes light of his enemies.
 Psalms	Ps	21	9	27	Endless time, he thinks, cannot shake his untroubled existence.
 Psalms	Ps	21	9	28	His mouth overflows with curses, and calumny, and deceit; his tongue is a storehouse of dissension and mischief.
 Psalms	Ps	21	9	29	Ambushed he lies at the village gate, to kill unawares the man who never wronged him;
 Psalms	Ps	21	9	30	his eyes are continually on his prey; like a lion in its lair, he watches from his hiding-place, to surprise his defenceless foe, safe in the net.
 Psalms	Ps	21	9	31	So he catches him in the toils; stands there bowing and scraping, till the prey falls by his onset.
 Psalms	Ps	21	9	32	Why not? he thinks to himself, God has forgotten about it; God still turns his face away, and sees nothing.
 Psalms	Ps	21	9	33	O Lord God, bestir thyself, lift up thy hand; do not forget the helpless.
 Psalms	Ps	21	9	34	Why is the sinner allowed to defy God, to think he will never exact punishment?
 Psalms	Ps	21	9	35	But in truth thou seest it; thou hast eyes for misery and distress, and wilt take them into thy keeping. The destitute are cast on no care but thine; to thee only the orphan looks for redress.
 Psalms	Ps	21	9	36	Break down the power of the wicked oppressor, punish his ill-doing, and let him be seen no more.
 Psalms	Ps	21	9	37	The Lord will reign for ever and ever, while you, the heathen, will vanish from the land he loves.
 Psalms	Ps	21	9	38	The sighing of the defenceless has found audience; thou wilt heed them and bring courage to their hearts,
 Psalms	Ps	21	9	39	wilt give redress to the fatherless and the persecuted; mortal man shall make himself feared no longer.
 Psalms	Ps	21	10	1	(To the choir-master. Of David.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	10	2	My trust is in the Lord; how is it that you say to me, Escape, like a frightened sparrow, to the hill-side?
 Psalms	Ps	21	10	3	Escape; the rebels have strung their bows, have arrows ready on the string, to shoot from their hiding-places at an unoffending heart;
 Psalms	Ps	21	10	4	they have thrown down all thou hadst built; what hope, now, for the just man?
 Psalms	Ps	21	10	5	Is not the Lord in his holy shrine, the same Lord whose throne is in heaven, whose eye watches, whose glance can appraise, the deeds of men?
 Psalms	Ps	21	10	6	Innocent or sinful, he reads every heart, and the friends of wrong-doing are his enemies.
 Psalms	Ps	21	10	7	Pitilessly his weapons rain down upon the offenders; burning coals, and brimstone, and scorching wind; such is the draught he brews for them.
 Psalms	Ps	21	10	8	The Lord is just, and just are the deeds he loves; none but upright souls shall enjoy his presence.
 Psalms	Ps	21	11	1	(To the choir-master. Over the octave. A psalm. Of David.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	11	2	Lord, come to my rescue; piety is dead; in a base world, true hearts have grown rare.
 Psalms	Ps	21	11	3	None but exchanges empty forms of speech with his neighbour; everywhere false hearts and treacherous lips.
 Psalms	Ps	21	11	4	Those treacherous lips, that tongue with high-sounding phrases; Lord, rid the earth of them!
 Psalms	Ps	21	11	5	With our tongues, they say, we can do great things; our lips are good friends to us; we own no master.
 Psalms	Ps	21	11	6	Now, says the Lord, I will bestir myself, on behalf of the helpless who are so ill used, of the poor who cry out so bitterly; I will win them the redress they long for.
 Psalms	Ps	21	11	7	The promises of the Lord are true metal, like silver that is tested in the crucible, the stains of earth gone, seven times refined.
 Psalms	Ps	21	11	8	Yes, Lord, thou wilt watch over us, and keep us ever safe from these evil days.
 Psalms	Ps	21	11	9	See how the wicked come and go all around us, how they rise to greatness, this base breed of men!
 Psalms	Ps	21	12	1	(To the choir-master. A psalm. Of David.) Lord, must I still go all unremembered, must thy look still be turned away from me?
 Psalms	Ps	21	12	2	Each day brings a fresh load of care, fresh misery to my heart;
 Psalms	Ps	21	12	3	must I be ever the sport of my enemies?
 Psalms	Ps	21	12	4	Look upon me, O Lord my God, and listen to me; give light to these eyes, before they close in death;
 Psalms	Ps	21	12	5	do not let my enemies claim the mastery, my persecutors triumph over my fall!
 Psalms	Ps	21	12	6	I cast myself on thy mercy; soon may this heart boast of redress granted, sing in praise of the Lord, my benefactor.
 Psalms	Ps	21	13	1	(To the choir-master. Of David.) There is no God above us, is the fond thought of reckless hearts; warped natures everywhere and hateful lives! There is not an innocent man among them.
 Psalms	Ps	21	13	2	The Lord looks down from heaven at the race of men, to find one soul that reflects, and makes God its aim;
 Psalms	Ps	21	13	3	but no, all have missed the mark and rebelled against him; an innocent man is nowhere to be found.
 Psalms	Ps	21	13	4	What, can they learn nothing, all these traffickers in iniquity, who feed themselves fat on this people of mine, as if it were bread for their eating,
 Psalms	Ps	21	13	5	and never invoke the Lord’s name? What wonder if fear unmans them, when the Lord takes the part of the innocent?
 Psalms	Ps	21	13	6	Easily you thought to outwit the friendless; see, the Lord is his refuge!
 Psalms	Ps	21	13	7	Oh, that it might dawn over Sion, Israel’s deliverance! Day of gladness for Jacob, day of Israel’s triumph, when the Lord restores the fortunes of his own people.
 Psalms	Ps	21	14	1	(A psalm. Of David.) Who is it, Lord, that will make his home in thy tabernacle, rest on the mountain where thy sanctuary is?
 Psalms	Ps	21	14	2	One that guides his steps without fault, and gives to all their due;
 Psalms	Ps	21	14	3	one whose heart is all honest purpose, who utters no treacherous word, never defrauds a friend, or slanders a neighbour.
 Psalms	Ps	21	14	4	He scorns the reprobate, keeping his reverence for such as fear God, and is true, come what may, to his pledged word;
 Psalms	Ps	21	14	5	lends without usury, and takes no bribe to condemn the innocent. He who so lives will stand firm for ever.
 Psalms	Ps	21	15	1	(A miktam. Of David.) Keep me safe, Lord; I put my trust in thee.
 Psalms	Ps	21	15	2	The Lord, whom I own as my God, confess that in him is all my good!
 Psalms	Ps	21	15	3	There are faithful souls in this land of his; wondrous delight he gives me in their companionship.
 Psalms	Ps	21	15	4	What do they do but lay up fresh store of sorrows, that betake themselves to alien gods? Not with these will I pour out the blood of sacrifice; I will not take forbidden names on my lips.
 Psalms	Ps	21	15	5	No, it is the Lord I claim for my prize, the Lord who fills my cup; thou, and no other, wilt assure my inheritance to me.
 Psalms	Ps	21	15	6	Portion is none were more to my liking; welcome the lot’s choice!
 Psalms	Ps	21	15	7	Blessed be the Lord, who schools me; late into the night my inmost thoughts chasten me.
 Psalms	Ps	21	15	8	Always I can keep the Lord within sight; always he is at my right hand, to make me stand firm.
 Psalms	Ps	21	15	9	Glad and merry am I, heart and soul of me; my body, too, shall rest in confidence
 Psalms	Ps	21	15	10	that thou wilt not leave my soul in the place of death, or allow thy faithful servant to see corruption.
 Psalms	Ps	21	15	11	Thou wilt shew me the way of life, make me full of gladness in thy presence; at thy right hand are delights that will endure for ever.
 Psalms	Ps	21	16	1	(A prayer. Of David.) Lord, to my just complaint give ear; do not spurn my cry for aid. Listen to this prayer of mine; they are no treacherous lips that make it.
 Psalms	Ps	21	16	2	At thy judgement seat I claim award; unerring thy scrutiny.
 Psalms	Ps	21	16	3	Wilt thou read my heart, drawing near in the darkness to test me as if by fire, thou wilt find no treachery in me.
 Psalms	Ps	21	16	4	Never have these lips been led astray by man’s evil example; still to thy law’s pattern thy warnings kept me true;
 Psalms	Ps	21	16	5	still in thy paths my steps were firmly planted, my feet did not stumble.
 Psalms	Ps	21	16	6	And now I cry to thee, the God who ever hearest me; turn thy ear towards me, and listen to my plea.
 Psalms	Ps	21	16	7	Thy mercy, thy signal mercy shew; none ever sought sanctuary at thy right hand in vain.
 Psalms	Ps	21	16	8	Protect me as thou wouldst the apple of thy own eye; hide me under the shelter of thy wings,
 Psalms	Ps	21	16	9	safe from the evil-doers who wrong me. See how my enemies close about me mercilessly,
 Psalms	Ps	21	16	10	their hearts shut to pity, a boast on their lips!
 Psalms	Ps	21	16	11	Even now their stealthy tread closes in on me, as they watch their opportunity to bring me down;
 Psalms	Ps	21	16	12	treacherous as a lion that is eager for its prey, a young lion that waits hidden in its lair.
 Psalms	Ps	21	16	13	Bestir thyself, Lord; forestall him and throw him to the ground; bare thy sword, and save me from the evil-doer,
 Psalms	Ps	21	16	14	raise thy hand, to rescue me from the hands of mortal men! Mortal men indeed, that have all their portion here on earth; whose desires thou dost satisfy with treasures from thy store, so that their children, too, live in abundance, and leave riches for new heirs to enjoy.
 Psalms	Ps	21	16	15	As for me, I will come with upright heart into thy presence, and when I wake up, I shall be well content with thy likeness.
 Psalms	Ps	21	17	1	(To the choir-master. Of David, the servant of the Lord. He addressed to the Lord the words of this song, on the day when God delivered him from the hand of Saul, and from the hands of all his enemies; as follows: )
 Psalms	Ps	21	17	2	Shall I not love thee, Lord, my only defender?
 Psalms	Ps	21	17	3	The Lord is my rock-fastness, my stronghold, my rescuer; to God, my hiding-place, I flee for safety; he is my shield, my weapon of deliverance, my refuge.
 Psalms	Ps	21	17	4	Praised be the Lord! When I invoke his name, I am secure from my enemies.
 Psalms	Ps	21	17	5	All about me surged the waves of death, deep flowed the perilous tide, to daunt me;
 Psalms	Ps	21	17	6	the grave had caught me in its toils, deadly snares had trapped my feet.
 Psalms	Ps	21	17	7	One cry to the Lord, in my affliction, one word of summons to my God, and he, from his sanctuary, listened to my voice; the complaint I made before him found a hearing.
 Psalms	Ps	21	17	8	Earth thereupon shivered and shook, the very foundations of the hills quailed and quaked at his anger;
 Psalms	Ps	21	17	9	at the fiery smoke that breathed from his mouth and nostrils, kindling coals to flame.
 Psalms	Ps	21	17	10	He bade heaven stoop, and came down to earth, with a dark cloud at his feet;
 Psalms	Ps	21	17	11	he came, cherub-mounted, borne up on the wings of the wind,
 Psalms	Ps	21	17	12	shrouded in darkness, canopied with black rain-storm and deep mist.
 Psalms	Ps	21	17	13	Then, while coals were kindled at the brightness as he came,
 Psalms	Ps	21	17	14	the Lord sent his thunder from heaven, the most High let his voice be heard.
 Psalms	Ps	21	17	15	How they scattered when he rained down his arrows on them, how they fled in confusion before the volleys of his lightning!
 Psalms	Ps	21	17	16	The sea’s bed came to light, the very foundations of the world were laid bare, when thou didst threaten them, Lord, when thou didst blow upon them with the breath of thy anger.
 Psalms	Ps	21	17	17	Then he reached down from heaven, caught hold of me, rescued me from that flood,
 Psalms	Ps	21	17	18	saved me from triumphant malice, from the enemies that held me at their mercy.
 Psalms	Ps	21	17	19	Evil days, when they faced me at every turn! Yet the Lord stood by me,
 Psalms	Ps	21	17	20	and brought me out into freedom again; his great love befriended me.
 Psalms	Ps	21	17	21	So, for my faithfulness, the Lord would requite me, as he sees me guiltless in act, he would make return.
 Psalms	Ps	21	17	22	Have I not kept true to the Lord’s paths? Have I not been ever loyal to my God?
 Psalms	Ps	21	17	23	No law of his, but I have kept it before my eyes; no task he laid upon me have I refused;
 Psalms	Ps	21	17	24	ever stainless in his presence, ever watchful to keep myself clear of guilt,
 Psalms	Ps	21	17	25	ever faithful, ever guiltless in act, the Lord has requited me.
 Psalms	Ps	21	17	26	Lovingly wilt thou treat those who love thee, with the loyal keep troth;
 Psalms	Ps	21	17	27	pure of heart the pure of heart shall find thee, the cunning thou wilt overreach.
 Psalms	Ps	21	17	28	To humble folk thou wilt bring deliverance; the proud, with their haughty looks, thou wilt bring down to earth.
 Psalms	Ps	21	17	29	It is thou, Lord, that keepest the lamp of my hopes still burning; shinest on the darkness about me, O my God.
 Psalms	Ps	21	17	30	In thy strength I will engage a host of the enemy, in my God’s strength I shall leap over all their defences.
 Psalms	Ps	21	17	31	Such is my God, unsullied in his dealings; his promises are like metal tested in the fire; he is the sure defence of all who trust in him.
 Psalms	Ps	21	17	32	Who but the Lord is God? What other refuge can there be, except our God?
 Psalms	Ps	21	17	33	It is he that girds me with strength, bids me go on my way untroubled.
 Psalms	Ps	21	17	34	He makes me sure-footed as the deer, and gives me the freedom of the hills;
 Psalms	Ps	21	17	35	these hands, through him, are skilled in battle, these arms are a match for any bow of bronze.
 Psalms	Ps	21	17	36	Thy saving power, Lord, is my defence, thy right hand supports me; thy tender care fosters me.
 Psalms	Ps	21	17	37	Through thee, my steps are untrammelled as I go, my tread never falters;
 Psalms	Ps	21	17	38	I can overtake the enemies I pursue, and never turn home till I have made an end of them;
 Psalms	Ps	21	17	39	I can beat them to their knees, and hurl them down at my feet.
 Psalms	Ps	21	17	40	Thou girdest me about with a warrior’s strength; whatever power challenges me, thou dost subdue before me,
 Psalms	Ps	21	17	41	putting my enemies to flight, and throwing all their malice into confusion.
 Psalms	Ps	21	17	42	Loudly they cry out to the Lord, bereft of aid, but he makes no answer to their cries.
 Psalms	Ps	21	17	43	I can crush them to pieces, like the dust which the wind blows along; I can trample them down like mire from the streets.
 Psalms	Ps	21	17	44	Nor was it enough, of domestic broils to rid me; a world should be my vassal;
 Psalms	Ps	21	17	45	new realms should pay me homage, quick to do my bidding.
 Psalms	Ps	21	17	46	See where they come, the alien born, come slinking out of their strongholds, pale of cheek, to cringe before me.
 Psalms	Ps	21	17	47	Blessed be the living Lord who is my refuge, praised be the God who delivers me!
 Psalms	Ps	21	17	48	It is thou, my God, that bringest me redress, that bendest peoples to my will, that savest me from the spite of my enemies:
 Psalms	Ps	21	17	49	so that I am high above the reach of their assaults, proof against their violence.
 Psalms	Ps	21	17	50	Then, Lord, I will give thee thanks in the hearing of all the nations, singing in praise of thy name;
 Psalms	Ps	21	17	51	victory thy mercy grants to the King thou hast anointed, to David, and David’s line for ever.
 Psalms	Ps	21	18	1	(To the choir-master. A psalm. Of David.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	18	2	See how the skies proclaim God’s glory, how the vault of heaven betrays his craftsmanship!
 Psalms	Ps	21	18	3	Each day echoes its secret to the next, each night passes on to the next its revelation of knowledge;
 Psalms	Ps	21	18	4	no word, no accent of theirs that does not make itself heard,
 Psalms	Ps	21	18	5	till their utterance fills every land, till their message reaches the ends of the world.
 Psalms	Ps	21	18	6	In these, he has made a pavilion for the sun, which comes out as a bridegroom comes from his bed, and exults like some great runner who sees the track before him.
 Psalms	Ps	21	18	7	Here, at one end of heaven, is its starting-place, and its course reaches to the other; none can escape its burning heat.
 Psalms	Ps	21	18	8	The Lord’s perfect law, how it brings the soul back to life; the Lord’s unchallengeable decrees, how they make the simple learned!
 Psalms	Ps	21	18	9	How plain are the duties which the Lord enjoins, the treasure of man’s heart; how clear is the commandment the Lord gives, the enlightenment of man’s eyes!
 Psalms	Ps	21	18	10	How sacred a thing is the fear of the Lord, which is binding for ever; how unerring are the awards which the Lord makes, one and all giving proof of their justice!
 Psalms	Ps	21	18	11	All these are more precious than gold, than a hoard of pure gold, sweeter than the honey, dripping from its comb.
 Psalms	Ps	21	18	12	By these I, thy servant, live, observing them how jealously!
 Psalms	Ps	21	18	13	And yet, who knows his own frailties? If I have sinned unwittingly, do thou absolve me.
 Psalms	Ps	21	18	14	Keep me ever thy own servant, far from pride; so long as this does not lord it over me, I will yet be without fault, I will yet be innocent of the great sin.
 Psalms	Ps	21	18	15	Every word on my lips, every thought in my heart, what thou wouldst have it be, O Lord, my defender, my redeemer!
 Psalms	Ps	21	19	1	(To the choir-master. A psalm. Of David.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	19	2	The Lord listen to thee in thy time of need, the power of Jacob’s God be thy protection!
 Psalms	Ps	21	19	3	May he send thee aid from his holy place, watch over thee, there on mount Sion;
 Psalms	Ps	21	19	4	may he remember all thy offerings, and find savour in thy burnt-sacrifice.
 Psalms	Ps	21	19	5	May he grant thee what thy heart desires, crown thy hopes with fulfilment.
 Psalms	Ps	21	19	6	So may we rejoice at thy deliverance, rallied in the name of the Lord our God;
 Psalms	Ps	21	19	7	abundantly may he grant thy prayer. Shall I doubt that the Lord protects the king he has anointed, will listen to him from his sanctuary in heaven? Is not his right hand strong to save?
 Psalms	Ps	21	19	8	Let others talk of horses and chariots; our refuge is the name of the Lord our God.
 Psalms	Ps	21	19	9	Stumbled and fallen they, while we stand firm on our feet.
 Psalms	Ps	21	19	10	O Lord, save the king, and hear us in the hour when we call upon thee.
 Psalms	Ps	21	20	1	(To the choir-master. A psalm. Of David.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	20	2	Well may the king rejoice, Lord, in thy protection, well may he triumph in thy saving power!
 Psalms	Ps	21	20	3	Never a wish in his heart hast thou disappointed, never a prayer on his lips denied.
 Psalms	Ps	21	20	4	With happy auguries thou dost meet him on his way, dost set a crown of pure gold his head.
 Psalms	Ps	21	20	5	Prays he for life? Long continuance of his reign thou dost grant him; to last unfailing till the end of time.
 Psalms	Ps	21	20	6	Great is the renown thy protection has won for him; glory and high honour thou hast made his.
 Psalms	Ps	21	20	7	An everlasting monument of thy goodness, comforted by the smile of thy favour,
 Psalms	Ps	21	20	8	he stands firm, trusting in the Lord; the favour of the most High is with him.
 Psalms	Ps	21	20	9	Ay, but thy enemies—they shall feel thy power; that right hand will not leave their malice unpunished.
 Psalms	Ps	21	20	10	At thy frown, they will wither away like grass in the oven; whirled away by the Lord’s anger, burnt up in its flames.
 Psalms	Ps	21	20	11	Thou wilt rid the land of their breed, their race will vanish from the world of men.
 Psalms	Ps	21	20	12	See how all their false designs against thee, all their plots come to nothing!
 Psalms	Ps	21	20	13	Thou wilt rout them; bent is thy bow to meet their onslaught.
 Psalms	Ps	21	20	14	Stand high above us, Lord, in thy protecting strength; our song, our psalm, shall be of thy greatness.
 Psalms	Ps	21	21	1	(To the choir-master. Melody, The hind at dawn. A psalm. Of David.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	21	2	My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Loudly I call, but my prayer cannot reach thee.
 Psalms	Ps	21	21	3	Thou dost not answer, my God, when I cry out to thee day and night, thou dost not heed.
 Psalms	Ps	21	21	4	Thou art there none the less, dwelling in the holy place; Israel’s ancient boast.
 Psalms	Ps	21	21	5	It was in thee that our fathers trusted, and thou didst reward their trust by delivering them;
 Psalms	Ps	21	21	6	they cried to thee, and rescue came; no need to be ashamed of such trust as theirs.
 Psalms	Ps	21	21	7	But I, poor worm, have no manhood left; I am a by-word to all, the laughing-stock of the rabble.
 Psalms	Ps	21	21	8	All those who catch sight of me fall to mocking; mouthing out insults, while they toss their heads in scorn,
 Psalms	Ps	21	21	9	He committed himself to the Lord, why does not the Lord come to his rescue, and set his favourite free?
 Psalms	Ps	21	21	10	What hand but thine drew me out from my mother’s womb? Who else was my refuge when I hung at the breast?
 Psalms	Ps	21	21	11	From the hour of my birth, thou art my guardian; since I left my mother’s womb, thou art my God!
 Psalms	Ps	21	21	12	Do not leave me now, when trouble is close at hand; stand near, when I have none to help me.
 Psalms	Ps	21	21	13	My enemies ring me round, packed close as a herd of oxen, strong as bulls from Basan;
 Psalms	Ps	21	21	14	so might a lion threaten me with its jaws, roaring for its prey.
 Psalms	Ps	21	21	15	I am spent as spilt water, all my bones out of joint, my heart turned to molten wax within me;
 Psalms	Ps	21	21	16	parched is my throat, like clay in the baking, and my tongue sticks fast in my mouth; thou hast laid me in the dust, to die.
 Psalms	Ps	21	21	17	Prowling about me like a pack of dogs, their wicked conspiracy hedges me in; they have torn holes in my hands and feet;
 Psalms	Ps	21	21	18	I can count my bones one by one; and they stand there watching me, gazing at me in triumph.
 Psalms	Ps	21	21	19	They divide my spoils among them, cast lots for my garments.
 Psalms	Ps	21	21	20	Then, Lord, do not stand at a distance; if thou wouldst aid me, come speedily to my side.
 Psalms	Ps	21	21	21	Only life is left me; save that from the sword, from the power of these dogs;
 Psalms	Ps	21	21	22	rescue me from the very mouth of the lion, the very horns of the wild oxen that have brought me thus low.
 Psalms	Ps	21	21	23	Then I will proclaim thy renown to my brethren; where thy people gather, I will join in singing thy praise,
 Psalms	Ps	21	21	24	Praise the Lord, all you that are his worshippers; honour to him from the sons of Jacob, reverence to him from Israel’s race!
 Psalms	Ps	21	21	25	He has not scorned or slighted the appeal of the friendless, nor turned his face away from me; my cry for help did not go unheeded.
 Psalms	Ps	21	21	26	Take what I owe thee, my song of praise before a great assembly. I will pay my vows to the Lord in the sight of his worshippers;
 Psalms	Ps	21	21	27	the poor shall eat now, and have their fill, those who look for the Lord will cry out in praise of him, Refreshed be your hearts eternally!
 Psalms	Ps	21	21	28	The furthest dwellers on earth will bethink themselves of the Lord, and come back to him; all the races of the heathen will worship before him;
 Psalms	Ps	21	21	29	to the Lord royalty belongs, the whole world’s homage is his due.
 Psalms	Ps	21	21	30	Him shall they worship, him only, that are laid to rest in the earth, even from their dust they shall adore.
 Psalms	Ps	21	21	31	I, too, shall live on in his presence, and beget children to serve him; these to a later age shall speak of the Lord’s name;
 Psalms	Ps	21	21	32	these to a race that must yet be born shall tell the story of his faithfulness, Hear what the Lord did.
 Psalms	Ps	21	22	1	(A psalm. Of David.) The Lord is my shepherd; how can I lack anything?
 Psalms	Ps	21	22	2	He gives me a resting-place where there is green pasture, leads me out to the cool water’s brink, refreshed and content.
 Psalms	Ps	21	22	3	As in honour pledged, by sure paths he leads me;
 Psalms	Ps	21	22	4	dark be the valley about my path, hurt I fear none while he is with me; thy rod, thy crook are my comfort.
 Psalms	Ps	21	22	5	Envious my foes watch, while thou dost spread a banquet for me; richly thou dost anoint my head with oil, well filled my cup. All my life thy loving favour pursues me; through the long years the Lord’s house shall be my dwelling-place.
 Psalms	Ps	21	23	1	(Of David. A psalm.) The Lord owns earth, and all earth’s fulness, the round world, and all its inhabitants.
 Psalms	Ps	21	23	2	Who else has built it out from the sea, poised it on the hidden streams?
 Psalms	Ps	21	23	3	Who dares climb the mountain of the Lord, and appear in his sanctuary?
 Psalms	Ps	21	23	4	The guiltless in act, the pure in heart; one who never set his heart on lying tales, or swore treacherously to his neighbour.
 Psalms	Ps	21	23	5	His to receive a blessing from the Lord, mercy from God, his sure defender;
 Psalms	Ps	21	23	6	his the true breed that still looks, still longs for the presence of the God of Jacob.
 Psalms	Ps	21	23	7	Swing back, doors, higher yet; reach higher, immemorial gates, to let the King enter in triumph!
 Psalms	Ps	21	23	8	Who is this great King? Who but the Lord, mighty and strong, the Lord mighty in battle?
 Psalms	Ps	21	23	9	Swing back, doors, higher yet; reach higher, immemorial gates, to let the King enter in triumph!
 Psalms	Ps	21	23	10	Who is this great King? It is the Lord of Armies that comes here on his way triumphant.
 Psalms	Ps	21	24	1	(Of David.) All my heart goes out to thee, O Lord my God.
 Psalms	Ps	21	24	2	Belie not the trust I have in thee, let not my enemies boast of my downfall.
 Psalms	Ps	21	24	3	Can any that trust in thee be disappointed, as they are disappointed who lightly break their troth?
 Psalms	Ps	21	24	4	Direct my way, Lord, as thou wilt, teach me thy own paths.
 Psalms	Ps	21	24	5	Ever let thy truth guide and teach me, O God my deliverer, my abiding hope.
 Psalms	Ps	21	24	6	Forget not, Lord, thy pity, thy mercies of long ago.
 Psalms	Ps	21	24	7	Give heed no more to the sins and frailties of my youth, but think mercifully of me, as thou, Lord, art ever gracious.
 Psalms	Ps	21	24	8	How gracious is the Lord, how faithful, guiding our strayed feet back to the path!
 Psalms	Ps	21	24	9	In his own laws he will train the humble, in his own paths the humble he will guide.
 Psalms	Ps	21	24	10	Jealous be thy keeping of covenant and ordinance, and the Lord’s dealings will be ever gracious, ever faithful with thee.
 Psalms	Ps	21	24	11	Kindly be thy judgement of my sin, for thy own honour’s sake, my grievous sin.
 Psalms	Ps	21	24	12	Let a man but fear the Lord, what path to choose he doubts no longer.
 Psalms	Ps	21	24	13	Much joy he shall have of his lands and to his heirs leave them.
 Psalms	Ps	21	24	14	No stranger the Lord is, no secret his covenant, to his true worshippers.
 Psalms	Ps	21	24	15	On the Lord I fix my eyes continually, trusting him to save my feet from the snare.
 Psalms	Ps	21	24	16	Pity me, Lord, as thou seest me friendless and forlorn.
 Psalms	Ps	21	24	17	Quit my heart of its burden, deliver me from my distress.
 Psalms	Ps	21	24	18	Restless and forlorn, I claim thy pity, to my sins be merciful.
 Psalms	Ps	21	24	19	See how many are my foes, and how bitter is the grudge they bear me.
 Psalms	Ps	21	24	20	Take my soul into thy keeping; come to my rescue, do not let me be disappointed of my trust in thee.
 Psalms	Ps	21	24	21	Uprightness and purity be my shield, as I wait patiently, Lord, for thy help.
 Psalms	Ps	21	24	22	When wilt thou deliver Israel, my God, from all his troubles?
 Psalms	Ps	21	25	1	(Of David.) Lord, be thou my judge; have I not guided my steps clear of wrong? Have I trusted in the Lord, only to stumble on my path?
 Psalms	Ps	21	25	2	Test me, Lord, put me to the proof; assay my inmost desires and thoughts.
 Psalms	Ps	21	25	3	Ever I keep thy mercies in mind, ever thy faithfulness bears me company.
 Psalms	Ps	21	25	4	I have not consorted with false men, or joined in plotting evil;
 Psalms	Ps	21	25	5	I have shunned the company of the wicked, never sat at my ease with sinners.
 Psalms	Ps	21	25	6	With the pure in heart I will wash my hands clean, and take my place among them at thy altar,
 Psalms	Ps	21	25	7	there making thy praises known, telling the story of all thy wonderful deeds.
 Psalms	Ps	21	25	8	How well, Lord, I love the house where thou dwellest, the shrine of thy glory!
 Psalms	Ps	21	25	9	Lord, never count this soul for lost with the wicked, this life among the blood-thirsty;
 Psalms	Ps	21	25	10	hands ever stained with guilt, palms ever itching for a bribe!
 Psalms	Ps	21	25	11	Be it mine to guide my steps clear of wrong; deliver me in thy mercy.
 Psalms	Ps	21	25	12	On sure ground my feet are set; where his people gather I will join in blessing the Lord’s name.
 Psalms	Ps	21	26	1	(Of David.) The Lord is my light and my deliverance; whom have I to fear? The Lord watches over my life; whom shall I hold in dread?
 Psalms	Ps	21	26	2	Vainly the malicious close about me, as if they would tear me in pieces, vainly my enemies threaten me; all at once they stumble and fall.
 Psalms	Ps	21	26	3	Though a whole host were arrayed against me, my heart would be undaunted; though an armed onset should threaten me, still I would not lose my confidence.
 Psalms	Ps	21	26	4	One request I have ever made of the Lord, let me claim it still, to dwell in the Lord’s house my whole life long, resting content in the Lord’s goodness, gazing at his temple.
 Psalms	Ps	21	26	5	In his royal tent he hides me, in the inmost recess of his royal tent, safe from peril.
 Psalms	Ps	21	26	6	On a rock fastness he lifts me high up; my head rises high above the enemies that encompass me. I will make an offering of triumphant music in this tabernacle of his, singing and praising the Lord.
 Psalms	Ps	21	26	7	Listen to my voice, Lord, when I cry to thee; hear and spare.
 Psalms	Ps	21	26	8	True to my heart’s promise, I have eyes only for thee; I long, Lord, for thy presence.
 Psalms	Ps	21	26	9	Do not hide thy face, do not turn away from thy servant in anger, but give me still thy aid; do not forsake me, do not neglect me, O God, my defender.
 Psalms	Ps	21	26	10	Father and mother may neglect me, but the Lord takes me into his care.
 Psalms	Ps	21	26	11	Lord, shew me the way thou hast chosen for me, guide me along the sure path, beset as I am with enemies;
 Psalms	Ps	21	26	12	do not give me over to the will of my oppressors, when false witnesses stand up to accuse me, breathe out threats against me.
 Psalms	Ps	21	26	13	My faith is, I will yet live to see the Lord’s mercies.
 Psalms	Ps	21	26	14	Wait patiently for the Lord to help thee; be brave, and let thy heart take comfort; wait patiently for the Lord.
 Psalms	Ps	21	27	1	(Of David.) To thee, my Lord, my refuge, I cry aloud, do not leave my cry unanswered; listen to me, or I am no better than a dead man, sinking to the grave.
 Psalms	Ps	21	27	2	Listen Lord, to my plea as I call upon thee, as I raise my hands in prayer towards thy holy temple.
 Psalms	Ps	21	27	3	Do not summon me, with the wicked, before thy judgement-seat; with men who traffic in iniquity, men who talk of peace to their neighbours, while their hearts are full of malice.
 Psalms	Ps	21	27	4	For them, the reward of their own acts, their own evil ways; as they did, be it done to them, in their own coin repaid.
 Psalms	Ps	21	27	5	Of the Lord’s acts, the Lord’s ways, they took no heed; ruin be theirs, ruin irreparable.
 Psalms	Ps	21	27	6	Blessed be the Lord’s name, my plea is heard;
 Psalms	Ps	21	27	7	the Lord is my strength and shield. Trusting in him, I found redress; there is triumph in my heart, on my lips the song of praise.
 Psalms	Ps	21	27	8	The Lord defends his own people, protects the king he has anointed.
 Psalms	Ps	21	27	9	Lord, save thy people, bless thy own chosen race; be their shepherd, evermore in thy arms upholding them.
 Psalms	Ps	21	28	1	(A psalm. Of David.) Sons of God, make your offering to the Lord;
 Psalms	Ps	21	28	2	an offering to the Lord of honour and glory, an offering to the Lord of the glory that befits his name; worship the Lord, in holy vesture habited.
 Psalms	Ps	21	28	3	The voice of the Lord is heard over the waters, when the glorious God thunders, the Lord, thundering over swollen waters;
 Psalms	Ps	21	28	4	the Lord’s voice in its power, the Lord’s voice in its majesty.
 Psalms	Ps	21	28	5	The Lord’s voice, that breaks the cedars; the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon;
 Psalms	Ps	21	28	6	bids Lebanon and Sarion leap high as a bullock leaps, breed of the wild ox.
 Psalms	Ps	21	28	7	The Lord’s voice kindles flashing fire;
 Psalms	Ps	21	28	8	the Lord’s voice makes the wilderness rock; the Lord, rocking the wilderness of Cades.
 Psalms	Ps	21	28	9	The Lord’s voice sets the oak-trees a-swaying, strips the deep forest bare. Meanwhile, in his sanctuary, there is no sound but tells of his glory.
 Psalms	Ps	21	28	10	Out of a raging flood, the Lord makes a dwelling-place; the Lord sits enthroned as a king for ever.
 Psalms	Ps	21	28	11	And this Lord will give strength to his people; the Lord will give his people his own blessing of peace.
 Psalms	Ps	21	29	1	(A psalm. A hymn for the feast of the temple’s dedication. Of David.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	29	2	Praise to thee, Lord, thou hast taken me under thy protection, and baulked my enemies of their will;
 Psalms	Ps	21	29	3	I cried out to the Lord my God, and thou didst grant me recovery.
 Psalms	Ps	21	29	4	So didst thou bring me back, Lord, from the place of shadows, rescue me from the very edge of the grave.
 Psalms	Ps	21	29	5	Sing praise to the Lord, then, faithful souls, invoke his name with thankfulness.
 Psalms	Ps	21	29	6	For a moment lasts his anger, for a life-time his love; sorrow is but the guest of a night, and joy comes in the morning.
 Psalms	Ps	21	29	7	I, too, had thought, in time of ease, Nothing can shake me now;
 Psalms	Ps	21	29	8	such power and state, Lord, had thy mercy granted me. Then thou didst turn thy face away from me, and I was at peace no more.
 Psalms	Ps	21	29	9	Lord, I was fain to plead with thee, cry upon God for pity:
 Psalms	Ps	21	29	10	How will it profit thee to take my life? I can but go down into the grave; and will this dust give thanks to thee, or acknowledge, there, thy faithfulness?
 Psalms	Ps	21	29	11	Listen, Lord, and spare; Lord, let thy aid befriend me.
 Psalms	Ps	21	29	12	With that, thou didst turn my sadness into rejoicing, thou hast undone the sackcloth I wore, and girded me about with gladness.
 Psalms	Ps	21	29	13	So may this heart never tire of singing praises; O Lord my God, I will give thanks to thee for ever.
 Psalms	Ps	21	30	1	(To the choir-master. A psalm. Of David.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	30	2	To thee, O Lord, I look for refuge, never let me be ashamed of my trust; in thy faithful care, deliver me.
 Psalms	Ps	21	30	3	Grant me audience, and make haste to rescue me; my hill-fastness, my stronghold of defence, to save me from peril.
 Psalms	Ps	21	30	4	Thou dost strengthen and defend me; thou, for thy own honour, dost guide and escort me;
 Psalms	Ps	21	30	5	by thee protected, I shall escape from the snare that lies hidden in my path.
 Psalms	Ps	21	30	6	Into thy hands I commend my spirit; thou, God ever faithful, wilt claim me for thyself.
 Psalms	Ps	21	30	7	Let fools provoke thee by the worship of false gods; for me, no refuge but the Lord.
 Psalms	Ps	21	30	8	I will triumph and exult in thy mercy; it was thou didst pity my weakness, and save me when I was hard bestead;
 Psalms	Ps	21	30	9	before the enemy’s toils could close around me, the open plain lay at my feet.
 Psalms	Ps	21	30	10	And now, Lord, have compassion on my distress; vexation has dimmed my eyes, frets me away, soul and body.
 Psalms	Ps	21	30	11	My life is all grief, my years are but sighs; for very misery, my strength ebbs away, my frame is wasted.
 Psalms	Ps	21	30	12	Openly my foes deride me; even to my neighbours I am a thing of utter scorn; my friends are adread, and the passer-by shuns my contact;
 Psalms	Ps	21	30	13	I am lost to memory, like a dead man, discarded like a broken pitcher.
 Psalms	Ps	21	30	14	On every side their busy whispering comes to my ears; peril all around, so powerful the conspiracy that threatens my life.
 Psalms	Ps	21	30	15	And still, Lord, my trust in thee is not shaken; still I cry, Thou art my God,
 Psalms	Ps	21	30	16	my fate is in thy hand; save me from the enemy’s power, save me from my pursuers!
 Psalms	Ps	21	30	17	Smile on thy servant once more, and deliver me in thy mercy;
 Psalms	Ps	21	30	18	Lord, do not let me plead in vain. Disappoint the wicked of their hopes, hurl them down thwarted into the abyss;
 Psalms	Ps	21	30	19	let silence fall on those treacherous lips, that spoke maliciously of the innocent in the days of their pride and scorn!
 Psalms	Ps	21	30	20	What treasures of loving-kindness, Lord, dost thou store up for the men who fear thee, rewarding their confidence for all the world to see!
 Psalms	Ps	21	30	21	Thy presence is a sanctuary, to hide them away from the world’s malice; thy tabernacle a refuge from its noisy debate.
 Psalms	Ps	21	30	22	Blessed be the Lord; so wondrous is his mercy, so strong the wall of his protection.
 Psalms	Ps	21	30	23	I thought, bewildered, that thy watchful care had lost sight of me; but I cried out to thee, and thou thereupon didst listen to my plea.
 Psalms	Ps	21	30	24	Love the Lord well, you who worship him; the Lord keeps faith with his servants, and repays the actions of the proud above measure.
 Psalms	Ps	21	30	25	Take heart, keep high your courage, all you that wait patiently for the Lord.
 Psalms	Ps	21	31	1	(Of David. A maskil.) Blessed are they who have their faults forgiven, their transgressions buried deep;
 Psalms	Ps	21	31	2	blessed is the man who is not guilty in the Lord’s reckoning, the heart that hides no treason.
 Psalms	Ps	21	31	3	While I kept my own secret, evermore I went sighing, so wasted my frame away,
 Psalms	Ps	21	31	4	bowed down day and night by thy chastisement; still my strength ebbed, faint as in mid-summer heat.
 Psalms	Ps	21	31	5	At last I made my transgression known to thee, and hid my sin no longer; Fault of mine, said I, I here confess to the Lord; and with that, thou didst remit the guilt of my sin.
 Psalms	Ps	21	31	6	Let every devout soul, then, turn to thee in prayer when hard times befall; rise the floods never so high, they shall have no power to reach it.
 Psalms	Ps	21	31	7	Thou art my hiding-place, when I am sore bestead; songs of triumph are all about me, and thou my deliverer.
 Psalms	Ps	21	31	8	Friend, let me counsel thee, trace for thee the path thy feet should tread; let my prudence watch over thee.
 Psalms	Ps	21	31	9	Do not be like the horse and the mule, senseless creatures which will not come near thee unless their spirit is tamed by bit and bridle.
 Psalms	Ps	21	31	10	Again and again the sinner must feel the lash; he who trusts in the Lord finds nothing but mercy all around him.
 Psalms	Ps	21	31	11	Just souls, be glad, and rejoice in the Lord; true hearts, make your boast in him.
 Psalms	Ps	21	32	1	Triumph, just souls, in the Lord; true hearts, it is yours to praise him.
 Psalms	Ps	21	32	2	Give thanks to the Lord with the viol’s music, praise him with a harp of ten strings.
 Psalms	Ps	21	32	3	For him let a new song be sung; give him of your best, sound the harp and cry out lustily.
 Psalms	Ps	21	32	4	The Lord’s word is true, he is faithful in all his dealings;
 Psalms	Ps	21	32	5	faithfulness he loves, and the just award, the whole earth overflows with the Lord’s goodness.
 Psalms	Ps	21	32	6	It was the Lord’s word that made the heavens, the breath of his lips that peopled them;
 Psalms	Ps	21	32	7	he it is who stores up the waters of the sea as in a cistern, treasures up all its waves.
 Psalms	Ps	21	32	8	Let the whole earth hold the Lord in dread, let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him;
 Psalms	Ps	21	32	9	he spoke, and they were made, he gave his command, and their frame was fashioned.
 Psalms	Ps	21	32	10	At the Lord’s bidding, a nation’s purposes come to nothing, a people’s designs are thwarted;
 Psalms	Ps	21	32	11	his own designs stand firm for ever; generation after generation, his will does not swerve.
 Psalms	Ps	21	32	12	Blessed the nation that calls the Lord its own God, the people he has chosen out to be his!
 Psalms	Ps	21	32	13	Looking down from heaven, he watches all mankind,
 Psalms	Ps	21	32	14	his dwelling-place has the whole world in view;
 Psalms	Ps	21	32	15	he has fashioned each man’s nature, and weighs the actions of each.
 Psalms	Ps	21	32	16	There is no protection for kings in powerful armies, for warriors in abundant prowess;
 Psalms	Ps	21	32	17	nor shall horses bring thee the mastery, brute strength that cannot save.
 Psalms	Ps	21	32	18	It is the Lord, watching over those who fear him and trust in his mercy,
 Psalms	Ps	21	32	19	that will protect their lives, will feed them in time of famine.
 Psalms	Ps	21	32	20	Patiently we wait for the Lord’s help; he is our strength and our shield;
 Psalms	Ps	21	32	21	in him our hearts will find contentment, in his holy name we trust.
 Psalms	Ps	21	32	22	Lord, let thy mercy rest upon us, who put all our confidence in thee.
 Psalms	Ps	21	33	1	(Of David, when he feigned madness at the court of Abimelech, so that Abimelech sent him away, and he escaped. )
 Psalms	Ps	21	33	2	At all times I will bless the Lord; his praise shall be on my lips continually.
 Psalms	Ps	21	33	3	Be all my boasting in the Lord; listen to me, humble souls, and rejoice.
 Psalms	Ps	21	33	4	Come, sing the Lord’s praise with me, let us extol his name together.
 Psalms	Ps	21	33	5	Did I not look to the Lord, and find a hearing; did he not deliver me from all my terrors?
 Psalms	Ps	21	33	6	Ever look to him, and in him find happiness; here is no room for downcast looks.
 Psalms	Ps	21	33	7	Friendless folk may still call upon the Lord and gain his ear, and be rescued from all their afflictions.
 Psalms	Ps	21	33	8	Guardian of those who fear the Lord, his angel encamps at their side, and brings deliverance.
 Psalms	Ps	21	33	9	How gracious the Lord is! Taste and prove it; blessed is the man that learns to trust in him.
 Psalms	Ps	21	33	10	It is for you, his chosen servants, to fear the Lord; those who fear him never go wanting.
 Psalms	Ps	21	33	11	Justly do the proud fall into hunger and want; blessing they lack not that look to him.
 Psalms	Ps	21	33	12	Know, then, my children, what the fear of the Lord is; come and listen to my teaching.
 Psalms	Ps	21	33	13	Long life, and prosperous days, who would have these for the asking?
 Psalms	Ps	21	33	14	My counsel is, keep thy tongue clear of harm, and thy lips free from every treacherous word.
 Psalms	Ps	21	33	15	Naught of evil cherish thou, but rather do good; let peace be all thy quest and aim.
 Psalms	Ps	21	33	16	On the upright the Lord’s eye ever looks favourably; his ears are open to their pleading.
 Psalms	Ps	21	33	17	Perilous is his frown for the wrong-doers; he will soon make their name vanish from the earth.
 Psalms	Ps	21	33	18	Roused by the cry of the innocent, the Lord sets them free from all their afflictions.
 Psalms	Ps	21	33	19	So near is he to patient hearts, so ready to defend the humbled spirit.
 Psalms	Ps	21	33	20	Though a hundred trials beset the innocent, the Lord will bring him safely through them all.
 Psalms	Ps	21	33	21	Under the Lord’s keeping, every bone of his is safe; not one of them shall suffer harm.
 Psalms	Ps	21	33	22	Villainy hastes to its own undoing; the enemies of innocence will bear their punishment.
 Psalms	Ps	21	33	23	The Lord will claim his servant as his own; they go unreproved that put their trust in him.
 Psalms	Ps	21	34	1	(Of David.) Lord, espouse my quarrel; disarm the enemies who rise in arms against me;
 Psalms	Ps	21	34	2	grip target and shield, bestir thyself in my defence.
 Psalms	Ps	21	34	3	With poised lance, bar the way against my pursuers; whisper in my heart, I am here to save thee.
 Psalms	Ps	21	34	4	For my mortal enemies, shame and disappointment; for my ill-wishers one and all, ruin and remorse;
 Psalms	Ps	21	34	5	chaff before the wind, with the angel of the Lord to scatter them,
 Psalms	Ps	21	34	6	benighted and bemired on their way, with the angel of the Lord in pursuit!
 Psalms	Ps	21	34	7	Wantonly they have spread their nets for me, wantonly they have dug the cruel snare;
 Psalms	Ps	21	34	8	now let sudden doom overtake them, their own nets enmesh, their own snare entrap them!
 Psalms	Ps	21	34	9	Mine to triumph in the Lord, to boast of the aid he brings me;
 Psalms	Ps	21	34	10	this be the cry of my whole being, There is none like thee, Lord; who else rescues the afflicted from the hand of tyranny, the poor, the destitute, from his oppressors?
 Psalms	Ps	21	34	11	See how perjured witnesses have come forward, to browbeat me over charges of which I know nothing;
 Psalms	Ps	21	34	12	how they have repaid my kindness with cruelty, and left me friendless!
 Psalms	Ps	21	34	13	Time was, when these were sick; what did I then? Sackcloth was my wear; rigorously I kept fast, prayed from my heart’s depths.
 Psalms	Ps	21	34	14	I went my way sadly, as one that mourns for brother or friend, bowed with grief, as one that bewails a mother’s loss.
 Psalms	Ps	21	34	15	And now it was my turn to reel under fortune’s blows; what did they?
 Psalms	Ps	21	34	16	Gleeful they met, and plotted to attack me unawares; tore at me without ceasing, baited and mocked me, gnashing their teeth in hatred.
 Psalms	Ps	21	34	17	Lord, wilt thou look on unheeding still? Wilt thou leave my life at the mercy of these roaring lions?
 Psalms	Ps	21	34	18	Let me live to praise and thank thee before the multitude that throngs thy courts.
 Psalms	Ps	21	34	19	No more the leer of triumph in the eye of yonder treacherous foe, that wantonly assails me!
 Psalms	Ps	21	34	20	In all their whispering, never a word of peace; they will still be plotting against the land’s repose.
 Psalms	Ps	21	34	21	See how they mop and mow at me, crying out, Joy, joy that we should have lived to see this!
 Psalms	Ps	21	34	22	Thou too, Lord, hast seen it, do not pass it by in silence; Lord, do not abandon me.
 Psalms	Ps	21	34	23	Bestir thyself and take my part, give me speedy redress, my Lord and my God.
 Psalms	Ps	21	34	24	As thou art just, O Lord my God, give thy award for me, never let them triumph over me;
 Psalms	Ps	21	34	25	never let them think, All goes well, and boast that they have made a prey of me.
 Psalms	Ps	21	34	26	Disappoint them, fill them with confusion, the men who delight in my misfortune; cover them with shame and self-reproach, the enemies that triumph over me.
 Psalms	Ps	21	34	27	Joy and gladness be theirs, who applaud my innocence; Praise to the Lord! be their cry, the Lord who defends his servant.
 Psalms	Ps	21	34	28	And all day long, for thy just awarding, this tongue shall make known thy praise.
 Psalms	Ps	21	35	1	(To the choir-master. Of David, the Lord’s servant.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	35	2	Deep in his heart the sinner hears the whispering of evil, and loses sight of the fear of God;
 Psalms	Ps	21	35	3	flatters himself with the thought that his misdoings go undiscovered, earn no reproof.
 Psalms	Ps	21	35	4	No word on his lips but is cruel and false; never a wise thought, a kindly deed.
 Psalms	Ps	21	35	5	He lies awake plotting mischief, and lends himself to every evil course, never weary of wrong-doing.
 Psalms	Ps	21	35	6	Lord, thy mercy is high as heaven; thy faithfulness reaches to the clouds;
 Psalms	Ps	21	35	7	thy justice stands firm as the everlasting hills, the wisdom of thy decrees is deep as the abyss. Lord, thou dost give protection to man and beast,
 Psalms	Ps	21	35	8	so rich is thy divine mercy; under the shelter of those wings the frail children of earth will find confidence.
 Psalms	Ps	21	35	9	With thy rich store thou wilt nourish them, bid them drink deep at thy fountain of contentment.
 Psalms	Ps	21	35	10	In thee is the source of all life; thy brightness breaks on our eyes like dawn.
 Psalms	Ps	21	35	11	Still let thy mercy dwell with those who acknowledge thee, thy favour with upright hearts;
 Psalms	Ps	21	35	12	do not suffer the proud to trample on me, the wicked to dispossess me.
 Psalms	Ps	21	35	13	See what a fall awaits the wrong-doers, how they are cast down to earth, and can keep their feet no more!
 Psalms	Ps	21	36	1	(Of David.) Art thou impatient, friend, when the wicked thrive; dost thou envy the lot of evil-doers?
 Psalms	Ps	21	36	2	they will soon fade like the grass, like the green leaf wither away.
 Psalms	Ps	21	36	3	Be content to trust in the Lord and do good; live on thy land, and take thy ease,
 Psalms	Ps	21	36	4	all thy longing fixed in the Lord; so he will give thee what thy heart desires.
 Psalms	Ps	21	36	5	Commit thy life to the Lord, and trust in him; he will prosper thee,
 Psalms	Ps	21	36	6	making thy honesty clear as the day, the justice of thy cause bright as the sun at noon.
 Psalms	Ps	21	36	7	Dumb and patient, to the Lord’s mercy look thou, never fretting over the man that has his own way, and thrives by villainy.
 Psalms	Ps	21	36	8	End thy complaints, forgo displeasure, do not fret thyself into an evil mood;
 Psalms	Ps	21	36	9	the evil-minded will be dispossessed, and patient souls, that wait for the Lord, succeed them.
 Psalms	Ps	21	36	10	Forbear yet a little, and the sinner will be seen no more; thou wilt search in vain to find him,
 Psalms	Ps	21	36	11	while patient souls are the land’s heirs, enjoying great peace.
 Psalms	Ps	21	36	12	Gnashing his teeth with envy, the wrong-doer plots against the innocent,
 Psalms	Ps	21	36	13	and cannot see his own turn coming; but the Lord sees it, and laughs at his malice.
 Psalms	Ps	21	36	14	How they draw the sword, how they bend the bow, these sinners, to bring ruin on helpless poverty, to murder the upright;
 Psalms	Ps	21	36	15	swords that will pierce their own hearts, bows that will break in pieces!
 Psalms	Ps	21	36	16	Innocence, ill endowed, has the better of the wicked in their abundance;
 Psalms	Ps	21	36	17	soon fails the strength of their arms, and still the Lord has the just in his keeping.
 Psalms	Ps	21	36	18	Jealously the Lord watches over the lives of the guiltless, they will hold their lands for ever,
 Psalms	Ps	21	36	19	undismayed by adversity, in time of famine well content.
 Psalms	Ps	21	36	20	Knavery will yet come to an end; like the spring’s finery they will die, the Lord’s enemies, vanish away like smoke.
 Psalms	Ps	21	36	21	Let the sinner borrow, and never repay, still the good man will be a generous giver;
 Psalms	Ps	21	36	22	win the Lord’s blessing, and the land is thine, his ban is death.
 Psalms	Ps	21	36	23	Man’s feet stand firm, if the Lord is with him to prosper his journey;
 Psalms	Ps	21	36	24	he may stumble but never fall, with the Lord’s hand in his.
 Psalms	Ps	21	36	25	Now youth is past, and I have grown old; yet never did I see the good man forsaken, or his children begging their bread;
 Psalms	Ps	21	36	26	still he lends without stint, and men call down blessings on his posterity.
 Psalms	Ps	21	36	27	Offend no more, rather do good, and be at rest continually;
 Psalms	Ps	21	36	28	the Lord is ever just, and will not abandon his faithful servants. Perish the sinner, forgotten be the name of the evil-doer,
 Psalms	Ps	21	36	29	but these will hold their land, and live on it always at rest.
 Psalms	Ps	21	36	30	Right reason is on the good man’s lips, well weighed are all his counsels;
 Psalms	Ps	21	36	31	his steps never falter, because the law of God rules in his heart.
 Psalms	Ps	21	36	32	Sinners lie in wait, plotting against the life of the innocent;
 Psalms	Ps	21	36	33	but the Lord will never leave him in their power, never find him guilty when he is arraigned.
 Psalms	Ps	21	36	34	Trust the Lord, and follow the path he has chosen; so he will set thee up in possession of thy land, and thou wilt live to see the wicked come to ruin.
 Psalms	Ps	21	36	35	Until yesterday, I saw the evil-doer throned high as the branching cedars;
 Psalms	Ps	21	36	36	then, when I passed by, he was there no longer, and I looked in vain to find him.
 Psalms	Ps	21	36	37	Virtuous men and innocent mark thou well; he that lives peaceably will leave a race behind him,
 Psalms	Ps	21	36	38	while sinners are rooted out every one, and their graceless names forgotten.
 Psalms	Ps	21	36	39	When affliction comes, the Lord is the refuge and defence of the innocent;
 Psalms	Ps	21	36	40	the Lord will aid and deliver them, rescue and preserve them from the power of wickedness, because they put their trust in him.
 Psalms	Ps	21	37	1	(A psalm. Of David. For a memorial.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	37	2	Thy reproof, Lord, not thy vengeance; thy chastisement, not thy condemnation!
 Psalms	Ps	21	37	3	Thy arrows pierce me, thy hand presses me hard;
 Psalms	Ps	21	37	4	thy anger has driven away all health from my body, never a bone sound in it, so grievous are my sins.
 Psalms	Ps	21	37	5	My own wrong-doing towers high above me, hangs on me like a heavy burden;
 Psalms	Ps	21	37	6	my wounds fester and rankle, with my own folly to blame.
 Psalms	Ps	21	37	7	Beaten down, bowed to the earth, I go mourning all day long,
 Psalms	Ps	21	37	8	my whole frame afire, my whole body diseased;
 Psalms	Ps	21	37	9	so spent, so crushed, I groan aloud in the weariness of my heart.
 Psalms	Ps	21	37	10	Thou, Lord, knowest all my longings, no complaint of mine escapes thee;
 Psalms	Ps	21	37	11	restless my heart, gone my strength; the very light that shone in my eyes is mine no longer.
 Psalms	Ps	21	37	12	Friends and neighbours that meet me keep their distance from a doomed man; old companions shun me.
 Psalms	Ps	21	37	13	Ill-wishers that grudge me life itself lay snares about me, threaten me with ruin; relentlessly their malice plots against me.
 Psalms	Ps	21	37	14	And I, all the while, am deaf to their threats, dumb before my accusers;
 Psalms	Ps	21	37	15	mine the unheeding ear, and the tongue that utters no defence.
 Psalms	Ps	21	37	16	On thee, Lord, my hopes are set; thou, O Lord my God, wilt listen to me.
 Psalms	Ps	21	37	17	Such is the prayer I make, Do not let my enemies triumph over me, boast of my downfall.
 Psalms	Ps	21	37	18	Fall full well I may; misery clouds my view;
 Psalms	Ps	21	37	19	I am ever ready to publish my guilt, ever anxious over my sin.
 Psalms	Ps	21	37	20	Unprovoked, their malice still prevails; so many that bear me a grudge so wantonly,
 Psalms	Ps	21	37	21	rewarding good with evil, and for the very rightness of my cause assailing me.
 Psalms	Ps	21	37	22	Do not fail me, O Lord my God, do not forsake me;
 Psalms	Ps	21	37	23	hasten to my defence, O Lord, my only refuge.
 Psalms	Ps	21	38	1	(To the choir-master, Idithun. A psalm. Of David.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	38	2	It was my resolve to live watchfully, and never use my tongue amiss; still, while I was in the presence of sinners, I kept my mouth gagged,
 Psalms	Ps	21	38	3	dumb and patient, impotent for good. But indignation came back,
 Psalms	Ps	21	38	4	and my heart burned within me, the fire kindled by my thoughts,
 Psalms	Ps	21	38	5	so that at last I kept silence no longer. Lord, warn me of my end, and how few my days are; teach me to know my own insufficiency.
 Psalms	Ps	21	38	6	See how thou hast measured my years with a brief span, how my life is nothing in thy reckoning! Nay, what is any man living but a breath that passes?
 Psalms	Ps	21	38	7	Truly man walks the world like a shadow; with what vain anxiety he hoards up riches, when he cannot tell who will have the counting of them!
 Psalms	Ps	21	38	8	What hope then is mine, Lord? In thee alone I trust.
 Psalms	Ps	21	38	9	Clear me of that manifold guilt which makes me the laughing-stock of fools,
 Psalms	Ps	21	38	10	tongue-tied and uncomplaining, because I know that my troubles come from thee;
 Psalms	Ps	21	38	11	spare me this punishment; I faint under thy powerful hand.
 Psalms	Ps	21	38	12	When thou dost chasten man to punish his sins, gone is all he loved, as if the moth had fretted it away; a breath that passes, and no more.
 Psalms	Ps	21	38	13	Listen, Lord, to my prayer, let my cry reach thy hearing, and my tears win answer. What am I in thy sight but a passer-by, a wanderer, as all my fathers were?
 Psalms	Ps	21	38	14	Thy frown relax, give me some breath of comfort, before I go away and am known no more.
 Psalms	Ps	21	39	1	(To the choir-master. Of David. A psalm.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	39	2	Patiently I waited for the Lord’s help, and at last he turned his look towards me;
 Psalms	Ps	21	39	3	he listened to my plea, drew me up out of a deadly pit, where the mire had settled deep, and gave me a foothold on the rock, with firm ground to tread.
 Psalms	Ps	21	39	4	He has framed a new music on my lips, a song of praise to our God, to fill all that stand by with reverence, and with trust in the Lord.
 Psalms	Ps	21	39	5	Happy is the man whose trust is there bestowed, who shuns the rites of strange gods, the lure of lies.
 Psalms	Ps	21	39	6	O Lord my God, how long is the story of thy marvellous deeds! Was ever care like thine? How should I tell the tale of those mercies, past all numbering?
 Psalms	Ps	21	39	7	No sacrifice, no offering was thy demand; enough that thou hast given me an ear ready to listen. Thou hast not found any pleasure in burnt-sacrifices, in sacrifices for sin.
 Psalms	Ps	21	39	8	See then, I said, I am coming to fulfil what is written of me, where the book lies unrolled;
 Psalms	Ps	21	39	9	to do thy will, O my God, is all my desire, to carry out that law of thine which is written in my heart.
 Psalms	Ps	21	39	10	And I told the story of thy just dealings before a great throng; be witness, Lord, that I do not seal my lips.
 Psalms	Ps	21	39	11	Thy just dealings are no secret hidden away in my heart; I boast of thy faithful protection, proclaim that mercy, that faithfulness of thine for all to hear it.
 Psalms	Ps	21	39	12	Lord, do not withhold thy pity from me; let thy mercy and faithfulness be now, as ever, my shield.
 Psalms	Ps	21	39	13	I am beset with evils past numbering, overtaken by my sins; they fill my prospect, countless as the hairs on my head; my courage fails me.
 Psalms	Ps	21	39	14	Deign, Lord, to set me free; Lord, give heed and help.
 Psalms	Ps	21	39	15	Disappointment and shame be theirs, who lay plots against my life; may they slink away covered with confusion, who now rejoice over my downfall.
 Psalms	Ps	21	39	16	Joy, joy! is their cry; dumb-stricken let them stand, their hopes belied.
 Psalms	Ps	21	39	17	Rejoicing and triumph for all the souls that look to thee; Praise to the Lord, will ever be their song, who now long for thy aid.
 Psalms	Ps	21	39	18	I, so helpless, so destitute, and the Lord is concerned for me! Thou art my champion and my refuge; do not linger, my God, do not linger on the way.
 Psalms	Ps	21	40	1	(To the choir-master. A psalm. Of David.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	40	2	Blessed is that man who takes thought for the poor and the destitute; the Lord will keep him safe in time of trouble.
 Psalms	Ps	21	40	3	The Lord will watch over him, and give him long life and happiness on earth, and baulk his enemies of their will.
 Psalms	Ps	21	40	4	The Lord will sustain him when he lies bed-ridden, turn all to health in his sickness.
 Psalms	Ps	21	40	5	Lord have mercy on me, is my prayer; bring healing to a soul that has sinned against thee.
 Psalms	Ps	21	40	6	Bitterly my enemies taunt me; How long, they ask, ere he will die, and his name be forgotten?
 Psalms	Ps	21	40	7	When one comes to visit me, he comes with smooth words, his heart full of malice, ready to go out and plot against me.
 Psalms	Ps	21	40	8	There they stand, my enemies, talking of me in whispers, devising hurt;
 Psalms	Ps	21	40	9	Here is a foul plague loosed on him; he will leave his bed no more.
 Psalms	Ps	21	40	10	Why, the very man I trusted most, my own intimate friend, who shared my bread, has lifted his heel to trip me up.
 Psalms	Ps	21	40	11	Lord, have mercy on me; give me back health, and let me requite them!
 Psalms	Ps	21	40	12	Proof of thy favour, my enemies are baulked of their triumph;
 Psalms	Ps	21	40	13	thou dost befriend my innocence; nevermore wilt thou banish me from thy presence.
 Psalms	Ps	21	40	14	Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, from the beginning to the end of time, Amen, Amen.
 Psalms	Ps	21	41	1	(To the choir-master. A maskil. Of the sons of Core.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	41	2	O God, my whole soul longs for thee, as a deer for running water;
 Psalms	Ps	21	41	3	my whole soul thirsts for God, the living God; shall I never again make my pilgrimage into God’s presence?
 Psalms	Ps	21	41	4	Morning and evening, my diet still of tears! Daily I must listen to the taunt, Where is thy God now?
 Psalms	Ps	21	41	5	Memories come back to me yet, melting the heart; how once I would join with the throng, leading the way to God’s house, amid cries of joy and thanksgiving, and all the bustle of holiday.
 Psalms	Ps	21	41	6	Soul, art thou still downcast? Wilt thou never be at peace? Wait for God’s help; I will not cease to cry out in thankfulness, My champion and my God.
 Psalms	Ps	21	41	7	In my sad mood I will think of thee, here in this land of Jordan and Hermon, here on Misar mountain.
 Psalms	Ps	21	41	8	One depth makes answer to another amid the roar of the floods thou sendest; wave after wave, crest after crest overwhelms me.
 Psalms	Ps	21	41	9	Would he but lighten the day with his mercy, what praise would I sing at evening to the Lord God who is life for me!
 Psalms	Ps	21	41	10	Thou art my stronghold, I cry out to him still; hast thou never a thought for me? Must I go mourning, with enemies pressing me hard;
 Psalms	Ps	21	41	11	racked by the ceaseless taunts of my persecutors, Where is thy God now?
 Psalms	Ps	21	41	12	Soul, art thou still downcast? Wilt thou never be at peace? Wait for God’s help; I will not cease to cry out in thankfulness, My champion and my God.
 Psalms	Ps	21	42	1	O God, sustain my cause; give me redress against a race that knows no piety; save me from a treacherous foe and cruel.
 Psalms	Ps	21	42	2	Thou, O God, art all my strength; why hast thou cast me off? Must I go mourning, with enemies pressing me hard?
 Psalms	Ps	21	42	3	The light of thy presence, the fulfilment of thy promise, let these be my escort, bringing me safe to thy holy mountain, to the tabernacle where thou dwellest.
 Psalms	Ps	21	42	4	There I will go up to the altar of God, the giver of triumphant happiness; thou art my own God, with the harp I hymn thy praise.
 Psalms	Ps	21	42	5	Soul, art thou still downcast? Wilt thou never be at peace? Wait for God’s help; I will not cease to cry out in thankfulness, My champion and my God.
 Psalms	Ps	21	43	1	(To the choir-master. Of the sons of Core. A maskil.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	43	2	O God, the tale has come to our ears—have not our fathers told it?—of the great things thou didst in their time, in days long ago;
 Psalms	Ps	21	43	3	it was thy power that gave them a home by rooting out the heathen, crushing and dispossessing nations to make room for them.
 Psalms	Ps	21	43	4	It was not by their own sword that our fathers won the land, it was not their own strength that brought them victory; it was the work of thy hand, thy strength; thy smile shone upon them, in proof of thy favour.
 Psalms	Ps	21	43	5	I too have no King, no God, save thee; who else sent deliverance to Jacob?
 Psalms	Ps	21	43	6	Through thee we routed our enemies; under thy protection we crushed their onslaught.
 Psalms	Ps	21	43	7	Not in my bow I trusted, not to my sword I looked for safety;
 Psalms	Ps	21	43	8	thine it was to save us from our enemies, and cover their malice with confusion.
 Psalms	Ps	21	43	9	In God was ever our boast; his name we praise unceasingly.
 Psalms	Ps	21	43	10	And now? Now, O God, thou hast disowned us, and put us to shame, by refusing to go into battle with our armies.
 Psalms	Ps	21	43	11	Thou dost put us to flight before our enemies; our ill-wishers plunder us as they will.
 Psalms	Ps	21	43	12	Thou hast made us like sheep sold for food, scattered here and there among the heathen;
 Psalms	Ps	21	43	13	thou hast bartered away thy people without profit, asking no rich amends for thy loss.
 Psalms	Ps	21	43	14	Thou hast turned us into a laughing-stock for our neighbours, mocked and derided by all who dwell around;
 Psalms	Ps	21	43	15	till the heathen make a by-word of us, and Gentiles toss their heads at us in scorn.
 Psalms	Ps	21	43	16	Ever my disgrace confronts me; my cheeks are covered with blushes,
 Psalms	Ps	21	43	17	as I hear nothing but reproach and reviling, see none but enemies, none but persecutors.
 Psalms	Ps	21	43	18	All this has come upon us, and it was not that we had forgotten thee. We have not been untrue to thy covenant,
 Psalms	Ps	21	43	19	or withdrawn our hearts from thee, that we should let our steps wander away from thy paths.
 Psalms	Ps	21	43	20	And all the while thou wouldst bring us low, anguish on every side, darkness hanging over us.
 Psalms	Ps	21	43	21	If we had forgotten the name of our own God, and spread out our hands in prayer to the gods of the alien,
 Psalms	Ps	21	43	22	would not he know of it? He can read the secrets of men’s hearts. No, it is for thy sake that we face death at every moment, reckoned no better than sheep marked down for slaughter.
 Psalms	Ps	21	43	23	Bestir thyself, Lord, why dost thou sleep on? Awake, do not banish us from thy presence for ever.
 Psalms	Ps	21	43	24	How canst thou turn thy face away, without a thought for our need and our affliction?
 Psalms	Ps	21	43	25	Our pride is bowed in the dust; prostrate, we cannot lift ourselves from the ground.
 Psalms	Ps	21	43	26	Arise, Lord, and help us; in thy mercy, claim us for thy own.
 Psalms	Ps	21	44	1	(To the choir-master. Melody: The Lilies. Of the sons of Core. A maskil. A love-song.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	44	2	Joyful the thoughts that well up from my heart, the King’s honour for my theme; my tongue flows readily as the pen of a swift writer.
 Psalms	Ps	21	44	3	Thine is more than mortal beauty, thy lips overflow with gracious utterance; the blessings God has granted thee can never fail.
 Psalms	Ps	21	44	4	Gird on thy sword at thy side, great warrior,
 Psalms	Ps	21	44	5	gird thyself with all thy majesty and all thy beauty; ride on triumphant, in the name of faithfulness and justice. Dread counsel thy own might shall give thee;
 Psalms	Ps	21	44	6	so sharp are thy arrows, subduing nations to thy will, daunting the hearts of the king’s enemies.
 Psalms	Ps	21	44	7	Thy throne, O God, endures for ever and ever, the sceptre of thy royalty is a rod that rules true;
 Psalms	Ps	21	44	8	thou hast been a friend to right, an enemy to wrong, and God, thy own God, has given thee an unction to bring thee pride beyond any of thy fellows.
 Psalms	Ps	21	44	9	Thy garments are scented with myrrh, and aloes, and cassia; from ivory palaces there are harps sounding in thy honour.
 Psalms	Ps	21	44	10	Daughters of kings come out to meet thee; at thy right hand stands the queen, in Ophir gold arrayed.
 Psalms	Ps	21	44	11	(Listen, my daughter, and consider my words attentively; thou art to forget, henceforward, thy own nation, and the house of thy father;
 Psalms	Ps	21	44	12	thy beauty, now, is all for the king’s delight; he is thy Lord, and worship belongs to him.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	44	13	The people of Tyre, too, will have its presents to bring; the noblest of its citizens will be courting thy favour.
 Psalms	Ps	21	44	14	She comes, the princess, all fair to see, her robe of golden cloth,
 Psalms	Ps	21	44	15	a robe of rich embroidery, to meet the King. The maidens of her court follow her into thy presence,
 Psalms	Ps	21	44	16	all rejoicing, all triumphant, as they enter the king’s palace!
 Psalms	Ps	21	44	17	Thou shalt have sons worthy of thy own fathers, and divide a world between them for their domains.
 Psalms	Ps	21	44	18	While time lasts, mine it is to keep thy name in remembrance; age after age, nations will do thee honour.
 Psalms	Ps	21	45	1	(To the choir-master. Of the sons of Core. Melody: The Virgins. A song.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	45	2	God is our refuge and stronghold; sovereign aid he has brought us in the hour of peril.
 Psalms	Ps	21	45	3	Not for us to be afraid, though earth should tumble about us, and the hills be carried away into the depths of the sea.
 Psalms	Ps	21	45	4	See how its waters rage and roar, how the hills tremble before its might!
 Psalms	Ps	21	45	5	The Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge. But the city of God, enriched with flowing waters, is the chosen sanctuary of the most High,
 Psalms	Ps	21	45	6	God dwells within her, and she stands unmoved; with break of dawn he will grant her deliverance.
 Psalms	Ps	21	45	7	Nations may be in turmoil, and thrones totter, earth shrink away before his voice;
 Psalms	Ps	21	45	8	but the Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge.
 Psalms	Ps	21	45	9	Come near, and see God’s acts, his marvellous acts done on earth;
 Psalms	Ps	21	45	10	how he puts an end to wars all over the world, the bow shivered, the lances shattered, the shields burnt to ashes!
 Psalms	Ps	21	45	11	Wait quietly, and you shall have proof that I am God, claiming empire among the nations, claiming empire over the world.
 Psalms	Ps	21	45	12	The Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge.
 Psalms	Ps	21	46	1	(To the choir-master. Of the sons of Core. A psalm.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	46	2	Clap your hands, all you nations, in applause; acclaim your God with cries of rejoicing.
 Psalms	Ps	21	46	3	The Lord is high above us, and worthy of dread; he is the sovereign Ruler of all the earth;
 Psalms	Ps	21	46	4	he has tamed the nations to our will, bowed the Gentiles at our feet,
 Psalms	Ps	21	46	5	claimed us for his own portion, Jacob the fair, the well beloved.
 Psalms	Ps	21	46	6	God goes up, loud are the cries of victory; the Lord goes up, loudly the trumpets peal.
 Psalms	Ps	21	46	7	A psalm, a psalm for our God, a psalm, a psalm for our King!
 Psalms	Ps	21	46	8	God is King of all the earth; sound the hymn of praise!
 Psalms	Ps	21	46	9	God reigns over the heathen, God sits enthroned in holiness.
 Psalms	Ps	21	46	10	The rulers of the nations throw in their lot with us, that worship Abraham’s God; a God so high, he has all earth’s princes for his vassals.
 Psalms	Ps	21	47	1	(A song. A psalm. Of the sons of Core.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	47	2	The Lord is great, great honour is his due, here in the city where he, our God, dwells. Fair rises the peak of his holy mountain,
 Psalms	Ps	21	47	3	the pride of the whole world, and the true pole of earth, mount Sion, the city of the great King;
 Psalms	Ps	21	47	4	within those walls, God has proved himself a sure defence.
 Psalms	Ps	21	47	5	See, how the kings of the earth have made common cause, and met there in arms!
 Psalms	Ps	21	47	6	At the sight of her all was bewilderment, and confusion, and dismay;
 Psalms	Ps	21	47	7	fear took hold of them, sudden as the throes of a woman in travail;
 Psalms	Ps	21	47	8	not more ruinously on ocean-going ships falls the east wind.
 Psalms	Ps	21	47	9	Here, in this city of the Lord of hosts, the city of our own God, we have proved the tale long since told us, that God upholds her for all eternity;
 Psalms	Ps	21	47	10	sheltered in thy temple, we give thanks for our deliverance.
 Psalms	Ps	21	47	11	O God, wherever thy name is known on earth, thy praise is told, ever just in thy dealings;
 Psalms	Ps	21	47	12	well may the hill of Sion rejoice, well may the townships of Juda triumph, at the decrees which thou, Lord, hast executed.
 Psalms	Ps	21	47	13	Walk about Sion, make the round of her towers, and count the number of them;
 Psalms	Ps	21	47	14	mark well the defences that are hers, pass all her strongholds in review; then give word to the next generation,
 Psalms	Ps	21	47	15	Such is the God, who is our God for ever and ever; our Shepherd eternally.
 Psalms	Ps	21	48	1	(To the choir-master. Of the sons of Core. A psalm.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	48	2	Listen, you nations far and wide; let all the world give hearing,
 Psalms	Ps	21	48	3	poor clods of earth, and men nobly born, for rich and poor the same lesson.
 Psalms	Ps	21	48	4	Here are wise words, thoughts of a discerning heart;
 Psalms	Ps	21	48	5	mine to overhear mysteries, and reveal, with the harp’s music, things of deep import.
 Psalms	Ps	21	48	6	What need have I to be afraid in troubled times, when malice dogs my heels and overtakes me,
 Psalms	Ps	21	48	7	malice of foes who trust in their own strength, and boast of their great possessions?
 Psalms	Ps	21	48	8	No man can deliver himself from his human lot, paying a ransom-price to God;
 Psalms	Ps	21	48	9	too great is the cost of a man’s soul; never will the means be his
 Psalms	Ps	21	48	10	to prolong his days eternally and escape death.
 Psalms	Ps	21	48	11	True it is, wise men die; but reckless fools perish no less; their riches will go to others,
 Psalms	Ps	21	48	12	and the grave will be their everlasting home. Age after age, they will live on there, under the fields they once called their own.
 Psalms	Ps	21	48	13	Short is man’s enjoyment of earthly goods; match him with the brute beasts, and he is no better than they.
 Psalms	Ps	21	48	14	Fatal path, that ensnares the reckless! Pitiful end of the men that love life!
 Psalms	Ps	21	48	15	There they lie in the world beneath, huddled like sheep, with death for their shepherd, the just for their masters; soon, soon their image fades, the grave for its tenement.
 Psalms	Ps	21	48	16	But my life God will rescue from the power of that lower darkness, a life that finds acceptance with him.
 Psalms	Ps	21	48	17	Do not be disturbed, then, when a man grows rich, and there is no end to his household’s magnificence;
 Psalms	Ps	21	48	18	he cannot take all that with him when he dies, magnificence will not follow him to the grave.
 Psalms	Ps	21	48	19	While life lasts, he calls himself happy: None but will envy my success;
 Psalms	Ps	21	48	20	but soon he will be made one with the line of his fathers, never again to see the light.
 Psalms	Ps	21	48	21	Short is man’s careless enjoyment of earthly goods; match him with the brute beasts, and he is no better than they.
 Psalms	Ps	21	49	1	It is the Lord God that speaks; his message goes out to all the earth, from the sun’s rise to its setting.
 Psalms	Ps	21	49	2	Out of Sion, in perfect beauty,
 Psalms	Ps	21	49	3	God comes, revealed; he will keep silence no longer. Before him goes a raging fire; there is a whirling storm round about him.
 Psalms	Ps	21	49	4	So, from on high, he summons heaven and earth to witness the judgement pronounced on his people:
 Psalms	Ps	21	49	5	Muster in my presence my faithful servants, who honour my covenant still with sacrifice.
 Psalms	Ps	21	49	6	The heavens themselves pronounce him just, God who is our judge.
 Psalms	Ps	21	49	7	Listen, my people, to these words of mine, listen, Israel, to the protestation I make thee; I, the God thou ownest as God.
 Psalms	Ps	21	49	8	I do not find fault with thee over thy sacrifices; why, all day long thy burnt-offerings smoke before me.
 Psalms	Ps	21	49	9	But the gifts I accept are not cattle from thy stock, or buck-goats from thy folds;
 Psalms	Ps	21	49	10	I own already every wild beast in the forest, the hills are mine, and the herds that people them.
 Psalms	Ps	21	49	11	There is no bird flies in heaven, no life stirs in the country-side, but I know of it.
 Psalms	Ps	21	49	12	If I am hungry, I will not complain of it to thee, I, who am master of earth and all that earth contains.
 Psalms	Ps	21	49	13	Wouldst thou have me eat bull’s flesh, and drink the blood of goats?
 Psalms	Ps	21	49	14	The sacrifice thou must offer to God is a sacrifice of praise, so wilt thou perform thy vows to the most High.
 Psalms	Ps	21	49	15	So, when thou criest to me in time of trouble, I will deliver thee; then thou shalt honour me as thou wilt.
 Psalms	Ps	21	49	16	But thus, to the sinner, God speaks: How is it that thou canst repeat my commandments by rote, and boast of my covenant with thee,
 Psalms	Ps	21	49	17	and thou, all the while, hast no love for the amendment of thy ways, casting every warning of mine to the winds?
 Psalms	Ps	21	49	18	Swift thou art to welcome the thief who crosses thy path, to throw in thy lot with the adulterers.
 Psalms	Ps	21	49	19	Malice wells up from thy lips, and thy tongue is a ready engine of deceit;
 Psalms	Ps	21	49	20	thou wilt sit there in conclave, speaking evil of thy brother, traducing thy own mother’s son.
 Psalms	Ps	21	49	21	Such were thy ways, and should I make no sign? Should I let thee think I am such as thou? Here is thy reproof; here is thy indictment made plain to thee.
 Psalms	Ps	21	49	22	Think well on this, you that forget God, or his hand will fall suddenly, and there will be no delivering you.
 Psalms	Ps	21	49	23	He honours me truly, who offers me a sacrifice of praise; live aright, and you shall see the saving power of God.
 Psalms	Ps	21	50	1	(To the choir-master. A psalm. Of David,
 Psalms	Ps	21	50	2	when the prophet Nathan came to reproach him for his adultery with Bethsabee.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	50	3	Have mercy on me, O God, as thou art ever rich in mercy; in the abundance of thy compassion, blot out the record of my misdeeds.
 Psalms	Ps	21	50	4	Wash me clean, cleaner yet, from my guilt, purge me of my sin,
 Psalms	Ps	21	50	5	the guilt which I freely acknowledge, the sin which is never lost to my sight.
 Psalms	Ps	21	50	6	Thee only my sins have offended; it is thy will I have disobeyed; thy sentence was deserved, and still when thou givest award thou hast right on thy side.
 Psalms	Ps	21	50	7	For indeed, I was born in sin; guilt was with me already when my mother conceived me.
 Psalms	Ps	21	50	8	But thou art a lover of faithfulness, and now, deep in my heart, thy wisdom has instructed me.
 Psalms	Ps	21	50	9	Sprinkle me with a wand of hyssop, and I shall be clean; washed, I shall be whiter than snow;
 Psalms	Ps	21	50	10	tidings send me of good news and rejoicing, and the body that lies in the dust shall thrill with pride.
 Psalms	Ps	21	50	11	Turn thy eyes away from my sins, blot out the record of my guilt;
 Psalms	Ps	21	50	12	my God, bring a clean heart to birth within me; breathe new life, true life, into my being.
 Psalms	Ps	21	50	13	Do not banish me from thy presence, do not take thy holy spirit away from me;
 Psalms	Ps	21	50	14	give me back the comfort of thy saving power, and strengthen me in generous resolve.
 Psalms	Ps	21	50	15	So will I teach the wicked to follow thy paths; sinners shall come back to thy obedience.
 Psalms	Ps	21	50	16	My God, my divine Deliverer, save me from the guilt of bloodshed! This tongue shall boast of thy mercies;
 Psalms	Ps	21	50	17	O Lord, thou wilt open my lips, and my mouth shall tell of thy praise.
 Psalms	Ps	21	50	18	Thou hast no mind for sacrifice, burnt-offerings, if I brought them, thou wouldst refuse;
 Psalms	Ps	21	50	19	here, O God, is my sacrifice, a broken spirit; a heart that is humbled and contrite thou, O God, wilt never disdain.
 Psalms	Ps	21	50	20	Lord, in thy great love send prosperity to Sion, so that the walls of Jerusalem may rise again.
 Psalms	Ps	21	50	21	Then indeed thou wilt take pleasure in solemn sacrifice, in gift and burnt-offering; then indeed bullocks will be laid upon thy altar.
 Psalms	Ps	21	51	1	(To the choir-master. A maskil. Of David,
 Psalms	Ps	21	51	2	when Doeg, the Edomite, came and told Saul, David went into Abimelech’s house.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	51	3	Wilt thou still take pride, infamous tyrant, in thy power to harm?
 Psalms	Ps	21	51	4	Evermore thou settest thy heart on mischief; thy words are razor-edged, and thou a traitor.
 Psalms	Ps	21	51	5	Cruelty, never kindness, is thy study, treason, never honest speech;
 Psalms	Ps	21	51	6	well thy false lips love the word that brings men to ruin.
 Psalms	Ps	21	51	7	And will not God destroy thee utterly, root thee up, drive thee from thy home, till thy stock is known among living men no more?
 Psalms	Ps	21	51	8	Honest folk will watch, and wonder, and taunt him then;
 Psalms	Ps	21	51	9	So much for the man who would have none of God’s help, but relied on his store of riches, and found his strength in knavery?
 Psalms	Ps	21	51	10	And I? rooted like a fruitful olive-tree in the house of my God, I will trust for ever in his divine mercy;
 Psalms	Ps	21	51	11	I will give thee eternal thanks for all thou hast done, and boast, as men should ever boast, of thy name, the faithful for my company.
 Psalms	Ps	21	52	1	(To the choir-master. The Melody, Mahalat. A maskil. Of David. ) There is no God above us, is the fond thought of reckless hearts.
 Psalms	Ps	21	52	2	Warped natures everywhere and hateful lives, there is not an innocent man among them.
 Psalms	Ps	21	52	3	God looks down from heaven at the race of men, to find one soul that reflects, and goes in search of him;
 Psalms	Ps	21	52	4	but no, all have missed the mark and rebelled against him; an innocent man is nowhere to be found.
 Psalms	Ps	21	52	5	What, can they learn nothing, all these traffickers in iniquity, who feed themselves fat on this people of mine, as if it were bread for their eating,
 Psalms	Ps	21	52	6	and never invoke God’s name? What wonder if fear unmans them, where they have no cause for fear? Where are the foes that hemmed thee round? God has scattered their bones far and wide, forgotten as his enemies must ever be.
 Psalms	Ps	21	52	7	Oh, may Sion bring deliverance to Israel! Day of gladness for Jacob, day of Israel’s triumph, when God restores the fortunes of his own people.
 Psalms	Ps	21	53	1	(To the choir-master. For stringed instruments. A maskil. Of David,
 Psalms	Ps	21	53	2	when the men of Ziph told Saul that David was in hiding among them.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	53	3	Lord, by the virtue of thy name deliver me, let thy sovereign power grant me redress;
 Psalms	Ps	21	53	4	give a hearing, Lord, to my plea; let me speak, and know thou art listening.
 Psalms	Ps	21	53	5	Scornful foes take arms against me, fierce foes that grudge me life itself, with no thought of God to check them.
 Psalms	Ps	21	53	6	Ah, but God is here to help me; the Lord has my safety in his keeping.
 Psalms	Ps	21	53	7	Let the blow recoil on my persecutors; ever faithful to thy word, do thou overthrow them.
 Psalms	Ps	21	53	8	So will I joyfully offer thee sacrifice, and praise thy name, Lord, as praised it must ever be;
 Psalms	Ps	21	53	9	who else has delivered me from all peril, and let me see the downfall of my enemies?
 Psalms	Ps	21	54	1	(To the choir-master. For stringed instruments. A maskil. Of David.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	54	2	Give audience to my prayer, O God; do not spurn this plea of mine;
 Psalms	Ps	21	54	3	hear and grant relief. No rest I find in my distress,
 Psalms	Ps	21	54	4	daunted ever by the hue and cry of godless enemies, whose malicious spite would compass my ruin.
 Psalms	Ps	21	54	5	My heart is full of whirling thoughts; the fear of death stands over me;
 Psalms	Ps	21	54	6	trembling and terrified, I see perils closing round me.
 Psalms	Ps	21	54	7	Had I but wings, I cry, as a dove has wings, to fly away and find rest!
 Psalms	Ps	21	54	8	Far would I flee; the wilderness should be my shelter,
 Psalms	Ps	21	54	9	so I might find speedy refuge from the whirlwind and the storm.
 Psalms	Ps	21	54	10	Plunge them deep, Lord, in ruin, bring dissension into their councils! Do I not see, already, violence and sedition in the city?
 Psalms	Ps	21	54	11	Day and night they make the round of its walls, and all the while there is wrong and oppression at the heart of it,
 Psalms	Ps	21	54	12	its treacherous heart; cruelty and cunning walk ever in its streets.
 Psalms	Ps	21	54	13	Had some enemy decried me, I could have borne it patiently; some open ill-wisher, I could have sheltered myself from his attack.
 Psalms	Ps	21	54	14	But thou, my second self, my familiar friend!
 Psalms	Ps	21	54	15	How pleasant was the companionship we shared, thou and I; how lovingly we walked as fellow pilgrims in the house of God!
 Psalms	Ps	21	54	16	May death overtake them, may the abyss swallow them up alive, their homes, their hearts so tainted with evil!
 Psalms	Ps	21	54	17	Still I will call upon God, and the Lord will save;
 Psalms	Ps	21	54	18	still at evening and morn and noon I will cry aloud and make my plea known; he will not be deaf to my appeal.
 Psalms	Ps	21	54	19	He will win my soul peace, will rescue me from attack, when many take part against me.
 Psalms	Ps	21	54	20	He, the God who reigned before time was, will listen to me, will bring them low. Never a change of heart, never the fear of God;
 Psalms	Ps	21	54	21	not one but will turn against his friend, break his pledged word.
 Psalms	Ps	21	54	22	Smooth as butter their looks, when their hearts are all hatred; soft as oil their speech, yet never was drawn sword so deadly.
 Psalms	Ps	21	54	23	Cast the burden of thy cares upon the Lord, and he will sustain thee; never will he let thee stumble, his servant if thou be.
 Psalms	Ps	21	54	24	These, O God, thou wilt sink in a pit of ruin; the blood-thirsty, the treacherous, will not live out half their days; but I, Lord, will put my trust in thee.
 Psalms	Ps	21	55	1	(To the choir-master. Melody: Yonat Elem Rehoqim. Of David. A miktam. When the Philistines had him in their hands at Gath.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	55	2	Have mercy on me, O God, downtrodden evermore by man’s cruel oppression;
 Psalms	Ps	21	55	3	evermore my enemies tread me under foot, so many there are to make war upon me.
 Psalms	Ps	21	55	4	In thee, the most High, I will put my trust when peril overtakes me.
 Psalms	Ps	21	55	5	I claim God’s promise; my trust is in God, no mortal threat can daunt me.
 Psalms	Ps	21	55	6	Evermore they traduce me, have no thought but for my undoing;
 Psalms	Ps	21	55	7	conspire in secret, watching my steps as they plot against my life!
 Psalms	Ps	21	55	8	O God, requite their treachery; trample on the Gentiles in thy anger.
 Psalms	Ps	21	55	9	My wandering life none knows as thou; no tear of mine but thou dost hoard and record it.
 Psalms	Ps	21	55	10	One cry raised to thee, and my enemies are driven back; shall I doubt God is on my side?
 Psalms	Ps	21	55	11	I claim God’s promise; my trust is in God, man’s threats cannot daunt me.
 Psalms	Ps	21	55	12	The vows which thou claimest from me, O God, my sacrifice of praise shall fulfil;
 Psalms	Ps	21	55	13	hast thou not saved my life from every peril, my feet from every slip? And shall I not enjoy God’s favour, while the light of life is with me?
 Psalms	Ps	21	56	1	(To the choir-master. Melody: Do not destroy. Of David. A miktam. When he took refuge from Saul in a cave.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	56	2	Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me; here is a soul that puts its trust in thee, I will take refuge under the shelter of thy wings, till the storms pass by.
 Psalms	Ps	21	56	3	I will cry out to the most high God, the God who has ever befriended me:
 Psalms	Ps	21	56	4	may he send aid now from heaven to deliver me, and bring confusion on my oppressors; his mercy, his faithfulness be my speed!
 Psalms	Ps	21	56	5	Fallen among lions I, that hungrily eat men’s flesh; here are envious teeth that bite deeper than spear or arrow, tongues sharp as any sword.
 Psalms	Ps	21	56	6	O God, mount high above the heavens, till thy glory overshadows the whole earth.
 Psalms	Ps	21	56	7	See where they have laid a snare for my feet, to bring me low, dug a pit in my path; may it be their own undoing!
 Psalms	Ps	21	56	8	A true heart, my God, a heart true to thy service; its song, its music are for thee!
 Psalms	Ps	21	56	9	Wake, my soul, wake, echoes of harp and viol; dawn shall find me watching;
 Psalms	Ps	21	56	10	so will I give thee thanks, Lord, for all the world to hear it, sing psalms while the Gentiles listen,
 Psalms	Ps	21	56	11	of thy mercy, high as heaven itself, of thy faithfulness, that reaches to the clouds.
 Psalms	Ps	21	56	12	O God, mount high above the heavens, till thy glory overshadows the whole earth.
 Psalms	Ps	21	57	1	(To the choir-master. Melody: Do not destroy. Of David. A miktam.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	57	2	Nobles all, are they honest words you utter? And you, common folk, do you make just award?
 Psalms	Ps	21	57	3	See how you devise treachery in your hearts, deal out to this land nothing but oppression!
 Psalms	Ps	21	57	4	Sinners that left the womb only to go a-straying; renegades and liars their mothers bore them!
 Psalms	Ps	21	57	5	They are venomous as serpents, as the asp that turns a deaf ear
 Psalms	Ps	21	57	6	and will not listen to the snake-charmer’s music, skilful player though he be.
 Psalms	Ps	21	57	7	My God, break their cruel fangs; Lord, shatter their jaws, strong as the jaws of lions.
 Psalms	Ps	21	57	8	Like spilt water let them run to waste, shoot none but harmless arrows;
 Psalms	Ps	21	57	9	melt into nothing, the snail’s way, perish like the untimely birth that sees never the light of the sun.
 Psalms	Ps	21	57	10	Green stalks the whirlwind carries away, while yonder pot still waits for fuel!
 Psalms	Ps	21	57	11	The innocent man will triumph at the sight of their punishment, as he dips his hands in the blood of the evil-doer;
 Psalms	Ps	21	57	12	Sure enough, men will say, innocence has its reward, sure enough, there is a God who grants redress here on earth.
 Psalms	Ps	21	58	1	(To the choir-master. Melody: Do not destroy. Of David. A miktam. When Saul had his house watched, so as to put him to death.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	58	2	O God, deliver me from my enemies, rescue me from their assaults;
 Psalms	Ps	21	58	3	thwart their treacherous designs, disappoint their lust for blood.
 Psalms	Ps	21	58	4	See how they plot against my life, how strong is their confederacy!
 Psalms	Ps	21	58	5	Yet never, Lord, through any fault or offence of mine; unprovoked, they rush to the attack.
 Psalms	Ps	21	58	6	Bestir thyself, come to my side and witness my wrongs. Lord of hosts, God of Israel, awake; a world chastise, and shew the treacherous no mercy.
 Psalms	Ps	21	58	7	See how they come back at nightfall, like yelping dogs, to prowl about the city!
 Psalms	Ps	21	58	8	Tongues that boast, lips that rail, as if none could hear them;
 Psalms	Ps	21	58	9	and all the while thou, Lord, makest light of them, thou, in whose esteem all the nations are as nothing.
 Psalms	Ps	21	58	10	To thee I look, the God who strengthens me, the God who watches over me;
 Psalms	Ps	21	58	11	my God, and all my hope of mercy. With that divine aid, may I triumph over my enemies.
 Psalms	Ps	21	58	12	Smite them down, my God, before they compass the overthrow of my people; let that power of thine overawe and crush them, my protector, my Master!
 Psalms	Ps	21	58	13	Down with the guilty tongues, the boastful lips; let their own pride ensnare them, their cursing and their lies.
 Psalms	Ps	21	58	14	Ruinous, ruinous be thy vengeance, overwhelming them; shew them that there is a God who rules over Jacob, rules over the utmost ends of the earth.
 Psalms	Ps	21	58	15	Back come they at nightfall, like yelping dogs, and prowl about the city;
 Psalms	Ps	21	58	16	far and wide they will roam in search of their prey, and snarl with rage when they go unfed at last.
 Psalms	Ps	21	58	17	And I, ere long, will be proclaiming thy greatness, will be triumphing in the mercy thou hast shewn me, thou, my stronghold and my refuge in my hour of peril.
 Psalms	Ps	21	58	18	To thee I will sing, the God who strengthens me, the God who watches over me, my God, and all my hope of mercy.
 Psalms	Ps	21	59	1	(To the choir-master. Melody: Lily of the Law. A miktam. Of David. To be used for teaching.
 Psalms	Ps	21	59	2	This was when he marched against the Syrians of Naharaim and Soba, and Joab on his way home defeated the men of Edom in the Valley of Salt, twelve thousand of them.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	59	3	Too long, O God, hast thou disowned us, and scattered our armies in flight; thy wrath forgo, and bring us back to our own.
 Psalms	Ps	21	59	4	Heal the wounds of the land thou hast shaken and torn asunder, the land that trembles still.
 Psalms	Ps	21	59	5	Heavy the burden thou didst lay on us; such a draught thou didst brew for us as made our senses reel.
 Psalms	Ps	21	59	6	But now thou hast set up a standard to rally thy faithful servants, and to protect them from the archers’ onset; now bring aid to the men thou lovest,
 Psalms	Ps	21	59	7	give our prayer answer, and lift thy right hand to save.
 Psalms	Ps	21	59	8	God’s word came to us from his sanctuary, In triumph I will divide up Sichem, and parcel out the valley of Tents;
 Psalms	Ps	21	59	9	to me Galaad, to me Manasses belongs; Ephraim is my helmet, Juda the staff I bear.
 Psalms	Ps	21	59	10	Now Moab, too, shall be my drudge; over Edom I will claim my right; I will lead the Philistines away in triumph.
 Psalms	Ps	21	59	11	Such was the oracle; but now who is to lead me on my march against this fortress, who is to find an entrance for me into Edom,
 Psalms	Ps	21	59	12	when thou, O God, hast disowned us, and wilt not go into battle with our armies?
 Psalms	Ps	21	59	13	It is thou that must deliver us from peril; vain is the help of man.
 Psalms	Ps	21	59	14	Only through God can we fight victoriously; only he can trample our oppressors in the dust.
 Psalms	Ps	21	60	1	(To the choir-master. For stringed instruments. Of David.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	60	2	Listen, Lord, to this cry of appeal; do not let my prayer go unheeded,
 Psalms	Ps	21	60	3	though it be from the ends of the earth that I call upon thee. When my heart misgives me, thou wilt set me high up on a rock, thou wilt bring me repose;
 Psalms	Ps	21	60	4	thou, my only hope, my strong tower against the assault of my enemies.
 Psalms	Ps	21	60	5	Oh let me dwell for ever in thy tabernacle, let me take refuge under the shelter of thy wings!
 Psalms	Ps	21	60	6	Lord, thou hast listened to my prayer, a domain thou hast given me where thy name is held in awe.
 Psalms	Ps	21	60	7	Year upon year do thou add to the king’s reign; while generations come and go, may his life still last.
 Psalms	Ps	21	60	8	For ever may he reign under God’s favour; let mercy and faithfulness be his escort.
 Psalms	Ps	21	60	9	Eternally I will sing thy praises, day after day perform my vows.
 Psalms	Ps	21	61	1	(To the choir-master. Melody: Idithun. A psalm. Of David.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	61	2	No rest has my soul but in God’s hands; to him I look for deliverance.
 Psalms	Ps	21	61	3	I have no other stronghold, no other deliverer but him; safe in his protection, I fear no deadly fall.
 Psalms	Ps	21	61	4	Still one man my enemies single out for their onslaught, not gaping hedge or ruinous wall more ripe for overthrow;
 Psalms	Ps	21	61	5	from my safe fastness they would fain dislodge me, ready liars that speak me fair, but ever with a curse in their hearts.
 Psalms	Ps	21	61	6	Yet even now, my soul, leave thyself in God’s hands; all my trust is in him.
 Psalms	Ps	21	61	7	He is my stronghold and my deliverer, my protector, that makes me stand unmoved.
 Psalms	Ps	21	61	8	God is all my defence and all my boast; my rock-fastness, my refuge is in God.
 Psalms	Ps	21	61	9	Israelites, put ever your trust in him, and lay the homage of your hearts at his feet; God is our defence.
 Psalms	Ps	21	61	10	Man is a breath that passes; in Adam’s sons there is no trust; high in the scales they rise, weighed all together and lighter than a breath.
 Psalms	Ps	21	61	11	Put your faith in extortion no more, boast no more of plunder; set never your heed on mounting store of riches.
 Psalms	Ps	21	61	12	Not once, but twice I have heard God’s voice of warning; all power is God’s.
 Psalms	Ps	21	61	13	To thee, Lord, mercy belongs; thou wilt repay every man the reward of his deeds.
 Psalms	Ps	21	62	1	(A psalm. Of David. This was when he was in the desert of Juda.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	62	2	O God, thou art my God; how eager my quest for thee, body athirst and soul longing for thee,
 Psalms	Ps	21	62	3	like some parched wilderness, where stream is none! So in the holy place, I contemplate thee, ready for the revelation of thy greatness, thy glory.
 Psalms	Ps	21	62	4	To win thy favour is dearer to me than life itself; my songs of praise can no more be withheld.
 Psalms	Ps	21	62	5	So, all my life long, I will bless thee, holding up my hands in honour of thy name;
 Psalms	Ps	21	62	6	my heart filled, as with some rich feast, my mouth, in joyful accents, singing thy praise.
 Psalms	Ps	21	62	7	My thoughts shall go out to thee at dawn, as I lie awake remembering thee,
 Psalms	Ps	21	62	8	and the protection thou hast given me. Gladly I take shelter under thy wings,
 Psalms	Ps	21	62	9	cling close to thee, borne up by thy protecting hand.
 Psalms	Ps	21	62	10	In vain do my enemies plot against my life, soon to be swallowed up in the depths of earth,
 Psalms	Ps	21	62	11	a prey to the sword, carrion for jackals!
 Psalms	Ps	21	62	12	The king shall triumph in God’s protection, blessed as they are ever blessed who take their vows in his name; silence shall fall on the lips that muttered treason.
 Psalms	Ps	21	63	1	(To the choir-master. A psalm. Of David.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	63	2	O God, listen to my prayer when I plead with thee, save me from the threats of my mortal foe.
 Psalms	Ps	21	63	3	Thine to defend me from this conspiracy of malice, this throng of evil-doers;
 Psalms	Ps	21	63	4	the tongues that wound like a sharpened sword, the poisoned words aimed at me, like arrows.
 Psalms	Ps	21	63	5	Stealthily they attack the innocent:
 Psalms	Ps	21	63	6	suddenly, from a safe vantage-point, they wound him. See them pledged to an infamous resolve, plotting to lay snares for me, sure that they will go unseen!
 Psalms	Ps	21	63	7	With what care they hatch their designs, planning treason double-dyed! Let the thoughts of man’s heart be deep as they will,
 Psalms	Ps	21	63	8	yet God has arrows, too, to smite them with, sudden wounds to deal them;
 Psalms	Ps	21	63	9	all their conspiring plays them false. Scornfully the onlookers shake their heads,
 Psalms	Ps	21	63	10	awe-stricken every one; who but will acclaim God’s power, who but will ponder his great acts?
 Psalms	Ps	21	63	11	Honest men will rejoice and put their trust in the Lord; upright hearts will not boast in vain.
 Psalms	Ps	21	64	1	(To the choir-master. A psalm. Of David. A song.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	64	2	O God, thou shalt yet have praise in Sion; to thee let the vow be paid,
 Psalms	Ps	21	64	3	hearer of prayer. To thee all mankind must look for pardon,
 Psalms	Ps	21	64	4	weighed down by its sinfulness till thou dost forgive.
 Psalms	Ps	21	64	5	Blessed the man on whom thy choice falls, whom thou takest to dwell with thee in thy own domain! Fill these hearts with love of thy house, with awe of thy holy temple.
 Psalms	Ps	21	64	6	Wonderful the miracles thou shewest when in mercy thou dost hear us, O God our Saviour; at the bounds of earth, far over the seas, in thee we hope.
 Psalms	Ps	21	64	7	What power girds thee about! In thy strength the mountains stand firm;
 Psalms	Ps	21	64	8	thou dost calm the raging of the sea, raging sea-billows, ay, and the turmoil of angry nations.
 Psalms	Ps	21	64	9	Thy portents strike terror at the world’s end, fill the lands of sunrise and sunset with rejoicing.
 Psalms	Ps	21	64	10	And now thou hast brought relief to this land of ours, hast watered and greatly enriched it; deep flows the channel whence thy divine providence grants us food; long time thou dost prepare it,
 Psalms	Ps	21	64	11	watering the furrow, loosening the clods, multiplying, with soft showers, the grain.
 Psalms	Ps	21	64	12	Thy bounty it is that crowns the year; where thy feet have passed, the stream of plenty flows;
 Psalms	Ps	21	64	13	flows through the desert pastures, till all the hill-sides are gaily clad,
 Psalms	Ps	21	64	14	herds throng the fields, and the valleys stand deep in corn; the shout of joy everywhere, everywhere the hymn of praise.
 Psalms	Ps	21	65	1	(To the choir-master. A song. A psalm.) Let the whole world keep holiday in God’s presence,
 Psalms	Ps	21	65	2	sing praise to his name, pay homage to his glory!
 Psalms	Ps	21	65	3	Cry out to God, What dread, Lord, thy acts inspire! How great is that might of thine, which makes thy enemies cringe before thee!
 Psalms	Ps	21	65	4	Let the whole earth worship thee, sing of thee, sing praises to thy name.
 Psalms	Ps	21	65	5	Come near, and see what God does, how wonderful he is in his dealings with human kind,
 Psalms	Ps	21	65	6	how he turns the sea into land, and lets men cross a river dry-shod; ours to rejoice in his mercy.
 Psalms	Ps	21	65	7	In that power of his he reigns for ever, and has eyes for what the Gentiles do; let rebellious souls tame their pride.
 Psalms	Ps	21	65	8	Bless the name of our God, you Gentiles, echo the sound of his praise.
 Psalms	Ps	21	65	9	God’s will is we should live yet; he does not suffer our steps to falter.
 Psalms	Ps	21	65	10	Yes, Lord, thou hast put us to the proof, tested us as men test silver in the fire;
 Psalms	Ps	21	65	11	led us into a snare, and bowed our backs with trouble,
 Psalms	Ps	21	65	12	while human masters rode us down; our way led through fire and water, yet in the end thou hast granted us relief.
 Psalms	Ps	21	65	13	See, I come into thy house with burnt-offerings, to pay thee all the vows
 Psalms	Ps	21	65	14	these lips have framed, this mouth has uttered, when trouble came upon me.
 Psalms	Ps	21	65	15	Fat burnt-offerings of sheep shall be thine, and the smoke of ram’s flesh; bullocks and goats shall be thy sacrifice.
 Psalms	Ps	21	65	16	Come and give ear, all you who worship God, while I tell of the great mercies he has shewn me;
 Psalms	Ps	21	65	17	how this voice of mine cried out to him, this tongue did him honour.
 Psalms	Ps	21	65	18	Would God listen to me, if my heart were set on wrong?
 Psalms	Ps	21	65	19	And God has listened to me; given heed to my cry for succour.
 Psalms	Ps	21	65	20	Blessed be God, who does not reject my prayer, does not withhold his mercy from me.
 Psalms	Ps	21	66	1	(To the choir-master. For stringed instruments. A psalm. A song.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	66	2	May God be merciful to us, and bless us; may he grant us the favour of his smile.
 Psalms	Ps	21	66	3	Make known thy will, O God, wide as earth; make known among all nations thy saving power.
 Psalms	Ps	21	66	4	Honour to thee, O God, from the nations, honour from all the nations!
 Psalms	Ps	21	66	5	The Gentiles, too, may rejoice and be glad; a whole world abides thy judgement, and the Gentiles, too, obey on earth thy sovereignty.
 Psalms	Ps	21	66	6	Honour to thee, O God, from the nations, honour from all the nations!
 Psalms	Ps	21	66	7	The land has yielded its harvest; such bounty God, our own God, affords.
 Psalms	Ps	21	66	8	God grant us ever his blessing, and may earth, far and wide, do him reverence.
 Psalms	Ps	21	67	1	(To the choir-master. Of David. A psalm. A song.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	67	2	Let God bestir himself, needs must his foes be scattered, their malice take flight before his coming.
 Psalms	Ps	21	67	3	Vanish the wicked at God’s presence as the smoke vanishes, as wax melts at the fire,
 Psalms	Ps	21	67	4	while the just keep holiday and rejoice at the sight of him, glad and content.
 Psalms	Ps	21	67	5	Sing, then, in God’s honour, praise his name with a psalm; a royal progress through the wilderness for the God whose name tells of omnipotence! Triumph in his presence;
 Psalms	Ps	21	67	6	he is a father to the orphan, and gives the widow redress, this God who dwells apart in holiness.
 Psalms	Ps	21	67	7	This is the God who makes a home for the outcast, restores the captives to a land of plenty, leaves none but the rebels to find their abode in the wilderness.
 Psalms	Ps	21	67	8	O God, when thou didst go forth at the head of thy people, on that royal progress of thine through the desert,
 Psalms	Ps	21	67	9	how the earth trembled, how the sky broke at God’s coming, how even Sinai shook, when the God of Israel came!
 Psalms	Ps	21	67	10	And on this thy own land, O God, thou sendest rain abundantly; all parched it lies, and thou dost bring it relief.
 Psalms	Ps	21	67	11	Pasture-land of thy own flock; and shouldst thou not make bounteous provision here, O God, for thy pensioners?
 Psalms	Ps	21	67	12	Word has come from the Lord, good news borne on a multitude of lips:
 Psalms	Ps	21	67	13	Routed their kings, routed the armies; they have left their spoils for housewives to carry away;
 Psalms	Ps	21	67	14	never shone silver so bright on a dove’s feathers, never gold so fair on a dove’s wings; and you, all the while, resting quiet among the sheep-folds!
 Psalms	Ps	21	67	15	White fell the snows on Salmon, when the Almighty put kings to rout.
 Psalms	Ps	21	67	16	Basan’s hills are high, Basan’s hills are rugged;
 Psalms	Ps	21	67	17	must you turn your eyes, rugged hills, towards God’s mountain, and envy what you see? The mountain where God loves and will ever love to dwell.
 Psalms	Ps	21	67	18	See where God comes, with chariots innumerable for his escort; thousands upon thousands; comes from Sinai to this his sanctuary.
 Psalms	Ps	21	67	19	Thou dost mount up on high, thou dost capture thy spoil, and men must be thy tribute, will they or no, yonder heathen must have the Lord God for their neighbour.
 Psalms	Ps	21	67	20	Blessed be the Lord now and ever, the God who bears our burdens, and wins us the victory.
 Psalms	Ps	21	67	21	Our God is a God of deliverance; the Lord is our Master, that saves men from peril of death.
 Psalms	Ps	21	67	22	God will smite the heads of his enemies, smite the proud locks of the men who live at ease in their wickedness.
 Psalms	Ps	21	67	23	I will restore my people, the Lord says; I will restore them to their land, from Basan, from the shore of the high seas.
 Psalms	Ps	21	67	24	Soon the blood of thy enemies will stain thy feet, never a jackal that follows thee but shall lick its prey.
 Psalms	Ps	21	67	25	Thou comest, O God, a mark for all eyes; he comes, my God and my king, to visit his sanctuary.
 Psalms	Ps	21	67	26	Before him go the singers, and the minstrels follow, while the maids play on their tambours between:
 Psalms	Ps	21	67	27	Give praise to the Lord God in this solemn assembly, sons of Israel!
 Psalms	Ps	21	67	28	Here is Benjamin, youngest of the tribes, that marches in the van; here are the chieftains of Juda with their companies, chieftains, too, from Zabulon, chieftains from Nephtali.
 Psalms	Ps	21	67	29	Shew thy power, O God, shew thy Divine power, perfect thy own achievement for us;
 Psalms	Ps	21	67	30	to honour thy temple at Jerusalem, kings shall bring gifts before thee.
 Psalms	Ps	21	67	31	Tame the wild beasts of the marshes, fierce bulls that lord it over the peaceful herd of nations; down fall they, bringing silver pieces for their ransom. Scatter the nations that delight in war,
 Psalms	Ps	21	67	32	till Egypt sends hither her princes, till Ethiopia makes her peace with God.
 Psalms	Ps	21	67	33	Kingdoms of the earth, raise your voices in God’s honour, sing a psalm to the Lord; a psalm to God,
 Psalms	Ps	21	67	34	who mounts on the heavens, the immemorial heavens, and utters his word in a voice of thunder.
 Psalms	Ps	21	67	35	Pay honour to God, the God whose splendour rests over Israel, who holds dominion high among the clouds.
 Psalms	Ps	21	67	36	Awe dwells about him in his holy place! The God of Israel gives his people strength and courage; blessed be God!
 Psalms	Ps	21	68	1	(To the choir-master. Melody: The Lilies. Of David.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	68	2	O God, save me; see how the waters close about me, shoulder-high!
 Psalms	Ps	21	68	3	I am like one who sticks fast in deep mire, with no ground under his feet, one who has ventured out into mid-ocean, to be drowned by the storm.
 Psalms	Ps	21	68	4	Hoarse my throat with crying wearily for help; my eyes ache with looking up for mercy to my God.
 Psalms	Ps	21	68	5	Countless as the hairs on my head are my wanton enemies, I am no match for the oppressors that wrong me. Should I make amends to them, I, that never robbed them?
 Psalms	Ps	21	68	6	O God, thou knowest my rash doings, no fault of mine is hidden from thy sight.
 Psalms	Ps	21	68	7	Master, Lord of hosts, shall ill fortune of mine bring shame to those who trust in thee, make men repent of looking for aid to thee, the God of Israel?
 Psalms	Ps	21	68	8	It is for thy sake that I have met with reproach, that I have so often blushed with confusion,
 Psalms	Ps	21	68	9	an outcast among my own brethren, a stranger to my own mother’s children.
 Psalms	Ps	21	68	10	Was it not jealousy for the honour of thy house that consumed me; was it not uttered against thee, the reproach I bore?
 Psalms	Ps	21	68	11	What more could I do? I humbled myself before them by fasting; and that, too, was matter for finding fault;
 Psalms	Ps	21	68	12	I dressed in sackcloth, and they made a by-word of me.
 Psalms	Ps	21	68	13	Idlers in the market-place taunt me; the drunkards make a song of me over their wine.
 Psalms	Ps	21	68	14	To thee, Lord, I make my prayer; never man more needed thy good will. Listen to me, O God, full of mercy as thou art, faithful as thou art to thy promise of aid.
 Psalms	Ps	21	68	15	Save me from sinking in the mire, rescue me from my enemies, from the deep waters that surround me;
 Psalms	Ps	21	68	16	let me not sink under the flood, swallowed up in its depths, and the well’s mouth close above me.
 Psalms	Ps	21	68	17	Listen to me, Lord, of thy gracious mercy, look down upon me in the abundance of thy pity;
 Psalms	Ps	21	68	18	do not turn thy face away from thy servant in this time of trouble, give a speedy answer to my prayer.
 Psalms	Ps	21	68	19	Draw near in my distress, and grant deliverance; relieve me, so hard pressed by my enemies.
 Psalms	Ps	21	68	20	Lord, thou knowest how they reproach me, how I blush with shame;
 Psalms	Ps	21	68	21	thou seest how many are my persecutors. Heart-broken with that shame, I pine away, looking round for pity, where pity is none, for comfort, where there is no comfort to be found.
 Psalms	Ps	21	68	22	They gave me gall to eat, and when I was thirsty they gave me vinegar to drink.
 Psalms	Ps	21	68	23	Let their feast be turned into a trap, a net to catch them and theirs,
 Psalms	Ps	21	68	24	ever the blind eye be theirs, ever the halting loin.
 Psalms	Ps	21	68	25	Pour out thy anger upon them, let them be overtaken by the tide of thy vengeance;
 Psalms	Ps	21	68	26	let their dwelling-place be deserted, their tents for ever uninhabited.
 Psalms	Ps	21	68	27	Who is it they persecute? A man already afflicted by thee; hard was my hurt to bear, and these have added to it.
 Psalms	Ps	21	68	28	Do thou add guilt to guilt in their reckoning; let them never claim thy acquittal;
 Psalms	Ps	21	68	29	let their names be blotted out from the record of the living, and never be written among the just.
 Psalms	Ps	21	68	30	See how friendless I am, and how distressed! Let thy help, O God, sustain me.
 Psalms	Ps	21	68	31	I will sing in praise of God’s name, herald it gratefully;
 Psalms	Ps	21	68	32	a more acceptable sacrifice, this, to the Lord than any young bullock, for all its promise of horn and hoof.
 Psalms	Ps	21	68	33	Here is a sight to make the afflicted rejoice; to cheer men’s spirits in their quest for God.
 Psalms	Ps	21	68	34	The Lord listens to the prayer of the destitute; he does not forget his servants in their chains.
 Psalms	Ps	21	68	35	To him be praise from sky, earth and sea, and from all the creatures that move about them.
 Psalms	Ps	21	68	36	God will grant deliverance to Sion; the cities of Juda will rise from their ruins, inhabited now and held firmly in possession,
 Psalms	Ps	21	68	37	an inheritance for the race that serves him, a home for all true lovers of his name.
 Psalms	Ps	21	69	1	(To the choir-master. Of David. A commemoration. )
 Psalms	Ps	21	69	2	Deign, O God, to set me free; Lord, make haste to help me.
 Psalms	Ps	21	69	3	Disappoint them, put them to the blush, the enemies who plot against my life!
 Psalms	Ps	21	69	4	Baffled let them go their way, that rejoice at my ill fortune; slink away in confusion, that crowed over me so loud!
 Psalms	Ps	21	69	5	Triumphant joy be theirs, who long for thee; Praise to the Lord, be ever their song, who look eagerly now for thy succour.
 Psalms	Ps	21	69	6	Thou seest me helpless and destitute; my God, help me. Thou art my champion and my deliverer; Lord, do not delay thy coming.
 Psalms	Ps	21	70	1	To thee, O God, I turn for succour; may I never be disappointed!
 Psalms	Ps	21	70	2	Rescue and deliver me, faithful as thou art; listen to my cry for succour.
 Psalms	Ps	21	70	3	Let me find in thee a rock-fastness, a citadel of defence; I have no other stronghold, no other refuge, but thee.
 Psalms	Ps	21	70	4	Rescue me, O God, from the power of the wicked, from the grasp of lawlessness and oppression;
 Psalms	Ps	21	70	5	thou, my God and Master, the hope and confidence of my youth.
 Psalms	Ps	21	70	6	Thou hast upheld me from birth, thou hast guarded me ever since I left my mother’s womb; ever in thee was my trust.
 Psalms	Ps	21	70	7	Men stare at me now as a strange portent, so signal the protection thou hast given me.
 Psalms	Ps	21	70	8	And evermore praise was on my lips, my constant theme thy glory.
 Psalms	Ps	21	70	9	Do not cast me off now, in my old age; slowly my strength ebbs, do not thou forsake me.
 Psalms	Ps	21	70	10	A mark thou seest me for envious eyes and tongues; they conspire together,
 Psalms	Ps	21	70	11	and whisper, God has abandoned him; now is the time to overtake and seize him; no one can bring him rescue now.
 Psalms	Ps	21	70	12	O God, do not keep thy distance from me; hasten, my God, to aid me.
 Psalms	Ps	21	70	13	Defeat their plot against my life, and bring it to nothing; cover my ill-wishers with confusion and shame.
 Psalms	Ps	21	70	14	Still will I hope on, praising thee ever more and more.
 Psalms	Ps	21	70	15	Day in, day out, these lips shall tell of thy faithfulness, of thy saving power, and find no end to them;
 Psalms	Ps	21	70	16	thy divine wonders, thy matchless justice, Lord, they shall proclaim.
 Psalms	Ps	21	70	17	It is thou, O God, that hast inspired me ever since the days of my youth, and still I am found telling the tale of thy wonders.
 Psalms	Ps	21	70	18	O God, do not fail me, now when I am old and grey-headed, till I have made known the proofs of thy power to this, to all the generations that will follow;
 Psalms	Ps	21	70	19	that faithfulness of thine which reaches up, O God, to the heavens, so signally made manifest. There is none like thee, O God, none like thee.
 Psalms	Ps	21	70	20	Ah, how often thou hast burdened me with bitter trouble! And still thou wouldst relent, and give me back life, and bring me up again from the very depths of the earth.
 Psalms	Ps	21	70	21	Lift my head high; turn back, and comfort me.
 Psalms	Ps	21	70	22	So true to thy word, and shall I not give thee thanks with psalm-music, praise thee on the harp, O God, the Holy One of Israel?
 Psalms	Ps	21	70	23	Gladly these lips will sing of thee, this heart, which owes thee its deliverance.
 Psalms	Ps	21	70	24	Day in, day out, I will repeat the story of thy faithfulness, what shame fell, what confusion, on the men who sought to wrong me.
 Psalms	Ps	21	71	1	(Of Solomon.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	71	2	Grant to the king, O God, thy own skill in judgement; the inheritor of a throne, may he be just, as thou art just; may he give thy people right awards, and to thy poor, redress.
 Psalms	Ps	21	71	3	Such be the harvest his subjects shall reap, peace on every mountain, justice on every hill-side.
 Psalms	Ps	21	71	4	Watch and ward he will keep over the friendless, protect the children of the poor, and crush the oppressor.
 Psalms	Ps	21	71	5	Ageless as sun or moon he shall endure;
 Psalms	Ps	21	71	6	kindly as the rain that drops on the meadow grass, as the showers that water the earth.
 Psalms	Ps	21	71	7	Justice in his days shall thrive, and the blessings of peace; and may those days last till the moon shines no more.
 Psalms	Ps	21	71	8	From sea to sea, from the great river to the ends of earth, his sway shall reach.
 Psalms	Ps	21	71	9	In his presence rebels shall bend the knee, all his enemies will be humbled in the dust;
 Psalms	Ps	21	71	10	gifts shall flow in from the lords of Tharsis and the islanders, tribute from the kings of Arabia and of Saba;
 Psalms	Ps	21	71	11	all kings must needs bring their homage, all nations serve him.
 Psalms	Ps	21	71	12	He will give the poor redress when they cry to him, destitute folk, with none to befriend them;
 Psalms	Ps	21	71	13	in their need and helplessness, they shall have his compassion. Their lives he will take into his keeping,
 Psalms	Ps	21	71	14	set them free from the power of wrong and oppression, dearly avenge their blood.
 Psalms	Ps	21	71	15	Long life shall be his, and gold from Arabia shall be given him; men will pray for him continually, bless his name evermore.
 Psalms	Ps	21	71	16	The land shall have good store of corn, high up the hill-sides, rustling like the woods of Lebanon; shall multiply its citizens like grass on the ground.
 Psalms	Ps	21	71	17	For ever let his name be used in blessing, a name to endure while the sun gives light; in him all the tribes of the earth shall be enriched, all the nations shall extol him.
 Psalms	Ps	21	71	18	Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who does wonderful deeds as none else,
 Psalms	Ps	21	71	19	and blessed for ever be his glorious name; all the earth shall be filled with his glory, Amen, Amen.
 Psalms	Ps	21	72	1	(A psalm. Of Asaph.) What bounty God shews, what divine bounty, to the upright, to the pure of heart!
 Psalms	Ps	21	72	2	Yet I was near losing my foothold, felt the ground sink under my steps,
 Psalms	Ps	21	72	3	such heart-burning had I at seeing the good fortune of sinners that defy his law;
 Psalms	Ps	21	72	4	for them, never a pang; healthy and sleek their bodies shew.
 Psalms	Ps	21	72	5	Not for these to share man’s common lot of trouble; the plagues which afflict human kind still pass them by.
 Psalms	Ps	21	72	6	No wonder if pride clings to them like a necklace, if they flaunt, like fine clothes, their wrong-doing.
 Psalms	Ps	21	72	7	From those pampered hearts what malice proceeds, what vile schemes are hatched!
 Psalms	Ps	21	72	8	Ever jeering, ever talking maliciously, throned on high they preach injustice;
 Psalms	Ps	21	72	9	their clamour reaches heaven, and their false tales win currency on earth.
 Psalms	Ps	21	72	10	Enviously the men of my own race look on, to see them draining life’s cup to the full;
 Psalms	Ps	21	72	11	Can God, they ask, be aware of this? Does the most High know of all that passes?
 Psalms	Ps	21	72	12	Look at these sinners, how they live at peace, how they rise to greatness!
 Psalms	Ps	21	72	13	Why then, thought I, it is to no purpose that I have kept my heart true, and washed my hands clean in pureness of living;
 Psalms	Ps	21	72	14	still, all the while, I am plagued for it, and no morning comes but my scourging is renewed.
 Psalms	Ps	21	72	15	Was I to share their thoughts? Nay, that were to put the whole company of thy children in the wrong.
 Psalms	Ps	21	72	16	I set myself to read the riddle, but it proved a hard search,
 Psalms	Ps	21	72	17	until I betook myself to God’s sanctuary, and considered, there, what becomes of such men at last.
 Psalms	Ps	21	72	18	The truth is, thou art making a slippery path for their feet, ready to plunge them in ruin;
 Psalms	Ps	21	72	19	in a moment they are fallen, in a storm of terrors vanished and gone.
 Psalms	Ps	21	72	20	And thou, Lord, dost rise up and brush aside all their imaginings, as a waking man his dream.
 Psalms	Ps	21	72	21	What if my mind was full of bitterness, what if I was pierced to the heart?
 Psalms	Ps	21	72	22	I was all dumbness, I was all ignorance,
 Psalms	Ps	21	72	23	standing there like a brute beast in thy presence. Yet ever thou art at my side,
 Psalms	Ps	21	72	24	ever holdest me by my right hand. Thine to guide me with thy counsel, thine to welcome me into glory at last.
 Psalms	Ps	21	72	25	What else does heaven hold for me, but thyself? What charm for me has earth, here at thy side?
 Psalms	Ps	21	72	26	What though flesh of mine, heart of mine, should waste away? Still God will be my heart’s stronghold, eternally my inheritance.
 Psalms	Ps	21	72	27	Lost those others may be, who desert thy cause, lost are all those who break their troth with thee;
 Psalms	Ps	21	72	28	I know no other content but clinging to God, putting my trust in the Lord, my Master; within the gates of royal Sion I will be the herald of thy praise.
 Psalms	Ps	21	73	1	(A maskil. Of Asaph.) O God, hast thou altogether abandoned us? Sheep of thy own pasturing, must we feel the fires of thy vengeance?
 Psalms	Ps	21	73	2	Bethink thee of the company thou hast gathered, long ago; of the tribe thou hast chosen to be thy domain; of mount Sion, where thou hast thy dwelling-place.
 Psalms	Ps	21	73	3	Hither turn thy steps, where all is ruin irretrievable; see what havoc thy enemies have wrought in the holy place,
 Psalms	Ps	21	73	4	how their malice has raged in thy very precincts, setting up its emblems
 Psalms	Ps	21	73	5	for a trophy of conquest. Blow after blow, like woodmen in the forest,
 Psalms	Ps	21	73	6	they have plied their axes, brought it down, with pick and mallet, to the ground.
 Psalms	Ps	21	73	7	They have set fire to thy sanctuary, sullied the dwelling-place of thy glory in the dust.
 Psalms	Ps	21	73	8	They think to destroy us like one man, sweep away every shrine of God in the land.
 Psalms	Ps	21	73	9	Our own emblems are nowhere to be seen; there are no prophets left now, none can tell how long we must endure.
 Psalms	Ps	21	73	10	O God, shall our enemy taunt us everlastingly, shall blasphemy still defy thy name?
 Psalms	Ps	21	73	11	Why dost thou withhold thy hand? That right hand of thine, must it always lie idle in thy bosom?
 Psalms	Ps	21	73	12	Mine is a King who reigned before time was; here on earth he was the means to bring deliverance.
 Psalms	Ps	21	73	13	What power but thine could sunder the shifting sea, crush the power of the monster beneath its waters;
 Psalms	Ps	21	73	14	shatter Leviathan’s power, and give him up as prey to the sea-beasts?
 Psalms	Ps	21	73	15	Thou didst open up fountains and streams of water; thou, too, madest the swollen rivers run dry.
 Psalms	Ps	21	73	16	Thine is the day, thine the night; moon and sun are of thy appointment;
 Psalms	Ps	21	73	17	thou hast fixed all the bounds of earth, madest the summer, madest the cool of the year.
 Psalms	Ps	21	73	18	Wilt thou take no heed, when thy enemies taunt thee, and in their recklessness set the divine name at defiance?
 Psalms	Ps	21	73	19	Must the dove be the vulture’s prey? Souls unbefriended, but for thee, wilt thou leave us quite forgotten?
 Psalms	Ps	21	73	20	Bethink thee of thy covenant; everywhere oppression lurks, or walks openly through the fields.
 Psalms	Ps	21	73	21	Do not let the humble go away disappointed; teach the poor and the helpless to exalt thy name.
 Psalms	Ps	21	73	22	Bestir thyself, O God, to vindicate thy own cause; do not forget the taunts which reckless men hurl at thee, day after day;
 Psalms	Ps	21	73	23	do not overlook them, the triumphant shouts of thy enemies, the ever growing clamour that here defies thee.
 Psalms	Ps	21	74	1	(To the choir-master. Melody: Do not destroy. A psalm. Of Asaph. A song.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	74	2	We praise thee, O God, and, praising thee, call upon thy name, tell the story of thy wondrous deeds.
 Psalms	Ps	21	74	3	When the time is ripe, I will judge strictly;
 Psalms	Ps	21	74	4	earth rocks to its fall, and all that dwell on it; I alone support its fabric.
 Psalms	Ps	21	74	5	Rebel no more, I cry to the rebels, Abate your pride, to the transgressors;
 Psalms	Ps	21	74	6	would they match themselves against the most High, hurl defiance at God?
 Psalms	Ps	21	74	7	Look east, look west, it will avail you nothing; no help comes from the desert, or the high hills;
 Psalms	Ps	21	74	8	it is God who rules all, humbling one man and exalting another.
 Psalms	Ps	21	74	9	In the Lord’s hand foams a full cup of spiced wine; he holds it to men’s lips, that must empty it to the dregs, sinners everywhere must drink them.
 Psalms	Ps	21	74	10	Evermore will I triumph, singing praises to the God of Jacob;
 Psalms	Ps	21	74	11	mine to crush the pride of every sinner, and raise high the courage of the just.
 Psalms	Ps	21	75	1	(To the choir-master. For stringed instruments. A psalm. Of Asaph. A song.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	75	2	It is in Juda God makes himself known, in Israel that his name is extolled;
 Psalms	Ps	21	75	3	there, in Salem, he makes his abode, dwells in Sion.
 Psalms	Ps	21	75	4	It was there he broke the archers’ volleys, broke shield, and sword, and battle array.
 Psalms	Ps	21	75	5	How princely was thy dawning over the everlasting hills!
 Psalms	Ps	21	75	6	Brave hearts, foiled of their purpose, they slept their long sleep; lay there, no hand stirring, the warriors in their pride;
 Psalms	Ps	21	75	7	lay there, chariots and horsemen, overthrown, God of Jacob, at thy word of rebuke.
 Psalms	Ps	21	75	8	Who can resist thee, so terrible, so sudden in thy anger?
 Psalms	Ps	21	75	9	Loud rings in heaven the doom thou utterest; earth trembles and is silent
 Psalms	Ps	21	75	10	when God rouses himself to execute his sentence, giving redress to those who are scorned on earth.
 Psalms	Ps	21	75	11	Its madness tamed, Edom shall do thee honour; to thee the spared remnant of Emath shall keep holiday.
 Psalms	Ps	21	75	12	To the Lord your God let your vows be made and paid; bring gifts from every side to God, the terrible;
 Psalms	Ps	21	75	13	he it is that cows the hearts of princes, feared among all the kings of the earth.
 Psalms	Ps	21	76	1	(To the choir-master. Melody: Idithun. Of Asaph. A psalm.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	76	2	A cry to my God in loud appeal, a cry to my God, to win his hearing!
 Psalms	Ps	21	76	3	To the Lord I look when distress comes upon me; in his presence I lift up my hands amid the darkness, never wearied; grief like mine there is no comforting.
 Psalms	Ps	21	76	4	Of God I bethink me, yet sighing still; of God I muse, yet ever faint-hearted.
 Psalms	Ps	21	76	5	Sleepless that thought holds me, yet bewildered and dumb.
 Psalms	Ps	21	76	6	I reflect upon days long past, the immemorial years possess my mind;
 Psalms	Ps	21	76	7	deep musings occupy my thoughts at midnight, never will my mind be at rest.
 Psalms	Ps	21	76	8	Can it be that God will always leave us forsaken, will never shew us again his old kindness?
 Psalms	Ps	21	76	9	Can his favour desert us altogether, his promise be set aside eternally?
 Psalms	Ps	21	76	10	Can God forget to be gracious, can anger move him to withhold his mercy?
 Psalms	Ps	21	76	11	For me, I tell myself, this sorrow was reserved; the most High has altered the fashion of his dealings with men.
 Psalms	Ps	21	76	12	To remember all the Lord has done, to recall those wonderful acts of thine, long ago!
 Psalms	Ps	21	76	13	To ponder over all thy doings, pass thy wonders in review!
 Psalms	Ps	21	76	14	Thy path, O God, is hedged about with holiness; what god is great as our God is great?
 Psalms	Ps	21	76	15	Thy own wonderful acts acclaim thy Deity; even to the Gentiles thou wouldst make thy power known,
 Psalms	Ps	21	76	16	by forcing them to set free thy people, the sons of Jacob and of Joseph.
 Psalms	Ps	21	76	17	The waters saw thee, O God, the waters trembled at the sight of thee, moved to their inmost depths;
 Psalms	Ps	21	76	18	how the waves roared, how the clouds volleyed rain, what echoes from their midst! To and fro thy arrows passed,
 Psalms	Ps	21	76	19	thy crackling thunders rolled, till all the world shone with thy lightning, and the troubled earth shook.
 Psalms	Ps	21	76	20	Thy way led through the sea, the deep tide made a road for thee, and none may read the traces of thy passage,
 Psalms	Ps	21	76	21	where thou, with Moses and Aaron for thy shepherds, didst bring thy people out on their journey.
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	1	(A maskil. Of Asaph.) Listen, my people, to this testament of mine, do not turn a deaf ear to the words I utter;
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	2	I speak to you with mysteries for my theme, read the riddles of long ago.
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	3	It is a story often heard, well known among us; have not our fathers told it to us?
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	4	And shall we keep it back from their children, from the generation which follows? Speak we of God’s praise, of his great power, of the wonderful deeds he did.
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	5	He gave Jacob a rule to live by, framed for Israel a law, commanding our fathers to hand on the message,
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	6	so that a new generation might learn it; sons would be born to take their place, and teach it to their own sons after them.
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	7	They were to put their trust in God, ever remembering his divine dealings with them, ever loyal to his commands;
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	8	they were not to be like their fathers, a stubborn and defiant breed, a generation of false aims, of a spirit that broke faith with God.
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	9	So it was that the sons of Ephraim, bow in hand, were routed in the day of battle.
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	10	They were false to God’s covenant, refused to follow his law,
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	11	as if they had forgotten all his mercies, all those wonderful deeds of his they had witnessed.
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	12	Had not their fathers seen wonders enough in Egypt, on the plains of Tanis,
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	13	when he parted the sea to let them pass through it, making its waters stand firm as a mound of earth;
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	14	when he led them with a cloud by day, with glowing fire all through the night?
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	15	He pierced the rock, too, in the desert, and slaked their thirst as if from some deep pool,
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	16	bidding the very stones yield water, till fountains gushed from them, abundant as rivers.
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	17	And still they went on offending him, there in the wilderness, rebelling against the most High,
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	18	challenging God in their thoughts to give them the food they craved for.
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	19	Defiantly they asked, Can God spread a table for us in the wilderness?
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	20	True, he smote the rock, and made water flow from it, till the stream ran in flood, but can he give bread too, and provide meat for his people?
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	21	All this the Lord heard, and his indignation blazed out; its mounting fires Jacob had fed, its fury must break on Israel.
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	22	What, had they no faith in God, no trust in his power to save?
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	23	He laid his command upon the clouds above them, threw open the doors of heaven,
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	24	and rained down manna for them to eat. The bread of heaven was his gift to them;
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	25	man should eat the food of angels, and so their want should be supplied abundantly.
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	26	Next, he summoned his east wind from the sky: it was his power brought the southern gale,
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	27	raining down meat on them thick as dust, birds on the wing, plentiful as the sea-sand.
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	28	Into their very camp it fell, close about their tents;
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	29	and they ate, and took their fill. All they asked, he granted them;
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	30	and now, their craving still unsatisfied, while the food was yet in their mouths,
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	31	God’s anger against them reached its height, and slew their lordliest, brought them low, all the flower of Israel.
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	32	Yet, with all this, they continued to offend him; all his wonderful deeds left them faithless still.
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	33	And ever he took away their lives untimely, hurried their days to an end.
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	34	When he threatened them with death, they would search after him, feel their need of God once more;
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	35	they would remind themselves that it was God who had protected them, his almighty power that had delivered them.
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	36	But still they were lying lips, they were false tongues that spoke to him;
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	37	their hearts were not true to him, no loyalty bound them to his covenant.
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	38	Yet, such is his mercy, he would still pardon their faults, and spare them from destruction; again and again he curbed his indignation, to his vengeance would not give place.
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	39	He would not forget that they were flesh and blood, no better than a breath of wind, that passes by and never returns.
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	40	How often the desert saw them in revolt against him, how often, in those solitudes, they defied his anger!
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	41	Always new challenges to God’s power, new rebellions against the Holy One of Israel.
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	42	Had they forgotten all he did for them, that day when he set them free from the power of their oppressor,
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	43	all those miracles among the men of Egypt, those portents in the plain of Tanis,
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	44	when he turned all their streams, all their channels into blood, so that they could not drink?
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	45	He sent out flies, to their ruin, frogs to bring devastation on them,
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	46	gave all their harvest over to the caterpillar, their tillage to the locust,
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	47	sent hail on their vineyards, frost on their mulberry-trees,
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	48	let the hail have its way with their cattle, the lightning with their flocks.
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	49	He let his anger loose on them in all its vehemence; what rage, what fury, what havoc, as the angels of destruction thronged about them!
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	50	So, the way made ready for his vengeance, he took toll of their lives, doomed even their cattle to the pestilence;
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	51	on every first-born creature in Egypt, on the first-fruits of increase in all the dwellings of Cham, his stroke fell.
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	52	Then, like a shepherd, he set his own people on their way, led them, his own flock, through the wilderness;
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	53	guided them in safety, free from all alarm, while the sea closed over their enemy.
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	54	So he brought them to that holy land of his, the mountain slopes he took, with his own right hand for title; so he drove out the heathen at their onset, parcelled out the land to them by lot, to each his own inheritance,
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	55	bidding the tribes of Israel dwell where the heathen had dwelt before them.
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	56	These were the men who defied the most high God, and rebelled against him; would not observe his decrees,
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	57	but turned away and broke faith with him as their fathers had done, like a bow that plays the archer false;
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	58	made mountain shrines, to court his anger, carved images, to awake his jealousy!
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	59	The Lord heard the bruit of it, and burned with anger, cast Israel away in bitter scorn;
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	60	he forsook his tabernacle in Silo, that tabernacle where once he dwelt among men.
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	61	Plunder, now, in the enemy’s hands, the ark that is shrine of his strength and majesty;
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	62	he would leave his people at the mercy of the sword, disdain his own inheritance.
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	63	Their young men fed the flames, and the maidens must go unwed;
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	64	their priests fell by the sword, and never a widow left to mourn for them.
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	65	Then suddenly, like a man that wakes up from sleep, like some warrior that lay, till now, bemused with wine, the Lord roused himself;
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	66	he smote his enemies as they turned to flee, branded them for ever with shame.
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	67	But he refused, now, to make his dwelling with Joseph, it was not the tribe of Ephraim he would choose;
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	68	he chose the tribe of Juda, and the hill of Sion, there to bestow his love.
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	69	And there he built his sanctuary, immovable as heaven or earth, his own unchanging handiwork.
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	70	He chose David, too, for his servant; took him away from herding the sheep; bade him leave off following the ewes that were in milk,
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	71	and be the shepherd of Jacob’s sons, his own people, of Israel, his own domain.
 Psalms	Ps	21	77	72	His was the loyal heart that should tend them, his the skilful hand that should be their guide.
 Psalms	Ps	21	78	1	(A psalm. Of Asaph.) O God, the heathen have broken into thy inheritance; they have profaned the temple, thy sanctuary, and left Jerusalem in ruins.
 Psalms	Ps	21	78	2	They have thrown the corpses of thy servants to feed all the birds of heaven; wild beasts prey on the carrion of the just;
 Psalms	Ps	21	78	3	blood has flowed like water on every side of Jerusalem, and there was none to bury the dead.
 Psalms	Ps	21	78	4	What a triumph was this for the nations that dwell around us; how have our neighbours mocked and derided us!
 Psalms	Ps	21	78	5	Lord, must we always taste thy vengeance, must thy jealous anger still burn unquenched?
 Psalms	Ps	21	78	6	Pour out this indignation of thine upon the nations that do not acknowledge thee, on the kingdoms that never invoke thy name;
 Psalms	Ps	21	78	7	see how they have made Jacob their prey, and left his dwelling-place in ruins!
 Psalms	Ps	21	78	8	Forget the long record of our sins, and haste in mercy to our side; never was need so sore as this.
 Psalms	Ps	21	78	9	O God, our Saviour, help us; deliver us, Lord, for the glory of thy name, pardon our sins for the sake of thy own renown!
 Psalms	Ps	21	78	10	Shall the heathen ask, What has become of their God? Shall our eyes never witness thy vengeance upon the Gentiles, that open vengeance thou wilt take for thy servants’ blood?
 Psalms	Ps	21	78	11	Could but the groaning of the captive reach thy presence! Thy arm has not lost its strength; from our bonds deliver us, a race doomed to die.
 Psalms	Ps	21	78	12	Pour out seven-fold retribution into the laps of our neighbours, for all the insults, Lord, which they have put upon thee;
 Psalms	Ps	21	78	13	and we, thy own people, sheep of thy pasturing, will give thee thanks for ever, echo, from one generation to the next, the story of thy renown.
 Psalms	Ps	21	79	1	(To the choir-master. Melody: The Lily of the Law. Of Asaph. A psalm.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	79	2	Give audience, thou that art the guide of Israel, that leadest Joseph with a shepherd’s care. Thou who art enthroned above the Cherubim,
 Psalms	Ps	21	79	3	reveal thyself to Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasses; exert thy sovereign strength, and come to our aid.
 Psalms	Ps	21	79	4	O God, restore us to our own; smile upon us, and we shall find deliverance.
 Psalms	Ps	21	79	5	Lord God of hosts, wilt thou always turn away in anger from thy servants’ prayer;
 Psalms	Ps	21	79	6	daily wilt thou allot us, for food, for drink, only the full measure of our tears?
 Psalms	Ps	21	79	7	Thou hast made us a coveted prize to our neighbours, enemies mock at our ill fortune!
 Psalms	Ps	21	79	8	O God of hosts, restore us to our own; smile upon us, and we shall find deliverance.
 Psalms	Ps	21	79	9	Long ago, thou didst bring a vine out of Egypt, rooting out the heathen to plant it here;
 Psalms	Ps	21	79	10	thou didst prepare the way for its spreading, and it took root where thou hadst planted it, filled the whole land.
 Psalms	Ps	21	79	11	How it overshadowed the hills, how the cedars, divinely tall, were overtopped by its branches!
 Psalms	Ps	21	79	12	It spread out its tendrils to the sea, its shoots as far as the great river.
 Psalms	Ps	21	79	13	Why is it that in these days thou hast levelled its wall, for every passer-by to rob it of its fruit?
 Psalms	Ps	21	79	14	See how the wild boar ravages it, how it gives pasture to every beast that roams!
 Psalms	Ps	21	79	15	God of hosts, relent, look down from heaven, look to this vine, that needs thy care.
 Psalms	Ps	21	79	16	Revive the stock which thy own hand has planted, branches that by thee throve, and throve for thee.
 Psalms	Ps	21	79	17	Death be in thy frown for the men that have cut it down and burned it.
 Psalms	Ps	21	79	18	Thy chosen friends, a race by thee thriving, and thriving for thee, O let thy hand protect them still!
 Psalms	Ps	21	79	19	Henceforth we will never forsake thee; grant us life, and we will live only to invoke thy name.
 Psalms	Ps	21	79	20	Lord God of hosts, restore us to our own; smile upon us, and we shall find deliverance.
 Psalms	Ps	21	80	1	(To the choir-master. Melody: The Winepresses. Of Asaph.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	80	2	Rejoice we all in honour of the God who aids us; cry out with gladness to the God of Jacob.
 Psalms	Ps	21	80	3	Ring psaltery, and tambour, beat the harp, sweetly sounding, and the zither!
 Psalms	Ps	21	80	4	A new month, and a full moon; blow the trumpet loud, to grace our festival!
 Psalms	Ps	21	80	5	Duty demands it of Israel; the God of Jacob has decreed it,
 Psalms	Ps	21	80	6	made it a law for Joseph, since the day he left Egypt, and gained the further shore. In a tongue unknown the message came to me;
 Psalms	Ps	21	80	7	I have eased his shoulder of the burden, freed his hands from the slavery of the hod!
 Psalms	Ps	21	80	8	Such deliverance I brought, when thou didst cry out to me in thy misery; gave thee audience under a canopy of cloud, and tested thee at the Waters of Rebellion.
 Psalms	Ps	21	80	9	Give heed, my people, to this warning of mine; Israel, wouldst thou but listen!
 Psalms	Ps	21	80	10	Then let no strange worship find a home with thee; never let thy knees be bowed to an alien God;
 Psalms	Ps	21	80	11	am not I the Lord thy God, I, who rescued thee from Egypt? Open thy mouth wide, and thou shalt have thy fill.
 Psalms	Ps	21	80	12	So I spoke, but my people would not listen; Israel went on unheeding,
 Psalms	Ps	21	80	13	till I was fain to give their hard hearts free play, let them follow their own devices.
 Psalms	Ps	21	80	14	Ah, if my people did but listen to me! Did Israel but take me for their guide!
 Psalms	Ps	21	80	15	How lightly, then, would I bring their enemies low, smite down their persecutors!
 Psalms	Ps	21	80	16	The very men that were once the Lord’s enemies would be cringing at his feet; such, for ever, should be their destiny;
 Psalms	Ps	21	80	17	Israel should have full ears of wheat to nourish them, and honey dripping from the rock to their heart’s content.
 Psalms	Ps	21	81	1	(A psalm. Of Asaph.) See, where he stands, the Ruler of all, among the rulers assembled, comes for-ward to pronounce judgement on the rulers themselves!
 Psalms	Ps	21	81	2	Will you never cease perverting justice, espousing the cause of the wicked?
 Psalms	Ps	21	81	3	Come, give redress to the poor and the friendless, do right to the afflicted and the destitute;
 Psalms	Ps	21	81	4	to you need and poverty look for deliverance, rescue them from the hand of the wickedness.
 Psalms	Ps	21	81	5	But no, ignorant and unperceiving, they grope their way in darkness; see how unstable are the props of earth!
 Psalms	Ps	21	81	6	Gods you are, I myself have declared it; favoured children, every one of you, of the most High;
 Psalms	Ps	21	81	7	yet the doom of mortals awaits you, you shall fall with the fall of human princes.
 Psalms	Ps	21	81	8	Bestir thyself, Lord, bring the world to judgement; all the nations are thy own domain.
 Psalms	Ps	21	82	1	(A song. A psalm. Of Asaph.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	82	2	Be silent, Lord, no longer. O God, do not keep still now, do not hold back now!
 Psalms	Ps	21	82	3	What turmoil among thy enemies; how their malice lifts its head!
 Psalms	Ps	21	82	4	Busily they plot against thy people, compass the ruin of the men thou hast in thy keeping.
 Psalms	Ps	21	82	5	Come, they whisper, let us put an end to their sovereignty, so that the very name of Israel will be remembered no more.
 Psalms	Ps	21	82	6	All are agreed, all alike are ranged in confederacy against thee;
 Psalms	Ps	21	82	7	here Edom lies encamped, there Ismael; Moab, too, and the Agarenes;
 Psalms	Ps	21	82	8	Gebal, Ammon and Amelec, the Philistines, and the folk that dwell at Tyre.
 Psalms	Ps	21	82	9	Even Assyria has made common cause with them, lends her aid to these children of Lot.
 Psalms	Ps	21	82	10	Do to these what thou didst to Madian, to Sisara and Jabin at the brook of Cison;
 Psalms	Ps	21	82	11	the men who died at Endor, rotted there like dung on the ground.
 Psalms	Ps	21	82	12	May their princes fare as Oreb fared, and Zeb; may the doom of Zebee and Salmana be the doom of all their chieftains.
 Psalms	Ps	21	82	13	And did they think to make God’s chosen portion their spoil?
 Psalms	Ps	21	82	14	My God, send them whirling this way and that, like leaves, like straws before the wind.
 Psalms	Ps	21	82	15	See how the fire burns up the forest, how its flames scorch the mountain-side!
 Psalms	Ps	21	82	16	So let the fury of thy onset rout them, thy fury dismay them.
 Psalms	Ps	21	82	17	Let their cheeks blush crimson with shame, Lord, till they come to sue for thy favour;
 Psalms	Ps	21	82	18	confusion and dismay be theirs for ever, for ever let them be abashed and brought to nothing,
 Psalms	Ps	21	82	19	till they, too, know the meaning of the divine name, acknowledge thee as the most high God, the Overlord of earth.
 Psalms	Ps	21	83	1	(To the choir-master. Melody: The Winepresses. Of the sons of Core. A psalm.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	83	2	Lord of hosts, how I love thy dwelling-place!
 Psalms	Ps	21	83	3	For the courts of the Lord’s house, my soul faints with longing. The living God! at his name my heart, my whole being thrills with joy.
 Psalms	Ps	21	83	4	Where else should the sparrow find a home, the swallow a nest for her brood, but at thy altar, Lord of hosts, my king and my God?
 Psalms	Ps	21	83	5	How blessed, Lord, are those who dwell in thy house! They will be ever praising thee.
 Psalms	Ps	21	83	6	How blessed is the man who finds his strength in thee! Where there are hearts set on pilgrimage,
 Psalms	Ps	21	83	7	the parched ravine turns into a water-course at their coming, new-clad by the bounty of returning rain.
 Psalms	Ps	21	83	8	So, at each stage refreshed, they will reach Sion, and have sight there of the God who is above all gods.
 Psalms	Ps	21	83	9	Lord of hosts, listen to my prayer; God of Israel, grant me audience!
 Psalms	Ps	21	83	10	God, ever our protector, do not disregard us now; look favourably upon him whom thou hast anointed!
 Psalms	Ps	21	83	11	Willingly would I give a thousand of my days for one spent in thy courts! Willingly reach but the threshold of my God’s house, so I might dwell no more in the abode of sinners!
 Psalms	Ps	21	83	12	Sun to enlighten, shield to protect us, the Lord God has favour, has honour to bestow.
 Psalms	Ps	21	83	13	To innocent lives he will never refuse his bounty; Lord of hosts, blessed is the man who puts his confidence in thee.
 Psalms	Ps	21	84	1	(To the choir-master. Of the sons of Core. A psalm.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	84	2	What blessings, Lord, thou hast granted to this land of thine, restoring Jacob’s fortunes,
 Psalms	Ps	21	84	3	pardoning thy people’s guilt, burying away the record of their sins,
 Psalms	Ps	21	84	4	all thy anger calmed, thy fierce displeasure forgotten!
 Psalms	Ps	21	84	5	And now, God of our deliverance, do thou restore us; no longer let us see thy frown.
 Psalms	Ps	21	84	6	Wouldst thou always be indignant with us? Must thy resentment smoulder on, age after age?
 Psalms	Ps	21	84	7	Wilt thou never relent, O God, and give fresh life, to rejoice the spirits of thy people?
 Psalms	Ps	21	84	8	Shew us thy mercy, Lord; grant us thy deliverance!
 Psalms	Ps	21	84	9	Let me listen, now, to the voice of the Lord God; it is a message of peace he sends to his people; to his loyal servants, that come back, now, with all their heart to him.
 Psalms	Ps	21	84	10	For us, his worshippers, deliverance is close at hand; in this land of ours, the divine glory is to find a home.
 Psalms	Ps	21	84	11	See, where mercy and faithfulness meet in one; how justice and peace are united in one embrace!
 Psalms	Ps	21	84	12	Faithfulness grows up out of the earth, and from heaven, redress looks down.
 Psalms	Ps	21	84	13	The Lord, now, will grant us his blessing, to make our land yield its harvest;
 Psalms	Ps	21	84	14	justice will go on before him, deliverance follow where his feet tread.
 Psalms	Ps	21	85	1	(A prayer. Of David.) Turn thy ear, Lord, and listen to me in my helplessness and my need.
 Psalms	Ps	21	85	2	Protect a life dedicated to thyself; rescue a servant of thine that puts his trust in thee.
 Psalms	Ps	21	85	3	In thee, my own God; have mercy, O Lord, for mercy I plead continually;
 Psalms	Ps	21	85	4	comfort thy servant’s heart, this heart that aspires, Lord, to thee.
 Psalms	Ps	21	85	5	Who is so kind and forgiving, Lord, as thou art, who so rich in mercy to all who invoke him?
 Psalms	Ps	21	85	6	Give a hearing, then, Lord, to my prayer; listen to my plea
 Psalms	Ps	21	85	7	when I cry out to thee in a time of sore distress, counting on thy audience.
 Psalms	Ps	21	85	8	There is none like thee, Lord, among the gods; none can do as thou doest.
 Psalms	Ps	21	85	9	Lord, all the nations thou hast made must needs come and worship thee, honouring thy name,
 Psalms	Ps	21	85	10	so great thou art, so marvellous in thy doings, thou who alone art God.
 Psalms	Ps	21	85	11	Guide me, Lord, thy own way, thy faithful care my escort; be all my heart’s direction reverence for thy name.
 Psalms	Ps	21	85	12	O Lord my God, with all my heart I will praise thee, eternally hold thy name in honour
 Psalms	Ps	21	85	13	for the greatness of the mercy thou hast shewed me, in rescuing me thus from the lowest depths of hell.
 Psalms	Ps	21	85	14	And now, O God, see how scornful foes have set upon me, how their dread conspiracy threatens my life, with no thought of thee to restrain it!
 Psalms	Ps	21	85	15	But thou, Lord, art a Lord of mercy and pity, patient, full of compassion, true to thy promise.
 Psalms	Ps	21	85	16	Look upon me and be merciful to me; rescue, with thy sovereign aid, one whose mother bore him to thy service!
 Psalms	Ps	21	85	17	Shew me some token of thy favour; let my enemies see, abashed, how thou, Lord, dost help me, how thou, Lord, dost comfort me.
 Psalms	Ps	21	86	1	(Of the sons of Core. A psalm. A song.) His own building amidst the inviolate hills,
 Psalms	Ps	21	86	2	dearer to the Lord are Sion walls than any other home in Israel.
 Psalms	Ps	21	86	3	How high a boast, city of God, is made for thee,
 Psalms	Ps	21	86	4	Mine it is to reckon the folk of Egypt, of Babylon, too, among my citizens! Philistines, Tyrians, Ethiopians, all must claim Sion as their birthplace;
 Psalms	Ps	21	86	5	None was ever born, the proverb shall run, that did not take his birth from her; it was the most High, none other, that founded her.
 Psalms	Ps	21	86	6	This was their birthplace, the Lord shall write over the muster-roll of the nations;
 Psalms	Ps	21	86	7	nor any but shall tell her praises with song and dance, each claiming from her its only origin.
 Psalms	Ps	21	87	1	(A song. A psalm. Of the sons of Core. To the choir-master. Melody: Mahalat. For singing. A maskil. Of Heman the Ezrahite.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	87	2	Lord God, day and night I cry bitterly to thee;
 Psalms	Ps	21	87	3	let my prayer reach thy pre-sence, give audience to my entreaty,
 Psalms	Ps	21	87	4	for indeed my heart is full of trouble. My life sinks ever closer to the grave;
 Psalms	Ps	21	87	5	I count as one of those who go down into the abyss, like one powerless.
 Psalms	Ps	21	87	6	As well lie among the dead, men laid low in the grave, men thou rememberest no longer, cast away, now, from thy protecting hand.
 Psalms	Ps	21	87	7	Such is the place where thou hast laid me, in a deep pit where the dark waters swirl;
 Psalms	Ps	21	87	8	heavily thy anger weighs down on me, and thou dost overwhelm me with its full flood.
 Psalms	Ps	21	87	9	Thou hast estranged all my acquaintance from me, so that they treat me as a thing accursed; I lie in a prison whence there is no escape,
 Psalms	Ps	21	87	10	my eyes grow dim with tears. On thee I call, to thee stretch out my hands, each day that passes.
 Psalms	Ps	21	87	11	Not for the dead thy wonderful power is shewn; not for pale shadows to return and give thee thanks.
 Psalms	Ps	21	87	12	There in the grave, how shall they recount thy mercies; how shall they tell of thy faithfulness, now that life is gone?
 Psalms	Ps	21	87	13	How can there be talk of thy marvels in a world of darkness, of thy favour in a land where all is forgotten?
 Psalms	Ps	21	87	14	To prayer, Lord, fall I lustily; it shall reach thee, while there is yet time.
 Psalms	Ps	21	87	15	Why dost thou reject my plea, Lord, and turn thy face away from me?
 Psalms	Ps	21	87	16	Ever since youth, misery and mortal sickness have been my lot; wearily I have borne thy visitations;
 Psalms	Ps	21	87	17	I am overwhelmed with thy anger, dismayed by thy threats,
 Psalms	Ps	21	87	18	that still cut me off like a flood, all at once surrounding me.
 Psalms	Ps	21	87	19	Friends and neighbours gone, a world of shadows is all my company.
 Psalms	Ps	21	88	1	(A maskil. Of Ethan the Ezrahite.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	88	2	Here is a song to put the Lord’s mercies on record for ever; ages will pass, and still these words of mine shall proclaim thy faithfulness.
 Psalms	Ps	21	88	3	Charter of everlasting mercy thy own lips have given; there, in the heavens, thy faithful promise rests:
 Psalms	Ps	21	88	4	I have made a sworn covenant with my chosen servant David:
 Psalms	Ps	21	88	5	To all time I will make thy posterity continue, age after age I will bid thy throne endure.
 Psalms	Ps	21	88	6	And are not those heavens, Lord, witnesses of thy wonderful power, of thy faithfulness, before the court of the holy ones?
 Psalms	Ps	21	88	7	Who is there above the clouds to rival the Lord; where is the Lord’s like among all the sons of God?
 Psalms	Ps	21	88	8	How is God feared, in that assembly of the holy ones; how great he is, how high in reverence above all that stand about him!
 Psalms	Ps	21	88	9	Lord God of hosts, who can compare with thee; in the power, Lord, that is thine, in the faithfulness that everywhere attends thee?
 Psalms	Ps	21	88	10	It is thou that dost curb the pride of the sea, and calm the tumult of its waves;
 Psalms	Ps	21	88	11	wounded lies Rahab at thy feet, by the strong arm that has routed thy enemies.
 Psalms	Ps	21	88	12	Thine are the heavens, thine the earth; author, thou, of the world and all it holds.
 Psalms	Ps	21	88	13	The north wind and the south are of thy fashioning; thy name wakes the glad echoes of Thabor and Hermon.
 Psalms	Ps	21	88	14	God of the strong arm, the sure, the uplifted hand,
 Psalms	Ps	21	88	15	right and justice are the pillars of thy throne; mercy and faithfulness the heralds of thy coming.
 Psalms	Ps	21	88	16	Happy is the people that knows well the shout of praise, that lives, Lord, in the smile of thy protection!
 Psalms	Ps	21	88	17	Evermore they take pride in thy name, rejoice over thy just dealings.
 Psalms	Ps	21	88	18	What else but thy glory inspires their strength? What else but thy favour bids us lift our heads?
 Psalms	Ps	21	88	19	From the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, that royal protection comes which is our shield.
 Psalms	Ps	21	88	20	Long ago, in a vision, thou didst make a promise to thy faithful servants. Thou saidst, I have crowned you a warrior king, chosen out among the common folk a man to honour.
 Psalms	Ps	21	88	21	Here was my servant David; on him my consecrating oil has been poured.
 Psalms	Ps	21	88	22	My hand shall never leave him unprotected, my arm shall give him courage;
 Psalms	Ps	21	88	23	no enemy shall take him unawares, no envious rival have power, henceforth, to crush him;
 Psalms	Ps	21	88	24	beaten down, every foe, at his onset, baffled, all their ill will.
 Psalms	Ps	21	88	25	My faithfulness and mercy shall go with him; by my favour he shall rise to pre-eminence.
 Psalms	Ps	21	88	26	I will make his power rest on the sea; to the streams of the great river his hand shall reach out.
 Psalms	Ps	21	88	27	Thou art my Father, he will cry out to me, thou art my God, my stronghold and my refuge;
 Psalms	Ps	21	88	28	and I will acknowledge him as my first-born, overlord to all the kings of earth.
 Psalms	Ps	21	88	29	I will continue my favour towards him for ever, my covenant with him shall remain unbroken;
 Psalms	Ps	21	88	30	I will give him a posterity that never fails, a throne enduring as heaven itself.
 Psalms	Ps	21	88	31	Do his children forsake my law, to follow paths not mine;
 Psalms	Ps	21	88	32	do they violate my decrees, leave my will undone?
 Psalms	Ps	21	88	33	Then they shall feel the rod for their transgressions, I will scourge them for their sin,
 Psalms	Ps	21	88	34	but I will not cancel my gracious promise to him;
 Psalms	Ps	21	88	35	never will I be guilty of unfaithfulness, never will I violate my covenant, or alter the decree once spoken.
 Psalms	Ps	21	88	36	Pledged stands my inviolable word, I will never be false to David;
 Psalms	Ps	21	88	37	his posterity shall continue for ever,
 Psalms	Ps	21	88	38	his royalty, too, shall last on in my presence like the sun; like the moon’s eternal orb, that bears witness in heaven unalterable.
 Psalms	Ps	21	88	39	And now? Now thou hast only loathing and scorn for us; heavy thy hand falls on him thou hast anointed.
 Psalms	Ps	21	88	40	Spurned lies the covenant thou didst make with thy servant, thou hast dishonoured his royalty in the dust,
 Psalms	Ps	21	88	41	broken down all the walls about him, and made a ruin of his stronghold,
 Psalms	Ps	21	88	42	till he is plundered by every passer-by, a laughing-stock to all his neighbours.
 Psalms	Ps	21	88	43	Thou hast granted aid to the attacking armies, triumph to all his enemies,
 Psalms	Ps	21	88	44	foiling the thrust of his sword, and denying him thy succour in battle.
 Psalms	Ps	21	88	45	Thou hast robbed him of the bright glory that once was his; thou hast cast down his throne to earth,
 Psalms	Ps	21	88	46	cut his manhood short before its time; confusion overwhelms him.
 Psalms	Ps	21	88	47	Lord, wilt thou always turn thy face away so obdurately, will the flame of thy anger never be quenched?
 Psalms	Ps	21	88	48	Remember how frail a thing I am, how brief a destiny thou hast granted to all Adam’s sons.
 Psalms	Ps	21	88	49	Where is the man that can live on, and leave death untasted; can ransom his life from the power of the world beneath?
 Psalms	Ps	21	88	50	Lord, where are those mercies of an earlier time, promised so faithfully to David?
 Psalms	Ps	21	88	51	Remember how a world’s taunts assail thy people, and this one heart must bear them all;
 Psalms	Ps	21	88	52	shall they hurl taunts, Lord, these, thy enemies, after the man thou thyself hast anointed?
 Psalms	Ps	21	88	53	Blessed be the Lord for ever. Amen, Amen.
 Psalms	Ps	21	89	1	(A prayer. Of Moses, the man of God.) Lord, thou hast been our refuge from generation to generation.
 Psalms	Ps	21	89	2	Before the hills came to birth, before the whole frame of the world was engendered, from eternity to eternity, O God, thou art.
 Psalms	Ps	21	89	3	And wilt thou bring man to dust again, that thou sayest, Return, children of Adam, to what you were?
 Psalms	Ps	21	89	4	In thy sight, a thousand years are but as yesterday, that has come and gone, or as one of the night-watches.
 Psalms	Ps	21	89	5	Swiftly thou bearest our lives away, as a waking dream,
 Psalms	Ps	21	89	6	or the green grass that blooms fresh with the morning; night finds it faded and dead.
 Psalms	Ps	21	89	7	Still thy anger takes toll of us, thy displeasure denies us rest,
 Psalms	Ps	21	89	8	so jealous thy scrutiny of our wrong-doing, so clear our hidden sins shew in the light of thy presence.
 Psalms	Ps	21	89	9	Day after day vanishes, and still thy anger lasts; swift as a breath our lives pass away.
 Psalms	Ps	21	89	10	What is our span of days? Seventy years it lasts, eighty years, if lusty folk we be; for the more part, toil and frustration; years that vanish in a moment, and we are gone.
 Psalms	Ps	21	89	11	Alas, that so few heed thy vengeance,
 Psalms	Ps	21	89	12	measure thy anger by the reverence we owe thee! Teach us to count every passing day, till our hearts find wisdom.
 Psalms	Ps	21	89	13	Relent, Lord; must it be for ever? Be gracious to thy servants.
 Psalms	Ps	21	89	14	For us thy timely mercies, for us abiding happiness and content;
 Psalms	Ps	21	89	15	happiness that shall atone for the time when thou didst afflict us, for the long years of ill fortune.
 Psalms	Ps	21	89	16	Let these eyes see thy purpose accomplished, to our own sons reveal thy glory; the favour of the Lord our God smile on us! Prosper our doings, Lord, prosper our doings yet.
 Psalms	Ps	21	90	1	Content if thou be to live with the most High for thy defence, under his Almighty shadow abiding still,
 Psalms	Ps	21	90	2	him thy refuge, him thy stronghold thou mayst call, thy own God, in whom is all thy trust.
 Psalms	Ps	21	90	3	He it is will rescue thee from every treacherous lure, every destroying plague.
 Psalms	Ps	21	90	4	His wings for refuge, nestle thou shalt under his care,
 Psalms	Ps	21	90	5	his faithfulness thy watch and ward. Nothing shalt thou have to fear from nightly terrors,
 Psalms	Ps	21	90	6	from the arrow that flies by day-light, from pestilence that walks to and fro in the darkness, from the death that wastes under the noon.
 Psalms	Ps	21	90	7	Though a thousand fall at thy side, ten thousand at thy right hand, it shall never come next or near thee;
 Psalms	Ps	21	90	8	rather, thy eyes shall look about thee, and see the reward of sinners.
 Psalms	Ps	21	90	9	He, the Lord, is thy refuge; thou hast found a stronghold in the most High.
 Psalms	Ps	21	90	10	There is no harm that can befall thee, no plague that shall come near thy dwelling.
 Psalms	Ps	21	90	11	He has given charge to his angels concerning thee, to watch over thee wheresoever thou goest;
 Psalms	Ps	21	90	12	they will hold thee up with their hands lest thou shouldst chance to trip on a stone.
 Psalms	Ps	21	90	13	Thou shalt tread safely on asp and adder, crush lion and serpent under thy feet.
 Psalms	Ps	21	90	14	He trusts in me, mine it is to rescue him; he acknowledges my name, from me he shall have protection;
 Psalms	Ps	21	90	15	when he calls upon me, I will listen, in affliction I am at his side, to bring him safety and honour.
 Psalms	Ps	21	90	16	Length of days he shall have to content him, and find in me deliverance.
 Psalms	Ps	21	91	1	(A psalm. A song. On the sabbath day.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	91	2	Sweet it is to praise the Lord, to sing, most high God, in honour of thy name;
 Psalms	Ps	21	91	3	to proclaim thy mercy and faithfulness at daybreak and at the fall of night.
 Psalms	Ps	21	91	4	Here is a theme for ten-stringed harp and viol, for music of voice and zither;
 Psalms	Ps	21	91	5	so delightsome, Lord, is all thou doest, so thrills my heart at the sight of all thou hast made.
 Psalms	Ps	21	91	6	How magnificent is thy creation, Lord, how unfathomable are thy purposes!
 Psalms	Ps	21	91	7	And still, too dull to learn, too slow to grasp his lesson, the wrong-doer goes on in his busy wickedness.
 Psalms	Ps	21	91	8	Still he thrives, makes a brave show like the grass in spring, yet is he doomed to perish eternally,
 Psalms	Ps	21	91	9	whilst thou, Lord, art for ever exalted on high.
 Psalms	Ps	21	91	10	Vanished away thy enemies, Lord, vanished away, and all their busy wickedness scattered to the winds!
 Psalms	Ps	21	91	11	Strength thy power gives me, that gives strength to the wild oxen; refreshes me as with the touch of pure oil.
 Psalms	Ps	21	91	12	Blessed are these eyes with the sight of my enemies’ downfall, these ears with the tidings of insolent malice defeated.
 Psalms	Ps	21	91	13	The innocent man will flourish as the palm-tree flourishes; he will grow to greatness as the cedars grow on Lebanon.
 Psalms	Ps	21	91	14	Planted in the temple of the Lord, growing up in the very courts of our God’s house,
 Psalms	Ps	21	91	15	the innocent will flourish in a green old age, all freshness and vigour still;
 Psalms	Ps	21	91	16	theirs to proclaim how just is the Lord my refuge, his dealings how clear of wrong.
 Psalms	Ps	21	92	1	The Lord reigns as king, robed in majesty; royalty the Lord has for robe and girdle. He it was that founded the solid earth, to abide immovable.
 Psalms	Ps	21	92	2	Firm stood thy throne ere ever the world began; from all eternity, thou art.
 Psalms	Ps	21	92	3	Loud the rivers echo, Lord, loud the rivers echo, crashing down in flood.
 Psalms	Ps	21	92	4	Magnificent the roar of eddying waters; magnificent the sea’s rage; magnificent above these, the Lord reigns in heaven.
 Psalms	Ps	21	92	5	How faithful, Lord, are thy promises! Holy is thy house, and must needs be holy until the end of time.
 Psalms	Ps	21	93	1	In thy divine vengeance, Lord, in thy divine vengeance stand revealed!
 Psalms	Ps	21	93	2	Judge of the world, mount thy throne, and give the proud their deserts!
 Psalms	Ps	21	93	3	Must it be the sinners still, Lord, the sinners still that triumph?
 Psalms	Ps	21	93	4	Shall there be no end to the prating, the rebellious talk, the boastfulness of wrong-doers?
 Psalms	Ps	21	93	5	See, Lord, how they crush down thy people, afflict the land of thy choice,
 Psalms	Ps	21	93	6	murder the widow and the stranger, slay the orphan!
 Psalms	Ps	21	93	7	And they think, The Lord will never see it, the God of Israel pays no heed.
 Psalms	Ps	21	93	8	Pay heed, rather, yourselves, dull hearts that count among my people; fools, learn your lesson ere it is too late.
 Psalms	Ps	21	93	9	Is he deaf, the God who implanted hearing in us; is he blind, the God who gave us eyes to see?
 Psalms	Ps	21	93	10	He who gives nations their schooling, who taught man all that man knows, will he not call you to account?
 Psalms	Ps	21	93	11	The Lord looks into men’s hearts, and finds there illusion.
 Psalms	Ps	21	93	12	Happy, Lord, is the man whom thou dost chasten, reading him the lesson of thy law!
 Psalms	Ps	21	93	13	For him, thou wilt lighten the time of adversity, digging a pit all the while to entrap the sinner.
 Psalms	Ps	21	93	14	God will not abandon his people, will not desert his chosen land;
 Psalms	Ps	21	93	15	ere long his justice will reappear in judgement, claiming all upright hearts for its own.
 Psalms	Ps	21	93	16	Who takes my part against the oppressor? Who rallies to my side against the wrong-doers?
 Psalms	Ps	21	93	17	It is the Lord that helps me; but for that, the grave would soon be my resting-place.
 Psalms	Ps	21	93	18	Still, when my foothold seems lost, thy mercy, Lord, holds me up;
 Psalms	Ps	21	93	19	amid all the thronging cares that fill my heart, my soul finds comfort in thy consolation.
 Psalms	Ps	21	93	20	What part have these unjust judges with thee, that make mischief in the name of law?
 Psalms	Ps	21	93	21	Let them harry the just as they will, pass sentence of death upon the innocent,
 Psalms	Ps	21	93	22	the Lord will be my defence, in my God I shall find a rock-fastness still.
 Psalms	Ps	21	93	23	He will punish the wrong, destroy them in their wickedness; doubt not the Lord our God will destroy them.
 Psalms	Ps	21	94	1	Come, friends, rejoice we in the Lord’s honour; cry we out merrily to God, our strength and deliverer;
 Psalms	Ps	21	94	2	with praises court his presence, singing a joyful psalm!
 Psalms	Ps	21	94	3	A high God is the Lord, a king high above all the gods;
 Psalms	Ps	21	94	4	beneath his hand lie the depths of earth, his are the mountain peaks;
 Psalms	Ps	21	94	5	his the ocean, for who but he created it? What other power fashioned the dry land?
 Psalms	Ps	21	94	6	Come in, then, fall we down in worship, bowing the knee before God who made us.
 Psalms	Ps	21	94	7	Who but the Lord is our God? And what are we, but folk of his pasturing, sheep that follow his beckoning hand?
 Psalms	Ps	21	94	8	Would you but listen to his voice to-day! Do not harden your hearts,
 Psalms	Ps	21	94	9	as they were hardened once at Meriba, at Massa in the wilderness. Your fathers put me to the test, challenged me, as if they lacked proof of my power,
 Psalms	Ps	21	94	10	for forty years together; from that generation I turned away in loathing; These, I said, are ever wayward hearts,
 Psalms	Ps	21	94	11	these have never learned to obey me. And I took an oath in anger, They shall never attain my rest.
 Psalms	Ps	21	95	1	Sing the Lord a new song; in the Lord’s honour, let the whole earth make melody!
 Psalms	Ps	21	95	2	Sing to the Lord, and bless his name; never cease to bear record of his power to save.
 Psalms	Ps	21	95	3	Publish his glory among the heathen; his wonderful acts for all the world to hear.
 Psalms	Ps	21	95	4	How great is the Lord, how worthy of honour! What other god is to be feared as he?
 Psalms	Ps	21	95	5	They are but fancied gods the heathen call divine; the Lord, not they, made the heavens.
 Psalms	Ps	21	95	6	Honour and beauty are his escort; worship and magnificence the attendants of his shrine.
 Psalms	Ps	21	95	7	Tribes of the heathen, make your offering to the Lord, an offering to the Lord of glory and homage,
 Psalms	Ps	21	95	8	an offering of glory to the Lord’s name; bring sacrifice, come into his courts,
 Psalms	Ps	21	95	9	worship the Lord in holy array. Before the Lord’s presence let the whole earth bow in reverence;
 Psalms	Ps	21	95	10	tell the heathen, The Lord is king now, he has put the world in order, never to be thrown into confusion more; he gives the nations a just award.
 Psalms	Ps	21	95	11	Rejoice, heaven, and let earth be glad; let the sea, and all the sea contains, give thunderous applause.
 Psalms	Ps	21	95	12	The fields, and all the burden they bear, full of expectancy; no tree in the forest but will rejoice to greet its Lord’s coming.
 Psalms	Ps	21	95	13	He comes to rule the earth; brings the world justice, to every race of men its promised award.
 Psalms	Ps	21	96	1	The Lord reigns as king; let earth be glad of it, let the isles, the many isles, rejoice!
 Psalms	Ps	21	96	2	See where he sits, clouds and darkness about him, justice and right the pillars of his throne;
 Psalms	Ps	21	96	3	see where he comes, fire sweeping on before him, burning up his enemies all around.
 Psalms	Ps	21	96	4	In the flash of his lightning, how shines the world revealed, how earth trembles at the sight!
 Psalms	Ps	21	96	5	The hills melt like wax at the presence of the Lord; his presence, whom all the earth obeys.
 Psalms	Ps	21	96	6	The very heavens proclaim his faithfulness; no nation but has sight of his glory.
 Psalms	Ps	21	96	7	Shame upon the men that worship carved images, and make their boast of false gods! him only all the powers of heaven, prostrate, adore.
 Psalms	Ps	21	96	8	Glad news for Sion, rejoicing for Juda’s townships, when thy judgements, Lord, are made known;
 Psalms	Ps	21	96	9	art thou not sovereign Lord of earth, beyond measure exalted above all gods?
 Psalms	Ps	21	96	10	They are the Lord’s friends, who were never friends to wrong; souls that are true to him he guards ever, rescues them from the power of evil-doers.
 Psalms	Ps	21	96	11	Dawn of hope for the innocent, dawn of gladness for honest hearts!
 Psalms	Ps	21	96	12	Rejoice and triumph, just souls, in the Lord, of his holy name publish everywhere the renown.
 Psalms	Ps	21	97	1	(A psalm.) Sing the Lord a new song, a song of wonder at his doings; how his own right hand, his own holy arm, brought him victory.
 Psalms	Ps	21	97	2	The Lord has given proof of his saving power, has vindicated his just dealings, for all the nations to see;
 Psalms	Ps	21	97	3	has remembered his gracious promise, and kept faith with the house of Israel; no corner of the world but has witnessed how our God can save.
 Psalms	Ps	21	97	4	In God’s honour let all the earth keep holiday; let all be mirth and rejoicing and festal melody!
 Psalms	Ps	21	97	5	Praise the Lord with the harp, with harp and psaltery’s music;
 Psalms	Ps	21	97	6	with trumpets of metal, and the music of the braying horn! Keep holiday in the presence of the Lord, our King;
 Psalms	Ps	21	97	7	the sea astir, and all that the sea holds, the world astir, and all that dwell on it;
 Psalms	Ps	21	97	8	the rivers echoing their applause, the hills, too, rejoicing to see the Lord come. He comes to judge the earth; brings the world justice, to every race of men its due award.
 Psalms	Ps	21	98	1	The Lord is king, the nations are adread; he is throned above the Cherubim, and earth trembles before him.
 Psalms	Ps	21	98	2	Great is the Lord who dwells in Sion, sovereign ruler of all peoples!
 Psalms	Ps	21	98	3	Let them all praise that great name of thine, a name terrible and holy.
 Psalms	Ps	21	98	4	He reigns in might, that right loves, to all assuring redress, giving the sons of Jacob doom and award.
 Psalms	Ps	21	98	5	Praise, then, the Lord our God, and bow down before his footstool; that, too, is holy.
 Psalms	Ps	21	98	6	Remember Moses and Aaron, and all those priests of his, Samuel and those others who called on his name, how the Lord listened when they called upon him.
 Psalms	Ps	21	98	7	His voice came to them from the pillar of cloud; so it was they heard the decrees, the command he gave them.
 Psalms	Ps	21	98	8	And thou, O Lord our God, didst listen to them, and they found thee a God of pardon; yet every fault of theirs thou wert quick to punish.
 Psalms	Ps	21	98	9	Praise the Lord our God, and do worship on the holy mountain where he dwells; the Lord our God is holy.
 Psalms	Ps	21	99	1	(A psalm. For thanksgiving.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	99	2	Let the whole earth keep holiday in God’s honour; pay to the Lord the homage of your rejoicing, appear in his presence with glad hearts.
 Psalms	Ps	21	99	3	Learn that it is the Lord, no other, who is God; his we are, he it was that made us; we are his own people, sheep of his own pasturing.
 Psalms	Ps	21	99	4	Pass through these gates, enter these courts of his, with hymns of praise, give him thanks, and bless his name.
 Psalms	Ps	21	99	5	Gracious is the Lord, everlasting his mercy; age after age, he is faithful to his promise still.
 Psalms	Ps	21	100	1	(Of David. A psalm.) Of mercy and of justice my song shall be; a psalm in thy honour, Lord,
 Psalms	Ps	21	100	2	from one that would guide his steps ever more perfectly. Ah, when wilt thou grant me thy presence? Here in my house I would live with stainless heart;
 Psalms	Ps	21	100	3	no ill purpose clouding my view, the transgressors of the law my enemies.
 Psalms	Ps	21	100	4	None such will I have at my side; here treachery shall find no place, knavery no countenance;
 Psalms	Ps	21	100	5	of whispered calumny, death shall be the reward; on scornful looks and proud thoughts I will have no mercy.
 Psalms	Ps	21	100	6	To plain, honest folk in the land I will look for my company; my servants shall be such as follow the path of innocence.
 Psalms	Ps	21	100	7	No welcome here for schemers, no standing in my presence for men who talk deceitfully.
 Psalms	Ps	21	100	8	Mine, as the days pass, to root out from the land every guilty soul, till I purge the Lord’s city of all evil-doing.
 Psalms	Ps	21	101	1	(A prayer for the friendless man, when he is troubled, and is pouring out his griefs before the Lord.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	101	2	O Lord, hear my prayer, and let my cry come unto thee.
 Psalms	Ps	21	101	3	Do not turn thy face away from me, but lend me thy ear in time of affliction; give me swift audience whenever I call upon thee.
 Psalms	Ps	21	101	4	See how this life of mine passes away like smoke, how this frame wastes like a tinder!
 Psalms	Ps	21	101	5	Drained of strength, like grass the sun scorches, I leave my food untasted, forgotten;
 Psalms	Ps	21	101	6	I am spent with sighing, till my skin clings to my bones.
 Psalms	Ps	21	101	7	I am no better than a pelican out in the desert, an owl on some ruined dwelling;
 Psalms	Ps	21	101	8	I keep mournful watch, lonely as a single sparrow on the house top.
 Psalms	Ps	21	101	9	Still my enemies taunt me, in their mad rage make a by-word of me.
 Psalms	Ps	21	101	10	Ashes are all my food, I drink nothing but what comes to me mingled with my tears;
 Psalms	Ps	21	101	11	I shrink before thy vengeful anger, so low thou hast brought me, who didst once lift me so high.
 Psalms	Ps	21	101	12	Like a tapering shadow my days dwindle, wasting away, like grass in the sun!
 Psalms	Ps	21	101	13	Lord, thou endurest for ever, thy name, age after age, is not forgotten;
 Psalms	Ps	21	101	14	surely thou wilt bestir thyself, and give Sion redress! It is time, now, to take pity on her, the hour has come.
 Psalms	Ps	21	101	15	See how thy servants love her even in ruin, how they water her dust with their tears!
 Psalms	Ps	21	101	16	Will not the heathen learn reverence, Lord, for thy glorious name, all those monarchs of the earth,
 Psalms	Ps	21	101	17	when they hear that the Lord has built Sion anew; that he has revealed himself there in glory,
 Psalms	Ps	21	101	18	has given heed to the prayer of the afflicted, neglects their appeal no more?
 Psalms	Ps	21	101	19	Such legend inscribe we for a later age to read it; a new people will arise, to praise the Lord;
 Psalms	Ps	21	101	20	the Lord, who looks down from his sanctuary on high, viewing earth from heaven,
 Psalms	Ps	21	101	21	who has listened to the groans of the prisoners, delivered a race that was doomed to die.
 Psalms	Ps	21	101	22	There will be talk of the Lord’s name in Sion, of his praise in Jerusalem,
 Psalms	Ps	21	101	23	when peoples and kings meet there to pay him their homage.
 Psalms	Ps	21	101	24	Here, on my journey, he has brought my strength to an end, cut short my days.
 Psalms	Ps	21	101	25	What, my God, wilt thou snatch me away, my life half done? Age after age thy years endure;
 Psalms	Ps	21	101	26	it was thou, Lord, that didst lay the foundations of earth when time began, it was thy hand that built the heavens.
 Psalms	Ps	21	101	27	They will perish, but thou wilt remain; they will all be like a cloak that grows threadbare, and thou wilt lay them aside like a garment, and exchange them for new;
 Psalms	Ps	21	101	28	thou art unchanging, thy years can never fail.
 Psalms	Ps	21	101	29	The posterity of thy servants shall yet hold their lands in peace, their race shall live on in thy keeping.
 Psalms	Ps	21	102	1	(Of David.) Bless the Lord, my soul, unite, all my powers, to bless that holy name.
 Psalms	Ps	21	102	2	Bless the Lord, my soul, remembering all he has done for thee,
 Psalms	Ps	21	102	3	how he pardons all thy sins, heals all thy mortal ills,
 Psalms	Ps	21	102	4	rescues thy life from deadly peril, crowns thee with the blessings of his mercy;
 Psalms	Ps	21	102	5	how he contents all thy desire for good, restores thy youth, as the eagle’s plumage is restored.
 Psalms	Ps	21	102	6	The Lord’s acts are acts of justice, every wronged soul he offers redress.
 Psalms	Ps	21	102	7	The Lord, who told Moses his secrets, who shewed the sons of Israel his power!
 Psalms	Ps	21	102	8	How pitying and gracious the Lord is, how patient, how rich in mercy!
 Psalms	Ps	21	102	9	He will not always be finding fault, his frown does not last for ever;
 Psalms	Ps	21	102	10	he does not treat us as our sins deserve, does not exact the penalty of our wrong-doing.
 Psalms	Ps	21	102	11	High as heaven above the earth towers his mercy for the men that fear him;
 Psalms	Ps	21	102	12	far as the east is from the west, he clears away our guilt from us.
 Psalms	Ps	21	102	13	For his own worshippers, the Lord has a father’s pity;
 Psalms	Ps	21	102	14	does he not know the stuff of which we are made, can he forget that we are only dust?
 Psalms	Ps	21	102	15	Man’s life is like the grass, he blooms and dies like a flower in the fields;
 Psalms	Ps	21	102	16	once the hot wind has passed over, it has gone, forgotten by the place where it grew.
 Psalms	Ps	21	102	17	But the Lord’s worshippers know no beginning or end of his mercy; he will keep faith with their children’s children,
 Psalms	Ps	21	102	18	do they but hold fast by his covenant, and live mindful of his law.
 Psalms	Ps	21	102	19	The Lord has set up his throne in heaven, rules with universal sway.
 Psalms	Ps	21	102	20	Bless the Lord, all you angels of his; angels of sovereign strength, that carry out his commandment, attentive to the word he utters;
 Psalms	Ps	21	102	21	bless the Lord, all you hosts of his, the servants that perform his will;
 Psalms	Ps	21	102	22	bless the Lord, all you creatures of his, in every corner of his dominion; and thou, my soul, bless the Lord.
 Psalms	Ps	21	103	1	Bless the Lord, my soul; O Lord my God, what magnificence is thine! Glory and beauty are thy clothing.
 Psalms	Ps	21	103	2	The light is a garment thou dost wrap about thee, the heavens a curtain thy hand unfolds.
 Psalms	Ps	21	103	3	The waters of heaven are thy ante-chamber, the clouds thy chariot; on the wings of the wind thou dost come and go.
 Psalms	Ps	21	103	4	Thou wilt have thy angels be like the winds, the servants that wait on thee like a flame of fire.
 Psalms	Ps	21	103	5	The earth thou hast planted on its own firm base, undisturbed for all time.
 Psalms	Ps	21	103	6	The deep once covered it, like a cloak; the waters stood high above the mountains,
 Psalms	Ps	21	103	7	then cowered before thy rebuking word, fled away at thy voice of thunder,
 Psalms	Ps	21	103	8	leaving the mountain heights to rise, the valleys to sink into their appointed place!
 Psalms	Ps	21	103	9	And to these waters thou hast given a frontier they may not pass; never must they flow back, and cover the earth again.
 Psalms	Ps	21	103	10	Yet there shall be torrents flooding the glens, water-courses among the hills
 Psalms	Ps	21	103	11	that give drink to every wild beast; here the wild asses may slake their thirst.
 Psalms	Ps	21	103	12	The birds of heaven, too, will roost beside them; vocal is every bough with their music.
 Psalms	Ps	21	103	13	From thy high dwelling-place thou dost send rain upon the hills; thy hand gives earth all her plenty.
 Psalms	Ps	21	103	14	Grass must grow for the cattle; for man, too, she must put forth her shoots, if he is to bring corn out from her bosom;
 Psalms	Ps	21	103	15	if there is to be wine that will rejoice man’s heart, oil to make his face shine, and bread that will keep man’s strength from failing.
 Psalms	Ps	21	103	16	Moisture there must be for the forest trees, for the cedars of Lebanon, trees of the Lord’s own planting.
 Psalms	Ps	21	103	17	Here it is the birds build their nests; the stork makes its home in the fir-branches;
 Psalms	Ps	21	103	18	finds refuge there such as the goats find in the high hills, the coney in its cave.
 Psalms	Ps	21	103	19	He has given us the moon for our calendar; the sun knows well the hour of his setting.
 Psalms	Ps	21	103	20	Thou dost decree darkness, and the night falls; in the night all the forest is astir with prowling beasts;
 Psalms	Ps	21	103	21	the young lions go roaring after their prey, God’s pensioners, asking for their food.
 Psalms	Ps	21	103	22	Then the sun rises, and they slink away to lie down in their dens,
 Psalms	Ps	21	103	23	while man goes abroad to toil and drudge till the evening.
 Psalms	Ps	21	103	24	What diversity, Lord, in thy creatures! What wisdom has designed them all! There is nothing on earth but gives proof of thy creative power.
 Psalms	Ps	21	103	25	There lies the vast ocean, stretching wide on every hand; this, too, is peopled with living things past number, great creatures and small;
 Psalms	Ps	21	103	26	the ships pass them on their course. Leviathan himself is among them; him, too, thou hast created to roam there at his pleasure.
 Psalms	Ps	21	103	27	And all look to thee to send them their food at the appointed time;
 Psalms	Ps	21	103	28	it is through thy gift they find it, thy hand opens, and all are filled with content.
 Psalms	Ps	21	103	29	But see, thou hidest thy face, and they are dismayed; thou takest their life from them, and they breathe no more, go back to the dust they came from.
 Psalms	Ps	21	103	30	Then thou sendest forth thy spirit, and there is fresh creation; thou dost repeople the face of earth.
 Psalms	Ps	21	103	31	Glory be to the Lord for ever; still let him take delight in his creatures.
 Psalms	Ps	21	103	32	One glance from him makes earth tremble; at his touch, the mountains are wreathed in smoke.
 Psalms	Ps	21	103	33	While life lasts, I will sing in the Lord’s honour; my praise shall be his while I have breath to praise him;
 Psalms	Ps	21	103	34	oh, may this prayer with him find acceptance, in whom is all my content!
 Psalms	Ps	21	103	35	Perish all sinners from the land, let the wrong-doers be forgotten! But thou, my soul, bless the Lord. Alleluia.
 Psalms	Ps	21	104	1	Praise the Lord, and call upon his name; tell the story of his doings for all the nations to hear;
 Psalms	Ps	21	104	2	greet him with song and psalm, recount his acts of miracle.
 Psalms	Ps	21	104	3	Triumph in that holy name; let every heart that longs for the Lord rejoice.
 Psalms	Ps	21	104	4	On the Lord, on the Lord’s greatness still let your hearts dwell, on the Lord’s presence be your hearts set.
 Psalms	Ps	21	104	5	Remember the marvellous acts he did, his miracles, his sentences of doom;
 Psalms	Ps	21	104	6	are you not the posterity of Abraham, his own servant, sons of that Jacob on whom his choice fell?
 Psalms	Ps	21	104	7	And he, the Lord, is our own God, wide though his writ runs through all the world.
 Psalms	Ps	21	104	8	He keeps in everlasting memory that covenant of his, that promise which a thousand ages might not cancel.
 Psalms	Ps	21	104	9	He gave Abraham a promise, bound himself to Isaac by an oath;
 Psalms	Ps	21	104	10	by that law Jacob should live, his Israel, bound to him with an eternal covenant.
 Psalms	Ps	21	104	11	To thee, he said, I will give the land of Chanaan, a portion allotted to thee and thine.
 Psalms	Ps	21	104	12	So few they were in number, only a handful, living there as strangers!
 Psalms	Ps	21	104	13	And ever they passed on from country to country, the guests of king or people;
 Psalms	Ps	21	104	14	but he suffered none to harm them; to kings themselves the warning came;
 Psalms	Ps	21	104	15	Lay no hand on them, never hurt them, servants anointed and true spokesmen of mine.
 Psalms	Ps	21	104	16	And now he brought famine on the land, cutting off all their supply of bread.
 Psalms	Ps	21	104	17	But he had sent an envoy to prepare the way for them, that very Joseph, who was sold as a slave.
 Psalms	Ps	21	104	18	Fetters held his feet, the yoke galled his neck,
 Psalms	Ps	21	104	19	but he proved a true prophet at last, the Lord’s accomplished word to vindicate him.
 Psalms	Ps	21	104	20	Then the king sent to release him; the proud ruler of many peoples set him free,
 Psalms	Ps	21	104	21	and appointed him master of his household, lord of all the possessions that were his.
 Psalms	Ps	21	104	22	Joseph should teach his courtiers to be as Joseph was, should train his aged counsellors in wisdom.
 Psalms	Ps	21	104	23	So it was that Israel came into Egypt, that Jacob dwelt as an alien in the country of Cham.
 Psalms	Ps	21	104	24	Time passed, and he gave his people great increase of numbers, till it outmatched its rivals.
 Psalms	Ps	21	104	25	And in these he wrought a change of heart; they grew weary of his people’s presence, devised ruin for his worshippers.
 Psalms	Ps	21	104	26	And now he sent his servant Moses, and Aaron, the man of his choice,
 Psalms	Ps	21	104	27	to bring about those signs, those miracles of his which the country of Cham would witness.
 Psalms	Ps	21	104	28	Dark night he sent to benight them, and still his warnings went unheeded.
 Psalms	Ps	21	104	29	He turned their supply of water into blood, killing all the fish;
 Psalms	Ps	21	104	30	frogs swarmed out of the ground, even in their royal palaces;
 Psalms	Ps	21	104	31	at his word, flies attacked them, and gnats all their land over;
 Psalms	Ps	21	104	32	hail was the rain he gave them, and it brought fire that burned up their countryside;
 Psalms	Ps	21	104	33	he shattered their vines and fig-trees, broke down all the wood that grew in their domains.
 Psalms	Ps	21	104	34	He gave the word, and locusts came, grasshoppers, too, past all numbering,
 Psalms	Ps	21	104	35	eating up all the grass they had, eating up all the crops their land yielded.
 Psalms	Ps	21	104	36	Then, his hand fell upon Egypt’s first-born, on the first-fruits of all they had engendered;
 Psalms	Ps	21	104	37	and so he brought his people out, enriched with silver and gold, no foot that stumbled among all their tribes.
 Psalms	Ps	21	104	38	Glad indeed was Egypt at their going, such fear of them had overtaken it.
 Psalms	Ps	21	104	39	He spread out a cloud to cover them, that turned to fire in the darkness, lighting their journey.
 Psalms	Ps	21	104	40	Quails came, when they asked for food; he satisfied their desire, too, with bread from heaven,
 Psalms	Ps	21	104	41	and pierced the rock so that water flowed down, running streams in the wilderness.
 Psalms	Ps	21	104	42	So well did he remember that holy promise of his, made to his servant Abraham;
 Psalms	Ps	21	104	43	in joy and triumph he led them out, his chosen people,
 Psalms	Ps	21	104	44	and gave them the lands of the heathen for their own.
 Psalms	Ps	21	104	45	There, on soil Gentile hands had tilled, his commandments should be kept sacred, his law should reign. Alleluia.
 Psalms	Ps	21	105	1	(Alleluia.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	105	2	Praise the Lord, the Lord is gracious; his mercy endures for ever;
 Psalms	Ps	21	105	3	what tongue can recount all the great deeds of the Lord, can echo all his praise?
 Psalms	Ps	21	105	4	Blessed are they who abide ever by his decrees, ever do the right!
 Psalms	Ps	21	105	5	Remember me, Lord, with loving thoughts towards thy people, come and strengthen me with thy aid,
 Psalms	Ps	21	105	6	to witness the prosperity of thy chosen servants, to rejoice with thy people that rejoices, to share the glory of thy own domain.
 Psalms	Ps	21	105	7	We have taken part in our fathers’ sins; we are guilty men, rebels against thee.
 Psalms	Ps	21	105	8	So it was with our fathers in Egypt; unremarked, thy wonderful doings, unremembered, thy abundant mercies; even at the Red Sea they must prove rebellious.
 Psalms	Ps	21	105	9	Yet, for his own honour, to make known his power, he delivered them,
 Psalms	Ps	21	105	10	checking the Red Sea, so that it dried up, and leading them through its depths as safely as if they trod the desert sands.
 Psalms	Ps	21	105	11	From a cruel tyrant’s grasp he rescued them, claimed them for his own;
 Psalms	Ps	21	105	12	and the water overwhelmed their pursuers, till not one of them was left.
 Psalms	Ps	21	105	13	They believed, then, in his promises, sang songs, then, in his honour,
 Psalms	Ps	21	105	14	but soon they forgot what he had done, and could not wait upon his will.
 Psalms	Ps	21	105	15	They must needs give way to their cravings in the wilderness, challenge God’s power, there in the desert,
 Psalms	Ps	21	105	16	till he granted their will, then sent a wasting sickness to plague them.
 Psalms	Ps	21	105	17	Faction raised its head in the camp against Moses, against Aaron, the Lord’s chosen priest;
 Psalms	Ps	21	105	18	and now earth gaped, swallowing up Dathan, overwhelming Abiron and his conspiracy;
 Psalms	Ps	21	105	19	fire broke out in their company, and the rebels perished by its flames.
 Psalms	Ps	21	105	20	They made a calf, too, at Horeb, casting a golden image and worshipping it,
 Psalms	Ps	21	105	21	as if they would exchange the glory that dwelt among them for the semblance of a bullock at grass.
 Psalms	Ps	21	105	22	So little they remembered the God who had delivered them, those portents of his in Egypt,
 Psalms	Ps	21	105	23	strange things seen in the land of Cham, terrible things down by the Red Sea!
 Psalms	Ps	21	105	24	What wonder if he threatened to make an end of them? But Moses, the man of his choice, stood in the breach to confront his anger, to ward off destruction.
 Psalms	Ps	21	105	25	And now they poured scorn on the land of their desire, distrusting his promise;
 Psalms	Ps	21	105	26	and the camp was all disaffection. So the Lord, finding they would not listen to his voice,
 Psalms	Ps	21	105	27	lifted his hand and threatened to smite them down, there in the wilderness;
 Psalms	Ps	21	105	28	they should be lost among the peoples, scattered wide through the world.
 Psalms	Ps	21	105	29	They dedicated themselves to Beelphegor, in honour of the dead gods sat down to feast;
 Psalms	Ps	21	105	30	till their wicked ways roused God’s anger, and a plague fell upon them.
 Psalms	Ps	21	105	31	Nor might the destruction cease, till Phinees rose up and made amends,
 Psalms	Ps	21	105	32	winning himself such title to God’s favour as shall be remembered, age after age, eternally.
 Psalms	Ps	21	105	33	They provoked his anger, too, at the waters of Meriba, so that Moses was punished for their sake;
 Psalms	Ps	21	105	34	because, in his heart’s bitterness, he broke out into open complaint.
 Psalms	Ps	21	105	35	Not theirs to root out the heathen, as the Lord had bidden them;
 Psalms	Ps	21	105	36	they mingled with the heathen instead, and learned their ways;
 Psalms	Ps	21	105	37	worshipping carved images, to their own undoing,
 Psalms	Ps	21	105	38	sacrificing their sons and daughters in honour of devils.
 Psalms	Ps	21	105	39	Innocent blood, the blood of their own sons and daughters, was poured out in worship to the idols of Chanaan; with blood the whole land was polluted,
 Psalms	Ps	21	105	40	so heinous the guilt of its people, so wanton their ways.
 Psalms	Ps	21	105	41	Then God’s anger blazed up against his people, his chosen race became abominable to him,
 Psalms	Ps	21	105	42	and he handed them over to the Gentiles; despised slaves,
 Psalms	Ps	21	105	43	they were oppressed by their enemies, bowed down under the yoke.
 Psalms	Ps	21	105	44	Again and again he brought them deliverance, but ever there were fresh shifts to provoke him, there was fresh guilt to drag them in the dust.
 Psalms	Ps	21	105	45	And still, when he saw their distress, when he heard their appeals to him,
 Psalms	Ps	21	105	46	the thought him of his covenant availed them; in his great mercy he would relent;
 Psalms	Ps	21	105	47	their very captors should be moved to pity.
 Psalms	Ps	21	105	48	Deliver us, O Lord our God, and gather us again, scattered as we are among the heathen, to praise thy holy name, to triumph in thy renown.
 Psalms	Ps	21	105	49	Blessed be the God of Israel from all eternity to all eternity; let all the people cry, Amen, Alleluia.
 Psalms	Ps	21	106	1	Praise the Lord, the Lord is gracious; his mercy endures for ever;
 Psalms	Ps	21	106	2	be this the cry of men the Lord has rescued, rescued them from the enemy’s hand, and gathered them in
 Psalms	Ps	21	106	3	from sunrising and sunset, from the north country and the south.
 Psalms	Ps	21	106	4	Some have wandered in parched deserts, missing the way to the city that was their home,
 Psalms	Ps	21	106	5	hungry and thirsty, so that their spirits died within them.
 Psalms	Ps	21	106	6	So they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he relieved their distress,
 Psalms	Ps	21	106	7	guiding them surely to the place where they should find a home.
 Psalms	Ps	21	106	8	Praise they the Lord in his mercies, in his wondrous dealings with mortal men;
 Psalms	Ps	21	106	9	poor souls that were thirsty, contented now, poor souls that were hungry, satisfied now with all good.
 Psalms	Ps	21	106	10	Some lay where darkness overshadowed them, helpless in bonds of iron;
 Psalms	Ps	21	106	11	their punishment for rebelling against God’s decrees, for thwarting the will of the most High.
 Psalms	Ps	21	106	12	Their hearts bowed down with sorrow, none else to aid their faltering steps,
 Psalms	Ps	21	106	13	they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he relieved their distress,
 Psalms	Ps	21	106	14	rescuing them from darkness, from the shadows, tearing their chains asunder.
 Psalms	Ps	21	106	15	Praise they the Lord in his mercies, in his wondrous dealings with mortal men;
 Psalms	Ps	21	106	16	the Lord who has shattered the gates of brass, riven the bonds of iron.
 Psalms	Ps	21	106	17	Some for their own fault must needs be humbled; for their guilt
 Psalms	Ps	21	106	18	they lay sick, with no stomach for food, close to death’s door.
 Psalms	Ps	21	106	19	So they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he relieved their distress,
 Psalms	Ps	21	106	20	uttered the word of healing, and saved them from their peril.
 Psalms	Ps	21	106	21	Praise they the Lord in his mercies, in his wondrous dealings with mortal men;
 Psalms	Ps	21	106	22	theirs to offer him sacrifice in thanksgiving, and proclaim joyfully what he has done for them.
 Psalms	Ps	21	106	23	Some there were that ventured abroad in ships, trafficking over the high seas;
 Psalms	Ps	21	106	24	these are men that have witnessed the Lord’s doings, his wonderful doings amid the deep.
 Psalms	Ps	21	106	25	At his word the stormy wind rose, churning up its waves;
 Psalms	Ps	21	106	26	high up towards heaven they were carried, then sank into the trough, with spirits fainting at their peril;
 Psalms	Ps	21	106	27	see them reeling and staggering to and fro as a drunkard does, all their seamanship forgotten!
 Psalms	Ps	21	106	28	So they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he relieved their distress,
 Psalms	Ps	21	106	29	stilling the storm into a whisper, till all its waves were quiet.
 Psalms	Ps	21	106	30	Glad hearts were theirs, when calm fell about them, and he brought them to the haven where they longed to be.
 Psalms	Ps	21	106	31	Praise they the Lord in his mercies, in his wondrous dealings with mortal men;
 Psalms	Ps	21	106	32	let them extol his name, where the people gather, glorify him where the elders sit in council.
 Psalms	Ps	21	106	33	Here, he changes rivers into desert sand, wells into dry ground;
 Psalms	Ps	21	106	34	land that once was fruitful into a salty marsh, to punish its people’s guilt.
 Psalms	Ps	21	106	35	There, he turns the wilderness into pools of water, desert ground into springs;
 Psalms	Ps	21	106	36	and establishes hungry folk there, so that they build themselves a city to dwell in,
 Psalms	Ps	21	106	37	sow fields, and plant vineyards, and reap the harvest;
 Psalms	Ps	21	106	38	he blesses them, so that their numbers increase beyond measure, and to their cattle grants increase.
 Psalms	Ps	21	106	39	Once, they were but few, worn down by stress of need and ill fortune;
 Psalms	Ps	21	106	40	but now the same power that shames proud chieftains, and keeps them wandering in a pathless desert,
 Psalms	Ps	21	106	41	has rescued the poor from need, their households thrive like their own flocks.
 Psalms	Ps	21	106	42	Honest men will rejoice to witness it, and malice will stand dumb with confusion.
 Psalms	Ps	21	106	43	Heed it well, if thou wouldst be wise; be these thy study, the mercies of the Lord.
 Psalms	Ps	21	107	1	(A song. A psalm. Of David.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	107	2	A true heart, my God, a heart true to thy service; I will sing of thee and praise thee.
 Psalms	Ps	21	107	3	Wake, my heart, wake, echoes of harp and viol; dawn shall find me watching.
 Psalms	Ps	21	107	4	Let me give thanks, Lord, for all the world to hear it, sing psalms while the Gentiles listen,
 Psalms	Ps	21	107	5	of thy mercy, high above heaven itself, of thy faithfulness, that reaches the clouds!
 Psalms	Ps	21	107	6	O God, mount high above the heavens till thy glory overshadows the whole earth.
 Psalms	Ps	21	107	7	Now bring aid to the men thou lovest, give our prayer answer, and lift thy right hand to save.
 Psalms	Ps	21	107	8	God’s word came to us from his sanctuary: In triumph I will divide up Sichem, and parcel out the valley of Tents;
 Psalms	Ps	21	107	9	to me Galaad, to me Manasses belongs; Ephraim is my helmet, Juda the staff I bear.
 Psalms	Ps	21	107	10	Now Moab, too, shall be my drudge; over Edom I will claim my right; I will lead the Philistines away in triumph.
 Psalms	Ps	21	107	11	Such was the oracle; but now who is to lead me on my march against this fortress, who is to find an entrance for me into Edom,
 Psalms	Ps	21	107	12	when thou, O God, hast disowned us, and wilt not go into battle with our armies?
 Psalms	Ps	21	107	13	It is thou that must deliver us from peril; vain is the help of man.
 Psalms	Ps	21	107	14	Only through God can we fight victoriously; only he can trample our oppressors in the dust.
 Psalms	Ps	21	108	1	(To the choir-master. Of David. A psalm.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	108	2	God that guardest my renown, do not leave me unbefriended; there are malicious lips, treacherous lips, that decry me;
 Psalms	Ps	21	108	3	whispering against me, hedging me about with a conspiracy of hatred, in unprovoked attack.
 Psalms	Ps	21	108	4	On their side, all calumny in return for love, on mine all prayer;
 Psalms	Ps	21	108	5	kindness is repaid with injury, love with ill will.
 Psalms	Ps	21	108	6	An ill master let him have, and an accuser ready at his side;
 Psalms	Ps	21	108	7	let him leave the court of judgement a doomed man, pleading with heaven in vain.
 Psalms	Ps	21	108	8	Swiftly let his days come to an end, and his office be entrusted to another;
 Psalms	Ps	21	108	9	orphancy for the children, widowhood for the wife!
 Psalms	Ps	21	108	10	Driven from a ruined home, to and fro let his children wander, begging their bread,
 Psalms	Ps	21	108	11	while eager creditors eye his goods, and strangers divide the fruits of his toil.
 Psalms	Ps	21	108	12	May no friend be left to do him a kindness, none to have pity on his defenceless kin;
 Psalms	Ps	21	108	13	a speedy end to his race, oblivion for his name before a generation passes!
 Psalms	Ps	21	108	14	Still may the sin of his fathers be remembered in the Lord’s sight, his mother’s guilt remain indelible;
 Psalms	Ps	21	108	15	still may the Lord keep it in mind, and wipe out their memory from the earth.
 Psalms	Ps	21	108	16	Did he himself keep mercy in mind,
 Psalms	Ps	21	108	17	when he persecuted the helpless, the destitute, the grief-stricken, and marked them down for death?
 Psalms	Ps	21	108	18	Cursing he loved, upon him let the curse fall; for blessing he cared little, may blessing still pass him by. Let cursing wrap him about, sink like water into his inmost being, soak, like oil, into the marrow of his bones!
 Psalms	Ps	21	108	19	Let it be the garb he wears, cling to him like a girdle that he can never take off.
 Psalms	Ps	21	108	20	So, in their own coin, may the Lord repay them, my accusers that defame me so cruelly.
 Psalms	Ps	21	108	21	But do thou, my Lord and Master, take my part, to defend thy own honour; no mercy is so tender as thine.
 Psalms	Ps	21	108	22	Deliver me in my helpless need; my heart is pierced through with anguish.
 Psalms	Ps	21	108	23	Like a tapering shadow I depart, swept away like a locust on the wing.
 Psalms	Ps	21	108	24	My knees are weak with fasting, my strength pines away unnourished.
 Psalms	Ps	21	108	25	They make a laughing-stock of me, toss their heads in derision as they pass by.
 Psalms	Ps	21	108	26	Help me, O Lord my God; deliver me in thy mercy;
 Psalms	Ps	21	108	27	prove to them that my woes are a visitation from thee, sent by no hand but thine.
 Psalms	Ps	21	108	28	Bless me, thou, and let them curse as they will; disappoint my adversaries, and grant thy servant relief.
 Psalms	Ps	21	108	29	Let these, my accusers, be covered with shame, wrapped in the mantle of their own confusion.
 Psalms	Ps	21	108	30	Loudly will I give the Lord thanks, praise him before multitudes that listen;
 Psalms	Ps	21	108	31	the Lord who has stood at the right hand of the friendless, brought redress to an innocent soul misjudged.
 Psalms	Ps	21	109	1	(Of David. A psalm. ) To the Master I serve the Lord’s promise was given, Sit here at my right hand while I make thy enemies a footstool under thy feet.
 Psalms	Ps	21	109	2	The Lord will make thy empire spring up like a branch out of Sion; thou art to bear rule in the midst of thy enemies.
 Psalms	Ps	21	109	3	From birth, princely state shall be thine, holy and glorious; thou art my son, born like dew before the day-star rises.
 Psalms	Ps	21	109	4	The Lord has sworn an oath there is no retracting, Thou art a priest for ever in the line of Melchisedech.
 Psalms	Ps	21	109	5	At thy right hand, the Lord will beat down kings in the day of his vengeance;
 Psalms	Ps	21	109	6	he will pass sentence on the nations, heap high the bodies, scatter far and wide the heads of the slain.
 Psalms	Ps	21	109	7	Let him but drink of the brook by the wayside, he will lift up his head in victory.
 Psalms	Ps	21	110	1	(Alleluia.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	110	2	All my heart goes out to the Lord in praise, Before the assembly where the just are gathered.
 Psalms	Ps	21	110	3	Chant we the Lord’s wondrous doings, delight and study of all who love him.
 Psalms	Ps	21	110	4	Ever his deeds are high and glorious, faithful he abides to all eternity.
 Psalms	Ps	21	110	5	Great deeds, that he keeps still in remembrance!
 Psalms	Ps	21	110	6	He, the Lord, is kind and merciful. In abundance he fed the men who feared him, keeping his covenant for ever.
 Psalms	Ps	21	110	7	Lordly the power he shewed his people,
 Psalms	Ps	21	110	8	making the lands of the heathen their possession. No act but shews him just and faithful; of his decrees there is no relenting.
 Psalms	Ps	21	110	9	Perpetual time shall leave them changeless; right and truth are their foundation.
 Psalms	Ps	21	110	10	So he has brought our race deliverance; to all eternity stands his covenant. Unutterable is his name and worshipful;
 Psalms	Ps	21	110	11	vain without his fear is learning. Wise evermore are you who follow it; yours the prize that lasts for ever.
 Psalms	Ps	21	111	1	(Alleluia.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	111	2	A blessed man is he, who fears the Lord, bearing great love to his commandments.
 Psalms	Ps	21	111	3	Children of his shall win renown in their country; do right, and thy sons shall find a blessing.
 Psalms	Ps	21	111	4	Ease shall dwell in his house, and great prosperity; fame shall ever record his bounty.
 Psalms	Ps	21	111	5	Good men see a light dawn in darkness; his light, who is merciful, kind and faithful.
 Psalms	Ps	21	111	6	It goes well with the man who lends in pity, just and merciful in his dealings.
 Psalms	Ps	21	111	7	Length of days shall leave him still unshaken; men will remember the just for ever.
 Psalms	Ps	21	111	8	No fear shall he have of evil tidings; on the Lord his hope is fixed unchangeably.
 Psalms	Ps	21	111	9	Patient his heart remains and stedfast, quietly he waits for the downfall of his enemies.
 Psalms	Ps	21	111	10	Rich are his alms to the needy; still his bounty abides in memory. The Lord will lift up his head in triumph;
 Psalms	Ps	21	111	11	ungodly men are ill content to see it. Vainly they gnash their teeth in envy; worldly hopes must fade and perish.
 Psalms	Ps	21	112	1	(Alleluia.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	112	2	Praise the Lord, you that are his servants, praise the name of the Lord together.
 Psalms	Ps	21	112	3	Blessed be the Lord’s name at all times, from this day to all eternity;
 Psalms	Ps	21	112	4	from the sun’s rise to the sun’s setting let the Lord’s name be praised continually.
 Psalms	Ps	21	112	5	The Lord is sovereign king of all the nations; his glory is high above the heavens.
 Psalms	Ps	21	112	6	Who is like the Lord our God, so high above us,
 Psalms	Ps	21	112	7	that stoops to regard both heaven and earth,
 Psalms	Ps	21	112	8	lifting up the poor from the dust he lay in, raising the beggar out of his dung-hill,
 Psalms	Ps	21	112	9	to find him a place among the princes, the princes that rule over his people?
 Psalms	Ps	21	112	10	He gives the barren woman a home to dwell in, a mother rejoicing in her children.
 Psalms	Ps	21	113	1	(Alleluia.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	113	2	When Israel came out of Egypt, and the sons of Jacob heard no more a strange language,
 Psalms	Ps	21	113	3	the Lord took Juda for his sanctuary, Israel for his own dominion.
 Psalms	Ps	21	113	4	The seas fled at the sight they witnessed, backward flowed the stream of Jordan;
 Psalms	Ps	21	113	5	up leapt, like rams, the startled mountains, up leapt the hills, like yearling sheep.
 Psalms	Ps	21	113	6	What ailed you, seas, that you fled in terror, Jordan’s stream, what drove thee back?
 Psalms	Ps	21	113	7	Why did you leap up like rams, you mountains, leap up, you hills, like yearling sheep?
 Psalms	Ps	21	113	8	Let earth thrill at its Master’s presence; it is he that comes, the God of Jacob,
 Psalms	Ps	21	113	9	who turned the rock into pools of water, the flint-stone into a springing well.
 Psalms	Ps	21	113	10	Not to us, Lord, not to us the glory; let thy name alone be honoured;
 Psalms	Ps	21	113	11	thine the merciful, thine the faithful; why must the heathen say, Their God deserts them?
 Psalms	Ps	21	113	12	Our God is a God that dwells in heaven; all that his will designs, he executes.
 Psalms	Ps	21	113	13	The heathen have silver idols and golden, gods which the hands of men have fashioned.
 Psalms	Ps	21	113	14	They have mouths, and yet are silent; eyes they have, and yet are sightless;
 Psalms	Ps	21	113	15	ears they have, and want all hearing; noses, and yet no smell can reach them;
 Psalms	Ps	21	113	16	hands unfeeling, feet unstirring; never a sound their throats may utter.
 Psalms	Ps	21	113	17	Such be the end of all who make them, such the reward of all who trust them.
 Psalms	Ps	21	113	18	It is the Lord that gives hope to the race of Israel, their only help, their only stronghold;
 Psalms	Ps	21	113	19	the Lord that gives hope to the race of Aaron, their only help, their only stronghold;
 Psalms	Ps	21	113	20	the Lord that gives hope to all who fear him, their only help, their only stronghold.
 Psalms	Ps	21	113	21	The Lord keeps us in mind, and grants us blessing, blesses the race of Israel, blesses the race of Aaron;
 Psalms	Ps	21	113	22	all those who fear the Lord, small and great alike, he blesses.
 Psalms	Ps	21	113	23	Still may the Lord grant you increase, you and your children after you;
 Psalms	Ps	21	113	24	the blessing of the Lord be upon you. It is he that made both heaven and earth;
 Psalms	Ps	21	113	25	to the Lord belongs the heaven of heavens, the earth he gives to the children of men.
 Psalms	Ps	21	113	26	From the dead, Lord, thou hast no praises, the men who go down into the place of silence;
 Psalms	Ps	21	113	27	but we bless the Lord, we, the living, from this day to all eternity.
 Psalms	Ps	21	114	1	(Alleluia.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	114	2	My heart is aflame, so graciously the Lord listens to my entreaty;
 Psalms	Ps	21	114	3	the Lord, who grants me audience when I invoke his name.
 Psalms	Ps	21	114	4	Death’s noose about me, caught in the snares of the grave, ever I found distress and grief at my side,
 Psalms	Ps	21	114	5	till I called upon the Lord, Save me, Lord, in my peril.
 Psalms	Ps	21	114	6	Merciful the Lord our God is, and just, and full of pity;
 Psalms	Ps	21	114	7	he cares for simple hearts, and to me, when I lay humbled, he brought deliverance.
 Psalms	Ps	21	114	8	Return, my soul, where thy peace lies; the Lord has dealt kindly with thee;
 Psalms	Ps	21	114	9	he has saved my life from peril, banished my tears, kept my feet from falling.
 Psalms	Ps	21	114	10	Mine to walk at ease, enjoying the Lord’s presence, in the land of the living.
 Psalms	Ps	21	115	1	I trusted, even when most I bewailed my unhappy lot;
 Psalms	Ps	21	115	2	bewildered, I said, Man’s faith is false;
 Psalms	Ps	21	115	3	but the Lord’s mercies have never failed me; what return shall I make to him?
 Psalms	Ps	21	115	4	I will take the cup that is pledge of my deliverance, and invoke the name of the Lord upon it;
 Psalms	Ps	21	115	5	I will pay the Lord my vows in the presence of all his people.
 Psalms	Ps	21	115	6	Dear in the Lord’s sight is the death of those who love him;
 Psalms	Ps	21	115	7	and am not I, Lord, thy servant, born of thy own handmaid? Thou hast broken the chains that bound me;
 Psalms	Ps	21	115	8	I will sacrifice in thy honour, and call on the name of the Lord.
 Psalms	Ps	21	115	9	Before a throng of worshippers I will pay the Lord my vows,
 Psalms	Ps	21	115	10	here in the courts of the Lord’s house, here, Jerusalem, in thy heart.
 Psalms	Ps	21	116	1	(Alleluia.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	116	2	Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, let all the nations of the world do him honour.
 Psalms	Ps	21	116	3	Abundant has his mercy been towards us; the Lord remains faithful to his word for ever.
 Psalms	Ps	21	117	1	(Alleluia.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	117	2	Give thanks to the Lord; the Lord is gracious, his mercy endures for ever.
 Psalms	Ps	21	117	3	Echo the cry, sons of Israel; the Lord is gracious, his mercy endures for ever.
 Psalms	Ps	21	117	4	His mercy endures for ever, echo the cry, sons of Aaron;
 Psalms	Ps	21	117	5	his mercy endures for ever; echo the cry, all you who are the Lord’s worshippers.
 Psalms	Ps	21	117	6	I called on the Lord when trouble beset me, and the Lord listened, and brought me relief.
 Psalms	Ps	21	117	7	With the Lord at my side, I have no fear of the worst man can do;
 Psalms	Ps	21	117	8	with the Lord at my side to aid me, I shall yet see my enemies baffled.
 Psalms	Ps	21	117	9	Better trust the Lord than rely on the help of man;
 Psalms	Ps	21	117	10	better trust the Lord than rely on the word of princes.
 Psalms	Ps	21	117	11	Let all heathendom ring me round, see, in the power of the Lord I crush them!
 Psalms	Ps	21	117	12	They cut me off from every way of escape, but see, in the power of the Lord I crush them!
 Psalms	Ps	21	117	13	They swarm about me like bees, their fury blazes up like fire among thorns, but see, in the power of the Lord, I crush them!
 Psalms	Ps	21	117	14	I reeled under the blow, and had well-nigh fallen, but still the Lord was there to aid me.
 Psalms	Ps	21	117	15	Who but the Lord is my protector, my stronghold; who but the Lord has brought me deliverance?
 Psalms	Ps	21	117	16	The homes of the just echo, now, with glad cries of victory; the power of the Lord has triumphed.
 Psalms	Ps	21	117	17	The power of the Lord has brought me to great honour, the power of the Lord has triumphed.
 Psalms	Ps	21	117	18	I am reprieved from death, to live on and proclaim what the Lord has done for me.
 Psalms	Ps	21	117	19	The Lord has chastened me, chastened me indeed, but he would not doom me to die.
 Psalms	Ps	21	117	20	Open me the gates where right dwells; let me go in and thank the Lord!
 Psalms	Ps	21	117	21	Here is the gate that leads to the Lord’s presence; here shall just souls find entry.
 Psalms	Ps	21	117	22	Thanks be to thee, Lord, for giving me audience, thanks be to thee, my deliverer.
 Psalms	Ps	21	117	23	The very stone which the builders rejected has become the chief stone at the corner;
 Psalms	Ps	21	117	24	this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes.
 Psalms	Ps	21	117	25	This day is a holiday of the Lord’s own choosing; greet this day with rejoicing, greet this day with triumph!
 Psalms	Ps	21	117	26	Deliverance, Lord, deliverance; Lord, grant us days of prosperity!
 Psalms	Ps	21	117	27	Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! A blessing from the Lord’s house upon your company!
 Psalms	Ps	21	117	28	The Lord is God; his light shines out to welcome us; marshal the procession aright, with a screen of boughs that reaches to the very horns of the altar.
 Psalms	Ps	21	117	29	Thou art my God, mine to thank thee, thou art my God, mine to extol thee.
 Psalms	Ps	21	117	30	Give thanks to the Lord; the Lord is gracious, his mercy endures for ever.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	1	Ah, blessed they, who pass through life’s journey unstained, who follow the law of the Lord!
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	2	Ah, blessed they, who cherish his decrees, make him the whole quest of their hearts!
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	3	Afar from wrong-doing, thy sure paths they tread.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	4	Above all else it binds us, the charge thou hast given us to keep.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	5	Ah, how shall my steps be surely guided to keep faith with thy covenant?
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	6	Attentive to all thy commandments, I go my way undismayed.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	7	A true heart’s worship thou shalt have, thy just awards prompting me.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	8	All shall be done thy laws demand, so thou wilt not forsake me utterly.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	9	Best shall he keep his youth unstained, who is true to thy trust.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	10	Be thou the whole quest of my heart; never let me turn aside from thy commandments.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	11	Buried deep in my heart, thy warnings shall keep me clear of sin.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	12	Blessed art thou, O Lord, teach me to know thy will.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	13	By these lips let the awards thou makest ever be recorded.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	14	Blithely as one that has found great possessions, I follow thy decrees.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	15	Bethinking me still of the charge thou givest, I will mark thy footsteps.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	16	Be thy covenant ever my delight, thy words kept in memory.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	17	Crown thy servant with life, to live faithful to thy commands.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	18	Clear sight be mine, to contemplate the wonders of thy law.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	19	Comfort this earthly exile; do not refuse me the knowledge of thy will.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	20	Crushed lies my spirit, longing ever for thy just awards.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	21	Chastener of the proud, thy curse lies on all who swerve from thy covenant.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	22	Clear me of the reproach that shames me, as I was ever attentive to thy claims.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	23	Closeted together, princes plot against me, thy servant, that thinks only of thy decrees.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	24	Claims lovingly cherished, decrees that are my counsellors!
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	25	Deep lies my soul in the dust, restore life to me, as thou hast promised.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	26	Deign, now, to shew me thy will, thou who hast listened when I opened my heart to thee.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	27	Direct me in the path thou biddest me follow, and all my musing shall be of thy wonderful deeds.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	28	Despair wrings tears from me; let thy promises raise me up once more.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	29	Deliver me from every false thought; make me free of thy covenant.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	30	Duty’s path my choice, I keep thy bidding ever in remembrance.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	31	Disappoint me, Lord, never, one that holds fast by thy commandments.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	32	Do but open my heart wide, and easy lies the path thou hast decreed.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	33	Expound, Lord, thy whole bidding to me; faithfully I will keep it.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	34	Enlighten me, to scan thy law closely, and keep true to it with all my heart.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	35	Eagerly I long to be guided in the way of thy obedience.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	36	Ever let my choice be set on thy will, not on covetous thoughts.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	37	Eyes have I none for vain phantoms; let me find life in following thy ways.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	38	Establish with me, thy servant, the promise made to thy worshippers.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	39	Ease me of the reproach my heart dreads, thou, whose awards are gracious.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	40	Each command of thine I embrace lovingly; do thou in thy faithfulness grant me life.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	41	For me too, Lord, thy mercy, for me too the deliverance thou hast promised!
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	42	Fit answer for those who taunt me, that I rely on thy truth.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	43	Faithful thy promise, let me not boast in vain; in thy covenant lies my hope.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	44	For ever and for evermore true to thy charge thou shalt find me.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	45	Freely shall my feet tread, if thy will is all my quest.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	46	Fearlessly will I talk of thy decrees in the presence of kings, and be never abashed.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	47	Fain would I have all my comfort in the law I love.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	48	Flung wide my arms to greet thy law, ever in my thoughts thy bidding.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	49	Go not back on the word thou hast pledged to thy servant; there lies all my hope.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	50	Good news in my affliction, thy promises have brought me life.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	51	Ground down by the scorn of my oppressors, never from thy law I swerve aside.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	52	Gracious comfort, Lord, is the memory of thy just dealings in times long past.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	53	Great ruth have I to see wrong-doers, and how they abandon thy law.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	54	Gone out into a land of exile, of thy covenant I make my song.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	55	Gloom of the night finds me still thinking of thy name, Lord, still observant of thy bidding.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	56	Guerdon I ask no other, but the following of thy will.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	57	Heritage, Lord, I claim no other, but to obey thy word.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	58	Heart-deep my supplication before thee for the mercies thou hast promised.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	59	Have I not planned out my path, turned aside to follow thy decrees?
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	60	Haste such as mine can brook no delay in carrying out all thy bidding.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	61	Hemmed in by the snares which sinners laid for me, never was I forgetful of thy law.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	62	Hearken when I rise at dead of night to praise thee for thy just dealings.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	63	How well I love the souls that fear thee, and are true to thy trust!
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	64	How thy mercy fills the earth, Lord! Teach me to do thy will.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	65	In fulfilment of thy promise, Lord, what kindness thou hast shewn thy servant!
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	66	Inspire, instruct me still; all my hope is in thy covenant.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	67	Idly I strayed till thou didst chasten me; no more shall thy warnings go unheeded.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	68	Indeed, indeed thou art gracious; teach me to do thy bidding.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	69	In vain my oppressors plot against me; thy will is all my quest.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	70	Inhuman hearts, curdled with scorn! For me, thy law is enough.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	71	It was in mercy thou didst chasten me, schooling me to thy obedience.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	72	Is not the law thou hast given dearer to me than rich store of gold and silver?
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	73	Jealous for the handiwork thou hast made, teach me to understand thy commandments.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	74	Joy shall be theirs, thy true worshippers, to see the confidence I have in thy word.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	75	Just are thy awards; I know well, Lord, it was in faithfulness thou didst afflict me.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	76	Judge me no more; pity and comfort thy servant as thou hast promised.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	77	Judge me no more; pardon and life for one that loves thy will!
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	78	Just be their fall, who wrong me scornfully; thy law is all my study.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	79	Joined to my company be every soul that worships thee and heeds thy warnings.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	80	Jealously let my heart observe thy bidding; let me not hope in vain.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	81	Keeping watch for thy aid, my soul languishes, yet I trust in thy word.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	82	Keeping watch for the fulfilment of thy promise, my eyes languish for comfort still delayed.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	83	Kitchen-smoke shrivels the wine-skin; so waste I, yet never forget thy will.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	84	Knowest thou not how short are thy servant’s days? Soon be my wrongs redressed.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	85	Knaves will be plotting against me still, that are no friends to thy law.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	86	Knaves they are that wrong me; bring aid, as thy covenant stands unchanging.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	87	Keep thy bidding I would, though small hope of life they had left me.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	88	Kind as thou ever wert, preserve me; then utter thy bidding, and I will obey.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	89	Lord, the word thou hast spoken stands ever unchanged as heaven.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	90	Loyal to his promise, age after age, is he who made the enduring earth.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	91	Long as time lasts, these shall stand, obeying thy decree, Master of all.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	92	Lest I should sink in my affliction, thou hast given thy covenant to be my comfort.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	93	Life-giving are thy commands, never by me forgotten.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	94	Lend me thy aid, for thine I am, and thy bidding is all my quest.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	95	Let sinners go about to destroy me, I wait on thy will.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	96	Look where I may, all good things must end; only thy law is wide beyond measure.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	97	My delight, Lord, is in thy bidding; ever my thoughts return to it.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	98	Musing still on thy commandments, I have grown more prudent than my enemies.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	99	More wisdom have I than all my teachers, so well have I pondered thy decrees.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	100	More learning have I than my elders, I that hold true to thy charge.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	101	Mindful of thy warnings, I guide my steps clear of every evil path.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	102	Meek under thy tuition, thy will I keep ever in view.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	103	Meat most appetizing are thy promises; never was honey so sweet to my taste.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	104	Made wise by thy law, I shun every path of evil-doing.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	105	No lamp like thy word to guide my feet, to shew light on my path.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	106	Never will I retract my oath to give thy just commands observance.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	107	Nothing, Lord, but affliction, never the saving help thou didst promise me?
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	108	Nay, Lord, accept these vows of mine; teach me to do thy bidding.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	109	Needs must I carry my life in my hands, yet am I ever mindful of thy law.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	110	Nearly the snares of the wicked caught my feet, yet would I not swerve from thy obedience.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	111	Now and ever thy covenant is my prize, is my heart’s comfort.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	112	Now and ever to do thy will perfectly is my heart’s aim.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	113	Out upon the men that play traitor to the law I love!
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	114	Other defence, other shield have I none; in thy law I trust.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	115	Out of my path, lovers of wrong; I will keep my God’s commandments.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	116	Only let thy promised aid preserve me; do not disappoint me of the hope I cherish.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	117	Only do thou sustain me in safety, looking ever to thy will.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	118	Obey thee who will not, shall earn thy disdain; idle is all their scheming.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	119	Outcasts they are that profane the land with wrong; for me, thy law is enough.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	120	Overcome is my whole being with the fear of thee; I am adread of thy judgements.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	121	Protect the justice of my cause; never leave me at the mercy of my oppressors.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	122	Pledge thyself still to befriend me; save me from the oppression of my enemies.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	123	Pining away, I look for thy saving help, the faithful keeping of thy promises.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	124	Pity thy own servant, and teach him thy decrees.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	125	Perfect in thy own servant’s heart the knowledge of thy will.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	126	Put off the hour, Lord, no more; too long thy commandment stands defied.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	127	Precious beyond gold or jewel I hold thy law.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	128	Prized be every decree of thine; forsworn be every path of evil-doing.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	129	Right wonderful thy decrees are, hard to read, and well my heart heeds them.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	130	Revelation and light thy words disclose to the simple.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	131	Rises ever a sigh from my lips as I long after thy covenant.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	132	Regard and pity me, as thou hast pity for all that love thy name.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	133	Rule thou my path as thou hast promised; never be wrong-doing my master.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	134	Rescue me from man’s oppression, to wait henceforth on thy bidding.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	135	Restore to thy servant the smile of thy living favour, and teach him to know thy will.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	136	Rivers of tears flow from my eyes, to see thy law forgotten.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	137	So just, Lord, thou art, thy awards so truly given!
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	138	Strict justice and utter faithfulness inspire all thy decrees.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	139	Stung by love’s jealousy, I watch my enemies defy thy bidding.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	140	Shall not I, thy servant, love thy promises, tested and found true?
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	141	Still despised and disinherited, I do not forget thy charge.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	142	Stands thy faithfulness eternally, thy law for ever changeless.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	143	Sorrow and distress have fallen on me; in thy commandments is all my comfort.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	144	Sentence eternal is thy decree; teach me the wisdom that brings life.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	145	Thy audience, Lord, my whole heart claims, a heart true to thy trust.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	146	To thee I cry, O grant deliverance; I will do all thy bidding.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	147	Twilight comes, and I awake to plead with thee, hoping ever in thy promises.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	148	Through the night my eyes keep watch, to ponder thy sayings.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	149	Thine, Lord, to listen in thy mercy, and grant life according to thy will.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	150	Treacherous foes draw near, that are strangers to thy covenant.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	151	Thou, Lord, art close at hand; all thy awards are true.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	152	Taught long since by thy decrees, I know well thou hast ordained them everlastingly.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	153	Unblessed is my lot; look down and rescue me, that still am mindful of thy law.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	154	Uphold my cause, and deliver me; true to thy promise, grant me life.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	155	Unknown thy mercy to the sinner that defies thy bidding.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	156	Unnumbered, Lord, are thy blessings; as thy will is, grant me life.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	157	Under all the assaults of my oppressors, I keep true to thy charge.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	158	Unhappy I, that watch thy warnings to the sinner go unheeded!
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	159	Up, Lord, and witness the love I bear thy covenant; in thy mercy bid me live!
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	160	Unchanging truth is thy word’s fountain-head, eternal the force of thy just decrees.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	161	Vexed by the causeless malice of princes, my heart still dreads thy warnings.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	162	Victors rejoice not more over rich spoils, than I in thy promises.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	163	Villainy I abhor and renounce; thy law is all my love.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	164	Votive thanks seven times a day I give thee for the just awards thou makest.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	165	Very great peace is theirs who love thy law; their feet never stumble.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	166	Valiantly, Lord, I wait on thee for succour, keeping ever true to thy charge.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	167	Vanquished by great love, my heart is ever obedient to thy will.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	168	Vigilantly I observe precept and bidding of thine, living always as in thy sight.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	169	Wilt thou not admit my cry, Lord, to thy presence, and grant me thy promised gift of wisdom?
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	170	Wilt thou not countenance my plea, redeem thy pledge to deliver me?
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	171	What praise shall burst from my lips, when thou makest known thy will!
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	172	What hymns of thankfulness this tongue shall raise to the author of all just decrees!
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	173	Wouldst thou but lift thy hand to aid me, that take my stand on thy covenant!
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	174	Weary it is, Lord, waiting for deliverance, but thy law is my comfort.
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	175	When will thy just award grant redress, that I may live to praise thee?
 Psalms	Ps	21	118	176	Wayward thou seest me, like a lost sheep; come to look for thy servant, that is mindful still of thy bidding.
 Psalms	Ps	21	119	1	(A song of ascents.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	119	2	Not unheeded I cry to the Lord in the hour of my distress.
 Psalms	Ps	21	119	3	Lord, have pity and deliver me from the treacherous lips, the perjured tongue.
 Psalms	Ps	21	119	4	Perjurer, he will give thee all thy deserts and more;
 Psalms	Ps	21	119	5	sharp arrows from a warrior’s bow, blazing faggots of broom.
 Psalms	Ps	21	119	6	Unhappy I, that live an exile in Mosoch, or dwell among the tents of Cedar!
 Psalms	Ps	21	119	7	Long banished here among the enemies of peace,
 Psalms	Ps	21	119	8	for peace I plead, and their cry is still for battle.
 Psalms	Ps	21	120	1	(A song of ascents.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	120	2	I lift up my eyes to the hills, to find deliverance;
 Psalms	Ps	21	120	3	from the Lord deliverance comes to me, the Lord who made heaven and earth.
 Psalms	Ps	21	120	4	Never will he who guards thee allow thy foot to stumble; never fall asleep at his post!
 Psalms	Ps	21	120	5	Such a guardian has Israel, one who is never weary, never sleeps;
 Psalms	Ps	21	120	6	it is the Lord that guards thee, the Lord that stands at thy right hand to give thee shelter.
 Psalms	Ps	21	120	7	The sun’s rays by day, the moon’s by night, shall have no power to hurt thee.
 Psalms	Ps	21	120	8	The Lord will guard thee from all evil; the Lord will protect thee in danger;
 Psalms	Ps	21	120	9	the Lord will protect thy journeying and thy home-coming, henceforth and for ever.
 Psalms	Ps	21	121	1	(A song of ascents. Of David.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	121	2	Welcome sound, when I heard them saying, We will go into the Lord’s house!
 Psalms	Ps	21	121	3	Within thy gates, Jerusalem, our feet stand at last;
 Psalms	Ps	21	121	4	Jerusalem, built as a city should be built that is one in fellowship.
 Psalms	Ps	21	121	5	There the tribes meet, the Lord’s own tribes, to give praise, as Israel is ever bound, to the Lord’s name;
 Psalms	Ps	21	121	6	there the thrones are set for judgement, thrones for the house of David.
 Psalms	Ps	21	121	7	Pray for all that brings Jerusalem peace! May all who love thee dwell at ease!
 Psalms	Ps	21	121	8	Let there be peace within thy ramparts, ease in thy strongholds!
 Psalms	Ps	21	121	9	For love of my brethren and my familiar friends, peace is still my prayer for thee;
 Psalms	Ps	21	121	10	remembering the house of the Lord our God, for thy happiness I plead.
 Psalms	Ps	21	122	1	(A song of ascents.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	122	2	Unto thee I lift up my eyes, unto thee, who dwellest in the heavens.
 Psalms	Ps	21	122	3	See how the eyes of servants are fixed on the hands of their masters, the eyes of a maid on the hand of her mistress! Our eyes, too, are fixed on the Lord our God, waiting for him to shew mercy on us.
 Psalms	Ps	21	122	4	Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy on us; we have had our fill of man’s derision.
 Psalms	Ps	21	122	5	Our hearts can bear no more to be the scorn of luxury, the derision of the proud.
 Psalms	Ps	21	123	1	(A song of ascents. Of David.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	123	2	If the Lord had not been on our side, Israel may boast,
 Psalms	Ps	21	123	3	if the Lord had not been on our side when human foes assailed us,
 Psalms	Ps	21	123	4	it seemed as if they must have swallowed us up alive, so fierce their anger threatened us.
 Psalms	Ps	21	123	5	It seemed as if the tide must have sucked us down, the torrent closed above us;
 Psalms	Ps	21	123	6	closed above us the waters that ran so high.
 Psalms	Ps	21	123	7	Blessed be the Lord, who has not let us fall a prey to those ravening mouths!
 Psalms	Ps	21	123	8	Safe, like a bird rescued from the fowler’s snare; the snare is broken and we are safe!
 Psalms	Ps	21	123	9	Such help is ours, the Lord’s help, that made heaven and earth.
 Psalms	Ps	21	124	1	(A song of ascents.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	124	2	Those who trust in the Lord are strong as mount Sion itself, that stands
 Psalms	Ps	21	124	3	unmoved for ever. The hills protect Jerusalem; so the Lord protects his people, now and for ever.
 Psalms	Ps	21	124	4	Domain of the just! No longer shall godless men bear rule in it; else the just, too, might soil their hands with guilt.
 Psalms	Ps	21	124	5	Deal kindly, Lord, with the kindly, with the true-hearted.
 Psalms	Ps	21	124	6	Feet that stray into false paths the Lord will punish, as he punishes wrong-doers; but upon Israel there shall be peace.
 Psalms	Ps	21	125	1	(A song of ascents.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	125	2	When the Lord gave back Sion her banished sons, we walked like men in a dream;
 Psalms	Ps	21	125	3	in every mouth was laughter, joy was on every tongue. Among the heathen themselves it was said, What favour the Lord has shewn them!
 Psalms	Ps	21	125	4	Favour indeed the Lord has shewn us, and our hearts are rejoiced.
 Psalms	Ps	21	125	5	Deliver us, Lord, from our bondage; our withered hopes, Lord, like some desert water-course renew!
 Psalms	Ps	21	125	6	The men who are sowing in tears will reap, one day, with joy.
 Psalms	Ps	21	125	7	Mournful enough they go, but with seed to scatter; trust me, they will come back rejoicing, as they carry their sheaves with them.
 Psalms	Ps	21	126	1	(A song of ascents. Of Solomon.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	126	2	Vain is the builder’s toil, if the house is not of the Lord’s building; vainly the guard keeps watch, if the city has not the Lord for its guardian.
 Psalms	Ps	21	126	3	Vain, that you should be astir before daybreak, and sit on over your tasks late into the night, you whose bread is so hardly won; is it not in the hours of sleep that he blesses the men he loves?
 Psalms	Ps	21	126	4	Fatherhood itself is the Lord’s gift, the fruitful womb is a reward that comes from him.
 Psalms	Ps	21	126	5	Crown of thy youth, children are like arrows in a warrior’s hand.
 Psalms	Ps	21	126	6	Happy, whose quiver is well filled with these; their cause will not be set aside when they plead against their enemies at the gate.
 Psalms	Ps	21	127	1	(A song of ascents.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	127	2	Blessed thou art, if thou dost fear the Lord, and follow his paths!
 Psalms	Ps	21	127	3	Thyself shall eat what thy hands have toiled to win; blessed thou art; all good shall be thine.
 Psalms	Ps	21	127	4	Thy wife shall be fruitful as a vine, in the heart of thy home, the children round thy table sturdy as olive-branches.
 Psalms	Ps	21	127	5	Let a man serve the Lord, such is the blessing that awaits him.
 Psalms	Ps	21	127	6	May the Lord who dwells in Sion bless thee; mayest thou see Jerusalem in prosperity all thy life long.
 Psalms	Ps	21	127	7	Mayest thou live to see thy children’s children, and peace resting upon Israel.
 Psalms	Ps	21	128	1	(A song of ascents.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	128	2	Sore have they beset me even from my youth (let this be Israel’s boast);
 Psalms	Ps	21	128	3	sore have they beset me even from my youth, but never once outmatched me.
 Psalms	Ps	21	128	4	I bent my back to the oppressor, and long was the furrow ere the plough turned;
 Psalms	Ps	21	128	5	but the Lord proved faithful, and cut the bonds of tyranny asunder.
 Psalms	Ps	21	128	6	Let them be dismayed and routed, all these enemies of Sion.
 Psalms	Ps	21	128	7	Let them be like the stalks on a house-top, that wither there unharvested;
 Psalms	Ps	21	128	8	never will they be grasped in the reaper’s hand, or fill the binder’s bosom,
 Psalms	Ps	21	128	9	no passer-by will say, The Lord’s blessing on you; we bless you in the name of the Lord.
 Psalms	Ps	21	129	1	(A song of ascents.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	129	2	Out of the depths I cry to thee, O Lord;
 Psalms	Ps	21	129	3	Master, listen to my voice; let but thy ears be attentive to the voice that calls on thee for pardon.
 Psalms	Ps	21	129	4	If thou, Lord, wilt keep record of our iniquities, Master, who has strength to bear it?
 Psalms	Ps	21	129	5	Ah, but with thee there is forgiveness; be thy name ever revered.
 Psalms	Ps	21	129	6	I wait for the Lord, for his word of promise my soul waits;
 Psalms	Ps	21	129	7	patient my soul waits, as ever watchman that looked for the day. Patient as watchman at dawn,
 Psalms	Ps	21	129	8	for the Lord Israel waits, the Lord with whom there is mercy, with whom is abundant power to ransom.
 Psalms	Ps	21	129	9	He it is that will ransom Israel from all his iniquities.
 Psalms	Ps	21	130	1	(A song of ascents. Of David.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	130	2	Lord, my heart is not lifted up, my eyes not raised from the earth; my mind does not dwell on high things, on marvels that are beyond my reach.
 Psalms	Ps	21	130	3	Bear me witness that I kept my soul ever quiet, ever at peace. The thoughts of a child on its mother’s breast, a child’s thoughts were all my soul knew.
 Psalms	Ps	21	130	4	Let Israel trust in the Lord, henceforth and for ever.
 Psalms	Ps	21	131	1	(A song of ascents.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	131	2	In David’s reckoning, Lord, let not his patient care be forgotten,
 Psalms	Ps	21	131	3	the oath he swore to the Lord, the vow he made to the great God of Jacob:
 Psalms	Ps	21	131	4	Never will I come beneath the roof of my house, or climb up into the bed that is strewn for me;
 Psalms	Ps	21	131	5	never shall these eyes have sleep, these eye-lids close,
 Psalms	Ps	21	131	6	until I have found the Lord a home, the great God of Jacob a dwelling-place.
 Psalms	Ps	21	131	7	And now, at Ephrata, we have heard tidings of what we looked for, we have found it in the plains of Jaar;
 Psalms	Ps	21	131	8	now to go into his dwelling, pay reverence at his footstool!
 Psalms	Ps	21	131	9	Up, Lord, and take possession of thy resting-place, thou and the ark which is shrine of thy glory!
 Psalms	Ps	21	131	10	Let thy priests go clad in the vesture of innocence, thy faithful people cry aloud with rejoicing.
 Psalms	Ps	21	131	11	Think of thy servant David, and do not refuse audience to the king thou hast anointed.
 Psalms	Ps	21	131	12	Never will the Lord be false to that inviolable oath he swore to David: I will raise to thy throne heirs of thy own body;
 Psalms	Ps	21	131	13	if thy sons hold fast to my covenant, to the decrees which I make known to them, their sons too shall reign on thy throne for ever.
 Psalms	Ps	21	131	14	The Lord’s choice has fallen upon Sion, this is the dwelling he longed for:
 Psalms	Ps	21	131	15	Here, for ever, is my resting-place, here is my destined home.
 Psalms	Ps	21	131	16	Trust me, I will bless her with abundant store, the poor shall have bread to their heart’s content;
 Psalms	Ps	21	131	17	I will clothe her priests in the vesture of triumph, cries of rejoicing shall echo among her faithful people.
 Psalms	Ps	21	131	18	There the stock of David shall bud, there shall a lamp burn continually for the king I have anointed.
 Psalms	Ps	21	131	19	I will cover his enemies with confusion; on his brow the crown I gave shall shine untarnished.
 Psalms	Ps	21	132	1	(A song of ascents. Of David.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	132	2	Gracious the sight, and full of comfort, when brethren dwell united.
 Psalms	Ps	21	132	3	Gracious as balm poured on the head till it flows down on to the beard; balm that flowed down Aaron’s beard, and reached the very skirts of his robe.
 Psalms	Ps	21	132	4	It is as if dew like the dews of Hermon were falling on this hill of Sion; here, where the Lord grants benediction and life everlastingly.
 Psalms	Ps	21	133	1	(A song of ascents.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	133	2	Come, then, praise the Lord, all you that are the Lord’s servants; you that wait on the Lord’s house at midnight,
 Psalms	Ps	21	133	3	lift up your hands towards the sanctuary and bless the Lord.
 Psalms	Ps	21	133	4	May the Lord who dwells in Sion bless thee, the Lord who made heaven and earth!
 Psalms	Ps	21	134	1	(Alleluia.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	134	2	Praise the Lord’s name; praise the Lord, you that are his servants,
 Psalms	Ps	21	134	3	you who stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts where our God dwells.
 Psalms	Ps	21	134	4	Praise to the Lord, a Lord so gracious, praise to his name, a name so well beloved.
 Psalms	Ps	21	134	5	Has not the Lord made choice of Jacob, claimed Israel for his own?
 Psalms	Ps	21	134	6	Doubt it never, the Lord is great; he, our Master, is higher than all the gods.
 Psalms	Ps	21	134	7	In heaven and on earth, in the sea and in the deep waters beneath us, the Lord accomplishes his will;
 Psalms	Ps	21	134	8	summoning clouds from the ends of the earth, rain-storm wedding to lightning-flash, bringing winds out of his store-house.
 Psalms	Ps	21	134	9	He it was that smote the first-born of the Egyptians, man and beast alike;
 Psalms	Ps	21	134	10	what wonders and portents, Egypt, thou didst witness, sent to plague Pharao and all his servants!
 Psalms	Ps	21	134	11	He it was that smote nation after nation, and slew the kings in their pride,
 Psalms	Ps	21	134	12	Sehon king of the Amorrhites, and Og the king of Basan, and all the rulers of Chanaan,
 Psalms	Ps	21	134	13	and marked down their lands for a dwelling-place where his own people of Israel should dwell.
 Psalms	Ps	21	134	14	Lord, thy name abides for ever; age succeeds age, and thou art ever unforgotten.
 Psalms	Ps	21	134	15	The Lord defends his people, takes pity on his servants.
 Psalms	Ps	21	134	16	What are the idols of the heathen but silver and gold, gods which the hands of men have fashioned?
 Psalms	Ps	21	134	17	They have mouths, and yet are silent; eyes they have, and yet are sightless;
 Psalms	Ps	21	134	18	ears they have, and want all hearing, never a breath have they in their mouths.
 Psalms	Ps	21	134	19	Such the end of all who make them, such the reward of all who trust them.
 Psalms	Ps	21	134	20	Bless the Lord, sons of Israel, bless the Lord, sons of Aaron,
 Psalms	Ps	21	134	21	bless the Lord, sons of Levi, bless the Lord, all you that are the Lord’s worshippers.
 Psalms	Ps	21	134	22	Here, in Sion his dwelling-place, here, in Jerusalem, let the Lord’s name be blessed.
 Psalms	Ps	21	135	1	(Alleluia.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	135	2	Give thanks to the Lord for his goodness, his mercy is eternal;
 Psalms	Ps	21	135	3	give thanks to the God of gods, his mercy is eternal;
 Psalms	Ps	21	135	4	give thanks to the Lord of lords, his mercy is eternal.
 Psalms	Ps	21	135	5	Eternal his mercy, who does great deeds as none else can;
 Psalms	Ps	21	135	6	eternal his mercy, whose wisdom made the heavens;
 Psalms	Ps	21	135	7	eternal his mercy, who poised earth upon the floods.
 Psalms	Ps	21	135	8	Eternal his mercy, who made the great luminaries;
 Psalms	Ps	21	135	9	made the sun to rule by day, his mercy is eternal;
 Psalms	Ps	21	135	10	made the moon and the stars to rule by night, his mercy is eternal.
 Psalms	Ps	21	135	11	Eternal his mercy, who smote the Egyptians by smiting their first-born;
 Psalms	Ps	21	135	12	eternal his mercy, who delivered Israel from their midst,
 Psalms	Ps	21	135	13	with constraining power, with his arm raised on high, his mercy is eternal.
 Psalms	Ps	21	135	14	Eternal the mercy that divided the Red Sea in two,
 Psalms	Ps	21	135	15	eternal the mercy that led Israel through its waters,
 Psalms	Ps	21	135	16	eternal the mercy that drowned in the Red Sea Pharao and Pharao’s men.
 Psalms	Ps	21	135	17	And so he led his people through the wilderness, his mercy is eternal.
 Psalms	Ps	21	135	18	Eternal the mercy that smote great kings,
 Psalms	Ps	21	135	19	eternal the mercy that slew the kings in their pride,
 Psalms	Ps	21	135	20	Sehon king of the Amorrhites, his mercy is eternal,
 Psalms	Ps	21	135	21	and Og the king of Basan, his mercy is eternal.
 Psalms	Ps	21	135	22	Eternal the mercy that marked down their land to be a dwelling-place;
 Psalms	Ps	21	135	23	a dwelling-place for his servant Israel, his mercy is eternal.
 Psalms	Ps	21	135	24	Eternal the mercy that remembers us in our affliction,
 Psalms	Ps	21	135	25	eternal the mercy that rescues us from our enemies,
 Psalms	Ps	21	135	26	eternal the mercy that gives all living things their food.
 Psalms	Ps	21	135	27	Give thanks to the God of heaven, his mercy is eternal.
 Psalms	Ps	21	136	1	We sat down by the streams of Babylon and wept there, remembering Sion.
 Psalms	Ps	21	136	2	Willow-trees grow there, and on these we hung up our harps
 Psalms	Ps	21	136	3	when the men who took us prisoner cried out for a song. We must make sport for our enemies; A stave, there, from the music they sing at Sion!
 Psalms	Ps	21	136	4	What, should we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?
 Psalms	Ps	21	136	5	Jerusalem, if I forget thee, perish the skill of my right hand!
 Psalms	Ps	21	136	6	Let my tongue stick fast to the roof of my mouth if I cease to remember thee, if I love not Jerusalem dearer than heart’s content!
 Psalms	Ps	21	136	7	Remember, Lord, how the sons of Edom triumphed when Jerusalem fell; O’erthrow it, they cried, o’erthrow it, till the very foundation is left bare.
 Psalms	Ps	21	136	8	Babylon, pitiless queen, blessed be the man who deals out to thee the measure thou hast dealt to us;
 Psalms	Ps	21	136	9	blessed be the man who will catch up thy children, and dash them against the rocks!
 Psalms	Ps	21	137	1	(Of David.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	137	2	My heart’s thanks, Lord, for listening to the prayer I uttered; angels for my witnesses, I will sing of thy praise.
 Psalms	Ps	21	137	3	I bow down in worship towards thy sanctuary, praising thy name for thy mercy and faithfulness; thy own honour and thy pledged word thou hast vindicated for all the world to see.
 Psalms	Ps	21	137	4	To thee I appealed, and thou didst listen to me, didst fill my heart with courage.
 Psalms	Ps	21	137	5	All the kings of the earth, Lord, will praise thee now; were not thy promises made in their hearing?
 Psalms	Ps	21	137	6	Their song shall be of the Lord’s doings, how great is his renown,
 Psalms	Ps	21	137	7	the Lord, who is so high above us, yet looks with favour on the humble, looks on the proud too, but from far off.
 Psalms	Ps	21	137	8	Though affliction surround my path, thou dost preserve me; it is thy power that confronts my enemies’ malice, thy right hand that rescues me.
 Psalms	Ps	21	137	9	My purposes the Lord will yet speed; thy mercy, Lord, endures for ever, and wilt thou abandon us, the creatures of thy own hands?
 Psalms	Ps	21	138	1	(To the choir-master. Of David. A psalm.) Lord, I lie open to thy scrutiny; thou knowest me,
 Psalms	Ps	21	138	2	knowest when I sit down and when I rise up again, canst read my thoughts from far away.
 Psalms	Ps	21	138	3	Walk I or sleep I, thou canst tell; no movement of mine but thou art watching it.
 Psalms	Ps	21	138	4	Before ever the words are framed on my lips, all my thought is known to thee;
 Psalms	Ps	21	138	5	rearguard and vanguard, thou dost compass me about, thy hand still laid upon me.
 Psalms	Ps	21	138	6	Such wisdom as thine is far beyond my reach, no thought of mine can attain it.
 Psalms	Ps	21	138	7	Where can I go, then, to take refuge from thy spirit, to hide from thy view?
 Psalms	Ps	21	138	8	If I should climb up to heaven, thou art there; if I sink down to the world beneath, thou art present still.
 Psalms	Ps	21	138	9	If I could wing my way eastwards, or find a dwelling beyond the western sea,
 Psalms	Ps	21	138	10	still would I find thee beckoning to me, thy right hand upholding me.
 Psalms	Ps	21	138	11	Or perhaps I would think to bury myself in darkness; night should surround me, friendlier than day;
 Psalms	Ps	21	138	12	but no, darkness is no hiding-place from thee, with thee the night shines clear as day itself; light and dark are one.
 Psalms	Ps	21	138	13	Author, thou, of my inmost being, didst thou not form me in my mother’s womb?
 Psalms	Ps	21	138	14	I praise thee for my wondrous fashioning, for all the wonders of thy creation. Of my soul thou hast full knowledge,
 Psalms	Ps	21	138	15	and this mortal frame had no mysteries for thee, who didst contrive it in secret, devise its pattern, there in the dark recesses of the earth.
 Psalms	Ps	21	138	16	All my acts thy eyes have seen, all are set down already in thy record; my days were numbered before ever they came to be.
 Psalms	Ps	21	138	17	A riddle, O my God, thy dealings with me, so vast their scope!
 Psalms	Ps	21	138	18	As well count the sand, as try to fathom them; and, were that skill mine, thy own being still confronts me.
 Psalms	Ps	21	138	19	O God, wouldst thou but make an end of the wicked! Murderers, keep your distance from me!
 Psalms	Ps	21	138	20	Treacherously they rebel against thee, faithlessly set thee at defiance.
 Psalms	Ps	21	138	21	Lord, do I not hate the men who hate thee, am I not sick at heart over their rebellion?
 Psalms	Ps	21	138	22	Surpassing hatred I bear them, count them my sworn enemies.
 Psalms	Ps	21	138	23	Scrutinize me, O God, as thou wilt, and read my heart; put me to the test, and examine my restless thoughts.
 Psalms	Ps	21	138	24	See if on any false paths my heart is set, and thyself lead me in the ways of old.
 Psalms	Ps	21	139	1	(To the choir-master. A psalm. Of David.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	139	2	Rescue me, Lord, from human malice, save me from the lovers of oppression,
 Psalms	Ps	21	139	3	always plotting treachery in their hearts, always at their quarrelling,
 Psalms	Ps	21	139	4	tongues sharp as the tongues of serpents, lips that hide the poison of adders.
 Psalms	Ps	21	139	5	Preserve me Lord, from the power of sinful men, save me from these lovers of oppression who are plotting to trip my feet.
 Psalms	Ps	21	139	6	What hidden snares they set for me, these tyrants, what nets they spread to catch me, what traps they lay in my path!
 Psalms	Ps	21	139	7	To the Lord I make my appeal, Thou art my God, listen, Lord, to the voice that pleads with thee.
 Psalms	Ps	21	139	8	My Lord, my Master, my strong deliverer, it is thou that shieldest my head in the day of battle.
 Psalms	Ps	21	139	9	Lord, do not let malice have its way with me, do not prosper its evil designs.
 Psalms	Ps	21	139	10	They carry their heads high as they close in around me; let their conspiracy prove its own undoing;
 Psalms	Ps	21	139	11	let burning coals rain down on them, be they cast into a pit whence they shall rise no more.
 Psalms	Ps	21	139	12	Not long the blasphemer’s time on earth: misfortune will overtake the oppressor unawares.
 Psalms	Ps	21	139	13	Can I doubt that the Lord will avenge the helpless, will grant the poor redress?
 Psalms	Ps	21	139	14	Honest men will yet live to praise thy name; upright hearts to enjoy the smile of thy favour.
 Psalms	Ps	21	140	1	(A psalm. Of David.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	140	2	Come quickly, Lord, at my cry for succour; do not let my appeal to thee go unheard.
 Psalms	Ps	21	140	3	Welcome as incense-smoke let my prayer rise up before thee; when I lift up my hands, be it acceptable as the evening sacrifice.
 Psalms	Ps	21	140	4	Lord, set a guard on my mouth, post a sentry before my lips;
 Psalms	Ps	21	140	5	do not turn my heart towards thoughts of evil, and deeds of treachery; never let me take part with the wrong-doers, and share the banquet with them.
 Psalms	Ps	21	140	6	Rather let some just man deal me heavy blows; this shall be his kindness to me; reprove me, and it shall be balm poured over me; such unction never will this head refuse. Their injuries I will still greet with a prayer …
 Psalms	Ps	21	140	7	… My words have won their hearts, a people that had seen their chieftains hurled down the rock-face,
 Psalms	Ps	21	140	8	a people whose bones lie scattered at the grave’s mouth, like seed when the earth is cloven into furrows.
 Psalms	Ps	21	140	9	To thee these eyes look, my Lord, my Master; in thee I trust; let not my life be forfeit.
 Psalms	Ps	21	140	10	Preserve me from the ambush they have laid for me, from the snares of the wrong-doers.
 Psalms	Ps	21	140	11	Into their own net, sinner upon sinner, may they fall, and I pass on in safety.
 Psalms	Ps	21	141	1	(A maskil. Of David, when he was in the cave. A prayer.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	141	2	Loud is my cry to the Lord, the prayer I utter for the Lord’s mercy,
 Psalms	Ps	21	141	3	as I pour out my complaint before him, tell him of the affliction I endure.
 Psalms	Ps	21	141	4	My heart is ready to faint within me, but thou art watching over my path. They lie in ambush for me, there by the wayside;
 Psalms	Ps	21	141	5	I look to the right of me, and find none to take my part; all hope of escape is cut off from me, none is concerned for my safety.
 Psalms	Ps	21	141	6	To thee, Lord, I cry, claiming thee for my only refuge, all that is left me in this world of living men.
 Psalms	Ps	21	141	7	Listen, then, to my plea; thou seest me all defenceless. Rescue me from persecutors who are too strong for me; restore liberty to a captive soul.
 Psalms	Ps	21	141	8	What thanks, then, will I give to thy name, honest hearts all about me, rejoicing to see thy favour restored!
 Psalms	Ps	21	142	1	(A psalm. Of David.) Listen, Lord, to my prayer; give my plea a hearing, as thou art ever faithful; listen, thou who lovest the right.
 Psalms	Ps	21	142	2	Do not call thy servant to account; what man is there living that can stand guiltless in thy presence?
 Psalms	Ps	21	142	3	See how my enemies plot against my life, how they have abased me in the dust, set me down in dark places, like the long-forgotten dead!
 Psalms	Ps	21	142	4	My spirits are crushed within me, my heart is cowed.
 Psalms	Ps	21	142	5	And my mind goes back to past days; I think of all thou didst once, dwell on the proofs thou gavest of thy power.
 Psalms	Ps	21	142	6	To thee I spread out my hands in prayer, for thee my soul thirsts, like a land parched with drought.
 Psalms	Ps	21	142	7	Hasten, Lord, to answer my prayer; my spirit grows faint. Do not turn thy face away from me, and leave me like one sunk in the abyss.
 Psalms	Ps	21	142	8	Speedily let me win thy mercy, my hope is in thee; to thee I lift up my heart, shew me the path I must follow;
 Psalms	Ps	21	142	9	to thee I fly for refuge, deliver me, Lord, from my enemies.
 Psalms	Ps	21	142	10	Thou art my God, teach me to do thy will; let thy gracious spirit lead me, safe ground under my feet.
 Psalms	Ps	21	142	11	For the honour of thy own name, Lord, grant me life; in thy mercy rescue me from my cruel affliction.
 Psalms	Ps	21	142	12	Have pity on me, and scatter my enemies; thy servant I; make an end of my cruel persecutors.
 Psalms	Ps	21	143	1	(Of David.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	143	2	Blessed be the Lord, my refuge, who makes these hands strong for battle, these fingers skilled in fight;
 Psalms	Ps	21	143	3	the Lord who pities me and grants me safety, who shelters me and sets me at liberty, who protects me and gives me confidence, bowing down nations to my will.
 Psalms	Ps	21	143	4	Lord, what is Adam’s race, that thou givest heed to it, what is man, that thou carest for him?
 Psalms	Ps	21	143	5	Like the wind he goes, like a shadow his days pass.
 Psalms	Ps	21	143	6	Bid heaven stoop, Lord, and come down to earth; at thy touch, the mountains will be wreathed in smoke.
 Psalms	Ps	21	143	7	Brandish thy lightnings, to rout my enemies; shoot thy arrows, and throw them into confusion!
 Psalms	Ps	21	143	8	With heavenly aid, from yonder flood deliver me; rescue me from the power of alien foes,
 Psalms	Ps	21	143	9	who make treacherous promises, and lift their hands in perjury.
 Psalms	Ps	21	143	10	Then, O my God, I will sing thee a new song, on a ten-stringed harp I will sound thy praise;
 Psalms	Ps	21	143	11	the God to whom kings must look for victory, the God who has brought his servant David rescue.
 Psalms	Ps	21	143	12	Save me from the cruel sword, deliver me from the power of alien foes, who make treacherous promises, and lift their hands in perjury.
 Psalms	Ps	21	143	13	So may our sons grow to manhood, tall as the saplings, our daughters shapely as some column at the turn of a building, it may be, the temple itself.
 Psalms	Ps	21	143	14	Our garners full, well stored with every kind of plenty, our sheep bearing a thousand-fold, thronging the pasture in their tens of thousands,
 Psalms	Ps	21	143	15	our oxen straining at the load; no ruined walls, no exile, no lamenting in our streets.
 Psalms	Ps	21	143	16	Happy men call such a people as this; and is not the people happy, that has the Lord for its God?
 Psalms	Ps	21	144	1	(Praises. Of David.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	144	2	And shall I not extol thee, my God, my king; shall I not bless thy name for ever and for evermore?
 Psalms	Ps	21	144	3	Blessing shall be thine, day after day; for ever and for evermore praised be thy name.
 Psalms	Ps	21	144	4	Can any praise be worthy of the Lord’s majesty, any thought set limits to his greatness?
 Psalms	Ps	21	144	5	Down the ages the story of thy deeds is told, thy power is ever acclaimed;
 Psalms	Ps	21	144	6	each magnifies thy unapproachable glory, makes known thy wonders.
 Psalms	Ps	21	144	7	Fearful are the tales they tell of thy power, proclaiming thy magnificence;
 Psalms	Ps	21	144	8	grateful their memory of all thy goodness, as they boast of thy just dealings.
 Psalms	Ps	21	144	9	How gracious the Lord is, how merciful, how patient, how rich in pity!
 Psalms	Ps	21	144	10	Is he not a loving Lord to his whole creation; does not his mercy reach out to all that he has made?
 Psalms	Ps	21	144	11	Joining, then, Lord, in thy whole creation’s praise, let thy faithful servants bless thee;
 Psalms	Ps	21	144	12	let them publish the glory of thy kingdom, and discourse of thy power,
 Psalms	Ps	21	144	13	making that power known to the race of men, the glory, the splendour of that kingdom!
 Psalms	Ps	21	144	14	No age shall dawn but shall see thee reigning still; generations pass, and thy rule shall endure. O how true the Lord is to all his promises, how gracious in all his dealings!
 Psalms	Ps	21	144	15	Prostrate though men may fall, the Lord will lift them up, will revive their crushed spirits.
 Psalms	Ps	21	144	16	Quietly, Lord, thy creatures raise their eyes to thee, and thou grantest them, in due time, their nourishment,
 Psalms	Ps	21	144	17	Ready to open thy hand, and fill with thy blessing all that lives.
 Psalms	Ps	21	144	18	So faithful the Lord is in all he does, so gracious in all his dealings.
 Psalms	Ps	21	144	19	The Lord draws near to every man that calls upon him, will he but call upon him with a true heart.
 Psalms	Ps	21	144	20	Utter but the wish, you that fear the Lord, and he will grant it, will hear the cry, and bring aid.
 Psalms	Ps	21	144	21	Vigilantly the Lord watches over all that love him, marks down the wicked for destruction.
 Psalms	Ps	21	144	22	While these lips tell of the Lord’s praise, let all that lives bless his holy name, for ever, and for evermore.
 Psalms	Ps	21	145	1	(Alleluia.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	145	2	Praise the Lord, my soul; while life lasts, I will praise the Lord; of him, my God, shall my songs be while I am here to sing them. Do not put your trust in princes;
 Psalms	Ps	21	145	3	they are but men, they have no power to save.
 Psalms	Ps	21	145	4	As soon as the breath leaves his body, man goes back to the dust he belongs to; with that, all his designs will come to nothing.
 Psalms	Ps	21	145	5	Happier the man who turns to the God of Jacob for help, puts no confidence but in the Lord his God,
 Psalms	Ps	21	145	6	maker of heaven and earth and sea and all they contain;
 Psalms	Ps	21	145	7	the God who keeps faith for ever, who redresses wrong, and gives food to the hungry. The Lord, who brings release to the prisoner,
 Psalms	Ps	21	145	8	the Lord, who gives sight to the blind, the Lord, who comforts the burdened, the Lord, who befriends the innocent!
 Psalms	Ps	21	145	9	The Lord, who protects the stranger, who defends orphan and widow, who overturns the counsel of the wicked!
 Psalms	Ps	21	145	10	The Lord, reigning for ever, thy God, Sion, reigning from age to age! Alleluia.
 Psalms	Ps	21	146	1	(Alleluia.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	146	2	Praise the Lord; the Lord is gracious; sing to our God, a God who so claims our love; praise is his right.
 Psalms	Ps	21	146	3	The Lord is rebuilding Jerusalem, is calling the banished sons of Israel home;
 Psalms	Ps	21	146	4	he it is that heals the broken heart, and binds up its wounds.
 Psalms	Ps	21	146	5	Does he not know the number of the stars, and call each by its name?
 Psalms	Ps	21	146	6	How great a Lord is ours, how magnificent his strength, how inscrutable his wisdom!
 Psalms	Ps	21	146	7	The Lord is the defender of the oppressed, and lays the wicked low in the dust.
 Psalms	Ps	21	146	8	Strike up, then, in thanksgiving to the Lord, with the harp’s music praise our God;
 Psalms	Ps	21	146	9	the God who curtains heaven with cloud, and lays up a store of rain for the earth, who clothes the mountain-sides with grass, with corn for man’s need,
 Psalms	Ps	21	146	10	gives food to the cattle, food to the young ravens that cry out to him.
 Psalms	Ps	21	146	11	Not the well-mounted warrior is his choice, not the swift runner wins his favour;
 Psalms	Ps	21	146	12	the Lord’s favour is for those who fear him, and put their trust in his divine mercy.
 Psalms	Ps	21	147	1	Praise the Lord, Jerusalem; Sion, exalt thy God!
 Psalms	Ps	21	147	2	He it is that bolts thy gates fast, and blesses thy children, who dwell safe in thee;
 Psalms	Ps	21	147	3	that makes thy land a land of peace, and gives thee full ears of wheat to sustain thee.
 Psalms	Ps	21	147	4	See how he issues his command to the earth, how swift his word runs!
 Psalms	Ps	21	147	5	Now he spreads a pall of snow, covers earth with an ashy veil of rime,
 Psalms	Ps	21	147	6	doles out the scattered crusts of ice, binds the waters at the onset of his frost.
 Psalms	Ps	21	147	7	Then, at his word, all melts away; a breath from him, and the waters flow!
 Psalms	Ps	21	147	8	This is the God who makes his word known to Jacob, gives Israel ruling and decree.
 Psalms	Ps	21	147	9	Not such his dealings with any other nation; nowhere else the revelation of his will. Alleluia.
 Psalms	Ps	21	148	1	(Alleluia.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	148	2	Give praise to the Lord in heaven; praise him, all that dwells on high.
 Psalms	Ps	21	148	3	Praise him, all you angels of his, praise him, all his armies.
 Psalms	Ps	21	148	4	Praise him, sun and moon; praise him, every star that shines.
 Psalms	Ps	21	148	5	Praise him, you highest heavens, you waters beyond the heavens.
 Psalms	Ps	21	148	6	Let all these praise the Lord; it was his command that created them.
 Psalms	Ps	21	148	7	He has set them there unageing for ever, given them a law which cannot be altered.
 Psalms	Ps	21	148	8	Give praise to the Lord on earth, monsters of the sea and all its depths;
 Psalms	Ps	21	148	9	fire and hail, snow and mist, and the storm-wind that executes his decree;
 Psalms	Ps	21	148	10	all you mountains and hills, all you fruit trees and cedars;
 Psalms	Ps	21	148	11	all you wild beasts and cattle, creeping things and birds that fly in air;
 Psalms	Ps	21	148	12	all you kings and peoples of the world, all you that are princes and judges on earth;
 Psalms	Ps	21	148	13	young men and maids, old men and boys together; let them all give praise to the Lord’s name.
 Psalms	Ps	21	148	14	His name is exalted as no other,
 Psalms	Ps	21	148	15	his praise reaches beyond heaven and earth; and now he has given fresh strength to his people. Shall not his faithful servants praise him, the sons of Israel, the people that draw near to him? Alleluia.
 Psalms	Ps	21	149	1	(Alleluia.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	149	2	Sing the Lord a new song; here, where the faithful gather, let his praise be heard.
 Psalms	Ps	21	149	3	In him, the maker of Israel, let Israel triumph; for him, the ruler of Sion, let Sion’s children keep holiday;
 Psalms	Ps	21	149	4	let there be dancing in honour of his name, music of tambour and of harp, to praise him.
 Psalms	Ps	21	149	5	Still the Lord shews favour to his people, still he relieves the oppressed, and grants them victory.
 Psalms	Ps	21	149	6	In triumph let thy faithful servants rejoice, rejoice and take their rest.
 Psalms	Ps	21	149	7	Ever on their lips they bear the high praise of God, ever in their hands they carry two-edged swords,
 Psalms	Ps	21	149	8	ready to take vengeance upon the heathen,
 Psalms	Ps	21	149	9	to curb the nations, to chain the kings, and bind princes in fetters of iron.
 Psalms	Ps	21	149	10	Long since their doom is written; boast it is of his true servants that doom to execute. Alleluia.
 Psalms	Ps	21	150	1	(Alleluia.)
 Psalms	Ps	21	150	2	Praise God in his sanctuary, praise him on his sovereign throne.
 Psalms	Ps	21	150	3	Praise him for his noble acts, praise him for his surpassing greatness.
 Psalms	Ps	21	150	4	Praise him with the bray of the trumpet, praise him with harp and zither.
 Psalms	Ps	21	150	5	Praise him with the tambour and the dance, praise him with the music of string and of reed.
 Psalms	Ps	21	150	6	Praise him with the clang of the cymbals, the cymbals that ring merrily. All creatures that breath have, praise the Lord. Alleluia.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	1	1	These proverbs were written by David’s son Solomon, that was king of Israel,
 Proverbs	Prv	22	1	2	for the better understanding of true wisdom, and self-command.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	1	3	Here is made known the secret of discernment; here men may learn the lesson of insight, the dictates of duty and right and honour.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	1	4	Here simplicity is put on its guard; here youth may find instruction and advice both together.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	1	5	The wise, too, may be the wiser for hearing them; they will aid even the discerning to guide his course aright;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	1	6	he will read both parables and the interpretation of parables, both wise words and the hidden thoughts they signify.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	1	7	True wisdom is founded on the fear of the Lord; who but a fool would despise such wisdom, and the lessons she teaches?
 Proverbs	Prv	22	1	8	Heed well, my son, thy father’s warnings, nor make light of thy mother’s teaching;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	1	9	no richer heirloom, crown or necklace, can be thine.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	1	10	Turn a deaf ear, my son, to the blandishments of evil-doers that would make thee of their company.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	1	11	There are lives to be had for the ambushing, the lives of unsuspecting folk whose uprightness shall little avail them;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	1	12	there are fortunes to be swallowed up whole, as a man is swallowed up by death when he goes to his grave.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	1	13	No lack of treasures here, they say, rich plunder that shall find its way into our houses;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	1	14	thou hast but to throw in thy lot with us; every man shares alike.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	1	15	Such errands, my son, are not for thee; never stir a foot in their company;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	1	16	thou knowest well how eager they are for mischief, how greedy for blood,
 Proverbs	Prv	22	1	17	and the snare is laid to no purpose if the bird is watching.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	1	18	What do they, but compass their own ruin, plot against their own lives?
 Proverbs	Prv	22	1	19	Such is ever the end of greed; he who cherishes it must fall by it at last.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	1	20	And all the while Wisdom is publishing her message, crying it aloud in the open streets;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	1	21	never a meeting of roads, never a gateway, but her voice is raised, echoing above the din of it.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	1	22	What, says she, are you still gaping there, simpletons? Do the reckless still court their own ruin? Rash fools, will you never learn?
 Proverbs	Prv	22	1	23	Pay heed, then, to my protest; listen while I speak out my mind to you, give you open warning.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	1	24	Since my call is unheard, since my hand beckons in vain,
 Proverbs	Prv	22	1	25	since my counsel is despised and all my reproof goes for nothing,
 Proverbs	Prv	22	1	26	it will be mine to laugh, to mock at your discomfiture, when perils close about you.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	1	27	Close about you they will, affliction and sore distress, disasters that sweep down suddenly, gathering storms of ruin.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	1	28	It will be their turn, then, to call aloud; my turn, then, to refuse an answer. They will be early abroad looking for me, but find me never;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	1	29	fools, that grew weary of instruction, and would not fear the Lord.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	1	30	Well for them, if they had followed my counsel, if they had not spurned all the warnings I gave!
 Proverbs	Prv	22	1	31	Now they must eat of the harvest their own wickedness has reaped, make the best of the cheer their own knavish schemes have brought them.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	1	32	Ah, silly souls, what a perilous refusal, what fatal foolhardiness was here!
 Proverbs	Prv	22	1	33	But let a man give heed to me, peace undisturbed shall be his, happiness shall be his, free from all threat of danger.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	2	1	Here, then, my son, is counsel for thee; take this bidding of mine to heart;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	2	2	ever be thy ear attentive to wisdom, thy mind eager to attain discernment.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	2	3	Wisdom if thou wilt call to thy side, and make discernment welcome,
 Proverbs	Prv	22	2	4	as thou wouldst fain hoard riches, or bring hidden treasure to light,
 Proverbs	Prv	22	2	5	then thou wilt learn what it is to fear God, make trial of what it is to know God.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	2	6	Wisdom is the Lord’s gift; only by his word spoken comes true knowledge, true discernment.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	2	7	So it is that he watches over the lives of the upright, bids the innocent walk unharmed;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	2	8	safe and sound the chosen friends of God come and go.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	2	9	Duty and right and honour thou shalt discern, and see ever where the best course lies,
 Proverbs	Prv	22	2	10	if once wisdom finds a lodgement in thy heart, if knowledge once casts her spell upon thee.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	2	11	Watch and ward right counsel shall keep over thee;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	2	12	it shall save thee from the wrong choice, save thee from the false counsellor.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	2	13	False counsellors there are, that leave the high road to walk by dark alleys;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	2	14	for sin and shame is all their love and liking;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	2	15	ill guides on a wrong path all of them!
 Proverbs	Prv	22	2	16	And from her, too, right counsel shall protect thee, the woman that is no daughter of Israel, with her mincing foreign ways,
 Proverbs	Prv	22	2	17	that has forsaken the love of her youth,
 Proverbs	Prv	22	2	18	forgotten the troth once plighted to her God. The house she dwells in is death’s antechamber, the road by which she beckons leads to the grave;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	2	19	never man went in there that came back and set his face towards life.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	2	20	Thine to choose a nobler course, keeping ever the path of duty;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	2	21	the upright, the innocent, shall have lands of their own and long enjoy them;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	2	22	the godless, the wrong-doer will be lost for ever to the scenes they knew.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	3	1	Forget not then, my son, the teaching I give thee; lock these words of mine close in thy bosom;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	3	2	long years they shall bring thee of life well spent, and therewith prosperity.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	3	3	Two things must never leave thee, kindness and loyalty; be these the seals that hang about thy neck, graven be this inscription with thy heart for tablet;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	3	4	so both to God and man thou shalt be friend and confidant.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	3	5	Put all thy heart’s confidence in the Lord, on thy own skill relying never;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	3	6	wilt thou but keep him in thy thoughts wherever thou goest, he will shew thee the straight path.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	3	7	Do not give thyself airs of wisdom; enough that thou shouldst fear God and shun ill-doing;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	3	8	here is health for the midmost of thy being, here is sap for the marrow of thy bones.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	3	9	Pay the Lord his due with what goods thou hast, letting him share the first-fruits of every crop;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	3	10	so shall plenty fill thy barn, so shall thy wine-press overflow at the vintage.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	3	11	My son, do not undervalue the correction the Lord sends thee, do not be unmanned when he reproves thy faults.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	3	12	It is where he loves that he bestows correction, like a father whose son is dear to him.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	3	13	Happy the man whose treasure-trove is wisdom, who is rich in discernment;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	3	14	silver and finest gold are less profitable in the handling.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	3	15	More rare is it than all things else; no prize thou covetest that can match it.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	3	16	Long life wisdom holds out to thee in one hand, riches and glory in the other;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	3	17	where she guides, journeying is pleasant, where she points the way, all is peace.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	3	18	Take hold of her, clasp her to thee, and the Tree of Life itself could not make thee more blessed.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	3	19	Not without these, wisdom and discernment, the Lord based earth, the Lord framed heaven;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	3	20	not without skill of his did the waters well up from beneath us, or the dews fall in mist.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	3	21	My son, never lose sight of what I am telling thee; cling to the wholesome dictates of prudence,
 Proverbs	Prv	22	3	22	that will quicken life within thee, sparkle like jewels on thy breast.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	3	23	Securely thou shalt walk, with no fear of stumbling,
 Proverbs	Prv	22	3	24	fearlessly thou shalt lie down to rest, and enjoy untroubled sleep;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	3	25	let no sudden alarm affright thee, though godless enemies press thee hard;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	3	26	the Lord will be at thy side, and keep thy feet clear of the snares they lay for thee.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	3	27	Suffer him to do kindness who may, and thou thyself, when thou mayest, do kindness;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	3	28	never bid a friend come back tomorrow for the gift that might be made to-day.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	3	29	Never plot harm against the friend that suspects no harm of thee,
 Proverbs	Prv	22	3	30	or pick a quarrel with one who has done thee no injury.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	3	31	Do not envy the prosperity of the wrong-doer, and be led away by his example;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	3	32	knavery the Lord hates, and keeps for honest men his familiar friendship.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	3	33	Still on the home of the wicked the Lord’s ban falls, his blessing where uprightness dwells;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	3	34	he laughs at the mocker, grants his favours to the humble,
 Proverbs	Prv	22	3	35	and the wise shall win renown; only to their shame are fools exalted.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	4	1	Sons of mine, take a lesson from your father; a lesson that will make discerning men of you, will you but heed it.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	4	2	A precious heirloom it is, the tradition I teach, not to be lightly bartered away.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	4	3	Time was when I had a father of my own; and when I was but a boy, my mother’s darling,
 Proverbs	Prv	22	4	4	in such words as these he would teach me: Ever be thy heart true to my bidding; if thrive thou wouldst, hold fast the charge I give thee.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	4	5	Wisdom be thy quest, thy quest discernment still; thy father’s apt and faithful pupil,
 Proverbs	Prv	22	4	6	keep her at thy side, thy guardian; cherish her, thy preserver.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	4	7	Wisdom be thy chief thought, make discernment thine at all hazards;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	4	8	her attainment exalts, her embrace ennobles thee;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	4	9	a wreath of fresh graces she will give thee, a crown of glory, to overshadow thy brow.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	4	10	Listen, then, my son, and master the charge I give thee, as thou wouldst have long life.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	4	11	Here lies the road to wisdom, here is the path that will bring thee straight to thy goal;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	4	12	here thou mayst walk unhampered, run without fear of stumbling.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	4	13	Hold fast by the instruction thou hast received, and never let it go; guard it as thou wouldst guard thy life.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	4	14	For godless ways and the example of sinful men have thou neither love nor liking;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	4	15	shun their haunts and turn thy back upon them.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	4	16	Rest they never without some ill deed done; some traveller’s feet must stumble, or they lie sleepless on their beds;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	4	17	godlessness is the very bread they eat, they crave for wrong-doing as for wine.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	4	18	See how the path of the just grows ever brighter, like the light of dawn opening out into full day!
 Proverbs	Prv	22	4	19	But these, the sinners, are fain to walk on in darkness, surprised by every fall.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	4	20	Hear then and heed, my son, these words of warning;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	4	21	never lose sight of them, cherish them in thy inmost heart;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	4	22	let a man master them, they will bring life and healing to his whole being.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	4	23	Use all thy watchfulness to keep thy heart true; that is the fountain whence life springs.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	4	24	Far, very far from thy tongue be the cheating word, from thy lips the whisper of calumny;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	4	25	let thy eyes see straight, thy gaze ever scan the path that lies before thee.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	4	26	Consider that path well, and on safe ground thou shalt journey still;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	4	27	swerving neither to right nor left, but keeping thy steps ever clear of wrong-doing. (To the right lie such ways as win the Lord’s favour, to the left such as miss the goal. He it is that will guide thy course aright, and set thy journey forward in peace. )
 Proverbs	Prv	22	5	1	My son, here is good advice for thy heeding; listen to wise counsel,
 Proverbs	Prv	22	5	2	if thou wouldst be circumspect, if thou wouldst have ever on thy lips the maxims of prudence. First, give no credence to the wiles of woman;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	5	3	honey-sweet words the temptress may use, all her talk be soothing as oil,
 Proverbs	Prv	22	5	4	but oh, the dregs of that cup are bitter; a two-edged sword brings no sharper pang.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	5	5	Death’s road she follows, her feet set towards the grave;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	5	6	far from the highway that leads to life is the maze she treads.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	5	7	Heed, then, my warning, and depart from it never;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	5	8	shun her company, do not go near her doors.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	5	9	Wouldst thou squander the pride of thy manhood upon heartless strangers like these?
 Proverbs	Prv	22	5	10	If thus thou wilt spend all thy hopes, bestow all thy pains, upon an alien home that is no home of thine,
 Proverbs	Prv	22	5	11	a time will come at last when health and strength shall be wasted away. Then thou wilt complain bitterly,
 Proverbs	Prv	22	5	12	Alas, why did I spurn every precept, reject every warning,
 Proverbs	Prv	22	5	13	unheard, unheeded, every lesson I was taught?
 Proverbs	Prv	22	5	14	No marvel, had I paid the last penalty, with the assembled people for my judges!
 Proverbs	Prv	22	5	15	Nay, drink, and drink deep, at thy own well, thy own cistern;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	5	16	thence let thy offspring abound, like waters from thy own fountain flowing through the public streets;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	5	17	only let them be thy own, let there be no commerce between thyself and strangers.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	5	18	A blessing on that fountain of thine! take thy pleasure with the bride thy manhood wins for thee.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	5	19	Thy own bride, gentle as a hind, graceful as a doe; be it her bosom that steals away thy senses with the delight of a lover that loves still.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	5	20	What, my son, wouldst thou yield to the wiles of a stranger, dally with her embraces that is none of thine?
 Proverbs	Prv	22	5	21	The Lord is watching, and knows what a man’s errand is, let him betake himself where he will.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	5	22	The sinner will be ensnared by his own guilt, caught in the toils of his own wrong-doing;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	5	23	doomed by his own incontinence, by his own great folly bemused.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	6	1	My son, has some friend persuaded thee to be his surety? Hast thou pledged thyself for a bond which is none of thine?
 Proverbs	Prv	22	6	2	Believe me, that word of assent has caught thee in a snare, thou art the prisoner of thy own promise made.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	6	3	Do then, my son, as I bid thee; obtain thy freedom; it is ill done to fall into another man’s power. Quick, no time to lose; wake up this neighbour of thine from his bed,
 Proverbs	Prv	22	6	4	ere thou thyself close an eye-lid in sleep;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	6	5	deer from captivity nor bird from fowler’s hand so swift to escape!
 Proverbs	Prv	22	6	6	Up with thee, idleness, go to school with the ant, and learn the lesson of her ways!
 Proverbs	Prv	22	6	7	Chief or ruler she has none to give her commands;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	6	8	yet in summer hours, when the harvest is a-gathering, she ever lays up food for her own nourishment.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	6	9	And thou, idleness, art still a-bed; wilt thou never wake?
 Proverbs	Prv	22	6	10	What, thou wouldst sleep a little longer, yawn a little longer; a little longer thou must pillow head on hand?
 Proverbs	Prv	22	6	11	Ay, but poverty will not wait, the day of distress will not wait, like an armed vagabond it will fall upon thee! (Wouldst thou see the good grain flow like water, wouldst thou see poverty take wing, thou must be up and doing. )
 Proverbs	Prv	22	6	12	Worthless men there be, sinners there be, that go ever with a cunning smile on their lips;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	6	13	a wink here, there a pressure of the foot, there a beckoning finger;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	6	14	all the while their wicked hearts are plotting mischief, are sowing the causes of strife.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	6	15	Such men will be overtaken by their doom ere long, crushed all of a sudden beyond hope of remedy.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	6	16	Six things I will tell thee, and name a seventh for good measure, the Lord hates and will never abide;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	6	17	the haughty look, the lying tongue, the hands that take innocent life,
 Proverbs	Prv	22	6	18	the heart that ever devises thoughts of mischief, the feet that hasten upon an ill errand,
 Proverbs	Prv	22	6	19	the false witness whose every breath is perjury, and the sower of strife among brethren.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	6	20	Keep true, my son, to the charge thy father gives thee, nor make light of thy mother’s teaching;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	6	21	wear them ever close to thy heart, hang them like a locket upon thy breast;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	6	22	be these, when thou walkest abroad, thy company, when thou liest asleep, thy safeguard, in waking hours, thy counsellors.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	6	23	That charge is a lamp to guide thee, that teaching a light to beckon thee; the warnings correction gave thee are a road leading to life.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	6	24	Here is protection for thee against the temptress that would lure thee away with her seductions.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	6	25	Never let her beauty win thy heart, never let her bold glance deceive thee.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	6	26	A harlot’s pay is but the price of a meal; the adulteress costs dearer, her price is a man’s whole life.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	6	27	Who can carry fire in his bosom, without singeing the clothes he wears,
 Proverbs	Prv	22	6	28	or walk on hot coals without burning his feet?
 Proverbs	Prv	22	6	29	No more can a man mate with his neighbour’s wife, and not be defiled by her touch.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	6	30	Small blame to the thief, when he steals to fill his hungry belly,
 Proverbs	Prv	22	6	31	and if he be caught, why, he can pay sevenfold, or yield up all that he has;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	6	32	the adulterer, in the hunger of his heart, must risk losing life itself.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	6	33	Scathe and scorn he wins for himself, and shame there is no blotting out;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	6	34	no mercy for him, when the day of reckoning comes, from the anger of a jealous husband
 Proverbs	Prv	22	6	35	that will listen to no man’s entreaties, will refuse ransom never so abundant.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	7	1	My son, do not forget these warnings; let this charge of mine be an heirloom,
 Proverbs	Prv	22	7	2	kept jealously, as thou lovest thy own life; precious to thee as the apple of thy eye be the teaching I give thee.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	7	3	Bind it fast about thy fingers, write it, as upon a tablet, on thy heart;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	7	4	give to wisdom a sister’s welcome, and hail discernment as thy friend.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	7	5	So wilt thou learn to shun the temptress with her honeyed words, the wife that is no wife of thine.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	7	6	Ere now, looking down from my window through the lattice,
 Proverbs	Prv	22	7	7	I have watched the thoughtless crowd, and seen some gallant, more insensate than the rest,
 Proverbs	Prv	22	7	8	crossing the street at the corner where such a woman dwells. Now his steps are taking him near that abode of hers;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	7	9	the day wanes, and the light fades; night spreads her pall of darkness.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	7	10	Who comes to meet him? A woman in right harlot’s guise, that goes out, ready of speech, to hunt men’s lives.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	7	11	No rest for her, stay at home she cannot;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	7	12	ever in street and market-place she lies in ambush, at some corner of the ways.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	7	13	She draws him to herself and kisses him, flattering him with her bold speech:
 Proverbs	Prv	22	7	14	Only to-day I have paid a vow that I owed for my preservation, and here are my victims freshly killed;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	7	15	so I came out to find thee, longing for the sight of thee, and here thou art!
 Proverbs	Prv	22	7	16	Soft, soft I have made my bed, spread it with embroidered tapestries of Egyptian woof;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	7	17	freshly scented is that bower of mine with myrrh, and aloes, and cinnamon.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	7	18	Come, let us lose ourselves in dalliance, all the night through let us enjoy the long-desired embrace.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	7	19	My home stands masterless, my husband far away,
 Proverbs	Prv	22	7	20	and his purse with him; no fear of his returning till the moon is full.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	7	21	Alas, the ready speech that beguiles him, the seducing lips that lead him captive away!
 Proverbs	Prv	22	7	22	He follows without more ado, unwitting as the ox that goes to the shambles, or a frisking lamb; nor knows what fetters await him,
 Proverbs	Prv	22	7	23	till the shaft is already deep in his bosom. So joyfully flies bird into snare, heedless of its life’s peril.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	7	24	Heed me well, my son; let not this warning be given in vain;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	7	25	do not let her steal thy heart away, do not be enticed by her beckoning.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	7	26	Many the wounds such a woman has dealt; a brave retinue she has of men murdered;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	7	27	truly her house is the grave’s ante-chamber, opens the door into the secret closet of death.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	8	1	And, all the while, the wisdom that grants discernment is crying aloud, is never silent;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	8	2	there she stands, on some high vantage-point by the public way, where the roads meet,
 Proverbs	Prv	22	8	3	or at the city’s approach, close beside the gates, making proclamation.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	8	4	To every man, high and low, her voice calls:
 Proverbs	Prv	22	8	5	Here is better counsel for the simpleton; O foolish hearts, take warning!
 Proverbs	Prv	22	8	6	Listen to me, I have matters of high moment to unfold, a plain message to deliver.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	8	7	A tongue that speaks truth, lips that scorn impiety;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	8	8	here all is sound doctrine, no shifts, no evasions here.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	8	9	No discerning heart, no well-stored mind, but will own it right and just.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	8	10	Here is counsel, here is instruction, better worth the winning than silver or the finest gold;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	8	11	wisdom is more to be coveted than any jewel; there is no beauty that can be matched with hers.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	8	12	What am I, the wisdom that speaks to you? To shrewdness I am a near neighbour, and I occupy myself with deep designs;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	8	13	but, since they must hate evil that fear the Lord, all pride and boastfulness, every mischievous design and every treacherous word I shun.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	8	14	Good counsel is mine, and honourable dealing, discernment and high courage are my gifts;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	8	15	through me kings learn how to reign, law-givers how to lay down just decrees;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	8	16	through me chieftain and magistrate exercise their power aright.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	8	17	Love me, and thou shalt earn my love; wait early at my doors, and thou shalt gain access to me.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	8	18	The gifts I bring with me are riches and honour, princely state and the divine favour.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	8	19	Mine is a yield better than gold or jewels, mine are revenues more precious than the finest silver.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	8	20	A faithful course I tread, nor exceed the bounds of just retribution,
 Proverbs	Prv	22	8	21	failing never to enrich the souls that love me with abundant store.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	8	22	The Lord made me his when first he went about his work, at the birth of time, before his creation began.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	8	23	Long, long ago, before earth was fashioned, I held my course.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	8	24	Already I lay in the womb, when the depths were not yet in being, when no springs of water had yet broken;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	8	25	when I was born, the mountains had not yet sunk on their firm foundations, and there were no hills;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	8	26	not yet had he made the earth, or the rivers, or the solid framework of the world.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	8	27	I was there when he built the heavens, when he fenced in the waters with a vault inviolable,
 Proverbs	Prv	22	8	28	when he fixed the sky overhead, and levelled the fountain-springs of the deep.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	8	29	I was there when he enclosed the sea within its confines, forbidding the waters to transgress their assigned limits, when he poised the foundations of the world.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	8	30	I was at his side, a master-workman, my delight increasing with each day, as I made play before him all the while;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	8	31	made play in this world of dust, with the sons of Adam for my play-fellows.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	8	32	Listen to me, then, you that are my sons, that follow, to your happiness, in the paths I shew you;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	8	33	listen to the teaching that will make you wise, instead of turning away from it.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	8	34	Blessed are they who listen to me, keep vigil, day by day, at my threshold, watching till I open my doors.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	8	35	The man who wins me, wins life, drinks deep of the Lord’s favour;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	8	36	who fails, fails at his own bitter cost; to be my enemy is to be in love with death.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	9	1	See, where wisdom has built herself a house, carved out for herself those seven pillars of hers!
 Proverbs	Prv	22	9	2	And now, her sacrificial victims slain, her wine mingled, her banquet spread,
 Proverbs	Prv	22	9	3	this way and that her maidens are dispatched, to city keep and city wall, bidding her guests make haste.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	9	4	Simple hearts, she says, draw near me; and to all that lack learning this is her cry,
 Proverbs	Prv	22	9	5	Come and eat at my table, come and drink of the wine I have brewed for you;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	9	6	say farewell to your childishness, and learn to live; follow all of you in the path that leads to discernment.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	9	7	(Rash souls there are, godless souls, that will not be taught or trained; who makes the attempt, gets only injury and abuse for his thanks.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	9	8	With a rash fool never remonstrate; it will make him thy enemy; only the wise are grateful for a remonstrance.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	9	9	Ever the wise profit by the opportunity to become wiser yet; ever the godly are the best learners. )
 Proverbs	Prv	22	9	10	True wisdom begins with the fear of the Lord; he best discerns, who has knowledge of holy things.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	9	11	Long life I bring thee, and a full tale of years;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	9	12	wisdom thyself shall profit, and misfortune fall only on the rash fools that earned it.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	9	13	Out upon her silly clamour, the woman that is so crafty, yet knowledge has none!
 Proverbs	Prv	22	9	14	At her door she sits, her chair commanding the city’s height,
 Proverbs	Prv	22	9	15	and cries aloud to such as pass by on their lawful errands.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	9	16	Simple hearts, she says, draw near me, and to all that lack learning this is her cry,
 Proverbs	Prv	22	9	17	Stolen waters are sweetest, and bread is better eating when there is none to see.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	9	18	Who shall warn them that dead men are her company, no guest of hers but is guest of the dark world beneath?
 Proverbs	Prv	22	10	1	A father’s smile, a mother’s tears, tell of a son well schooled or ill.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	10	2	No good ever came of money ill gotten; honest living is death’s avoiding.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	10	3	Still the Lord gives honesty a full belly, and on the knave’s scheming shuts his door.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	10	4	Idle hand, empty purse; riches come of hard work. (Who trusts in false promises, throws his food to the winds; as well may he chase bird in flight. )
 Proverbs	Prv	22	10	5	Wilt thou gather in harvest time, a son well schooled? Or sleep the summer round, to thy father’s great shame?
 Proverbs	Prv	22	10	6	Shines the Lord’s favour on the just man’s head; the sinner’s lips are silenced by his own ill-doing.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	10	7	When blessings are given, the just are remembered still; it is the sinner’s name that rusts.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	10	8	Warning the wise man hears; the fool talks on, and is ruined.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	10	9	He walks secure, who walks pure; cunning will yet be found out.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	10	10	It needs no more than a wink of the eye to bring trouble; what wonder if the fool who talks earns a beating?
 Proverbs	Prv	22	10	11	The mouth, for the just man a life-giving well, for the wicked an arsenal of harm.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	10	12	Hatred is ever ready to pick a quarrel; love passes over all kinds of offence.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	10	13	Never wise man’s lips but found the right word, or fool’s back but felt the rod.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	10	14	Wise men treasure up their knowledge; a fool’s talk is ready to mar all.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	10	15	As the rich man’s wealth is his stronghold, and the poor man’s need his peril,
 Proverbs	Prv	22	10	16	so the doings of the just evermore win fresh life, the sinner’s increase his guilt.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	10	17	Who lives by the lessons he has learned finds life; the way is lost when warnings go unheeded.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	10	18	Lying lips that hide malice, foolish lips that spread slander,
 Proverbs	Prv	22	10	19	what a world of sin there is in talking! Where least is said, most prudence is.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	10	20	Silver refined is the just man’s every word, and trash the sinner’s every thought.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	10	21	The just man’s talk plays the shepherd to many, while the fool dies of his own starved heart.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	10	22	Of the Lord’s gift comes wealth without drudgery.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	10	23	For the fool, it is but a pastime to make mischief; to act prudently needs all a man’s wisdom.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	10	24	Not in vain the sinner fears, the just man hopes;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	10	25	vanished, like the storm of yesterday, or secure eternally.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	10	26	What irks a man more than vinegar on the tooth, or smoke in the eyes? A lingering messenger.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	10	27	If fear of the Lord brings life, few years shall the wicked have;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	10	28	die their hopes must while honest folk wait on contentedly.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	10	29	The Lord’s judgements, what comfort they bring to the innocent, what terrors to the evil-doer!
 Proverbs	Prv	22	10	30	An abiding home never the just lacked yet, or the guilty found.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	10	31	A just man’s talk breeds wisdom, while the sinner’s tongue dies barren;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	10	32	welcome ever the one, cross-grained the other.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	11	1	A false balance the Lord hates; nothing but full weight will content him.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	11	2	Pride is neighbour to disesteem; humility to wisdom.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	11	3	The innocence of the upright guides them safely; the treacherous by their own plots are destroyed.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	11	4	When the time for reckoning comes, little shall wealth avail; right living is death’s avoiding.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	11	5	An honest purpose clears a man’s path; the wicked are entangled by their own scheming.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	11	6	For his honesty, the upright man shall go free; not so the wrong-doer, caught in the meshes of his own net.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	11	7	No hope follows the godless to the grave; nothing left, now, of all their anxious longing.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	11	8	Honesty shall yet go free, and a knave be heir to its troubles.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	11	9	False speech the hypocrite will use to ruin his neighbour; true knowledge is the saving of the just.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	11	10	Thrive honest men, come ruin on knaves, there is huzza’ing all through the city;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	11	11	how should a city stand or fall, but by good words from the one, ill counsel from the other?
 Proverbs	Prv	22	11	12	He mocks loud, who lacks wit; discernment holds her tongue.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	11	13	Who bears ill tales, keeps no secrets; trust none with thy confidence but a loyal friend.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	11	14	Ill fares the people, that guidance has none; safety reigns where counsel abounds.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	11	15	He who goes bail for a stranger has great harm of it; that snare avoid, and sleep sound.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	11	16	Gracious ways may win a woman renown; man never grew rich but by hardiness.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	11	17	A kindly man is the friend of his own well-being; cruelty will not spare its own flesh and blood.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	11	18	Precarious livelihood the godless man wins; wouldst thou be sure of thy revenue, let honest doings be thy crop;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	11	19	mercy breeds life, evil ambitions death.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	11	20	A false heart the Lord cannot endure; nothing but honest dealing will content him.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	11	21	Depend upon it, the sinner shall never be held guiltless; the race of the just shall find acquittal.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	11	22	A woman fair and fond, a sow ringed with gold.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	11	23	In the desires of the just only good dwells; the hopes of the wicked only lead to ruin.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	11	24	One spends what he has, and yet has more to spare; another sets his heart on what is none of his, and is a poor man still;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	11	25	give and thou shalt thrive; he shall have abundance, that bestows abundantly.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	11	26	Corn hoarded shall win thee a curse, corn sold freely a blessing, from the lips of a whole people.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	11	27	Plan thou good, thou canst not be afoot too early; plan thou evil, on thy own head it shall recoil.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	11	28	Fall he must, that relies on riches; never shall the just fade or fail.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	11	29	He shall feed on air, that misrules his own household; the fool will be slave and the wise man master in the end.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	11	30	Where right living bears its fruit, a tree of life grows up; the wise man’s reward is living souls.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	11	31	Even honest men cannot go through the world unpunished; what, then, of the godless, what, then, of the sinner?
 Proverbs	Prv	22	12	1	Ever the friend of admonition is the friend of knowledge; only fools are impa-tient of warning.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	12	2	A kindly man wins the Lord’s favour, a schemer is his enemy.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	12	3	Wickedness shall never thrive; the just have roots immovable.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	12	4	Crowned is his brow, who wins a vigorous wife; sooner let thy bones rot than marry one who shames thee.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	12	5	Honourable thoughts the just conceive, the wicked are all double-dealing;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	12	6	yet, when the accusations of the wicked lay a fatal snare, the just shall find words to deliver them.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	12	7	A turn in their fortunes, and no more is heard of the wicked; only the just have abiding prosperity.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	12	8	Good sense is the measure of a man’s repute; fond fancies are ever despised.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	12	9	Better be poor, and toil to support thyself, than play the great lord with an empty belly.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	12	10	A just man cares for the safety of the beasts he owns; the wicked are heartless through and through.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	12	11	Till field and fill belly; idle pursuits are but foolishness. (Sit long enjoying thy wine, and there is no strong fortress will win thee renown. )
 Proverbs	Prv	22	12	12	In unholy ambitions the wicked put their trust, but it is honesty that strikes deep root.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	12	13	Ruin comes upon the sinner for a word spoken amiss, while honest men find acquittal.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	12	14	When a man is blessed, it is his own words that bear fruit; never son of Adam but had the lot his deeds deserved.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	12	15	A fool is ever right to his own thinking; the wise listen to advice.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	12	16	Fools betray anger on the instant, when prudence would pass the insult by.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	12	17	Nothing but his honest thought a lover of truth declares, a false witness nothing but lies.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	12	18	Rash promises can stab the heart with remorse; wise words bring healing.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	12	19	Lips that speak the truth shall fade never; a lie serves but the haste of the moment.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	12	20	The schemer’s thoughts dwell ever on treachery; for peace be all thy plotting, if thou wouldst have a contented heart.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	12	21	Nothing can befall the just man to do him hurt; the wicked shall have their fill of mischief.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	12	22	Lying lips the Lord cannot abide; keep faith if thou wouldst content him.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	12	23	Prudence says less than it knows; the fool’s heart cannot contain its folly.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	12	24	Busy hands, hands that shall bear the sceptre; idle hands, hands that shall bring tribute.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	12	25	A heart bowed down with anxiety, how a kind word can refresh it!
 Proverbs	Prv	22	12	26	It is well done to put up with loss for a neighbour’s need; the calculations of the sinner do but lead him astray.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	12	27	Never yet did cunning achieve the gains it hoped for; a contented heart is precious as fine gold.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	12	28	Wouldst thou attain life, honesty is the high road; by-way there is none but leads to death.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	13	1	By his father’s teaching a son grows wise; only the headstrong will not listen to a warning.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	13	2	Fair words yield a crop to content a man’s heart; but not for the treacherous; they have no stomach but for wrong-doing.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	13	3	Guard thy tongue, guard thy soul; thoughtless speech may bring ruin.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	13	4	Idleness will and will not, both at once; it is hard work that gives a full belly.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	13	5	Honesty shuns the false word; the sinner disappointment gives and gets.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	13	6	The upright heart is protected by its own innocence; guilt trips the heel of the wrong-doer.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	13	7	Some are rich that nothing have; some with a well-lined purse are yet poor.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	13	8	A man’s wealth may be his own life’s ransom; yet will not the poor man be chidden for his poverty.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	13	9	Welcome the shining beams of a life well lived; the rush-light of the wicked glimmers and is gone.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	13	10	Ever there is wrangling among the proud; wisdom’s part is to be guided by other men’s counsel.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	13	11	Riches soon won are soon spent; the patient hoard breeds best.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	13	12	Hope deferred, how it crushes a man’s spirits! The granted wish, a tree of life-giving fruit!
 Proverbs	Prv	22	13	13	Neglect thy errand, whatever it be, and thou art in default; carry out thy orders, and be at peace. Faithless hearts wander far in their transgressions, but the just are ever pitying, ever merciful.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	13	14	The teaching of the wise is a fountain where men may drink life far removed from all mortal perils.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	13	15	Good instruction breeds gracious thoughts; the headstrong are for the morass.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	13	16	For the prudent, skill guides every action; ignorance betrays the fool.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	13	17	Who runs a sinner’s errand, falls into mischief by the way; a faithful envoy mends all.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	13	18	Comes want, comes shame from warnings unheeded; he achieves great things who will accept reproof.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	13	19	Each man loves his own way best, and to a fool, there is no shame like sin’s avoiding.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	13	20	Wise company brings wisdom; fool he ends that fool befriends.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	13	21	Calamity is hard on the heels of wickedness, and honest men shall yet be rewarded.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	13	22	Son and grandson shall be the good man’s heirs; the sinner lays up wealth for nobler men;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	13	23	the rich harvest of those ancestral fields, lack he honest worth, shall be reaped for strangers.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	13	24	Spare the rod, and thou art no friend to thy son; ever a kind father is quick to punish.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	13	25	The just man eats his fill; the godless craves and never has enough.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	14	1	It is by woman’s wisdom a home thrives; a foolish wife pulls it down about her ears.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	14	2	Does a man fear the Lord? He holds an even course; the knave has little regard for him.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	14	3	Pride burgeons from the lips of fools; in modesty of speech the wise find safety.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	14	4	No need for a full crib, where oxen are none; yet ever rich harvest tells of the ox at work.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	14	5	It is a faithful witness that never lies; the perjurer breathes out lies continually.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	14	6	Vainly the rash aspire to wisdom; the discerning come by their knowledge with little pains.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	14	7	Go thy way, and let the fool go his; good sense is a strange language to him.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	14	8	Prudence picks its way wisely; the fool blunders and is lost.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	14	9	Fools make light of the guilt that needs atonement, and leave honest men to enjoy the Lord’s favour.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	14	10	Heart’s bitterness none may know but the heart that feels it; no prying stranger can tell when it finds relief.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	14	11	Fall it must, the house of the wicked; where the upright dwell, all is increase.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	14	12	The right road in a man’s thinking may be one whose goal is death.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	14	13	Joy blends with grief, and laughter marches with tears.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	14	14	The incorrigible shall have a taste of his own ill-doings, and honest men shall have the better of him.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	14	15	The simpleton takes all on trust; wisdom considers each step. (A treacherous son no part shall have; better shall a wise servant thrive and prosper. )
 Proverbs	Prv	22	14	16	Caution teaches the wise to shun danger; the fool is carried away by rash confidence.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	14	17	The impatient man blunders, as surely as the schemer makes enemies.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	14	18	Folly is the simpleton’s heirloom; skill crowns the wise.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	14	19	Vice lies prostrate before virtue, the sinner at the gates of the just.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	14	20	Of the beggar, his own neighbours grow weary; wealth never lacks friends.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	14	21	Shame on the man who holds his neighbour in contempt; mercy to the poor brings a blessing. (Mercy he loves, who puts his trust in the Lord. )
 Proverbs	Prv	22	14	22	They follow a false path, that plot mischief; mercy and faithfulness mercy and faith shall find.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	14	23	Hard work is sure wealth; of chattering comes only poverty.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	14	24	Made rich, the wise are crowned, the folly of the thoughtless will be folly yet.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	14	25	Men owe their lives to truthful witnesses; the very breath of the perjurer is treason.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	14	26	The fear of the Lord gives strong confidence, bequeaths hope from the father to the children.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	14	27	The fear of the Lord is a fountain where men may drink life, far removed from all mortal peril.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	14	28	Great people, great king; it is for want of men crowns are lost.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	14	29	Patience comes of sovereign prudence, impatience of unchecked folly.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	14	30	Peace of mind is health of body; more than all else, envy wastes the frame.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	14	31	He who oppresses the poor, insults man’s Maker; him if thou wouldst honour, take pity on human need.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	14	32	When the wicked is paid in his own coin, there is an end of him; at death’s door, the just still hope.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	14	33	In the discerning heart, wisdom finds a resting-place; even among fools it can impart learning.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	14	34	Duty well done, a whole nation becomes great; suffer whole peoples for guilt incurred.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	14	35	A king shews favour to a wise servant; disappoint him, and thou shalt feel his anger.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	15	1	A gentle answer is a quarrel averted; a word that gives pain does but fan the flame of resentment.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	15	2	The speech of the wise is learning’s ornament; the fool babbles on.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	15	3	Go where thou wilt, the Lord’s eye is watching; good nor evil escapes his scrutiny.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	15	4	Tongue that speaks peaceably is a tree whose fruit gives life; tongue undisciplined can break hearts.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	15	5	He is a fool that makes light of his father’s warnings; would he but listen to reproof, he should be prudent yet.(Might is most where right is most; root and branch the sinner shall be plucked up. )
 Proverbs	Prv	22	15	6	The just man’s home guards its treasure well; the hopes of the wicked are all confusion.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	15	7	The talk of the wise is a seed-ground of learning; the thoughts of fools are ill matched with it.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	15	8	From the wicked man’s sacrifice the Lord turns away with loathing; only the just with their vows win his favour.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	15	9	The whole course of the sinner’s life he cannot brook; pursue the right, if thou wouldst win his love.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	15	10	Forsake the right path, and correction shall seem hard to thee; grow weary of reproof, and thy life shall pay for it.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	15	11	Shall the Lord read the secrets of the devouring grave, and not men’s hearts?
 Proverbs	Prv	22	15	12	Warn the headstrong, and thou wilt get no thanks for it; not for him the company of the wise.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	15	13	Gay heart, gay looks; sad thoughts crush the spirit.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	15	14	Truth is the quest of discerning minds, trifling the pasture-ground of the foolish.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	15	15	To the friendless, every day brings trouble, but every day is a feast-day to a contented heart.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	15	16	Better a humble lot, and the fear of the Lord present, than great riches that leave a man unsatisfied.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	15	17	Better sit down to a dish of herbs seasoned with charity, than feast on a fattened ox in ill-will.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	15	18	Any brawler can provoke a quarrel; it needs a patient man to lay it by.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	15	19	Idleness finds ever a hedge of thorns in its path; the man of duty walks on unhampered.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	15	20	A father well content, a mother slighted, tell of a son’s wisdom or mortal folly.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	15	21	A man of little sense is in love with his follies; prudence keeps to its chosen path.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	15	22	Counsel lacking, all designs go amiss; with the advice of many, they should have thriven.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	15	23	There are times when a counsellor has good cause to be proud; nothing better than the right word spoken.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	15	24	A mind well schooled sees the way of life stretching upwards, leading away from the pit beneath.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	15	25	A house where pride reigns the Lord will pull down at last; will have no encroaching on the lands of the friendless widow.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	15	26	The schemes of wickedness he abhors; the dreams of innocence he loves, and brings true.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	15	27	Let avarice lead thee away, thy home shall be ruined; long life is his, who scorns the bribe. (Kindness and honour are sin’s purging; ever it is the fear of the Lord turns men away from harm. )
 Proverbs	Prv	22	15	28	Attentive and docile is the upright heart; from the lips of the wicked comes mischief in full flood.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	15	29	From the wicked, the Lord withholds his presence, listens only to the prayer of the just.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	15	30	The eye that smiles, how it cheers the heart! Good news, how it lends vigour to a man’s frame!
 Proverbs	Prv	22	15	31	A man’s ear once attentive to the discipline that brings life, no company shall be welcome thenceforward, but the wise.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	15	32	He holds his life cheap, that will not listen to a warning; heed reproof, and be master of thy soul.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	15	33	It is the fear of the Lord teaches the lessons of wisdom; humility goes first, and honour comes in her train.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	16	1	Man’s heart is ever full of devising; from the Lord comes the ordering of right speech.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	16	2	His own path man scans, and nothing sees amiss, but the divine balance weighs our thoughts;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	16	3	share with the Lord the burden of all thy doings, if thou wouldst be sincere in thy intent.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	16	4	God, who made all, made all for his own purposes, even the godless man, with doom awaiting him.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	16	5	A proud man the Lord holds in abhorrence; depend upon it, no acquittal shall he find. (To do right, that is the first step on the way of blessedness, a more welcome thing in God’s sight than any sacrifice a man can offer. )
 Proverbs	Prv	22	16	6	Kindness and honour are sin’s purging; ever it is the fear of the Lord turns men away from harm.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	16	7	Live as the Lord would have thee live, and he will make even thy enemies into well-wishers.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	16	8	Better a penny honestly come by than great revenues ill gotten.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	16	9	Heart of man must plan his course, but his steps will fall as the Lord guides them.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	16	10	Speaks king, speaks oracle; never a word amiss.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	16	11	Scale and balance are emblems of the Lord’s own justice; no weight in the merchant’s wallet but is of divine fashioning.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	16	12	Wrong-doing the king will not abide; on right his own throne rests.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	16	13	Kings are for honest talk; free-spoken is well loved.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	16	14	The king’s frown is death at thy door; wisdom will appease it;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	16	15	his smile is life; not more welcome the spring rains, than royal favour.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	16	16	Not of gold or silver be thy hoard; make wisdom thine, discernment thine, more precious than these.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	16	17	The just man travels by the high road, safe from harm, watching his path anxiously, as he values his life.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	16	18	Presumption comes first, and ruin close behind it; pride ever goes before a fall.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	16	19	Better a humble lot among peaceful folk, than all the spoil a tyrant’s friendship can bring thee.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	16	20	Well versed in doctrine, happiness thou shalt win; trust in the Lord, and find a blessing.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	16	21	Good judgement a wise heart can claim; winning words bring greater prizes yet.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	16	22	The prudent man drinks from a living fountain; fools only learn the lessons of their folly.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	16	23	Wisdom distils from heart to mouth, and lends the lips persuasion.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	16	24	Honey itself cannot vie with well-framed words, for heart’s comfort and body’s refreshment.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	16	25	The right road in a man’s thinking may be one whose goal is death.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	16	26	No better friend drudgery has than appetite; hunger drives a man to his task.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	16	27	Ever the godless man digs a well of mischief, ever his lips are aflame.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	16	28	His the scheming that breeds quarrels, the whispering that divides his clan,
 Proverbs	Prv	22	16	29	the love of wrong that misleads his neighbours and carries them off into evil ways;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	16	30	spell-bound with dreams of treachery, he shuts his lips tight and goes about his false errand.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	16	31	No prize so honourable as old age, and it is won by innocence of life.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	16	32	Patience is worth more than valour; better a disciplined heart than a stormed city.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	16	33	Into the lap’s fold the lot falls haphazard, but the Lord rules the issue.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	17	1	Better dry crust and gay heart, than a house where all is feasting and all is quarrelling.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	17	2	Where sons are fools, slaves will be masters, and share the inheritance like heirs born.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	17	3	For silver and gold, furnace and crucible; men’s hearts are for the Lord’s assaying.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	17	4	Ever ill-will gives heed to injurious talk, false faith listens to the slander.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	17	5	He who shews contempt to the poor, insults man’s Maker; at thy own peril thou wilt take delight in another’s ruin.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	17	6	Crown of old age, when a man sees his children’s children; pride of youth, when a man can boast of the fathers that begot him.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	17	7	Solemn talk matches ill with folly, lying speech with royalty.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	17	8	When a man has hope in view, like a jewel it shines before him; look where he will, his way lies clear.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	17	9	If good will be thy quest, hide the wrong done; gossip unknits the bond of friendship.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	17	10	One word of warning in a prudent man’s ear does more than a hundred lashes given to a fool.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	17	11	Still the godless man will be for stirring up strife, till at last an angel visits him with no kindly message.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	17	12	Better meet the she-bear reft of her cubs, than a fool in his blind confidence.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	17	13	Evil shall still haunt his dwelling, that repays kindness with injury.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	17	14	Who began the quarrel? He who let loose the flood-gates of it; and before he can suffer injury, he stands aside from the debate.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	17	15	Misjudgement the Lord will never abide, whether the guilty go free, or the innocent are condemned.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	17	16	Little the fool’s wealth avails; he may not buy wisdom if he would. (Build high, and court thy ruin; despise learning, and thou shalt come to mischief. )
 Proverbs	Prv	22	17	17	He is thy friend, who is thy friend at all times; of a brother’s love there is no test like adversity.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	17	18	He is a fool, that lightly goes bail for his friend.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	17	19	He loves a feud, that loves contention; build high, and court thy ruin.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	17	20	False heart never found happiness, nor lying tongue escaped mischief.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	17	21	A fool’s birthday is a day of shame; never father had joy of a reckless son.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	17	22	A cheerful heart makes a quick recovery, it is crushed spirits that waste a man’s frame.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	17	23	Out comes bribe from bosom, and the godless man turns justice aside from its course.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	17	24	Wisdom is a beacon-light to the discerning; the fool’s eyes roam this way and that, as wide as earth.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	17	25	Poor fool, his father’s bane, sorrow of the mother that bore him!
 Proverbs	Prv	22	17	26	Foul shame it is to make the innocent suffer, to strike a blow against the chieftain that gives redress.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	17	27	Skilful is he who has skill to check his tongue, learned he is that knows how to spare his breath.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	17	28	Let him keep his own counsel, a fool may pass for a wise man; shut lips can claim discernment.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	18	1	None so quick to find pretexts, as he that would break with a friend; he is in fault continually.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	18	2	For prudent warnings a fool has no stomach; nothing will serve but to echo his own thought.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	18	3	Little the godless man recks of it, when he falls into sin’s mire, but shame and reproach go with him.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	18	4	Man’s utterance has currents like the waters that run deep; from wisdom’s well flows a stream in full flood.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	18	5	Foul shame it is to court favour with the wrong-doer by turning justice aside from its course.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	18	6	A fool’s talk is for ever embroiling him; let him but open his mouth, blows will follow.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	18	7	From his own words his undoing comes, from his own lips the snare.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	18	8	Innocent enough seem the words of the back-biter, yet their poison sinks deep into a man’s belly.(Slow natures every fear disarms; womanish souls shall go hungry. )
 Proverbs	Prv	22	18	9	Dainty and listless go to work, thou art own brother to that work’s undoer.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	18	10	No stronghold like the Lord’s name; there the just take refuge, high above reach.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	18	11	What citadel has the rich man? His own possessions; he seems shut in by a wall impregnable;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	18	12	yet hearts are proudest when ruin is nearest; humility is the ante-chamber of renown.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	18	13	Let a man hear the tale out before he answer, or he is a fool manifest, marked out for shame.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	18	14	All mortal ills the spirit of man can bear; if the spirit itself be impatient, there is no lightening his lot.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	18	15	Prize of the discerning heart, quest of the wise man’s ear, is to learn truth.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	18	16	The gift made, how it opens a man’s path for him, wins him access to the great!
 Proverbs	Prv	22	18	17	An innocent man is the first to lay bare the truth; let his neighbour come and search him as he will.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	18	18	The lot brings feuds to an end; greatness itself must bow to the lot’s decision.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	18	19	When brother helps brother, theirs is the strength of a fortress; their cause is like a city gate barred, unassailable.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	18	20	As mouth speaks, belly shall find its fare; a man’s own words bear the fruit that must needs content him.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	18	21	Of life and death, tongue holds the keys; use it lovingly, and it will requite thee.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	18	22	A good wife found is treasure found; the Lord is filling thy cup with happiness. (A good wife cast away is treasure cast away; leave to fools, and godless fools, the adulterous embrace. )
 Proverbs	Prv	22	18	23	Poor men must cringe, for the rich to rate them.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	18	24	A man endeared to thee by fellowship will prove a better friend to thee than thy own kin.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	19	1	Better the poverty which keeps to honest ways, than the lot of a rich man who never learned to speak truth.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	19	2	Lack learning, all is not well within; ever the hasty stumble.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	19	3	Tripped by his own folly, a man eats his heart out, finding fault with the Lord.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	19	4	Riches will make thee new friends a many, poverty rob thee of the old.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	19	5	Perjury will bring its own punishment; never was liar yet that escaped his doom.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	19	6	Suitors a many the princely heart shall have; give, and thou shalt find friends.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	19	7	The beggar wearies out his kinsmen; his friends, too, will shun him. Who hunts idle talk, comes home empty-handed;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	19	8	as thou lovest thy life get wisdom; discernment at thy side, thou shalt speed well.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	19	9	Perjury will bring its own punishment; never was liar but met his doom.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	19	10	Ill days, when fools live in comfort; worse yet, when servants sway their own masters.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	19	11	Patience is wisdom’s livery; there is no such boast as a wrong overlooked.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	19	12	Of the king’s frown beware, as of lion roaring; welcome as dew on the grass his smile.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	19	13	Great hurt it is to be a fool’s father; he has a roof that drips unendingly, who is husband to a scold.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	19	14	House and hoard a man may inherit; it is the Lord’s gift only, if he have a wife that minds her ways.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	19	15	Sloth brings the sleep that has no awaking; idle hands, empty belly.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	19	16	Law observed is life preserved; the careless step leads the way to death.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	19	17	Befriend the poor, and lend to the Lord; he will repay faithfully.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	19	18	Chasten thy son still, nor despair of his amendment; still let the death of him be far from thy thoughts.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	19	19	He injures himself, that is ungovernable in rage; every advantage he seizes does but injure him the more.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	19	20	Give heed to counsel, accept correction, and thou shalt be wise at last.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	19	21	Thought jostles thought in man’s heart; the Lord’s will stands firm.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	19	22	Poverty is the school of piety; better need than knavery.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	19	23	Fear of the Lord leads on to life, life where all is contentment, and no ill may come.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	19	24	With folded hands the sluggard sits by, and never puts hand to mouth.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	19	25	The lash for the reckless, if thou wouldst turn a fool into a wise man; only cool heads will profit by a rebuke.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	19	26	Shame on the wretch that brings ruin on his own father, drives his own mother out of doors.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	19	27	Never weary, my son, of giving heed to warnings; never let the counsels of experience pass thee by.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	19	28	Out on the faithless witness that scorns right; the sinful souls that are ever greedy for wrong-doing!
 Proverbs	Prv	22	19	29	There is a doom awaits the reckless; there are thick cudgels ready for the fool’s back.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	20	1	A reckless counsellor is wine, strong drink a riotous friend; the man who is swayed by these, call not wise.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	20	2	Beware of the king’s power, as of lion roaring; challenge it, and thy life is forfeit.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	20	3	Well may he boast, that keeps clear of strife; every fool will be quarrelling.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	20	4	Too cold to plough, says Sloth; vainly, when harvest comes, he will go a-begging.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	20	5	Prudent counsel is a well buried deep in man’s heart; but the wise know how to draw from it.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	20	6	Many there are that pass for kindly souls, but a faithful friend is hard to come by.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	20	7	An upright man that goes armed with honest intent, leaves a blessing to his children.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	20	8	Let a king rule justly, wrong-doing shall be winnowed away under his scrutiny.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	20	9	Who dares to boast, My heart is unsullied now, I have cleansed myself of every fault?
 Proverbs	Prv	22	20	10	One balance for getting and one for giving, one yard-wand for selling and one for buying, the Lord will not endure.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	20	11	Watch a boy even at his play, thou canst tell whether his heart is pure and true.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	20	12	The ear that listens, the watchful eye, are both of the Lord’s fashioning.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	20	13	Love not thy sleep, or poverty will overtake thee unawares; the open eye means a full belly.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	20	14	A poor thing, says the buyer, a poor thing! Then off he goes, and boasts of it.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	20	15	Gold thou mayst have in abundance, and jewels a many, but the finest ware of all is wise speech.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	20	16	Does a man go bail for a stranger? Without more ado, take his garment from him; who trusts without knowledge, forfeits the pledge.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	20	17	Ill-gotten wealth is bread most appetizing, that will yet turn to grit in the mouth.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	20	18	Counsel is the sure buttress of determination; wars must ever be won by statecraft.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	20	19	With the whisperer, that goes about open-mouthed on his errand of gossip, never throw in thy lot.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	20	20	In deepest night the lamp of his hopes shall be quenched, that turns upon father or mother with a curse.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	20	21	The inheritance too soon come by, too late thou shalt find unblessed.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	20	22	Never promise thyself vengeance; await the Lord’s hour, and redress shall be thine.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	20	23	One weight for getting and one for giving, the Lord cannot endure; a false balance is great wrong.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	20	24	Every step man takes is of the Lord’s choosing; and thou, poor mortal, wouldst thou plot out thy path?
 Proverbs	Prv	22	20	25	He is trapped, that consecrates his gift in haste; the vow made, repentance comes too late.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	20	26	Fan and flail a wise king has for the ill-doer.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	20	27	Man’s spirit is a lamp the Lord gives, to search out the hidden corners of his being.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	20	28	What is a king’s best body-guard? Mercy and faithfulness; on mercy his throne rests.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	20	29	Youth has strong arms to boast of, old age white hairs for a crown.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	20	30	Hurts that bruise cruelly, chastisement felt deep within, are sin’s best remedy.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	21	1	The thoughts of a king are in the Lord’s hand, streams he can sluice which way he wills.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	21	2	His own path man scans, and nothing sees amiss, but the divine balance weighs our thoughts.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	21	3	Mercy shewn and justice done win the Lord’s favour beyond any sacrifice.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	21	4	Lordly looks, proud heart; the hopes of the wicked are all at fault.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	21	5	Ever diligence plans for plenty; sloth must be content to starve.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	21	6	Illusion it is and madness, wealth to win by perjury; death has caught thee in his snare.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	21	7	Wicked men, that refuse the right, by their own violence come to ruin.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	21	8	Crooked is man’s course, and belies his own nature, but pure souls there are whose life runs true.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	21	9	Better lodge in a garret than share thy house with a scold.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	21	10	A godless man has set his heart on ill-doing; no ruth has he for his fellows.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	21	11	The lash for the reckless, if thou wouldst turn a fool into a wise man; a wise master, and he shall learn yet.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	21	12	Good heed the just man gives to the sinner’s household, in hope of diverting sinners from harm.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	21	13	Who shuts his ear to the poor man’s plea, himself one day shall plead in vain.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	21	14	Carry a secret gift in thy bosom for thy enemy’s appeasing; the open hand no grudge will ever resist.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	21	15	Right done, honest folk rejoice, and knaves tremble.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	21	16	Stray from the path thou wast taught, and thou shalt lodge with the dead.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	21	17	Of greed comes want; he grows not rich that loves wine and oil.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	21	18	The wicked is still the price of the just man’s ransom; for honest folk, treachery pays the score.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	21	19	Better dwell in a wilderness than with a scold who rails at thee.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	21	20	Precious store there is and good cheer where justice dwells; the fool devours all at once.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	21	21	Honest living be thy quest and kindly deeds, life shall be thine, and blessing, and honour.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	21	22	Wisdom can scale the fortress great warriors hold, and bring low its boasted strength.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	21	23	Guard lips and tongue, as thou wouldst guard thy life from peril.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	21	24	I know one, Sir Reckless is the name of him, that is all proud airs, and does nothing but in over-bearing scorn.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	21	25	Day-dreams are the sluggard’s downfall; work his hands will not;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	21	26	all day long dreaming and scheming, while honest men never spare themselves, nor take their ease.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	21	27	Tainted is the sinner’s sacrifice; the hand that offers it is stained with guilt.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	21	28	The false witness shall meet his doom; obey the commandment, and thy pleadings shall triumph.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	21	29	The ill-doer has eyes for nothing but his wanton designs; the upright scans well his path.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	21	30	Wisdom is none, prudence is none, counsel is none that can be matched against the Lord’s will;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	21	31	well armed thy horse may be on the eve of battle, but the Lord sends victory.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	22	1	Precious beyond all treasure is good repute; not gold or silver is so worth the winning, as to be loved.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	22	2	Rich and poor dwell ever side by side, God’s creatures both of them.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	22	3	When ill times come, prudence is on its guard, and takes refuge; the unwary march on, and pay the penalty.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	22	4	Humility brings fear of the Lord, and therewith riches, honour and long life.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	22	5	Stake and caltrop beset the path of the wicked; as thou lovest life, keep thy distance.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	22	6	There is a proverb; a boy will keep the course he has begun; even when he grows old, he will not leave it.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	22	7	Rich rules poor, debtor must wait on creditor.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	22	8	Who sows mischief, reaps a sorry crop; ere long, the flail of his malice will have done its work.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	22	9	For every loaf of bread given to the hungry, blessing shall be the reward of kindly hearts. (A renowned victory he wins, that is a bestower of gifts, and living men are the spoils of it. )
 Proverbs	Prv	22	22	10	Banish the reckless spirit, and strife goes out with him; thou art rid of quarrelling and of disgrace.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	22	11	Love purity of heart, and thou shalt find such gracious words as shall win thee a king’s friendship.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	22	12	True knowledge has the Lord’s smile for its protection; the schemer’s cause he will overthrow.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	22	13	Out? says Sloth; why, there is a lion without; wouldst thou have me slain in the open street?
 Proverbs	Prv	22	22	14	Like a deep pit is the flattery of wanton wife; they only are ensnared, whom the Lord loves little.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	22	15	Boyhood’s mind is loaded with a pack of folly, that needs the rod of correction to shift it.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	22	16	Oppress the poor for thy enrichment, and ere long a richer man’s claim shall impoverish thee.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	22	17	Wouldst thou but give heed, and listen to wise counsels, take these my warnings to heart!
 Proverbs	Prv	22	22	18	Digest them well, and they shall bring back a sweet taste to thy lips;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	22	19	to fill thy own heart too with confidence in the Lord, is the sum of my present teaching.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	22	20	Not once nor twice have I warned thee and instructed thee,
 Proverbs	Prv	22	22	21	so as to ground thee in true doctrine, and send thee home supplied with ready answers concerning it.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	22	22	Never oppress the poor; his poverty protects him; never bear hard on the friendless at law;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	22	23	be sure the Lord will grant them redress, and claim life for life.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	22	24	Never let a quarreller, a man of angry moods, be thy friend; go thy way, and let him go his;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	22	25	ill habits are soon learned, to the sudden peril of thy life.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	22	26	Leave it to others to engage themselves, and go bail for their neighbour’s debts;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	22	27	for thyself, thou hast no means of payment; wouldst thou see the clothes stripped from thy bed?
 Proverbs	Prv	22	22	28	Pass not beyond the ancient bounds which thy fathers have set.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	22	29	Mark me the man whose task is deftly done; he is for the court, no common service shall be his.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	23	1	When thou art sitting at table with a prince, mark well what is set before thee,
 Proverbs	Prv	22	23	2	and, have thou thy appetite under control, guard as with a drawn knife thy gullet.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	23	3	Hanker thou never after those good things of his; they are bait to lure thee.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	23	4	Do not be at pains to amass riches; let thy scheming have its bounds.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	23	5	Never let thy eyes soar to the wealth that is beyond thy reach, eagle-winged against thy pursuit.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	23	6	Shun the niggard’s table; not for thee his dainties.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	23	7	Abstracted he sits, like soothsayer brooding over false dreams; Eat and drink, he tells thee, but his mind is far away.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	23	8	For that grudged food thou wilt have no stomach; all gracious speech will die away on thy tongue.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	23	9	Speak not with fools for thy hearers; of thy warning utterance they will reck nothing.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	23	10	Leave undisturbed the landmarks of friendless folk, nor encroach on the orphan’s patrimony;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	23	11	a strong Champion they have, to grant them redress.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	23	12	Still let thy heart be attentive to warnings, open be thy ear to words of instruction.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	23	13	Nor ever from child of thine withhold chastisement; he will not die under the rod;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	23	14	rather, the rod thou wieldest shall baulk the grave of its prey.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	23	15	Wise heart of thine, my son, is glad heart of mine;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	23	16	speak thou aright, all my being thrills.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	23	17	Do not envy sinners their good fortune, but abide in the fear of the Lord continually;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	23	18	the future holds blessings for thee, never shall that hope play thee false.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	23	19	Listen, then, my son, and shew thyself wise, keeping still an even course.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	23	20	Be not of their company, that drink deep and pile the dishes high at their revels;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	23	21	ruined they shall be, sot and trencherman, and wake from their drunken sleep to find themselves dressed in rags.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	23	22	Thine to obey the father who begot thee, nor leave thy mother without reverence in her grey hairs;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	23	23	truth to covet, hold wisdom, and self-command, and discernment for treasured heirlooms.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	23	24	Joy there is and pride in an upright man’s begetting for the glad father of a wise son;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	23	25	such joy let thy father have, such pride be hers, the mother who bore thee!
 Proverbs	Prv	22	23	26	My son, give me the gift of thy heart, scan closely the path I shew thee.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	23	27	What pit so deep as the harlot’s greed, what snare holds so close as wanton wife?
 Proverbs	Prv	22	23	28	Like a footpad she lurks beside the way, a deadly peril to all that forget their troth.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	23	29	Unhappy son of an unhappy father, who is this, ever brawling, ever falling, scarred but not from battle, blood-shot of eye?
 Proverbs	Prv	22	23	30	Who but the tosspot that sits long over his wine?
 Proverbs	Prv	22	23	31	Look not at the wine’s tawny glow, sparkling there in the glass beside thee; how insinuating its address!
 Proverbs	Prv	22	23	32	Yet at last adder bites not so fatally, poison it distils like the basilisk’s own.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	23	33	Eyes that stray to forbidden charms, a mind uttering thoughts that are none of thine,
 Proverbs	Prv	22	23	34	shall make thee helpless as mariner asleep in mid ocean, when the tiller drops from the helmsman’s drowsy grasp.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	23	35	What! thou wilt say, blows all unfelt, wounds that left no sting! Could I but come to myself, and be back, even now, at my wine!
 Proverbs	Prv	22	24	1	Not for thee to emulate wrong-doers, and aspire to be of their company;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	24	2	what minds are theirs, who think only of men’s undoing, what talk, whose every word is treachery!
 Proverbs	Prv	22	24	3	No foundation for a house like wisdom, no buttress like discernment;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	24	4	no furnishing may be found for the rooms of it so rare and so pleasant, as true knowledge.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	24	5	Only the wise are strong; well taught is firm of sinew.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	24	6	War must be planned first, before thou wage it, and he will prosper best who most takes counsel;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	24	7	wisdom hangs high beyond the fool’s reach; tongue-tied he stands when there are consultations at the gate.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	24	8	Consecrate close thought to evil ends, and thou wilt earn no better name than mischief-maker.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	24	9	Craft of his own the fool has, but all used amiss; the insidious rogue no man can stomach.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	24	10	What, hang thy hands down in time of peril? Little shalt thou avail.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	24	11	Thine to rescue the doomed, to cheat the gallows of its prey;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	24	12	not plead thy lack of strength, when he, the Searcher of all hearts, the Saviour of thy life, knows all, sees all, and requites the actions of men.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	24	13	Sweet to thy palate, my son, is honey from the comb; why then, eat;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	24	14	but wise teaching is no less thy soul’s food, tomorrow’s resource, and a resource unfailing.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	24	15	Lie not in wait, treacherously, to despoil the homes where honest men take their ease;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	24	16	seven times the just may stumble, and rise to their feet again, it is the wicked fall headlong into ruin.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	24	17	Not thine to triumph over a fallen foe; that thrill of rejoicing in thy heart over his calamity
 Proverbs	Prv	22	24	18	the Lord will see, and little love; his vengeance may yet change its course.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	24	19	Do not be impatient when the wicked thrive, do not envy the lot of evil-doers;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	24	20	villainy has no hope in store, its light flickers and is gone.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	24	21	Fear God, my son, and fear the king; have nothing to do with malcontents.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	24	22	How sudden their ruin, how swift falls, from either hand, the blow!
 Proverbs	Prv	22	24	23	More maxims of the wise. It is ill done, to let partiality sway thy judgement;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	24	24	if thou acquit the guilty, what race will have a good word for thee, what people will love thee?
 Proverbs	Prv	22	24	25	Condemn him, and thou shalt have renown, blessings shall fall on thy head.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	24	26	The right word spoken seals all like a kiss on the lips.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	24	27	Be thy first care what lies without; till thy lands first with all diligence; then build up thy home.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	24	28	Do not come forward as a witness against thy neighbour; wouldst thou spread lying tales?
 Proverbs	Prv	22	24	29	Nor be content to say, I am but serving him as he served me; I pay off old scores.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	24	30	Passing by field or vineyard where idleness reigned and improvidence, what sights I have seen!
 Proverbs	Prv	22	24	31	Nettles were everywhere, briers had covered the ground, the stone wall was ruinous.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	24	32	That sight I took to heart, found a warning in that ill example.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	24	33	Sleep on (thought I) a little longer, yawn a little longer, a little longer pillow head on hand;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	24	34	ay, but poverty will not wait, the day of distress will not wait; like an armed vagabond it will fall upon thee!
 Proverbs	Prv	22	25	1	Here are more of Solomon’s proverbs, copied out by Ezechias’ men, that was king of Juda.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	25	2	For mysteries unfathomable, praise God; for mysteries revealed, the king.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	25	3	High as heaven thou must look, deep as earth, ere the mind of kings shall be made known to thee.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	25	4	Rid silver of dross, and the cup shines bright;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	25	5	rid the court of knaves, and the throne stands firm.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	25	6	Never play the great lord at court, and mingle with men of rank;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	25	7	who would not rather be beckoned to a higher place, than be put to the blush, and in the king’s presence?
 Proverbs	Prv	22	25	8	When men go to law, do not disclose hastily what thy eyes have witnessed; it may be thou hast tainted a friend’s name, and there is no undoing the mischief.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	25	9	To thy friend’s private ear open thy wrongs; vent the secret abroad,
 Proverbs	Prv	22	25	10	and he, hearing it, will turn on thee with reproaches, nor wilt thou lightly recover thy good name. (Favour and friendship are thy protection; to lose them is a foul blot. )
 Proverbs	Prv	22	25	11	Like a boss of gold amid silver tracery it shines out, the right word spoken.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	25	12	Golden ear-ring nor pearl drop fits so well, as wise reproof given to a wise listener.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	25	13	Find a trusty messenger; not snow in harvest-time will bring thee more relief.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	25	14	Storm-wrack and cloud and no rain to follow; such thanks he wins that boasts much, and nothing accomplishes.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	25	15	A prince, in his forbearance, may yet be won over to thy cause; hard heart gives place to soft tongue.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	25	16	Honey if thou find, eat thy fill and no more; nothing comes of surfeit but vomiting.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	25	17	Rare be thy visits to a neighbour; he will soon have enough, and weary of thee.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	25	18	What is worse than javelin, sword, and arrow all at once? One that bears false witness against his neighbour.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	25	19	What is more frail than rotting tooth, or sprained foot? A false friend trusted in the hour of need; as well lose thy cloak in mid winter.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	25	20	Vinegar goes ill with natron, and song with a discontented heart. (Moth cannot fret garment, or worm wood, as care the heart.)
 Proverbs	Prv	22	25	21	Hungers thy enemy? Here is thy chance; feed him. Thirsts he? Of thy well let him drink.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	25	22	So doing, thou wilt heap burning coals upon his head, and for thyself, the Lord will recompense thee.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	25	23	The north wind stops rain, and a frown the backbiter.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	25	24	Better lodge in a garret than share thy house with a scold.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	25	25	Good news from a far land, refreshing as cold water to parched lips.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	25	26	Fouled the spring, poisoned the well, when honest men bow down before knaves.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	25	27	A surfeit harms, though it be of honey; search too high, and the brightness shall dazzle thee.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	25	28	Like a city unwalled he lies defenceless, that cannot master himself, but ever speaks his mind.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	26	1	As well snow in summer or rain in harvest, as honour paid to a fool.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	26	2	Light as a bird of passage, light as sparrow on the wing, the curse that is undeserved shall reach thee.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	26	3	Whip for horse, bridle for ass, and never a rod for the fool’s back?
 Proverbs	Prv	22	26	4	Leave the fool’s challenge unanswered, and prove thyself wise;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	26	5	or answer it, if thou wilt, and prove him fool.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	26	6	Send a fool on thy errand, thou hast a lame journey, and mischief brewing for thee.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	26	7	Give a fool leave to speak, it is all fair legs and no walking.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	26	8	Pay a fool reverence, thou hast wasted one more stone on Mercury’s cairn.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	26	9	Speech fits as well in a fool’s mouth as branch of bramble in the hand of a drunkard.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	26	10	The law settles quarrels at last, yet silence the fool, and feud there shall be none.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	26	11	Like a dog at his vomit, the fool goes back ever to his own folly.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	26	12	Who is in more perilous case than the fool himself? The man who lays claim to wisdom.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	26	13	What, go abroad? says Sloth; there is a lion there; trust me, a lion’s dam loose in the street.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	26	14	Sloth turns about, but keeps his bed, true as the door to its hinge.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	26	15	With folded hands the sluggard sits by, too idle to put hand to mouth.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	26	16	Wiser than seven sages is the sluggard in his own thought.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	26	17	Better pull a dog by the ears than meddle in another’s quarrels; pass on in quiet.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	26	18	No excuse he finds, that deadly brand and arrow casts about him;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	26	19	nor he either, that hurts a friend by treachery and pleads that it was done in jest.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	26	20	No fuel, no fire; no tell-tale, no quarrel.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	26	21	Coal needs ember, and fire tinder, and strife a quarreller, for their kindling.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	26	22	Innocent enough seem the words of the backbiter, yet their poison sinks deep into a man’s belly.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	26	23	When the heart is wicked, fine talk is but lustre ware.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	26	24	The enemy that has treacherous thoughts is betrayed by his friendly talk;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	26	25	trust him not when he speaks thee fair; here are seven depths of wickedness in a single heart.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	26	26	Vain the pretences that cloak his malice; before the whole assembly it shall be made known;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	26	27	dig pit, and thou shalt fall into it, shift rock, and it shall roll back on thee.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	26	28	Fie on the glib tongues that hate all honesty, the treacherous lips that plot men’s downfall!
 Proverbs	Prv	22	27	1	Do not flatter thyself with hopes of to-morrow; what lies in the womb of the future thou canst not tell.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	27	2	Seek praise, but not of thy own bestowing; another’s lips, not thine, must sound it.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	27	3	What is more crushing than stone, more burdensome than sand? A fool’s ill humour.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	27	4	Fierce, fierce is rage, and indignation mounts like a flood, but the pangs of jealousy, these there is no resisting.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	27	5	Better open reproof than the love that gives no sign.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	27	6	Better the love that scourges, than hate’s false kiss.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	27	7	Full-fed spurns the honeycomb; to Hunger’s lips, bitter is sweet.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	27	8	When bird leaves nest, let a man leave his home.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	27	9	Sweeter than ointment, sweeter than any perfume, when man’s heart talks to heart of friend.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	27	10	Friend of thine, and friend that was thy father’s, never forsake; so, in thy sore need, no kinsman’s door thou shalt need to enter. Neighbour over the way is better than kinsman at a distance.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	27	11	My son, wouldst thou be thy father’s pride? Court wisdom, and silence thy detractors.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	27	12	When ill times come, prudence is on its guard, and takes refuge; the unwary march on, and pay the penalty.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	27	13	Does a man go bail for a stranger? Without more ado, take his garment from him; who trusts without knowledge, forfeits the pledge.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	27	14	So early abroad, so loudly wishing thy neighbour well? This is curse, not blessing.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	27	15	Between a scold and a roof that drips in winter there is nothing to choose.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	27	16	As well store up the wind in thy house, though thou call her the marrow of thy right hand.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	27	17	Iron whets iron, friend shapes friend.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	27	18	If figs thou wouldst eat, tend thy fig-tree well; if honour thou wouldst have, wait well on thy master.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	27	19	Clear as a face mirrored in water, the wise see men’s hearts.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	27	20	Death and the grave were never yet content, nor man’s eyes with gazing.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	27	21	Silver and gold are judged by furnace and crucible, man by his repute. (Heart of knave is ever set on mischief, heart of true man on wisdom.)
 Proverbs	Prv	22	27	22	Bray a fool like corn, with pestle and mortar, he will be a fool still.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	27	23	Spent be thy care, thy eyes watchful, over flock and herd of thine;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	27	24	riches will slip from thy grasp, and crowns, will they last for ever?
 Proverbs	Prv	22	27	25	See, where the meadows are laid bare, and the aftermath is springing, the hay all carried, now, from the hill-slopes!
 Proverbs	Prv	22	27	26	Pasture for the lambs that shall clothe thee, for the goats that shall be the price of more fields yet;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	27	27	goat’s milk, too, shall suffice to feed thee, give life and strength to thy men and thy serving-maids.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	28	1	Bad conscience takes to its heels, with none in pursuit; fearless as a lion the unreproved heart.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	28	2	Short reigns and many, where a land is plagued for its guilt; by wise counsel, and men’s talk overheard, long lives the king.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	28	3	Tempest threatens and famine when poor men oppress the poor.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	28	4	Sound teaching is forgotten, where the wrong-doer is well spoken of; honest folk will still be up in arms.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	28	5	No skill the knave has to discern the right; quest of the Lord’s will makes that craft perfect.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	28	6	Better a poor life lived honestly than crooked ways that bring riches.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	28	7	A son’s wisdom is to obey his father’s teaching, not to shame him by keeping riotous company.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	28	8	Wealth that the usurer by extortion amassed, a more generous than he shall have the spending of.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	28	9	Turn a deaf ear to thy teachers, and thy prayer shall be all sacrilege.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	28	10	Ruin he brings on himself, that leads the innocent into ill ways, and honest men shall be the heirs of him.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	28	11	Wisdom he claims, that wealth has; yet there is many a poor man will put him down.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	28	12	A fair sight it is, to see honest folk rejoicing; knaves’ rule is the people’s ruin.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	28	13	Never shalt thou thrive by keeping sin hidden; confess it and leave it, if thou wouldst find pardon.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	28	14	Blessed evermore is the timorous conscience; it is hardened hearts that fall to their ruin.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	28	15	Nation without bread and prince without scruple, here is ravening lion and hungry bear all at once.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	28	16	Let prince lack prudence, everywhere is wrongful oppression; less covetous, he should have lived longer.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	28	17	Compass thou a man’s death, thou mayst flee to the depths of earth, none will shield thee.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	28	18	Keep the path of innocence, and thou shalt be safe; at one blow the double-dealer shall fall.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	28	19	Till field and fill belly; idleness shall have a bellyful of nothing but want.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	28	20	Of honesty comes much honour, and how shall wealth reach thee suddenly, yet leave thy hands clean?
 Proverbs	Prv	22	28	21	Great wrong it is to sell judgement; wouldst thou barter truth away for a mouthful of bread?
 Proverbs	Prv	22	28	22	Eye on his rivals in the race for wealth, a man sees nothing, when want is hard at his heels.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	28	23	More thanks thou wilt have, in the end, for honest reproof than for designing flattery.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	28	24	Shall he who robs father or mother make light of it? He is next door to a murderer.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	28	25	Jostling pride it is that stirs up enmity; trust in the Lord, and thou shalt prosper.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	28	26	He is a fool that trusts his own wit; follow the rule of wise men, if thou wouldst reach safety.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	28	27	Give to the poor, and nothing lack; turn away from their plea, and blessing thou shalt have none.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	28	28	When knaves flourish, all the world takes to hiding; come they by their end, thou shalt see honest folk abroad.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	29	1	Who spurns the yoke of correction shall meet sudden doom, and past all remedy.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	29	2	When right thrives, the city is all rejoicing; when there be knaves that rule it, all lament.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	29	3	Glad the father’s heart, when the son takes wisdom for his mistress, nor spends on wantons his patrimony.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	29	4	Kings by justice or exaction make the fortunes of a state or mar them.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	29	5	By empty flattery thou mayst lay a snare for thy friend’s feet.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	29	6	By his own false steps the sinner is entangled; innocence goes singing and rejoicing on its way.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	29	7	An eye the upright man has for the friendless cause; the sinner is all darkness.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	29	8	Rashness in a city ruins all; that madness, wisdom must turn aside.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	29	9	Alas for the wise man that goes to law with a fool! Between bluster and mockery, there is no end to it.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	29	10	He makes murderous enemies, that lives innocently … and honest men demand his life.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	29	11	Folly blurts out its whole mind; wise men reserve utterance till by and by.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	29	12	King that listens to false rumour has a worthless court.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	29	13	Poor men and their masters dwell side by side, sharing the Lord’s sunlight.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	29	14	King that gives due redress to the poor has a throne unshakeable.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	29	15	Wisdom comes of reproof, comes of the rod; leave a child to go its own way, and a mother’s care is wasted.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	29	16	Thrive the godless, there will be wrongs a many; but the just will yet see them put down.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	29	17	A son well schooled is rest well earned; great joy thou shalt have of him.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	29	18	What revel among the host, the power of prophecy once withdrawn! Happy is he that keeps the law unbroken.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	29	19	Word was never yet that would check a slave; he listens only to defy it.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	29	20	Who is in more perilous case than the fool himself? The man who speaks too soon.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	29	21	Pamper thy slave young, and breed a pert manservant.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	29	22	Ever the quarreller breeds strife; quick temper is ever at fault.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	29	23	Pride will come low; honour awaits the humble.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	29	24	As thou lovest thy life, aid thieves never; wouldst thou hear appeal made, and keep thy own counsel?
 Proverbs	Prv	22	29	25	Fear of man’s judgements will bring thee quickly to ruin; in the Lord put thy trust, and rise high above them.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	29	26	Suitors a many an earthly prince has for his favour; but it is God that judges all.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	29	27	Eyesores alike, the rogue to honest men the plain-dealer to villains. (Let the son heed a father’s warnings, he shall fear no ruin. )
 Proverbs	Prv	22	30	1	Here are the words of Agur, son of Jacé. Here is revelation made known by one that had God with him, God’s near presence to comfort him, as he spoke.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	30	2	What though I be ignorant, beyond human wont?
 Proverbs	Prv	22	30	3	What though the knowledge of man has passed me by, wisdom’s dull pupil, without skill in holy lore?
 Proverbs	Prv	22	30	4	Who may he be that has scaled heaven, and come back to tell its secrets; held the winds in the hollow of his hand, wrapped away the storm-clouds under his mantle, fixed the bounds of earth? Tell me his name; tell me, if thou canst, where son of his may be found?
 Proverbs	Prv	22	30	5	All God’s promises are like metal tested in the fire; he is the sure defence of all who trust in him.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	30	6	Add to his word no word of thine; speedily thy practices shall come to light.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	30	7	Two requests I would make of thee; be they mine while life lasts.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	30	8	Keep my thoughts ever far from treachery and lying; and for my state of life, be neither poverty mine nor riches. Grant me only the livelihood I need;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	30	9	so shall not abundance tempt me to disown thee, and doubt if Lord there be, nor want bid me steal, and dishonour my God’s name with perjury.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	30	10	Never accuse a slave to his master; curse thee he may, and to thy undoing.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	30	11	A bad breed it is, that curse their fathers and for their mothers have no good word.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	30	12	A bad breed, that owns no blot, yet is all unpurged from its defilement.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	30	13	A bad breed, all haughty looks and scornful brow.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	30	14	A bad breed, that has teeth sharp as swords, jaws that grind slowly on, till poor folk none are left, their friendless neighbours.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	30	15	Two sisters there are, men say, brood of the leech, that still cry, Give us more, give us more! But stay, there is a third Insatiable; nay, a fourth I can name that never says, Enough!
 Proverbs	Prv	22	30	16	The grave, and the barren womb, and earth that soaks up the rain, and fire; did fire ever say, Enough?
 Proverbs	Prv	22	30	17	Proud looks, that tell of a father mocked, a mother’s pangs despised! That eye the ravens shall pick out on the hill-side, the vulture’s brood shall prey on it.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	30	18	Three mysteries there are too high for me, and a fourth is beyond my ken;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	30	19	eagle that flies in air, viper that crawls on rock, ship that sails the sea, and man that goes courting maid.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	30	20	Nor less I marvel at wanton wife that licks her greedy lips, and will have it that she did no harm.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	30	21	Three sights there are set earth trembling, and a fourth it cannot endure;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	30	22	slave turned king, churl full fed,
 Proverbs	Prv	22	30	23	a scold married, and a maid that supplants her mistress.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	30	24	Of four little things in nature, wise men cannot match the skill.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	30	25	How puny a race the ants, that hoard their food in harvest time;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	30	26	how defenceless the rock-rabbits, that hide their burrows in the clefts!
 Proverbs	Prv	22	30	27	No prince have the locusts, yet ever they march in rank;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	30	28	the lizard climbs high, and makes its home in the palaces of kings.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	30	29	Three creatures there are that walk majestically, and a fourth goes proudly on his way;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	30	30	bravest of beasts, the lion, that fears no encounter,
 Proverbs	Prv	22	30	31	the cock (Loins-girt they call him), and the ram; and the king, too, for who can say him nay?
 Proverbs	Prv	22	30	32	Fool that thrusts himself forward will prove a fool; he had been better advised to hold his tongue.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	30	33	First milk, then butter thou mayst have for the wringing; blow thy nose lustily, and blood shall flow at last; how then canst thou press thy quarrel home, and no strife come of it?
 Proverbs	Prv	22	31	1	Here are words of king Lamuel; here is revelation his mother made known to him for his instruction.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	31	2	What word have I for my son, the child of my own womb, the fulfilment of my prayers?
 Proverbs	Prv	22	31	3	Wouldst thou give thyself up to the love of women, spend thy all on a king’s undoing?
 Proverbs	Prv	22	31	4	Wine was never made for kings, Lamuel, never for kings; carouse befits ill thy council-chamber.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	31	5	Not for them to drink deep, and forget the claims of right, and misjudge the plea of the friendless.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	31	6	Strong drink for the mourner, wine for the afflicted heart;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	31	7	deep let them drink, and forget their need, and think of their misery no more.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	31	8	Do thou, meanwhile, give thy voice for dumb pleader and for doomed prisoner;
 Proverbs	Prv	22	31	9	ever let that voice of thine pronounce true sentence, giving redress to the friendless and the poor.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	31	10	A man who has found a vigorous wife has found a rare treasure, brought from distant shores.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	31	11	Bound to her in loving confidence, he will have no need of spoil.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	31	12	Content, not sorrow, she will bring him as long as life lasts.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	31	13	Does she not busy herself with wool and thread, plying her hands with ready skill?
 Proverbs	Prv	22	31	14	Ever she steers her course like some merchant ship, bringing provision from far away.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	31	15	From early dawn she is up, assigning food to the household, so that each waiting-woman has her share.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	31	16	Ground must be examined, and bought, and planted out as a vineyard, with the earnings of her toil.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	31	17	How briskly she girds herself to the task, how tireless are her arms!
 Proverbs	Prv	22	31	18	Industry, she knows, is well rewarded, and all night long her lamp does not go out.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	31	19	Jealously she sets her hands to work, her fingers clutch the spindle.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	31	20	Kindly is her welcome to the poor, her purse ever open to those in need.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	31	21	Let the snow lie cold if it will, she has no fears for her household; no servant of hers but is warmly clad.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	31	22	Made by her own hands was the coverlet on her bed, the clothes of lawn and purple that she wears.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	31	23	None so honoured at the city gate as that husband of hers, when he sits in council with the elders of the land.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	31	24	Often she will sell linen of her own weaving, or make a girdle for the travelling merchant to buy.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	31	25	Protected by her own industry and good repute, she greets the morrow with a smile.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	31	26	Ripe wisdom governs her speech, but it is kindly instruction she gives.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	31	27	She keeps watch over all that goes on in her house, not content to go through life eating and sleeping.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	31	28	That is why her children are the first to call her blessed, her husband is loud in her praise:
 Proverbs	Prv	22	31	29	Unrivalled art thou among all the women that have enriched their homes.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	31	30	Vain are the winning ways, beauty is a snare; it is the woman who fears the Lord that will achieve renown.
 Proverbs	Prv	22	31	31	Work such as hers claims its reward; let her life be spoken of with praise at the city gates.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	1	1	Words of the Spokesman, king David’s son, that reigned once at Jerusalem.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	1	2	A shadow’s shadow, he tells us, a shadow’s shadow; a world of shadows!
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	1	3	How is man the better for all this toiling of his, here under the sun?
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	1	4	Age succeeds age, and the world goes on unaltered.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	1	5	Sun may rise and sun may set, but ever it goes back and is reborn.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	1	6	Round to the south it moves, round to the north it turns; the wind, too, though it makes the round of the world, goes back to the beginning of its round at last.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	1	7	All the rivers flow into the sea, yet never the sea grows full; back to their springs they find their way, and must be flowing still.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	1	8	Weariness, all weariness; who shall tell the tale? Eye looks on unsatisfied; ear listens, ill content.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	1	9	Ever that shall be that ever has been, that which has happened once shall happen again;
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	1	10	there can be nothing new, here under the sun. Never man calls a thing new, but it is something already known to the ages that went before us;
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	1	11	only we have no record of older days. So, believe me, the fame of to-morrow’s doings will be forgotten by the men of a later time.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	1	12	I was a king in my day, I, the Spokesman; Israel my realm, Jerusalem my capital.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	1	13	And it was my resolve to search deep and find out the meaning of all that men do, here under the sun; all that curse of busy toil which God has given to the sons of Adam for their task.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	1	14	All that men do beneath the sun I marked, and found it was but frustration and lost labour, all of it;
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	1	15	there was no curing men’s cross-grained nature, no reckoning up their follies.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	1	16	I at least (so I flattered myself) have risen above the rest; a king so wise never reigned at Jerusalem; here is a mind has reflected much, and much learned.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	1	17	And therewith I applied my mind to a new study; what meant wisdom and learning, what meant ignorance and folly? And I found that this too was labour lost;
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	1	18	much wisdom, much woe; who adds to learning, adds to the load we bear.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	2	1	Next, I thought to give the rein to my desires, and enjoy pleasure, until I found that this, too, was labour lost.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	2	2	Wouldst thou know how I learned to find laughter an empty thing, and all joy a vain illusion;
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	2	3	how I resolved at last to deny myself the comfort of wine, wisdom now all my quest, folly disowned? For I could not rest until I knew where man’s true good lay, what was his life’s true task, here under the sun.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	2	4	Great plans I set on foot; I would build palaces, I would plant vineyards,
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	2	5	I would have park and orchard, planted with every kind of tree;
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	2	6	and to water all this greenery there must be pools of water besides.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	2	7	Men-slaves I bought and women-slaves, till I had a great retinue of them; herds, too, and abundance of flocks, such as Jerusalem never saw till then.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	2	8	Gold and silver I amassed, revenues of subject king and subject province; men-singers I had and women-singers, and all that man delights in; beakers a many, and jars of wine to fill them.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	2	9	Never had Jerusalem known such wealth; yet in the midst of it, wisdom never left my side.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	2	10	Eyes denied nothing that eyes could covet, a heart stinted of no enjoyment, free of all the pleasures I had devised for myself, this was to be my reward, this the fruit of all my labours.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	2	11	And now, when I looked round at all I had done, all that ungrateful drudgery, nothing I found there but frustration and labour lost, so fugitive is all we cherish, here under the sun.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	2	12	Then my mind went back to the thought of wisdom, of ignorance, too, and folly. What (thought I), should mortal king strive to imitate the sovereign power that made him?
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	2	13	I saw, indeed, that wisdom differed from folly as light from darkness;
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	2	14	the wise man had eyes in his head, while the fool went his way benighted; but the ending of them? In their ending both were alike.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	2	15	Why then (I said to myself), if fool and I must come to the same end at last, was not I the fool, that toiled to achieve wisdom more than he? So my thoughts ran, and I found labour lost, here too.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	2	16	Endlessly forgotten, wise man and fool alike, since to-morrow’s memory will be no longer than yesterday’s; wise man and fool alike doomed to death.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	2	17	Thus I became weary of life itself; so worthless it seemed to me, all that man does beneath the sun, frustration all of it, and labour lost. And I, beneath that same sun, what fond labours I had spent!
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	2	18	I hated the thought of them now; should heir of mine succeed to them?
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	2	19	An heir, would he be wise man or fool? None could tell; but his would be the possession of all I had toiled for so hard, schemed for so anxiously; could there be frustration worse than this?
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	2	20	I would hold my hand; no more should yonder sun see labours of mine.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	2	21	What, should one man go on toiling, his the craft, his the skill, his the anxious care, leaving all to another, and an idler? That were frustration surely, and great mischief done.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	2	22	Tell me, how is a man the richer for all that toil of his, all that lost labour of his, here under the sun?
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	2	23	His days all painfulness and care, his very nights restless; what is here but frustration?
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	2	24	Were it not better to eat and drink, and toil only at his own pleasures? These, too, come from God’s hand;
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	2	25	and who has better right to food tasted and pleasure enjoyed than I?
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	2	26	Who wins God’s favour, has wisdom and skill for his reward, and pleasure too; it is the sinner that is doomed to hardship and to thankless care, hoarding and scraping, and all to enrich some heir God loves better! For him frustration, for him the labour lost.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	3	1	Everything must be done by turns; no activity, here beneath the heavens, but has its allotted time for beginning and coming to an end.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	3	2	Men are born only to die, plant trees only to displant them.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	3	3	Now we take life, now we save it; now we are destroying, now building.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	3	4	Weep first, then laugh, mourn we and dance;
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	3	5	the stones we have scattered we must bring together anew; court we first and then shun the embrace.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	3	6	To-day’s gain, tomorrow’s loss; what once we treasured, soon thrown away;
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	3	7	the garment rent, the garment mended; silence kept, and silence ended;
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	3	8	love alternating with hatred, war with peace.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	3	9	For all this toiling of his, how is man the richer?
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	3	10	Pitiable indeed I found it, this task God has given to mankind;
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	3	11	and he, meanwhile, has made the world, in all its seasonable beauty, and given us the contemplation of it, yet of his own dealings with us, first and last, never should man gain comprehension.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	3	12	To enjoy his life, to make the best of it, beyond doubt this is man’s highest employment;
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	3	13	that gift at least God has granted him, to eat and drink and see his toil rewarded.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	3	14	But be sure all God has made will remain for ever as he made it; there is no adding to it, no taking away from it; so he will command our reverence.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	3	15	Nothing that has been, but lasts on still; nothing that will be, but has been already; he is ever repeating the history of the past.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	3	16	I marked, too, how wrong was done instead of right, injustice instead of justice, there under the sun’s eye;
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	3	17	and I told myself that God would give judgement one day between the just and the sinners, and all things would reach their appointed end then.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	3	18	I told myself that God’s purpose with the sons of men was to test them…… And that they might see they were only like the beasts…
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	3	19	After all, man comes to the same ending as the beasts; there is nothing to choose between his lot and theirs; both alike are doomed to die. They have but one principle of life; what has man that the beasts have not? Frustration everywhere;
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	3	20	we are all making for the same goal; of earth we were made, and to earth we must return.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	3	21	Who has a right to tell us that the spirit of man mounts upwards, and the spirit of a beast sinks down to the depth?
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	3	22	So I became aware that it is best for man to busy himself here to his own content; this and nothing else is his allotted portion; who can show him what the future will bring?
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	4	1	And then my thoughts would turn back to all the wrongs that are done under the sun’s eye. Innocent folk in tears, and who is to comfort them? Who is to comfort them, powerless against their oppressors?
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	4	2	The dead, it seemed, were more to be envied than the living;
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	4	3	better yet to be still unborn, never to have known the shameful deeds that are done, out here in the sunlight.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	4	4	I thought, too, of human toil and striving; how much it owed to man’s rivalry with his fellows! All was frustration and lost labour here.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	4	5	What wonder if the fool sits idle, and starves to death?
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	4	6	Better a handful (says he) quietly come by, than a whole armful that is all striving and labour lost.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	4	7	And there was another kind of frustration I marked, here under the sun.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	4	8	Here is one that works alone, partner nor son nor brother to aid him, yet still works on, never content with his bright hoard, never asking, as he toils and stints himself, who shall gain by it. Frustration and lost labour, here too.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	4	9	Better to be in partnership with another, than alone; partnership brings advantage to both.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	4	10	If one falls, the other will give support; with the lonely it goes hard; when he falls, there is none to raise him.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	4	11	Sleep two in one bed, each shall warm the other; for the lonely, there is no warmth.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	4	12	Two may withstand assault, where one is no match for it; a triple cord is not lightly broken.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	4	13	There is more hope for a wise servant that is in hard straits, than for a dotard king that foresight has none.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	4	14	Men have risen to a throne that till now were bound in prison; men born to rule a kingdom have died of want.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	4	15	I have seen the whole world, from east to west, take part with the young man, the usurper that rises in the old king’s stead.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	4	16	The old king, that had an immemorial line of ancestors; and now posterity shall take no pride in him! All is frustration, and labour lost.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	4	17	Look well what thou art doing when thou goest into God’s house; present thyself there in a spirit of obedience. Obedience is far better than the sacrifice made by fools, that are guilty of unwitting sacrilege.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	5	1	When thou standest in God’s presence, do not pour out with rash haste all that is in thy heart. God sees as heaven sees, thou as earth; few words are best.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	5	2	Sure as dreams come from an overwrought brain, from glib utterance comes ill-considered speech.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	5	3	Vow to God if thou utterest, without delay perform it, he will have no light and rash promises; vow made must be vow paid.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	5	4	Far better undertake nothing than undertake what thou dost not fulfil.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	5	5	Wouldst thou defile thy whole nature through the tongue’s fault? Wouldst thou find thyself saying, with God’s angel to hear thee, No thought I gave to it? Little wonder if God disappoints every ambition of the man who speaks so.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	5	6	Dreams, empty dreams, led to those glib promises of thine; content thyself rather with the fear of God.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	5	7	Thou seest, it may be, in this province or that, oppression of the poor, false award given, and wrong unredressed? Let not such things bewilder thee; trust me, authority is watched by higher authority, subject in turn to higher authority yet;
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	5	8	and, above them all, the King of the whole earth rules it as his dominion.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	5	9	What is his decree? Why, that covetousness should never fill its own maw; never did he that loved money taste the enjoyment of his money; here is frustration once again.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	5	10	Richer if thou grow, riches will give thee more mouths to feed; profit he has none that owns them, save the feasting of his eyes on them if he will.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	5	11	Full belly or empty, sound is the cottar’s sleep; sleep, to the pampered body of the rich still denied.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	5	12	Another evil I have found past remedy, here under the sun; riches that a man hoards to his own undoing.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	5	13	By cruel misadventure they are lost to him, and to the son he has begotten nothing he leaves but poverty.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	5	14	Naked he came, when he left his mother’s womb, and naked still death finds him; nothing to show for all his long endeavour.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	5	15	Alas, what ailed him, that he should go away no richer than he came? Nothing left of all those wasted labours of his;
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	5	16	all his life long the cheerless board, the multitudinous cares, the concern, the melancholy!
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	5	17	Better far, by my way of it, that a man should eat and drink and enjoy the revenues of his own labour, here under the sun, as long as God gives him life; what more can he claim?
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	5	18	God’s gift it is, if a man has wealth and goods and freedom to enjoy them, taking what comes to him and profiting by what he has earned.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	5	19	Few be his days or many, he regards little, so long as God gives his heart content.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	6	1	With another hardship I have seen men visited here beneath the sun, and commonly.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	6	2	God gives a man wealth, and goods, and state, till there is nothing more left for his appetites to desire; and then God denies him the enjoyment of all this, throws the coveted morsel to a stranger instead; here is frustration, here is cold comfort indeed.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	6	3	Ay, let a man have a hundred children to his name, years let him have a many, and be near his end; yet, if he is not to enjoy the revenues of his land still, and lay his bones in it, I say it were better for him never to have come to the birth.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	6	4	Well made, the empty passage from light to darkness, well lost, the chance of earthly renown,
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	6	5	if only a man never sees the sun, never learns the meaning of good fortune and ill!
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	6	6	Though he should have lived two thousand years, he were none the better for it, if he might not continue in the enjoyment of his goods. Do we not all reach the same goal at last?
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	6	7	What is all our striving, but a full mouth and an empty belly?
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	6	8	Is wise man more to be envied than fool? Where should a man go when he is poor, save where he can find a livelihood?
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	6	9	Better aim at what lies in view than hanker after dreams. But indeed all is frustration, and labour lost.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	6	10	He is known already by name, that is still unborn; and this at least is known of him, that he is but man, and cannot plead his cause, matched against too strong an adversary.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	6	11	Words, they be spun endlessly; yet what should lie at the heart of our reasoning, but frustration?
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	7	1	What need for man to ask questions that are beyond his scope? There is no knowing how best his life should be spent, this brief pilgrimage that passes like a shadow, and is gone. And what will befall after his death, in this world beneath the sun, who can tell?
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	7	2	There is no embalming like a good name left behind; man’s true birthday is the day of his death.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	7	3	Better a visit paid where men mourn, than where they feast; it will put thee in mind of the end that awaits us all, admonish the living with the foreknowledge of death.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	7	4	Frown ere thou smile; the downcast look betokens a chastened heart.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	7	5	Sadness, a home for the wise man’s thoughts, mirth for the fool’s.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	7	6	Better receive a wise man’s rebuke, than hear thy praises sung by fools.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	7	7	Loud but not long the thorns crackle under the pot, and fools make merry; for them, too, frustration.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	7	8	Oppression bewilders even a wise man’s wits, and undermines his courage.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	7	9	Speech may end fair, that foul began; patience is better than a proud heart.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	7	10	Never be quick to take offence; it is a fool’s heart that harbours grudges.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	7	11	Never ask why the old times were better than ours; a fool’s question.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	7	12	Great worth has wisdom matched with good endowment; more advantage it shall bring thee than all the rest, here under the sun.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	7	13	Wealth befriends whom wisdom befriends; better still, who learns wisdom wins life.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	7	14	Mark well God’s doings; where he looks askance, none may set the crooked straight.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	7	15	Come good times, accept the good they bring; come evil, let them never take thee unawares; bethink thee, that God has balanced these against those, and will have no man repine over his lot.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	7	16	In my days of baffled enquiry, I have seen pious men ruined for all their piety, and evil-doers live long in all their wickedness.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	7	17	Why then, do not set too much store by piety, nor play the wise man to excess, if thou wouldst not be bewildered over thy lot.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	7	18	Yet plunge not deep in evil-doing; folly eschew; else thou shalt perish before thy time.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	7	19	To piety thou must needs cling, yet live by that other caution too; fear God, and thou hast left no duty unfulfilled.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	7	20	Wisdom is a surer ally than ten city magistrates;
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	7	21	there is no man on earth so exact over his duties that he does ever the right, never commits a fault.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	7	22	The chance words men utter, heed but little; how if thou shouldst hear thy own servant speaking ill of thee?
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	7	23	Thy own conscience will tell thee how often thou too hast spoken ill of other men.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	7	24	Thus, by the touchstone of my wisdom, I would test all things; Wisdom, cried I, I must have; yet all the while she withdrew from me,
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	7	25	further away than ever. Deep, deep is her secret; who shall read it?
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	7	26	Here is a mind that has passed the whole world of things in review, examining everything, weighing everything, so as to have a wise estimation of them, eager to understand the fool’s rebelliousness, the false calculations of rash souls.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	7	27	And this I have ascertained; death itself is not so cruel as woman’s heart that wheedles and beguiles, as woman’s clutches that release their captive never. God’s friends escape her; of sinners she makes an easy prey.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	7	28	I weighed this against that (he, the Spokesman, tells us), and the sum of my enquiry was this.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	7	29	One thing I ever longed to find, and found never, a true woman. One true man I might find among a thousand, but a woman never.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	7	30	Of this, beyond all else, I have satisfied myself; man’s nature was simple enough when God made him, and these endless questions are of his own devising.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	7	31	The wise man, there is none like him. O for one who should read the riddle!
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	8	1	When a man is given wisdom, it shines out in his face; Omnipotence will set a new stamp on his brow.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	8	2	Mine to do a king’s bidding, to hold fast by an oath taken in the name of God.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	8	3	Do not hasten away from his presence, or rebelliously withstand him; he can do all he will,
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	8	4	with such authority his word runs; none may call his acts in question.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	8	5	Do as thou art bidden, and fear no harm. A time will come, the wise man knows, when he shall win a hearing;
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	8	6	time brings every man his chance, be his business what it may, only this curse lies upon man,
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	8	7	that he cannot learn from the past, cannot get word of the future.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	8	8	The breath of life man must resign at last; the day of his death he cannot determine; nor ever does war give release from service, nor sin discharge to the sinner.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	8	9	This, too, I have marked, as I gave heed to all that befalls us, here beneath the sun. There are times when man rules over man to his undoing.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	8	10	I have seen godless men go peacefully to the grave, that had lived their lives out in haunts of holiness, and won the name of good men from their fellow citizens; here, too, is frustration.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	8	11	Because sentence is not pronounced upon the evil-doers without more ado, men are emboldened to live sinfully.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	8	12	And yet, though the sinner presume on the divine patience that has borne with a hundred misdeeds, I know well enough that blessings are for those who fear God, who fear his frown.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	8	13	Never a blessing for sinners; never be it said they lived out their full span of days! Reckless of God’s frown, see, they pass like a shadow, and are gone!
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	8	14	Another kind of frustration, too, earth sees; there are upright men that are plagued as though they lived the life sinners live, just as there are sinners who take no more harm than if they could plead innocence; I say this is frustration indeed.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	8	15	For me, then, mirth! No higher blessing could man attain, here under the sun, than to eat and drink and make merry; nothing else had he to show for all those labours of his, for all that life-time God has given him, here under the sun.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	8	16	Should I cudgel my wits to grow wise, and know the meaning of all earth’s tasks; be like the men that allow their eyes no sleep, day or night?
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	8	17	Nay, I understood too well that God’s dealings with man, here under the sun, are past all accounting for; the more a man labours to read that riddle, the less he finds out, and he least of all, that boasts himself wise in the reading of it.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	9	1	All this, too, I pondered in my heart, and would spare no pains to find out the meaning of it. Here are upright men and wise; and every task of theirs is in God’s keeping, nor can any tell whether they have earned his love, or his displeasure!
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	9	2	This remains as yet uncertain, and meanwhile all have the same lot, upright and godless, good and wicked, clean and unclean alike. Brought they offerings or brought they none, well did they or ill, true swore they or false, it is all one.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	9	3	Of all that goes amiss, here under the sun, nothing does more hurt than this equality of fortunes; what wonder if men’s hearts, while yet they live, are full of malice and defiance? And so they journey on to the grave.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	9	4	Were but immortality the prize! But no, hope of that is none; living dog is better off than dead lion.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	9	5	They live under sentence of death; and when death comes, of nothing will they be aware any longer; no reward can they receive, now that every trace of them has vanished away;
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	9	6	no love, no hatred, no envy can they feel; they have said good-bye to this world, and to all its busy doings, here under the sun.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	9	7	Go thy ways, then, eat thy bread with a stout heart, and drink wine to thy contenting; that done, God asks no more of thee.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	9	8	Ever be thy garments of white, ever let thy brow glisten with oil;
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	9	9	live at ease with the wife that is thy heart’s love, long as this uncertain life is granted thee; fugitive days, here beneath the sun. Live thou and labour thou under the sun as thou wilt, this thy portion shall be, and nothing more.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	9	10	Whatever lies in thy power, do while do it thou canst; there will be no doing, no scheming, no wisdom or skill left to thee in the grave, that soon shall be thy home.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	9	11	Then my thought took a fresh turn; man’s art does not avail, here beneath the sun, to win the race for the swift, or the battle for the strong, a livelihood for wisdom, riches for great learning, or for the craftsman thanks; chance and the moment rule all.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	9	12	Nor does man see his end coming; hooked fish or snared bird is not overtaken so suddenly as man is, when the day of doom falls on him unawares.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	9	13	And here, too, is wise warning, most wise, as I judge it.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	9	14	There was a small city once, with few men to hold it; and there was a great king that marched out against it, raised a mound and ringed it with siege-works, till it was beleaguered on every side.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	9	15	To such a city, how came relief? By the wise counsel of one poor man that had his wits about him. And was there anyone, think you, that remembered the poor man afterwards? Not one.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	9	16	Sure enough, said I, wisdom has the better of valour; but see how the poor man’s wisdom goes for nothing, and no one listens to him now!
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	9	17	A wise man’s whisper carries further than great outcry from a king of fools.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	9	18	Arms cannot match wisdom; by one slip, what great advantage is lost!
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	10	1	No ointment can perfumer brew so sweet, but it grows foul when dead flies are lodged in it. And wouldst thou barter away wisdom and honour both, for a moment’s folly?
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	10	2	The fool’s wits are astray; the wise man’s right is to him left.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	10	3	By his way of it, every passer-by on the road is a fool, save he.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	10	4	Though a prince’s anger should mount against thee, do not desert thy post; great harm by thy healing touch may yet be assuaged.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	10	5	This is a source of trouble I have marked, here under the sun; the causeless whim of tyrants.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	10	6	Fools come to the top, down go rank and riches;
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	10	7	slaves you will see riding on horseback, and princes going afoot at their bridle-rein.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	10	8	Fall into pit thou shalt not, if thou dig none; breach no walls, if thou wouldst avoid the adder’s sting.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	10	9	Stone crushes his foot that stone carries, and wood scratches him that wood cuts.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	10	10	Blunt tool that has grown dull from long disuse shall cost thee pains a many;if thou hadst been wise sooner, thou shouldst have toiled less.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	10	11	Bite snake ere the spell begins, he is no better off that has the master-word.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	10	12	Wise utterance wins favour; the fool that opens his mouth does but ruin himself,
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	10	13	his preface idle talk, his conclusion madness.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	10	14	Of words a fool has no stint…… What went before, is lost to man’s view, and what shall befall when he is gone, none can tell him.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	10	15	He is on a fool’s errand, that does not even know his way to town.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	10	16	Woe to the land that has young blood on the throne, whose court sits feasting till daybreak!
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	10	17	And happy the land whose king is of true princely breed, whose courtiers feast when feast should be, to comfort their hearts, not all in revelry.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	10	18	Roof sags where idleness dwells; a leaking gutter means nerveless hands within.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	10	19	Food will cheer thee, wine bring thee gladness, but money, it answers every need.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	10	20	Of the king, no treasonable thought; of the nobles, no ill word even in thy bed-chamber; the very birds in heaven will catch the echoes of it, and fly off to betray thy secret.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	11	1	Here, on the stream’s bosom, venture thy livelihood; wait long thou mayst, but be sure thou shalt recover it at last.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	11	2	Seven claims thou hast satisfied, do not refuse the eighth. Not thine to foresee what general calamities the future holds in store;
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	11	3	there the rain comes, where the clouds gather; north or south as the tree falls, north or south the trunk will lie.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	11	4	Still waiting for a wind? Never shall thy seed be sown. Still watching the clouds? Never shall thy harvest be carried.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	11	5	Breath that comes and goes, the fashioning of man’s frame in the womb, of all this thou knowest nothing; and thinkest thou to understand God’s doings, that is Maker of all?
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	11	6	Early abroad, to sow thy seed, and let evening find thee still at work; which sowing shall speed better, none knows, or whether both shall thrive to thy profit.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	11	7	Ay, it is good to look upon, the light of day; never was eye yet but loved to see the sun.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	11	8	Only be thy years never so many, never so happy, do not forget the dark days that are coming, the long days, when frustration will be the end of it all.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	11	9	While thou art young, take thy fill of manhood’s pride, let thy heart beat high with youth, follow where thought leads and inclination beckons, but remember that for all this God will call thee to account.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	11	10	Rid thy heart, then, of resentment, thy nature of ill humours; youth and pleasures, they are so quickly gone!
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	12	1	Do not forget thy Maker, now, while youth lasts; now, while the evil days are still far off, the years that pass unwelcomed.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	12	2	Not yet the obscuration of sun and moon and starlight; and the clouds that still gather when the rainy season is done.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	12	3	One day, palsy will shake those door-keepers, those stalwart guards will be bowed with age; rarer, now, the busy maidens at the mill, dimmer, now, those bright glances from the windows.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	12	4	The street-doors shut, muffled the hum of the mill, bird-song for waking-time, and all the echoes of music faint!
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	12	5	Fear upon every height, terrors on the road; almond-blossom matched for whiteness; the grasshopper’s weight a burden now; the spiced food untasted! Man is for his everlasting home, and already the mourners are astir in the streets.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	12	6	That, or else yonder cord of silver will be loosed, yonder golden skein unravelled; pitcher broken beside the fountain, wheel lost in the well;
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	12	7	with that, back goes dust to its parent earth, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	12	8	A shadow’s shadow, he, the Spokesman, tells us, a world of shadows!
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	12	9	Abundant wisdom the Spokesman had, to be the oracle of his people; the story of his life he made known to them, laid secrets bare, and proverbs framed a many.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	12	10	Sayings of much import he devised, and nothing his pen set down but was truth unalloyed.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	12	11	Sharp goads they are to sting us, sharp nails driven deep home, these wise words left to us by many masters, but all echoing one shepherd’s voice.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	12	12	Let these, my son, be all the wisdom thou cravest; this writing of books is an endless matter, and from overmuch study nature rebels.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	12	13	Conclude we then thus in general; Fear God, and keep his commandments; this is the whole meaning of man.
 Ecclesiastes	Eccl	23	12	14	No act of thine but God will bring it under his scrutiny, deep beyond all thy knowing, and pronounce it good or evil.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	1	1	A kiss from those lips! Wine cannot ravish the senses like that embrace,
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	1	2	nor the fragrance of rare perfumes match it for delight. Thy very name spoken soothes the heart like flow of oil; what wonder the maids should love thee?
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	1	3	Draw me after thee where thou wilt; see, we hasten after thee, by the very fragrance of those perfumes allured! To his own bower the king has brought me; he is our pride and boast, on his embrace, more ravishing than wine, our thoughts shall linger. They love truly that know thy love.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	1	4	Dark of skin, and yet I have beauty, daughters of Jerusalem. Black are the tents they have in Cedar; black are Solomon’s own curtains; then why not I?
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	1	5	Take no note of this Ethiop colour; it was the sun tanned me, when my own brothers, that had a grudge against me, set me a-watching in the vineyards. I have a vineyard of my own that I have watched but ill.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	1	6	Tell me, my true love, where is now thy pasture-ground, where now is thy resting-place under the noon’s heat? Thou wouldst not have me wander to and fro where the flocks graze that are none of thine?
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	1	7	Still bewildered, fairest of womankind? Nay, if thou wilt, wander abroad, and follow with the shepherds’ flocks; feed, if thou wilt, those goats of thine beside the shepherds’ encampment.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	1	8	My heart’s love, prized above all my horsemen, with Pharao’s wealth of chariots behind them!
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	1	9	Soft as doves are thy cheeks, thy neck smooth as coral.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	1	10	Chains of gold that neck must have, inlaid with silver.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	1	11	Now, while the king sits at his wine, breathes out the spikenard of my thoughts!
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	1	12	Close my love is to my heart as the cluster of myrrh that lodges in my bosom all the night through.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	1	13	Close he clings as a tuft of cypress in the vine-clad rocks of Engedi.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	1	14	See how fair is the maid I love! Soft eyes thou hast, like a dove’s eyes.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	1	15	And see how fair is the man I love, how stately! Green grows that bower, thine and mine,
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	1	16	with its roof of cedars, with a covert of cypress for its walls.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	2	1	Count me no more than wild rose on the lowland plain, wild lily on the moun-tain slopes.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	2	2	A lily, matched with these other maidens, a lily among the brambles, she whom I love!
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	2	3	An apple-tree in the wild woodland, shade cool to rest under, fruit sweet to the taste, such is he my heart longs for, matched with his fellows.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	2	4	Into his own banqueting-hall the king has brought me, shewn me the blazon of his love.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	2	5	Cushioned on flowers, apples heaped high about me, and love-sick all the while!
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	2	6	His left hand pillows my head; his right hand, even now, ready to embrace me.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	2	7	An oath, maidens of Jerusalem! By the gazelles and the wild fawns I charge you, wake never from her sleep my heart’s love, till wake she will!
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	2	8	The voice I love! See where he comes, how he speeds over the mountains, how he spurns the hills!
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	2	9	Gazelle nor fawn was ever so fleet of foot as my heart’s love. And now he is standing on the other side of this very wall; now he is looking in through each window in turn, peering through every chink.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	2	10	I can hear my true love calling to me: Rise up, rise up quickly, dear heart, so gentle, so beautiful, rise up and come with me.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	2	11	Winter is over now, the rain has passed by.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	2	12	At home, the flowers have begun to blossom; pruning-time has come; we can hear the turtle-dove cooing already, there at home.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	2	13	There is green fruit on the fig-trees; the vines in flower are all fragrance. Rouse thee, and come, so beautiful, so well beloved,
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	2	14	still hiding thyself as a dove hides in cleft rock or crannied wall. Shew me but thy face, let me but hear thy voice, that voice sweet as thy face is fair.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	2	15	How was it they sang? Catch me the fox, the little fox there, thieving among the vineyards; vineyards of ours, all a-blossoming!
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	2	16	All mine, my true love, and I all his; see where he goes out to pasture among the lilies,
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	2	17	till the day grows cool, and the shadows long. Come back, my heart’s love, swift as gazelle or fawn out on the hills of Bether.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	3	1	In the night watches, as I lay abed, I searched for my heart’s love, and searched in vain.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	3	2	Now to stir abroad, and traverse the city, searching every alley-way and street for him I love so tenderly! But for all my search I could not find him.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	3	3	I met the watchmen who go the city rounds, and asked them whether they had seen my love;
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	3	4	then, when I had scarce left them, I found him, so tenderly loved; and now that he is mine I will never leave him, never let him go, till I have brought him into my own mother’s house, into the room that saw my birth.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	3	5	An oath, maidens of Jerusalem! By the gazelles and the wild fawns I charge you, wake never from her sleep my heart’s love, till wake she will!
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	3	6	Who is this that makes her way up by the desert road, erect as a column of smoke, all myrrh and incense, and those sweet scents the perfumer knows?
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	3	7	See now the bed whereon king Solomon lies, with sixty warriors to guard him, none braver in Israel;
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	3	8	swordsmen all, well trained for battle, and each with his sword girt about him, against the perils of the night!
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	3	9	A litter king Solomon will have, of Lebanon wood;
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	3	10	a golden frame it must have, on silver props, with cushions of purple; within are pictured tales of love, for your pleasure, maidens of Jerusalem.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	3	11	Come out, maidens of Sion, and see king Solomon wearing the crown that was his mother’s gift to him on his day of triumph, the day of his betrothal.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	4	1	How fair thou art, my true love, how fair! Eyes soft as dove’s eyes, half-seen behind thy veil; hair that clusters thick as the flocks of goats, when they come home from the Galaad hills;
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	4	2	teeth white as ewes fresh from the washing, well matched as the twin lambs that follow them; barren is none.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	4	3	Thy lips a line of scarlet, guardians of that sweet utterance; thy cheeks shew through their veil rosy as a halved pomegranate.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	4	4	Thy neck rising proudly, nobly adorned, like David’s embattled tower, hung about with a thousand shields, panoply of the brave;
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	4	5	graceful thy breasts as two fawns that feed among the lilies.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	4	6	Till the day grows cool, and the shadows long, myrrh-scented mountain and incense-breathing hill shall be my home.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	4	7	Fair in every part, my true love, no fault in all thy fashioning!
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	4	8	Venture forth from Lebanon, and come to me, my bride, my queen that shall be! Leave Amana behind thee, Sanir and Hermon heights, where the lairs of lions are, where the leopards roam the hills.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	4	9	What a wound thou hast made, my bride, my true love, what a wound thou hast made in this heart of mine! And all with one glance of an eye, all with one ringlet straying on thy neck!
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	4	10	Sweet, sweet are thy caresses, my bride, my true love; wine cannot ravish the senses like that embrace, nor any spices match the perfume that breathes from thee.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	4	11	Sweet are thy lips, my bride, as honey dripping from its comb; honey-sweet thy tongue, and soft as milk; the perfume of thy garments is very incense.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	4	12	My bride, my true love, a close garden; hedged all about, a spring shut in and sealed! What wealth of grace is here!
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	4	13	Well-ordered rows of pomegranates, tree of cypress and tuft of nard;
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	4	14	no lack there whether of spikenard or saffron, of calamus, cinnamon, or incense-tree, of myrrh, aloes or any rarest perfume.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	4	15	A stream bordered with garden; water so fresh never came tumbling down from Lebanon.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	4	16	North wind, awake; wind of the south, awake and come; blow through this garden of mine, and set its fragrance all astir.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	5	1	Into his garden, then, let my true love come, and taste his fruit. The garden gained, my bride, my heart’s love; myrrh and spices of mine all reaped; the honey eaten in its comb, the wine drunk and the milk, that were kept for me! Eat your fill, lovers; drink, sweethearts, and drink deep!
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	5	2	I lie asleep; but oh, my heart is wakeful! A knock on the door, and then my true love’s voice: Let me in, my true love, so gentle, my bride, so pure! See, how bedewed is this head of mine, how the night rains have drenched my hair!
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	5	3	Ah, but my shift, I have laid it by: how can I put it on again? My feet I washed but now; shall I soil them with the dust?
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	5	4	Then my true love thrust his hand through the lattice, and I trembled inwardly at his touch.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	5	5	I rose up to let him in; but my hands dripped ever with myrrh; still with the choicest myrrh my fingers were slippery,
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	5	6	as I caught the latch. When I opened, my true love was gone; he had passed me by. How my heart had melted at the sound of his voice! And now I searched for him in vain; there was no answer when I called out to him.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	5	7	As they went the city rounds, the watchmen fell in with me, that guard the walls; beat me, and left me wounded, and took away my cloak.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	5	8	I charge you, maidens of Jerusalem, fall you in with the man I long for, give him this news of me, that I pine away with love.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	5	9	Nay, but tell us, fairest of women, how shall we know this sweetheart of thine from another’s? Why is he loved beyond all else, that thou art so urgent with us?
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	5	10	My sweetheart? Among ten thousand you shall know him; so white is the colour of his fashioning, and so red.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	5	11	His head dazzles like the purest gold; the hair on it lies close as the high palm-branches, raven hair.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	5	12	His eyes are gentle as doves by the brook-side, only these are bathed in milk, eyes full of repose.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	5	13	Cheeks trim as a spice-bed of the perfumer’s own tending; drench lilies in the finest myrrh, and you shall know the fragrance of his lips.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	5	14	Hands well rounded; gold set with jacynth is not workmanship so delicate; body of ivory, and veins of sapphire blue;
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	5	15	legs straight as marble columns, that stand in sockets of gold. Erect his stature as Lebanon itself, noble as Lebanon cedar.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	5	16	Oh, that sweet utterance! Nothing of him but awakes desire. Such is my true love, maidens of Jerusalem; such is the companion I have lost.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	5	17	But where went he, fairest of women, this true love of thine? Tell us what haunts he loves, and we will come with thee to search for him.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	6	1	Where should he be, my true love, but among the spices; where but in his garden, gathering the lilies?
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	6	2	All mine, my true love, and I all his; ever he would choose the lilies for his pasture-ground.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	6	3	Fair thou art and graceful, my heart’s love; for beauty, Jerusalem itself is not thy match; yet no embattled array so awes men’s hearts.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	6	4	Turn thy eyes away, that so unman me! Hair dazzling as the goats have, when they come flocking home from the Galaad hills;
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	6	5	teeth white as ewes fresh from the washing, well matched as the twin lambs that follow them; barren is none;
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	6	6	thy cheeks shew through their veil rosy as skin of pomegranate!
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	6	7	What are three score of queens, and eighty concubines, and maids about them past all counting?
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	6	8	One there is beyond compare; for me, none so gentle, none so pure! Only once her mother travailed; she would have no darling but this. Maid was none that saw her but called her blessed; queen was none, nor concubine, but spoke in her praise.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	6	9	Who is this, whose coming shews like the dawn of day? No moon so fair, no sun so majestic, no embattled array so awes men’s hearts.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	6	10	But when I betook me to the fruit garden, to find apples in the hollows, to see if vine had flowered there, and pomegranate had budded,
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	6	11	all unawares, my heart misgave me… beside the chariots of Aminadab.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	6	12	Come back, maid of Sulam, come back; let us feast our eyes on thee. Maid of Sulam, come back, come back!
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	7	1	What can the woman of Sulam give you to feast your eyes on, if it be not the dance of the Two Camps? Ah, princely maid, how dainty are the steps of thy sandalled feet! Thighs well shaped as the beads of a necklace, some master-craftsman’s work;
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	7	2	navel delicately carved as a goblet, that has ever its meed of liquor, belly rounded like a heap of corn amid the lilies.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	7	3	Graceful thy breasts are as two fawns of the gazelle.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	7	4	Thy neck rising proudly like a tower, but all of ivory; deep, deep thy eyes, like those pools at Hesebon, under Beth-rabbim Gate; thy nose imperious as the keep that frowns on Damascus from the hill-side.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	7	5	Thy head erect as Carmel, bright as royal purple the braided ripples of thy hair.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	7	6	How graceful thou art, dear maiden, how fair, how dainty!
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	7	7	Thy stature challenges the palm tree, thy breasts the clustering vine.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	7	8	What thought should I have but to reach the tree’s top, and gather its fruit? Breasts generous as the grape, breath sweet as apples,
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	7	9	mouth soft to my love’s caress as good wine is soft to the palate, as food to lips and teeth.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	7	10	My true love, I am all his; and who but I the longing of his heart?
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	7	11	Come with me, my true love; for us the country ways, the cottage roof for shelter.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	7	12	Dawn shall find us in the vineyard, looking to see what flowers the vine has, and whether they are growing into fruit; whether the pomegranates are in blossom. And there thou shalt be master of my love.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	7	13	The mandrakes, what scent they give! Over the door at home there are fruits of every sort a-drying; I put them by, new and old, for my true love to eat.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	8	1	Would that thou wert my brother, nursed at my own mother’s breast! Then I could meet thee in the open street and kiss thee, and earn no contemptuous looks.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	8	2	To my mother’s house I will lead thee, my captive; there thou shalt teach me my lessons, and I will give thee spiced wine to drink, fresh brewed from my pomegranates.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	8	3	His left hand pillows my head; his right hand, even now, ready to embrace me!
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	8	4	An oath, maidens of Jerusalem! Never wake from her sleep my heart’s love, till wake she will!
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	8	5	Who is this that makes her way up by the desert road, all gaily clad, leaning upon the arm of her true love? When I came and woke thee, it was under the apple-tree, the same where sore distress overtook thy own mother, where she that bore thee had her hour of shame.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	8	6	Hold me close to thy heart, close as locket or bracelet fits; not death itself is so strong as love, not the grave itself cruel as love unrequited; the torch that lights it is a blaze of fire.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	8	7	Yes, love is a fire no waters avail to quench, no floods to drown; for love, a man will give up all that he has in the world, and think nothing of his loss.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	8	8	A little sister we have, still unripe for the love of man; but the day will come when a man will claim her; what cheer shall she have from us then?
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	8	9	Steadfast as a wall if she be, that wall shall be crowned with silver; yield she as a door yields, we have cedar boards to fasten her.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	8	10	And I, I am a wall; impregnable this breast as a fortress; and the man who claimed me found in me a bringer of content.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	8	11	Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-Hamon; and when he gave the care of it to vine-dressers, each of these must pay a thousand silver pieces for the revenue of it.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	8	12	A vineyard I have of my own, here at my side; keep thy thousand pieces, Solomon, and let each vine-dresser have his two hundred; not mine to grudge them.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	8	13	Where is thy love of retired garden walks? All the countryside is listening to thee.
 Song of Songs	Cant	24	8	14	Give me but the word to come away, thy bridegroom, with thee; hasten away like gazelle or fawn that spurns the scented hill-side underfoot.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	1	1	Listen, all you who are judges here on earth. Learn to love justice; learn to think high thoughts of what God is, and with sincere hearts aspire to him.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	1	2	Trust him thou must, if find him thou wouldst; he does not reveal himself to one that challenges his power.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	1	3	Man’s truant thoughts may keep God at a distance, but when the test of strength comes, folly is shewn in its true colours;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	1	4	never yet did wisdom find her way into the schemer’s heart, never yet made her home in a life mortgaged to sin.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	1	5	A holy thing it is, the spirit that brings instruction; how it shrinks away from the touch of falsehood, holds aloof from every rash design! It is a touchstone, to betray the neighbourhood of wrong-doing.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	1	6	A good friend to man is this spirit of wisdom, that convicts the blasphemer of his wild words; God can witness his secret thoughts, can read his heart unerringly, and shall his utterance go unheard?
 Wisdom	Wis	25	1	7	No, the spirit of the Lord fills the whole world; bond that holds all things in being, it takes cognisance of every sound we utter;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	1	8	how should ill speech go unmarked, or the scrutiny of justice pass it by?
 Wisdom	Wis	25	1	9	The hidden counsel of the godless will all come to light; no word of it but reaches the divine hearing, and betrays their wicked design;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	1	10	that jealous ear is still listening, and all their busy murmuring shall stand revealed.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	1	11	Beware, then, of whispering, and to ill purpose; ever let your tongues refrain from calumny. Think not that the secret word goes for nought; lying lips were ever the soul’s destroying.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	1	12	Death for its goal, is not life’s aim missed? Labours he well, that labours to bring doom about his ears?
 Wisdom	Wis	25	1	13	Death was never of God’s fashioning; not for his pleasure does life cease to be;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	1	14	what meant his creation, but that all created things should have being? No breed has he created on earth but for its thriving; none carries in itself the seeds of its own destruction. Think not that mortality bears sway on earth;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	1	15	no end nor term is fixed to a life well lived…
 Wisdom	Wis	25	1	16	It is the wicked that have brought death on themselves, by word and deed of their own; court death, and melt away in its embrace, keep tryst with it, and lay claim to its partnership.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	2	1	Reason they offer, yet reason all amiss. Their hearts tell them, So brief our time here, so full of discomfort, and death brings no remedy! Never a man yet made good his title to have come back from the grave!
 Wisdom	Wis	25	2	2	Whence came we, none can tell; and it will be all one hereafter whether we lived or no. What is our breath, but a passing vapour; what is our reason, but a spark that sets the brain whirling?
 Wisdom	Wis	25	2	3	Quench that spark, and our body is turned to ashes; like a spent sigh, our breath is wasted on the air; like the cloud-wrack our life passes away, unsubstantial as the mist yonder sun disperses with its ray, bears down with its heat.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	2	4	Time will surely efface our memory, and none will mark the record of our doings.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	2	5	Only a passing shadow, this life of ours, and from its end there is no returning; the doom is sealed, and there is no acquittal.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	2	6	Come then (they say), let us enjoy pleasure, while pleasure is ours; youth does not last, and creation is at our call;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	2	7	of rich wine and well spiced take we our fill. Spring shall not cheat us of her blossoming;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	2	8	crown we our heads with roses ere they wither; be every meadow the scene of our wanton mirth.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	2	9	Share we the revels all alike, leave traces everywhere of our joyous passing; no part or lot have we but this.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	2	10	Helpless innocence shall lie at our mercy; not for us to spare the widow, to respect the venerable head, grown white with years.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	2	11	Might shall be our right, weakness count for proof of worthlessness.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	2	12	Where is he, the just man? We must plot to be rid of him; he will not lend himself to our purposes. Ever he must be thwarting our plans; transgress we the law, he is all reproof, depart we from the traditions of our race, he denounces us.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	2	13	What, would he claim knowledge of divine secrets, give himself out as the son of God?
 Wisdom	Wis	25	2	14	The touchstone, he, of our inmost thoughts;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	2	15	we cannot bear the very sight of him, his life so different from other men’s, the path he takes, so far removed from theirs!
 Wisdom	Wis	25	2	16	No better than false coin he counts us, holds aloof from our doings as though they would defile him; envies the just their future happiness, boasts of a divine parentage.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	2	17	Put we his claims, then, to the proof; let experience shew what his lot shall be, and what end awaits him.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	2	18	If to be just is to be God’s son indeed, then God will take up his cause, will save him from the power of his enemies.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	2	19	Outrage and torment, let these be the tests we use; let us see that gentleness of his in its true colours, find out what his patience is worth.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	2	20	Sentenced let him be to a shameful death; by his own way of it, he shall find deliverance.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	2	21	So false the calculations that are blinded by human malice!
 Wisdom	Wis	25	2	22	The secret purposes of God they might not fathom; how should they foresee that holiness is requited, how should they pass true award on a blameless life?
 Wisdom	Wis	25	2	23	God, to be sure, framed man for an immortal destiny, the created image of his own endless being;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	2	24	but, since the devil’s envy brought death into the world,
 Wisdom	Wis	25	2	25	they make him their model that take him for their master.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	3	1	But the souls of the just are in God’s hands, and no torment, in death itself, has power to reach them.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	3	2	Dead? Fools think so; think their end loss,
 Wisdom	Wis	25	3	3	their leaving us, annihilation; but all is well with them.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	3	4	The world sees nothing but the pains they endure; they themselves have eyes only for what is immortal;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	3	5	so light their suffering, so great the gain they win! God, all the while, did but test them, and testing them found them worthy of him.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	3	6	His gold, tried in the crucible, his burnt-sacrifice, graciously accepted, they do but wait for the time of their deliverance;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	3	7	then they will shine out, these just souls, unconquerable as the sparks that break out, now here, now there, among the stubble.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	3	8	Theirs to sit in judgement on nations, to subdue whole peoples, under a Lord whose reign shall last for ever.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	3	9	Trust him if thou wilt, true thou shalt find him; faith waits for him calmly and lovingly; who claims his gift, who shall attain peace, if not they, his chosen servants?
 Wisdom	Wis	25	3	10	But dearly shall the wicked pay for their error, for the claims of right forgotten, for the Lord’s will defied.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	3	11	Their case is pitiable indeed, who make light of true wisdom and of ordered living; vain their hope, profitless their toil, barren their achievement.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	3	12	Light women are the wives they wed, worthless is their brood;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	3	13	a curse lies on their begetting. Blessed, rather, her lot, that childless is, yet chaste, that never knew the bed of shame; offspring she will not lack, when holy souls have their reward.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	3	14	Nay, let there be some eunuch that has kept his hands clear of wrong, has never harboured treasonable thought against the Lord; he too with rare gifts shall be faithfully rewarded, shall have the portion that most contents him in God’s holy place.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	3	15	A noble harvest good men reap from their labours; wisdom is a root which never yet cast its crop.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	3	16	Not so the adulterers; never look for children of theirs to thrive; the offspring of the unhallowed wedlock will vanish away.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	3	17	Live they long, they shall be held in no regard, in their late age unhonoured;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	3	18	die they soon, they shall die without hope, no comfort to sustain them in the day when all comes to light.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	3	19	Bitterly they shall rue it hereafter, the race of the evil-doers.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	4	1	How fair a thing is the unwedded life that is nobly lived! Think not the memory of it can fade; God and man alike preserve the record;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	4	2	in life how eagerly imitated, in death how long regretted, in eternity how crowned with triumph, the conquest gained in fields of honourable striving!
 Wisdom	Wis	25	4	3	Let the wicked gender as they will, it shall nothing avail them; what, should those bastard slips ever strike their roots deep, base the tree firm?
 Wisdom	Wis	25	4	4	Burgeon they may for a little, but the wind will shake their frail hold; root and all, the storm will carry them away.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	4	5	Half-formed, the boughs will be snapped off, and their fruit go to waste, unripe, unprofitable.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	4	6	And indeed, when the day of reckoning comes, needs must they should be cited as witnesses against their own parents, these, the children of their shame, by unlawful dalliance begotten.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	4	7	Not so the innocent; though he should die before his time, rest shall be his.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	4	8	A seniority there is that claims reverence, owing nothing to time, not measured by the lapse of years; count a man grey-haired when he is wise,
 Wisdom	Wis	25	4	9	ripe of age when his life is stainless.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	4	10	Divine favour, divine love banished him from a life he shared with sinners;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	4	11	caught him away, before wickedness could pervert his thoughts, before wrong-doing could allure his heart;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	4	12	such witchery evil has, to tarnish honour, such alchemy do the roving passions exercise even on minds that are true metal.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	4	13	With him, early achievement counted for long apprenticeship;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	4	14	so well the Lord loved him, from a corrupt world he would grant him swift release. The world looks on, uncomprehending; a hard lesson it is to learn,
 Wisdom	Wis	25	4	15	that God does reward, does pity his chosen friends, does grant his faithful servants deliverance.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	4	16	Did they know it, the death of the just man, with its promise early achieved, is a reproach to the wicked that live yet in late old age.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	4	17	But what see they? Here is a man dead, and all his wisdom could not save him. That the Lord planned all this, and for the saving of him, does not enter their minds.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	4	18	What wonder if the sight fills them with contempt? And they themselves, all the while, are earning the Lord’s contempt;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	4	19	they themselves, doomed to lie there dishonoured among the dead, eternally a laughing-stock! How they will stand aghast, when he pricks the bubble of their pride! Ruins they shall be, overthrown from the foundation, land for ever parched dry; bitter torment shall be theirs, and their name shall perish irrecoverably.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	4	20	Alas, the long tally of their sins! Trembling they shall come forward, and the record of their misdeeds shall rise up to confront them.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	5	1	How boldly, then, will the just man appear, to meet his old persecutors, that thwarted all his striving!
 Wisdom	Wis	25	5	2	And they, in what craven fear they will cower at the sight of him, amazed at the sudden reversal of his fortunes!
 Wisdom	Wis	25	5	3	Inward remorse will wring a groan from those hearts: Why, these were the men we made into a laughing-stock and a by-word!
 Wisdom	Wis	25	5	4	We, poor fools, mistook the life they lived for madness, their death for ignominy;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	5	5	and now they are reckoned as God’s own children, now it is among his holy ones that their lot is cast.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	5	6	Far, it seems, did our thoughts wander from the true path; never did the ray of justice enlighten them, never the true sun shone.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	5	7	Weary it proved, the reckless way of ruin, lonely were the wastes we travelled, who missed the path the Lord meant for us.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	5	8	What advantage has it brought us, all our pomp and pride? How are we the better for all our vaunted wealth?
 Wisdom	Wis	25	5	9	Nothing of that but is gone, unsubstantial as a shadow, swift as courier upon his errand.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	5	10	The ship that ploughs angry waves, what trace is left of her passage? How wilt thou track her keel’s pathway through the deep?
 Wisdom	Wis	25	5	11	The bird’s flight through air what print betrays? So fiercely lashed the still breeze with the beating of her pinions, as she cleaves her noisy way through heaven, wings flapping, and is gone; and afterwards, what sign of her going?
 Wisdom	Wis	25	5	12	Or be it some arrow, shot at a mark, that pierces the air, how quick the wound closes, the journey is forgotten!
 Wisdom	Wis	25	5	13	So with us it was all one, our coming to birth and our ceasing to be; no trace might we leave behind us of a life well lived; we spent ourselves on ill-doing.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	5	14	(Such is the lament of sinners, there in the world beneath. )
 Wisdom	Wis	25	5	15	Short-lived are all the hopes of the godless, thistle-down in the wind, flying spray before the storm, smoke that whirls away in the breeze; as soon forgotten as the guest that comes for a day, and comes no more.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	5	16	It is the just that will live for ever; the Lord has their recompense waiting for them, the most high God takes care of them.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	5	17	How glorious is that kingdom, how beautiful that crown, which the Lord will bestow on them! His right hand is there to protect them, his holy arm to be their shield.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	5	18	Indignantly he will take up arms, mustering all the forces of creation for vengeance on his enemies.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	5	19	His own faithfulness is the breastplate he will put on, unswerving justice the helmet he wears,
 Wisdom	Wis	25	5	20	a right cause his shield unfailing.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	5	21	See, where he whets the sword of strict retribution, and the whole order of nature is banded with him against his reckless foes!
 Wisdom	Wis	25	5	22	Well-aimed fly his thunder-bolts, sped far and wide from yonder cloud-arch, never missing their mark.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	5	23	Teeming hail-storms shall whirl about them, the artillery of his vengeance; fiercely the sea’s waves shall roar against them, pitilessly the floods cut them off;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	5	24	the storm-wind shall rise in their faces, and scatter them as the gust scatters chaff. The whole earth ransacked, and the thrones of the mighty pulled down, by their own disobedience, their own malignancy!
 Wisdom	Wis	25	6	1	(Wisdom more avails than strength; for a man of prudence, the warrior is no match.)
 Wisdom	Wis	25	6	2	A word, then, for kings’ ears to hear, kings’ hearts to heed; a message for you, rulers, wherever you be!
 Wisdom	Wis	25	6	3	Listen well, all you that have multitudes at your command, foreign hordes to do your bidding.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	6	4	Power is none but comes to you from the Lord, nor any royalty but from One who is above all. He it is that will call you to account for your doings, with a scrutiny that reads your inmost thoughts;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	6	5	you that held his commission and were false to it, justice neglected, the law set aside, his divine will transgressed.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	6	6	Swift and terrible shall be his coming; strictly his doom falls where heads rise high.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	6	7	For the meanest, there may be pardon; for greatness, greater torment is reserved.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	6	8	What, should he cringe before high rank, stand in awe of a name, he, the Lord of a universe, that made great and little alike, that cares alike for all?
 Wisdom	Wis	25	6	9	Who most has power, him the sharpest pains await.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	6	10	Do you, then, royal sirs (for my warning touches none so nearly), learn wisdom’s lesson, and save yourselves from ruin.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	6	11	He that would find soul’s health, holy must be and hallowed precepts observe; master these he must, if he would make good his defence.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	6	12	Cherish these warnings of mine, and greedily devour them for your instruction.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	6	13	The bright beacon of wisdom, that never burns dim, how readily seen by eyes that long for it, how open to their search!
 Wisdom	Wis	25	6	14	Nay, she is beforehand with these her suitors, ready to make herself known to them;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	6	15	no toilsome quest is his, that is up betimes to greet her; she is there, waiting at his doors.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	6	16	Why, to entertain the very thought of her is maturity of the mind; one night’s vigil, and all thy cares are over.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	6	17	She goes her rounds, to find men worthy of her favours; in the open street unveils that smiling face of hers, comes deliberately to meet them.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	6	18	The very first step towards wisdom is the desire for discipline,
 Wisdom	Wis	25	6	19	and how should a man care for discipline without loving it, or love it without heeding its laws, or heed its laws without winning immortality,
 Wisdom	Wis	25	6	20	or win immortality without drawing near to God?
 Wisdom	Wis	25	6	21	A royal road it is, then, this desire for wisdom,
 Wisdom	Wis	25	6	22	and you, that have nations under your sway, as you value throne and sceptre, must hold wisdom in honour; how else shall your reign be eternal?
 Wisdom	Wis	25	6	23	(A welcome light hers should be to the world’s princes.)
 Wisdom	Wis	25	6	24	What wisdom is, whence came its birth, I will now make known to you. Not for me to withhold the secret; from first to last I will tell the story of her origin, bring to light all that may be known of her, no word of the truth passed by.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	6	25	Withhold it? Nay, the pale miser that grudges his store was never friend of mine; no such character befits the wise.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	6	26	Wide let wisdom be spread, for the more health of mankind; what better security for a people, than prudence on the throne?
 Wisdom	Wis	25	6	27	Learn, then, who will, the lesson of discernment; at my charges, and to his profit.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	7	1	What of myself? Was not Solomon a mortal man like the rest of you, come down from that first man that was a thing of clay? I, too, was flesh and blood; ten months I lay a-fashioning in my mother’s womb;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	7	2	of woman’s body my stuff came, and of man’s procreation; midnight joys went to the making of me.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	7	3	Born was I, and born drew in the common air; dust amid the dust I fell, and, baby-fashion, my first utterance was a cry;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	7	4	swaddled I must be, and cared for, like the rest.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	7	5	Tell me, was ever king had other manner of coming to be?
 Wisdom	Wis	25	7	6	By one gate all enter life, by one gate all leave it.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	7	7	Whence, then, did the prudence spring that endowed me? Prayer brought it; to God I prayed, and the spirit of wisdom came upon me.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	7	8	This I valued more than kingdom or throne; I thought nothing of my riches in comparison.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	7	9	There was no jewel I could match with it; all my treasures of gold were a handful of dust beside it, my silver seemed but base clay in presence of it.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	7	10	I treasured wisdom more than health or beauty, preferred her to the light of day; hers is a flame which never dies down.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	7	11	Together with her all blessings came to me; boundless prosperity was her gift.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	7	12	All this I enjoyed, with wisdom to prepare my way for me, never guessing that it all sprang from her.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	7	13	The lessons she taught me are riches honestly won, shared without stint, openly proclaimed;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	7	14	a treasure men will find incorruptible. Those who enjoy it are honoured with God’s friendship, so high a value he sets on her instruction.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	7	15	God’s gift it is, if speech answers to thought of mine, and thought of mine to the message I am entrusted with. Who else can shew wise men the true path, check them when they stray?
 Wisdom	Wis	25	7	16	We are in his hands, we and every word of ours; our prudence in act, our skill in craftsmanship.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	7	17	Sure knowledge he has imparted to me of all that is; how the world is ordered, what influence have the elements,
 Wisdom	Wis	25	7	18	how the months have their beginning, their middle, and their ending, how the sun’s course alters and the seasons revolve,
 Wisdom	Wis	25	7	19	how the years have their cycles, the stars their places.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	7	20	To every living thing its own breed, to every beast its own moods; the winds rage, and men think deep thoughts; the plants keep their several kinds, and each root has its own virtue;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	7	21	all the mysteries and all the surprises of nature were made known to me; wisdom herself taught me, that is the designer of them all.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	7	22	Mind-enlightening is the influence that dwells in her; set high apart; one in its source, yet manifold in its operation; subtle, yet easily understood. An influence quick in movement, inviolable, persuasive, gentle, right-thinking, keen-edged, irresistible, beneficent,
 Wisdom	Wis	25	7	23	kindly, gracious, steadfast, proof against all error and all solicitude. Nothing is beyond its power, nothing hidden from its view, and such capacity has it that it can pervade the minds of all living men; so pure and subtle an essence is thought.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	7	24	Nothing so agile that it can match wisdom for agility; nothing can penetrate this way and that, etherial as she.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	7	25	Steam that ascends from the fervour of divine activity, pure effluence of his glory who is God all-powerful, she feels no passing taint;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	7	26	she, the glow that radiates from eternal light, she, the untarnished mirror of God’s majesty, she, the faithful image of his goodness.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	7	27	Alone, with none to aid her, she is all-powerful; herself ever unchanged, she makes all things new; age after age she finds her way into holy men’s hearts, turning them into friends and spokesmen of God.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	7	28	Her familiars it is, and none other, that God loves.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	7	29	Brightness is hers beyond the brightness of the sun, and all the starry host; match her with light itself, and she outvies it;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	7	30	light must still alternate with darkness, but where is the conspiracy can pull down wisdom from her throne?
 Wisdom	Wis	25	8	1	Bold is her sweep from world’s end to world’s end, and everywhere her gracious ordering manifests itself.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	8	2	She, from my youth up has been my heart’s true love, my heart’s true quest; she was the bride I longed for, enamoured of her beauty.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	8	3	Was I moved by noble birth? No better claim than hers, who dwells in God’s palace, marked out by the Ruler of the world as his favourite;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	8	4	the mistress of his craftsmanship, the arbiter of his plans.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	8	5	Or should life’s dearest aim be wealth? Why then, who has more wealth at her disposal than wisdom, that turns all to account?
 Wisdom	Wis	25	8	6	Or if sound judgement is man’s business, who else on earth goes to work so skilfully as she?
 Wisdom	Wis	25	8	7	If thy desire be for honest living, man’s excellences are the fruit she labours to produce; temperance and prudence she teaches, justice and fortitude, and what in life avails man more?
 Wisdom	Wis	25	8	8	Or if wide knowledge be thy ambition, she can inform thee of what is past, make conjecture of the future; she is versed in the subtleties of debate, in the reading of all riddles; marvels and portents she can foretell, and what events time or season will bring.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	8	9	Her, then, I would take to myself, to share my home; to be my counsellor in prosperity, my solace in anxiety and grief.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	8	10	Through her (said I) I shall win fame in the assembly, find honour, though so young, amidst the elders.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	8	11	If I sit in judgement, quick wit shall be mine, that shall strike awe into the princes when I appear before them, the admiration of the great.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	8	12	Am I silent? They wait my leisure; speak I, they take heed; flows my speech on, they listen, hand on lip.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	8	13	She, too, will bring me immortality; imperishable the name I shall leave to after ages.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	8	14	Mine to rule peoples, and have nations at my call;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	8	15	dread tyrants to daunt by the very name of me, the name of a king so loved by his people, so brave in battle.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	8	16	Then home again, to rest upon her bosom; no shrewish mate, no tedious housewife, joy and contentment all of her.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	8	17	So ran my thoughts, and well in my heart I pondered them. Wisdom, that brought such kinship with immortality,
 Wisdom	Wis	25	8	18	whose friendship was such dear delight, whose exercise brought me credit unfailing, her daily comradeship a training in sound judgement, the eloquence she inspired an earnest of renown; win her for myself I must, and went about to attain my purpose.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	8	19	I was, indeed, a boy of good parts, and nobility of nature had fallen to my lot;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	8	20	gentle birth above the common had endowed me with a body free from blemish.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	8	21	But to be master of myself was a thing I could not hope to come by, except of God’s bounty; I was wise enough already to know whence the gift came. So to the Lord I turned, and made my request of him, praying with all my heart in these words following:
 Wisdom	Wis	25	9	1	God of our fathers, Lord of all mercy, thou by thy word hast made all things,
 Wisdom	Wis	25	9	2	and thou in thy wisdom hast contrived man to rule thy creation,
 Wisdom	Wis	25	9	3	to order the world by a law of right living and of just dealing, and give true award in the honest purpose of his heart.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	9	4	Wisdom I ask of thee, the same wisdom that dwells so near thy throne; do not grudge me a place among thy retinue.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	9	5	Am I not thy servant, and to thy service born? Mortal man thou seest me, the puny creature of an hour, a mind unapt for judgement and the making of laws.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	9	6	Grow man to what perfection he will, if he lacks the wisdom that comes from thee, he is nothing;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	9	7	and me thou hast chosen to reign over thy people; from me sons and daughters of thine must seek for redress!
 Wisdom	Wis	25	9	8	More than this, thou hast bidden me raise thee temple and altar, upon this mountain, in the holy city where thou dwellest, model of that holy tabernacle, made long ago, whose pattern was of thy own devising.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	9	9	Wisdom was with thee then, privy to all thy designs, she who stood by thee at the world’s creation, and knows thy whole will, the whole tenour of thy commandments.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	9	10	From that heavenly sanctuary, that high throne of thine, send her out still on thy errand, to be at my side too, and share my labours! How else should thy will be made clear to me?
 Wisdom	Wis	25	9	11	For her, no secret, no riddle is too dark; her prudent counsel will be my guide, the fame of her my protection.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	9	12	So shall my task be accomplished as thou wouldst have it be; so shall I give this people of thine just awards, no unworthy heir of the throne my father left me.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	9	13	What God’s purpose is, how should man discover, how should his mind master the secret of the divine will?
 Wisdom	Wis	25	9	14	So hesitating our human thoughts, so hazardous our conjectures!
 Wisdom	Wis	25	9	15	Ever the soul is weighed down by a mortal body, earth-bound cell that clogs the manifold activity of its thought.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	9	16	Hard enough to read the riddle of our life here, with laborious search ascertaining what lies so close to hand; and would we trace out heaven’s mysteries too?
 Wisdom	Wis	25	9	17	Thy purposes none may know, unless thou dost grant thy gift of wisdom, sending out from high heaven thy own holy spirit.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	9	18	Thus ever were men guided by the right way, here on earth, and learned to know thy will;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	9	19	ever since the world began wisdom was the salve they used, that have won thy favour.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	10	1	When man was but newly made, the lonely father of this created world, she it was that watched over him,
 Wisdom	Wis	25	10	2	and set him free from wrong-doing of his own, and gave him the mastery over all things else.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	10	3	Against her Cain rebelled, when he did foul wrong, and by murderous spite against his brother compassed his own ruin.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	10	4	Who but she, when the world was a-drowning for Cain’s fault, gave it a second term of life, steering, on a paltry raft, one innocent man to safety?
 Wisdom	Wis	25	10	5	And when the nations went their several ways, banded in a single conspiracy of wickedness, of one man’s innocence she still took note; Abraham must be kept irreproachable in God’s service, and steeled against pity for his own child.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	10	6	Here was another innocent man, Lot, that owed his preservation to Wisdom, when godless folk were perishing all around him. Escape he should, when fire came down upon the Cities of the Plain;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	10	7	those five cities whose shame is yet unforgotten, while smoke issues from the barren soil, and never tree bears seasonable fruit, and the pillar of salt stands monument to an unbelieving soul.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	10	8	Fatal neglect of Wisdom’s guidance, that could blind their eyes to the claims of honour, and leave the world such a memorial of their folly, as should make the record of their sins unmistakable!
 Wisdom	Wis	25	10	9	But those who cherish her, Wisdom brings safely out of all their striving.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	10	10	When Jacob, her faithful servant, was in flight from his brother’s anger, she guided him straight to his goal, and on the way shewed him the heavenly kingdom, gave him knowledge of holy things. She enriched him by his toil, and gave all his labours a happy issue.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	10	11	Knavery went about to get the better of him, but she stood by him and prospered him;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	10	12	kept him safe from his enemies, protected him from their scheming. She would have him wrestle manfully, and prove that there is no strength like the strength of wisdom.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	10	13	When Joseph, in his innocence, was sold for a slave, Wisdom did not desert him, did not leave him among the guilty, but went down with him into his dungeon.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	10	14	Fast he was bound, but she had not finished with him till she gave him dominion over a whole kingdom, and power to do what he would with his persecutors. So she brought home the lie to those who had traduced him, and won him everlasting fame.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	10	15	So, too, with that innocent people of Israel, that unoffending race; did she not deliver them from the nations that kept them under?
 Wisdom	Wis	25	10	16	Did she not enter into the heart of God’s servant, confronting dread rulers with portent and with miracle?
 Wisdom	Wis	25	10	17	Did she not restore to men ill-used the just reward of their labours? She, too, led them out on their miraculous journey, affording them shelter by day and starry radiance at night.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	10	18	She made a passage for them through the Red Sea, brought them safely through those leagues of water,
 Wisdom	Wis	25	10	19	and churned up the bodies of their drowned enemy from those unfathomed depths. So, enriched by the spoils of the godless,
 Wisdom	Wis	25	10	20	they extolled, O Lord, thy holy name, proclaimed with one voice thy sovereign power;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	10	21	Wisdom opened the dumb mouths, and made the lips of infants vocal with praise.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	11	1	With Moses set apart for his spokesman, to what good issue he brought all their enterprises!
 Wisdom	Wis	25	11	2	Through desert solitudes they journeyed on, pitching their camp far from the haunts of men;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	11	3	boldly they confronted their enemy, and overcame his malice.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	11	4	When they were thirsty, on thy name they called, and out of the rock’s sheer face water was given to heal their thirst, out of the hard flint.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	11	5	Strange likeness between the punishment that befell their enemies, who went thirsty while Israel had drink to their heart’s content,
 Wisdom	Wis	25	11	6	and the relief of their want Israel now experienced!
 Wisdom	Wis	25	11	7	Thou who once, into defiling blood, hadst troubled the sources of a living stream,
 Wisdom	Wis	25	11	8	to avenge a murderous edict against new-born children, didst now give thy people abundant water to drink, by means unlooked for.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	11	9	How ill it had gone with their adversaries in Egypt, that thirst of theirs in the desert plainly shewed them;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	11	10	in mercy schooled, yet sorely tried, they learned to know what torments the wicked had undergone, forfeit to thy vengeance.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	11	11	For Israel, only a test of their faith; only a father’s correction; for Egypt, as from a king, stern scrutiny and stern doom.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	11	12	Tidings from far away, that racked the Egyptians no less than their own former sufferings;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	11	13	anguish redoubled, as they groaned over the memory of things past!
 Wisdom	Wis	25	11	14	That the same plague of thirst which had tortured themselves should be the source of Israel’s rejoicing! Then indeed they felt the Lord’s power, then indeed they wondered at the revenge time had brought;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	11	15	wondered at Moses, whom their insolence had long ago disinherited, when they exposed him with the other children. Thirst, that had been Egypt’s enemy, had no terrors for the just.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	11	16	So lost to piety were these Egyptians, such foolish reasonings led them astray, that they worshipped brute reptiles, and despicable vermin. And swarms of brute beasts thou didst send to execute thy vengeance,
 Wisdom	Wis	25	11	17	for the more proof that a man’s own sins are the instrument of his punishment.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	11	18	Thy power knows no restraint, the power that created an ordered world out of dark chaos. It had been easy to send a plague of bears upon them, or noble lions;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	11	19	or to form new creatures, of a ferocity hitherto unknown, breathing fiery breath, churning out foul fumes, terrible sparks darting from their eyes,
 Wisdom	Wis	25	11	20	so that men would die of fear at their very aspect, without waiting for proof of their power to do harm.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	11	21	Nay, without more ado thou mightest have overthrown them with a single blast; all at once their sins should have found them out, thy fierce breath whirled them away; but no, all thou doest is done in exact measure, all is nicely calculated and weighed.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	11	22	No moment passes but thou, if thou wilt, canst shew thyself supreme; that arm has power there is no withstanding;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	11	23	the whole world, matched against thee, is but a scruple on the balance, is but a drop of dew, falling to earth at sunrise.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	11	24	Only thou art all-merciful, as befits the Almighty, and dost overlook our human slips, in hope of our repentance.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	11	25	All things thou lovest, nor holdest any of thy creatures in abhorrence; hate and create thou couldst not,
 Wisdom	Wis	25	11	26	nor does aught abide save at thy will, whose summoning word holds them in being.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	11	27	They are thine, and thou sparest them; all things that live thou lovest, thou, the Master of them all.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	12	1	Thy kindly influence, Lord, thy gracious influence is all about us.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	12	2	Tender, at the first false step, is thy rebuke; thou dost remind and warn us that we have gone astray, to make us leave our sinning and have faith in thee.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	12	3	So it was with the former inhabitants of this thy holy land. Good reason thou hadst to be their enemy;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	12	4	of what detestable practices were they not guilty, with those sorceries and unhallowed rites of theirs!
 Wisdom	Wis	25	12	5	Murderers that would not spare their own children, that feasted on human flesh, human entrails and blood, they must have no share in thy covenant.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	12	6	Thy will was that our fathers should root them out, these unnatural murderers of their own defenceless children;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	12	7	and this land, dear to thee as no other, should be more worthily peopled by the sons of God.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	12	8	Yet they, too, were men, and thou wouldst deal gently with them; thou wouldst send hornets as the vanguard of thy invading host, to wear them down gradually.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	12	9	Not that it was beyond thy power to give piety the mastery over godlessness by victory in battle, by some plague of ravening monsters, or by one word of doom.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	12	10	But no, their sentence should be executed by degrees, giving them opportunity to repent; though indeed thou knewest well that theirs was a worthless breed, of a malice so ingrained, that they would turn aside from their ill devices never;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	12	11	from its beginnings, an accursed race. Nor, if thou wast patient with the sinner, was it human respect that persuaded thee to it.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	12	12	Thy acts who shall question, thy doom who shall gainsay? Will some champion arise to challenge thee on behalf of these rebels, tax thee with unmaking the peoples thou hast made?
 Wisdom	Wis	25	12	13	God there is none save thou, that hast a whole world for thy province; and shall thy justice abide our question?
 Wisdom	Wis	25	12	14	Punish thou mayst as punish thou wilt; king nor emperor can be bold to outface thee.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	12	15	So high beyond our censure, and therewithal so just in thy dealings! To condemn the innocent were unworthy of such majesty as thine;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	12	16	of all justice, thy power is the true source, universal lordship the ground of universal love!
 Wisdom	Wis	25	12	17	Only when thy omnipotence is doubted wilt thou assert thy mastery, their rashness making manifest, who will not acknowledge thee;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	12	18	elsewhere, with such power at thy disposal, a lenient judge thou provest thyself, riding us with a light rein, and keeping thy terrors in reserve.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	12	19	Two lessons thy people were to learn from these dealings of thine; ever should justice and mercy go hand in hand, never should thy own children despair of forestalling thy justice by repentance.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	12	20	What, so patient, so unhurrying, in thy vengeance on the doomed enemies of thy chosen race; always delay, always the opportunity given them to repent of their misdeeds;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	12	21	and wouldst thou shew less anxious care in trying the cause of thy own children, bound to thee from of old by a sworn covenant so rich in mercies?
 Wisdom	Wis	25	12	22	It is for our instruction, then, that thou usest such exquisite care in the punishing of our enemies; judge we, let us imitate thy clemency, abide we judgement, let us ever hope for pardon.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	12	23	And so it was that thou didst plague the Egyptians, that were knaves and fools both; their own false gods should be the undoing of them.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	12	24	This was the worst error of all their erring, that they worshipped the meanest of beasts as gods; silly children had been no more credulous.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	12	25	Why then, these silly children should have play-time penalties first;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	12	26	of those play-time penalties if they took no heed, then at last they should feel how a God can punish.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	12	27	Humiliated they well might be at those sufferings of theirs, the very gods they worshipped the instruments of their distress; a sight enough to convince them that he was the true God, whom all this while they had rejected! But no, they must needs bring upon themselves the full rigours of justice.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	13	1	What folly it argues in man’s nature, this ignorance of God! So much good seen, and he, who is existent Good, not known! Should they not learn to recognise the Artificer by the contemplation of his works?
 Wisdom	Wis	25	13	2	Instead, they have pointed us to fire, or wind, or to the nimble air, wheeling stars, or tempestuous waves, or sun and moon, and made gods of them, to rule the world!
 Wisdom	Wis	25	13	3	Perhaps the beauty of such things bewitched them into mistaking it for divinity? Ay, but what of him who is Master of them all; what excellence must be his, the Author of all beauty, that could make them!
 Wisdom	Wis	25	13	4	Or was it power, and power’s exercise, that awoke their wonderment? Why then, how many times greater must he be, who contrived it!
 Wisdom	Wis	25	13	5	Such great beauty even creatures have, reason is well able to contemplate the Source from which these perfections came.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	13	6	Yet, if we find fault with men like these, their fault is little by comparison; err they may, but their desire is to find God, and it is in that search they err.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	13	7	They stop short in their enquiry at the contemplation of his creatures, trusting only in the senses, that find such beauty there.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	13	8	Excuse them, then, we may not;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	13	9	if their thoughts could reach far enough to form a judgement about the world around them, how is it they found, on the way, no trace of him who is Master of it?
 Wisdom	Wis	25	13	10	But there are men more wretched yet, men who repose all their confidence in a world of shadows. They give the name of god to what is made by human art, gold and silver that human workmanship has turned into the likeness of living things, blocks of senseless stone that human hands have carved, long ago.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	13	11	What would you? Here is a craftsman in wood has been to the forest and sawed off a fine straight branch; deftly he strips off the bark, and fashions, with patient skill, some piece of carpentry apt for man’s needs.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	13	12	As for the chips in his workshop, they cook his meal for him, to eat and take his fill.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	13	13	But one more piece of refuse wood is left, that is fit for nothing; so crooked is it and so gnarled. See him, in an idle moment, pick it up and spend his leisure carving it! A master craftsman this; ere long it has taken shape, made into a man’s likeness;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	13	14	or it may be he gives it the form of a senseless beast. And now he paints it with ochre; ruddled it must be till all its native colour is lost, all its faults hidden away.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	13	15	That done, he must find a suitable room to house it, and there lets it into the wall, making it fast with iron clamps.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	13	16	No pains does he spare to keep it from falling; fall if it does, it shall find no remedy; please you, this is but an image, and cannot shift for itself!
 Wisdom	Wis	25	13	17	And so, unashamed, for home and children and wife he utters his prayer, addressing himself all the while to a senseless thing.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	13	18	A weak, foolish thing, and for health he asks it; dead, and he will have life of it; shiftless, and he will have aid of it.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	13	19	How should it set forward his journeyings, that cannot walk? What service should it do, if trade he want, or skill, or good fortune, that is every way unserviceable?
 Wisdom	Wis	25	14	1	Nay, here is one that will go a-voyaging, the wild waves for his pathway, and perishable wood to carry him, yet he makes his prayer to a piece of wood more perishable yet!
 Wisdom	Wis	25	14	2	As for the ship’s timbers, it was man’s covetousness that made the need for them, and man’s skill that fashioned them;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	14	3	but it is thy fatherly Providence that brings her safe to port; thou hast made the sea into a high road men may travel by without harm,
 Wisdom	Wis	25	14	4	as if thou wouldst prove to us how strong is thy protection, though the sailor have little skill.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	14	5	So careful art thou that the gifts thy wisdom affords us should not go unused; man ventures his life on a few planks, and the frail barque gives him safe conduct across the waves.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	14	6	And what marvel? At the beginning of all, when the giants perished in their pride, was not such a barque the refuge of all the world’s hopes? Yet thy hand was at the helm, and the seed of life was saved for posterity.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	14	7	A blessing on the wood that can so procure salvation!
 Wisdom	Wis	25	14	8	But yonder idol is accursed, no less than the man who made it; he for his wicked design, and the lifeless thing for the legend of divinity that was attached to it.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	14	9	Sinner and sin, God hates both;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	14	10	pardon is none for deed or doer.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	14	11	Thus it is that a time of reckoning will come for these idols the Gentiles make; part of God’s creation though they be, he detests them, so have they entangled men’s souls, and laid a trap for fools.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	14	12	When idols were first devised, then began unfaithfulness; there was death in the invention of them.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	14	13	For indeed they were no part of man’s life from the first, nor shall be at the last;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	14	14	it was but man’s folly brought them into the world, and there shall be a short way with them yet.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	14	15	Here was some father, bowed with sorrow before his time, his child untimely lost; the likeness of those features once made, to mortal man (that was dead besides) he would pay divine honours, and with that, rites of initiation must become the tradition of his clan.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	14	16	As time went on, impious habit grew into impious custom. A king would have his own likeness adored,
 Wisdom	Wis	25	14	17	and his subjects, living far away, so that they could not do obeisance to him in person, would have his present image set up in their view, eager to pay his absent royalty their adulation.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	14	18	And if any spur were needed yet for their ignorant superstition, the rivalry of craftsmen afforded it;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	14	19	each of these sought to please his master by improving the portrait, with the utmost abuse of his skill,
 Wisdom	Wis	25	14	20	till at last the vulgar, carried away by so much grace of art, would account him a god whom yesterday they reverenced as mortal man.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	14	21	So, unawares, the world was caught in the ambush; under the stress, now of bereavement, now of royal policy, men imparted to stocks and stones the incommunicable name of God.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	14	22	Nor were they content with these false notions of God’s nature; living in a world besieged by doubt, they misnamed its innumerable disorders a state of peace.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	14	23	Peace, amidst their rites of child-murder, their dark mysteries, their vigils consecrated to frenzy!
 Wisdom	Wis	25	14	24	Peace, while there is no respect for life, or for wedlock undefiled; always the murderous ambush, the jealous pangs of a husband betrayed!
 Wisdom	Wis	25	14	25	All is a welter of bloodshed and murder, theft and fraud, corruption and disloyalty, sedition and perjury;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	14	26	honest men are assailed, kindnesses forgotten, souls defiled, breeds confused, marriages unsettled; adultery reigns and wantonness.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	14	27	Name we all these, name we never the idols whose worship is the cause, the beginning and end, of all these!
 Wisdom	Wis	25	14	28	Their ecstasies are but raving, their prophecies are but lies; ill live their worshippers, and lightly forswear themselves.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	14	29	And no marvel; what hurt should they take from the oath falsely sworn, since all their faith is in dead gods?
 Wisdom	Wis	25	14	30	But indeed they shall pay both scores, idolaters that thought so ill of God, and perjurers that by their treason slighted all honour;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	14	31	not the power he swore by, but the justice that keeps watch over sinners, walks ever close on the heels of ill-doing.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	15	1	For us, thou art God; thou, beneficent and truthful, thou, always patient and merciful towards the world thou governest.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	15	2	Sin we, still we are thy worshippers; have we not proof of thy power? Sin we not, of this, too, we have proof, that thou wilt count us for thy own.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	15	3	To know thee as thou art, is the soul’s full health; to have proof of thy power, is the root whence springs immortality.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	15	4	Not for us to be led astray by foolish tales of man’s imagining, by the sculptor’s barren art, as he picks out some image with motley colours,
 Wisdom	Wis	25	15	5	to set fools gaping at the sight of a lifeless shadow, all seeming and no breathing.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	15	6	Lovers they are of their own ruin, worthy of the fond hopes they cherish, that make such things, or sigh after them, or do them reverence.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	15	7	Despise we not the potter’s toil, that works the pliant earth between his fingers, and makes a cup here, a dish there for our use. Serve they noble ends or base, all alike come from the same clay, and what employment each of them shall find, it is the potter’s right to determine.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	15	8	But very ill is that toil bestowed, when he uses the same clay to fashion some god that is no god. Bethink thee, potter, that it is but a little while since thou thyself wast fashioned out of the same earth, and ere long, when the lease of thy soul falls due, to that earth thou shalt return.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	15	9	But no, he never looks forward to the day when he will be past work; how short life is, he recks not; he must vie with goldsmith and silversmith, he must be even with his neighbour that works in bronze; in puppet-making all his hope lies of winning fame.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	15	10	O heart of dust, O ambition worthless as the sand, life than his own clay more despicable!
 Wisdom	Wis	25	15	11	No thought for the God that was his own fashioner, quickened him with the pulse of energy, breathed into him a living spirit!
 Wisdom	Wis	25	15	12	Existence, for him, only a toy to be played with; our life here, only a market-place, where a man must needs get his living by fair means or foul!
 Wisdom	Wis	25	15	13	Such a man, as no other, sins with his eyes open; from the same earthenware he will make you fragile pot or carved effigy as you will.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	15	14	Fools all, and doomed to misery beyond the common doom of tyrants, were the enemies that from time to time have lorded it over thy people.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	15	15	Gods, for them, were all the idols of the heathen, with their sightless eyes, their nostrils that never drew breath, deaf ears, unfeeling hands, and feet that still would walk, yet still tarry;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	15	16	gods man-made, gods of his fashioning that is a debtor for the very breath he draws. For indeed, the gods man fashions are less than himself;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	15	17	vain his impiety, since he is but mortal, they already dead; better he than they, since he lived once, and they never.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	15	18	And what beasts are these they worship? Of all beasts, the most hateful; such models they have foolishly chosen as cannot vie with the others;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	15	19	as have no beauty, even beast-fashion, to make them desirable; the least honourable of God’s creatures and the least blessed.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	16	1	Fittingly, then, were the Egyptians plagued by such beasts as these, that swarmed to their undoing.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	16	2	Thy own people no plague befell; pined their queasy stomach for dainties, thou wouldst feed them on quails.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	16	3	Though hunger drove them to food, the men of Egypt turned away with loathing from the necessaries they craved, so foul the sight of the frogs that came to punish them. Thy own people should go wanting for a little, only so as to prepare them for the dainties that would follow.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	16	4	Their oppressors must feel the pinch of poverty; for themselves, the sight of another’s chastisement should be lesson enough.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	16	5	When they themselves encountered brute malice, and the bites of writhing serpents threatened them with destruction,
 Wisdom	Wis	25	16	6	thy vengeance did not go to all lengths; enough that they should be warned by a brief experience of distress; they should be put in mind of thy law, yet have the assurance that thou wouldst come to their rescue.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	16	7	For indeed, he who turned to look did not win safety from the brazen serpent which met his eyes, but from thee, who alone canst save.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	16	8	No better proof could our enemies have, that from all peril thou alone deliverest.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	16	9	Bite of locust or sting of fly was the undoing of them; no salve could be found against the mortal punishment they had deserved.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	16	10	And here were these sons of thine, unvanquished even by the teeth of venomous serpents, because thy mercy came out to meet them and gave relief.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	16	11	They must feel the prick, to remind them of the commandments they had from thee, and then quickly be rescued before they sank into deep lethargy, beyond the reach of thy succour.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	16	12	Herb nor plaster it was that cured them, but thy word, Lord, that all healing gives.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	16	13	Lord of life as of death, thou canst bring us down to the grave and back from the grave;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	16	14	thine is not the fatal stroke man deals in spite, that banishes life beyond recall, imprisons the soul for ever.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	16	15	Truly, thine is a power there is no escaping;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	16	16	the uplifted arm that plagued impious Egypt, where thou wast treated as a stranger. Strange, indeed, to that country were the rains that hunted them down, the fierce hail-storms; the fire, too, that wasted them.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	16	17	Wonder beyond all wont, that in water, the all-quenching, fire should rage its fiercest; no element but must rally in the cause of right.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	16	18	Here the flame would burn low, to spare those creatures a scorching, that were thy emissaries against the godless; doubt there should be none, for any who saw it, but divine justice was at his heels.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	16	19	Here, in the very midst of the water it would burn as never fire burned yet, to blast all the fruits of that accursed land.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	16	20	And thy own people, Lord? Them thou didst foster with the food of angels; bread from heaven thou didst set before them, which no labour of theirs had made ready, every taste uniting that could bring content, of every appetite the welcome choice.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	16	21	So would thy own nature manifest a father’s universal love; this food should humour the eater’s whim, turning itself into that which he craved most.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	16	22	In Egypt, snow and ice had resisted the fire, never melting; plain it was that this fire, which shone out amid the hailstones and the rain, was in alliance with them to burn up and destroy the enemy’s harvest.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	16	23	Now, once again, fire forgot its own nature, this time, to give faithful souls their nourishment!
 Wisdom	Wis	25	16	24	So well does thy creation obey thee, its author, now exerting all its powers to punish the wicked, now abating its force to do thy loyal followers a service!
 Wisdom	Wis	25	16	25	Why should nature, seconding that universal bounty of thine, go to all shifts to meet the needs of thy suppliants,
 Wisdom	Wis	25	16	26	but for the instruction of thy own children, Lord, children so well beloved? They were to learn that man lives, not by the ripening of crops, but by thy word, ever protecting the souls that trust in thee.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	16	27	This manna, that never shrank from the fire while it was a-cooking, would melt before the heat of the sun’s first feeble ray.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	16	28	What meant this, but that we must be up before the sun to give thee thanks, seeking thy audience with day’s earliest light?
 Wisdom	Wis	25	16	29	Thankless if a man be, like the hoar frost of winter his hopes shall dissolve; like water that goes to waste they shall vanish.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	17	1	High above us, Lord, are thy judgements, mysterious thy dealings; no skill had those Egyptian hearts to understand them.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	17	2	They had thought to exercise barbarous tyranny over a nation consecrated to thee. And now they lay, shut close under their own roofs, darkness their dungeon, their sentence a long-drawn night, exiled from the gifts of thy eternal Providence.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	17	3	Did they hope, under that dark veil of oblivion, to find a cloak for secret sinning? Nay, they were scattered far apart, and in grievous dread of the terrors that came to daunt them.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	17	4	Lie snug in their hidden lairs they might not; noises swept down, echoing about their affrighted ears, and boding visions of sad faces cowed their spirits.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	17	5	Fire itself no light could give them, nor star’s clear beam illuminate that hideous night;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	17	6	only now and again a blaze shone out, not of their kindling, terrible to behold; and fear of this unseen radiance lent fresh horror to the sights it shewed.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	17	7	A mockery, now, seemed those magic arts of theirs; ignominious the rebuff to their boasted cunning.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	17	8	The very men who had professed to rid ailing minds of all discomposure and disquiet, were now themselves sick with apprehension, to their great discomfiture.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	17	9	Even when no alarms were present to disturb them, the memory of prowling beast and hissing serpent filled them with mortal tremors, till they shut their eyes against the sight of empty air, we must all breathe.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	17	10	So cowardly a thing is wickedness, it pronounces its own condemnation; hard pressed by conscience, it forecasts ever the worst.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	17	11	What else is timorousness, but a betrayal of the vantage-ground reason gives us?
 Wisdom	Wis	25	17	12	Imagination, already defeated within its own stronghold, fears the unknown more than it fears the true source of its misery.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	17	13	Whether the darkness that held them bound were true night, or that darkness which comes up from the lowest depths of the grave, their bemused senses could not well distinguish;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	17	14	now monstrous apparitions came indeed to scare them, now it was but their own faint hearts made cowards of them; in a moment dismay was all about them, and took them unawares.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	17	15	Into this prison, then, that needed no bars to secure it, all fell alike, whatever their condition;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	17	16	tiller of the fields, or shepherd, or workman that plied his task out in the desert, each was caught at his post, each must abide the inevitable lot,
 Wisdom	Wis	25	17	17	by darkness, like all his fellows, held in thrall. Did the wind whistle, or bird utter tuneful notes deep amid the boughs; were it the dull roar of some waterfall,
 Wisdom	Wis	25	17	18	or the sudden crash of tumbling rocks, or the padding feet of beasts that gambolled past them unseen, or the howl of wild things ravening, or a booming echo from the mountain hollows, it was all one; it would startle them into a great quaking of fear.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	17	19	All around them the world was bathed in the clear sunlight, and men went about their tasks unhindered;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	17	20	over them alone this heavy curtain of night was spread, image of the darkness that should be their next abode. Yet each man had a burden heavier to bear than darkness itself, the burden of his own companionship.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	18	1	Brightest of all, that light shone on thy chosen people. These neighbours of theirs, heard but not seen, the Egyptians must congratulate on their escape from the common doom,
 Wisdom	Wis	25	18	2	thank them for letting vengeance be, and ask forgiveness for past ill-will.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	18	3	To these thou gavest, not darkness, but a pillar of burning fire, to be the guide of their unfamiliar journey, a sun, all gracious welcome, that brought no harm.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	18	4	A fitting punishment it was for the Egyptians, this loss of light; fitting that they should be imprisoned in darkness, who had kept thy own sons in prison; thy own sons, through whom that law, which is light unfailing, was to be given to the world.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	18	5	It was their purpose, besides, to slay all the children born of that holy stock; but one child survived exposure and lived to rebuke them; through him thou didst destroy Egypt’s own children in their thousands, and drown its assembled host in the rushing waves.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	18	6	Of what should befall that night, our fathers had good warning; confidence in thy sworn protection should keep them unafraid.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	18	7	A welcome gift it was to thy people, rescue for the just, and doom for their persecutors;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	18	8	at one stroke thou didst punish our enemies, and make us proud men by singling us out for thyself.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	18	9	In secret they offered their sacrifice, children of a nobler race, all set apart; with one accord they ratified the divine covenant, which bound them to share the same blessings and the same perils; singing for prelude their ancestral hymns of praise.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	18	10	But music was none in the enemy’s cry that answered them; here all was dirge for children untimely mourned.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	18	11	Slave and master, prince and peasant, a common doom met them, and a common loss; death levelled all under one title;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	18	12	unnumbered everywhere the slain, nor might the living suffice to bury them; all in one moment, the flower of their race had perished.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	18	13	Against those earlier plagues, sorcery had hardened their hearts; Israel they recognized for God’s children only when the first-born died.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	18	14	There was a hush of silence all around, and night had but finished half her swift journey,
 Wisdom	Wis	25	18	15	when from thy heavenly throne, Lord, down leaped thy word omnipotent. Never lighted sterner warrior on a doomed land;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	18	16	never was sword so sharp, errand so unmistakable; thy word that could spread death everywhere, that trod earth, yet reached up to heaven.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	18	17	All at once came terror in their dreams; phantoms dismayed, and sudden alarms overtook them;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	18	18	and when they lay a-dying, each fallen where fall he must, they confessed what fault it was they expiated;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	18	19	all was foretold by the dreams that so disquieted them; they were not suffered to perish ignorant of their offence.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	18	20	There was a time, too, when God’s own people tasted the bitterness of death; out there in the desert a plague fell upon the common folk; but not for long this vengeance lasted.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	18	21	A peerless champion they found, in Aaron, that quickly took up the shield of his appointed ministry; the power of intercession that was his, and the atoning incense, held thy wrath in check, and brought the calamity to an end; none could doubt now he was the man of thy choice!
 Wisdom	Wis	25	18	22	Not by strength of body, not by prowess in arms, he won the victory; by persuasion he disarmed resistance, calling to mind the sworn covenant of our race.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	18	23	Already the corpses were piled thick one on another; but he kept vengeance at bay, standing in between to breach the path between dead and living.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	18	24	Such blazonings he bore; what meant that long robe of his but the whole world’s orbit, the four rows of gems but the great deeds of our first fathers, the mitre on his head but thy own greatness?
 Wisdom	Wis	25	18	25	In awe of these shrank the destroying angel away; for thy own people, some taste of thy vengeance should be enough.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	19	1	It was not so with their impious enemies; with them, God decreed that pitiless justice should run its course, knowing well what ill-doing of theirs lay yet in store;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	19	2	how the very men who had allowed the Israelites to depart, nay, set them eagerly on their way, would soon repent of it and march out in pursuit.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	19	3	The business of mourning still in hand, the grave-sides of the dead still calling for their tears, they must needs betake themselves to a fresh desperate shift; they would hunt down as fugitives the unwelcome guests of yesterday.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	19	4	Fitting destiny, that lured them to a fitting doom, made them forget the past, and led them on to complete their tale of suffering and of punishment!
 Wisdom	Wis	25	19	5	For thy people, a strange sea-faring; for those others, an unexampled manner of death!
 Wisdom	Wis	25	19	6	Each form of nature, in its own proper sphere, was formed anew as from the beginning, obedient to the new laws thou hadst given it, for the greater safety of thy children.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	19	7	Such was the cloud that over-shadowed their camp; such the dry land that appeared where water stood before; the Red Sea unlaboriously crossed, a grassy floor spread out amid the surging billows!
 Wisdom	Wis	25	19	8	So, sheltered by thy hand, they passed on their way, a whole nation of them, strange marvels seen in their passage;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	19	9	lighthearted as horse at pasture or frisking lamb, they chanted praises to thee, Lord, their rescuer.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	19	10	Such, too, were their memories of Egypt itself; memories of the land that bred lice and could breed no beasts else, the river that could spawn frogs, yet never a fish lived there.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	19	11	Later on, they were to see how birds could be the subject of a new creation, when their appetites craved for richer fare,
 Wisdom	Wis	25	19	12	and quails came up from the sea to content them. Nor were the Egyptians punished without warning; the thunders that terrified them were but echoes of the past. Did not their own wickedness deserve the pains they suffered,
 Wisdom	Wis	25	19	13	a race even more inhospitable than the men of Sodom before them? These did but refuse a welcome when strangers came to their doors; the Egyptians condemned their own guests, their own benefactors, to slavery.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	19	14	It is one thing to be called to account for unfriendly treatment of alien folk;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	19	15	but these Egyptians had received the Israelites into their midst with rejoicing, had admitted them to rights of citizenship, and then turned on them with savage ill-treatment.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	19	16	No wonder blindness fell on them, as upon the men of Sodom at Lot’s door! But in Egypt the darkness was so bewildering that a man could not find his way through the doors of his own house.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	19	17	All the elements may be transposed among themselves, keeping up the same answering rhythm, like the notes of a harp altering their mood; so much we may infer with certainty from the sights that have been witnessed in the past.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	19	18	Land-beasts turned to water-beasts, and the firm ground was trodden by creatures born to swim.
 Wisdom	Wis	25	19	19	Fire surpassed its own nature, when water forgot to quench it;
 Wisdom	Wis	25	19	20	then fire, in its turn, could not waste the frail flesh of living creatures that traversed it, nor melt that heavenly food that melted easily as ice. No means wouldst thou neglect, Lord, to magnify thy people and win them renown; never wouldst thou leave them unregarded, but always and everywhere camest to their side.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	1	1	PREFACE: Many are the important truths conveyed to us by the law, by the prophets and by those other writers who have followed them. Israel must be given credit for its own philosophical tradition, suited not only to instruct those who talk its language, but to reach, in spoken or written form, the outside world too, and bring it great enlightenment. No wonder if my own grandfather, Jesus, who had devoted himself to the careful study of the law, the prophets, and our other ancestral records, had a mind to put something in writing himself that should bear on this philosophical tradition, to claim the attention of eager students who had already mastered it, and to encourage their observance of the law. All wisdom has one source; it dwelt with the Lord God before ever time began.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	1	2	Sand thou mayst count, or the rain-drops, or the days of the world’s abiding; heaven-height thou mayst measure, or the wide earth, or the depth of the world beneath,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	1	3	ere God’s wisdom thou canst trace to her origin, that was before all.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	1	4	First she is of all created things; time never was when the riddle of thought went unread.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	1	5	(What is wisdom’s fount? God’s word above. What is her course? His eternal commandments. )
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	1	6	Buried her roots beyond all search, wise her counsels beyond all knowing;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	1	7	too high her teaching to be plainly revealed, too manifold her movements to be understood.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	1	8	There is but one God, high creator of all things; sitting on his throne to govern us, a great king, worthy of all dread;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	1	9	he it was that created her, through his holy Spirit. His eye took in the whole range of her being;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	1	10	and he has poured her out upon all his creation, upon all living things, upon all the souls that love him, in the measure of his gift to each.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	1	11	To fear the Lord is man’s pride and boast, is joy, is a prize proudly worn;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	1	12	comfort it brings to the heart, happiness and content and a long life bestows;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	1	13	well it is, at his last hour, for the man who fears the Lord; his day of death shall be a day of blessing.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	1	14	Love of God is wisdom worth the having;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	1	15	welcome the sight when it shews itself, when it gives proof of its wondrous power.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	1	16	Wouldst thou be wise, the first step is fear of the Lord; to his chosen servants, a gift connatural from the womb; it goes with holy motherhood, and where his true worshippers are, shews manifest.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	1	17	The fear of the Lord lends wisdom that piety which is hers;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	1	18	such piety as shall keep the heart safe and make it acceptable, bring it joy and content.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	1	19	Well it shall be indeed for the man who fears the Lord; at his last end he shall win blessing.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	1	20	The fear of the Lord is wisdom’s fulfilment, yields the deep draught that satisfies;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	1	21	never a nook or cranny in thy house but shall be filled with the store of its harvesting.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	1	22	The fear of the Lord is wisdom’s crown; with this, peace and health are thine to enjoy;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	1	23	this fear itself is God’s gift, no less than the wisdom which is counted out under his eye.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	1	24	Wisdom it is that imparts to us all our knowledge, all our powers of discernment; hold her fast, and she will set thee on a pinnacle of renown;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	1	25	root of her is fear of the Lord, and long life the fruit of her.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	1	26	True insight wisdom has in her treasure-house, and the piety that comes of knowledge; no wonder if sinners hate the name of her.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	1	27	The fear of the Lord drives out sin;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	1	28	soul that feels no fear shall find no pardon, its own wild mood overbalances it.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	1	29	Patience bides her time, and with time, content comes back to her;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	1	30	praise shall be upon every lip for the wise thought that checked, for a while, her utterance.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	1	31	Hidden in wisdom’s treasure-house is the secret of all discernment;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	1	32	and still sinners hate the name of piety.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	1	33	My son, if on wisdom thy heart is set, keep the commandments, and God will grant thy wish;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	1	34	fear of the Lord is true wisdom, true learning, and his will
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	1	35	is to see thee loyal and patient; thou shalt have no empty coffers then.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	1	36	Let not thy fear of the Lord be overcast with doubt; never come to him with a heart that hesitates.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	1	37	Do not play false in thy dealings with men, nor suffer thy own words to ensnare thee.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	1	38	Watch those words well, or they may trip thee up; thou wilt have compassed thy own disgrace,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	1	39	if God should reveal thy secret thoughts at last; wouldst thou be thrown down, in full sight of all thy neighbours assembled,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	1	40	a heart that came to meet the Lord grudgingly, full all the while of treachery and deceit?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	2	1	My son, if thy mind is to enter the Lord’s service, wait there in his presence, with honesty of purpose and with awe, and prepare thyself to be put to the test.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	2	2	Submissive be thy heart, and ready to bear all; to wise advice lend a ready ear, and be never hasty when ill times befall thee.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	2	3	Wait for God, cling to God and wait for him; at the end of it, thy life shall blossom anew.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	2	4	Accept all that comes to thee, patient in sorrow, humiliation long enduring;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	2	5	for gold and silver the crucible, it is in the furnace of humiliation men shew themselves worthy of his acceptance.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	2	6	Trust in him, and he will lift thee to thy feet again; go straight on thy way, and fix in him thy hope; hold fast thy fear of him, and in that fear to old age come thou.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	2	7	All you that fear the Lord, wait patiently for his mercies; lose sight of him, and you shall fall by the way.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	2	8	Fear him? Ay, and trust him; you shall not miss your reward.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	2	9	Fear him? Ay, and fix your hope in him; his mercy you shall find, and have great joy of it.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	2	10	Fear him? Ay, and love him; your hearts shall be enlightened.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	2	11	My sons, look back on the ages that are past; was ever man yet that trusted in the Lord, and was disappointed?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	2	12	Held fast to his commandments, and was forsaken, prayed to him, and found the prayer unregarded?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	2	13	A gracious God and a merciful; in times of affliction, he assoils us of our guilt, watches over all that with true hearts turn to him.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	2	14	Out upon the false heart, the cheating lips, the hands busy with ill-doing; upon the sinner that will go two ways at once to enter the land of his desire.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	2	15	Out upon the unresolved will, that trust in God has none, and from him shall have no succour.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	2	16	Out upon the men who have given up hope, forsaking the right path, and to false paths betaking them;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	2	17	what shift will they make when the Lord calls them to account?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	2	18	Fear the Lord, and doubt his promises? Love him, and not keep true to the way he shews us?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	2	19	Fear the Lord, and not study to know his will? Love him, and not find contentment in his law?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	2	20	Fear God, and not keep the will alert, the heart holy in his sight?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	2	21	Men who fear God keep his commandments, and wait patiently until he comes to relieve them.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	2	22	Be this our thought, they say, that it is God’s power we have to reckon with, not man’s, if there is no penance done.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	2	23	And he has mercy ever at his side, a God merciful as he is great.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	3	1	Wherever choice souls are found, wisdom is the mother of them; all submissiveness and love their breed is.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	3	2	Speak we now of a father’s rights; do you, sons, give good heed, and follow these counsels, if thrive you would.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	3	3	God will have children honour their fathers; a mother’s rights are his own strict ordinance.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	3	4	A lover of God will fall to prayer over his sins and sin no more; so, all his life long, his prayer shall find audience.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	3	5	… riches he lays up for himself, that gives his mother her due.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	3	6	As thou wouldst have joy of thy own children, as thou wouldst be heard when thou fallest to praying, honour thy father still.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	3	7	A father honoured is long life won; a father well obeyed is a mother’s heart comforted.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	3	8	None that fears the Lord but honours the parents who gave him life, slave to master owes no greater service.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	3	9	Thy father honour, in deed and in word and in all manner of forbearance;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	3	10	so thou shalt have his blessing, a blessing that will endure to thy life’s end.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	3	11	What is the buttress of a man’s house? A father’s blessing. What tears up the foundations of it? A mother’s curse.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	3	12	Never make a boast of thy father’s ill name; what, should his discredit be thy renown?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	3	13	Nay, for a father’s good repute or ill, a son must go proudly, or hang his head.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	3	14	My son, when thy father grows old, take him to thyself; long as he lives, never be thou the cause of his repining.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	3	15	Grow he feeble of wit, make allowance for him, nor in thy manhood’s vigour despise him. The kindness shewn to thy father will not go forgotten;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	3	16	favour it shall bring thee in acquittal of thy mother’s guilt.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	3	17	Faithfully it shall be made good to thee, nor shalt thou be forgotten when the time of affliction comes; like ice in summer the record of thy sins shall melt away.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	3	18	Tarnished his name, that leaves his father forsaken; God’s curse rest on him, that earns a mother’s ill-will.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	3	19	My son, do all thou dost in lowly fashion; love thou shalt win, that is worth more than men’s praise.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	3	20	The greater thou art, the more in all things abase thyself; so thou shalt win favour with God…
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	3	21	Sovereignty belongs to God and no other; they honour him most that most keep humility.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	3	22	Seek not to know what is far above thee; search not beyond thy range; let thy mind ever dwell on the duty God has given thee to do, content to be ignorant of all his dealings besides.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	3	23	Need is none thy eyes should see what things lie hidden.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	3	24	Leave off, then, thy much questioning about such things as little concern thee, and be content with thy ignorance;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	3	25	more is granted to thy view than lies within human ken.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	3	26	By such fancies, many have been led astray, and their thoughts chained to folly.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	3	27	… Heart that is obstinate shall thrive ill at the last; danger loved is death won.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	3	28	Heart that will try two ways at once shall prosper little; he falls into the snare that goes a-straying.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	3	29	Heart that will not mend shall be weighed down by its own troubles; the sinner is ever ready for one sin more.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	3	30	For one sort of men there is no remedy, the proud; too deep a root the evil has taken, before they knew it.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	3	31	Heart that is wise will prove itself in wise company; ever greedy of wise talk is the ear that knows how to listen.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	3	32	Heart that is wise and discerning will keep clear of wrong, and by honest dealings prosper yet.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	3	33	No fire burns so high but water may quench it; almsgiving was ever sin’s atoning.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	3	34	God marks the grateful eye, and remembers it; here is sure support won against peril of falling.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	4	1	My son, do not cheat a poor man of the alms he asks, nor pass him by, with averted look, in his need.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	4	2	Wouldst thou despise his hungry glance, and add to the burden of his distress?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	4	3	Wouldst thou disappoint him in his bitter need by bidding him wait for the gift?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	4	4	Nay, spurn thou never the plea of the afflicted; look thy suppliant in the face,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	4	5	and of his poverty take good heed; shall his baffled rage curse thee behind thy back?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	4	6	The curse of an embittered man does not go unheard; his Maker is listening.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	4	7	To the common sort of men give friendly welcome; before an elder abate thy pride; and to a man of eminence bow meekly thy head.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	4	8	If a poor man would speak to thee, lend him thy ear without grudging; give him his due, and let him have patient and friendly answer.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	4	9	If he is wronged by oppression, redress thou needs must win him, nor be vexed by his importunity.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	4	10	When thou sittest in judgement, be a father to the orphans, a husband to the widow that bore them;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	4	11	so the most High an obedient son shall reckon thee, and shew thee more than a mother’s kindness.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	4	12	New life wisdom breathes into her children, befriends all that have recourse to her, and guides them in the right way.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	4	13	Love her, as thou lovest life; wait early at her doors, if thou wouldst win her sweet embrace.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	4	14	Life the prize, if thou hold her fast; come she in at the door, God’s blessing comes with her;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	4	15	court paid to her, worship paid to the Holy One; love given to her, God’s love made thine in return for it!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	4	16	A word from her, and the world is at thy feet, a sight of her face, and thou shalt dwell ever secure;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	4	17	trust her, and she will be thy inheritance, settled on the heirs of thy body.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	4	18	When first she chooses a man out, she does but make trial of his company;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	4	19	she puts him to the proof, threatening him with her frown, teasing him with her difficult lore, until at last she has proved whether his thoughts are hers, and can trust him perfectly.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	4	20	Then she gives him confidence, coming out openly to meet him; gladdens him with her smile,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	4	21	and tells him all her secrets; makes him rich with store of true knowledge, and enables him to discern the right.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	4	22	Only if he strays away from her does she abandon him, and leave him at the mercy of his foes.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	4	23	My son, study well what the time needs, ever on thy guard against wrong-doing;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	4	24	though life itself were in peril, never be ashamed to speak the truth.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	4	25	Deference, that is the grace and glory of a man, may yet make a sinner of him.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	4	26	Wouldst thou hold another man’s honour dearer than thy own, and swear the lie at thy soul’s peril?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	4	27	Nay, speak out without shame, though thy own neighbour should be threatened with ruin.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	4	28	Withhold not thy counsel while safety may yet be won; thy wisdom is not to be hidden away like a veiled beauty.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	4	29	Wisdom still needs a tongue to disclose it; no discernment or knowledge or shrewd counsel but waits on the apt word; how else should men be encouraged in well doing?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	4	30	Speak thou never against the known truth; and if thy ignorance has erred, own thy error.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	4	31	Be never ashamed to confess thy faults, nor, for thy fault, put thyself in any man’s power.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	4	32	Wouldst thou defy, and openly, a ruler’s authority? Thou hadst better swim against the stream’s force.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	4	33	Do battle for the right, all thy life long, and with thy last breath do battle for the right still; God, in thy cause, will overcome thy enemies.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	4	34	A glib tongue, and hands that hang down idle; such be not thine.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	4	35	Lion if thou must be, let not thy own house feel the brunt of it, thy own servants harried, thy own slaves beaten to the earth.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	4	36	Open hand when the word is Take, shut when the word is Give; such be not thine.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	5	1	Wilt thou look round at ill-gotten gains, and tell thyself thou hast enough for all thy needs? Trust me, when vengeance finds thee out, all this shall nothing avail thee.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	5	2	In manhood’s vigour, do not follow the whim of thy heart,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	5	3	boasting of thy strength, and asking who will call thee to account for thy doings; God will find a way to punish thee.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	5	4	Nor ever flatter thyself that thou hast sinned and come away scot-free; the eternal justice waits its time.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	5	5	Ill it were that sin’s pardon should embolden thee to sin afresh.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	5	6	Dost thou tell thyself God’s mercies are great, and he will pardon thy sins for all they are so many?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	5	7	Bethink thee that his vengeance rides swift as his mercy; it is a jealous eye that watches the sinner.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	5	8	Or wouldst thou make slow work of turning to the Lord, and put it off from day to day?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	5	9	Swift falls his anger and perilous, when the time for vengeance is ripe.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	5	10	And must thy thoughts still dwell on the ill-gotten gains, that shall nothing avail thee when vengeance finds thee out?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	5	11	Turn not with every wind, nor walk in every way that offers; that sinners do, till their hypocrisy is found out.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	5	12	Firm let thy feet be set on the path the Lord has chosen for thee; be true to thy own thought and to the knowledge thou hast, and ever let the counsels of peace and justice guide thee on thy way.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	5	13	True answer and wise answer none can give but he who listens patiently, and learns all.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	5	14	If discernment thou hast, give thy neighbour his answer; if none, tongue held is best, or some ill-advised word will shame thee;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	5	15	speech uttered was ever the wise man’s passport to fame, the fool’s undoing.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	5	16	Never win the name of back-biter, by thy own tongue entrapped into shame.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	5	17	A thief must blush and do penance, a hypocrite men will mark and avoid; the back-biter earns indignation and enmity and disgrace all at once.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	5	18	To all alike, high and low, give just award.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	6	1	Wouldst thou rather be thy neighbour’s enemy than his friend? Wouldst thou earn, by ill nature, an ill name, and be despised for such faults as these, envy and hypocrisy?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	6	2	Wilt thou toss thy head, bull-fashion, and glory in thy own strength? What if that strength should be brought down by thy own folly?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	6	3	Then wilt thou be no better than some dry tree-stump out in the desert, its leaves withered, its hope of fruit all gone.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	6	4	Ill nature brings a man to an ill end, the scorn of his enemies and a prey to iniquity.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	6	5	Gentleness of speech, how it wins friends everywhere, how it disarms its enemies! Never was a good man wanting for a gracious word.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	6	6	Be on good terms with all, but for thy trusted counsellor, choose one in a thousand.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	6	7	Tried friends be the friends thou makest; do not bestow thy confidence lightly;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	6	8	some men are but fair-weather friends, and will not stand the test of adversity.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	6	9	Some will veer from friend to foe, and lay bare old grudges, old quarrels, to reproach thee;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	6	10	some will be thy boon companions, but desert thee when trouble is afoot.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	6	11	Fast and faithful friend there is, that will be even as thyself, and have thy servants at his beck and call;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	6	12	let him behave modestly, and rid thee of his presence, and there shall be true and tried friendship between you.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	6	13	From enemies thou mayst keep thy distance; against friends be on thy guard.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	6	14	True friendship, sure protection and rare treasure found;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	6	15	true friendship, a thing beyond compare, its tried loyalty outweighing gold and silver;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	6	16	true friendship, elixir of life, and of life eternal! Only those who fear God will come by it;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	6	17	the fear of God gives friendship evenly shared, friend matched with friend.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	6	18	My son, learn the lessons of youth, and garner wisdom against thy grey hairs;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	6	19	ploughman and sower thou must come to the task, and wait patiently for the harvest;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	6	20	how light the toil wisdom claims, the fruits of her how soon enjoyed!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	6	21	Only to undisciplined minds she seems an over-hard task-mistress; not for long will the fool endure her company;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	6	22	here is a weight (says he) that tries my strength too much, and away he casts it.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	6	23	The enlightenment which comes with wisdom is true to its name; known to so few, yet where men are acquainted with it, it waits to light them into the presence of God.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	6	24	My son, give good heed to the warnings of experience, do not spurn this counsel of mine.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	6	25	Yield foot of thine to wisdom’s fetters, neck of thine to her collar,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	6	26	shoulder of thine to her yoke; do not chafe at her bonds.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	6	27	Make her thy whole heart’s quest, follow, as best thou canst, the path she makes known to thee;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	6	28	search, and thou wilt find her, hold fast, and never let her go;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	6	29	in good time, thou shalt repose in her, and find her all delight.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	6	30	In time, those fetters of hers shall prove a strong protection, a sure support, that halter of hers a badge of honour about thy neck;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	6	31	there is life in those trappings, healing virtue in those bonds.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	6	32	Robe is none shall do thee more honour, crown is none shall rest more radiant on thy brow.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	6	33	My son, mark well and learn, take heed and be wise;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	6	34	here is true knowledge for the listening, here is wisdom if thou wilt lend an ear.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	6	35	Where older men than thou are met, and wiser, take thou thy place, and give thy whole heart to their teaching; old tales of God’s wonders thou shalt hear, and sayings of much renown.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	6	36	A man of discernment if thou find, wait on him at day-break, and wear out his door-step with thy frequent visiting.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	6	37	Think ever upon God’s commandments, and be constant in the following of his will; be sure he will give thee perseverance, and all thy desire for wisdom shall be granted thee.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	7	1	Harm if thou do none, harm shall none befall thee;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	7	2	clear of wrong is clear of mishap.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	7	3	What avails it, my son, to sow in the furrow of mischief, and reap a sevenfold harvest?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	7	4	Never ask of God high station, or of the king preferment.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	7	5	Never try to prove thy innocence before God, who knows all, nor thy subtlety before the king.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	7	6	Do not sit in judgement, unless thou art able to crush the wrong; if thou favour the rich, what else is thy award but a snare for thy own virtue?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	7	7	Hurt never the public weal; no need to embroil thyself with thy own neighbours.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	7	8	Never tack sin to sin; for the first thou art in arrears.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	7	9	Do not lose confidence
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	7	10	in thy praying, or leave almsgiving undone.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	7	11	Do not flatter thyself that God will look favourably on thy many offerings, as if he, the most High, could not refuse thy gifts.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	7	12	Taunt never the disconsolate; God, who sees all, casts men down and lifts them up.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	7	13	Not against thy own brother trump up the charge; nor thy neighbour either.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	7	14	Every breath of falsehood avoid in thy speech; so ill grows the habit of it.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	7	15	Idle talk becomes thee not, when thou sittest with the elders in council, nor, when thou prayest, repetition of thy prayer.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	7	16	At toil repine not; the farmer’s trade is of divine appointment.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	7	17	When sinners abound, be not thou of their company;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	7	18	bethink thee rather, how swiftly comes vengeance,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	7	19	and so curb thy unruly spirits; for sinful flesh, fire and worm.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	7	20	Thou hast a friend who is over-long in thy debt; use no cruelty with him; dear to thee as a brother, and shall gold count more?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	7	21	Thou hast a good wife, a thrifty woman that has thrown in her lot, in the fear of the Lord, with thine; do not leave her; that modesty of hers is a grace gold cannot buy.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	7	22	The slave that works for thee faithfully, the hireling that is pledged to thy service, injure not;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	7	23	a thrifty slave thou shouldst love as thy own self, not baulking him of liberty or leaving him to starve.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	7	24	Cattle thou hast; tend them well, nor part with them while they do thee good service.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	7	25	Thou hast sons; train them to bear the yoke from their youth up.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	7	26	Thou hast daughters; keep them chaste, and do not spoil them with thy smile;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	7	27	a daughter wed is great good done, if a thrifty husband thou find her.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	7	28	And thy own wife, if thou lovest her, never do thou forsake, nor trust thy happiness to one who is little to thy mind. And oh, with thy whole heart
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	7	29	honour thy father, nor forget thy mother’s pangs;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	7	30	bethink thee, that without them thou hadst had no being, and repay the service they have done thee.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	7	31	With all thy soul fear God, and reverence his priests.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	7	32	He made thee; wilt thou not devote all thy powers to his love? Wilt thou leave his ministers unbefriended?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	7	33	Rather, with all thy soul fear God, and to his priests give their due; with gift of the consecrated shoulder clear thyself of what is owing.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	7	34	The priests must have their share, by law prescribed, of first-fruits and of offering for transgression; even if thou hast committed a fault in ignorance, a little is claimed for thy cleansing.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	7	35	The gift of the consecrated shoulder thou must make to the Lord, and the offering of all that is dedicated, and the holy first-fruits;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	7	36	moreover, thou must open thy hand to the poor; so thy atonement shall be perfect, and perfect thy blessing.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	7	37	No living man but is thankful for the gift given; and it is ill done to withhold thy favours even from the dead.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	7	38	Fail not to comfort the distressed, let the mourner have thee for his escort.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	7	39	Never tire of visiting the sick; no surer way of winning thy neighbour’s love.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	7	40	Remember at all times what thou must come to at the last, and thou shalt never do amiss.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	8	1	If quarrel thou hast, let it not be with a prince, that may attach thy person;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	8	2	nor with a rich man, that may implead thee,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	8	3	with all the power there is in silver and gold to corrupt men, and sway even the hearts of kings;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	8	4	nor with a glib talker; thou dost but add fuel to his fire.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	8	5	Be not familiar with a boor; thou wilt hear no good of thy ancestry.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	8	6	Scorn not the sinner that would amend his ways; reproach comes amiss, where all stand in need of correction.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	8	7	Nor fail in respect for the aged; it is of our stuff grey hairs are made.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	8	8	Rejoice not over thy neighbour’s death; we all die, and would not have men rejoice over it.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	8	9	Do not be contemptuous of what older and wiser men have to tell thee; by their lore live thou,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	8	10	if wise thou wouldst be, and have the secret of discernment, and live contentedly in the service of the great.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	8	11	Do not let them pass thee by, these traditions older men have inherited from their fathers;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	8	12	they will turn thee into a man of judgement, that answer can make when answer is needed.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	8	13	Wouldst thou remonstrate with a sinner? Make sure thou art not fanning the flame of his passions, thyself in peril of a scorching.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	8	14	Wouldst thou make reply to the railing accuser? Make sure he is not baiting a trap to ensnare thee.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	8	15	Lend to one who can master thee? Then lent is lost.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	8	16	Pledge not thyself beyond thy means; count ever thy pledge forfeit.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	8	17	Dispute not a judge’s award; who judges by right rule if not he?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	8	18	Travel not with a rash companion, if thou wouldst not shoulder all his misfortune; he will go his own way, and thou share the reward of his folly.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	8	19	Quarrel not with a man of quick moods; on a desert road he is no companion for thee; he cares nothing for bloodshed, and will lay thee in the dust when none is by to aid thee.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	8	20	Take not counsel with a fool; he knows none but his own way of it.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	8	21	Share not thy secret plans with a stranger; thou knowest not what trouble he may breed.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	8	22	Never open to any man thy whole heart; an ill requital he may make, by bringing shame on thee.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	9	1	Never shew thyself a jealous husband to the wife thou lovest; it may prove thou hast taught her, to thy cost, a ruinous lesson.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	9	2	Never give thy soul into a woman’s power, and let her command the fortress of it, to thy shame.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	9	3	Never turn to look at the wanton, that would catch thee in her snare,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	9	4	nor spend thy attentions upon some dancing woman, that has power to be thy undoing;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	9	5	nor let thy eyes linger on a maid unwed, whose very beauty may take thee unawares.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	9	6	And for harlots, let nothing tempt thee to give way to them, as life and patrimony thou holdest dear;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	9	7	look not round thee in the city streets, nor haunt the alley-ways.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	9	8	From a woman bravely decked out turn away; have no eyes for her beauty that is none of thine.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	9	9	Woman’s beauty has been the ruin of many ere now, a spark to light the flame of lust.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	9	10	A harlot? Then trample her down like mire in thy path.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	9	11	The love of stolen sweets has been the undoing of many; a word with her, and the spark is lit.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	9	12	Sit down never with a wedded wife, nor lean thy elbow upon table of hers,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	9	13	nor bandy words with her over the wine; steal she thy heart away, thy life is forfeit.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	9	14	An old friend leave not; the new is not his like.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	9	15	New friendship, new wine; it must ripen ere thou canst love the taste of it.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	9	16	Envy not the wrong-doer his wealth and state; beyond all expectation of thine it shall come to ruin.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	9	17	Of his ill-gotten gains have neither love nor liking; be sure he will not die unpunished.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	9	18	From one that has the power of life and death keep thy distance; so thou shalt be free from mortal alarms.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	9	19	If dealings thou hast with him, keep clear of all offence, or thou shalt pay for it with thy life.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	9	20	Death has become thy familiar; pit-falls encompass thy path; thou art making the rounds of a beleaguered city.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	9	21	Consider, as best thou mayest, thy company; be wise and prudent men thy counsellors;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	9	22	honest men thy guests. Be the fear of God all thy boast,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	9	23	the thought of God all thy thinking, the commandments of the most High all the matter of thy discourse.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	9	24	By skilful handiwork the artist is known, the ruler of a people by the prudence of his counsel, the good sense of the aged by their word spoken.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	9	25	No such peril to a city as a great talker; for his rash utterance, no man so well hated as he.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	10	1	A wise ruler, a folk well disciplined; firm sits prudence on the throne.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	10	2	Like king, like court; like ruler, like subjects.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	10	3	Royal folly is a people’s ruin; where prudence reigns, there cities thrive most.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	10	4	God’s will it is, then, that rules a nation; when the time comes, he will give it the prince it needs,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	10	5	granting prosperity where he will; no scribe bears office but has divine authority stamped on his brow.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	10	6	Forget the wrong done, nor enrol thyself among the doers of it.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	10	7	Before God and man alike pride is hateful, and the wrong the Gentiles do is foully done;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	10	8	wrong and crime and outrage and treacherous shift, that he punishes by passing on the sceptre of empire into new hands;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	10	9	but worse sin is none than avarice. See how man, for all his pride, is but dust and ashes!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	10	10	This love of money is of all things the most perverse; what does the miser but sell his own soul? As well be bowelled alive!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	10	11	Why be tyrannies short-lived? Why, it is a wearisome thing to the physician, a long illness,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	10	12	so he is fain to cut it short, and the king that reigns to-day will be dead to-morrow.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	10	13	And what is the new kingdom he inherits? Creeping things, and carrion beast, and worm.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	10	14	Pride’s beginning is man’s revolt from God,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	10	15	when the heart forgets its Maker; and of all sin pride is the root. Leave it, or curses thou shalt have in full measure, and be ruined at the last.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	10	16	Such humiliation the Lord has in store; vanished utterly is yonder confederacy;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	10	17	proud thrones cast down, to make room for the oppressed,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	10	18	proud nations withered from the root, and humbler rivals planted instead!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	10	19	Whole nations of the world the Lord has overthrown, rased them to the ground;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	10	20	shrivelled and vanished away, they have left no trace of their passage.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	10	21	The proud forgotten, the humble kept in memory; such was the Lord’s will.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	10	22	Pride was never made for man’s estate; never child born of woman had anger’s mood for its birthright.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	10	23	There are two breeds of men; one fears God and wins renown, the other passes his commandments by, and is forgotten.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	10	24	Let clansmen honour a chieftain’s rank; it is humble fear wins the divine regard.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	10	25	For riches and renown, as for the lowly born, there is one boast worth having, the fear of God.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	10	26	Honest poverty never despise, nor flatter, for all his wealth, the evil-doer;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	10	27	prince nor ruler nor nobleman can win any higher title than the fear of God.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	10	28	Of his master’s sons a prudent servant shall yet be master. Only the fool, that is ill trained, takes punishment amiss; and a fool will never rise to greatness.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	10	29	Do not boast of thy fine craftsmanship and then, in time of urgent need, stand idle;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	10	30	better fall to work and have a full belly than keep thy pride and go fasting.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	10	31	Abate thy pride, keep body and soul together; value thy life as it deserves.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	10	32	There is no excusing the man who is his own enemy, no worth in the man who thinks his life worth nothing.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	10	33	One man, that little wealth has, may boast of his skill and the fear of God, another man of his riches.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	10	34	Grow he rich, the poor man shall boast indeed; that other, grow he poor, has good cause to fear his poverty.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	11	1	A man may be lowly born, and yet rise high through the wisdom that is in him, till at last he takes his seat among men of rank.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	11	2	Esteem no man for his good looks, nor for his outward show despise him;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	11	3	yonder bee is an inconsiderable creature, and yet there is a world of sweetness in the harvest she wins.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	11	4	Plume not thyself when thou goest bravely clad, nor pride thyself in thy brief hour of greatness. Of wonder and of praise what else is worthy, but the doings of the most High? And these, how hedged about with secrecy!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	11	5	Kings a many have lost their thrones, to pretenders they never dreamed of;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	11	6	great ones a many have fallen full low, and their glory has passed to others.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	11	7	Blame not, till thou hast heard the excuse; more just thy reproof shall be when thou hast learnt all.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	11	8	Listen first, then answer, never breaking in when the tale is half told.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	11	9	Quarrel not, where thou thyself art not concerned; leave judgement of the offender to others.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	11	10	Do not be entangled, my son, in too many enterprises. The rich man pays forfeit, chasing what overtake he may not, or fleeing what he may not shun.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	11	11	Some men’s lives are all toil and haste and anxiety; yet the more they toil, the less advantage they win, for want of piety.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	11	12	And others are backward folk, that cannot hold their gains, men of little power and much poverty;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	11	13	and yet such a man the Lord will look upon with favour, rescue him from neglect and greatly advance him, to the world’s amazement, and the greater honour of God.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	11	14	From God all comes, good fortune and ill, life and death, poverty and riches;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	11	15	in God’s keeping are wisdom and temperance and knowledge of the law, charity and the good life.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	11	16	Error and darkness are sinful man’s birthright; it is by making evil their delight that men grow hardened in evil.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	11	17	No momentary blessing it is, God’s largesse to his faithful servants; that seed that bears an eternal crop.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	11	18	No such boast has the man of thrift, that by his own effort wins wealth.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	11	19	Does he tell himself that he has found security at last; nothing remains but to glut, with his own earnings, his own greed?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	11	20	He forgets that time flies, and death draws near; die he must, and leave all he has to another.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	11	21	Be true to thy covenant with God; its words to thy own ears repeat; to that, and thy enjoined duty, inure thyself.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	11	22	Wouldst thou stand there gaping at the doings of sinners? Nay, trust in God, and keep to thy appointed task.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	11	23	Dost thou think God finds it hard to enrich the beggar, and in a moment?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	11	24	Swift, swift comes the blessing that rewards faithful service; in one short hour its fruits ripen.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	11	25	Never tell thyself, need thou hast none, there is no more good can befall thee;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	11	26	never flatter thyself, thou art master of thy own lot, no harm can touch thee now.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	11	27	Rather, bethink thyself of foul weather in fair, of fair weather in foul;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	11	28	on the very day of a man’s death God can give him his deserts.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	11	29	One hour of misery, how it can efface in the memory long years of ease! Only a man’s death-bed brings the full history of his fortunes to light.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	11	30	Never call a man happy until he is dead; his true epitaph is written in his children.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	11	31	Do not keep thy house open to every comer; knaves have many shifts.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	11	32	Foul breath lurks in a diseased body; the partridge a hidden lure awaits, a hidden snare the doe; so there be unquiet hearts, ever on the watch for a neighbour’s downfall,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	11	33	ready to interpret good things amiss, and cast blame on the innocent.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	11	34	One spark is enough to spread a fire, and one man’s treachery may be the cause of bloodshed; such villains as these plot against life itself.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	11	35	Against such a plague be thou timely on thy guard, or it may prove thy eternal disgrace.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	11	36	Alien let in is whirlwind let in, that shall alienate from thee all thou hast.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	12	1	Favour if thou grantest, look well to whom thou grantest it; so shall thy favours earn abundant gratitude.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	12	2	A good turn done to an honest man is well rewarded; if not he, then the Lord will repay thee.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	12	3	It goes ill with the man who spends all his time courting the wicked, and alms gives none; does not the most High himself treat sinners as his enemies, never sparing them till they repent?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	12	4	… For rebellious sinners he has nothing but punishment, although he may save up the day of their punishing.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	12	5	Keep thy favours for the kind-hearted, and let the sinners go without their welcome.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	12	6	The friendless man deserves thy alms; to the godless give nothing; nay, prevent food reaching him, or he will have the mastery of thee.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	12	7	All his gain will be doubly thy loss; and so it is that the most High both hates sinners and will bring retribution on their impiety.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	12	8	Prosperity will not shew thee who are thy friends. In bad times, thy enemies may triumph openly,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	12	9	that till now were grieved at thy good fortune; but it is these bad times will shew thee thy friends too.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	12	10	Never trust an enemy; deep as verdigris on copper his malice is ingrained.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	12	11	Lout he never so low, look to it well and be on thy guard against him;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	12	12	never let him attend on thee, or sit at thy right hand. His eyes are on thy place; a time will come when he will sit where thou sittest, when thou wilt recognize the truth of my warning, and be stung by the memory.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	12	13	Who shall pity snake-charmer or beast-tamer if he takes hurt? And he deserves no less, who consorts with rogues and is entangled in their sinful ways.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	12	14	This false friend will be thy companion for an hour, then, if thou art for altering thy course, he will not hear of it;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	12	15	all those honeyed words do but mask a plot to lure thee into some ditch.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	12	16	How he weeps for thee, this enemy of thine! Yet, if his chance comes, there will be no glutting him with thy blood;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	12	17	come thou into mischief, he is there already waiting for thee.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	12	18	How he weeps for thee, this enemy of thine! If he makes to aid thee, it is only to trip thy heel;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	12	19	then what mopping and mowing, what clapping of the hands and whispering, what a change of mien!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	13	1	Who handles pitch, with pitch is defiled; who throws in his lot with insolence, of insolence shall have his fill.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	13	2	A heavy burden thou art shouldering, if thou wouldst consort with thy betters; not for thee the company of the rich.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	13	3	Pot and kettle are ill matched; it is the pot breaks when they come together;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	13	4	rich man, that has seized all he can, frets and fumes for more; poor man robbed may not so much as speak.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	13	5	If thou hast favours to bestow, thy rich friend will make use of thee; if none, he bids thee farewell;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	13	6	thy guest, he will eat up all thou canst give, and have no pity to waste on thee.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	13	7	Has he need of thee? Then, to be sure, he will ply his arts, all smiles and fair speeches, and eagerness to know what thy need is;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	13	8	he encumbers thee, now, with hospitality. So, twice and three times, he will drain thee dry; then he will turn on thee with a laugh, and if he meets thee again, it will be to pass thee by with a toss of the head.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	13	9	Learn to abase thyself before God, and wait for his hand to beckon thee,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	13	10	instead of courting false hopes, that bring their own abasement.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	13	11	For all thy wisdom, do not hold thyself too cheap, or thou wilt lower thyself to folly.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	13	12	If a great man bids thee come close, keep thy distance; he will but bid thee the more;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	13	13	do not court a rebuff by wearying him, nor yet withdraw altogether, and be forgotten.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	13	14	Affable though he should be, treat him never familiarly; all his friendly talk is but a lure to drag thy secrets out of thee.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	13	15	All that thou sayest his pitiless heart will hold against thee; never a blow, never a chain the less.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	13	16	Have a care of thyself, give good heed to this warning, thou that walkest with ruin ever at thy side;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	13	17	wake from sleep at the hearing of it, and see thy peril.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	13	18	Love God all thy days, and pray that he will send thee good deliverance.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	13	19	Every beast consorts with its own kind, and shall not man with his fellow?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	13	20	Like to like is nature’s rule, and for man like to like is still the best partnership;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	13	21	as well match wolf with lamb as rogue with honest liver.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	13	22	Consecrated person and prowling dog, what have they in common? And what fellowship can there be between rich man and poor?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	13	23	Poor man is to rich as wild ass is to lion out in the desert, his prey;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	13	24	wealth hates poverty, as the proud heart scorns humble rank.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	13	25	Totters the lordly house, it has friends to sustain it; the poor man in his ruin is driven from familiar doors.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	13	26	Trips the rich man, he has many to keep him in countenance; his insolent talk finds acquittal;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	13	27	trips the poor man, he is called to account for it; even for what he said to the purpose, no allowance is made him.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	13	28	Speaks the rich man, all must listen in silence, and afterwards extol his utterance to the skies;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	13	29	speaks the poor man, Why, say all, who is this? And if his words offend, it is the undoing of him.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	13	30	Yet, where there is no sin to smite a man’s conscience, a full purse is a blessing, and poverty itself is a great evil when it goes with a blasphemer’s tongue.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	13	31	Heart of man changes his mien, for good or ill,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	13	32	but where that pleasant mien is, that comes of a generous heart, no short or easy way there is to discover.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	14	1	Blessed the man whose lips have never betrayed him into a fault, who has never known the sting of remorse,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	14	2	never felt conscience condemning him, and the hope he lived by, his no more!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	14	3	Vain is that store the miser cherishes; wasted on his distrustful nature, the bright gold!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	14	4	See how he wrongs himself to hoard up goods for others; to let his heirs keep high revel when he is gone!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	14	5	Whose friend is he, that is his own enemy, and leaves his own cheer untasted?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	14	6	This is the last villainy of all, that a man should grudge himself his own happiness;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	14	7	fit punishment for his poverty of soul that never did good except by oversight, and to his manifest remorse!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	14	8	Diseased eye of the niggard, that will turn away and let hunger go unsatisfied;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	14	9	and restless eye of the covetous man, that craves ever more than his due, till his very nature dries up from continual pining;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	14	10	an eye jaundiced with its own passions, and never a full meal, but always he must sit hungry and pensive at his own table, and ill content!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	14	11	My son, if wealth thou hast, regale thyself, and make thy offering to God proportionable.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	14	12	Bethink thee that death waits not; there is no putting off thy tryst with the grave; nothing in this world, but its death-warrant is out already.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	14	13	While life still holds, make thy friends good cheer, and to the poor be open-handed as thy means allow thee;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	14	14	stint not the feast, nor any crumb put by of the blessings granted thee;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	14	15	wouldst thou have thy heirs wrangling over the fruits of thy bitter toil?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	14	16	Much give, much take, set thy soul at ease;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	14	17	while life still holds, do thy duty of almsgiving; feasting there shall be none in the grave.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	14	18	No living thing but fades as the grass fades; as the leaves fade, that burgeon on a growing tree,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	14	19	some sprouting fresh and some a-dying; so it is with flesh and blood, one generation makes room for the next.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	14	20	All the works of man are fugitive, and must perish soon or late, and he, the workman, goes the same way as the rest.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	14	21	Yet shall their choicest works win favour, and in his work he, the workman, shall live.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	14	22	Blessed the man that dwells on wise thoughts, musing how to acquit himself well, and remembering the all-seeing eye of God;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	14	23	that can plan out in his heart all wisdom’s twists and turns, fathom her secrets! Like a spy he follows her, and lingers in her tracks,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	14	24	peers through her window, listens at her doors,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	14	25	by her house takes up his abode, driving his nail into the walls of it, so as to build his cabin at her very side, cabin that shall remain for ever a home of blessing!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	14	26	Wisdom shall be the shade under which his children find their appointed resting-place; her spreading boughs
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	14	27	shall protect them from the noon-day heat; wisdom shall be the monument of his glorious repose.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	15	1	If a man fears the Lord, he will live an upright life. If a man holds fast to inno-cence, he will find wisdom ready to his embrace,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	15	2	welcoming him as a mother welcomes the son who cherishes her, greeting him like a maiden bride.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	15	3	Long life and good discernment are the bread this mother will provide for him, truth the refreshing draught she will give him to drink. She will take firm hold of him, so that he never wavers,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	15	4	restrain him, so that he is never disgraced. She will raise him to high repute among his neighbours;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	15	5	she will move him to speak before the assembled people, filling him with the spirit of wisdom and discernment, clothing him in magnificent array.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	15	6	Joy and triumph she has in store for him, and will enrich him with a name that shall never be forgotten.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	15	7	Not for the fools her embrace, only apt pupils encounter her; how should the fools catch sight of her, that is so far removed from proud and treacherous ways?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	15	8	Nay, she is beyond the deceiver’s ken; true hearts alone are her company, and these shall profit by it till they are fit for God’s scrutiny.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	15	9	Praise is but praise deformed when it is uttered by the lips of a sinner;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	15	10	wisdom comes from God only, and on wisdom the praise of God needs must wait. Praise on the lips of one who trusts God is rich in meaning; the Ruler of all inspires it.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	15	11	This wisdom lackest thou? Do not blame God for the want of it; learn to shun the deeds God hates.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	15	12	Do not complain that it was he led thee into false paths; what need has God, thinkest thou, of rebels?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	15	13	No foul misdeed there is but God hates it; there is no loving it and fearing him.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	15	14	When men first came to be, it was God made them, and, making them, left them to the arbitrament of their own wills;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	15	15	yet giving them commandments to be their rule.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	15	16	Those commandments if thou wilt observe, they in their turn shall preserve thee, and give thee warrant of his favour.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	15	17	It is as though he offered thee fire and water, bidding thee take which thou wouldst;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	15	18	life and death, blessing and curse, man finds set before him, and the gift given thee shall be the choice thou makest;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	15	19	so wise God is, so constraining his power, so incessant the watch he keeps over mankind.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	15	20	The Lord’s eye is watching over the men who fear him, no act of ours passes unobserved;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	15	21	upon none does he enjoin disobedience, none has leave from him to commit sin.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	15	22	A brood of disloyal sons and worthless, how should this be the Lord’s desire?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	16	1	A brood of disloyal sons, let not thy eye dwell on these with pleasure; the fear of God lacking, let not a multitude of children be thy comfort.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	16	2	Not on such lives as these set thy hopes, little regard have thou for such doings as theirs;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	16	3	better one son who fears God than a thousand who grow up rebellious;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	16	4	better die childless than have rebels to succeed thee.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	16	5	Through one man that is well-minded a whole country may thrive, and sinners, a whole race of them, may be extinguished;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	16	6	much proof of this my own eyes have seen, and stronger proof yet are the tales that have come to my hearing,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	16	7	of fire breaking out where sinners were met in company, fires of vengeance to consume a disobedient race.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	16	8	Those giants of long ago who perished in the pride of their strength, did they find pardon of their guilt?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	16	9	Lot’s neighbours, did God spare them? Did he not attest his hatred of their insolence,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	16	10	destroying a whole nation without pity, for the sinfulness that defied him?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	16	11	And what of those six hundred thousand that marched out into the desert, men of stubborn heart? Stiff-necked if he had been like the others, Caleb himself should not have had God’s pardon.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	16	12	His to pity, his to punish; intercession avails with him, but in full flood comes his vengeance;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	16	13	his severity, no less than his clemency, judges men by their deeds.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	16	14	Never may sinner enjoy his ill-gotten gains in safety, nor the hope of the generous be disappointed.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	16	15	No generous act but shall win God’s consideration; he weighs each man’s merits, knows how each passed his time on earth.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	16	16	Never think to hide thyself away from God; never tell thyself, from that great height none shall regard thee;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	16	17	that thou wilt pass unnoticed amidst the throng of humanity, thy soul a mere speck in the vast fabric of creation.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	16	18	Why, the very heavens, and the heavens that are above the heavens, the great deep, and the whole earth with all it contains, shrink away at the sight of him;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	16	19	mountains and hills and earth’s foundations tremble at his glance;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	16	20	all these have a heart, though it be a heart void of reason, and there is no heart but its secrets are known to him.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	16	21	There is no fathoming his ways, no piercing the dark cloud man’s eyes have never seen;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	16	22	all but a few of his doings are hidden away. His acts of retributionwho can understand, or who can bear? Far, far removed is that covenant of his from some men’s thoughts; and yet in the end all shall undergo his scrutiny.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	16	23	Away with these fancies of shallow minds, these fond dreams of error!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	16	24	Wilt thou but listen to me, my son, thou shalt learn a wiser lesson. Give me thy heart’s heeding,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	16	25	and instruction thou shalt have in full measure, wisdom both profound and clear. Give me thy heart’s heeding, and thou shalt share with me knowledge of the wonderful endowments God gave his creatures when first he made them; all the lore I have shall be truly told thee.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	16	26	From the first, all God’s creatures are at his beck and call; to each, when he first made it, he gave its own turn of service, the principle that determines its own nature.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	16	27	To each, for all time, its own office is assigned, nor lack they, nor tire they, nor cease they from work,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	16	28	nor, for all time, can any of them infringe upon its neighbour’s rights;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	16	29	his word there is no gainsaying.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	16	30	This done, on earth he let fall his regard, and filled earth with his blessings;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	16	31	covered the face of it with the living things that breathe there, and into its bosom bade them return.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	17	1	Man, too, God created out of the earth, fashioning him after his own likeness,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	17	2	and gave him, too, earth to be his burying-place, for all the divine power that clothed him;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	17	3	man, too, should have his allotted toll of years, his season of maturity, and should have power over all else on earth;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	17	4	no living thing, beast or bird, that should not live in awe of him and be subject to his rule.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	17	5	To him and to that partner of his, created like himself and out of himself, God gave will and speech and sight and hearing; gave them a heart to reason with, and filled them with power of discernment;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	17	6	spirit itself should be within their ken, their hearts should be all sagacity. What evil was, what good, he made plain to them;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	17	7	gave them his own eyes to see with, so that they should keep his marvellous acts in view,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	17	8	praise that holy name of his, boast of his wonders, tell the story of his renowned deeds.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	17	9	Warnings, too, he gave them; the law that brings life should be a cherished heirloom;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	17	10	and so he made a covenant with them which should last for ever; claim and award of his he would make known to them.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	17	11	Their eyes should see him in visible majesty, their ears catch the echo of his majestic voice. Keep your hands clear, he told them, of all wrong-doing,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	17	12	and gave each man a duty towards his neighbour.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	17	13	Ever before his eyes their doings are; nothing is hidden from his scrutiny.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	17	14	To every Gentile people he has given a ruler of its own;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	17	15	Israel alone is exempt, marked down as God’s patrimony.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	17	16	Clear as the sun their acts shew under his eye; over their lives, untiring his scrutiny.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	17	17	Sin they as they will, his covenant is still on record; no misdeed of theirs but he is the witness of it.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	17	18	Alms if thou givest, thou hast the sign-manual of his favour; treasured as the apple of his eye is the record of man’s deserving.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	17	19	… A day will come when he rouses himself and requites them, one by one, for their misdoing, overwhelms them in the depths of earth.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	17	20	Yet, to such as repent, he grants the means of acquittal, and makes their fainting hearts strong to endure; for them, too, he has a share in his promised reward.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	17	21	Turn back to the Lord, and let thy sins be;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	17	22	make thy prayer before him, and rid thyself of the peril in thy path.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	17	23	Come back to the Lord, from wrong-doing turn away, and thy foul deeds hate;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	17	24	in all his decrees and awards own God just, stand in thy appointed place to make intercession to him, the most High,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	17	25	and take thy part with a race of men sanctified, living men that still give thanks to God.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	17	26	Linger not in the false path of wickedness; give thanks while breath is in thee; the dead breathe no more, give thanks no more.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	17	27	Thanks while yet thou livest, thanks while health and strength are still with thee, to praise God and to take pride in all his mercies!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	17	28	The Lord’s mercy, that is so abundant, the pardon that is ever theirs who come back to him!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	17	29	Think not man is the centre of all things; no son of Adam is immortal, for all the delight men take in their sinful follies.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	17	30	Nought brighter than the sun, and yet its brightness shall fail; nought darker than the secret designs of flesh and blood, yet all shall be brought to light.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	17	31	God, that marshals the armies of high heaven, and man, all dust and ashes!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	18	1	Naught that is, but God made it; he, the source of all right, the king that reigns for ever unconquerable.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	18	2	And wouldst thou tell the number of his creatures,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	18	3	trace his marvellous doings to their origin,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	18	4	set forth in words the greatness of his power, or go further yet, and proclaim his mercies?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	18	5	God’s wonders thou shalt learn to understand, when thou hast learned to increase the number of them, or diminish it.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	18	6	Reach thou the end of thy reckoning, thou must needs begin again; cease thou from weariness, thou hast nothing learnt.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	18	7	Tell me, what is man, what worth is his, what power has he for good or ill?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	18	8	What is his span of life? Like a drop in the ocean, like a pebble on the beach, seem those few years of his, a hundred at the most, matched with eternity.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	18	9	What wonder if God is patient with his human creatures, lavishes mercy on them?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	18	10	If none reads, as he, their proud heart, none knows, as he, the cruelty of their doom;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	18	11	and so he has given his clemency full play, and shewed them an even path to tread.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	18	12	Man’s mercy extends only to his neighbour; God has pity on all living things.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	18	13	He is like a shepherd who cares for his sheep, guides and controls all alike;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	18	14	welcome thou this merciful discipline of his, run thou eagerly to meet his will, and he will shew pity on thee.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	18	15	My son, bestow thy favours ungrudgingly, nor ever mar with harsh words the gladness of thy giving.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	18	16	Not more welcome the dew, tempering the sun’s heat, than the giver’s word, that counts for more than the gift.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	18	17	Better the gracious word than the gracious gift; but, wouldst thou acquit thyself perfectly, let both be thine.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	18	18	The fool, by his scolding, mars all; never yet did eye brighten over a churl’s giving.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	18	19	First arm thyself with a just cause, then stand thy trial; first learn, then speak.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	18	20	Study thy health before ever thou fallest sick, and thy own heart examine before judgement overtakes thee; so in God’s sight thou shalt find pardon.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	18	21	While health serves thee, do penance for thy sins, and then, when sickness comes, shew thyself the man thou art.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	18	22	From paying thy vows let naught ever hinder thee; shall death find thee still shrinking from acquitting thyself of the task? God’s award stands for ever.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	18	23	And before ever thou makest thy petition, count well the cost. Let it not be said of thee that thou didst invite God’s anger.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	18	24	When his vengeance is satisfied, bethink thee still of his vengeance; of his retribution, when his glance is turned away.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	18	25	When all abounds, bethink thee of evil times; of pinching poverty, when thou hast wealth in store.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	18	26	Between rise and set of sun the face of things alters; swiftly God changes all;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	18	27	and he is wisest who walks timorously, shunning carelessness in a world where sins abound.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	18	28	They are well advised that master wisdom’s secret; much cause for thankfulness she bestows on him who finds her.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	18	29	Wise man that has the gift of utterance does more than wisely live; no stranger to truth and right, he is a fountain of true sayings and of right awards.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	18	30	Do not follow the counsel of appetite; turn thy back on thy own liking.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	18	31	Pamper those passions of thine, and joy it will bring, but to thy enemies.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	18	32	Love not the carouse, though it be with poor men; they will be vying still one with another in wastefulness.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	18	33	And wouldst thou grow poor with borrowing to pay thy shot, thou with thy empty coffers? That were to grudge thy own life.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	19	1	Let him toil as he will, the sot’s purse is empty; little things despise, and little by little thou shalt come to ruin.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	19	2	Wine and women, what a trap for the loyalty of the wise, how hard a test of good sense!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	19	3	He will go from bad to worse, that clings to a harlot’s love; waste and worm shall have him for their prize; one gibbet the more, one living soul the less.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	19	4	Rash heart that lightly trusts shall lose all; forfeit thy own right to live, and none will pity thee.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	19	5	A foul blot it is, to take pride in wrong-doing; a courting of death, to despise reproof; a riddance of much mischief, to forswear chattering.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	19	6	Who forfeits his own right to live, will live to rue it; who loves cruelty, blots his own name.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	19	7	Malicious word if thou hear, or harsh, do not repeat it; never wilt thou be the loser.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	19	8	Speak not out thy own thought for friend and foe to hear alike, nor ever, if thou hast done wrong, discover the secret.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	19	9	He that hears it will be on his guard, and eye thee askance, as if to avert fresh fault of thine; such will be all his demeanour to thee thenceforward.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	19	10	Hast thou heard a tale to thy neighbour’s disadvantage? Take it to the grave with thee. Courage, man! it will not burst thee.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	19	11	A fool with a secret labours as with child, and groans till he is delivered of it;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	19	12	out it must come, like an arrow stuck in a man’s thigh, from that reckless heart.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	19	13	Confront thy friend with his fault; it may be he knows nothing of the matter, and can clear himself; if not, there is hope he will amend.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	19	14	Confront him with the word spoken amiss; it may be, he never said it, or if say it he did, never again will he repeat it.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	19	15	Be open with thy friend; tongues will still be clattering,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	19	16	and thou dost well to believe less than is told thee. Slips there are of the tongue when mind is innocent;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	19	17	what tongue was ever perfectly guarded? Confront thy neighbour with his fault ere thou quarrellest with him,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	19	18	and let the fear of the most High God do its work. What is true wisdom? Nothing but the fear of God. And since the fear of God is contained in all true wisdom, it must be directed by his law;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	19	19	wisdom is none in following the maxims of impiety, prudence is none in scheming as the wicked scheme.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	19	20	Cunning rogues they may be, yet altogether abominable; a fool he must ever be called, that lacks the true wisdom.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	19	21	Better a simpleton that wit has none, yet knows fear, than a man of great address, that breaks the law of the most High.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	19	22	Exact and adroit even a rogue may be;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	19	23	it is another thing to utter the plain word that tells the whole truth. Here is one that wears the garb of penance for wicked ends, his heart full of guile;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	19	24	here is one that bows and scrapes, and walks with bent head, feigning not to see what is best left unnoticed,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	19	25	and all because he is powerless to do thee a harm; if the chance of villainy comes, he will take it.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	19	26	Yet a man’s looks betray him; a man of good sense will make himself known to thee at first meeting;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	19	27	the clothes he wears, the smile on his lips, his gait, will all make thee acquainted with a man’s character.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	19	28	Reproof there is that no good brings, as the event shews; the mistaken reproof that anger prompts in a quarrel. And a man may shew prudence by holding his tongue.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	20	1	Better the complaint made than the grudge secretly nursed. When a man con-fesses his fault, do not cut him short in mid utterance.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	20	2	Redress sought by violence no more content shall bring thee
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	20	3	than eunuch’s lust for maid.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	20	4	Well it is to be reproved, and to confess thy fault, and be rid of all such guilt as thou hast incurred knowingly.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	20	5	A man may be the wiser for remaining dumb, where the glib talker grows wearisome;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	20	6	the silent man, has he nothing to say? Or is he waiting for the right time to say it?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	20	7	Wisdom keeps its utterance in reserve, where the fool’s vanity cannot wait.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	20	8	The babbler cuts his own throat; claim more than thy right, and all men are thy enemies.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	20	9	For a mind ill trained, success is failure, winning is losing.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	20	10	Gift given may bring thee nothing in return, or twice its worth.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	20	11	Honour achieved may belittle a man, and modesty bring him renown.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	20	12	What use to make a good bargain, if thou must pay for it sevenfold?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	20	13	Word of wise man endears him; the fool spends his favours in vain.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	20	14	Little will the fool’s gift profit thee; seven times magnified is all he sees.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	20	15	The paltrier the gift, the longer the admonitions that go with it, and every word of his an incitement to anger.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	20	16	Out upon the man who lends today, and will have the loan restored to-morrow!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	20	17	The fool has no friends, nor can win love by all his favours;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	20	18	they are but parasites that eat at his table; loud and long they will laugh over him;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	20	19	so injudiciously he bestows gifts worth having, and gifts nothing worth.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	20	20	Slip of a liar’s tongue is like slip from roof to ground; a villain’s end is not long a-coming.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	20	21	An ungracious man is no more regarded, than some idle tale that is ever on the lips of the ill-bred.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	20	22	No weighty saying but offends in a fool’s mouth; sure it is that he will bring it out unseasonably.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	20	23	Some avoid wrong only because they lack the means to do it; idle they remain, yet rest they cannot.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	20	24	Some for very shame have courted their own ruin, resolved, though that opinion were worthless enough, to sacrifice themselves for another’s good opinion.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	20	25	Some, too, for shame, make their friends high-sounding promises, and thereby gain nothing, but lose a friend.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	20	26	A lie is a foul blot upon a man’s name, yet nothing so frequent on ill-guarded lips.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	20	27	Worse than a thief is one who is ever lying, and to no better end may he look forward.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	20	28	He lives without honour that lies without scruple, and shame is at his side continually.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	20	29	The wise word brings a man to honour; prudence will endear thee to the great.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	20	30	Till ground, and fill barn; live uprightly, and attain honour; win prince, and escape harm.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	20	31	Hospitality here, a gift there, how they blind the eyes of justice! No better gag to silence reproof.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	20	32	Wisdom hidden is wasted, is treasure that never sees the light of day;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	20	33	silence is rightly used when it masks folly, not when it is the grave of wisdom.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	21	1	Sinned if thou hast, my son, be not emboldened to sin further; to prayer be-take thee, and efface the memory of sins past.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	21	2	Sin dread thou not less than the serpent’s encounter; its fangs will not miss thee, if once thou come close.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	21	3	Teeth so sharp no lion ever had, to catch human prey,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	21	4	nor ever two-edged sword gave wound so incurable as the law’s defiance.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	21	5	Browbeat and oppress the poor, thy own wealth shall dwindle; riches that are grown too great the proud cannot long enjoy; pride shrivels wealth.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	21	6	Swiftly comes their doom, because the poor man’s plea reached their ears, but never their hearts.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	21	7	Where reproof is unregarded, there goes the sinner; no God-fearing man but will come to a better mind.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	21	8	To the glib speaker, fame comes from far and wide; only the wise man knows the slips of his own heart.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	21	9	Wouldst thou build thy fortunes on earnings that are none of thine? As well mightest thou lay in stones for winter fuel.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	21	10	When knaves come together, it is like heaping up tow; the flame burns all the brighter.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	21	11	How smoothly paved is the path of sinners! Yet death lies at the end of it, and darkness, and doom.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	21	12	If thou wouldst be master of thy own thought, first keep the law;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	21	13	no wisdom or discernment but is the fruit of God’s fear.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	21	14	Without shrewdness thou wilt never advance in the school of virtue;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	21	15	yet shrewdness there is that breeds abundance of mischief; where the stream runs foul, there can be no rightness of mind.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	21	16	Where true wisdom is, there discernment flows in full tide, there prudence springs up, an inexhaustible fountain of life.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	21	17	Heart of fool is leaking bucket, that loses all the wisdom it learns.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	21	18	Truths that wisdom will prize and cherish, the profligate hears no less, but hearing despises, and casts them to the winds.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	21	19	Listening to a fool is like journeying with a heavy pack; there is no pleasing the ear, where sense is none.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	21	20	How they hang on the lips of a wise man, the folk assembled, ay, and ponder in their hearts over the word said!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	21	21	A fool takes refuge in wise talk as a man takes shelter in a ruin; learning without sense, that cannot abide scrutiny.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	21	22	To the fool, instruction seems but a fetter to clog him, gyves that cramp his wrist.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	21	23	A fool laughs loud; smiling, the wise compress their lips.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	21	24	Precious as an ornament of gold, close-fitting as a bracelet to the right arm, is instruction to a wise man.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	21	25	Folly sets foot over every threshold, where the experienced mind stands, as in a royal presence, abashed;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	21	26	folly peeps in at windows, where experience waits patiently without;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	21	27	listens thoughtlessly behind open doors, where prudence hangs back for very shame.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	21	28	Fools break out into rash utterance, where the prudent are at pains to weigh their words;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	21	29	with the one, to think is to speak, with the other, to speak is to think.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	21	30	Let the sinner curse the foul fiend that spites him, on his own head the curse shall recoil.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	21	31	The tale-bearer is his own enemy, shunned by all; court his friendship, and thou wilt court hatred; shut lips and calm judgement shall bring thee a good name.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	22	1	What ill names shall we hurl at the sluggard? Stone from the sewers, that has no man’s good word;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	22	2	dung from the midden, for all to wash their hands of him.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	22	3	Spoilt son thou shalt beget to thy shame, spoilt daughter to thy great loss;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	22	4	bring she to her husband no dower of modesty, her shame shall cost thee dear.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	22	5	Shame the father shall have, shame the husband; fit company for sinners, she will have no good word from either of these.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	22	6	Speech may be out of season, like music in time of mourning; not so the rod, not so chastisement; there lies ever wisdom.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	22	7	Teach a fool, and mend a pot with glue;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	22	8	better audience thou shalt have from the sleeper thou wouldst awake from a deep dream;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	22	9	thy wise speech ended, Why, what’s to do? ask fool and dreamer alike.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	22	10	For the dead that lacks light, for the fool that lacks wit, never cease to mourn;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	22	11	yet not for the dead overmuch, since rest is his,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	22	12	but the fool’s life is empty beyond the emptiness of death;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	22	13	seven days the dead are mourned, but the fool, the godless fool, all his life long.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	22	14	Linger never with a fool in talk, nor cast in thy lot with his;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	22	15	keep clear of him, as thou wouldst keep clear of mischief, and of sin’s pollution;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	22	16	go thy way, and let him go his; thou shalt sleep the sounder, for having no folly of his to cloud thy spirits.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	22	17	Nought like lead for heaviness? Ay, but its name is fool.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	22	18	With sand or salt or iron bars burden thyself, not with rash and godless company, not with a fool.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	22	19	Underpin the foundations with timber balks, thy house shall withstand all shock; nor less shall he, whose heart stands resolved in the counsels of prudence;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	22	20	no hour of peril can daunt that steadfast heart.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	22	21	Palisade set on high ground, with no better protection against the wind’s fury than cheap rubble, is but of short endurance;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	22	22	faint heart that thinks a fool’s thoughts will not be proof against sudden terror.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	22	23	Faint heart that thinks a fool’s thoughts…… shall never be afraid; no more shall he, that still keeps true to God’s commandments.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	22	24	Chafed eye will weep, chafed heart will shew resentment.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	22	25	One stone flung, and the birds are all on the wing; one taunt uttered, and the friendship is past repair.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	22	26	Hast thou drawn sword against thy friend? Be comforted; all may be as it was.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	22	27	Hast thou assailed him with angry words? Thou mayst yet be reconciled. But the taunt, the contemptuous reproach, the secret betrayed, the covert attack, all these mean a friend lost.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	22	28	Keep faith with a friend when his purse is empty, thou shalt have joy of his good fortune;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	22	29	stand by him when he falls upon evil times, thou shalt be partner in his prosperity.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	22	30	Chimney-fumes and smoke rising, of fire forewarn thee; curse uttered, and threat, and insult, of bloodshed.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	22	31	Never will I be ashamed to greet friend of mine, never deny myself to him; let harm befall me for his sake, I care not.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	22	32	… All that hear of it will keep their distance from him.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	22	33	Oh for a sentry to guard this mouth of mine, a seal to keep these lips inviolate! From that snare may I be safe, nor ever let my tongue betray me!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	23	1	Lord, that gavest my life and art the ruler of it, never may these lips of mine have me at their mercy, never let them betray me into a fall!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	23	2	Be my thoughts ever under the lash, my heart disciplined by true wisdom; let it never deal gently with their unwitting offences, or gloss over the wrong they do!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	23	3	What if my transgressions should go, all unobserved, from bad to worse, if I should sin ever oftener, and add fault to fault? What humiliation were this, in full view of my enemies; how would my ill-wishers triumph at the sight!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	23	4	Lord, that gavest my life and art the divine ruler of it, let them not have me at their mercy;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	23	5	never let haughty looks be mine, never the assaults of passion come near me.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	23	6	Let the itch of gluttony pass me by, nor ever carnal lust overtake me; do not leave me, Lord, at the mercy of a shameless, an unprofitable mind!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	23	7	Here is the lore, my sons, of the tongue’s use; hold fast by it, and thy own lips shall never be thy undoing, to ensnare thee in heinous wrong.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	23	8	What is it but his lying that entraps the sinner, what snare but their own speech catches the proud, the slanderers?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	23	9	That mouth of thine do not inure to oath-taking; therein lie many perils;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	23	10	wilt thou take God’s name often on thy lips, and of holy titles make thy constant invocation, thy word is forfeit to them.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	23	11	Slave that is evermore under the lash cannot escape without bruises a many; thy often swearing, thy often invoking, shall lead thee into guilt at last.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	23	12	Oaths a many, sins a many; punishment shall be still at thy doors.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	23	13	Forswear thyself, thou shalt be held to account for it; forget the oath, it is at thy double peril;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	23	14	and though it were lightly taken, thou shalt find no excuse in that; plague shall light on all thou hast, in amends for it.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	23	15	Sin of speech there is, too, that has death for its counterpart; God send it be not found in Jacob’s chosen race;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	23	16	from men of tender conscience every such thought is far away, not theirs to wallow in evil-doing.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	23	17	Beware of habituating thy tongue to lewd talk; therein is matter of offence.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	23	18	Not thine to bring shame on father and mother. There are great ones all around thee;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	23	19	what if thyself God should disregard, when thou art in their company? Then shall this ill custom of thine strike thee dumb and bring thee to great dishonour; thou wilt wish thou hadst never been, and rue the day of thy birth.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	23	20	Let a man grow into a habit of railing speech, all his days there is no amending him.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	23	21	Two sorts of men are sinners above measure, and a third I can name that calls down vengeance.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	23	22	There is a hot temper, all fire and fury, that cannot die down till it has had its fill.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	23	23	A man that is corrupted by the prompting of his own lust will not be content until it bursts into flame.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	23	24	To the fornicator, one pasture-ground is as good as another; there is no wearying him till he has tried all.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	23	25	Out on the man that takes his life in his hands and comes between another’s sheets! There is none to witness it, thinks he;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	23	26	darkness all about, and walls to shelter me, and none watching; what have I to fear? Sins like mine the most High will never mark.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	23	27	Of that all-seeing eye no heed takes he; fear of a man has driven the fear of God from his thoughts; of human eyes only he shuns the regard.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	23	28	What, are not God’s eyes a thousand times more piercing than the sun’s rays? Do they not watch all the doings of men, the depths of earth, and man’s heart, every secret open to their scrutiny?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	23	29	God, that knows all he means to make, does he not watch over all he has made?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	23	30	In full view of the open street the adulterer shall pay the penalty; loud, as for a runaway horse, the hue and cry; where he thought to escape, justice outruns him.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	23	31	All the world shall witness his shame, that left the fear of the Lord unregarded.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	23	32	Nor less guilty is she who plays her husband false, giving him for heir a child that is no son of his.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	23	33	Broken, the law of the most High; her plighted troth forsaken; sons borne to a paramour, has she not thrice played the wanton?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	23	34	Needs must she confront the folk assembled, nor shall those sons of hers be spared;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	23	35	such roots must not burgeon, such boughs never bear fruit;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	23	36	she leaves but the memory of an accursed name, a name for ever dishonoured.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	23	37	Warning she gives to after ages that God’s fear is best, nor sweeter lot is any than the divine law well observed.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	23	38	Follow the Lord, and it shall be thy renown; a long life is the reward it shall bring thee.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	24	1	Hear now how wisdom speaks in her own regard, of the honour God has given her, of the boast she utters among the nation that is hers.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	24	2	In the court of the most High, in the presence of all his host, she makes her boast aloud,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	24	3	and here, amid the holy gathering of her own people, that high renown of hers is echoed;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	24	4	praise is hers from God’s chosen, blessing from blessed lips.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	24	5	I am that word, she says, that was uttered by the mouth of the most High, the primal birth before ever creation began.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	24	6	Through me light rose in the heavens, inexhaustible; it was I that covered, as with a mist, the earth.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	24	7	In high heaven was my dwelling-place, my throne a pillar of cloud;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	24	8	none but I might span the sky’s vault, pierce the depth of the abyss, walk on the sea’s waves;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	24	9	no part of earth but gave a resting-place to my feet.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	24	10	People was none, nor any race of men, but I had dominion there;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	24	11	high and low, my power ruled over men’s hearts. Yet with all these I sought rest in vain; it is among the Lord’s people that I mean to dwell.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	24	12	He who fashioned me, he, my own Creator, has found me a dwelling-place;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	24	13	and his command to me was that I should find my home in Jacob, throw in my lot with Israel, take root among his chosen race.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	24	14	From the beginning of time, before the worlds, he had made me, unfailing to all eternity; in his own holy dwelling-place I had waited on his presence;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	24	15	and now, no less faithfully, I made Sion my stronghold, the holy city my resting-place, Jerusalem my throne.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	24	16	My roots spread out among the people that enjoys his favour, my God has granted me a share in his own domain; where his faithful servants are gathered I love to linger.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	24	17	I grew to my full stature as cedar grows on Lebanon, as cypress on Sion’s hill;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	24	18	or a palm tree in Cades, or a rose bush in Jericho;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	24	19	grew like some fair olive in the valley, some plane-tree in a well-watered street.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	24	20	Cinnamon and odorous balm have no scent like mine; the choicest myrrh has no such fragrance.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	24	21	Perfumed is all my dwelling-place with storax, and galbanum, and onycha, and stacte, and frankincense uncrushed; the smell of me is like pure balm.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	24	22	Mastic-tree spread not its branches so wide, as I the hopes I proffer of glory and of grace.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	24	23	No vine ever yielded fruit so fragrant; the enjoyment of honour and riches is the fruit I bear.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	24	24	It is I that give birth to all noble loving, all reverence, all true knowledge, and the holy gift of hope.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	24	25	From me comes every grace of faithful observance, from me all promise of life and vigour.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	24	26	Hither turn your steps, all you that have learned to long for me; take your fill of the increase I yield.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	24	27	Never was honey so sweet as the influence I inspire, never honey-comb as the gift I bring;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	24	28	mine is a renown that endures, age after age.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	24	29	Eat of this fruit, and you will yet hunger for more; drink of this wine, and your thirst for it is still unquenched.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	24	30	He who listens to me will never be disappointed; he who lives by me will do no wrong;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	24	31	he who reads my lesson aright will find in it life eternal.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	24	32	What things are these I write of? What but the life-giving book that is the covenant of the most High, and the revelation of all truth?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	24	33	What but the law Moses enjoined, with the duties it prescribes, the inheritance it bestows, the promises it holds out?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	24	34	Solemnly he pledged himself to give his servant David an heir most valiant, that should hold his royal throne for ever.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	24	35	Who but he can make wisdom flow, deep as the stream Phison sends down, or Tigris, in the spring;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	24	36	make the tide of prudence run, strong as Euphrates’ own, or Jordan’s tide in the month of harvest;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	24	37	make obedience rise to its full height, like Nile or Gehon when men gather the vintage?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	24	38	He it was that first attained to wisdom’s secret, never since made known to any less than himself;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	24	39	so deep are her thoughts, sea-deep, so dark her counsels, dark as the great abyss.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	24	40	From me rivers flow, says Wisdom, deep rivers.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	24	41	And what am I? A conduit that carries off the river’s overflow, its channel, the aqueduct that waters a park.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	24	42	I thought to refresh my well-set garden, give drink to the fruits that fringe its border;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	24	43	and all at once my channel overflowed, this stream of mine had nigh turned into a sea!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	24	44	Teaching is here like the dawn for brightness, shedding its rays afar.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	24	45	Nay, I will make my way down to the depths of earth, and visit those who sleep there, and to such as trust in the Lord I will bring light.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	24	46	My teaching shall yet flow on, faithful as prophecy, heirloom to all such as make wisdom their quest, and to their children yet, until the holy days come.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	24	47	See how I have toiled, not for my own sake merely, but for all such as covet wisdom!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	25	1	Three sights warm my heart; God and man wish them well:
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	25	2	peace in the clan, good will among neighbours, man and wife well matched.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	25	3	Three sorts of men move my spleen, so that I am fain to grudge them life itself:
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	25	4	poor man that is proud, rich man that is a liar, old man that is fond and foolish.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	25	5	The store youth never puts by, shall old age enjoy?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	25	6	Good judgement well matches grey hairs, for still the elders must be men of prudence;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	25	7	wisdom for the old, discernment for senators, and the gift of counsel!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	25	8	No crown have old men like their long experience, no ornament like the fear of God.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	25	9	Nine envious thoughts came suddenly into my mind, and a tenth I will add for good measure.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	25	10	Happy is he that has joy of his children; that lives to see his enemies’ downfall.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	25	11	Happiness it is to share thy home with a faithful wife; to have a tongue that never betrays thee; to serve only thy betters.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	25	12	Happiness it is to have a true friend… and to speak the right word to an ear that listens.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	25	13	Happy is he that wisdom gains and skill; yet is he no match for one who fears the Lord.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	25	14	The fear of God, that is a gift beyond all gifts;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	25	15	blessed the man that receives it, he has no equal.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	25	16	Fear the Lord, and thou shalt learn to love him; cling close, and thou shalt learn to trust him.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	25	17	There is no sadness but what touches the heart, no mischief but what comes from woman.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	25	18	A man will endure any wound but the heart’s wound,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	25	19	and any malice but a woman’s;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	25	20	just so he will endure any annoyance but from his ill-wishers,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	25	21	any sentence imposed on him but by his enemies.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	25	22	No head so venomous as the viper’s,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	25	23	nor any anger like a woman’s. Better share thy home with lion and serpent both, than with an ill woman’s company.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	25	24	A woman’s ill will changes the very look of her; grim as a bear’s her visage, and she goes like one mourning. See where he sits among his neighbours,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	25	25	that husband of hers, groaning deep and sighing as he listens to them!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	25	26	All other mischief is a slight thing beside the mischief an ill woman does; may she fall to a sinner’s lot!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	25	27	Better climb sandy cliff with the feet of old age, than be a peace-loving man mated with a scold.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	25	28	Let not thy eye be caught by a woman’s beauty; not for her beauty desire her;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	25	29	think of woman’s rage, her shamelessness, the dishonour she can do thee,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	25	30	how hard it goes with a man if his wife will have the uppermost.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	25	31	Crushed spirits, a clouded brow, a heavy heart, all this is an ill woman’s work;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	25	32	faint hand and flagging knee betoken one unblessed in his marriage.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	25	33	Through a woman sin first began; such fault was hers, we all must die for it.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	25	34	Thy cistern thou wouldst not let leak, ever so little; and wouldst thou let a wanton wife roam at large?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	25	35	Leave she once thy side, thou shalt be the laughing-stock of thy enemies;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	25	36	best cut away the ill growth from thy flesh; she will ever be taking advantage of thee.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	26	1	Happy the man that has a faithful wife; his span of days is doubled.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	26	2	A wife industrious is the joy of her husband, and crowns all his years with peace.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	26	3	He best thrives that best wives; where men fear God, this is the reward of their service,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	26	4	good cheer given to rich and poor alike; day in, day out, never a mournful look.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	26	5	Three things daunt me somewhat, a fourth I dare not face.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	26	6	Gossip of the streets, the judgement of the rabble,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	26	7	and the false charge preferred, all these make death itself seem a light thing.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	26	8	But there is no affliction wrings the heart like a woman’s jealousy;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	26	9	once a woman grows jealous, her tongue is a scourge to all alike.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	26	10	Easier to guide an unsteady team of oxen than an ill woman; easier to hold a snake than to manage her.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	26	11	Woman that is a sot, vexation shall bring thee, and great dishonour; there is no hiding her shame.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	26	12	Haughty gaze and lowered eye-lid, there goes a wanton.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	26	13	Headstrong daughter must be held with a tight rein, or she will find opportunity to bestow her favours;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	26	14	beware of that shameless eye, nor think it strange if she defies thee.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	26	15	Reckless thou wilt find her as thirsty traveller that puts his mouth to the spring and drinks what water he can get; no stake but she will make fast by it, no arrow comes amiss to her archery, till of dalliance she has had enough.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	26	16	Great content an industrious wife brings to her husband; health to every bone of his body
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	26	17	is that good sense of hers. No better gift of God to man
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	26	18	than a prudent woman that can hold her tongue; a soul well disciplined is beyond all price.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	26	19	Grace so gracious is none as woman’s faithfulness and woman’s modesty;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	26	20	woman’s continence there is no valuing.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	26	21	Sun dawning in heaven cannot match the lustre a good wife sheds on her home,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	26	22	and that beauty lasts into ripe age, like the glow of lights on the holy lamp-stand.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	26	23	Firm as golden pillar in silver socket rest the feet of steadfast woman on the ground she treads;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	26	24	and firm as foundations built for all time on solid rock is holy woman’s loyalty to God’s commandments.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	26	25	Two sad sights my heart knows, and one more that fills it with indignation;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	26	26	warrior left to starve, and wise counsellor unregarded,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	26	27	and a man that leaves right living for ill-doing, ripe for God’s vengeance.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	26	28	Two dangers I see that are hard to overcome. How shall a merchant be cured of careless dealing, or a huckster for his lying talk find pardon?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	27	1	Sin comes often of an empty purse; nothing distorts the eye like the love of riches.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	27	2	Stake that is held between two stones cannot escape; nor may sin be avoided when there is seller on this side, buyer on that.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	27	3	Wrong done shall be undone, and the doer of it as well;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	27	4	hold fast to thy fear of the Lord, or thy wealth shall soon come to ruin.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	27	5	The sieve shaken, nothing is left but refuse; so thou wilt find a man’s poverty in his thought.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	27	6	Pottery is tested in the furnace, man in the crucible of suffering.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	27	7	Good fruit comes from a tree well dressed, and a man will be in word what he is in thought;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	27	8	do not give thy opinion of a man till he has spoken; there lies the proof.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	27	9	Make right-doing thy quest, and thou wilt not miss the mark; this shall be a robe of honour to clothe thee, a welcome guest in thy house, to watch over thee continually, and to be thy stronghold at the hour when all is made known.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	27	10	Bird mates with bird, and he that shews faithfulness faithfulness shall meet.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	27	11	The lion waits in ambush for his prey; leave the right path, and sin shall be ever at thy heels.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	27	12	Unfailing as the sun is the wisdom of a devout mind; moon and fool change continually.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	27	13	When thou hast fools for thy company, thy word can wait; be closeted continually with the wise.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	27	14	Out upon the wearisome talk of sinners, that of sin and its dalliance makes a jest!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	27	15	Out upon the man that uses oaths lightly; hair stands upright at his blaspheming, and ears are stopped!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	27	16	Out upon the proud, that provoke bloodshed with their quarrelling, and by their cursing offend all who listen!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	27	17	Betray thy friend’s secret, and all confidence is lost; never more shalt thou have friend to comfort thee.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	27	18	Use such a man lovingly, and keep faith with him;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	27	19	if once thou hast betrayed him, court no more his company.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	27	20	Friendship thus killed, thy friend is dead to thee;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	27	21	bird let go from the hand is not lost more irretrievably;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	27	22	he is gone, like hind released from the snare, gone beyond thy pursuit. The wound that hurts a man’s soul
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	27	23	there is no healing; the bitter taunt may yet be unsaid,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	27	24	but once the secret is out all is misery, all is despair.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	27	25	Sly glance of the false friend! How shall a man be rid of him?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	27	26	Here in thy presence, he smooths his brow, and is all in wonderment at thy wise sayings; but ere long he will change his tune, and lend thy words an ill colour.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	27	27	Above all else, he earns my hatred; God’s hatred too, I doubt not.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	27	28	None can throw stone in air but at his own head’s peril, nor ever was blow struck treacherously, but the traitor must have his share of hurt;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	27	29	a man may fall into the pit he dug, trip on the stone he set in his neighbour’s path, perish in the snare he laid for another.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	27	30	Plot ill, and the ill shall recoil on thyself, springing up beyond all thy expectation.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	27	31	For the proud, mockery and shame! Vengeance, like a lion, couches in wait for them.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	27	32	For all who triumph at the ill fortune of the just, a snare to catch them, and a long remorse before death takes them!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	27	33	Rancour and rage are detestable things both; and the sinner has both in store.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	28	1	He that will be avenged brings on himself the Lord’s vengeance; watch and ward shall be kept over his sins continually.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	28	2	Forgive thy neighbour his fault, and for thy own sins thy prayer shall win pardon;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	28	3	should man bear man a grudge, and yet look to the Lord for healing?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	28	4	Should he refuse mercy to his fellow-man, yet ask forgiveness,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	28	5	should he think to appease God, while he, a mortal man, is obdurate? Who shall plead for his acquittal?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	28	6	Look to thy last end, and leave thy quarrelling;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	28	7	with the grave’s corruption God’s commandments threaten thee.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	28	8	Thy God fear, thy neighbour forgive;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	28	9	the covenant of the most High remember, thy neighbour’s slip forget.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	28	10	Keep clear of quarrelling, and sin shall less abound.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	28	11	Quick temper sets feuds a-raging, and wicked men there are that will embroil fast friends, and stir up strife among folk that lived at peace.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	28	12	More fuel, more fire; strong man will rage the more, rich man push his vengeance further.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	28	13	Heat is gendered by the haste of rivalry, and bloodshed by hot blood; but it is tongue of witness that brings death.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	28	14	Spark blown upon will blaze, spat upon will die out; see how of both the mouth is arbiter!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	28	15	A curse on every tale-bearer and traducer that disturbs the world’s peace!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	28	16	Tongue that comes between two friends, how many it has exiled, sent them to wander far away,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	28	17	how many rich cities dismantled, great houses demolished,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	28	18	what armies it has routed, what proud nations brought to ruin,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	28	19	what noble women it has driven out from their homes, and left all their toil unrewarded!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	28	20	Pay heed to it, and thou shalt never rest more, never find friend in whom thou canst trust.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	28	21	Whip that lashes does but bruise the skin; tongue that lashes will break bones;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	28	22	the sword has killed many, the tongue more.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	28	23	Blessed is he that is preserved from the tongue’s wickedness, that has never felt its fury, never borne its yoke or worn its chains;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	28	24	that yoke of iron, those chains of bronze!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	28	25	Here is death worse than death itself, here is loss the grave cannot outvie.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	28	26	Not for ever shall its reign persist, but where wicked men go it still follows; the just it cannot consume,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	28	27	but if thou forsake God thou shalt encounter it, a fire that burns thee and will not be quenched, an assault more perilous than assault of lion or pard.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	28	28	Fence thy ears about with thorns, and give the wicked tongue no hearing; make fast thy mouth with bolt and bar.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	28	29	Melt down gold and silver of thine, and get thee a balance that shall weigh thy words, a bridle that shall be the rule of thy mouth;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	28	30	do all that lies in thee to keep thy tongue from speaking amiss, lest lurking enemies triumph over thy ruin, the fatal and final ruin that shall be thine.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	29	1	Heart full of kindness and hand full of comfort will keep the commandment, Lend to thy neighbour.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	29	2	Neighbour must borrow easily when he needs, must repay readily when his need is over.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	29	3	Keep thy bond, deal faithfully, and thou shalt never lack.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	29	4	Out upon the man that treats loan as treasure trove, and is a burden to his benefactor!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	29	5	What, kiss the hand that gives, and make humble promises of repayment;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	29	6	then, when the debt falls due, ask for grace, and complain peevishly of hard times?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	29	7	Pay grudgingly when pay thou canst, offer but half the sum, and count it a windfall for the lender?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	29	8	Or, if thou canst not, disown the debt and make an enemy of him,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	29	9	rewarding thy benefactor not with due honour, but with angry curse and reproach?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	29	10	What wonder if many refuse to lend, not churlishly but for fear of wilful wrong?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	29	11	Yet I would have thee patient with needy folk; do not keep them waiting for thy charity;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	29	12	befriend them, as the law commands, nor ever send them away in their misery empty-handed.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	29	13	It is thy brother, thy friend that asks; better lose thy money than leave it to rust in a vault.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	29	14	Lay up store for thyself by obeying the commandments of the most High; more than gold it shall profit thee;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	29	15	the good deed treasured in poor men’s hearts shall ransom thee from all harm,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	29	16	shall more avail than stout shield or lance
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	29	18	to ward off thy enemies.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	29	19	Kindness bids thee go bail for thy neighbour; he has lost all shame if he plays thee false.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	29	20	And if another goes bail for thee, do not forget the benefit done thee; he gave his life for thine.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	29	21	It is right foully done to play a surety false;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	29	22	wouldst thou treat his goods as if they were thy own? Wouldst thou, ungrateful wretch, leave thy ransomer to suffer for it?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	29	23	Men have gone bail ere now for shameless friends that so abandoned them.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	29	24	By going bail for scoundrels, men of good fortune have fallen upon ruin and shipwreck;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	29	25	men that held their heads high must now wander far and wide, exiles in strange countries.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	29	26	Leave godless sinners to become sureties to their ruin; men that take rash ventures to fall into the law’s clutches.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	29	27	For thyself, relieve thy neighbour as thy means allow, but never to thy own entanglement.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	29	28	What are man’s first needs? Water, and bread, and clothing, and the privacy of a home.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	29	29	Better the poor man’s fare under his roof of bare boards, than to be guest at a splendid banquet, and home have none.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	29	30	Make much of the little thou hast; never be it thine to bear the reproach of a wanderer.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	29	31	A wretched life it is, passing on from house to house to find a welcome; that welcome found, thou wilt lack all confidence, and sit there mumchance.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	29	32	Then, when thou hast helped to entertain, with food and drink, the guests that owe thee no thanks, thou wilt have a poor reward for it:
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	29	33	Up, wanderer! Lay me a fresh table, and what lies before thee hand to others;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	29	34	I have honoured guests coming, and thou must make way for them; a kinsman of mine stands in need of my hospitality!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	29	35	Bitter words for an honest man to hear; shall he owe his bread to one that reviles him as homeless?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	30	1	Inure thy son to the rod, as thou lovest him; so shalt thou have comfort of him in thy later years, nor go about knocking softly at thy neighbour’s doors.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	30	2	Discipline thy son, and thou shalt take pride in him; he shall be thy boast among thy familiars.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	30	3	Discipline thy son, if thou wouldst make thy ill-wishers envy thee, wouldst hold thy head high among thy friends.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	30	4	Father that dies lives on, if a worthy son he has begotten;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	30	5	here is a sight to make life joyous for him, and death not all unhappiness, and a bold front he keeps before his ill-wishers;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	30	6	such an heir will shew loyalty to his race, its foes warding off, its friends requiting.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	30	7	Let a man pamper his children, binding up every wound, his heart wrung by every cry,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	30	8	and he shall find spoilt son headstrong and stubborn as a horse unbroken.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	30	9	Cosset thy son and make a darling of him, it shall be to thy own anxiety, thy own remorse.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	30	10	Smile at his follies now, and the bitter taste of it shall set thy teeth on edge hereafter.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	30	11	Thou canst not afford to give him freedom in his youth, or leave his thoughts unchecked;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	30	12	none is too young to be bent to the yoke, none is too childish to be worth a drubbing, if thou wouldst not see him wilful and disobedient, to thy heart’s unrest.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	30	13	Discipline thy son, be at pains with him, or his shameless ways will be thy downfall.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	30	14	Poor man sound and strong of body is better off than rich man enfeebled, and racked with disease.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	30	15	Health of the soul, that lies in duty done faithfully, is more worth having than gold or silver; no treasure so rare that it can match bodily strength.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	30	16	Health is best wealth; no comfort wilt thou find like a merry heart.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	30	17	Better the endless repose of death, than life by lingering sickness made irksome.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	30	18	For mouth that refuses nourishment what use in dainties? They are no better than the banquet left on a tomb,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	30	19	little availing yonder idol, that cannot taste or smell.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	30	20	Once the Lord has laid thee by the heels, to do penance for thy sins,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	30	21	thou shalt hanker and sigh for these dainties but as eunuch that fondles maid.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	30	22	Nor let anxious thoughts fret thy life away;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	30	23	a merry heart is the true life of man, is an unfailing store of holiness; length of years is measured by rejoicing.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	30	24	Thy own self befriend, doing God’s will with endurance, and giving all thy heart to the holiness he enjoins, and banish thy sad thoughts;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	30	25	sadness has been the death of many, and no good ever came of it.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	30	26	Jealousy and peevishness shorten a man’s days; cares bring old age untimely;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	30	27	gay and gallant heart is ever feasting, sets to and makes good cheer.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	31	1	Wilt thou pine away with care for riches, lose thy sleep for thinking of it?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	31	2	These solicitudes breed a madness in the brain, such as only grave sickness can expel.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	31	3	Toils rich man for gain, till he can rest and enjoy what is his;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	31	4	toils poor man to fend off need, and when he ceases he is a poor man still.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	31	5	Love money, and thou shalt be called to account for it; thy quest corruption, of corruption thou shalt have thy fill.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	31	6	Many have given themselves up to the lure of gold, and in its beauty found their ruin;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	31	7	its worship was a snare to catch their feet; alas, poor fools that went searching for it, and themselves were lost!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	31	8	Blessed is the man who lives, for all his wealth, unreproved, who has no greed for gold and puts no trust in his store of riches!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	31	9	Shew us such a man, and we will be loud in his praise; here is a life to wonder at.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	31	10	A man so tested and found perfect wins eternal honour; he kept clear of sin, when sinful ways were easy, did no wrong, when wrong lay in his power.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	31	11	His treasure is safely preserved in the Lord’s keeping and wherever faithful men are met, his alms-deeds will be remembered.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	31	12	Sit thou at a rich man’s table, be not quick to remark upon it;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	31	13	it is ill done to cry out, Here is a table well spread!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	31	14	Be sure a covetous eye shall do thee no good;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	31	15	eye is a great coveter, and for that, like no other part of thy face, condemned to weep.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	31	16	Be not quick to reach out thy hand, and be noted, to thy shame, for greed;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	31	17	jostling goes ill with a feast.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	31	18	Learn from thy own conjecture thy neighbour’s need;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	31	19	take sparingly the good things set before thee, nor court ill-will by thy gluttony.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	31	20	For manners’ sake, leave off eating betimes, or thy greed shall give offence.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	31	21	When there are many about thee, do not be quick to stretch out thy hand, quick to call for wine.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	31	22	For a man well disciplined a little wine is enough; spare thyself the uneasy sleep, the pains that shall rack thee;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	31	23	wakeful nights come of excess, and bile and griping pains.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	31	24	For the temperate man, there is sound sleep; sleep that lasts till morning, and contents his whole being;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	31	25	though thou have been constrained to eat beyond thy wont, thou hast but to leave the table and vomit, and thou shalt find relief, nor come to any bodily harm.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	31	26	Take good heed, my son, do not belittle this advice of mine; thou shalt live to prove it true.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	31	27	Put thy heart into all thou doest, and no infirmity of purpose shall hinder thee.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	31	28	The generous host is on all men’s lips; ever they bear witness to his loyal friendship;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	31	29	the niggard has the ill word of a whole city; men form shrewd judgement of a niggard.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	31	30	Never challenge hard drinker to a drinking-bout; wine has been the ruin of many.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	31	31	Fire tests the strength of steel; and a proud man fuddled with wine betrays his quality.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	31	32	Easy flow wine, easy flow life, but to men of sober habit; sobriety must drink within measure.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	31	33	To the drunkard, life is no life at all;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	31	34	wine is death, when it so deprives a man of life.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	31	35	Wine was made for mirth, never for drunkenness;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	31	36	drink wisely, and it shall rejoice thy heart and thy whole being;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	31	37	health it brings to mind and body, wine wisely taken.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	31	38	Wine drunk in excess brings anger and quarrelling and calamities a many;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	31	39	it is the poison of a man’s life.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	31	40	What does the false courage of the drunkard? It takes him unawares, and makes him less a man; grievous wounds come of it.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	31	41	When the wine goes round, do not find fault with thy neighbour, or think the worse of him for being merry;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	31	42	never taunt him, never press him to repay the debt.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	32	1	If they will make thee master of the feast, do not give thyself airs; bear thyself as an equal.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	32	2	Make good provision for the guests, and so take thy place among them; thy duty done, recline at ease,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	32	3	and in their pleasure rejoice, accepting the crown that marks their favour, the honour bestowed by their gifts.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	32	4	Speak first, as becomes thy seniority,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	32	5	but with due choice of words; and do not break in when music is a-playing;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	32	6	no need for thy words to flow when none is listening, for thy wisdom to be displayed unseasonably.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	32	7	Music and wine, carbuncle set in gold,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	32	8	music and wine, signet ring of gold and emerald, so the wine be good, and taken in due measure.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	32	9	Keep silence, and give others a hearing; it shall win thee a name for modesty;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	32	10	if thou art but a young man, be loth to speak even of what concerns thee,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	32	11	and if thou art pressed for an answer, give it in brief.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	32	12	For the most part keep thy knowledge concealed under a mask of silence and enquiry;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	32	13	nor ever be familiar among great men, nor garrulous among the wise.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	32	14	Sure as the lightning is sign of a storm, men’s good word is the sign of a modest nature; they will love thee all the better for thy bashfulness.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	32	15	When the time comes for going, do not linger; get thee gone speedily to thy home, there to divert thyself, and take thy ease,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	32	16	and follow the whim of thy own thoughts, yet innocently and with no word proudly said.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	32	17	And for all this give thanks to God thy maker, that so contents thee with his gifts.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	32	18	If thou fearest the Lord, thou wilt accept the schooling he gives thee, waiting early at his door to win his blessing.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	32	19	In the law, the law’s follower finds deep content, the false heart nothing but a snare to catch it.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	32	20	Those who fear the Lord will discover where right lies, the light of truth shall shine from their awards;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	32	21	the sinner fears to have his life reproved, and will ever be finding precedents for gratifying his own whim.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	32	22	A man of prudence will never throw caution to the winds; his proud enemy feels no dread
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	32	23	even upon rashly provoking him, but shall live to rue the assault.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	32	24	Do nothing, my son, save with consideration, and thy deeds shall not bring thee repentance.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	32	25	Take not some ruinous road that shall trip thee with its boulders; some road where all journeying is difficult and thou mayst expose thy life to sudden dangers.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	32	26	Of thy own children beware, be on thy watch against thy own household;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	32	27	be it thine to trust with all thy soul’s confidence, and thou hast kept the commandments.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	32	28	Who trusts in God, keeps well God’s command; confidence in him was never disappointed.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	33	1	If a man fears the Lord, he shall meet with no disaster; God will be watching over him, even when his faith is put to the test, and from such disaster will preserve him.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	33	2	A wise man does not grow weary of the law, and the duties it enjoins, and no shipwreck can befall him.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	33	3	If thou art a man of judgement, thou hast only to trust God’s commandment, and it will not fail thee;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	33	4	… giving a true answer to the question asked… thou wilt prepare thy plea, and find audience for thy prayer; wilt recollect the teaching given thee, and so satisfy thy questioner.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	33	5	A fool’s heart is but a wheel that turns; his are whirling thoughts.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	33	6	Hast thou a friend that will ever be mocking? Be comforted; stallion will ever neigh, ride him who will.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	33	7	Why is it that one day which dawns, one year, takes precedence of another, when all come of the same sun?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	33	8	God’s wisdom it was that so set them apart when he made the sun, and gave it a law to keep;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	33	9	made a succession of seasons, a succession of feast days, when at stated times men must keep holiday.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	33	10	To some he would assign high dignity; others should be lost in the common rabble of days. So it is that all men are built of the same clay; son of Adam is son of earth;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	33	11	yet the Lord, in the plenitude of his wisdom, has marked them off from one another, not giving the same destiny to each.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	33	12	For some, his blessing; he will advance them, will set them apart and claim them as his own. For some, his ban; he will bring them low, and single them out no more.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	33	13	Clay we are in the potter’s hands; it is for him who made us to dispose of us;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	33	14	clay is what potter wills it to be, and we are in our maker’s hands, to be dealt with at his pleasure.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	33	15	Evil matched with good, life matched with death, sinner matched with man of piety; so everywhere in God’s works thou wilt find pairs matched, one against the other.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	33	16	Think of me as one that has toiled last of all, and goes about gleaning a fruit here, a fruit there, after the vintagers have done.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	33	17	Yet did I trust that I, too, might have God’s blessing, and I, too, have filled the wine-press, a vintager like the rest.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	33	18	See how I have toiled, not for my own sake merely, but for all such as covet wisdom!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	33	19	Words for the hearing of all, high and low; you that hold high place in the assembly, never disdain to listen.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	33	20	Long as thou livest, do not put thyself in the power of others, though it be son or wife, kinsman or friend; do not make over thy goods to another; it is ill to go a-begging for what is thy own.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	33	21	While life and breath is in thee, never change places with another;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	33	22	it is for thy children to ask thee for what they need, not to have thyself for their pensioner.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	33	23	Be at the head of thy own affairs,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	33	24	nor ever tarnish thy renown, until thy days are finished; then, at the hour of thy death, make thy bequests.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	33	25	Fodder thy ass must have, and the whip, and a pack to bear; thy slave, too, needs food and discipline and hard work.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	33	26	Under duress he toils, what marvel if ease should tempt him? Leave his hands idle, and he will seek to be his own master.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	33	27	The stubborn ox yoke and rein will subdue; slave held to his task is slave bowed to thy will;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	33	28	keep rack and stocks for one that is bent on mischief. To the task, no hours of leisure!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	33	29	Idleness is a great teacher of ill habit.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	33	30	Toil first assign to him; toiling is his lot; then, if he disobeys thee, with the stocks thou mayst tame him. Yet do not burden flesh and blood more than it can bear, nor inflict more than lawful punishment while the plea is still unheard.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	33	31	Faithful slave if thou hast, make much of him as of thy own self; treat him as if he were thy brother, as if thy own life were the price of his purchase.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	33	32	Wrong him, and he may run away from thy service;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	33	33	once he takes to his heels, who can tell thee where or in what guise thou mayst discover him?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	34	1	Fools are cheated by vain hopes, buoyed up with the fancies of a dream.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	34	2	Wouldst thou heed such lying visions? Better clutch at shadows, or chase the wind.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	34	3	Nought thou seest in a dream but symbols; man is but face to face with his own image.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	34	4	As well may foul thing cleanse, as false thing give thee a true warning.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	34	5	Out upon the folly of them, pretended divination, and cheating omen, and wizard’s dream!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	34	6	Heart of woman in her pangs is not more fanciful. Unless it be some manifestation the most High has sent thee, pay no heed to any such;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	34	7	trust in dreams has crazed the wits of many, and brought them to their ruin.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	34	8	Believe rather the law’s promises, that cannot miss their fulfilment, the wisdom that trusty counsellors shall make clear to thee.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	34	9	A man will not learn until he is tested by discipline. That experience gained, he will think deeply, and the many lessons he has learned will make him a wise talker.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	34	10	Without experience, a man knows little; yet, if he is too venturesome, he reaps a rich harvest of mischief…
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	34	11	A man will not learn until he is tested by discipline… and if he is led astray he will be full of knavery…
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	34	12	I myself have seen much in my wanderings, the customs of men more than I can tell.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	34	13	Sometimes, by this means, I have been in danger of death, and only the divine favour has preserved me from it.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	34	14	The life of such as fear the Lord is held precious, and wins a blessing from his regard;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	34	15	they have a deliverer they can trust in, and God’s eye watches over them in return for their love.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	34	16	Fear the Lord, and thou shalt never hesitate; nothing may daunt thee, while such a hope is thine.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	34	17	Blessed souls, that fear the Lord!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	34	18	They know where to look for refuge.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	34	19	Fear the Lord, and his eyes watch over thee; here is strong protection, here is firm support; shelter when the hot wind blows, shade at noon-day;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	34	20	here is reassurance when a man stumbles, support when he falls; soul uplifted, eyes enlightened, health and life and blessing bestowed.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	34	21	Tainted is every sacrifice that comes of goods ill gotten; a mockery, this, of sacrifice, that shall win no favour.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	34	22	For those who wait upon him in loyal duty, the Lord alone is God.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	34	23	Should the most High accept the offerings of sinners, take the gifts of the wrong-doer into his reckoning, and pardon their sins because their sacrifices are many?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	34	24	Who robs the poor and then brings sacrifice, is of their fellowship that would immolate some innocent child before the eyes of his father.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	34	25	Poor man’s bread is poor man’s life; cheat him of it, and thou hast slain him;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	34	26	sweat of his brow, or his life’s blood, what matters?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	34	27	Disappoint the hireling, and thou art own brother to a murderer.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	34	28	Build while another pulls down, and toil is its own reward.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	34	29	Pray while another curses, and which of you shall find audience with God?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	34	30	Cleanse thyself from dead body’s contamination, and touch it again, what avails thy cleansing?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	34	31	So it is when a man fasts for his sins, yet will not leave his sinning; vain is the fast, the prayer goes unanswered.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	35	1	Live true to the law, and thou hast richly endowed the altar.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	35	2	Let this be thy welcome-offering, to heed God’s word and keep clear of all wickedness;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	35	3	this thy sacrifice of amends for wrong done, of atonement for fault, to shun wrong-doing.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	35	4	Bloodless offering wouldst thou make, give thanks; victim wouldst thou immolate, shew mercy.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	35	5	Wickedness and wrong-doing to shun is to win God’s favour, and pardon for thy faults.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	35	6	Yet do not appear in the Lord’s presence empty-handed;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	35	7	due observance must be paid, because God has commanded it.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	35	8	If thy heart is right, thy offering shall enrich the altar; its fragrance shall reach the presence of the most High;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	35	9	a just man’s sacrifice the Lord accepts, and will not pass over his claim to be remembered.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	35	10	Generously pay the Lord his due; do not grudge him the first-fruits of thy earnings;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	35	11	all thou givest, give with a smiling face, gladly bring in the tithe.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	35	12	In his own measure God’s gift repay; grudge thou must not what afford thou canst;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	35	13	the Lord is a good master, and thou shalt have sevenfold in return.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	35	14	But think not to bribe his justice; he will have none of thy bribery.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	35	15	Never pin thy hopes on the power of wealth ill gotten; the Lord is a true judge, not swayed by partiality,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	35	16	and thou canst not win him to take thy part against the friendless, turn him deaf to the plea of the wronged.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	35	17	Prayer of the orphan, eloquent sigh of the widow, he will not disregard;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	35	18	see the tears on yonder widow’s cheeks, that accuse the author of her misery!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	35	19	From her cheeks they rise to heaven, where all prayers are heard, a grievous sight.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	35	20	None but his true worshippers he makes welcome; for their supplication the clouds give passage.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	35	21	Pierce those clouds if thou wouldst, thou must humble thyself, inconsolable till that prayer finds audience, unwearying till it wins redress.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	35	22	And will the Lord keep us waiting long? Hearing and redress he will grant to the innocent; strong as of old, patient no longer, he will crush the backs of our oppressors.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	35	23	The Gentiles punished, scattered the hordes of insolence, broken the sceptre of wrong!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	35	24	Men called to account everywhere for their deeds, the harvest of their mortal pride,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	35	25	and his own people vindicated at last, triumphing in his mercy at last!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	35	26	God’s mercy, welcome to the afflicted as rain-clouds are welcome in time of drought!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	36	1	God of all men, have mercy on us; look down, and let us see the smile of thy favour.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	36	2	Teach them to fear thee, those other nations that have never looked to find thee; let them learn to recognize thee as the only God, and to acclaim thy wonders.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	36	3	Lift up thy hand, to shew these aliens thy power;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	36	4	let us see them, as they have seen us, humbled before thee;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	36	5	let them learn, as we have learnt, that there is no other God but thou.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	36	6	Shew new marvels, and portents stranger still;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	36	7	win renown for that strength, that valiant arm of thine;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	36	8	rouse thyself to vengeance, give thy anger free play;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	36	9	away with the oppressors, down with thy enemies!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	36	10	Hasten on the time, do not forget thy purpose; make them acclaim thy wonders.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	36	11	Let none of them escape their doom, the oppressors of thy people; let there be a raging fire ready to devour them;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	36	12	heavy let the blow fall on the heads of those tyrants, that no other power will recognize but their own.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	36	13	Gather anew all the tribes of Jacob; be it theirs to know that thou alone art God, to acclaim thy wonders; make them thy loved possession as of old.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	36	14	Have compassion on the people that is called by thy own name, on Israel, owned thy first-born;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	36	15	have compassion on Jerusalem, the city thou hast set apart for thy resting-place;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	36	16	fill Sion’s walls, fill the hearts of thy people, with wonders beyond all telling come true, with thy glory made manifest.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	36	17	Vindicate the race that was from the first thy chosen; old prophecies uttered in thy name, at last fulfil;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	36	18	have we waited for thee to no purpose? Shall thy prophets be proved false? Listen to thy servants’ plea,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	36	19	that claim the blessing Aaron pronounced over thy people; guide us into the right path; let all the world know that thou art God, watching us eternally.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	36	20	Take what food thou wilt, belly is content; yet meat and meat differ.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	36	21	The savour of venison only palate can reach; only wise heart can discern lying tongue.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	36	22	False heart breeds dismal thoughts; mind well schooled keeps them at bay.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	36	23	Any woman is a mate for any man; yet maid and maid differ.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	36	24	Fair wife, blithe husband; as no other lure, beauty draws us.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	36	25	What of her tongue? If that, too, has power to charm, if that is soft and gentle, never was man so blessed.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	36	26	Good wife won is life well begun; a comforter thou hast, of thy own breed, a stay to support thee.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	36	27	No hedge, no garden; and if wife thou hast none, thou shalt wander homeless.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	36	28	Trust him never, that has not found a nest to dwell in, and does but lodge where night overtakes him, cut-purse that travels light from city to city.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	37	1	Friends every man has that will say, I love him well; yet friends they may be in name only. Death itself cannot match it for sadness,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	37	2	when friend and companion becomes thy enemy.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	37	3	Cruel pretence, what mind first conceived thee, to turn solid earth into a morass of foul treachery?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	37	4	A companion, how he will enjoy the delights of his friend’s prosperity, and turn against him in the hour of need!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	37	5	A companion, how he will share a friend’s grief if he may share his bake-meats; use him as a shield against some enemy!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	37	6	Never let friend of thine be far from thy thoughts; in thy prosperity never forget him.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	37	7	Never take counsel with one who may be laying a trap for thee; from his envy hide thy purpose;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	37	8	advice every counsellor will give thee, but some will counsel thee for their own ends.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	37	9	Be on thy guard, then, against him who advises thee; how is his own turn best served? What is his secret mind?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	37	10	It may be, he will hide stake in pit for thee, crying,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	37	11	Thy course lies clear; then stand at a distance to see what becomes of thee.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	37	12	Consult, if thou wilt, unbeliever about holiness, knave about justice, woman about her rival, dastard about war, merchant about value, buyer about price, cynic about gratitude,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	37	13	scoffer about piety, rogue about honesty, farm labourer about work to be done,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	37	14	yearman about year’s end, idle servant about great undertakings; but all the advice they give thee heed thou never.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	37	15	Closet thyself rather with some man of holy life, known to thee as God’s worshipper,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	37	16	some soul well matched with thine, such as would grieve to see thee stumbling in darkness.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	37	17	And thy own heart enthrone as thy best counsellor; nothing may compare with that;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	37	18	there are times when a man of piety sees truth clearer than seven sentinels high in a watch-tower.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	37	19	With all this, entreat the most High to guide thy steps in the right path.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	37	20	For every undertaking, every act of thine let just consideration prepare thee, and trustworthy counsel.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	37	21	Ill counsel may make the heart veer round; four points its compass has, good and evil, life and death; and it is ever the tongue that sways it. Shrewdness there is that can much impart, yet is its own enemy.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	37	22	And there is experience that imparts much to others, and is its own friend besides.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	37	23	There is quibbling talk that will earn thee enemies, and an empty belly;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	37	24	no power to win men the Lord has given it, so empty is it of all wisdom.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	37	25	But there is wisdom that befriends the owner of it, earning high meed of praise;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	37	26	if thus thou art wise, wisdom thou shalt impart to thy fellows, and shalt not miss thy own reward;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	37	27	blessings the wise man reaps from all around, to see him is to praise him.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	37	28	Man’s days are numbered, Israel’s none can number,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	37	29	and among our people the wise man wins an inheritance of honour, a deathless renown.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	37	30	Son, as thy life goes on, make trial of thy appetites, and if harmful they be, give them no liberty;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	37	31	not all things all men suit, nor please.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	37	32	When there is feasting, thy greed restrain; do not fall upon all the meats thou seest;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	37	33	much feasting breeds infirmity, gluttony the bile,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	37	34	and many have died of surfeiting; the temperate live long.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	38	1	Deny not a physician his due for thy need’s sake; his task is of divine appointment,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	38	2	since from God all healing comes, and kings themselves must needs bring gifts to him.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	38	3	High rank his skill gives him; of great men he is the honoured guest.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	38	4	Medicines the most High has made for us out of earth’s bounty, and shall prudence shrink from the use of them?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	38	5	Were not the waters of Mara made wholesome by the touch of wood?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	38	6	Well for us men, that the secret virtue of such remedies has been revealed; skill the most High would impart to us, and for his marvels win renown.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	38	7	Thus it is that the physician cures our pain, and the apothecary makes, not only perfumes to charm the sense, but unguents remedial; so inexhaustible is God’s creation,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	38	8	such health comes of his gift, all the world over.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	38	9	Son, when thou fallest sick, do not neglect thy own needs; pray to the Lord, and thou shalt win recovery.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	38	10	Leave off thy sinning, thy life amend, purge thee of all thy guilt.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	38	11	With frankincense and rich oil make bloodless offering of meal; and so leave the physician to do his work.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	38	12	His task is of divine appointment, and thou hast need of him; let him be ever at thy side.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	38	13	Needs must, at times, to physicians thou shouldst have recourse;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	38	14	and doubt not they will make intercession with the Lord, that they may find a way to bring thee ease and remedy, by their often visiting thee.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	38	15	Offend thou thy maker by wrong-doing, much recourse thou shalt have to physicians.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	38	16	When a man dies, let thy tears flow, and set up a great lamenting, as for thy grievous loss; shroud him according to his quality, and grudge him no pomp of funeral;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	38	17	then, to be rid of gossip, bemoan him bitterly for a day’s space, ere thou wilt be comforted in thy sorrow;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	38	18	one day or two, as his worth claims, bemoan him; no need to win thyself an ill name.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	38	19	But grief will but hasten thy own death, will be the grave of thy own strength; where heart goes sad, back goes bowed.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	38	20	So long as thou withdrawest thyself, sad thy heart will be; and what patrimony but heart’s mirth is left to the poor?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	38	21	Why then, do not give thyself over to regrets; put them away from thee, and bethink thee rather of thy own end.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	38	22	Do not fancy that the dead can return; by torturing thyself thou canst nothing avail him.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	38	23	Remember, he tells thee, this doom of mine; such shall thine be; mine yesterday, thine to-day.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	38	24	Let his memory rest, as he rests, in death; enough for thee that thou shouldst comfort him in the hour when his spirit leaves him.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	38	25	The wisdom of a learned man is the fruit of leisure; he must starve himself of doing if he is to come by it.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	38	26	How shall he drink full draughts of wisdom that must guide the plough, that walks proud as any spearman while he goads on his team, all his life taken up with their labours, all his talk of oxen?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	38	27	His mind all set on a straight furrow, the feeding of his cows an anxiety to deny him sleep?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	38	28	So it is with every workman and master-workman, that must turn night into day. Here is one that cuts graven seals; how he busies himself with devising some new pattern! How the model he works from claims his attention, while he sits late over his craft!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	38	29	Here is blacksmith sitting by his anvil, intent upon his iron-work, cheeks shrivelled with the smoke, as he battles with the heat of the furnace,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	38	30	ears ringing again with the hammer’s clattering, eyes fixed on the design he imitates.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	38	31	All his heart is in the finishing of his task, all his waking thoughts go to the perfect achieving of it.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	38	32	Here is potter at work, treadles flying, anxious continually over the play of his hands, over the rhythm of his craftsmanship;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	38	33	arms straining at the stiff clay, feet matching its strength with theirs.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	38	34	To finish off the glaze is his nearest concern, and long he must wake to keep his furnace clean.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	38	35	All these look to their own hands for a living, skilful each in his own craft;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	38	36	and without them, there is no building up a commonwealth.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	38	37	For them no travels abroad, no journeyings from home; they will not pass beyond their bounds to swell the assembly,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	38	38	or to sit in the judgement-seat. Not theirs to understand the law’s awards, not theirs to impart learning or to give judgement; they will not be known for uttering wise sayings.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	38	39	Theirs it is to support this unchanging world of God’s creation; they ply their craft and ask for nothing better;… lending themselves freely and making their study in the law of the most High.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	39	1	But the wise man will be learning the lore of former times; the prophets will be his study.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	39	2	The tradition handed down by famous men will be in his keeping; his to con the niceties of every parable,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	39	3	learn the hidden meaning of every proverb, make himself acquainted with sayings hard to understand.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	39	4	To great men he will render good service, will be summoned to the prince’s own council;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	39	5	will go upon his travels in foreign countries, to learn by experience what the world offers of good and of harm.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	39	6	With dedicated heart, he will keep early vigil at the Lord’s gates, the Lord that made him, to win audience for his plea from the most High.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	39	7	His lips will be eloquent in prayer, as he entreats pardon for his sins.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	39	8	At the Lord’s sovereign pleasure, he will be filled with a spirit of discernment,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	39	9	so that he pours out showers of wise utterance, giving thanks to the Lord in his prayer.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	39	10	His plans and thoughts guided from above, he will have skill in the divine mysteries;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	39	11	will make known to all the tradition of teaching he has received, and take pride in that law which is the Lord’s covenant with man.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	39	12	This wisdom of his, extolled on every side, will never fall into oblivion;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	39	13	the memory of him, the renown of him, will be held in honour from age to age.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	39	14	His wise words will become a legend among the nations; where faithful men assemble, his praise will be told.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	39	15	A life that shall leave such fame as one man wins in a thousand; a death not unrewarded.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	39	16	And still I have thoughts worth the telling; madman as easily might contain himself.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	39	17	A voice proclaims, Give heed to me, you that are scions of the divine stock; yours to burgeon like a rose-bush that is planted by running water;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	39	18	yours to yield the fragrance of incense;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	39	19	yours to blossom like the lily, and smell sweet, and put forth leaves for your adornment; yours to sing songs of praise, and bless the Lord for all things he has made.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	39	20	His name extol; songs of praise let your lips utter, and let harp’s melody mingle with the song. And you shall praise him in these words following.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	39	21	Good, wondrously good, is all the Lord has made.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	39	22	Piled high the waters stand at his command, shut in by cisterns of his appointing.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	39	23	All-sufficient is his will, unfailing his power to save;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	39	24	open to his view are all deeds of mortal men, nothing can escape that scrutiny.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	39	25	On every age of time his glance rests; marvel is none beyond his compass.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	39	26	Not for man to ask what this or that may be, each shall be needed in its turn.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	39	27	His blessings flow like a stream in full flood,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	39	28	like rain pouring down to refresh the parched earth. But the nations that never look to find him, shall be the prey of his vengeance;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	39	29	did he not turn the waters into firm ground, and dry up the floor of them, so that it made a path for the passage of his own people, and yet a trap to punish the wicked?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	39	30	From the first, good things were made for good men to enjoy; for sinners, they are good and evil at once.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	39	31	What are the first needs of man’s life? Water, fire, iron, salt, milk, wheat-meal, honey, the grape-cluster, oil and clothing.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	39	32	Thereby, for just men, nought but good is intended, yet for sinners they turn to evil.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	39	33	Some powers there be that are created for wreaking of vengeance, and sternly they wield the lash in their raging;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	39	34	when the time for reckoning comes, they will put out all their force, until their Maker’s anger is appeased.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	39	35	Fire, hail, hunger and death, all these were made for wreaking of vengeance;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	39	36	ravening beasts, too, and scorpions, and serpents, and the sword that punishes the wicked till there are none left.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	39	37	All these hold high revel as they perform his will; ready they stand till earth has need of them, and when the need comes, they will obey.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	39	38	From the first, all my questioning and all my thought confirms me in what I have written,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	39	39	all things God has made are good, and each of them serves its turn;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	39	40	nor ever must we complain things have happened for the worse, since each has its own occasion to justify it.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	39	41	With full hearts, then, and full voice, praise we and bless the Lord’s name.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	40	1	Great is the anxiety all men are doomed to, heavy the yoke each son of Adam must bear, from the day when he leaves his mother’s womb to the day when he is buried in the earth, that is mother of all.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	40	2	What solicitude is his, what fears catch at his heart; how quick his mind runs out to meet coming events! And the term of it all is death.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	40	3	What matter, whether a man sit on a throne, or grovel in dust and ashes;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	40	4	whether he goes clad in purple and wears a crown, or has but coarse linen to wear? Anger he shall know, and jealousy, and concern, and bewilderment, and the fear of death, and the grudge that rankles, and rivalry.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	40	5	Rest he on his bed at night, sleep comes to fashion his thinking anew;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	40	6	even there, the rest he wins is but little or none at all, and thereupon, in his dreams, he is anxious as sentry waiting to be relieved,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	40	7	his are such whirling thoughts as fugitive has, just escaped from the battle. Then, at the moment of deliverance, comes waking; and he marvels to find his fears all vain.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	40	8	This lot he shares with all living things; beast has it as well as man, but for the sinner it is multiplied sevenfold.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	40	9	There is more besides, mortal sickness, bloodshed, quarrelling, the sword, oppression, famine, devastation and plague;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	40	10	all such things are designed for the punishing of the wicked; was it not from wickedness the flood came?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	40	11	All that is of earth, to earth must needs return, and all waters find their way back to the sea;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	40	12	what shall become of bribery and oppression? The memory of them shall vanish; faithfulness will endure for ever.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	40	13	All the riches of the wrong-doer will disappear, like stream that runs dry, will die away, like roll of thunder in a storm-cloud;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	40	14	open-handed is merry-hearted, the sinners it is that shall pine away at the last.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	40	15	Never a branch will the posterity of the wicked put forth; dead roots they are that rattle on the wind-swept rock.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	40	16	How green yonder rushes grow by the river’s bank! But they shall be plucked up before hay-harvest.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	40	17	But kindliness, like the garden trees, lasts on, remembered in blessing; charity remains unforgotten.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	40	18	Sweet is his lot, that toils and is contented; here is hidden treasure for thy finding.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	40	19	Children born, and a city founded, will bring thee a great name; best of all, a woman without spot.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	40	20	Wine and music make heart glad; best of all, the love of wisdom.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	40	21	Flute and harp make sweet melody; best of all a kindly tongue.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	40	22	Grace and beauty charm the eye; best of all, the green wheat.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	40	23	Friend and friend, gossip and gossip, are well met; best of all, man and wife.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	40	24	Kinsmen… will help thee in hard times; best of all thy alms-deeds to deliver thee.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	40	25	Gold and silver give thee sure vantage-ground; best of all, right counsel.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	40	26	Riches and strength make the heart beat high; best of all, the fear of the Lord.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	40	27	Fear the Lord, lack thou shalt have none, help need none;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	40	28	the fear of the Lord is a garden that yields blessing… and in splendour above all splendour they have clothed him.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	40	29	Long as thou livest, my son, never turn beggar; die is better than beg.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	40	30	Look thou for thy meat to another’s table, I count thy life no life at all; what, owe thy very being to another man’s larder?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	40	31	From such a chance, good teaching and good training shall keep thee safe.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	40	32	Poverty, on a fool’s lips, will pass for a thing desirable; but trust me, he has a fire raging within.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	41	1	Out upon thee, death, how bitter is the thought of thee to a man that lives at ease in his own home,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	41	2	a man untroubled by care, no difficulties in his path, that his food still relishes!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	41	3	Hail, death! Welcome is thy doom to a man that is in need, and lacks vigour;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	41	4	worn out with age and full of anxieties, that has no confidence left in him, no strength to endure.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	41	5	Never fear death’s doom; bethink thee of the years that went before thee, and must come after thee. One sentence the Lord has for all living things.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	41	6	What the will of the most High has in store for thee, none can tell; what matter, whether it be ten years, or a hundred, or a thousand?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	41	7	Once thou art dead, thou wilt take no grudging count of the years.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	41	8	The children wicked men beget are born under a curse, familiars of a godless home;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	41	9	all they inherit is soon lost to them; reproach dogs the footsteps of their posterity.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	41	10	How bitter their complaints against the father who is the author of their ill fame!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	41	11	Woe to you, rebels, that have forsaken the law of the Lord, the most High,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	41	12	born of an unholy birth, an unholy death your destiny!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	41	13	All that is of earth, to earth must needs return; from ban to bale is the cycle of a life ill lived.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	41	14	Man sighs over his body’s loss; what of his name? The wicked are lost to memory.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	41	15	Of thy good name heed take thou; it shall remain thine longer than thousand heaps of rare treasure.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	41	16	Life is good, but its days are numbered; a good name lasts for ever.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	41	17	My sons, here is wholesome teaching. Wisdom hidden, I told you, is wasted, is treasure that never sees the light of day;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	41	18	silence is rightly used when it masks folly, not when it is the grave of wisdom.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	41	19	Yet sometimes bashfulness is no fault, as I will now make known to you.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	41	20	It is ill done to be abashed on every occasion; but yet neither is self-confidence for all and every use.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	41	21	Of these things, then, be ashamed; that thy parents should find thee a fornicator, ruler or prince a liar,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	41	22	magistrate or judge a wrong-doer, assembly of the people a law-breaker,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	41	23	partner or friend a knave, or thy neighbour a thief.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	41	24	… concerning the faithfulness of God, and his covenant; concerning thy sitting over meat… Ashamed be thou of belittling the gift received,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	41	25	of leaving the greeting unreturned, of letting thy eyes stray after harlots, of denying thyself to kinsman
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	41	26	that has a near claim on thy regard, of property fraudulently shared.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	41	27	Let not thy eye fall on woman wed to another, nor ever exchange secrets with handmaid of hers, nor come between her sheets.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	41	28	Be ashamed of uttering reproach against thy friends, nor insult the receiver of thy gift.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	42	1	Nor ever do thou repeat gossip to the betraying of another’s secret. If of such things thou art ashamed, shame thou shalt never feel, and thou shalt have all men’s good word besides. And other dealings there are over which thou must never be abashed, nor, through respect for any human person consent to wrong.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	42	2	Such are, the law of the most High and his covenant; and right award, that gives the godless his due;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	42	3	a matter between some partner of thine and strangers from far off, the apportioning of an inheritance among thy friends,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	42	4	the trueness of weight and balance, profit overmuch or too little,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	42	5	the exchange between buyer and seller, the strict punishing of children, the cudgelling of a wicked slave till he bleeds…
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	42	6	Thriftless wife if thou hast, seal is best.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	42	7	Where many hands are at work, lock all away; part with nothing, till it be measured and weighed, and of all thy spending and receiving, written record kept…
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	42	8	Nor be thou abashed, when there is question of chastising reckless folly, and the complaints of old men against the young. So thou shalt shew prudence in all thy dealings, and win the good word of all.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	42	9	Daughter to her father is ever hidden anxiety, a care that banishes sleep. Is she young? Then how if age creep on too soon? Is she wed? Then how if her husband should tire of her?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	42	10	Is she maid? Then how if she were disgraced, and in her own father’s house brought to bed? Once more, is she wed? Then how if she were false to her husband? How if she prove barren?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	42	11	Over wanton daughter of thine thou canst not keep watch too strict; else she will make thee the scorn of thy enemies, the talk of the city; strangers will point the finger at thee, and all the rabble know thy shame.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	42	12	Gaze not on the beauty of human kind, nor occupy thyself much with women;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	42	13	garment breeds moth, and woman wickedness in man.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	42	14	Man’s wickedness is too strong for woman at her best; and a woman that plays thee false brings thee only disgrace.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	42	15	Recount we now what things the Lord has made; his visible creation be our theme; nothing he has fashioned but hangs on his word.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	42	16	Just as yonder sun that looks down on all gives light to all, so the glory of the Lord shines through all his creation;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	42	17	how should his faithful servants herald them enough, these marvels of his, enabled by divine omnipotence in that glory to endure?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	42	18	Nothing is hidden from him, the deepest depths of earth or of man’s heart; he knows our most secret designs.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	42	19	All knowledge is his; does he not hold the clue of eternity, making plain what has been and what is yet to be, laying bare the track of hidden things?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	42	20	No thought of ours escapes him, never a whisper goes unheard.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	42	21	How great the wisdom that so ordered all things, his wisdom who has neither beginning nor end; nothing may be added,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	42	22	nothing taken away from them, nor needs he any man’s counsel.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	42	23	How lovely is all he has made, how dazzling to look upon!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	42	24	Changeless through the ages, all of it lives on, responsive to his calls.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	42	25	All things he has made in pairs, balanced against one another; never a fault of symmetry;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	42	26	to each one its own well-being assured. His glory contemplating, thou shalt never have thy fill.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	43	1	Like a jewel the vault of heaven is set above us; the sight of it is glory made visi-ble.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	43	2	Plain to our view is the sun’s passage as it shines out, a very masterpiece of his workmanship, who is the most High.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	43	3	How it burns up the earth at noon-day! How fierce its glow, beyond all endurance! Tend thou the furnace, heat is thy daily portion;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	43	4	yet three times hotter the sun, as it burns up the hill-side, scorching all with its fiery breath, blinding men’s eyes with its glare.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	43	5	Swiftly it speeds on its course, to do the bidding of the Lord, its glorious maker.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	43	6	The moon, too, that keeps tryst so faithfully, ever marking how the seasons change,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	43	7	and giving the signal when feast days come round! The moon, whose light must decrease till it vanishes,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	43	8	and then increase to the full circle, the month its name-child;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	43	9	cresset of a watch-fire that lights up the high vault of heaven with its radiant glow.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	43	10	And the stars that deck the sky with their splendour, a beacon-light the Lord kindles high above us;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	43	11	the summons of his holy word answering so loyally, watching so patiently at their post!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	43	12	Look up at the rainbow, and bless the maker of it; how fair are those bright colours
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	43	13	that span heaven with a ring of splendour, traced by an almighty hand.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	43	14	Swift comes the snow at his word, swift flashes the fire that executes his vengeance;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	43	15	he has but to unlock his store-house, and the clouds hover, bird-fashion,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	43	16	arsenals of his might, whence the pounded hail-stones fall.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	43	17	How his glance makes the hills tremble! Blows the south wind at his bidding,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	43	18	earth echoes with the crash of his thunder; blows the north wind, and there is whirling storm.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	43	19	Soft as roosting bird falls the snow, spread all around; not more silently comes locust-swarm to earth;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	43	20	what eye but is captivated by its pale beauty, what heart but is filled with terror at the dark cloud that brings it?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	43	21	He it is pours out the frost, that lies white as salt on the earth, the frozen earth that seems covered with thistle-down.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	43	22	Cold blows the north wind, and ice forms on the water; no pool but it rests there, arming the water as with a breast-plate;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	43	23	frost gnaws at the mountain-side, parches the open plains, strips them, as fire might have stripped them, of their green.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	43	24	Remedy for all these is none, but the speedy coming of the mist; frost shall be overmastered by the showers the sirocco drives before it,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	43	25	and at the Lord’s word the chill blast dies away. What else but divine wisdom tamed the rising of the seas, and planted the islands there?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	43	26	Hear we what perils in the deep mariners have to tell of, and wonder at the tale;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	43	27	of the great marvels it contains, living things a many, both fierce and harmless, and monstrous creatures besides.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	43	28	Who but the Lord brought the venture to a happy issue? His word gives all things their pattern.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	43	29	Say we as much as we will, of what needs to be said our words come short; be this the sum of all our saying, He is in all things.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	43	30	To what end is all our boasting? He, the Almighty, is high above all that he has made;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	43	31	he, the Lord, is terrible, and great beyond compare, and his power is wonderful.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	43	32	Glorify him as best you may, glory is still lacking, such is the marvel of his greatness;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	43	33	praise him and extol him as you will, he is beyond all praising;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	43	34	summon all your strength, the better to exalt his name, untiring still, and you shall not reach your goal.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	43	35	Who can tell us what he is from sight seen of him? Who can magnify his eternal being?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	43	36	Much more lies beyond our ken; only the fringe of creation meets our view;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	43	37	and of all things the Lord is maker. Yet, live thou in the worship of him, wisdom thou shalt have for thy reward.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	44	1	Speak we now in honour of famous men that were our fathers, long ago.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	44	2	What high achievements the Lord has made known in them, ever since time began!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	44	3	Here were men that had power and bore rule, men that excelled in strength, or in the wisdom that dowered them; prophets that worthily upheld the name of prophecy,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	44	4	issuing to the people the commands their times needed, uttering, through their foresight, a sacred charge to the nations.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	44	5	Here were men that had skill to devise melodies, to make songs and set them down in writing.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	44	6	Here were men rich in ability, noble of aim, that dwelt peacefully in their homes.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	44	7	These were the glories of their race, the ornament of their times;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	44	8	and the sons they begot have left a memory that adds to the recital of their praise.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	44	9	Not like those others, who are forgotten in death as if they had never been; nameless, they and their children, as if they had never lived;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	44	10	no, these were men of tender conscience; their deeds of charity will never be forgotten.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	44	11	Blessings abide with their posterity;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	44	12	their descendants are a race set apart for God, the pledged heirs of his promises.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	44	13	For their sakes this line of theirs will endure for all time; their stock, their name, will never be allowed to die out.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	44	14	Their bodies lie in peace; their name lasts on, age after age.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	44	15	Their wisdom is yet a legend among the people; wherever faithful men assemble, their story is told.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	44	16	Enoch there was, that did God’s will, and was taken away to Paradise, repentance his gift to mankind.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	44	17	Noe, too, blameless lived and faithful proved; when the day of retribution came, he made amends for all;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	44	18	so it was that earth had a remnant left when the flood came;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	44	19	with him God’s covenant was made, never again should all living things be drowned together.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	44	20	What greatness was Abraham’s, to be the father of so many nations! Where shall we find another that can boast he kept the law of the most High as Abraham kept it? He, too, entered into a covenant with God,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	44	21	and was bidden to bear on his own body the record of it. Once he had put him to the test and found him obedient,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	44	22	God took an oath that this should be the father of a renowned posterity; their numbers should rival the dust on the ground,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	44	23	should match the stars in heaven, stretching from southern to western sea, from Euphrates to the ends of earth.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	44	24	Isaac, the son of such a father, fared no worse;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	44	25	to him the Lord gave that blessing which should extend to all nations. In Jacob’s person, too, the covenant should be revived;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	44	26	the blessings Jacob uttered should be ratified, and the lands promised him should be divided among twelve tribes of his own begetting.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	44	27	Him a posterity of famous sons awaited, men of tender conscience, that had the good word of all their fellows.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	45	1	Well loved by God, well loved among men, on the name of Moses a benediction rests.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	45	2	The Lord gave him such honour as he gives to his holy ones; gave him renown by striking terror into his enemies, and then, at his word, abated the prodigies that had befallen them.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	45	3	He made him great in the eyes of kings, entrusted commandments to him in full view of the chosen people, made a revelation to him of the divine glory.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	45	4	The Lord set him apart, chosen out from the rest of mankind, so loyal he was and so gentle;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	45	5	answered his prayer by taking him up into a cloud,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	45	6	and there, face to face, imparting commandments to him, the law that gives life and wisdom; here, Jacob, was thy covenant, here Israel, the rule thou wast to live by.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	45	7	Of Levite blood, too, sprang another renowned as Moses himself, his brother Aaron. To Aaron the Lord gave high office,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	45	8	making an eternal covenant with him, investing him with the priesthood of the chosen race, enriching him with his own glory.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	45	9	Bright was the cincture that girded him, bright the robe that clothed him; no ornament he wore but spoke of majesty.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	45	10	The long tunic, the breeches, the sacred mantle, and golden bells a many compassing him about,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	45	11	that tinkled still as he walked, echoing through the temple to keep Israel’s name unforgotten!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	45	12	The hallowed robe, all gold and blue and purple, work of a master weaver, that lacked neither skill nor faithfulness!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	45	13	What craftsmanship of twisted thread dyed scarlet, of rare stones in a gold setting, engraved with all the gem-cutter’s art, twelve of them to commemorate the twelve tribes of Israel!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	45	14	The gold finishing, too, of his mitre, engraved with the legend, Holiness; so proud an adornment, so noble a work of art, such a lure for men’s eyes in its ordered beauty!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	45	15	Never vesture till then was seen so fair; and, from time immemorial,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	45	16	no other might put it on, only the sons of Aaron’s line, in undying succession.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	45	17	Day in, day out the fire should consume his sacrifice;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	45	18	when Moses consecrated him with the holy oil’s anointing,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	45	19	this was a right granted in perpetuity, long as the heavens should last. His to perform the priest’s office, to echo God’s praise, to bless the people in his name.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	45	20	Alone of living men, he was chosen out to offer sacrifice, and the sweet-smelling incense that is a people’s plea for remembrance, a people’s atonement.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	45	21	Power was his to administer the divine decrees, a justiciary by right, handing on to Jacob its tradition, giving Israel the law’s light to guide it.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	45	22	Once, out in the desert, that right was challenged; with envious cries, men of another clan surrounded him, Dathan and Abiron for their leaders, espousing Core’s quarrel.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	45	23	Ill-content was the Lord God at the sight of it; his vengeance swept them away;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	45	24	by no common doom, a raging flame devoured them.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	45	25	Fresh privileges for Aaron were kept in store; he must share in the conquest by receiving all the land’s first-fruits;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	45	26	his clan first of all must have bread enough and to spare, his children should inherit the eating of the Lord’s own sacrifice.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	45	27	But he must have no lands in the conquered territory, no share like the rest of his race; the Lord should be his wealth, the Lord his portion.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	45	28	Next to these two, Phinees the son of Eleazar won high renown; like Aaron, with the fear of God to guide him,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	45	29	he stood firm while the people shrank away; a loyal and a willing heart that made amends for Israel.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	45	30	For his reward, he received assurance of the divine favour; command he should have of sanctuary and of people both, and the high priesthood that was his should descend to his heirs for ever.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	45	31	David the son of Jesse, of Juda’s tribe, should bequeath to his children a legacy of kingship…… with wise hearts endowing us, to preserve justice among his people, and keep safe the blessings he has given to it; and this pre-eminence over his people he has settled on them in perpetuity.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	46	1	Next to Moses in the line of prophets comes Josue the son of Nave, that fought so well. With him, name and renown are one;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	46	2	who is more renowned for the deliverance he brought to God’s chosen people, beating down the enemies that defied him until Israel made their land its own?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	46	3	What fame he won by those valiant blows he dealt, hurling his armed strength at city after city!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	46	4	What chieftain had ever stood his ground so manfully? And still the Lord brought enemies to confront him.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	46	5	On his fierce resolve the sun itself must wait, and a whole day’s length be doubled.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	46	6	Let enemies attack him on every side, he would invoke the most High, to whom all strength belongs, the great God, the holy God, and his prayer was answered. Hail-stones came down in a storm of wondrous violence,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	46	7	that fell on the opposing army and shattered the menace of it, there on the hill-side.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	46	8	So the Gentiles should feel God’s power, and learn that it is a hard matter to fight against him. Ever had Josue followed in that Prince’s retinue,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	46	9	since the days when Moses yet lived; he it was, and Caleb the son of Jephone, that took a generous part together; they would have engaged the enemy, and saved their own people from guilt by hushing the murmurs of rebellion.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	46	10	These two alone, out of six hundred thousand warriors, survived the perils of the journey; these two were appointed to lead Israel into the land, all milk and honey, that was its promised home.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	46	11	On Caleb, too, the Lord bestowed such vigour, that in his old age he was a warrior still, and made his way up into the hill-country, where his descendants held their lands after him;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	46	12	no doubt should Israel have that he is well rewarded who serves so holy a God.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	46	13	The judges, too, have their glorious muster-roll, men of resolute heart, that God’s cause never forsook;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	46	14	be their names, too, remembered in blessing, and may life spring from their bones, where they lie buried;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	46	15	undying be their memory, in their own posterity continued, undying be the sacred record of their renown.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	46	16	Dearly the Lord God loved his prophet Samuel, that restored Israel’s fortunes and anointed kings to rule over it.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	46	17	Well was the divine law kept, when he ruled our commonwealth, and the God of Jacob was gracious to it; here was a prophet of proved loyalty,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	46	18	and ever his word came true, such vision had he of the God that gives light.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	46	19	With foes about him on every side, he invoked the Lord, the Almighty, with an unblemished lamb for sacrifice;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	46	20	and therewith came thunder, sent from heaven, loud echo of the divine voice,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	46	21	that overthrew all the princes of the sea-coast, all the captains of the Philistines.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	46	22	There must be an end at last to his life, and to the age he lived in; but first he would make profession, with the Lord and the new-anointed king for his witnesses, bribe he had never taken from any living man, though it were but a gift of shoe-leather; and none might gainsay him.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	46	23	Even when he had gone to his rest, he had a revelation for the king’s ear, and gave warning of the death that awaited him; a prophet, even in the tomb, while there was yet guilt among his people to be effaced.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	47	1	Among prophets, Nathan was the next to arise, and it was then the reign of David began.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	47	2	Only the fat from the sacrifice, only David out of all Israel; the Lord must have ever the best!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	47	3	Here was one that would use lion or bear as playthings for his sport, tussle with them as if they had been yearling lambs. Such was his boyhood;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	47	4	and who but he should save the honour of his people, by slaying the giant?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	47	5	He had but to lift his hand, and the stone aimed from his sling brought low the pride of Goliath;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	47	6	prayer to the Lord, the Almighty, gave him the mastery over a great warrior, and retrieved the fortunes of his race.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	47	7	Ere long, they had given him the title, Slayer of ten thousand, and sang his praises, blessing the Lord’s name; kingly honours they accorded him.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	47	8	He it was that laid their enemies low all about them, extirpating, to this day, the malice of the Philistines, shattering their power for ever.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	47	9	Yet there was no feat of David’s but made him thank the most High, the most Holy, and to him give the glory;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	47	10	still with all his heart he praised the Master he loved so well, the God who had created him and endowed him with strength to meet his enemies.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	47	11	He would have musicians wait around the altar, and rouse sweet echoes with their chant;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	47	12	feast-days should be kept with splendour, times and seasons duly observed, all his life long; morning after morning the Lord’s holy name should be praised, God should receive his full tribute of worship.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	47	13	So it was that the Lord pardoned his sins, and bade him carry his head high evermore; his by right was the kingship, and the proud throne of Israel.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	47	14	To a wise son of his that throne passed; for David’s sake all the threats of the enemy were stilled,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	47	15	and Solomon might reign undisturbed. If God gave him mastery all around, it was because he would have a temple built in his honour, to be his sanctuary for all time. Ah, Solomon, how well schooled in thy youth!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	47	16	Deep as a river flowed thy wisdom; thy ambition it was to lay bare all the secrets of earth;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	47	17	full scope thou wouldst have for riddle and proverb. Even to the distant isles thy renown spread, and everywhere thy peaceful reign made thee beloved.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	47	18	The whole earth stood in awe of song and proverb and parable and interpretation of thine;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	47	19	in awe, too, of the name of the Lord God, who is known among men as the God of Israel.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	47	20	Gold thou didst amass in such plenty, as it had been only bronze; silver was abundant in thy domains as lead.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	47	21	Yet women bowed thee to their will; of body’s appetites thou wouldst brook no restraint,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	47	22	and thus thy renown was tarnished with the gendering of a breed unhallowed. So it was that vengeance fell upon thy children, that must rue thy folly in after times;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	47	23	the kingdom divided, and in Ephraim a rebel dynasty exercising dominion, through thy fault.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	47	24	Yet God is ever merciful; his own design he will not mar fruitlessly, nor undo; should he destroy it root and branch, the posterity of his chosen servant? Should the man that so loved him have begotten sons in vain?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	47	25	Jacob must have a stock to breed from; the root of David should burgeon yet.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	47	26	Solomon once laid to rest with his fathers, what heirs left he?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	47	27	A man of his own blood, born to infatuate a nation,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	47	28	insensate Roboam, whose ill counsel drove the people to rebellion;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	47	29	and that other, Jeroboam son of Nabat, who taught Israel to sin. All Ephraim followed the example of his misdoing; high rose the tide of their sins,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	47	30	till it swept them away altogether from their own country.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	47	31	For all this wickedness of theirs God held them to account, waiting till the time should come for punishing them, and purging them of their guilt.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	48	1	And now another prophet arose, Elias, a man of flame; blazed, like a fire-brand, his message.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	48	2	This man it was brought down a famine to punish them, till few were left of the enemies that bore him a grudge, and found the Lord’s commandment too hard for them.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	48	3	At the Lord’s word, he laid a ban on heaven itself, and three times brought fire down from it;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	48	4	such was the fame of Elias’ miracles. Who else could boast, as thou,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	48	5	of calling back the dead from the tomb, by the power of the Lord God, and to life restoring them;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	48	6	of kings brought to ruin and all their power lightly shattered, proud kings, that might leave their sick-beds no more?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	48	7	Sinai should tell thee, Horeb should tell thee, of award made, and doom pronounced;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	48	8	kings thou shouldst anoint, to be the redressers of wrong, and prophets to come after thee;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	48	9	then, amidst a flaming whirlwind, in a chariot drawn by horses of fire, thou wast taken up into heaven.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	48	10	Of thee it was written that in time of judgement to come thou wouldst appease the divine anger, by reconciling heart of father to heart of son, and restore the tribes of Israel as they were.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	48	11	Ah, blessed souls that saw thee, and were honoured with thy friendship!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	48	12	We live only for a life-time; and when death comes, we shall have no such renown as thine.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	48	13	In that whirlwind Elias was lost to view, bequeathing his spirit of prophecy in full measure to Eliseus. Here was a man that in all his life never held prince in awe, never made way for human greatness.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	48	14	For him no task too difficult; was not his dead body prophetic still,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	48	15	to prove him a wonder-worker in death, that in life was marvellous?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	48	16	Yet the nation for whom all this was done would not amend, nor leave its sinning, until all the inhabitants of the land were driven out, and scattered through the world;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	48	17	only that little kingdom remained that was ruled by the heirs of David,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	48	18	and of these rulers, though some did God’s will, there were some that had sins a many to answer for.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	48	19	Well did Ezechias fortify his city, and brought a running stream into the midst of it, breaking through the rock with tools of iron, and building a cistern for the water.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	48	20	In his reign Sennacherib marched against the country, and sent Rabsaces to threaten it; Sion itself he threatened with attack, so proudly he trusted in his own strength.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	48	21	Heart and hand were unnerved at his coming; worse anguish woman in labour never knew.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	48	22	Yet they cried out upon God for pity, with hands outstretched heavenwards; and he, the holy One, he, the Lord God, was not slow to answer them.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	48	23	Their sins he would remember no more; he would not leave them at the mercy of their enemies; by means of his holy prophet Isaias they should find release.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	48	24	With that, the Lord’s angel fell on the camp of Assyria, and brought its armies to nothing.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	48	25	So faithfully Ezechias did the Lord’s will, following boldly the example of his father, king David; so well he obeyed Isaias, a great prophet and a faithful interpreter of the vision the Lord gave him.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	48	26	In Isaias’ days it was that the sun went back, in token that the royal life should be prolonged;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	48	27	Isaias it was that saw things far distant, by the power of inspiration, and comforted mourning hearts in Sion.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	48	28	Without end or limit future things he foretold, that still lay hidden in the womb of time.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	49	1	Josias, too, is still remembered; a memory grateful as some mingled scent, pride of the perfumer’s art,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	49	2	or the honey that tastes sweet in all men’s mouths, or music over the wine.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	49	3	A king divinely ordained to make a nation’s amends, how he swept away all the foul idols of the law-breakers;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	49	4	how true he kept his heart to the Lord’s bidding, what comfort he gave to piety, when wickedness abounded!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	49	5	David, Ezechias, Josias, these three only were exempt from the guilt of their line;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	49	6	the other kings of Juda forsook the law of the most High, and counted the fear of God a light matter.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	49	7	What wonder if they were doomed to bequeath all the glories of their kingdom to strangers, to princes of an alien race,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	49	8	who set fire to the city that was God’s chosen sanctuary, and left the ways unfrequented?… By means of Jeremias;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	49	9	so ill they used him, that was set apart to be a prophet when he was yet in his mother’s womb, empowered to overthrow, to uproot, to destroy, then to rebuild and to plant anew.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	49	10	And next Ezechiel, to whose eyes God shewed the vision of glory, by wheeling cherubs borne aloft…
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	49	11	And in storm he remembered the enemy… to reward all such as pointed men to the right path.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	49	12	May life spring from the bones of the twelve prophets, where they lie buried; men that put heart into the sons of Jacob, and by trusting in God’s power won deliverance.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	49	13	The fame of Zorobabel what words of ours shall enhance? The jewel God wore on his right hand for signet-ring;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	49	14	he, with Josue son of Josedec, rebuilt God’s house that then lay ruined; raised up a holy temple, of the divine glory the eternal dwelling-place.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	49	15	Nor shall Nehemias be soon forgotten, that mended these ruined walls of ours, our gates built and barred, our homes restored to us.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	49	16	Enoch no man born on earth can match, that from earth was taken away;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	49	17	nor Joseph, that was born to be his brethren’s master, and the bulwark of a great nation. Lord of his brethren, stay of a people,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	49	18	he left his bones to await the day of God’s deliverance, in death prophetic still.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	49	19	Seth and Sem are among the heroes of their race, and Adam, too, that when earth began was made Lord of all living creatures.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	50	1	A great priest was Simon, son of Onias; in his day the house of God was repaired, to make the temple strong was his life’s task.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	50	2	The high part of the temple, where the building was of double thickness, and the towering walls about it, he underpinned;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	50	3	in his day, too, the cisterns received their full flow of water, rose beyond all measuring, sea-deep.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	50	4	So well he cared for his fellow-citizens; no enemy should be able to compass our ruin;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	50	5	nor lacked he means to enlarge the city’s span. See in what state he comes out to meet the people; entrance of temple and of temple-court lifted high above him!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	50	6	Bright he shone as the day-star amid the clouds, as the full moon in her season;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	50	7	nor sun ever shed on our own temple such generous rays as he.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	50	8	What shall be compared with him? Rainbow that lights up the clouds with sudden glory, rose in spring-time, lilies by the water-side, scent of olibanum on the summer air?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	50	9	Fire that glows brightly, and glow of incense on the fire?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	50	10	Ornament of pure gold, set with whatever stones are rarest;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	50	11	olive-tree that burgeons, tall cypress pointing to the sky? Such was he when he put on his robe of office, clad himself with the full majesty of his array;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	50	12	sacred the garments in which he went up to the sacred altar, yet were they ennobled by the man that wore them.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	50	13	There he stood, by the altar, with the priests handing him their portions, every one, for sacrifice; and all these standing about him were but Lebanon cedars standing about Lebanon,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	50	14	were but as palm branches growing from their parent stem, all these sons of Aaron in the splendour of their attire.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	50	15	Theirs to hold out, before assembled Israel, the offerings made to the Lord; and he, completing his task at the altar, for the due observance of the great King’s sacrifice,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	50	16	would reach out his hand for the cup, and with the grape’s blood offer libation.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	50	17	And as he poured out at the altar’s foot its consecrated fragrance,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	50	18	loud shouted the sons of Aaron, loud the silver trumpets blew; great was the cry raised to win God’s audience.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	50	19	And with that, down fell all the people, face to earth, worshipping the Lord their God and pouring out their prayers to him, the Almighty, to him, the most High.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	50	20	The singers, too, broke out into chants of praise; sweetly their voices echoed through the wide courts;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	50	21	nor would the people leave off their praying to the Lord, the most High, till the divine praise was completed, and all their duty done.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	50	22	And then Simon would come down, his hand outstretched over the assembly of Israel, a blessing on his lips, and his heart proud to serve such a Master;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	50	23	and so fell to prayer again, for the better manifesting of God’s power.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	50	24	Bless we now his name who is God over all; wide as earth is his wondrous power, the God that has granted us life since first we were borne in the womb, and most mercifully used us.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	50	25	Gladness of heart may he give us, and send Israel in our time peace that shall last for ever;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	50	26	and still may it be Israel’s faith that God’s mercy is with us, ready, when his time comes, to grant us deliverance.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	50	27	Two nations with all my heart I loathe; and a third I can name, that nation indeed is none;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	50	28	the hill-tribes of Edom, and the Philistines, and the miscreant folk that dwell at Sichem.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	50	29	The lessons of discernment and of true knowledge in this book contained were written down by Jesus, the son of Sirach, of Jerusalem; his heart ever a fountain of true wisdom.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	50	30	Blessed is he who lingers in these pleasant haunts, and treasures the memory of them; wisdom he shall never lack;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	50	31	and if by these precepts he live, nothing shall avail to daunt him; God’s beacon-light shews the track he shall tread.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	51	1	A prayer uttered by Jesus, son of Sirach. O Lord, my king, I give thee thanks, O God, my deliverer, I praise thee;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	51	2	I extol thy name, for all the succour and protection thou hast given me,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	51	3	saving my life from deadly peril, when calumny lay in wait, and lying tongues assailed me. In full sight of all that stood by thou didst come to my rescue;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	51	4	roaring lions stood ready to devour me, and thou in that great mercy, that renowned mercy of thine, didst deliver me.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	51	5	I was in the hands of my mortal enemies, shut in on every side by misfortune;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	51	6	there were stifling flames all round me, and I stood in the heart of the fire uninjured.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	51	7	I looked down into the deep womb of the grave, when foul lips brought lying accusations, and cruel king gave unjust sentence.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	51	8	And still I would praise the Lord, long as I had breath to praise him,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	51	9	though death’s abyss yawned at my very feet,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	51	10	though I was cut off on every side, with none to aid me. Man’s help I looked for, and could not find;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	51	11	yet I bethought me, Lord, of thy mercy, thy deeds of long ago;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	51	12	if men will but wait for thee patiently, thou, Lord, dost deliver them, dost rescue them from the power of the heathen.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	51	13	It was thou who hadst prospered my life on earth, and now, death ready to overwhelm me,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	51	14	to the Lord, Father of the Master I serve, I made my plea. Would he leave me unaided when I was in distress, when my enemies were triumphing over me?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	51	15	I will extol thy name unceasingly, with grateful praise; my prayer did not go unregarded.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	51	16	Thou didst rescue me from deadly peril, didst save me in the hour of defeat;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	51	17	shall I not give thanks, shall I not praise and bless thy name?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	51	18	A young man still, ere ever my wanderings began, I made my prayer for wisdom.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	51	19	Before the temple I asked for this, my life’s quest to the end. Came early the ripening of those grapes,
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	51	20	and my heart rejoiced at it. Down a straight path I sped, the ardour of youth to aid my search.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	51	21	Ear that little listens shall yet hear;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	51	22	much wisdom that little listening gave.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	51	23	Further and further yet I travelled, thanks be to the God that all wisdom bestows.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	51	24	Good use to make of her was all my love and longing; never was that hope disappointed.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	51	25	Hardily I strove to win her, put force on myself to keep her rule;
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	51	26	I stretched out my hands towards heaven, and grieved for the want of her.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	51	27	Kept I but true to the search for her, I found and recognized her still.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	51	28	Long since trained by her discipline, I shall never be left forsaken.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	51	29	Much heart-burning I had in the quest for her, but a rich dowry she brought me.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	51	30	Never shall this tongue, with utterance divinely rewarded, be negligent of praise.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	51	31	O hearts untutored, come near, and frequent the school of learning!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	51	32	Parley at the gates no more, complaining of thirst ever unsatisfied.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	51	33	Rather, to my proclamation give heed; win the treasure that is to be had without price paid.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	51	34	Suffice it that you bow your necks to her yoke, are content to accept her schooling. To find her, needs no distant travel…
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	51	35	Unlaborious days, as all can testify, what a harvest they have won me of repose!
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	51	36	Would you grudge free expense of silver in the search for wisdom, that shall make you ample returns in gold?
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	51	37	Your hearts shall yet triumph in his mercy, nor ever rue the day when you learned to praise him.
 Ecclesiasticus	Eccle	26	51	38	Do, while time serves, what needs doing; when the time comes, he will reward you.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	1	1	This is the revelation made to Isaias, son of Amos, about Juda and Jerusalem, during the reigns of Ozias, Joatham, Achaz and Ezechias in Juda.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	1	2	Listen, you heavens, and let earth attend to this, a divine remonstrance; my own sons, that I reared and brought to manhood, hold me in defiance!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	1	3	Ox recognizes its owner, ass knows the way to its master’s crib; and I? I go unacknowledged; my own people of Israel gives me never a thought.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	1	4	Woe to a sinful nation, a people bowed with guilt, a rebellious race, a brood foully degenerate! They have forsaken God, they have spurned the Holy One of Israel, turned strangers to me.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	1	5	Would you have me smite you again, that you shew yourselves ever more faithless? Everywhere bowed heads, and faint hearts;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	1	6	no health anywhere, from sole to crown, nothing but wounds, and bruises, and swollen sores, that none binds up, or medicines, or anoints with oil!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	1	7	Your land a desert, your cities burnt to ashes, your fields ravaged before your eyes by strangers, desolation everywhere, as if an enemy had plundered you!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	1	8	Poor Sion, forlorn as vineyard watch-tower, summer-house in a herb-garden, a beleaguered city!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	1	9	A stock to breed from, so much the Lord of hosts has left us; but for that, we should be as Sodom is, Gomorrha’s doom should be ours.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	1	10	Listen, then, to this, the Lord’s word, chiefs of the Sodom-city; people of Gomorrha, here is a command from our God for your hearing.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	1	11	What do I care, the Lord says, how you multiply those victims of yours? I have had enough and to spare. Burnt-offerings of rams, and the fat of stall-fed beasts, and the blood of calves and lambs and goats are nothing to me.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	1	12	Think you it is a welcome sound, the tramp of your feet in my courts bringing worship such as yours?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	1	13	Vain offerings, bring them no more, this incense of yours is an abomination. Enough of new moons and sabbaths, of thronged assemblies where none but sinners meet!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	1	14	The new month begins, the feast day comes round, how it cloys the appetite! These be hateful tasks I can bear no longer.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	1	15	Hold out your hands as you will, you shall get no heed from me; add prayer to prayer, I will not listen; are not those hands stained with blood?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	1	16	Wash yourselves clean, spare me the sight of your busy wickedness, of your wrong-doing take farewell.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	1	17	Learn, rather, how to do good, setting your hearts on justice, righting the wrong, protecting the orphan, giving the widow redress;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	1	18	then come back, says the Lord, and make trial of me. Crimson-dyed be your guilt, it shall turn snow-white; like wool new-washed yonder scarlet stain.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	1	19	Will you think better of it, and listen, and have rich harvests to feed you?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	1	20	Or will you refuse, and defy me, and yourselves be food for the sword? The Lord has given sentence.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	1	21	Strange, that the city once so faithful, once so upright, has turned harlot; the haunt of murderers, that was the home of right!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	1	22	The silver in thee turned to dross, the wine grown watery to the taste,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	1	23	thy law-givers wanting loyalty, so that they make common cause with thieves! None of them but takes bribe and looks for profit, none will give the orphan redress, none listen to the plaint of the widow.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	1	24	What, then, does the Lord proclaim; he, the God of hosts, he, the Prince of Israel? Out upon it, I will rid myself of these rebels, my enemies shall have their deserts.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	1	25	And then I will take thee in hand again, smelting thee till thou art free from dross, purging away all that base alloy.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	1	26	Once more I will give thee judges like the judges of old, counsellors like the counsellors of past days, and thou shalt be called the home of right, the faithful city.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	1	27	Right and justice shall be done, when Sion is redeemed, when her exiles return;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	1	28	with one blow, the wayward sinner shall be overthrown, by the Lord he has forsaken doomed to perish.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	1	29	Tree-idols that have played you false, fond trust in your garden-shrines, you shall learn to rue them;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	1	30	yourselves but an oak-tree whose leaves are falling, a garden unwatered;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	1	31	when all your strength is like smouldering tow, and the idols you have made but a spark to set light to it, until both burn together, with none to quench them.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	2	1	This is a message which was revealed to Isaias, the son of Amos, about Juda and Jerusalem.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	2	2	In later days, the mountain where the Lord dwells will be lifted high above the mountain-tops, looking down over the hills, and all nations will flock there together.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	2	3	A multitude of peoples will make their way to it, crying, Come, let us climb up to the Lord’s mountain-peak, to the house where the God of Jacob dwells; he shall teach us the right way, we will walk in the paths he has chosen. The Lord’s commands shall go out from Sion, his word from Jerusalem,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	2	4	and he will sit in judgement on the nations, giving his award to a multitude of peoples. They will melt down their swords into plough-shares, their spears into pruning-hooks, nation levying war against nation and training itself for battle no longer.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	2	5	Come you too (they will say), children of Jacob, let us walk together in the path where the Lord shews us light.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	2	6	And still they are cast off, these children of Jacob, the Lord’s own people; ever since they grew rich, like the men who went before them, and began to trust in divination, like the Philistines, and to ally themselves with men of alien breed.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	2	7	A land full of silver and gold, with no end to its treasures,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	2	8	a land full of horses and chariots innumerable; a land full of idols, where men worship the devices their own hands have made.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	2	9	For this, high and low fall to earth, abate their human pride; and shall they find forgiveness?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	2	10	See where the Lord comes, in all his terrors, in all the glory of his majesty; take refuge, now, in some rock-cavern, hide thee in some pit!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	2	11	Now indeed man’s haughty looks must fall to earth, human pride must be abated; no room for any greatness but the Lord’s, when that day comes.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	2	12	The day of the Lord of hosts! With the dawn of it all human pomp and state must be overshadowed, all human magnificence grow dim.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	2	13	High it will rise above the cedars of Lebanon, that grow so straight and tall, above the oaks of Basan;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	2	14	above aspiring mountain and swelling hill;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	2	15	above every topless tower, every impregnable citadel,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	2	16	above all the navies of Tharsis, above every sight that is fair to see.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	2	17	Shall not man’s greatness fall to earth, shall not human pride be abated then? No room for any magnificence but the Lord’s, when that day comes.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	2	18	Vanished the false gods,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	2	19	only cave in the rock, crevice in the ground will afford shelter, when the Lord comes, great and terrible, when he rises up to smite earth with dread!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	2	20	Flung away, when that day comes, idols of silver and gold they once made and worshipped; moles and bats all their worship now,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	2	21	as they slink into clefts of the hills, into rocky caverns, to hide themselves from the terrors of the Lord’s coming, from this sublime majesty that daunts the earth!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	2	22	Trouble mankind no more; this at least man can boast, he has the breath of life in his nostrils.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	3	1	See where the Lord of hosts, our Master, takes away from Jerusalem and from Juda all that was valiant and strong, all the support they had against famine and thirst!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	3	2	Gone the hero and the warrior, judge and prophet, diviner and senator,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	3	3	captain of the watch, and nobleman, and counsellor, and skilful workman, and master of charms.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	3	4	Only boys will be left to rule, and wantonness shall govern all;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	3	5	the citizens coming to blows, neighbour falling out with neighbour; for age and rank there shall be no reverence.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	3	6	Here is one catching hold of his own brother, his own house-mate, What (says he) hast thou a coat to thy back? Be our chieftain, then; take these ruins into thy keeping.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	3	7	And the other answers, Who, I? Nay, I have no doctor’s skill. As for my house, there is neither bread nor coat in it; ruler thou shalt never make of me.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	3	8	Jerusalem in ruins, Juda lying prostrate! Whispering and scheming of theirs defied the Lord, challenged his divine scrutiny.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	3	9	Their hang-dog looks betray them; they publish their guilt abroad, like the men of Sodom, making no secret of it. Ill-fated souls, retribution has come upon them.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	3	10	For the just, courage! His reward is earned;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	3	11	but woe betide the sinner! He shall be repaid for his ill deeds.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	3	12	My people has been despoiled by the tyrants that rule it; women have gained power over it; those who call thee happy, my people, are deceiving thee, are luring thee into false paths.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	3	13	Even now the Lord stands ready to hold his assize, waits there to pass judgement on all nations.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	3	14	The Lord will enter into a reckoning with the senators and the rulers of his people: You have made spoil of the vineyard, your houses are full of the plunder you have taken from the oppressed;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	3	15	what means it, that you ride roughshod over my people, that you spurn the right of friendless folk? Such warning he gives you, the Lord God of hosts.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	3	16	This, too, the Lord says: See what airs they put on, the women-folk of Sion, walk head in air, look about them with glancing eyes, click the trappings on their feet with mincing steps. Ay, but the Lord has his doom ready for them;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	3	17	bald of head and bare of temple the women of Sion shall know it.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	3	18	In one day the Lord will sweep away all their finery, the shoes with the rest; locket,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	3	19	and collar, necklace and bracelet and veil;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	3	20	hair-pin, ankle-ring, chain, scent-box, pendant,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	3	21	signet-ring and nose-ring;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	3	22	gala dress and gown and scarf, bodkin
 Isaiah	Isa	27	3	23	and mirror and shawl and riband and kerchief.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	3	24	There will be new fashions then; stench for scent, hempen rope for waist-band, baldness for curls, and hair shirt for stomacher.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	3	25	Of the men-folk, too, all that is fairest shall fall by the sword, all that is bravest, slain in battle.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	3	26	See where she sits on the ground desolate, every gateway of hers full of sorrow and lament!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	4	1	Day of desolation! Here are seven women catching hold of one man, and promi-sing, We will earn our bread, find ourselves in clothing; only let us bear thy name, and be saved from the reproach of barrenness!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	4	2	When that day comes, bud and fruit there shall be, of the Lord’s fostering; burgeoning of glory made manifest, harvest of our soil, the trophy of Israel’s gleanings.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	4	3	Set apart for him, all that dwell in Sion now, all that survive the city’s purging; none else will be left alive in Jerusalem,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	4	4	when the Lord sweeps away the guilt of Sion’s women-folk, washes Jerusalem clean from the blood that stains her, with the searing breath of his judgement.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	4	5	And over mount Sion, the shrine of his name, cloud shall hang by day, glowing haze by night, a veil for glory.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	4	6	Canopy they shall have, to shade them from the day’s heat, a refuge to give them shelter from storm and rain.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	5	1	A song, now, in honour of one that is my good friend; a song about a near kinsman of mine, and the vineyard that he had. This friend, that I love well, had a vineyard in a corner of his ground, all fruitfulness.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	5	2	He fenced it in, and cleared it of stones, and planted a choice vine there; built a tower, too, in the middle, and set up a wine-press in it. Then he waited for grapes to grow on it, and it bore wild grapes instead.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	5	3	And now, citizens of Jerusalem, and all you men of Juda, I call upon you to give award between my vineyard and me.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	5	4	What more could I have done for it? What say you of the wild grapes it bore, instead of the grapes I looked for?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	5	5	Let me tell you, then, what I mean to do to this vineyard of mine. I mean to rob it of its hedge, so that all can plunder it, to break down its wall, so that it will be trodden under foot.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	5	6	I mean to make waste-land of it; no more pruning and digging; only briars and thorns will grow there, and I will forbid the clouds to water it.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	5	7	Alas, it is the house of Israel that the Lord called his vineyard; the men of Juda are the plot he loved so. He looked to find right reason there, and all was treason; to find plain dealing, and he heard only the plaint of the oppressed.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	5	8	Woe upon you, that must ever be acquiring house after house, field after neighbouring field, till all the world goes wanting! Would you have the whole land to yourselves to live in?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	5	9	The news of all this has reached me, says the Lord of hosts; see if I do not leave these many houses, these fine great houses of yours, lonely and untenanted.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	5	10	Wait, till you find ten acres of vine-land yielding but one flagon of wine, thirty bushels of seed-corn yielding but three.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	5	11	Woe upon you, the men who must be up betimes to go a-drinking, and sit late into the evening, till you are heated with wine!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	5	12	Still you must have zither and harp, tambour and flute and wine for your entertainment; you give no thought to God’s dealings, to the world his hands have made.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	5	13	It is this inconsiderateness that has made my people homeless exiles, their nobles starving, and common folk parched with thirst;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	5	14	that is why the abyss hungers for you, opens its greedy jaws, till all alike, the nobles of Sion and her common sort, that boast and triumph now, go down to its depths.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	5	15	The low-born must fall, the high-born abate his pride; the eyes of the boaster will be downcast;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	5	16	doom, by which the Lord of hosts will be exalted, just award, by which the God of holiness will shew holier yet!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	5	17	There, with his flocks browsing undisturbed, the stranger shall enjoy the rich pastures you left a wilderness.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	5	18	Woe upon you, that lightly harness yourselves to ill-doing, and draw down upon you, as with a strong rope, its guilt!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	5	19	What is this, you say, that the Holy One of Israel threatens? Quick, no waiting; let us know the worst, and with all speed!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	5	20	Woe upon you, the men who call evil good, and good evil; whose darkness is light, whose light darkness; who take bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	5	21	Woe upon you, that think yourselves wise, and boast of your own foresight!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	5	22	Woe upon you, heroes of the tankard, brave hearts round the mixing-bowl,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	5	23	that take bribes to acquit the guilty, and rob the innocent of his rights!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	5	24	See how stubble is eaten away by the fire that licks round it, melting away into the heat of the flame; so the root of them will turn to smouldering embers, and the fruit of them will go up like flying ashes; men who reject the law of the God of hosts, who defy every warning from the Holy One of Israel.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	5	25	That is why the Lord’s anger against his people has been so fierce; that is why his hand has been raised to smite them, so that the mountains trembled at it, and corpses lay unregarded like dung in the streets. But even so his anger is not yet appeased, his hand threatens us still.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	5	26	And now he will raise up among the distant nations one people to be a signal to the rest; he will whistle it up from the ends of the earth, swiftly and suddenly it will answer his call.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	5	27	Not a man in those ranks that will faint or lag behind; none grows weary or falls asleep; never a belt is unbuckled, never a shoe-string loosed.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	5	28	Sharp arrows this people has, and all its bows are ready bent; it has horses with hoofs like flint, and chariot-wheels like the rushing of the storm.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	5	29	No lion roars so loud; it will roar as lion-cubs do, growling and holding its prey fast, encircling it so that none can bring rescue.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	5	30	Sounds of dread shall usher in that day, loud as the roaring of the sea; look where you will, all shall be dark with misery; light itself will be darkened by the shadow of its coming.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	6	1	In the year of king Ozias’ death, I had a vision. I saw the Lord sitting on a throne that towered high above me, the skirts of his robe filling the temple.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	6	2	Above it rose the figures of the seraphim, each of them six-winged; with two wings they veiled God’s face, with two his feet, and the other two kept them poised in flight.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	6	3	And ever the same cry passed between them, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts; all the earth is full of his glory.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	6	4	The lintels over the doors rang with the sound of that cry, and smoke went up, filling the temple courts.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	6	5	Alas, said I, that I must needs keep silence; my lips, and the lips of all my countrymen, are polluted with sin; and yet these eyes have looked upon their King, the Lord of hosts.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	6	6	Whereupon one of the seraphim flew up to me, bearing a coal which he had taken with a pair of tongs from the altar;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	6	7	he touched my mouth with it, and said, Now that this has touched thy lips, thy guilt is swept away, thy sin pardoned.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	6	8	And now I heard the Lord say, Who shall be my messenger? Who is to go on this errand of ours? And I said, I am here at thy command; make me thy messenger.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	6	9	Go then, said he, and give a message to this people of mine: Listen as you will, but ever without understanding; watch all, and nothing perceive!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	6	10	Thy office is to dull the hearts of this people of mine, deaden their ears, dazzle their eyes, so that they cannot see with those eyes, hear with those ears, understand with that heart, and turn back to me, and win healing.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	6	11	For how long, Lord? I asked. And he said, Till the cities are left unpeopled, and the houses untenanted, and the whole land a wilderness.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	6	12	The Lord will send its people into exile far away; wider, ever wider desolation must spread over it.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	6	13	Though a tenth of their number remain, it is but empty show, like leafage of terebinth or oak that needs pruning; only a remnant of it will be left, the true stock of holiness.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	7	1	Afterwards, in the reign of Achaz, whose father was Ozias’ son Joathan, an attack was made upon Jerusalem by Rasin, king of Syria, and Phacee, son of Romelia, king of Israel. As it proved, they were not strong enough to take it;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	7	2	but when the news reached David’s palace that Syria had gained a footing in Ephraim, the hearts of Achaz and his people trembled like forest trees before the wind.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	7	3	Then it was that the Lord said to Isaias, Take with thee thy son, Jashub the Survivor, and go out to the end of the aqueduct that feeds the upper pool in the Fuller’s Ground. There thou wilt meet Achaz,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	7	4	and this shall be thy message to him, Shew a calm front, do not be afraid. Must thy heart fail thee because Rasin king of Syria and the son of Romelia are thy sworn enemies? What is either of them but the smouldering stump of a fire-brand?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	7	5	What if Syria, what if Ephraim and the son of Romelia are plotting to do thee an injury?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	7	6	They think to invade Juda and strike terror into it, so that they can bring it into their power, and set up the son of Tabeel as its ruler;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	7	7	a vain errand, the Lord says; it shall not be.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	7	8	As surely as Damascus rules Syria, and Rasin rules Damascus, within sixty-five years Ephraim will be a people no longer.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	7	9	As surely as Samaria rules Ephraim, and the son of Romelia rules Samaria, if you lose courage, your cause is lost.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	7	10	The Lord sent, besides, this message to Achaz,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	7	11	Ask the Lord thy God to give thee a sign, in the depths beneath thee, or in the height above thee.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	7	12	But Achaz said, Nay, I will not ask for a sign; I will not put the Lord to the test.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	7	13	Why then, said Isaias, listen to me, you that are of David’s race. Cannot you be content with trying the patience of men? Must you try my God’s patience too?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	7	14	Sign you ask none, but sign the Lord will give you. Maid shall be with child, and shall bear a son, that shall be called Emmanuel.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	7	15	On butter and honey shall be his thriving, till he is of age to know good from harm;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	7	16	already, before he can tell this from that, king they shall have none, the two kingdoms that are thy rivals.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	7	17	As for thee, and for thy people, and for thy father’s house, the Lord means to bring upon thee such days of trouble as have not been seen since Ephraim parted from Juda, with the coming of the king of Assyria.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	7	18	Days when the Lord will whistle up those plagues of his, yonder flies that hatch by the last rivers of Egypt; yonder bees, that hive in the land of Assur.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	7	19	Invading swarms, that settle even upon mountain, gully and rock, cavern; thicket is none, nor underground pit, shall be safe from them.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	7	20	Hard times, when the Lord will be hiring mercenaries from beyond Euphrates, the king of Assyria’s men, and will leave you quite bare, hair of head and legs shaved close with this hired rasor of his, and the beard too!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	7	21	Hard times, when one heifer and a pair of sheep are all the stock a man has;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	7	22	milk plentiful, so that he has butter to eat; of butter and honey the survivors will have no lack;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	7	23	but where once a thousand vines grew, each worth a silver piece, all will be thorns and brushwood.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	7	24	Covert of thorns and brushwood, where men go armed with bow and arrows;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	7	25	only the hill-sides, that have felt the hoe, shall be free from the terrors of the covert, and these the cattle shall graze, the sheep trample under foot.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	8	1	Then the Lord said to me, Take a great scroll, and write on it, in thy human penmanship, the words, Spoiler, haste; there’s plunder afoot.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	8	2	I took care to have men of credit for my witnesses, the priest Urias and Zacharias, son of Barachias.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	8	3	Afterwards, when the prophetess conceived and bore me a son, the Lord said to me, Call him by this name, Spoiler, haste; there’s plunder afoot.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	8	4	This boy will not have learned to use the words Father and Mother, before the king of Assyria comes to carry off the wealth of Damascus, the spoils of Samaria.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	8	5	And the Lord went on to say to me,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	8	6	This people of mine has cut itself off from the gently-flowing waters of Siloe, to welcome Rasin and the son of Romelia instead;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	8	7	and now the Lord will bring the waters of Euphrates upon it, in full flood; I mean the king of the Assyrians, in all his greatness. This flood will fill up all the channels of the river, overflow all its banks,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	8	8	till it pours over Juda, overwhelming her and reaching up to her very neck. Wings spread out wide, till they cover the whole breadth of thy own land, Emmanuel, the God who is with us!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	8	9	Muster, then, you peoples, to your own overthrow; obey the call, distant lands, in vain; summon up your valour, arm yourselves in vain!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	8	10	All your scheming baffled, all your boasts belied; God is with us!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	8	11	Strict warning the Lord has given me, I must not fall in with the fashion of Israel;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	8	12	Not for thee and thine to go about crying Treason; this people is for ever crying treason. Not for thee and thine to go in fear, dismayed like these others;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	8	13	enthrone the Lord of hosts above all else, him you must fear, of him stand in awe.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	8	14	Let the hour of peril consecrate you to him; for the rest, both in Israel and in Juda, it will be a stone to trip men’s feet, a boulder that catches them unawares. A trap, a fine snare, for the citizens of Jerusalem;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	8	15	and there are many of them that will stumble, and fall, and bruise themselves, caught in its meshes.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	8	16	(Now to guard the prophetic record close, now to seal up these instructions, in the keeping of my disciples!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	8	17	What though the Lord hide his face from the men of Israel? To him will I look, and wait patiently for him;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	8	18	here stand I, and these children the Lord has given me, a portent, a warning sent to Israel by the Lord of hosts, who dwells on mount Sion.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	8	19	Men will bid you consult wizard and diviner, that talk in ghostly voices over their enchantments; Who doubts, they say, God will send his own people answer, an oracle from the dead to the living?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	8	20	By these instructions rather abide, this record of prophecy; who follows other inspiration, shall not see the dawn.)
 Isaiah	Isa	27	8	21	As for the invader, he shall meet with disaster, and then famine. Famine-stricken, he will turn with curses against his king, his god; first looking upwards
 Isaiah	Isa	27	8	22	and then to earth, to find nothing but distress and darkness, ruin and want, with night pressing hard upon him; from his calamity there is no escaping.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	9	1	Land of Zabulon and Nephthali, its burden at first how lightly borne! but after-wards affliction weighed on it, Galilee, by the sea road where the Gentiles dwell west of Jordan.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	9	2	And now the people that went about in darkness has seen a great light; for men abiding in a land where death overshadowed them, light has dawned.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	9	3	Their number thou didst increase, but gavest them no joy of it; now, they shall rejoice in thy presence, as men rejoice when the harvest is in, as men triumph when victory is won, and booty taken, and they fall to dividing up the spoils.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	9	4	Yoke that fixed the burden, shaft that galled the shoulder, rod of the tyrant, all lie broken now, as they did long ago, when Madian fell.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	9	5	All the trophies of the old tumultuous forays, all the panoply stained with blood, will be burnt up now, will go to feed the flames.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	9	6	For our sakes a child is born, to our race a son is given, whose shoulder will bear the sceptre of princely power. What name shall be given him? Peerless among counsellors, the mighty God, Father of the world to come, the Prince of peace.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	9	7	Ever wider shall his dominion spread, endlessly at peace; he will sit on David’s kingly throne, to give it lasting foundations of justice and right; so tenderly he loves us, the Lord of hosts.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	9	8	Meanwhile, the Lord has issued his sentence against Jacob, his writ is out against Israel:
 Isaiah	Isa	27	9	9	Ephraim will soon know of it, all the citizens of Samaria. Fools, that boast in the pride of their hearts:
 Isaiah	Isa	27	9	10	The brick houses have fallen, we must build them up in stone; the sycamores have been cut down, we must plant cedars instead!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	9	11	The Lord will make Rasin’s rivals more powerful than Rasin himself; all the enemies of Israel he will set astir,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	9	12	Syria on the East, and the Philistines in the west, that will fall upon him wide-mouthed. And even so the Lord’s anger is not appeased; his hand threatens us still.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	9	13	Alas for the people that will not come back to God, who chastens it; that leaves the Lord of hosts unregarded as ever!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	9	14	And now, in one day, the Lord will cut off from Israel both head and tail, both pliant reed and stubborn bough.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	9	15	(What is the head, but the senator that holds his head so high? What is the tail, but the prophet that gives lying assurances?)
 Isaiah	Isa	27	9	16	False guides, that promised all was well; fools that gave them credence, to their own undoing!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	9	17	Pride in their warriors the Lord has none, pity for orphan and widow has none; all are false and worthless, no mouth but talks presumptuously. Even so the Lord’s anger is not appeased, his hand threatens us still.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	9	18	Our wickedness is like a raging fire, that will devour brushwood and thorn-bush, then set light to the forest’s tangled boughs; see how proudly yonder column of smoke whirls upward!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	9	19	Fiery vengeance of the Lord of hosts, that ravages country-side and devours citizen! Brother shews brother no mercy;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	9	20	turn he to the right, nought but famine is there; eat he what comes to his left hand, he is yet hungry, so that at last he will fall on his own flesh and blood, Manasses on Ephraim and Ephraim on Manasses, and both will be banded together against Juda.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	9	21	And even so the Lord’s anger is not appeased; his hand threatens us still.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	10	1	Out upon you, that enact ill decrees, and draw up instruments of wrong;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	10	2	suppress the claims of the poor, and refuse redress to humble folk; the widow your spoil, the orphan your prey!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	10	3	What shifts will you be put to, when the day of reckoning comes, when the storm overtakes you that is brewing far away? With whom take refuge, where hide away your treasures?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	10	4	Yours to crouch down in chains, or fall among the massacred. And even so the Lord’s wrath is not appeased, his hand threatens us still.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	10	5	Woe, too, upon the Assyrian! What is he but the rod that executes my vengeance, the instrument of my displeasure?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	10	6	I have sent him to punish one nation that has proved false to me; against one defiant people he holds my warrant; let him prey on it as he will, carry off what spoils he will, trample it like the mire in the streets.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	10	7	Not such are his own thoughts, not such the dreams he cherishes; he dreams of extermination, of realm after realm dispeopled.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	10	8	Are not my chieftains, he says,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	10	9	as good as kings, every one of them? What difference between Charcamis and Calano, between Arphad and Emath, between Damascus and Samaria?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	10	10	I have had my way with the kingdoms that worship false gods; shall it not be the same with the images they worship at Jerusalem and Samaria?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	10	11	May I not treat Jerusalem and her images as I treated Samaria and her false gods?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	10	12	Wait we, till the Lord has carried out all his designs upon mount Sion and Jerusalem. Then he means to reckon with the boastful ambition of Sennacherib, with the proud glance of those scornful eyes.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	10	13	My own strength (the king says to himself) has done all this, my own wisdom has planned it; I have removed the frontiers of nations, I have robbed princes of their treasure, with a strong hand I have pulled down rulers from their thrones.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	10	14	Mighty peoples, and my hand closed over them like a nest; I gathered up a whole world, as a man gathers up eggs that lie abandoned; no flapping of wings, no angry screech to forbid me.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	10	15	Poor fool, can axe set itself up against woodman, saw defy carpenter? Shall the rod turn on him who wields it, the staff, that is but wood, try conclusions with a living man?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	10	16	What says our Master, the Lord of hosts? He will send a wasting sickness into that gorged frame; beneath that pride a living firebrand shall burn, burn deep.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	10	17	He who is our light will turn into a fire, the Holy One of Israel will be a flame, that will burn up suddenly; in one day those thorn-bushes, that dry brushwood shall be consumed.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	10	18	Like a proud forest, or a garden plot, he shall be eaten up, body and soul; see where he flies in terror!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	10	19	Of all the trees in that forest so few shall be left, a child might count them.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	10	20	And when that day comes, the remnant of Israel, the survivors of Jacob’s line, will learn to trust, not in the staff that turns into rod to smite them, but in the Lord, the Holy One of Israel; here he shall find loyalty.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	10	21	A remnant will turn back, only a remnant of Jacob, to God, the Mighty One.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	10	22	Countless though Israel be as the sea sand, only a remnant of it will return; there must be a sharp reckoning first, before we are restored, abundantly, to his favour.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	10	23	Short and sharp is the reckoning the Lord, the God of hosts, will make, with the whole world for the scene of it.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	10	24	Here, then, is a message for you from the Lord, the God of hosts: Never lose heart, men of Sion, my own people, before the Assyrian, rod though he have to smite thee, staff to chastise thee, when thou meetest him on the road to Egypt.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	10	25	Wait for a little, for a short moment wait, and my angry vengeance for his ill doings shall find full scope.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	10	26	The Lord of hosts will bring the lash down upon him, as he did once on Madian at the rock Oreb; by the sea-shore, on the road to Egypt, his rod will be uplifted.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	10	27	And with that, thy shoulder will be eased of the burden, the yoke will fall from thy neck, yoke that has gone rotten for want of oil.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	10	28	See where he enters Aiath, crosses to Magron, halts his baggage-train at Machmas!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	10	29	Already the pass lies behind them; Geba will be theirs by nightfall. In Rama, what terror! Saul’s own city of Gabaa is in flight.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	10	30	Cry aloud, maidens of Gallim, and listen, Laisa, to the cry; woe upon thee, poor Anathoth!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	10	31	Medemena stands empty; now, men of Gabim, you need courage!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	10	32	Daylight still! Why, he will make his halt at Nobe, threaten the mountain where queen Sion stands, the very hill of Jerusalem!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	10	33	Then, as we look, our Master, the Lord of hosts, will spread terror among them, and break them like earthenware. Yield greatness, and pride topple;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	10	34	axe-iron for yonder tangled forest, the strength of Lebanon outmatched!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	11	1	From the stock of Jesse a scion shall burgeon yet; out of his roots a flower shall spring.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	11	2	One shall be born, on whom the spirit of the Lord will rest; a spirit wise and discerning, a spirit prudent and strong, a spirit of knowledge and of piety,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	11	3	and ever fear of the Lord shall fill his heart. Not his to judge by appearances, listen to rumours when he makes award;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	11	4	here is judgement will give the poor redress, here is award will right the wrongs of the defenceless. Word of him shall smite the earth like a rod, breath of him destroy the ill-doer;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	11	5	love of right shall be the baldric he wears, faithfulness the strength that girds him.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	11	6	Wolf shall live at peace with lamb, leopard take its ease with kid; calf and lion and sheep in one dwelling-place, with a little child to herd them!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	11	7	Cattle and bears all at pasture, their young ones lying down together, lion eating straw like ox;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	11	8	child new-weaned, fresh from its mother’s arms, playing by asp’s hole, putting hand in viper’s den!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	11	9	All over this mountain, my sanctuary, no hurt shall be done, no life taken. Deep as the waters that hide the sea-floor, knowledge of the Lord overspreading the world!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	11	10	There he stands, fresh root from Jesse’s stem, signal beckoning to the peoples all around; the Gentiles will come to pay their homage, where he rests in glory.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	11	11	Then, once again, the Lord’s hand at work! From Assyria, from Egypt, Pathros and Ethiopia, from Elam and Sennaar, from Emath, from the islands out at sea, his people, a scattered remnant, shall return.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	11	12	High lifted, for a world to see it, the standard that shall call Israel home, gather in the exiled sons of Juda from the four corners of the earth.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	11	13	Gone, Ephraim’s envious looks, vanished away Juda’s enemies; Ephraim shall hate Juda, Juda harry Ephraim, no more.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	11	14	Together they will sweep down on Philistia’s neck, there by the western sea; plunder the children of the east, Edom and Moab in their grasp, the sons of Ammon pliant to their will.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	11	15	And the Lord will make a desert out of the tongue of sea that flanks Egypt; with the blast of his breath he will threaten Euphrates, dividing it into seven streams, that a man can cross dry-shod.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	11	16	And so the remnant of my people which is left among the Assyrians will find a path made for it, as a path was made for it when it came up out of Egypt, long ago.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	12	1	Angry with me, Lord? thou wilt say, when that day comes; ay, thou wast angry with me, but now, praised be thy name, the storm has passed; all is consolation.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	12	2	God is here to deliver me; I will go forward confidently, and not be afraid; source of my strength, theme of my praise, the Lord has made himself my protector.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	12	3	So, rejoicing, you shall drink deep from the fountain of deliverance;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	12	4	singing, when that day comes, Praise the Lord, and call upon his name, tell the story of his doings among all the nations, keep the majesty of his name in grateful remembrance.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	12	5	Sing in honour of the great deeds the Lord has done, make them known for all the world to hear.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	12	6	Cry aloud in praise, people of Sion; great is the Holy One of Israel, that dwells among you.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	13	1	The burden that awaits Babylon, as it was revealed to Isaias, son of Amos.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	13	2	A signal raised amid the shadow of the mountain, voices lifted, and a waving of hands; all is ready for the captains to march in through the city gates.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	13	3	These are my chosen warriors, doing my bidding; my champions whom I have summoned to execute my vengeance; they boast of my renown.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	13	4	The hills echo with the voices of a multitude, as if a host had gathered; voices of assembled kings, of whole peoples mustered there; the Lord of hosts is marshalling his troops for battle.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	13	5	They come from far away, from the most distant region under heaven; the Lord is angry, and these are the instruments of his vengeance, to lay a whole world waste.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	13	6	Cry aloud, for the day of the Lord is coming; his the dominion, his the doom.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	13	7	No hand now but will hang useless, no heart but will be fainting with dismay;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	13	8	tortures and pangs will seize them, throes as of a woman in travail; each man looks at his neighbour in bewilderment, their faces ashy pale.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	13	9	Yes, the day of the Lord is coming, pitiless, full of vengeance and bitter retribution, ready to turn earth into a wilderness, ridding it of its sinful brood.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	13	10	The stars of heaven, its glittering constellations, will shed no ray; sunrise will be darkness, and the moon refuse her light.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	13	11	I will punish the world’s guilt, and tax the wicked with their misdoings, stilling the rebel’s pride, crushing the haughtiness of tyrants,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	13	12	till a man is a rarer sight than gold, and a slave cannot be bought with all the treasure of Ophir.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	13	13	So terribly will I shake the heavens, and move earth from its place, to shew that the Lord of hosts will be patient no longer, and the hour of his bitter vengeance has come.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	13	14	Men will take to flight as deer or sheep would, with none to marshal them, each turning towards his own home, seeking refuge in his own country.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	13	15	Whoever is found left behind will be slain, and those who are encountered in the open will fall at the sword’s point;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	13	16	their children will be dashed to pieces before their eyes, their houses plundered, their wives ravished.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	13	17	With such an enemy I mean to embroil them; the Medians, who reck nothing of silver, who are not to be tempted with gold;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	13	18	they will make young boys a target for their arrows, have no pity for pregnant mothers, no kindly glance for children.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	13	19	So Babylon, the pride of many nations, glory and boast of the Chaldeans, will go the way of Sodom and Gomorrha, cities which the Lord overthrew.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	13	20	It shall remain for ever uninhabited; generation after generation will pass, but it will not be founded again; even the Arabs will not pitch their tents, wandering shepherds will not find a lodging there.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	13	21	Wild beasts will make their lairs in it, its houses will be tenanted by serpents; ostriches will nest there, and satyrs dance;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	13	22	the owls will hoot to one another in its palaces, birds of ill omen in its temples of delight.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	14	1	The day of her doom is close at hand, not long the respite that will be granted her. And now the Lord will have pity on Jacob; on the sons of Israel, his chosen people as of old. On their own lands they shall live undisturbed, whose new inhabitants will make common cause with them, and throw in their lot with Jacob’s race.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	14	2	Alien peoples will take them by the hand, to escort them back to their home; content now to be Israel’s servants and hand-maidens, the captors captive, the oppressors tributary now.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	14	3	When that time comes, when the Lord gives thee respite from all the hardship and turmoil and drudgery of old days,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	14	4	it will be thy turn to have thy say against the king of Babylon. Can it be (thou wilt say) that the tyranny is over, the exactions at an end?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	14	5	The Lord has broken the staff in the hands of the wicked, the rod that oppressed us;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	14	6	the rod whose mortal stroke once fell on the peoples so angrily, tamed the nations so cruelly, persecuted, and would not spare.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	14	7	The whole earth, now, sinks back into ease; listen to its cry of rejoicing!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	14	8	The very fir-trees and the cedars of Lebanon triumph over thee; no woodman comes near us any longer, since thou wast laid to rest.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	14	9	The shadow world beneath is astir with preparation for thy coming; wakes up its giants to greet thee. The great ones of the world, that ruled the nations, rise up from the thrones where they sit,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	14	10	hailing thee with a single voice, Thou too brought low as ourselves, thou too like us!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	14	11	All thy pride sunk down into the world beneath, and there thy corpse lies, with the moth for its shroud, worms for its cerecloth.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	14	12	What, fallen from heaven, thou Lucifer, that once didst herald the dawn? Prostrate on the earth, that didst once bring nations to their knees?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	14	13	I will scale the heavens (such was thy thought); I will set my throne higher than God’s stars, take my seat at his own trysting-place, at the meeting of the northern hills;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	14	14	I will soar above the level of the clouds, the rival of the most High.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	14	15	Thine, instead, to be dragged down into the world beneath, into the heart of the abyss.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	14	16	Who that sees thee there, but will peer down at thee and read thy story: Can this be the man who once shook the world, and made thrones totter;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	14	17	who turned earth into a desert, its cities into ruins; never granted prisoner release?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	14	18	For those other kings, honourable burial, each in his own palace;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	14	19	thee the grave itself rejects, like a withered root, like a thing unclean. Rots thy corpse unrecognized, beneath yonder coverlet of men slain, that went down to the deep pit together;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	14	20	no fellowship hast thou with those others, no share in their sepulture, thou who didst lead thy country to ruin, thou, who didst bring destruction on thy people. The posterity of the wicked shall be nameless for ever;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	14	21	for the guilt they have inherited, his sons too must be slain, they must not live to make the land their own, and people the world with cities.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	14	22	A message from the Lord of hosts: Now I mean to take arms against them, to destroy Babylon name and fame, root and branch.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	14	23	I will make the place over to the hedge-hog, turn it into standing pools; I will sweep it clean, the Lord of hosts says, sweep it clean away.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	14	24	And now the Lord of hosts has taken an oath, his doom shall be executed, his design shall stand:
 Isaiah	Isa	27	14	25	In this my own land I will break the power of Assyria, upon these hills I will trample him under foot. Gone his yoke; there shall be no more shouldering his burden;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	14	26	such purpose I have for the world’s ordering; my hand once lifted, all the nations must bow.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	14	27	The Lord’s decree, who shall annul it? The Lord’s power, who shall thwart it?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	14	28	And in the year of king Achaz’s death, a fresh burden was imposed:
 Isaiah	Isa	27	14	29	Too soon, Philistia, thou wouldst make public holiday over the breaking of the rod that smote thee. The serpent has gone, but he has left a basilisk stock behind him; a race that can catch birds on the wing.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	14	30	Here, then, shall be food for the very poorest; beggar man shall lie down in safety; thee I will destroy with famine root and branch, slay all the remnant that is left in thee.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	14	31	All thy gates, now, must echo with lament, all thy cities ring with cries; all Philistia swoons away. From the north a smoke comes ever nearer, signal of an army none may escape.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	14	32	Our news when the world asks, what message? Tell them Sion never rested in the Lord so surely; here be friendless folk that trust in him.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	15	1	What burden for Moab? Ar Moab has fallen in a night, and all is still; Moab’s battlements have fallen in a night, and all is still!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	15	2	Prince and people of Dibon have gone up to the hill-shrines to lament; on Nabo and on Medaba, Moab cries aloud, every head cropped, every beard shaved in mourning.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	15	3	In the streets, men walk girded with sackcloth; house-top and square echo with loud crying, that breaks into tears.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	15	4	The dirge goes up from Hesebon and Eleale, so loud that Jasa hears it; well may the warriors of Moab cry out; the very soul of Moab utters a cry.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	15	5	My heart laments for Moab, once ringed with walled cities as far as Segor; Segor that now moans like a full-grown heifer. There is weeping on the slopes of Luith; along the Oronaim road they wail aloud for misery.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	15	6	The waters of Nemrim will turn into desert; old grass has withered, new grass has failed, and their banks are green no more.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	15	7	Heavy their reckoning, to match the abundance of their riches; a nation in exile, carried away to the Vale of Willows.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	15	8	A cry goes up all about the frontiers of Moab; Gallim echoes the lament, and the well of Elim hears the sound of it.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	15	9	Dibon’s waters already swollen with blood; and still for Dibon I have perils in store, lions to meet the fugitives, the remnant that is left in the land of Moab.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	16	1	Send forth (O Lord) a lamb to be ruler of the land, from Petra in the desert to the hill where queen Sion reigns.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	16	2	There they will be, the women-folk of Moab, waiting at the ford of Arnon, like fluttered birds, fledgelings that have taken wing from the nest;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	16	3	there are plans to be made, deliberations to be held; Shelter us, like the shadow, dark as night, that gives shelter at noon-day; hide these fugitives of ours, do not betray them in their wanderings;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	16	4	let them dwell as exiles in your land; poor Moab, give it sanctuary from threat of the invader! But see, the dust of armies has died down, the guilty wretch has met his end; vanished and gone, who trampled the world under foot!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	16	5	Mercy and faithfulness return; a throne set up in David’s dwelling-place, for a judge that loves right and gives redress speedily!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	16	6	The boasting of Moab has long been in our ears; who so boastful as he? Proud, scornful, and overbearing, with dreams that came to nothing.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	16	7	So, from one end of Moab to the other, there is a dirge, everywhere a dirge; for yonder folk, that live content behind walls of hardened brick, tidings of ruin.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	16	8	The fields about Hesebon lie deserted; alien chieftains have rooted up the vineyard of Sabama, whose shoots once reached as far as Jazer, strayed through the wilderness; forlorn, now, its tendrils, wandering overseas.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	16	9	I will weep, then, as Jazer weeps, for the vineyard of Sabama, water Hesebon and Eleale with my tears. That thy vineyard, thy vintage-time should be disturbed by the cry of trampling armies!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	16	10	All joy, all triumph gone from that fruitful land of thine; no mirth, no gaiety left; the presses shall be trampled no more by the labourers we knew; forgotten, now, the cry that used to go up when they trod the grapes.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	16	11	For Moab, my inmost being thrills like a harp’s strings; my heart goes out to those brick-walled cities of hers.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	16	12	What shift will she make, when all goes ill with her on the heights? Prayer of hers, recourse to those shrines of hers, shall nothing avail her?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	16	13	Such was the word the Lord spoke to Moab, long since,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	16	14	and now he declares his purpose: In three years, by the time a labourer’s contract is out, Moab, so populous now, shall be shorn of her glory; shall be left small and weak, a thriving nation no longer.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	17	1	What burden for Damascus? Damascus, too, shall cease to be a city, shall become a heap of stones in ruin:
 Isaiah	Isa	27	17	2	the cities of Aroer will lie, now, abandoned to flocks, that take their ease undisturbed.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	17	3	Ephraim protected no more, Damascus a kingdom no more, what is left of Syria will enjoy no more renown than Israel itself; such is her doom from the Lord of hosts.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	17	4	The renown of Jacob, little enough will it be when that day comes; nothing but skin and bone will be left.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	17	5	Scanty as the corn a man gathers in his arm when he picks up what is left after the harvest, some gleaner in the valley of Rephaim.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	17	6	Only a cluster left here and there, a few olives still to be shaken off, two or three at the end of a branch, four or five on the top branch of all; that is what the Lord, the God of Israel, has decreed.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	17	7	Then at last man will turn to his Maker, will look towards the Holy One of Israel.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	17	8	He will turn no longer towards altars of his own designing, have eyes no longer for pillar and shrine of his own fashioning.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	17	9	The cities he had fortified will be abandoned then, as ploughs and crops were abandoned when Israel itself was the invader, and thou shalt be left forlorn.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	17	10	Thou didst forget the God who delivered thee, and gavest no thought to thy strong protector; thou art like one who plants on soil of good promise, but all the while is putting in bastard shoots.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	17	11	Wild grapes they were from the day when thou didst plant them, and soon this planting of thine will begin to bud; and now, when the time comes to enjoy it, here is all thy harvest lost to thee, and bitterly thou dost repine.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	17	12	Doom goes with it, this swollen multitude of nations, like the swollen seas that go roaring past; like the roar of those swollen seas is the stir of such a throng.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	17	13	Nations roaring with the roar of waters in full flood; and then, God will rebuke him, and in a moment he is far away, swept like the dust when a wind blows on the hills, or the whirl of leaves before the storm.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	17	14	Night comes, and there is terror all around; day breaks, and it is seen no more. Such the invader’s doom, so evermore shall they thrive, that come to despoil us.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	18	1	Woe to the land that has the whirring of wings for its music, there beyond the Ethiop rivers!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	18	2	In skiffs of papyrus reed she sends her ambassadors to the sea-coast! Ay, speed on your errand, but to a people far away, sundered from you by leagues of travel, dreaded people at the end of the earth, race that bears a tyrant’s yoke, in a land that is all rivers like your own.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	18	3	All you peoples of the world, all you that dwell on earth, wait till you see the signal raised on the mountains, till you hear the trumpet sound.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	18	4	Such warning the Lord has given me: I will keep silent and watch, here in my dwelling-place, as still as the bright sunshine of noon-day, or the haze that comes with the dew in harvest-time.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	18	5	What a blossoming was here before the time of harvest, how fully formed the buds that were still ripening! But its boughs shall be cut back with the pruning-knife, its straying tendrils shall be torn off and thrown away.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	18	6	All alike will be left a prey to the mountain birds, and the beasts that roam through the land; all through summer the birds will hover about it, and the beasts flock to it in winter.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	18	7	And then the people that is sundered far away, dreaded nation at the ends of the earth, land of the tyrant’s yoke, land of the branching rivers, will bring gifts to the Lord of hosts, betaking itself to mount Sion, where the name of the Lord of hosts is worshipped.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	19	1	What burden for Egypt? See where the Lord comes into Egypt, with the cloud-drift for his chariot, and all the false gods of Egypt tremble, the very heart of Egypt melts away!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	19	2	Egyptians I will embroil with Egyptians; each man will turn on his neighbour, one city, one kingdom on another.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	19	3	The spirit of Egypt shall fail her, and I will daze her wits, till men go about consulting oracle and diviner, wizard and soothsayer.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	19	4	Tyrants for Egypt’s masters, a fierce king to rule over it; the Lord of hosts has decreed it.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	19	5	Waters of the sea shall ebb, river waters be parched and dried up,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	19	6	the brooks failing, the channels, with their high banks, flowing in a thin stream, reed and sedge withered away.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	19	7	Laid bare, yonder river-bed, from its source; fade the crops its moisture nourished, fade and dwindle to nothing.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	19	8	Sad days for the fisher-folk; never a hook cast, never a net sunk, all is grief and repining.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	19	9	Disappointed of their trade, the men who worked in flax, combing and weaving it so cunningly;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	19	10	in those brackish swamps there are no fish-ponds a-making now.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	19	11	Nonplussed, all the princes of Tanis; all Pharao’s wise counsellors must needs give him a fool’s answer. Where is that inheritance of learning they boast, come down from ancient kings?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	19	12	What has become of thy wise men, Pharao? Let them give thee news, let them tell thee what the Lord means to do with Egypt.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	19	13	No, the princes of Tanis are nonplussed; degenerate, the lords of Memphis; Egypt is deceived in her great men, that should have been the corner-stone of her commonwealth.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	19	14	The Lord has mazed her wits; fuddled brains of drunkard had been as well advised;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	19	15	head and tail, reed and stubborn branch, in Egypt’s troubled counsels avail alike.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	19	16	Weak as a woman Egypt shall be, when that day comes, dazed and terrified, to see the Lord of hosts lift his hand so threateningly.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	19	17	Upon Juda Egypt must needs look with awe; fear is in the very name of it, as they scan the future; what means the Lord of hosts now?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	19	18	Cities five there shall be in the land of Egypt that talk with the speech of Chanaan, and take oaths in the name of the Lord of hosts; a city that bears the sun’s name among them.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	19	19	There will be an altar set up to the Lord for all Egypt to see, and at its frontier a pillar dedicated to him,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	19	20	a trophy, there, in Egypt, bringing the Lord of hosts to mind. Cry they out to him, when they suffer oppression, he will give them a saviour, a champion, to deliver them.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	19	21	Thus the Lord will reveal himself to Egypt; the Egyptians, when that day comes, will acknowledge him, doing him worship with sacrifices and offerings, will make vows to the Lord and perform them.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	19	22	First calamity, then healing; when they come back to the Lord, he will relent and restore.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	19	23	There will be a high-road, then, between Egypt and the Assyrians; either shall visit other, and Egypt under Assyria be at peace.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	19	24	And with these a third people shall be matched; who but Israel, source of the whole world’s happiness?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	19	25	Such blessing the Lord of hosts has pronounced upon it, Blessed be my people in Egypt, and the home I have made for the Assyrian to dwell in; but Israel is the land of my choice.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	20	1	It was in the year when Tharthan, at the bidding of king Sargon of Assyria, inva-ded the territory of Azotus, and captured it by assault,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	20	2	that the Lord sent out a message through Isaias, son of Amos. Up, said he, and undo the sackcloth that girds thee, and take off thy shoes. This Isaias did, and went bare and unshod.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	20	3	Whereupon the Lord said, Look, how my servant Isaias goes bare and unshod; that is a sign and a portent of what must come upon Egypt and Ethiopia when three years are past.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	20	4	It is thus that the king of Assyria will lead away the prisoners he takes in Egypt, the exiles from Ethiopia, young and old alike. Bare and unshod they shall go, with their buttocks exposed, to the shame of Egypt.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	20	5	A time of dismay and confusion for those who put their trust in Ethiopia, who boasted of Egypt’s power!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	20	6	Dwellers in this nook of earth, they will cry out, Here lay all our hope; these were to be our protectors, and bring us deliverance when the king of Assyria came! And what of us? For us no refuge now.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	21	1	What burden for the desert by the sea? From the desert it comes, from a land full of terrors, like the storm-wind rising from the south.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	21	2	Here be stern threats revealed to me: the treacherous one still treacherous, the plunderer still at his plundering! Elam, to the attack! Lay siege to him, Medians! From yonder desert there shall be groaning no more!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	21	3	What wonder if pain gripped the loins of me, sudden as woman’s pangs in travail? What wonder if sight and sound of it daunt and daze me,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	21	4	if heart fails and I grope in darkness, bewildered over her ruin, the Babylon I love?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	21	5	What, the banquet spread? From yonder post of vantage look down on them, where they sit at their meat and drink! Now, captains, to arms!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	21	6	Yes, the Lord’s word has came to me, Go and bid the watchman stand at his post, to give tidings of all he sees.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	21	7	A chariot he saw, with two out-riders, one that rode on an ass, and one that rode on a camel; looked long at them, watching them eagerly.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	21	8	Then he cried, Lonely as lion am I, that have charge of the Lord’s watch-tower; day after day I have stood here, night after night I keep my post.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	21	9	Nearer now, the chariot and its two outriders; Tidings! cries charioteer. Babylon has fallen, has fallen; images of the gods she worshipped have come crashing to the ground.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	21	10	My countrymen, winnowed with me in the same threshing-floor of trial, from the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, such tidings I bring.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	21	11	What burden for Duma? A cry comes to me from Seir, How goes the night, watchman? How goes the night?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	21	12	Morning is on its way, says he, but with morning, the night. Come back again and enquire, if enquire you must.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	21	13	What burden for the Arabs? By evening, sleep in the woods you must, you that travel to Dedanim.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	21	14	Dwellers in the south, bring out water to meet the thirsty, bread to meet fleeing men.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	21	15	They have fled to escape the sword, the drawn sword, to escape the bow already bent against them, the stress of battle.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	21	16	In a year’s time, the Lord says, by the time a labourer’s contract is out, Cedar shall be robbed of all its glory;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	21	17	of all the brave archers that were Cedar’s sons, only a dwindling remnant shall be left; the Lord, the God of Israel has decreed it.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	22	1	What burden for the Valley of Revelation? Here is great stir among the townspeople, climb they eagerly to the house-tops.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	22	2	What means this shouting everywhere, these thronged streets, as of a city that makes holiday? Alas for thy dead, that were never slain by the sword, never died in battle;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	22	3	alas for rulers of thine, who with one accord have fled, or else been cruelly bound! Chains for all that were left, and distant exile.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	22	4	I pray you then, leave me alone, to weep bitterly; never try to comfort me, now that this people of mine is widowed.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	22	5	Day of doom, when the Lord of hosts will have yonder Valley of Revelation defeated, overrun, thrown into confusion; a day to test its ramparts, and overawe its citadel;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	22	6	to archer, to chariot, to horseman, Elam sends out her challenge, bids shield come down from its place on the wall.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	22	7	Chariots up and down all thy favoured valleys, horsemen halted at thy gate!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	22	8	Here is Juda, then, stripped bare; here is a day for looking to the armoury, there in the Forest House.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	22	9	How many breaches, already, in the wall of David’s city! Water you must bring in from the lower pool;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	22	10	take count of the houses in Jerusalem, pulling down some to build up the defences;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	22	11	you must find a bed between the two walls to contain the waters of the old pool. And all the while, no thought of him who made it all, no eyes for him who fashioned it, long ago.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	22	12	This day the Lord, the God of hosts, summons you to mourn and lament, to shave your heads and wear sackcloth;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	22	13	and instead all is mirth and gladness, oxen killed here, rams slaughtered there, meat being eaten and wine drunk; come, let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	22	14	Plain it rings in my ear, the voice of the Lord of hosts, Never while you live shall this sin of yours be pardoned.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	22	15	A message from the Lord God of hosts; Up, to my house betake thee, and find Sobna, that has charge of the temple. This be thy word to him,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	22	16	What claim of rank or kinship hast thou here, that thou shouldst hew out a burying-place for thyself? A tomb carefully hewed out on the hill side, an eyrie for thyself among the rocks?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	22	17	Wait till the Lord trusses thee like a trussed fowl, folds thee like a cloak,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	22	18	twines thee about with misfortune, and tosses thee like a ball into the great open plain! There shalt thou lie, and there that chariot which is thy pride, which is the shame of thy master’s house.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	22	19	I mean to expel thee from the rank thou holdest, deprive thee of thy office.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	22	20	And when that time comes, I will summon one who is a true servant of mine, Eliacim the son of Helcias,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	22	21	clothe him with thy robe, gird him with thy girdle, entrust him with the power that once was thine; to rule all the citizens of Jerusalem, all Juda’s race, with a father’s care.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	22	22	I will give him the key of David’s house to bear upon his shoulders; none may shut when he opens, none open when he shuts.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	22	23	I will fix him securely in his place, like a peg that is to carry all the royal honour of his father’s house;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	22	24	all the honour of his father’s house will rest upon him, as a man’s goods rest on a peg, the smaller of them, here a cooking-pan, there an instrument of music.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	22	25	A day is coming, says the Lord of hosts, when the peg that was once securely fixed will be dislodged from its place; suddenly it must break and fall, and all that hung from it be ruined; the Lord decrees it.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	23	1	What burden for Tyre? Mourn aloud, ocean-going ships, that reach Cyprus to learn that the home you left is in ruins!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	23	2	Stand they aghast, dwellers in the coast-land that once was thronged with Sidonian merchants,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	23	3	that gathered its revenue from far over-seas; grain of Egypt’s sowing, of the Nile’s ripening, bartered they among the nations.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	23	4	Poor Sidon, by false hopes betrayed! A cry comes up from the sea, from her that was guardian of the sea, Not for me a mother’s joys, a mother’s pangs; never a son reared, never a maid brought to womanhood.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	23	5	Here is news for Egypt, news from Tyre that shall grip her with despair!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	23	6	Go out on your ocean voyage, dwellers on the coast-land, mourning aloud;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	23	7	your city come to this, the same city that had so long boasted of her ancientry! For her townsfolk there is a journey to make on foot, a distant journey.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	23	8	Who was it plotted the downfall of Tyre, a city once so rich in crowns, whose merchants were princes, whose traffickers were among the great men of the earth?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	23	9	He, the Lord of hosts, designed it; who else drags in the mire the boaster’s pride, brings all the great men of the earth into derision?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	23	10	Daughter of ocean, henceforward thy land must be watered with streams; the girdle of strength thou hadst is thine no more.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	23	11	The Lord’s hand, now, is stretched out over the sea itself, throwing all the kingdoms into dismay; his writ has gone out against Chanaan, that all its strongholds should be brought to nothing.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	23	12	Sidon, poor queen (he says), boast no more of thy virginity; thy name is tarnished now. Cross the sea, and betake thyself to Cyprus if thou wilt; even there thou shalt find no rest.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	23	13	Her resting-place is the land of the Chaldeans, where Assur has founded a nation strong as no nation ever was; nation that has carried off her warriors into captivity, undermined her palaces, made her into a heap of ruins.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	23	14	Mourn aloud, ocean-going ships; your stronghold is laid waste.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	23	15	After this thou wilt be forgotten, thou city of Tyre, for seventy years, long as the life-time of one of thy kings. At the end of those seventy years, Tyre will know the meaning of the harlot’s song,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	23	16	Take thy harp and go round the streets, poor harlot forgotten; now for thy best notes, now for thy whole store of music, to bring thee back into remembrance!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	23	17	At the end of those seventy years, the Lord will relent towards Tyre, and send her back to her trafficking; all the world over, with all the world’s kingdoms, she shall play the harlot once more.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	23	18	But now the revenues of her trafficking shall be devoted to the Lord’s use, not hoarded up and laid by; revenue she shall earn, but for Sion’s folk, the Lord’s servants, to give them food in abundance, and brave clothes to wear.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	24	1	Look you, the Lord means to make earth a void, a wilderness; twist it out of shape, and scatter its inhabitants far and wide.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	24	2	One law for priest and people, for master and servant, for mistress and maid; for seller and buyer, for borrower and lender, for debtor and exactor of debts.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	24	3	Earth drained to its dregs, earth ravaged and ransacked; such decree the Lord has uttered.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	24	4	Earth woebegone and withered, a world that withers and grows feeble; how feeble they have grown now, the great ones of the earth!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	24	5	Poor earth, polluted by the men that dwell on it; they have broken God’s law, traversed the decree he made for them, violated his eternal covenant with men;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	24	6	cankered it lies by a curse, peopled with guilty men, only a frantic remnant left of its inhabitants.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	24	7	Woebegone the vintage, withered now the vine, hearts sighing that once were merry;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	24	8	silent the gay tambour, hushed the noise of holiday-making, silent the harp’s mirth.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	24	9	No more feasting and song; the wine turns bitter in their mouths.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	24	10	Ransacked and ruined lies yonder city, where every house denies entrance,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	24	11	and a cry goes up in the streets because all the wine is spent, the mirth forsaken, the joy vanished;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	24	12	a city left to desolation, with ruin fallen upon its gates.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	24	13	In the midst of the wide earth, among those many peoples, what shall be left? A remnant, the last olives that are shaken from the tree, the gleanings that remain when vintage-time is over.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	24	14	Few only, but they shall lift up their voices in praise; God’s honour vindicated, their rejoicing shall be heard across the sea,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	24	15	Give glory to God, where knowledge of him is revealed; praise to the God of Israel among the distant isles;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	24	16	here at the ends of the earth his song of triumph has reached us, the boast of his elect. Heart, keep thy secret, heart, keep thy secret; no more of that. But alas, the traitors still betray his cause; treachery is treachery still, and its fruit is treason.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	24	17	For the dwellers on earth, tidings of fear; pit and snare await them;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	24	18	flee they from tidings of fear, they shall fall into the pit, flee they from the pit, they shall be held fast in the snare. The floodgates of heaven will be opened, and the foundations of earth rock;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	24	19	earth must be rent and riven, earth torn and tattered, earth must quiver and quake;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	24	20	earth rolling and reeling like a drunkard, earth tottering like some frail shelter that is gone in a night, bowed down by the weight of its own guilt, till it falls, never to rise again.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	24	21	When that day comes, the Lord will hold a reckoning with the hosts of heaven, there above, with the kings of the earth, here on earth;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	24	22	huddled together, as captives are huddled together in a dungeon, they shall remain prisoners; so, at last, the reckoning will be held.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	24	23	And then the Lord of hosts will reign at Jerusalem, on mount Sion; and the moon will be put to shame, and the sun hide his face, before the glory in which he will appear then, with the elders of his people about him.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	25	1	Lord, thou art my God; I extol thee and praise thy name for thy wonderful do-ings; for thy designs, so long prepared, so faithfully executed; see, it is done!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	25	2	A heap of stones where, but for thy decree, a town stood; a crumbling ruin, all that is left of a walled city; a fortress of the invader, dismantled now and never to be built again.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	25	3	What wonder great nations should do thee homage, embattled cities hold thee in dread?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	25	4	Stronghold thou art of the poor, stronghold of the helpless in their affliction, refuge from the storm, shade in the noonday sun; against that wall the rage of tyrants blusters in vain.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	25	5	Uproar of the invader stilled, as it were the breathless summer of a parched land; oppression withered up from the roots, like haze of burning heat!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	25	6	A time is coming when the Lord of hosts will prepare a banquet on this mountain of ours; no meat so tender, no wine so mellow, meat that drips with fat, wine well strained.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	25	7	Gone the chains in which he has bound the peoples, the veil that covered the nations hitherto; on the mountain-side, all these will be engulfed;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	25	8	death, too, shall be engulfed for ever. No furrowed cheek but the Lord God will wipe away its tears; gone the contempt his people endured in a whole world’s eyes; the Lord has promised it.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	25	9	When that day comes, men will be saying, He is here, the God to whom we looked for help, the Lord for whom we waited so patiently; ours to rejoice, ours to triumph in the victory he has sent us.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	25	10	On yonder mountain the divine deliverance shall rest, and by his power Moab shall be crushed, like straw ground in the chaff-cutter;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	25	11	Moab shall stretch out his hands, like a man swimming, and low shall his pride fall when they crash down to earth!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	25	12	Down they must come, the battlements that crown those walls, lie inglorious in the dust.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	26	1	But in the land of Juda, when that day comes, what shall their song be? Sion is ours, an impregnable fortress; divine protection it has for wall and breast-work;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	26	2	wide let its gates be opened, to welcome true hearts that still keep troth with him.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	26	3	Our thoughts wayward no longer, thou wilt maintain us in peace, peace that comes surely to those who trust in thee.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	26	4	Yours to trust in the Lord continually, the Lord that is evermore your protection.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	26	5	Mountain-dwellers he can bring low, towering city walls he can level, level them with the ground, drag them down to the dust.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	26	6	There they lie, trodden under foot; poor folk trample on them now, the disinherited spurn them as they pass.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	26	7	Where heart is true, path lies plain; level the road he treads that wins acceptance with thee.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	26	8	And we, Lord, we have kept to the path thou hadst decreed for us, waiting for thee still; longing we had none but for thy greater renown.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	26	9	All through the night my soul has yearned for thee, to thee my heart aspires, watching for the dawn; soon thou wilt execute thy decrees on earth, and the whole world shall know how just thou art.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	26	10	The godless will not learn that lesson from mercy shewn him; in a land that is all holiness, they will pervert justice still, no eyes for the Lord’s majesty.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	26	11	Hand of thine which threatened them, heed they would not; heed now they must, those envious eyes, and to their own confusion; they shall see fire consume thy enemies!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	26	12	Thou wilt busy thyself, Lord, to make peace for us; what achievement of ours but the doing of it is thine?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	26	13	O Lord our God, masters we have had a many in place of thee, but only thy name shall be held in remembrance;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	26	14	live they cannot nor revive, gone down to death with the heroes of long ago; thou hast called them to account, and made an end of them, till the very memory of their names has vanished.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	26	15	Didst thou win thyself honour, Lord, when thou didst shew favour, such high favour, to thy people, when thou didst enlarge all the frontiers of its land?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	26	16	No, Lord, it was in affliction they turned back to thee; in silent hours of suffering thy chastisement reached them.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	26	17	We were no better than woman with child that is near her time, ready to cry out dolorously in her pangs; such lot thou hadst given us.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	26	18	Conceived we, aye, and travailed, yet nothing brought forth but wind; not through us came deliverance to our country, not through us were the peoples of the world cast down.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	26	19	Fresh life they shall have, Lord, that are thine in death; lost to us, they shall live again. Awake and utter your praises, you that dwell in the dust. The dew thou sendest, Lord, shall bring light to them; only the land of dead heroes thou wilt doom to overthrow.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	26	20	Up then, my people, to your innermost chambers betake you; shut yourselves within doors; hide for a little, until the time of retribution is past.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	26	21	See, where the Lord comes out from his dwelling-place, holds the nations of the world to account for their guilt! Earth shall disclose the blood spilt on it, and no more cover its dead.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	27	1	Hard and heavy and strong that sword is which the Lord carries; shall he not wreak his vengeance, in due time, upon the monstrous serpent that bars the gate, and the monstrous serpent that coils up yonder; shall he not deal death to the great beast of the sea?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	27	2	And the praise of his doings shall be sung by his own vineyard, a vineyard rich in wine.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	27	3	I, the Lord, am the keeper of this vineyard; I come soon to water it. Day by day I watch over it, to shield it from attack,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	27	4	nor any grudge my hearts bears it. Would I were an enemy as relentless as thorns and briars are! Then I would trample it down and make a bonfire of it.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	27	5	But now, see how it clings to my protection! Ay, it shall have peace, it shall make its peace with me.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	27	6	Israel shall flourish and put forth shoots, multitudes that shall be added to the number of Jacob; with its offspring the wide face of earth shall be peopled.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	27	7	What, should the Lord smite Israel as he smote his enemies? Destroy it, like those others he doomed to overthrow?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	27	8	Nay, cast her away he might, but there should be due measure in her punishment; not for nothing did he expose her to cruel wind and burning heat;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	27	9	so should the race of Jacob find pardon for its sins. Cleansed now from guilt, to bear fruit in full abundance; ground fine as chalk the altar-stones, pillar and shrine raised up no more!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	27	10	Meanwhile, the city that once was fortified must lie desolate, forsaken, that fair dwelling-place, abandoned, part of the wilderness; cattle will browse and lie down, and crop the tall bushes on it;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	27	11	nothing that grows there but will wither and be snapped off. Women shall be their teachers, so foolish has this nation grown, too foolish for its own maker to pity, for its own creator to spare.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	27	12	But a time is coming, when the Lord will beat the fruit from his trees, as far away as the bed of Euphrates and the river of Egypt, and you, sons of Israel, shall be gathered in one by one.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	27	13	That day, a call will be sounded on a great trumpet, and men long lost will come from Assyria, and exiles from Egypt, to worship the Lord on his holy mountain, in Jerusalem.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	28	1	Out upon the drunken lords of Ephraim, and the city that is their boast, their crown! Quickly shall it fade, this flower, in the pride of its beauty. Careless they dwell at the head of yonder fruitful valley, all besotted with their wine;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	28	2	and the Lord will come upon them like a rough, boisterous hail-storm, like a destroying whirlwind, like a swift flood that rises and spreads out over the plain.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	28	3	Trodden under foot it shall lie, the crown that was drunken Ephraim’s boast;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	28	4	that flower, whose brief bloom once delighted him, shall look down over the fruitful valley no more. Fig ripens to its cost, that ripens ere autumn brings the harvest, no sooner seen than plucked and eaten by the first that passes by!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	28	5	But the Lord has his own people still left him; to these he shall be a crown to boast of, a garland of pride;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	28	6	his the justice inspires them when they sit in judgement; his the courage that rallies them when they fall back, fighting, to the gates.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	28	7	What, these too? These too fuddled with wine, bemused with their revelling? High revel they hold, priest and prophet together, till all are fuddled and sodden with wine, their wits bemused; what wonder if the true seer goes unrecognized, if justice is forgotten?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	28	8	No room is left at their tables for aught but filth and vomit.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	28	9	Here is one (they say) has knowledge to impart, has a message to make known, to whom? Does he think we are children new-weaned, fresh from their mothers’ milk?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	28	10	It is ever, Pass the word on, pass the word on, Wait a while yet, wait a while yet, A word with you, here, A word with you, there!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	28	11	Here is stammering speech, here is outlandish talk for our folk to listen to!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	28	12	Yet he did but counsel rest and repose; rest none other, repose none other, than to give respite to a weary nation. And listen they would not;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	28	13	to them, the Lord’s message was all Pass the word on, pass the word on, Wait a while yet, wait a while yet, A word with you, here, and a word with you, there! And so they will go on their way, to stumble backwards and break their bones, to fall into a trap and lie there caught.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	28	14	Hear the Lord’s word, then, you mockers, that bear rule over my people in Jerusalem.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	28	15	Did you think to make terms with death, enter into alliance with the grave itself, that the flood of ruin should pass you by, so confident in your vain hopes, so armed with illusion?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	28	16	A message to you, then, from the Lord God, See, I am laying a stone in the foundations of Sion that has been tested and found true, a corner-stone, a stone of worth, built into the foundations themselves. Hurry to and fro who will; faith knows better.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	28	17	You shall have justice dealt out to you by weight, your sentence shall be strictly measured; shattered, the vain hopes, as by a storm of hail, buried the illusion as by a deluge.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	28	18	Hold they shall not, your terms with death, your compact with the grave; when the flood of ruin sweeps past, it shall leave you prostrate.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	28	19	It will carry you away as it passes; pass it will, suddenly, in the space of a day and a night, and the very alarm of it will make you understand the revelation at last.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	28	20	Too narrow a bed, and one or the other must fall out; a short cloak is no covering for two.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	28	21	Who stands there? None other than the Lord himself, as he stood once on the mountain of Disruption, vengeful still, as when he stood in the valley at Gabaon; but now, his own purpose to achieve, he lends himself to the purpose of another, now his will is, to let the alien have his will.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	28	22	Mock, then, no more, if you would not see your chains riveted tighter; the Lord God of hosts is my witness, he means to make a short and sharp reckoning with the whole earth.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	28	23	Listen now, and give me a hearing, mark well the message I bring.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	28	24	Plough the farmer must, ere he sow, but will he be ever ploughing? For hoe and harrow is there no rest?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	28	25	Nay, he will level it anon, plant fennel, sow cummin, with a border of wheat or barley, millet or vetch;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	28	26	such lore he has learned, such prudence his God has given him.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	28	27	What, shall sledge crush the fennel seed, threshing-wheel pass to and fro over the cummin? A switch for the fennel, a rod for the cummin, and they shall be beaten enough.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	28	28	Thrashed the corn must be, sure enough, yet not for ever does the wheel harry it, do the spikes wear it down.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	28	29	This lesson, too, the Lord would teach us; learn we how wonderful are his designs, how high above us his dealings.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	29	1	Out upon her, Ariel, the lion-city King David stormed long ago! This year once added to the tale of years, feast-days of it over and gone,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	29	2	I will lay siege to Ariel, that shall roar and roar again, a lion-city indeed.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	29	3	Trust me, I will ring thee round, throw up earth-works against thee, set engines in place to besiege thee.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	29	4	Cower down thou must, and offer parley from the earth where thou liest; from the ruins thy voice will make itself heard, no better than a muttering from the ground, as it were some ghost that moaned there under the earth.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	29	5	Then, like fine dust, the hordes that routed thee shall vanish; like a spark that smoulders, thy conquerors shall die away.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	29	6	Suddenly, in a moment, the Lord will sweep down upon them in thunder, and earthquake, in a storm of roaring wind, in fire that devours all before it;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	29	7	gone, the thronging nations that fought against Ariel, like a dream that passes with the night; gone, the fighting, and the siege, and their triumph.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	29	8	Dreams hungry man of a full belly, then wakes empty as ever; dreams thirsty man of a cool draught, then wakes weary, and thirsty, and still unsatisfied! Such comfort shall be theirs, the many folk that beleaguered Sion.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	29	9	Ay, gape and gaze as you will; hum and haw you, bemused ere you lifted cup, besotted ere you have been at your wine, besotted with never a taste of drink!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	29	10	So deep a lethargy the Lord instils, blinding the prophets that should be your eyes, muffling with a veil the wise heads that should see visions for you.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	29	11	What is revelation to you, but a sealed book, offered as vainly to scholar that finds it sealed,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	29	12	as to yonder simpleton, that vows he never learned his letters?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	29	13	This people, the Lord says, makes profession of worshipping me, does me honour with its lips, but its heart is far from me. If they fear me, it is a lesson they learned from human precepts.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	29	14	What remains but some great, some resounding miracle, to strike awe into such hearts as these? Bereft of wisdom their wise men shall be, cunning of their counsellors vanish.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	29	15	Out on you, that would hide your designs from the Lord in the depth of your hearts, plotting on in the dark and telling yourselves none can see, none can find you out!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	29	16	What a strange thought is this! As well might clay scheme against the potter; handicraft disown its craftsman, or thing of art call the artist fool.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	29	17	Short the time shall be, and quickly fled, ere Lebanon forest shall be fruitful as Carmel, ere land fruitful now shall be reckoned as forest.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	29	18	Then this book will have a message for deaf ears to hear, for blind eyes to see through the mist that darkens them;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	29	19	humble folk shall yet learn to rejoice in the Lord, poor clods of earth triumph in the Holy One of Israel.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	29	20	Vanished, the triumphant foe, scornful incredulity is silenced; where are they now, that spent themselves on wrongdoing,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	29	21	watching a man’s words to convict him of guilt, defrauding him of justice at the city gate, setting aside, with a quibble, the plea of the innocent?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	29	22	Here is a message to the race of Jacob from the Lord, that was Abraham’s deliverer: No longer shall Jacob be disappointed, no longer put to the blush.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	29	23	He shall see children of his, my gift, doing honour publicly to my name; honour to the Holy One of Jacob, homage to the God of Israel!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	29	24	Restless hearts will attain true knowledge then, and the murmurers learn wisdom.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	30	1	Out upon you, the Lord says, what treason is this? Here be plans afoot that were never mine, webs a-weaving, and the pattern none of my choice. Trust me, you do but add to your guilt.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	30	2	What are these journeyings down into Egypt, and I never consulted? Think you to find refuge in the strength of Pharao, look you to Egypt for shelter?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	30	3	Strength of Pharao shall play you false, nor shelter Egypt bring you, but shame.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	30	4	Princes of thine in Tanis, ambassadors from thee making their way to Hanes!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	30	5	Fruitless errand to a folk that could not save them; no help, no comfort there, only failure and mockery.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	30	6	What burden for the cattle-droves in the south? Here is a land of difficulty and danger, home of lion and lioness, of viper and flying serpent; and through it, goods piled on asses’ backs, treasures stored on the humps of camels, go men asking for help where help is none.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	30	7	From Egypt’s protection you shall have neither gain nor good; my word has been said about her, There goes Pride, let her alone.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	30	8	Go home, then, and engrave it on a tablet of box-wood for their instruction; write it down, too, carefully on a scroll, to be an abiding record in after days.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	30	9	So rebellious a people is this, so treacherous a breed, refusing, my own children, to listen to the law of their God;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	30	10	forbidding the prophet to prophesy, the man of vision to have vision of the truth. Ever they must be told what likes them best, comforted in their illusions;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	30	11	for them no marching orders, no prescribed path; he, the Holy One of Israel, must be kept far from their view.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	30	12	From him, the Holy One of Israel, this message: Warning of mine you have rejected, so blindly you trust your own cunning, your own headstrong will.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	30	13	Sudden and swift shall be your punishment, as the crash of a high wall that has long gaped ruinously, long been anxiously watched.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	30	14	So shrewd a blow potter never dealt, shivering earthen pot into fragments, till no shard is left that will carry a lighted coal from the hearth, or a mouthful of water from the cistern.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	30	15	From the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, word was given you, Come back and keep still, and all shall be well with you; in quietness and in confidence lies your strength. But you would have none of it;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	30	16	To horse! you cried, We must flee! and flee you shall; We must ride swiftly, you said; but swifter still ride your pursuers.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	30	17	Be you a thousand to one, yet at the challenge of five men you shall take to flight; nought left of you but a remnant, lonely as flag-staff on the mountain-top, as beacon on the hill.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	30	18	What if the Lord waits his time before he will have mercy on you? The more glorious, when it comes, his deliverance. The Lord is a God who makes award justly, blessed they shall be that wait for him.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	30	19	In Jerusalem they only will be left, true citizens of Sion. And thou, Jerusalem, tears shalt have none to shed; mercy is none he shall withhold. Soon as he hears thee crying out to him, the answer will come.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	30	20	Bread the Lord will grant, though it be sparingly, water, though it be in short measure. Birds of passage they shall be no longer, the men he gives thee for thy teachers; always thou wilt have a true counsellor in sight,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	30	21	always hear his voice in thy ear as he warns thee, This is the true path, follow it; no swerving to right or left!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	30	22	Silver leaf on thy graven images defaced now, defaced the sheaths of gold; thou wilt cast all away, as a woman casts away defiled clouts of hers, and bid it begone.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	30	23	And thereupon, sow where thou wilt all over the land, rain shall be granted to thy crops; rich and full shall be thy harvest of wheat; thou shalt have pasture, then, for lambs to browse in at liberty.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	30	24	Ox and ass on thy farm shall have mixed feed, pure grain fresh winnowed on the threshing-floor;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	30	25	never a mountain-top, never a high hill, but will flow with torrents of water, when that day comes. The dead shall lie in heaps that day, and towers come crashing down;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	30	26	moon’s light will be like the light of the sun, and the sun will shine in sevenfold strength, as if the light of seven days were joined in one, when the time comes for the Lord to bind up his people’s hurt, and heal their grievous wound.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	30	27	See where the majesty of the Lord comes from far away; his anger is aflame, and there is no withstanding it! There is menace on his lips, his tongue is like a consuming fire,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	30	28	and his breath like a mountain stream that floods over till it is neck-deep. He will sweep away whole nations into oblivion, sweep away the bridle of false fears that curbed the peoples till now.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	30	29	But, you, that night, will be singing for joy, as if it were the night when a solemn feast begins; your hearts will be light, as men’s hearts are light when they go up, with the flutes playing about them, to the mountain of the Lord, where he dwells, the strong God of Israel.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	30	30	The Lord will make his dread voice heard, will lay bare his terrible arm, volleying out his anger in flashes of devouring fire, laying all low with his whirlwind, with his hail-stones;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	30	31	and Assur will shrink in fear from the Lord’s voice, and will feel his rod.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	30	32	So it is decreed that the rod should pass over him, brought down on him by the Lord’s hand to the music of your tambours and harps; a strange warfare this, that shall quell them!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	30	33	In these times a new Topheth has been made ready; this, too, made ready by a king. It is deep and wide, fed with flaming brands in abundance; and the breath of the Lord comes down like a stream of brimstone, to kindle it.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	31	1	Out upon you, that betake yourselves to Egypt for succour! Horses must be your speed in the hour of peril; great array of chariots you must have, and horsemen without number, to bring you confidence; to the Holy One of Israel turn you never, confidence in the Lord is none.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	31	2	And yet he too is a wise counsellor; brings he trouble to a man’s door, he does not lightly change his purpose; doubt not he will take arms against a rebellious race, the unholy alliance bring to nothing.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	31	3	Strength of Egypt is human, not divine; its horses are weak flesh, not immortal spirit; one movement of the Lord’s hand, and down comes rescuer, down falls the rescued, to lie there forgotten.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	31	4	A promise from the Lord God! Here is lion, or cub of a lion, growling over his prey; what though the shepherds rally, and go out to meet him? Nothing cares he for their shouts, is not awed by their numbers. So it will be with the Lord of hosts, when he comes down to war, here on mount Sion, with his own hill-side for battle-ground.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	31	5	As parent bird hovers over nest, so will the Lord of hosts protect Jerusalem; protect her and bring her safe through, grant signal deliverance.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	31	6	Come back, sons of Israel, that have hidden yourselves away so deep.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	31	7	Time, then, for each man to cast away his idols of gold and silver, idols your guilty hands have made.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	31	8	Not by the sword of man Assur shall fall, earthly weapon is none shall boast it slew him. Flee he must ere sword threaten him, and never warrior of his be left, but to slavery.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	31	9	All that stubborn strength of his by terror unmanned, all his princes fled away! Such comfort the Lord sends to Sion, where his fire is lit, to Jerusalem, where glows his furnace.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	32	1	See, where a king rules his folk justly! His nobles, too, make right award;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	32	2	to them men look, as for shelter against the wind, cover in a storm; for running streams in drought, shade of towering rock in a parched land.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	32	3	Eyes they will have to see with, no darkness there; ears that are strained to listen attentively;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	32	4	rude minds shall learn wise thoughts, the stammering tongue speak out readily and clear.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	32	5	Noble rank shall no longer be for the reckless, or lordly titles for the crafty.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	32	6	The reckless man, that speaks ever recklessly, his heart set on mischief, still full of empty show, and blasphemy against the Lord; food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty denying still!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	32	7	And the crafty man, an ill craft is his, false pleas devising to ruin harmless folk, cheat the poor of their rights!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	32	8	From a noble nature spring noble acts; title is none to greatness higher than this.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	32	9	Bestir you, fine ladies, and listen; for ears untroubled by alarm I have a message.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	32	10	Swiftly the days pass, the year goes round, and you shall have trouble enough, anxious foreboding, when the vintage fails, and no fruit-harvest comes.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	32	11	Bewildered, the minds that were once at ease, full of foreboding, those untroubled hearts; you must go stripped and shame-faced now, with sackcloth about your loins,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	32	12	mourn for lost fruitfulness, for the fields once so smiling, for the vineyards that bore so well.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	32	13	That thorns and briers should come up in these lands of yours; come up over haunts you loved, in the city that was all mirth!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	32	14	Empty, now, the palace, forgotten the hum of yonder streets; nothing but gloom, where a man must pick his way through caverns endlessly; loved haunts of the wild ass, a pasture-ground for the flock.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	32	15	All this, until the spirit is poured out on us from above; fruitful as Carmel then the wilderness, to make your well-tilled lands seem but waste.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	32	16	Alike desert and fruitful field the home, now, of innocence,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	32	17	the abode of loyalty; loyalty, that has peace for its crown, tranquillity for its harvest, repose for ever undisturbed.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	32	18	In quiet homes this people of mine shall live, in dwelling-places that fear no attack; all shall be ease and plenty.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	32	19	But first the hail-storm must do its work, forest be laid low, city levelled with the ground.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	32	20	Ah, blessed race, their seed sowing, their oxen and asses driving, by every stream that flows!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	33	1	What, plunderer of the nations, unplundered still? Proud lord of others, does none dispute thy lordship? A time comes when thou must cease plundering, and thyself be plundered, when of lordship thou hast had enough, and others lord it over thee.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	33	2	Have mercy on us, Lord, that wait for thee so patiently; day after day be our stronghold, our deliverer thou in time of trouble!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	33	3	Fled, the alien host, scattered the heathen, thy angel’s voice once heard, thy power made manifest!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	33	4	Your spoils, Gentiles, how easily amassed! Easily as the locusts, where they swarm in the trenches.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	33	5	The Lord’s power made manifest, that is throned high in heaven! With his just award Sion shall be well content;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	33	6	still in these times of ours the promise well kept, the full deliverance. Knowledge and wisdom and the fear of the Lord, what treasure like these?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	33	7	See, where they stand at the gates, the men we sent out to report, hailing us; the messengers we sent to ask for peace, weeping bitterly;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	33	8	Deserted, the highways, the lanes untravelled; the enemy has broken the truce, making no terms with the cities, not sparing the lives of men;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	33	9	widowed the countryside and lifeless, Lebanon shrunken and withered, Saron a wilderness, Basan and Carmel quaking with fear.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	33	10	Now, the Lord says, to bestir myself, now to rise up in arms against them, now to make them feel my power!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	33	11	A raging fire conceived in the womb, and nothing but stubble brought to the birth; your own impetuous spirit shall be a fire, Gentiles, to devour you;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	33	12	like ashes in a kiln they shall be left, the alien hordes, bundles of brushwood eaten up by the fire.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	33	13	Listen then, you that live far off, to the story of my doings; and you, who dwell close to me, learn the lesson of my power.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	33	14	In Sion itself there be guilty folk that tremble, false hearts full of dismay; who shall survive this devouring flame, the near presence of fires that burn unceasingly?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	33	15	He only, that follows the path of innocence, tells truth, ill-gotten gain refuses, flings back the bribe; his ears shut to murderous counsels, his eyes from every harmful sight turned away.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	33	16	On the heights his dwelling shall be, his eyrie among the fastnesses of the rocks, bread shall be his for the asking, water from an unfailing spring.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	33	17	Those eyes shall look on the king in his royal beauty, have sight of a land whose frontiers are far away.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	33	18	Of those old fears, how thou wilt recall the memory! Where are they now, the learned men, that could weight each phrase of the law, that taught us like children?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	33	19	No longer wilt thou see before thee a rebellious people, all profound talk that passes thy comprehension, and no wisdom.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	33	20	Look around thee at Sion, goal of our pilgrimage, see where Jerusalem lies, an undisturbed dwelling-place; here is tent securely fixed, its pegs immoveable, its ropes never to be broken.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	33	21	Here, as nowhere else, our Lord reigns in majesty; a place of rivers, of wide, open streams, yet no ship’s oar will disturb it, no huge galleon pass by;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	33	22	the Lord our judge, the Lord our lawgiver, the Lord our king, will himself be our deliverance.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	33	23	Now, thy tackle hangs loose and unserviceable, too weak thy mast is to display thy pennon; then, thou wilt have the spoil of many forays to divide, even lame folk shall carry plunder away.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	33	24	No more shall they cry out on their helpless plight, these, thy fellow citizens; none dwells there now but is assoiled of his guilt.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	34	1	Nations, come near and listen, here is news for all mankind; give heed the whole world must, and all that lives on it, earth and all earth breeds.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	34	2	On all nations the Lord will be avenged, never an armed host but must feel the blow, forfeit, all of them, and doomed to perish.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	34	3	See where they lie slain, their carrion polluting the air, the very hills rotted away with their blood!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	34	4	Fade they into nothing, yonder heavenly powers; shrivel, like a scroll, the heavens themselves, nor any star there but must wither, as leaf withers on vine or fig-tree;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	34	5	in the very heavens my sword shall drink deep of blood. On Edom doubt not it shall fall, death-sentence to execute,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	34	6	the sword of the Lord, glutted with blood! Well nourished with fat, where it drank the blood of lambs and goats, of stalled rams! There are victims ready for the Lord in Bosra; great slaughter then shall be in the land of Edom.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	34	7	Down go the wild bulls with the rest, the bullocks, leaders of the herd; earth must be sodden with their blood, rich grow the soil with fat of their pampered kings.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	34	8	Swiftly it comes, the day of the Lord’s vengeance, the year that shall see Sion’s wrongs redressed.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	34	9	Pitch they shall be henceforward, the brooks of Edom, its soil brimstone; a land of burning pitch,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	34	10	never quenched night or day, its smoke going up eternally; age after age it shall yet be desolate, untravelled for ever by the foot of man.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	34	11	Pelican and hedge-hog shall claim it, ibis and raven be its tenants; plotted with the Lord’s measuring-line, an empty void, tried with his plummet, a hanging ruin.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	34	12	Cry they for a king to govern it, that has no chieftain now; all its princes have vanished.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	34	13	Thorns and nettles shall grow in its palaces, briers over its battlements; it shall be the lair of serpents, the pasture-ground of the ostrich.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	34	14	Devils and monstrous forms shall haunt it, satyr call out to satyr; there the vampire lies down and finds rest.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	34	15	Hedge-hog makes a nest to rear its young, nurtured safely in yonder shade; vulture there with vulture meets.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	34	16	Turn back, when the time comes, to this record of divine prophecy, and read it afresh; you shall learn, then, that none of these signs was lacking, none waited for the coming of the next. The Lord it was entrusted me with the prophecies I utter; by his Spirit that strange company was called together.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	34	17	For each its own dwelling-place; in his hand was the line that measured it out to them; there they shall live on for ever, to all ages undisturbed.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	35	1	Thrills the barren desert with rejoicing; the wilderness takes heart, and blossoms, fair as the lily.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	35	2	Blossom on blossom, it will rejoice and sing for joy; all the majesty of Lebanon is bestowed on it, all the grace of Carmel and of Saron. All alike shall see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	35	3	Stiffen, then, the sinews of drooping hand and flagging knee;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	35	4	give word to the faint-hearted, Take courage, and have no fear; see where your Lord is bringing redress for your wrongs, God himself, coming to deliver you!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	35	5	Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and deaf ears unsealed;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	35	6	the lame man, then, shall leap as the deer leap, the speechless tongue cry aloud. Springs will gush out in the wilderness, streams flow through the desert;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	35	7	ground that was dried up will give place to pools, barren land to wells of clear water; where the serpent had its lair once, reed and bulrush will show their green.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	35	8	A high road will stretch across it, by divine proclamation kept holy; none that is defiled may travel on it; and there you shall find a straight path lying before you, wayfarer is none so foolish he can go astray.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	35	9	No lions shall molest it, no beasts of prey venture on it. Free men shall walk on it,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	35	10	coming home again to Sion, and praising the Lord for their ransoming. Eternal happiness crowns them, joy and happiness in their grasp now, sorrow and sighing fled far away.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	36	1	It was in the fourteenth year of Ezechias’ reign that Sennacherib, king of Assyria, marched on the fortified cities of Juda, and took them.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	36	2	And the king of Assyria, who was then at Lachis, sent Rabsaces at the head of a strong force to Jerusalem, where king Ezechias was. This Rabsaces took up his stand on the aqueduct that fed the upper pool, on the way that brings you to the Fuller’s Field,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	36	3	and there he was met by Eliacim, son of Helcias, the controller of the royal household, and Sobna, the scribe, and Joahe, son of Asaph, the recorder.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	36	4	So he bade them tell Ezechias, Here is a message to thee from the great king, the king of Assyria. What confidence is this that makes thee so bold?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	36	5	By what cunning or what force dost thou hope to meet me in arms? On whose help dost thou rely, that thou wouldst throw off my allegiance?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	36	6	What, wilt thou rely on Egypt? That is to support thyself on a broken staff of cane, that will run into a man’s hand, if he presses on it, and pierce him through; such does Pharao, king of Egypt, prove himself to all those who rely on him.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	36	7	Or wilt thou answer, We trust, I and my people, in the Lord our God? Tell me, who is he? Is he not the God whose hill-shrines and altars their king, Ezechias, has cleared away, bidding Juda and Jerusalem worship at one altar here?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	36	8	Come now, if thou wert to make terms with my master, the king of Assyria, by which I must hand over to thee two thousand horses, wouldst thou be able to do thy part by putting riders on them?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	36	9	Why, thou art no match even for a city prefect, the least of my master’s servants. Trust if thou wilt in Egypt, its chariots and its horsemen;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	36	10	but dost thou doubt that I have the Lord’s warrant to come and subdue this land? It was the Lord himself who sent word to me, Make war on this land, and subdue it.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	36	11	At this, Eliacim and Sobna and Joahe said to Rabsaces, My lord, pray talk to us in Syriac; we know it well. Do not talk to us in the Hebrew language, while all these folks are standing on the walls within hearing.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	36	12	What, said Rabsaces, dost thou think my master hath sent me with this message for thee only, and for that master of thine? It is for the folk who man the walls, these companions of yours that have nothing left to eat or drink but the ventings of their own bodies.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	36	13	Then Rabsaces stood up and cried aloud, in Hebrew, Here is a message to you from the great king, the king of Assyria!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	36	14	This is the king’s warning, Do not be deluded by Ezechias, he is powerless to save you;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	36	15	do not let Ezechias put you off by telling you to trust in God; that the Lord is certain to bring you aid, he cannot allow the king of Assyria to become master of your city.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	36	16	No, do not listen to Ezechias; here are the terms the king of Assyria offers to you. Earn my good will by surrendering to me, and you shall live unmolested; to each the fruit of his own vine and fig-tree, to each the water from his own cistern.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	36	17	Then, when I come back, I will transplant you into a land like your own, which will grudge you neither wheat nor wine, so rich is it in cornfields and vineyards.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	36	18	No, do not let Ezechias stir you to action by telling you that the Lord will deliver you. What of other nations? Were their countries delivered, by this god or that, when the king of Assyria threatened them?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	36	19	What gods had Emath and Arphad, what god had Sepharvaim? Did any power rescue Samaria from my attack?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	36	20	Which of all the gods in the world has delivered his country when I threatened it, that you should trust in the Lord’s deliverance, when I threaten Jerusalem?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	36	21	But all kept silence, and gave him no word in answer; the king had sent orders that they were not to answer him.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	36	22	So Eliacim, son of Helcias, the controller of the royal household, and Sobna, the scribe, and Joahe, son of Asaph, the recorder, went back to Ezechias, with their garments torn about them, to let him know what Rabsaces had said.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	37	1	No sooner had king Ezechias heard it, than he tore his garments open, and put on sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	37	2	Meanwhile, he sent word to the prophet Isaias, son of Amos. Eliacim, the controller of the household, and Sobna, the scribe, and some of the older priests, went on this errand.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	37	3	Here is a message for thee, they said, from Ezechias. Troublous times have come upon us; times to make us mend our ways, or else blaspheme God. What remedy, when children come to the birth, and the mother has no strength to bear them?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	37	4	Unless indeed the Lord God should take cognizance of what Rabsaces has been saying, Rabsaces, who was sent here by his master, the king of Assyria, to blaspheme the living God. Surely the Lord thy God has listened to the reproaches he uttered. Raise thy voice, then, in prayer for the poor remnant that is left.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	37	5	Thus visited by the servants of Ezechias,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	37	6	Isaias answered, Give your master this message. Do not be dismayed, the Lord says, at hearing the blasphemies which the courtiers of the Assyrian king have uttered against me.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	37	7	See if I do not put him in such a mind, see if I do not make him hear such news, as will send him back to his own country. And when he reaches his own country, I will give the word, and the sword shall make an end of him.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	37	8	And now Rabsaces went back to find the king of the Assyrians before Lobna, hearing that he had raised the siege of Lachis.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	37	9	News had come that Taracha, king of the Ethiopians, was on his way to do battle with him. And the king, when he heard the report, despatched messengers to Ezechias;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	37	10	Give this warning, he said, to Ezechias, king of Juda. Do not let the God in whom thou puttest such confidence deceive thee with false hopes, telling thee that Jerusalem will never be allowed to fall into the hands of the Assyrian king.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	37	11	What, hast thou not heard what the kings of Assyria have done to the nations everywhere, destroying them utterly? And what hope hast thou of deliverance?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	37	12	What saving power had the gods of those old peoples my fathers overthrew, Gozam, and Haram, and Repheth, and the race of Eden who lived in Thalassar?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	37	13	Where are they, the kings of Emath, and Arphad, the kings who governed the city of Sepharvaim, and Ana, and Ava?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	37	14	These despatches were handed by the messengers to Ezechias, and when he had read them, he went up into the house of the Lord, and held them out open in the Lord’s presence.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	37	15	And this was the prayer which Ezechias made to the Lord:
 Isaiah	Isa	27	37	16	Lord of hosts, God of Israel, who hast thy throne above the cherubim, thou alone art God over all the kingdoms of the world, heaven and earth are of thy fashioning.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	37	17	Give ear, Lord, and listen; open thy eyes, Lord, and see; do not let Sennacherib’s words go unheard, these blasphemies he has uttered against the living God.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	37	18	It is true, Lord, that the kings of Assyria have brought ruin on whole nations, and the lands they lived in,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	37	19	and thrown their gods into the fire; but these were in truth no gods; men had made them, of wood or stone, and men could break them.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	37	20	Now it is for thee, O Lord our God, to rescue us from the invader, and shew all the kingdoms of the world there is no other Lord, save thee.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	37	21	Then Isaias, son of Amos, sent word to Ezechias, A message to thee from the Lord, the God of Israel, in answer to the prayer thou hast made to him about Sennacherib, king of the Assyrians.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	37	22	This is what the Lord has to say of him: See how she mocks thee, flouts thee, Sion, the virgin city! Jerusalem, proud maiden, follows thee with her eyes and tosses her head in scorn.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	37	23	So thou wouldst hurl insults, and blaspheme, and talk boastfully, and brave it out with disdainful looks, against whom? Against the Holy One of Israel.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	37	24	In thy name, these servants of thine have hurled insults at the Lord. It was thy dream that thou hadst scaled, with those chariots of thine, the mountain heights, the slopes of Lebanon; and now thou wouldst cut down its tall cedars, its noble fir-trees, till thou couldst reach the very summit of the ascent, the garden its woods enclosed.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	37	25	Thou wouldst dig wells and drink wherever it pleased thee, thou wouldst dry up, in thy march, the banked channels of the Nile.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	37	26	What, hast thou not heard how I dealt with this people in time past? This present design, too, is one I have formed long since, and am now carrying out; such a design as brings with it ruin for the mountain-fastnesses, the walled cities that fight against thee.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	37	27	Sure enough, they were overawed and discomfited, the puny garrisons that held them; frail as meadow grass or mountain pasturage, or the stalks that grow on the house-top, withering before they can ripen.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	37	28	But I am watching thee where thou dwellest, thy comings and goings, thy raving talk against me.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	37	29	Yes, I have listened to the ravings of thy pride against me, and now a ring for thy nose, a twitch of the bridle in thy mouth, and back thou goest by the way thou didst come.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	37	30	Here is a test for thee, Ezechias, of the truth of my prophecy; this year thou must be content to eat the aftergrowth, and next year wild things shall be thy food; in the third year you may sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	37	31	A remnant of Juda’s race will be saved, and this remnant will strike root deep in earth, bear fruit high in air;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	37	32	yes, it is from Jerusalem the remnant will come, from mount Sion that we shall win salvation; so tenderly he loves us, the Lord of hosts.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	37	33	This, then, is what the Lord has to tell thee about the king of the Assyrians; he shall never enter this city, or shoot an arrow into it; no shield-protected host shall storm it, no earthworks shall be cast up around it.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	37	34	He will go back the way he came, and never enter into this city, the Lord says;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	37	35	I will keep guard over this city and deliver it, for my own honour and for the honour of my servant David.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	37	36	It was after this that an angel of the Lord went out on his errand, and smote down a hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp; when morning came, and men were astir, nothing was to be seen but the corpses of the dead.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	37	37	So Sennacherib, king of the Assyrians, broke up camp, and took the road, and was gone; nor did he leave Ninive again.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	37	38	And one day, when he was at worship in the temple of his god Nosroch, two sons of his, Adramelech and Sarasar, drew their swords on him, and so escaped into the land of Ararat; and the kingdom passed to his son Asarhaddon.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	38	1	And now Ezechias fell sick, and was at death’s door; indeed, the prophet Isaias, son of Amos, visited him with this message from the Lord, Put thy affairs in order; it is death that awaits thee, not recovery.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	38	2	At this Ezechias turned his face towards the wall, and prayed to the Lord thus:
 Isaiah	Isa	27	38	3	Remember, Lord, I entreat thee, a life that has kept true to thee, an innocent heart; how I did ever what was thy will. And Ezechias wept bitterly.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	38	4	And thereupon the word of the Lord came to Isaias,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	38	5	Go and tell Ezechias, Here is a message to thee from the Lord, the God of thy father David. I have listened to thy prayer, and marked thy tears; be it so, I will add fifteen years to thy life.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	38	6	And I will save thee and thy city from the power of the Assyrian king; I will be its protector.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	38	7	This sign, too, the Lord gives thee, in proof that he will make his promise good;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	38	8	see how low the shadow has fallen, with sun-down, where the dial of Achaz marks the hours! I will make it go ten hours back. And with that the sun retraced ten hours of its descent.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	38	9	These are the words Ezechias king of Juda wrote, upon falling sick and recovering of his illness.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	38	10	It seemed as if I must go down to the gates of the world beneath, in the noontide of my years; the remnant of life that I hoped for, hoped for in vain.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	38	11	No more (thought I) to lift up my eyes to the Lord God in this land of the living, to see men’s faces, and quiet homes, no more!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	38	12	This familiar world taken away from me, folded up like a shepherd’s tent, my life cut short like the weaver’s thread! And he had cut me off while the web was still in the making; before the day reached its evening, he would make an end of me.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	38	13	All night long I lay still, as if he had been a lion that had broken all my bones; before the day reached its evening he would make an end of me.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	38	14	My voice was as feeble as the voice of a nestling swallow or murmuring dove; my eyes wearied out with ever straining upwards. Lord, I am in hard straits; win my release for me!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	38	15	And yet, what words can I use, what answer can I expect, when it is he himself that has brought this upon me? With bitter heart I pass all my years in review.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	38	16	Lord, so frail a thing is life; on so little does my mortal breath depend! Thou canst chastise me, thou canst make me live.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	38	17	Bitter, bitter the discipline that brings me peace!And now thou hast saved the life that was in peril, thrusting away all my sins out of thy sight.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	38	18	Thou hast no praise in the world beneath, death cannot honour thee; those who go down into the grave have no promise of thine to hope for;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	38	19	it is living men, as I am a living man to-day, that give thee thanks, pass on from father to son the story of thy faithfulness.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	38	20	Lord, be my saviour still; so, all day long, the Lord’s house shall ring with the music of our psalms.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	38	21	Note that Isaias bade them take a lump of figs, and make a plaster of it for the king’s ulcer, and this is how he was healed.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	38	22	And note that Ezechias had asked what sign should be given him, in proof that he would set foot in the Lord’s house again.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	39	1	And now, hearing of his sickness and recovery, the king of Babylon, Merodach Baladan, son of Baladan, sent a letter and gifts to Ezechias.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	39	2	Ezechias was delighted at the coming of these envoys, and shewed them his scented treasure-house, with its silver and gold and spices and rich ointments; the rooms where his ornaments were kept; all the wealth of his store-house. There was nothing in palace or domain but he showed it to them.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	39	3	Then the prophet Isaias gained audience of king Ezechias, and asked him, What message did these men bring, and whence had they come? They came to see me, said Ezechias, from a country that is far away, from Babylon.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	39	4	And when Isaias asked what they had seen in his palace, he told him, They saw everything in my palace; I have no treasures I did not shew them.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	39	5	And at that Isaias said to Ezechias, I have a message for thy hearing from the Lord of hosts.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	39	6	Behold, a time is coming when all that is in thy house, all the treasures which thy fathers have amassed there in times past, will be taken away to Babylon; nothing shall be left of it, the Lord says.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	39	7	And sons of thine, men of thy own line, of thy own stock, shall be carried off to be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	39	8	Why then, Ezechias said to Isaias, welcome be the word the Lord has spoken! In my time at least, he said, may there be peace, may the promise hold good.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	40	1	Take heart again, my people, says your God, take heart again.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	40	2	Speak Jerusalem fair, cry aloud to her that her woes are at an end, her guilt is pardoned; double toll the Lord has taken for all her sins.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	40	3	A cry, there, out in the wilderness, Make way for the Lord’s coming; a straight road for our God through the desert!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	40	4	Bridged every valley must be, every mountain and hill levelled; windings cut straight, and the rough paths paved;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	40	5	the Lord’s glory is to be revealed for all mankind to witness; it is his own decree.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	40	6	A voice came, bidding me cry aloud; asked I in what words, in these: Mortal things are but grass, the glory of them is but grass in flower;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	40	7	grass that withers, a flower that fades, when the Lord’s breath blows upon it. The whole people, what is it but grass?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	40	8	Grass that withers, a flower that fades; but the word of our Lord stands for ever.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	40	9	Good news for Sion, take thy stand, herald, on some high mountain; good news for Jerusalem, proclaim it, herald, aloud; louder still, no cause now for fear; tell the cities of Juda, See, your God comes!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	40	10	See, the Lord God is coming, revealed in power, with his own strong arm for warrant; and see, they come with him, they walk before him, the reward of his labour, the achievement of his task,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	40	11	his own flock! Like a shepherd he tends them, gathers up the lambs and carries them in his bosom, helps the ewes in milk forward on their way.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	40	12	Who was it measured out the waters in his open hand, heaven balanced on his palm, earth’s mass poised on three of his fingers? Who tried yonder mountains in the scale, weighed out the hills?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	40	13	No aid, then, had the spirit of the Lord to help him, no counsellor stood by to admonish him.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	40	14	None other was there, to lend his skill; guide to point out the way, pilot to warn him of danger.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	40	15	What are the nations to him but a drop of water in a bucket, a make-weight on the scales? What are the islands but a handful of dust?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	40	16	His altar-hearth Lebanon itself could not feed, victims could not yield enough for his burnt-sacrifice.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	40	17	All the nations of the world shrink, in his presence, to nothing, emptiness, a very void, beside him.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	40	18	And will you find a likeness for God, set up a form to resemble him?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	40	19	What avails image the metal-worker casts, for goldsmith to line with gold, silversmith plate with silver?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	40	20	What avails yonder wood, hard of fibre, proof against decay; the craftsman’s care, that his statue should stand immovable?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	40	21	What ignorance is this? Has no rumour reached you, no tradition from the beginning of time, that you should not understand earth’s origin?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	40	22	There is One sits so high above its orb, those who live on it seem tiny as locusts; One who has spread out the heavens like gossamer, as he were pitching a tent to dwell in.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	40	23	The men who can read mysteries, how he confounds them, the men who judge on earth, what empty things he makes of them!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	40	24	Saplings never truly planted, or laid out, or grounded in the soil, see how they wither at his sudden blast, how the storm-wind carries them away like stubble!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	40	25	What likeness, then, can you find to match me with? asks the Holy One.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	40	26	Lift up your eyes, and look at the heavens; who was it that made them? Who is it that marshals the full muster of their starry host, calling each by its name, not one of them missing from the ranks? Such strength, such vigour, such spirit is his.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	40	27	What, then, is this thought of thine, Jacob, what is this complaint of thine, Israel, that the Lord does not see how it fares with thee, that thy God passes over thy wrongs?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	40	28	What ignorance is this? Has not the rumour of it reached thee? This Lord of ours, who fashioned the remotest bounds of earth, is God eternally; he does not weaken or grow weary; he is wise beyond all our thinking.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	40	29	Rather, it is he who gives the weary fresh spirit, who fosters strength and vigour where strength and vigour is none.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	40	30	Youth itself may weaken, the warrior faint and flag,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	40	31	but those who trust in the Lord will renew their strength, like eagles new-fledged; hasten, and never grow weary of hastening, march on, and never weaken on the march.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	41	1	Let the islands cease their clamour, and come to me, let the peoples of the world take heart afresh; and so let them come and plead their cause; we will submit the question to an arbiter, they and I.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	41	2	Tell me, who was it summoned his faithful servant from the east, beckoned him to follow? The nations should be at his mercy, kings be subdued at his coming; flying like dust before his sword, scattered like chaff in the wind at the threat of his bow.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	41	3	He should rout them in battle, and pass through their country unmolested, leaving not a footprint behind him.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	41	4	Who was the author, the doer of all this, but I, the Lord, who summon all the ages into being? Before all, and at the end of all, I am.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	41	5	The islands have seen it, and trembled at the sight; the remotest parts of the world have been smitten with dismay; they draw near, and obey the summons.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	41	6	(And still each abets his neighbour; Courage, says one to another.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	41	7	The metal-worker, plying the hammer, encourages his fellow that is smiting the anvil; all goes well, he says, with the soldering. And he fastens it with nails, immovable. )
 Isaiah	Isa	27	41	8	But thou, Israel, my servant, thou, Jacob, on whom my choice has fallen, art sprung from that Abraham, who was my friend;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	41	9	in his person, I led thee by the hand from the ends of the earth, beckoning thee from far away, and still I whispered to thee, My servant thou art, chosen, not rejected.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	41	10	Have no fear, I am with thee; do not hesitate, am I not thy God? I am here to strengthen and protect thee; faithful the right hand that holds thee up.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	41	11	Thou shalt see all thy enemies disappointed and put to the blush; what are they? A very nothing, those adversaries of thine; they must vanish away;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	41	12	thou wilt look in vain for the men who troubled thee, fought against thee; thy search is for a very nothing, a memory of the past.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	41	13	It is I, the Lord thy God, that hold thee by the hand and whisper to thee, Do not be afraid, I am here to help thee.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	41	14	Jacob, poor worm, poor ghost of Israel, do not be afraid; I am here, says the Lord, to help thee; I am here, says the Holy One of Israel, to ransom thee.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	41	15	I mean to go a-threshing, and thou my sledge, newly made; teeth like saws to thresh the mountains and crush them down, turn the hills into chaff;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	41	16	ay, and winnow them, till wind carries them away and storm scatters them! Thou shalt yet make thy boast of the Lord, triumph in the Holy One of Israel.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	41	17	Poor vagrants that long for water, where water is none, how dry their tongues with thirst! And shall I, the Lord, refuse them a hearing, I, the Holy One of Israel, leave them forsaken?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	41	18	I will open springs on the hill-slopes, wells in the open plain, turn the wilderness into pools, the trackless desert into running streams.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	41	19	I will plant those wastes with cedar and acacia, myrtle and olive; rear, in that desert soil, fir and elm and box besides;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	41	20	proof for all to see and recognize, for all to mark and to consider, that the Lord’s hand was there; who but he, the Holy One of Israel, creates?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	41	21	Come then, says the Lord, your pleadings! Let the King of Jacob hear your contentions;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	41	22	let them come forward, these other gods, and tell us the future. So read the past for us, that the study of it may disclose what needs must follow; coming events make known.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	41	23	Foretell you what is yet to be, we shall know you are gods indeed. Then, if you have the power, grant good or ill fortune to mankind; confer we, and pass judgement on it!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	41	24	Why, you are all empty air, a nothing that nothing can effect; he courts his own shame, that makes choice of you.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	41	25	I summoned one from the north country; from the east his coming should be, and ever he should invoke my name. Princes he should harry to and fro, lightly as potter treads out his clay.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	41	26	Which of you foretold this from the first? Let us recognize it. Which of you knew it from the beginning? We must needs say, His plea is just. But no, none gave tidings of it, none foretold it; there was no word came from you.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	41	27	Who will be the first to tell Sion, Here, here they are? He shall carry my good news to Jerusalem.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	41	28	But when I looked, there was none of them that could offer counsel, or give a word in answer when I questioned him.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	41	29	None of them has right on his side; all their doings are nothingness; no better than empty air the images men make of them.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	42	1	And now, here is my servant, to whom I grant protection, the man of my choice, greatly beloved. My spirit rests upon him, and he will proclaim right order among the Gentiles.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	42	2	He will not be contentious or a lover of faction; none shall hear his voice in the streets.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	42	3	He will not snap the staff that is already crushed, or put out the wick that still smoulders; but at last he will establish right order unfailingly.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	42	4	Not with sternness, not with violence; to set up right order on earth, that is his mission. He has a law to give; in the far-off islands men wait for it eagerly.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	42	5	Thus says the Lord God, he who created the heavens and spread them out, craftsman of the world and all the world affords, he who gives being and breath to all that lives and moves on it:
 Isaiah	Isa	27	42	6	True to my purpose, I, the Lord, have summoned thee, taking thee by the hand and protecting thee, to make, through thee, a covenant with my own people, to shed, through thee, light over the Gentiles:
 Isaiah	Isa	27	42	7	to give sight to blinded eyes, to set the prisoner free from his captivity, from the dungeon where he lies in darkness.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	42	8	I am the Lord, whose name tells of power; I will not let the boast that is mine pass to another, or share my renown with graven gods.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	42	9	What I told you long since, has proved true under your eyes; I tell you now what is still to be; you shall hear of it before ever it comes to light.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	42	10	Sing the Lord a new song; let his praise sound from end to end of the earth. Praise him from the sea, all men that sail on it, and all creatures the sea contains; the islands and the island-dwellers.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	42	11	Let the wilderness, now, lift up its head, and the desert cities; the men of Cedar shall have villages to dwell in. Give praise, then, rock-dwellers; the mountain-tops shall ring with their cries.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	42	12	All shall give God his praise, till the renown of him reaches the islands far away.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	42	13	Like a giant the Lord shall go out to battle, like a warrior that stirs up his own rage, with hue and cry, flouting his enemies.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	42	14	Too long I have been dumb, eaten my heart out, held myself in like a woman in labour; now I will have my say, I will destroy, and as I destroy, devour!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	42	15	I will turn mountain and hill into a waste, withering all their verdure, make barren islands of the rivers, dry up the marshes;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	42	16	and I will lead men blindfold by unfamiliar ways, guide their steps by paths unknown to them; I will make the darkness light, and the winding ways straight for them. Such was my promise to them, and were they disappointed of it?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	42	17	See how they are routed, how they blush and blench, the men who trust in graven images, and say to the idols they have cast, You are gods of ours!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	42	18	Listen now, you that are deaf; look up, blind eyes, and see.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	42	19	Who so blind as my servant, who so deaf as he, to whom my messengers were sent? Who so blind, as he that has forfeited his liberty? Who so blind, as the Lord’s servant is?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	42	20	Eyes that have seen so much, must they be still unheeding; ears open to every rumour, will they never hear?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	42	21	It was ever the Lord’s will to sanctify him; so great, so glorious the law he gave him;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	42	22	yet here is a people robbed and spoiled, caught by warriors that have hidden it away in dungeons, a prey there is none to deliver, spoil none bids them restore.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	42	23	Which of you will listen to this, and mark it, and give a hearing to prophecy?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	42	24	Who was it that made Jacob a spoil, gave Israel up into the hands of the conqueror? It was that Lord, against whom we have sinned. Because his ways lay untrodden, his laws went unheeded,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	42	25	he poured out on Israel his angry retribution, war without mercy; and they? The flames burned round them, and they could not read the lesson, scorched them, and still they could not understand.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	43	1	And now, here is a message from the Lord to Jacob, his creature, to the Israel he fashioned: Do not be afraid, I have bought thee for myself, and given thee the name thou bearest: thou belongest to me.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	43	2	Pass through water, and I will be with thee, so that the flood shall not drown thee; walk amid the flames, and thou shalt not be burnt, the fire shall have no power to catch thee.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	43	3	I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy deliverer; I have bartered away Egypt to win thee, Ethiopia and Saba for thy ransom.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	43	4	So prized, so honoured, so dearly loved, that I am ready to give up mankind in thy place, a world to save thee.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	43	5	Do not be afraid, I am with thee; I will restore thy sons from the east, the west shall hear the calling of their muster-roll;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	43	6	I will say to the north wind, Give them back; to the south wind, Restrain them no more; bring back these sons of mine from far away, these daughters of mine from the world’s end.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	43	7	Whoever owns my name is my creature, made and fashioned for my glory.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	43	8	Bring them out, then, into the light of day, this people of mine that have eyes, and still cannot see, have ears, and cannot hear.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	43	9	Round about us, all the nations of the world are gathered, all its tribes assemble. And now, which among you can make this claim, give us an account of events foretold long ago? Let them produce witnesses to justify their claim, so that all may listen and say, It is the truth.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	43	10	I call you to witness, the Lord says, you and this servant of mine, on whom my choice has fallen; will you not recognize the truth, and believe me? Will you not learn to understand that I am the God you seek? None ever came into being before me, or will after me.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	43	11	It is I, I, the Lord; no other can bring deliverance.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	43	12	It was I who promised that deliverance, I who bought it; I told you of it, when there was no alien god worshipped among you; you are my witnesses to that, the Lord says. I am God,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	43	13	and what I was, I am; from my power there is no escaping; when I execute my designs, none can avert them.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	43	14	Thus says the Lord, your ransomer, the Holy One of Israel, If I send my emissaries to Babylon, casting down all its barriers, casting down the Chaldeans, with all the pride of their navies, it is for your sakes.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	43	15	I, the Lord, am your Holy One, I, the maker of Israel, am your king.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	43	16	A message to you from that same Lord, who could once lead you through the sea, make a passage for you through the foaming waters;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	43	17	could bring out chariots and horses, rank and file and chieftain together in pursuit, to fall there and never to rise again, crushed like a wick, and their light quenched.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	43	18	Do not remember those old things, he says, as if you had eyes for nothing but what happened long ago;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	43	19	I mean to perform new wonders; even now they are coming to the birth; surely you will understand at last? I mean to make a causeway over the desert, with streams flowing beside it in the waste.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	43	20	The wild things will do me honour, the serpents and the ostriches, for thus giving them water in the desert, streams in the waste; but it was for my people’s sake that I did it, to give drink to my chosen people.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	43	21	I made them for myself, surely they too will have praise to give me!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	43	22	Alas, Jacob, that my name should be forgotten, alas, Israel, that thou shouldst have troubled thyself about me so little!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	43	23	No ram of thine offered in burnt-sacrifice to me, no victims of thine to do me honour; little burden have my offerings been to thee, little trouble my meed of incense!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	43	24	Scented cane thou wouldst not buy to burn for me, nor think to cheer me with the fat of sacrifice; rather, it was I that was burdened, burdened with thy sins; I that was troubled, troubled with thy faithlessness.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	43	25	It was I, ever I, that must be blotting out thy offences, for my own honour’s sake, effacing the memory of thy sins.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	43	26	Time, now, thou shouldst remember me; come, let us settle the matter by arbitration, thou and I; tell me what plea thou hast to bring forward.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	43	27	For the guilt of thy first father, for the rebellions of thy own spokesmen against me,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	43	28	I brought thy inviolable princes to dishonour, gave up Jacob to destruction, Israel to the scorn of his enemies.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	44	1	Listen, then, Jacob, my servant, Israel, the people of my choice.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	44	2	Here is a mes-sage to thee from the Lord that made and fashioned thee in the womb, thy protector: do not be afraid, my servant, Jacob, my true, my chosen people.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	44	3	I will pour out water on the thirsty plain, streams over the land that once was dry; I will pour out my spirit upon thy race, my blessing on all thy line,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	44	4	and where the grass springs up they shall spring up too, like willows by running water.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	44	5	Now, a man will say openly, The Lord’s servant I; make his boast of Jacob’s name; write with his own hand, Dedicated to the Lord, and lay claim to the title of Israelite.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	44	6	Thus says the Lord, Israel’s king and ransomer, the Lord of hosts: I am before all; there is no other God but I.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	44	7	What other is like me? Let him proclaim it, tell us of it; let him expound the history of the past, ever since I established the primal race of man; then let him make known the future that is yet to come.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	44	8	Do not be afraid, or bewildered; you can bear me witness that from the first I proclaimed it in your hearing, there is no other God but I, no other Powers to rival me.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	44	9	What empty minds be theirs, that idols fashion! What help found any of them yet in his own darling inventions? Confess they, and to their shame, that these have neither sight nor thought.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	44	10	Who was it framed this god, moulded this image that nothing avails?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	44	11	What can they do, yonder whole conspiracy, but stand there blushing? They are but craftsmen with human power. See them met there in a body, all struck dumb, every one abashed as his neighbour!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	44	12	Here is blacksmith that works away with his file, beats out image with furnace and hammer, his strong arm the whole author of it; faints he, like other men, if he be hungry, tires at his task if water he have none to drink!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	44	13	Here is carpenter unfolding his rule; plane smoothes the wood, square and compasses must do their work; and what has he made for you? The figure of a man, that has but human beauty, a man that must have a roof to shelter him.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	44	14	For such ends, cedar must fall, ilex and oak be cut away from their place in the forest; for this, pine-tree was planted where rains should nourish it.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	44	15	Logs yonder carpenter will cut, a human hearth to feed; some he brings in to warm himself, kindles more when the bread is a-baking; and the rest? With the rest he makes himself a god to worship, bows down before the thing his own hands have carved!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	44	16	Well enough that hearth and oven should claim a share, that he should brew broth and fill his belly, that he should warm him, and boast of the warmth, at sight of his own chimney-corner.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	44	17	But that he should take the rest to make a god for himself! That he should fall down before an image, worship it, cry out to it, Save me, thou art my god!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	44	18	Ignorance and folly, bleared eyes that cannot see, dull hearts that cannot understand!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	44	19	Minds without reason, or sense, or thought, that cannot learn their lesson! Logs that fed the flame, embers that baked for me; now that my dinner is cooked and eaten, shall I take the rest and make an idol of it, fall down before a stump of wood?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	44	20	Dust and ashes are his portion; the fool goes on worshipping, cannot free his own soul from bondage, nor ask if he shelters himself under a lie.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	44	21	Remember it, Jacob, remember it, my servant Israel; it was I, Israel, that made thee; thou art my servant, and wilt thou forget me?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	44	22	The cloud of thy guilt, the haze of thy sinfulness, I have swept away; come back to me, thy ransomer.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	44	23	The Lord has been merciful; you heavens, sing your praises; depths of the earth, rejoice; echo the song of praise, mountain and forest and every forest tree; the Lord has ransomed Jacob, Israel shall make his boast in him.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	44	24	Thus says the Lord, thy ransomer, he who fashioned thee in the womb: I am the Lord, the author of all things; alone I spread out heaven’s canopy, looked for no help when I laid the floor of the earth.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	44	25	Mine to disappoint the soothsayers of their prophecies, and bewilder the diviner’s wits, send the wise men back to school, their wisdom all exposed as folly,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	44	26	vindicate my own servant, and justify the counsel my own messengers have given. It is my voice that bids Jerusalem grow populous, and the cities of Juda rise again, while I restore their ruins;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	44	27	my voice that bids the deep turn into a desert, and threatens to dry up all its floods;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	44	28	my voice that says to Cyrus, I give thee a shepherd’s part to play; it is for thee to carry out my whole purpose. And to Jerusalem it says, Thou shalt be built up; and to the Temple, Thou shalt be founded again.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	45	1	A message from the Lord to the king he has anointed, to Cyrus. I have caught him by his right hand, ready to subdue nations at his coming, put kings to flight, open every gateway before him, so that no door can keep him out.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	45	2	And now (says the Lord) I will still lead thee on thy way, bending the pride of earth low before thee; I will break open gates of bronze, and cleave through bars of iron;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	45	3	their hidden treasures, their most secret hoards, I will hand over to thee. Know by this that it is I, the Lord, the God of Israel, who am calling upon thee by thy name;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	45	4	and that I do it for love of my servant Jacob, of Israel, my chosen people. Yes, I have called thee by thy name; I have found a title for thee, when thou of me hadst no knowledge as yet.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	45	5	It is the Lord that speaks, and there is no other to rival me, no God but I; I, still unknown to thee, was fain to make thee strong, to what end?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	45	6	Because I would proclaim it from east to west that there is no other God. It is the Lord that speaks, and there is no other to rival me;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	45	7	I, the fashioner of darkness, the creator of light, I, the maker of peace, the author of calamity. I, the Lord, am the doer of all this.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	45	8	(You heavens, send dew from above, you skies, pour down upon us the rain we long for, him, the Just One; may he, the Saviour, spring from the closed womb of earth, and with him let right order take its being. )I, the Lord, have made my servant what he is.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	45	9	At his peril does man, poor shard of earthly clay, bandy words with his own Fashioner; shall the clay dare ask the potter who moulds it, What ails thee? Or tell him he is no craftsman?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	45	10	Strange, if a man should be asked by his own son, why he begot him, or a woman, why she gave birth!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	45	11	Thus says the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and Israel’s maker, Of me you must learn, what times they be that are coming; trust me to do what I will with my sons, with my own creatures.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	45	12	It was I framed the earth, and created man to dwell in it; it was my hands that spread out the heavens, my voice that marshalled the starry host;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	45	13	I, too, have summoned this man to perform my designs faithfully; go he where he will, my guidance shall be his. He shall build up my own city, he shall let my captives go free, without bribe or ransom, says the Lord of hosts.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	45	14	This, too, the Lord says: all the toil of Egypt, all the merchandise of Ethiopia, and tall slaves from Sabaea shall come into thy power and be thine; they shall walk behind thee, their hands manacled as they go, paying thee reverence, and crying out, God is with thee, with thee only; there is no God where thou art not.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	45	15	Truly, God of Israel, our Saviour, thou art a God of hidden ways!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	45	16	All the makers of false gods must needs be disappointed, must go away ashamed and abashed.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	45	17	Israel has found deliverance in the Lord, eternal deliverance; while ages last, no shame, no disappointment for you.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	45	18	The Lord has pronounced it; the Lord who made the heavens, and the whole frame and fashion of earth, moulded to his will. He did not create it to lie idle, he shaped it to be man’s home. And he says, It is the Lord that speaks, there is no other to rival me;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	45	19	it was not in secret, not in some dark recess of earth, that my word was spoken. Not in vain I bade the sons of Jacob search for me; I am the Lord, faithful to my promises, truthful in all I proclaim.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	45	20	Gather yourselves and come near, flock together to my side, heathen men that have found deliverance; who still, in your ignorance, set up wooden images of your own fashioning, and pray to a god that cannot save.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	45	21	Tell us your thoughts, come, take counsel among yourselves; who was it that proclaimed this from the first, prophesied it long ago? Was it not I, the Lord? There is no God where I am not. Was it not I, the faithful God? There is no other that can save.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	45	22	Turn back to me, and win deliverance, all you that dwell in the remotest corners of the earth; I am God, there is no other.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	45	23	By my own honour I have sworn it, nor shall it echo in vain, this faithful promise I have made,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	45	24	that every knee shall bow before me, and every tongue swear by my name.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	45	25	Then shall men say of the Lord, that redress and dominion come from him; all those who rebelled against him shall appear in his presence abashed.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	45	26	Through the Lord, the whole race of Israel shall be righted and brought to honour.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	46	1	Here is Bel fallen in pieces, Nabo shattered; their idols a gazing-stock for wild beasts and cattle! Heavy enough the burden you had to carry;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	46	2	these must be left to moulder in a common ruin; comfort they had none for their toiling worshippers, living souls that have gone off into captivity.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	46	3	Listen to me, sons of Jacob, and all the rest of Israel’s race, you whose weight has ever been my burden, like an unborn child, a babe in the womb.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	46	4	You grow old, but I am still the same; the grey hairs come, but I ever uphold you; I must carry you, I that created you, I must bear you away to safety.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	46	5	What comparison, what match will you find for me, what likeness to resemble me?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	46	6	Fools that fetch gold out of a sack, weigh silver in the balance, bid some craftsman make a god they should fall down and worship!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	46	7	Shoulder-high it must be borne, set down on its pedestal; there it stands, powerless to move from its place, deaf to their cry, and in their need bringing no deliverance.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	46	8	This, for your confusion, call to mind; think well on it, unbelieving hearts.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	46	9	Remember the lesson of times long since, that I am God, and there is no other, none to rival me;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	46	10	did I not tell you from the first the events of latter days, from the beginning what had not yet come to be? My purpose, I promised, should not fail, my whole will must needs be done.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	46	11	See where I have summoned a bird of prey from the east, a man from a distant country, to do this will of mine! I, that spoke, will make my word good; I, that purposed it, my purpose will accomplish.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	46	12	Redress far off? Nay, faithless hearts, listen to me;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	46	13	here is redress I bring you, close at hand. Distance there is none to be travelled, nor lingers deliverance on the way. Delivered Sion’s mountain shall be, Jerusalem have sight of my glory.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	47	1	Come down, sit in the dust, poor maid of Babylon; the ground thy seat shall be; no throne any longer for that queen of the Chaldean folk we knew once, so dainty, so delicate.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	47	2	Get thee to the millstones and grind there, ready to expose thy nakedness; off with thy veil, here are streams to be crossed bare of leg.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	47	3	Thou shalt be exposed to shame, thy naked form uncovered; I mean to take vengeance on thee, and no man shall stay my hand.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	47	4	(But we have one to ransom us; who but the Lord of hosts, the Holy One of Israel? )
 Isaiah	Isa	27	47	5	Sit dumb, bury thyself in darkness, lady of Chaldea; thou shalt rule the nations no longer.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	47	6	Angry with my people, turned enemy against the land of my choice, I gave them into thy power; and thou, what mercy didst thou shew them? Heavy the yoke thou didst lay on aged shoulders.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	47	7	Thou wouldst surely be a queen for ever; thou didst it light-heartedly, not recking what the end should be.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	47	8	And now, here is a word for those delicate ears, lady of the careless heart, who sittest there telling thyself, I am Babylon, the unrivalled; no lonely widowhood, no childless lot for me.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	47	9	These two things shall fall on thee suddenly in a single day, childlessness and widowhood; fall upon thee in full measure, so blind amid all thy sorceries, through the crass folly of thy wizards so blind.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	47	10	Such was thy trust in these wicked arts of thine, thou hadst no fear of discovery; thy very wisdom, thy very knowledge were a snare; I am Babylon, thy heart told thee, rival I have none.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	47	11	And now comes ruin unforeseen, comes doom no sacrifice can avert; sudden and strange thy encounter with sorrow.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	47	12	All that multitude of wizards, and wilt thou not persevere with thy enchantments, the hard-earned lore of thy youth? Maybe it will turn to thy advantage; thou shalt be formidable yet!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	47	13	But no, thou art wearied of those many consultations. Let them come to thy side now and save thee if they can, diviners that gaze up at the stars, count days of the month, to tell thy future for thee!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	47	14	Like stubble burn they one and all; their own lives they cannot rescue from the flame. Here is no brazier to warm them, no ingle-nook to sit by!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	47	15	And this is the end of all thy long study; trusted counsellors of thy youth, all have gone astray in their reckoning; deliverance for thee is none.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	48	1	A message for you, sons of Jacob, heirs of Israel’s name, sprung from the stock of Juda, that take oath in the Lord’s name, of Israel’s God the memory preserve, but not in faith, but not in loyalty!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	48	2	Townsmen they are still reckoned of a holy city; still on Israel’s God, the Lord of hosts, lean they for support.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	48	3	What happened in times past, I had foretold long before; warning was uttered, and in the public ear; then, suddenly, I would set to work, and the prophecy was fulfilled.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	48	4	I knew well what an untamed creature thou art, neck stubborn as an iron hawser, forehead intractable as bronze;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	48	5	I would warn thee from the first, tell thee what was coming before it came; never shouldst thou say this was the work of thy false gods, the will of idols thou didst carve and cast.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	48	6	Consider closely the things I warned thee of, was there any foretelling them? Ever I reveal to thee, long before, things kept secret from thy knowledge;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	48	7	events that are coming about now, unheard of then. When they are yet beyond knowledge, I reveal them; not thine to boast, it was no news to thee.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	48	8	And still thou wouldst not listen, thou wouldst be ignorant still; when I prophesied to thee in times past, I could get no hearing; what hope from the traitor but of treason? I know thee a rebel from thy birth.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	48	9	If I reprieve thee from my vengeance, it is my own honour demands it; curb thee I must, for my own sake, or wouldst thou rush to thy doom.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	48	10	I have tested thee, but not as silver is tested; even in the furnace of affliction, thou wast already my choice.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	48	11	Honour, my own honour demands it; how should I suffer my name to be reviled, or the worship that belongs to me given to another?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	48	12	Listen then, Jacob; listen to me, thou Israel to whom my call was sent. I am still the same; before all, and at the end of all, I am.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	48	13	My hand fashioned the heavens, my fingers measured the span of earth; it is my command holds them in their place.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	48	14	Assemble, all you nations, and listen to me; tell me which of your gods has prophesied it, The Lord, in his great love for Israel, means to subdue Babylon to his will, to bare his arm among the Chaldeans?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	48	15	But I did, I foretold it; it was I that brought the conqueror on his way, so that it lay smooth before him.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	48	16	Gather round me and listen; from the first I have been telling you this openly enough; was I not there among you long since, before it happened? And now that it is happening, it is the Lord God, it is the spirit of the Lord God, that sends me to you.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	48	17	Here is a message from the Lord, thy ransomer, the Holy One of Israel: I am the Lord thy God, ever ready to teach thee what it concerns thee to know, guide thee on the path thou treadest.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	48	18	If thou hadst but heeded my warnings! Then had a flowing stream of peace been with thee, a full tide of the Lord’s favour;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	48	19	thy own race, thy own stock, should have been numberless as the sand or the pebbles on the sea-beach; the remembrance of thee should never have been cut off from my merciful regard.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	48	20	Away from Babylon, have done with Chaldea, let this be your triumphant watchword; make it heard everywhere, publish it to the ends of the earth, tell them the Lord has ransomed his servant Jacob;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	48	21	they did not go thirsty when he led them through the desert; he could bring water out of the rock for them, cleave the hard rock and make the water flow.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	48	22	But for the rebellious, the Lord says, there is no peace.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	49	1	Listen, remote islands; pay heed to me, nations from far away. Ere ever I was born, the Lord sent me his summons, kept me in mind already, when I lay in my mother’s womb.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	49	2	Word of mine is sword of his, ready sharpened, under cover of his hand; arrow he has chosen out carefully, hidden yet in his quiver.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	49	3	Thou art my servant, he whispers, thou art the Israel I claim for my own.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	49	4	To me, all my labour seemed useless, my strength worn out in vain; his to judge me, he, my God, must reward my work as he would.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	49	5	But now a new message he sends me; I am his servant, appointed ever since I lay in the womb, to bring Jacob back to him. What if Israel will not answer the summons? None the less, the Lord destines me to honour; none the less, he, my God, protects me.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	49	6	Use thee I will, he promises, nor with thy service be content, when the tribes of Jacob thou hast summoned, brought back the poor remnant of Israel; nay, I have appointed thee to be the light of the Gentiles, in thee I will send out my salvation to the furthest corners of the earth.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	49	7	A message from the Lord, Israel’s ransomer, Israel’s Holy One, to the despised one, to the nation that is abhorred, to the slave of tyrants: Kings, when they see this, shall rise up from their thrones, princes too, and fall down to worship, in honour of the Lord, that keeps his promise so faithfully, the Holy One of Israel, that claims thee still.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	49	8	Thus says the Lord, Here is a time of pardon, when prayer of thine shall be answered, a day of salvation, when I will bring thee aid. I have kept thee in readiness, to make, by thy means, a covenant with my people. Thine to revive a ruined country, to parcel out the forfeited lands anew,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	49	9	men that are bound in darkness restoring to freedom and to the light. There shall be pasture for my flock by the wayside, feeding-grounds they shall have on all the barren uplands;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	49	10	they will hunger and thirst no more, noonday heat nor sun overpower them; theirs is a merciful shepherd, that will lead them to welling fountains and give them drink.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	49	11	And I will turn all these mountains of mine into a highroad for you; safe through the uplands my path shall lead.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	49	12	See how they come from far away! Exiles from north and west, exiles from the south country return.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	49	13	Ring out, heaven, with praise; let earth keep holiday, and its mountains echo that praise again; the Lord brings consolation to his people, takes pity on their need.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	49	14	Did Sion complain, the Lord has forsaken me, my own Master gives me never a thought?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	49	15	What, can a woman forget her child that is still unweaned, pity no longer the son she bore in her womb? Let her forget; I will not be forgetful of thee.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	49	16	Why, I have cut thy image on the palms of my hands; those walls of thine dwell before my eyes continually.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	49	17	Here are craftsmen ready to build thee again; vanished, now, the spoilers that plundered thee.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	49	18	Look about thee, and see thy children met together, coming back to thee; As I am living God, the Lord says, all these shall be a robe to deck thee, shall ring thee round like a bride’s jewels;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	49	19	the silent homes, the lonely places of a ruined country-side, shall have no room, now, for thy many inhabitants, when all that robbed thee of thy lands have fled far away.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	49	20	Sons born to thee in the days of thy barrenness shall cry out, Here all is confined, give me room to live!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	49	21	Who has begotten me these? thou wilt ask. Barren days of exile, when I could not give birth; who has reared me these, when I was left solitary? Where were these all the while?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	49	22	Even now, says the Lord God, I will beckon to the nations, lift up a signal for all the world to see; son and daughter of thine shall be nursed in their arms, carried on their shoulders.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	49	23	Thou shalt have kings to foster them, queens to nurse them for thee; kings and queens shall bow to earth before thee, kissing the dust thy feet have trodden. And thou shalt know at last what a Lord I am, a Lord none ever trusted in vain.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	49	24	Shall the strong be robbed of his spoil? Who shall deliver the captives from a warrior’s hand?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	49	25	Captives of the strong, the Lord says, shall be taken away from him, the valiant warrior shall lose his spoil. I will pass judgement on the men who have been thy judges, and thy own children shall escape.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	49	26	I will feed thy enemies on their own flesh, give them their own blood to make them drunk, and all mankind shall know that I, the Lord, have delivered thee, that I, the Prince of Israel, have brought thee rescue.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	50	1	Thus says the Lord, Who can shew writ of separation your mother had from me when I sent her away? Was I in debt, that I must needs sell you as slaves? Nay, if I sold you, it was for your disobedience; it was wanton wife I thrust out of doors.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	50	2	And now must I come to you, and find none to greet me, call you, and hear no answer to my call? What, has arm of mine grown shrunk and shrivelled, lost its power to save? Have I strength no longer to set men free? Nay, with a word I can yet turn sea into desert, dry up rivers, till the fish lie rotting on the banks, dead of thirst;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	50	3	I can yet cover the heavens with darkness, and give them mourning weeds to wear.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	50	4	Ever the Lord schools my tongue to utterance that shall refresh the weary; awakes my dull ears, morning after morning, their Master’s bidding to heed.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	50	5	An attentive ear the Lord has given me; not mine to withstand him; not mine to shrink from the task.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	50	6	I offered my body defenceless to the men who would smite me, my cheeks to all who plucked at my beard; I did not turn away my face when they reviled me and spat upon me.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	50	7	The Lord God is my helper; and that help cannot play me false; meet them I will, and with a face unmoved as flint; not mine to suffer the shame of defeat;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	50	8	here is One stands by to see right done me. Come, who pleads? Meet me, and try the issue; let him come forward who will, and accuse me.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	50	9	Here is the Lord God ready to aid me; who dares pass sentence on me now? One and all they shall be brought to nothing, like garment the moth has eaten!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	50	10	Who is here that fears the Lord, listens to his servant’s message? Who would make his way through dark places, with no glimmer of light? Let him trust in the name of the Lord, and lean upon his God.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	50	11	For you others, with brand at girdle, that your own fire would make, with fire your own brands have kindled light the path if you can; this is all the gift I have for you, a bed of anguish.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	51	1	Listen to me, then, you who follow the true path, you that have recourse to the Lord. Think of the rock you were quarried from, of the hidden depths whence you came,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	51	2	of Abraham that begot you, of Sara that was your mother; he was a childless man when I called him, and blessed him, and granted him a posterity.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	51	3	And has the Lord no pity for Sion, left desolate, no pity on her ruined state? Doubt not he will turn that wilderness into a garden of delight, that loneliness into a paradise; in her, too, mirth and gladness shall be found, there shall be thanksgiving and songs of praise.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	51	4	People of mine, men of a chosen race, give heed and hearing! Henceforth, my law shall be promulgated, my decrees be ratified, for a whole world’s enlightening.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	51	5	Soon, now, my faithful servant will come, even now he is on his way to deliver you; these arms of mine shall execute judgement on the nations; the remote islands are waiting for me, are looking for my aid.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	51	6	Lift up your eyes to the heavens, cast them down to earth again; those heavens shall vanish like smoke, that earth be fretted away like a garment, and all who dwell on it share the same destruction; my saving power is eternal, my faithfulness inexhaustible.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	51	7	Listen to me, you that can discern the right, my own people, with my law written in your hearts; not yours to be afraid of men’s taunts, shrink from them when they revile you;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	51	8	crumble away they must, like garment the worms have eaten, like wool fretted by the moth; my saving power is eternal, my faithfulness lives on from age to age.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	51	9	Up, up, arm of the Lord, array thyself in strength; up, as in the days that are past, long ages since. What other power was it that smote our insolent enemy, wounded the dragon;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	51	10	what other power dried up the sea, with its deep rolling waters, made the sea’s caverns a highway, for a ransomed people to cross?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	51	11	Now, too, men the Lord has ransomed will come home again to Sion, praising him as they go. Eternal happiness crowns them, joy and happiness in their grasp now, sorrow and sighing fled far away.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	51	12	It is I, still it is I, that will bring thee consolation. And it is thou that art afraid of mortal man, of earth-born things that die like grass?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	51	13	Is it thou that dost forget the Lord, thy maker, who spread out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth? What, go in fear all day long of yonder angry tyrant, sworn to undo thee? What of the tyrant’s anger now?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	51	14	Comes he with hurried step to release his prisoner, persecuted to the death no longer, nor suffered to starve for want of bread!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	51	15	I am the Lord thy God, the same power that stirs up the sea till waves rise high on it; the Lord of hosts is the name I bear.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	51	16	To thy lips I have entrusted my message, kept thee under cover of my hand, to replant heaven and refound earth, to tell Sion, Thou art my people.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	51	17	Up, up, Jerusalem, bestir thyself! It was a draught of his vengeance the Lord gave thee to drink; ay, thou hast drunk deep of a cup that numbs the senses, drained it to the dregs.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	51	18	So many children she has borne and reared, and none to give her support, none to take her by the hand!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	51	19	Who is to mourn for thee, the sport of a double calamity, by want and war dismantled and unmanned? Who is here to console thee?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	51	20	They are left to lie at every street corner, those sons of thine, dazed as wild bull caught in a net, brought down by the Lord’s anger, by the punishment he, thy God, has sent them.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	51	21	Listen thou, the unbefriended, thy wits bemused with sorrow, not with wine,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	51	22	here is the message thy master has for thee, thy Lord and God, ready to fight in his people’s cause! I am taking it away from thy hand, this draught that numbs the senses, the dregs of the vengeance I had poured out for thee; thou shalt drink it no longer.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	51	23	Cruel oppressors that bade thee lie down and let them walk over thee, dust under their feet, a pathway for them to tread, shall find the cup has passed from thy hand to theirs.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	52	1	Up, up, array thyself, Sion, in all thy strength; clothe thyself as befits thy new glory, Jerusalem, city of the Holy One! The uncircumcised, the unclean, shall enter thee no more.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	52	2	Shake the dust from thee, Jerusalem, rise up and take thy throne; rid thy neck of the chains that bound it, Sion, once captive queen!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	52	3	This is the Lord’s promise, You were bartered away for nothing, and you shall be ransomed without cost.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	52	4	Time was, the Lord God says, long ago, when my people went down into Egypt and dwelt among strangers there; time was, since then, they were oppressed, beyond all reason, by the Assyrians;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	52	5	what needs it, the Lord says, then or now, my people should be carried off thus wantonly into exile? Their new masters sin defiantly, bring my name continually into reproach.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	52	6	The day comes when my own people my own name will recognize, nor doubt that I, who promised to be with them, am with them now.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	52	7	Welcome, welcome on the mountain heights the messenger that cries, All is well! Good news brings he, deliverance cries he, telling Sion, Thy God has claimed his throne!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	52	8	A shout goes up from the watchmen; they are crying out all at once, all at once echoing their praise; their own eyes shall witness it, when the Lord brings Sion deliverance.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	52	9	Rejoice, echo all at once with rejoicing, ruined homes of Jerusalem; comfort from the Lord for the Lord’s people, Jerusalem redeemed!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	52	10	The Lord bares his holy arm for all the nations to see it; to the remotest corners of earth he, our God, makes known his saving power.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	52	11	Return, return; no more of Babylon; touch nothing defiled as you come out from the heart of her, keep yourselves unsullied, you that have the vessels of the Lord’s worship in your charge.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	52	12	No need for confusion at the time of your going; this shall be no hasty flight, with the Lord himself to march before you, the God of Israel to rally you.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	52	13	See, here is my servant, one who will be prudent in all his dealings. To what height he shall be raised, how exalted, how extolled!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	52	14	So many there be that stand gazing in horror; was ever a human form so mishandled, human beauty ever so defaced?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	52	15	Yet this is he that will purify a multitude of nations; kings shall stand dumb in his presence; seen, now, where men had no tidings of him, made known to such as never heard his name.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	53	1	What credence for such news as ours? Whom reaches it, this new revelation of the Lord’s strength?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	53	2	He will watch this servant of his appear among us, unregarded as brushwood shoot, as a plant in waterless soil; no stateliness here, no majesty, no beauty, as we gaze upon him, to win our hearts.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	53	3	Nay, here is one despised, left out of all human reckoning; bowed with misery, and no stranger to weakness; how should we recognize that face? How should we take any account of him, a man so despised?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	53	4	Our weakness, and it was he who carried the weight of it, our miseries, and it was he who bore them. A leper, so we thought of him, a man God had smitten and brought low;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	53	5	and all the while it was for our sins he was wounded, it was guilt of ours crushed him down; on him the punishment fell that brought us peace, by his bruises we were healed.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	53	6	Strayed sheep all of us, each following his own path; and God laid on his shoulders our guilt, the guilt of us all.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	53	7	A victim? Yet he himself bows to the stroke; no word comes from him. Sheep led away to the slaughter-house, lamb that stands dumb while it is shorn; no word from him.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	53	8	Imprisoned, brought to judgement, and carried off, he, whose birth is beyond our knowing; numbered among the living no more! Be sure it is for my people’s guilt I have smitten him.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	53	9	Takes he leave of the rich, the godless, to win but a grave, to win but the gift of death; he, that wrong did never, nor had treason on his lips!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	53	10	Ay, the Lord’s will it was, overwhelmed he should be with trouble. His life laid down for guilt’s atoning, he shall yet be rewarded; father of a long posterity, instrument of the divine purpose;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	53	11	for all his heart’s anguish, rewarded in full. The Just One, my servant; many shall he claim for his own, win their acquittal, on his shoulders bearing their guilt.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	53	12	So many lives ransomed, foes so violent baulked of their spoil! Such is his due, that gave himself up to death, and would be counted among the wrong-doers; bore those many sins, and made intercession for the guilty.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	54	1	Sing with praise, barren city that art childless still; echo thy praise, cry aloud, wife that wast never brought to bed; forsaken, she is to have more children now, the Lord says, than wife whose husband remains with her.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	54	2	Make more room for thy tent, stretch wide—what hinders thee?—the curtains of thy dwelling-place; long be the ropes, and firm the pegs that fasten them.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	54	3	Right and left thou shalt spread, till thy race dispossesses the heathen, peoples the ruined cities.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	54	4	Not thine to fear disappointment, not thine to blush for hopes unfulfilled; forget, henceforward, the shame of younger days, the reproach of thy widowed state; think upon it no more.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	54	5	Husband now thou hast, and the name of him is the Lord of hosts, thy creator; he, the Holy One of Israel, that will now be called God of the whole earth, makes thee his own.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	54	6	The Lord calls thee back, a woman forsaken and forlorn, the wife of his youth, long cast away; thy God sends thee word,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	54	7	If I abandoned thee, it was but for a little moment, and now, in my great compassion, I bring thee home again.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	54	8	Hid I my face from thee, it was for a short while, till my anger should be spent; love that takes pity on thee shall be eternal, says the Lord, thy ransomer.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	54	9	The days of Noe have come again; I swore to Noe that I would bring no more floods on the earth such as his; thou, too, hast my oath for it, I will be angry with thee no more, rebuke thee no more.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	54	10	Let the mountains be moved, the hills shake; my compassion towards thee stands immovable, my promise still unshaken, says the Lord, thy comforter.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	54	11	Thou, the friendless, the storm-beaten, the inconsolable, shalt have a pavement of patterned stones, and thy foundations shall be of sapphire;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	54	12	thou shalt have turrets of jasper, and gates of carved gems, and all thy boundary stones shall be jewels.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	54	13	All thy children, then, shall be disciples of the Lord; thy children, blessed how abundantly with peace!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	54	14	Justice shall be thy sure foundation; far from thy thoughts be all oppression, now thou hast nothing to fear, all tumult of the mind, when peril is none to threaten thee.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	54	15	Aliens that had no part with me shall come to thy side; strangers shall throw in their lot with thine.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	54	16	See where the smith blows the coals at his forge, fashioning each weapon according to its use! Who but I made him? And who but I made the slayer that goes out to destroy?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	54	17	No weapon that is forged against thee shall go true; no voice that is raised to condemn thee, but thou shalt give it the lie. Such their lot shall be that are the Lord’s servants; such protection shall they have of me, says the Lord.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	55	1	So many athirst; who will not come to the water? So many destitute; who will come and get him food, get wine and milk free, no price to be paid?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	55	2	What, always spending, and no bread to eat, always toiling, and never a full belly? Do but listen, here you shall find content; here are dainties shall ravish your hearts.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	55	3	To my summons give heed and hearing; so your spirits shall revive; a fresh covenant awaits you, this time eternal; gracious promise of mine to David shall be ratified now.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	55	4	Before all the world my witness thou, a prince and a ruler among the nations!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	55	5	Summons of thine shall go out to a nation thou never knewest; peoples that never heard of thee shall hasten to thy call; such the glory thy God, the Holy One of Israel, has bestowed on thee.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	55	6	To the Lord betake you, while he may yet be found; cry out, while he is close at hand to hear.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	55	7	Leave rebel his ill-doing, sinner his guilty thoughts, and come back to the Lord, sure of his mercy, our God, so rich in pardon.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	55	8	Not mine, the Lord says, to think as you think, deal as you deal;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	55	9	by the full height of heaven above earth, my dealings are higher than your dealings, my thoughts than your thoughts.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	55	10	Once fallen from the sky, does rain or snow return to it? Nay, it refreshes earth, soaking into it and making it fruitful, to provide the sower with fresh seed, the hungry mouths with bread.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	55	11	So it is with the word by these lips of mine once uttered; it will not come back, an empty echo, the way it went; all my will it carries out, speeds on its errand.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	55	12	Doubt not, then, yours shall be a happy departure, a peaceful return; doubt not mountain and hill shall escort you with their praises, and the woods echo their applause.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	55	13	Tall pine-trees then shall grow where valerian grew, and myrtles spring from yonder nettle-beds; great glory the Lord shall win, such a blazon as eternity cannot efface.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	56	1	Keep right order, the Lord says, faithful to your duty still; ere long I will send deliverance, my own faithfulness shall be revealed.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	56	2	Blessed, every man that so lives, every mother’s son that by this rule holds fast, keeps the sabbath holy, and his own hands clear of mischief.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	56	3	Proselyte let him be, of alien birth, will the Lord deny him citizenship? Eunuch let him be, is he no better than a barren trunk, cut down as worthless?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	56	4	Nay, for yonder eunuch the Lord has this message: Who keeps my sabbath? Who makes my will his choice, true to my covenant?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	56	5	A place he shall have in this house, within these walls of mine a memorial; son nor daughter his name could so perpetuate; such a memorial I will grant him as time shall never efface.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	56	6	And so it shall be with the alien born, will they but throw in their lot with the Lord’s worshippers, that cherish the love of his name; the Lord’s servants that keep the sabbath inviolate, and are true to his covenant.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	56	7	Free of the mountain that is my sanctuary, welcome guests in the house where men pray to me, not vainly to my altar they shall bring burnt-offering and sacrifice. Claimed my house shall be, for a house of prayer, by all the nations.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	56	8	Such promise the Lord God makes, that now brings home the exiled sons of Israel: I have others to bring, that must yet rally to thy side.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	56	9	Come, all you wild things, all you beasts of the forest, your prey awaits you!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	56	10	Here are none but blind watchmen, all unawares; here are dumb dogs that cannot bark, false seers that lie sleeping, in love with their dreams;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	56	11	shameless dogs that cannot tell when they are gorged with food. The very shepherds have forgotten their craft; see them go their ways, each busy, first and last, with gorging his own appetite:
 Isaiah	Isa	27	56	12	Fetch we wine, and drink ourselves drunk! To-morrow shall be as to-day was, and braver, braver yet!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	57	1	Alas, that none takes warning! See how good men die, how the friends of God are borne away from us; and none has the wit to see trouble is coming, and the good must be spared the sight of it!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	57	2	Peace be his lot, easy let him rest, that followed ever the straight path.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	57	3	But you, come and answer for yourselves, brood of the sorceress, children of the adulterer and the harlot!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	57	4	Over whom would you make merry, with open mouth and hanging tongue? What are you but the sons of shame, a bastard race?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	57	5	You, that dally with idols under the first spreading tree, that sacrifice little children in the rock-caves among the glens?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	57	6	Where the valleys part, there is thy part and lot; to those thou wilt pour out libations, wilt offer sacrifice; and must I look on unmoved?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	57	7	Thou hast set down thy bed on the peak of a high mountain; there thou hast gone up to offer victims.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	57	8	Keepsake of mine must be put behind the door, where the posts should hide it, now thou wouldst strip thee naked and let in a gallant in my place, make free with my marriage-bed! With such as these thou didst exchange vows, greedily thou didst buy their good will.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	57	9	A king’s favour to win, with ointments thou wouldst cover thee, wouldst spare no kind of perfume; on a far errand thy envoys went out, and ever thy pride was humbled, low as hell itself.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	57	10	So wearied with long journeying, and never didst thou cry, Enough; still obstinate, confess thy need thou wouldst not.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	57	11	Alas, what anxious fears were these, that to my service made thee false, of me no memory left thee, no thought? And all because I nothing said, made as if I nothing saw, till at last thou hadst forgotten me!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	57	12	Yet, wouldst thou have right, it is I that must declare it; thy own striving is all in vain.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	57	13	Let them deliver thee, if they can, at thy summons, these new allies thou hast made! See how they are carried away on the wind, how a breath will scatter them! His the prize, that in me has confidence; on my holy mountain he shall find a resting-place.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	57	14	Hark, how the cry goes up, A road, there, a road; let them have free passage! These are my people; clear of every hindrance be their path!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	57	15	A message from the high God, the great God, whose habitation is eternity, whose name is hallowed! He, dwelling in that high and holy place, dwells also among chastened and humbled souls, bidding the humble spirit, the chastened soul, rise and live!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	57	16	I will not be always claiming my due, I will not cherish my anger eternally; what soul but takes its origin from me? Am I not the maker of all that breathes?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	57	17	Greedy wrong-doer that defies me I must needs smite down; hide my face from him in anger, let him follow the path his own erring will has chosen.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	57	18	Now to pity his plight, now to bring him remedy! Home-coming at last, consolation at last, for him and all that bemoan him!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	57	19	The harvest of men’s thanks, it is I that bring it to the birth. Peace, the Lord says, peace to those who are far away, and to those who are near at hand; I have brought him remedy.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	57	20	But rebellious hearts are like the tempestuous sea that can never find repose; its waters must ever be churning up mire and scum.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	57	21	For the rebellious, the Lord says, there is no peace.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	58	1	Cry aloud, never ceasing, raise thy voice like a trumpet-call, and tell my people of their transgressions, call the sons of Jacob to account.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	58	2	Day after day they besiege me, arraign my dealings with them, a nation, you would think, ever dutiful, one that never swerved from the divine will. Proof they ask of my faithfulness, would fain bring a plea against their God.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	58	3	Why hadst thou no eyes for it, say they, when we fasted; why didst thou pass by unheeding, when we humbled ourselves before thee?Fasting, when you follow your own whim, distrain upon all your debtors!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	58	4	Naught comes of it but law-suit and quarrelling; angry blows profane it. A better fast you must keep than of old, ere plea of yours makes itself heard above.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	58	5	With such fasting, with a day’s penance, should I be content? Is it enough that a man should bow down to earth, make his bed on sackcloth and ashes? Think you, by such a fasting-day, to win the Lord’s favour?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	58	6	Nay, fast of mine is something other. The false claim learn to forgo, ease the insupportable burden, set free the over-driven; away with every yoke that galls!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	58	7	Share thy bread with the hungry, give the poor and the vagrant a welcome to thy house; meet thou the naked, clothe him; from thy own flesh and blood turn not away.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	58	8	Then, sudden as the dawn, the welcome light shall break on thee, in a moment thy health shall find a new spring; divine favour shall lead thee on thy journey, brightness of the Lord’s presence close thy ranks behind.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	58	9	Then the Lord will listen to thee when thou callest on him; cry out, and he will answer, I am here at thy side. Banish from thy midst oppression, and the finger pointed scornfully, and the plotting of harm,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	58	10	spend thyself giving food to the hungry, relieving the afflicted; then shall light spring up for thee in the darkness, and thy dusk shall be noonday;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	58	11	the Lord will give thee rest continually, fill thy soul with comfort, thy body with ease. Not more secure the well-watered garden, the spring whose waters never fail.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	58	12	Rebuilt, in thy land, the immemorial ruins; restored, the foundations of long ago; this thy task shall be, to repair the broken walls, to reclaim the by-ways.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	58	13	Walk warily, keep my sabbath unprofaned. Here is a day I have sanctified, not for thy self-pleasing; a precious thing the Lord has made holy and honourable; and wilt thou dishonour it? Wilt thou go thy own way, use it for thy own pleasure, while it away in gossip?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	58	14	Thou shalt yet have joy in the Lord; I will carry thee aloft, high above the high places of the land, satisfy thy longing for Jacob’s patrimony; the Lord’s lips have promised it.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	59	1	Doubt you the Lord’s hand can reach far as ever, to bring deliverance? Think you his ear has grown deaf, that you cry out in vain?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	59	2	Nay, sin of yours has come between you and your God; guilt of yours has estranged him that he denies you audience;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	59	3	the bloodstained hands, the itching fingers, lying lips, and tongues that whisper of treachery.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	59	4	Who owns the claim of justice, who judges honourably? A lie their confidence, folly their watchword, they carry mischief in the womb, bring shame to birth.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	59	5	Eggs the cockatrice may hatch, yet there is death in the taste of them, a brood of basilisks;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	59	6	deftly the spider weaves, yet web of hers will never make cloth, none will be the warmer for her toil; so it is with these; all unprofitable their schemes, their doing all undoing.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	59	7	Swift ministers of evil, hot-foot they scent down the blood of innocence, their aim ever to destroy, leave a trail of havoc and ruin.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	59	8	Where peace should be found they know not, nor ever set their hearts on right; still stray by crooked paths where safety is none.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	59	9	What wonder if redress is still far from us, if reprieve linger on its way? Crave we light, and nothing see but darkness, hope we for dawn, and walk in dusk.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	59	10	Blind men that grope along a wall, hands, not eyes, to shew the way, stumble we at noonday as though benighted; we are dead men in a world of shadows.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	59	11	No better than growling bears, or doves that moan and mourn, still we hope for the redress that never comes, the deliverance that is far away.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	59	12	Our guilt mounts up before thee, our sins accuse us; shame ever at our side, we confess the wrong done.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	59	13	Heinous our treason against the Lord, that turn away from his divine leading to plan cruelty and rebellion; false thoughts we conceive in our hearts that still find utterance.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	59	14	Redress is withheld from us, because loyalty lies neglected in our streets, and honour finds no entrance;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	59	15	alas that loyalty should be forgotten, innocence marked down for spoil!All this the Lord has seen, and shame he thought it there should be no redress.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	59	16	Was there no champion to come forward? None found he, and his heart misgave him. And so his own arm must bring the deliverance he intended, his own faithfulness held him to it.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	59	17	That faithfulness is the breastplate that arms him, that saving power the helmet that guards his head; vengeance the garment he wears, jealous love the mantle that wraps him round.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	59	18	Doubt not he will repay, wreak his anger upon the rebels, give his enemies their due; no island so far off but it shall have its punishment,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	59	19	till the name of the Lord strikes terror into western lands, and the east stands in awe of his fame. Here is a river coming upon them in full flood, driven on by the Lord’s breath;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	59	20	here is one that brings deliverance to Sion, and to all Jacob’s children that turn away from their sins; the Lord has promised it.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	59	21	This covenant I will make with them, the Lord says: Spirit of mine that dwells in thee, words of mine entrusted to thy lips, on thy lips shall dwell, on the lips of thy children and thy children’s children, henceforth and for ever.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	60	1	Rise up, Jerusalem, and shine forth; thy dawn has come, breaks the glory of the Lord upon thee!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	60	2	What though darkness envelop the earth, though all the nations lie in gloom? Upon thee the Lord shall dawn, over thee his splendour shall be revealed.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	60	3	Those rays of thine shall light the Gentiles on their path; kings shall walk in the splendour of thy sunrise.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	60	4	Lift up thy eyes and look about thee; who are these that come flocking to thee? Sons of thine, daughters of thine, come from far away, or rising up close at hand.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	60	5	Heart of thee shall overflow with wonder and gratitude, to see all the riches of ocean, all the treasure of the Gentiles pouring into thee!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	60	6	A stream of camels thronging about thee, dromedaries from Madian and Epha, bringing all the men of Saba with their gifts of gold and incense, their cry of praise to the Lord!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	60	7	Into thee all the herds of Cedar shall be driven, the rams of Nabaioth shall be thy victims; gifts at my altar accepted, to make the fame of my temple more famous yet.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	60	8	Who are these that come, swift as the cloud-wrack, as doves flying home to the dove-cot?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	60	9	These, too, are thy sons; long since, the islands and the ocean-going ships have awaited my signal, when I would bring them home from far away, their silver and their gold with them, for the honour of the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, that has bestowed this glory on thee.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	60	10	Strangers shall build up thy walls for thee, kings shall do thee service; great as my severity in chastising thee shall be my favour when I pardon thee.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	60	11	Thy gates shall stand open continually, no need to shut them day or night; make way for the wealth of the nations that shall flow into thee, for the kings with their escorts!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	60	12	Every nation and kingdom that refuses thee homage shall vanish away, whole provinces empty and forlorn.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	60	13	All the beauty of Lebanon shall be brought to thee, fir-wood and box-wood and pine-wood mingled together to adorn this place, my sanctuary; I will have honour paid to this, the resting-place of my feet.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	60	14	See how they come bending low before thee, the race of thy former oppressors, how the men that once despised thee worship the ground thou hast trodden, calling thee The City of the Lord, Sion, dear to the Holy One of Israel!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	60	15	Thou, the desolate, thou, the unbefriended, a place unvisited by man, shalt be the pride of ages, the joy of succeeding generations;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	60	16	thou shalt have nations to suckle thee, kings to foster thee, and acknowledge at last that I, the Lord, am thy deliverer, the Lord that rules in Jacob has paid thy ransom.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	60	17	I will exchange thy brass for gold, thy iron for silver, thy wood for brass, thy stone for iron; I will give thee peace itself to be thy government, justice itself to be thy magistracy;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	60	18	there shall be no more talk of wrong in that land of thine, no tidings of wreck and ruin within those frontiers; all thy walls shall be deliverance, and all thy gates renown.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	60	19	No longer wilt thou have the sun to shine by day, or the moon’s beam to enlighten thee; the Lord shall be thy everlasting light, thy God shall be all thy splendour.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	60	20	No more, for thee, the setting of suns, the waning of moons, now that the Lord is thy everlasting light, and the days of thy widowhood are over.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	60	21	Thy people, all guiltless now, shall inherit the land eternally, the flower I planted, the pride of my workmanship.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	60	22	The meanest of them shall be ancestor to a thousand, the least regarded, to a great nation; swift and sudden shall be the doing of it, when once the hour is come.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	61	1	The Lord has anointed me, on me his spirit has fallen; he has sent me to bring good news to men that are humbled, to heal broken hearts, promising the release of captives, the opening of prison doors,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	61	2	proclaiming the year of the Lord’s pardon, the day when he, our God, will give us redress. Comfort for every mourner;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	61	3	Sion’s mourners, what decree should I make for them, what gift offer them? Heads shall be garlanded, that once were strewn with ashes; bright with oil, the faces that were marred with grief; gaily they shall be clad, that went sorrowing. Sturdy growths (men will say) that fulfil hope reposed in them, pride of the Lord’s planting!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	61	4	Theirs to rebuild what long has lain desolate, repair the ruins of past days, restore the forsaken cities that were lost, we thought, for ever.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	61	5	Strangers they shall be that tend your flocks for you, farm and vineyard alien hands shall till;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	61	6	for you, a higher name, a greater calling, priests and chosen ministers of the Lord our God. All the wealth of the nations shall be yours to enjoy, their spoils shall be your boast;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	61	7	for double portion of shame and contempt, you shall be twice honoured now. Twice happy that home-coming, eternal that content;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	61	8	I am the Lord, that love to give each his due, resent the wrong, when men rob me of my sacrifice. Faithfully I will give them their recompense, bind myself, now, by an eternal covenant.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	61	9	Such a race shall spring from them, as all the nations of the world shall acknowledge; none that sees them but shall know them for a people the Lord has blessed.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	61	10	Well may I rejoice in the Lord, well may this heart triumph in my God. The deliverance he sends is like a garment that wraps me about, his mercy like a cloak enfolding me; no bridegroom so proud of garland that crowns him, no bride of the necklace she wears.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	61	11	See how yonder earth gives promise of spring, how the garden seeds give promise of flower! And the Lord God will make good his promise for all the world to see; a spring-time of deliverance and renown.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	62	1	For love of Sion I will no more be silent, for love of Jerusalem I will never rest, until he, the Just One, is revealed to her like the dawn, until he, her deliverer, shines out like a flame.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	62	2	All the nations, all the kings of the nations, shall see him, the just, the glorious, and a new name shall be given thee by the Lord’s own lips.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	62	3	The Lord upholds thee, his crown, his pride; thy God upholds thee, his royal diadem.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	62	4	No longer shall men call thee Forsaken, or thy land Desolate; thou shall be called My Beloved, and thy land a Home, now the Lord takes delight in thee, now thy land is populous once again.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	62	5	Gladly as a man takes home the maiden of his choice, thy sons shall come home to thee; gladly the Lord shall greet thee, as bridegroom his bride.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	62	6	I have set watchmen, Jerusalem, upon thy walls, that shall never cease crying aloud, day or night; you that keep the Lord in remembrance, take no rest,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	62	7	nor let him rest neither, till he has restored Jerusalem, spread her fame over all the earth.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	62	8	The Lord has sworn by his own right hand, by that arm which makes known his power: Never again shall thy enemies eat the harvest of thy corn-fields, alien folk drink the wine thou hast toiled to win;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	62	9	harvester and waggoner, here in my precincts, shall eat and drink together, praising the Lord.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	62	10	Out, out through the city gates! Give my people free passage; a road, there, a smooth road, away with the boulders on it! Raise a signal for all the nations to see.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	62	11	To the furthest corners of the earth the Lord proclaims it, A message to queen Sion: Look, where thy deliverer comes, look, how they come with him, the reward of his labour, the achievement of his task!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	62	12	A holy people they shall be called, of the Lord’s ransoming, and thou the city of his choice, no more forsaken.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	63	1	Who is this, coming from Edom, coming on the road from Bosra, with garments deep-dyed? Who is this, so gaily clad, marching so valiantly?I am one who is faithful to his promises, a champion bringing deliverance.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	63	2	And why are thy garments stained with red? Why dost thou go clad like the men who tread out the wine-press?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	63	3	None other has trodden the wine-press but I only; out of all the nations, no champion came to stand at my side. I have been treading them down in my anger, trampling on them, full of vengeance; their blood that has been sprinkled on the clothes about me; I come in garments deep-dyed.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	63	4	My heart told me the time had come for vengeance, this was my destined year of ransom;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	63	5	looked I all around, there was none to help me; vainly I called for aid. My own arm should bring the deliverance I intended; my own indignation uphold me.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	63	6	I have trampled the peoples down in my anger, stunned them with my fury, brought down their strength to the dust.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	63	7	Listen, while I tell again the story of the Lord’s mercies, what renown the Lord has won; all the Lord has done for us, all the wealth of blessings his pardoning love, his abounding pity has lavished on the race of Israel.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	63	8	They are my own people, he would say; my own children cannot be false to me; and with that, he delivered them.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	63	9	In all their straits, power of his was not straitened; his angel, token of his presence, brought them deliverance. In love and pity he ransomed them, lifted them in his arms and raised them up, all through the days gone by.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	63	10	Only when they rebelled against him, when they distressed the spirit of his chosen servant, he would turn their enemy, and fight against them.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	63	11	And even yet he would bethink him of times past, of Moses and the people that once was his. Where is he now, the God that led them through the sea, his flock with his own appointed shepherds; gave his holy spirit to the man of his choice?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	63	12	Majestic power, that led Moses by the hand; that parted the sea at their coming, to win his name renown.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	63	13	Through its waters they passed, sure of their foothold as horse that is led through the desert;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	63	14	carefully as driver on some treacherous hill-side, the Lord’s spirit guided his people. Thus didst thou bring them home, and win thyself honour.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	63	15	Bethink thee now, in heaven; look down from the palace where thou dwellest, holy and glorious. Where, now, is thy jealous love, where thy warrior’s strength? Where is thy yearning of heart, thy compassion? For me, compassion is none.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	63	16	Yet, who is our father, Lord, if not thou? Let Abraham disown us, Israel disclaim his own blood, we are thy sons still; is it not thy boast of old, thou hast paid a price for us?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	63	17	And now, Lord, wouldst thou drive us away from following thee, harden our hearts till worship we have none to give thee? For love of thy own servants, relent, for love of the land that by right is thine.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	63	18	Is it nothing to thee, enemies of thy holy people should have the mastery, trample thy sanctuary down?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	63	19	Fared we worse in old days, before ever we called thee King, ever took thy holy name for our watchword?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	64	1	Wouldst thou but part heaven asunder, and come down, the hills shrinking from thy presence,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	64	2	melting away as if burnt by fire; the waters, too, boiling with that fire! So should the fame of thee go abroad among thy enemies; a world should tremble at thy presence!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	64	3	Of thy marvellous doing, we ourselves cannot bear the sight; so it was when thou camest down, and the hills shrank away before thee, long ago.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	64	4	Such things as were never known from the beginning, as ear never heard, eye never saw, save at thy command, thou, O God, hast made ready for all that await thy aid.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	64	5	Graciously thou goest out to meet them, loyal lovers of thine that keep thee ever in mind, ever follow thy bidding. And now thou art angry with us; we have sinned; so it has been a long while, and shall we find deliverance?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	64	6	We are men defiled; what are all our claims on thy mercy? No better than the clout a woman casts away; we are like fallen leaves, every one of us, by the wind of our own transgressions whirled along.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	64	7	There is none left that calls on thy name, that bestirs himself to lay hold of thee. Thou hidest thy face from us, broken men caught in the grip of their wrong-doing.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	64	8	Yet, Lord, thou art our father; we are but clay, and thou the craftsman who has fashioned us;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	64	9	wilt thou crush us, Lord, with thy anger, wilt thou keep our sins ever in mind? We are thy people, all of us.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	64	10	A desert, the city thy chosen servant knew, a desert, the Sion we love; Jerusalem lies forlorn.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	64	11	Given over to the flames, the house that was our sanctuary and our pride, the house in which our fathers praised thee; all that we loved lies in ruins;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	64	12	Lord, wilt thou have patience still? Wilt thou keep silent still, and overwhelm us with calamity?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	65	1	So ready I to answer, and ask they will not; so easy to be found, and search for me is none! A people that will not call on my name; else my own voice should whisper, I am here, I am close at hand.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	65	2	Outstretched these hands of mine, all the day long, to a nation of rebels, straying this way and that as the mood takes them,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	65	3	openly defying me. Shrines hidden away in gardens, altars of brick!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	65	4	See how they lodge in tombs, pass the night in the precincts of strange gods; eat swine’s flesh, and stew themselves broth of forbidden things!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	65	5	And all the while so scrupulous: Touch of thine would defile me! What marvel, if my indignation smoulders yet? Nay, fire it is that burns continually.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	65	6	See where the decree stands written in my presence, This shall not be passed over; I will take vengeance, pour it out into their laps.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	65	7	Sin of yours, the Lord says, sin of your fathers, that sacrificed on mountain-tops, worshipped on the hill-sides in defiance of me; for all these I must repay due measure, poured out into the lap; that is my first task.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	65	8	Thus says the Lord: If one sound grape is found in a cluster, the cry is, Do not destroy it, there is a blessing in it. And I, for the sake of my true servants, will not destroy root and branch;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	65	9	I will leave Jacob a stock to breed from, settlers enough in Juda for these mountains of mine; the men of my choice shall have their portion, my servant shall dwell there.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	65	10	Flocks there shall be, folded on the Plain, and cattle resting in the valley of Achor; of my people none shall be disappointed that had recourse to me.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	65	11	But you that forsook the Lord, left his mountain sanctuary forgotten, spread a table for the Powers of Fortune, and poured out wine at it,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	65	12	fortune that awaits you is the sword, you shall bow down to death. My call unanswered, my voice unheard, you did ever what I forbade, chose ever what I hated.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	65	13	This, then, is the sentence the Lord God pronounces; you shall be hungry, while my servants have food, you shall be thirsty, while my servants drink,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	65	14	you shall be disappointed, while my servants are glad. My servants shall be light-hearted and sing, while you, with sad hearts, cry aloud, groan in the heaviness of your spirits.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	65	15	A name you shall leave behind you to serve my chosen people as a curse; the Lord God takes full toll. For his own servants he will have a new name instead;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	65	16	By the God of truth shall be the blessing men invoke, By the God of truth shall be the oath men take, in this land of mine henceforward. Forgotten, the sorrows of past days, hidden away from my eyes.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	65	17	See where I create new heavens and a new earth; old things shall be remembered no longer, have no place in men’s thoughts.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	65	18	Joy of yours, pride of yours, this new creation shall be; joy of mine, pride of mine, Jerusalem and her folk, created anew.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	65	19	I will rejoice in Jerusalem, take pride in my people, and the sound of weeping and lament shall be heard among them no more.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	65	20	None shall die there unweaned from life; never an old man but lives out his full time; young he dies that dies a hundred years old; so brief a span, it shall be the curse pronounced on a sinner.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	65	21	Live they now to occupy the houses they built, enjoy the fruit of the vines they planted,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	65	22	that once built houses for others to occupy, planted what others should enjoy; my people shall live to the age of trees and see the work of their own hands wear out before them.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	65	23	Not in vain they shall toil, these, my chosen, nor beget children to see them overwhelmed by calamity; their race the Lord blesses, their children shall be spared to them.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	65	24	Answer shall come ere cry for help is uttered, prayer find audience while it is yet on their lips.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	65	25	Wolf and lamb shall feed together, lion and ox eat straw side by side, and the serpent be content with dust for its food; all over this mountain, my sanctuary, there shall be no hurt done, the Lord says, no life shall be forfeit.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	66	1	Thus says the Lord, Heaven is my throne, earth the footstool under my feet. What home will you build for me, what place can be my resting-place?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	66	2	Nothing you see about you but I fashioned it, the Lord says; my hand gave it being. From whom, then, shall I accept an offering? Patient he must be and humbled, one who stands in dread of my warnings.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	66	3	To the rest it is all one; slaughter they an ox, or murder a human victim, cut sheep’s throat, or dash out a dog’s brains, make offering of meal, or of swine’s blood, in my honour burn incense, or bless the name of a false god. In all this, it is but caprice guides their choice, in all manner of abominations;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	66	4	trust me, at my own caprice I will choose the terrors I bring down upon them. My call unanswered, my voice unheard, they did ever what I forbade, chose ever what I hated.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	66	5	Listen to the word of the Lord, you that hold it in reverence! Foiled their hopes shall be, that hate and shun you because my name you bear; that say, Come, let us see the Lord reveal himself in majesty, let us witness this triumph of yours!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	66	6	Hark, a stir of tumult in the city, a stir in the temple! It is the stir the Lord makes, as he brings retribution on his enemies!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	66	7	Without travail, the mother has given birth; before her time a mother of men.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	66	8	Never till now was such a tale heard, such a sight witnessed; should a nation’s pangs come upon it in a day, a whole people be born at once? Such are the pangs of Sion, such is the birth of her children.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	66	9	What, says the Lord thy God, shall I, that bring children to the birth, want power to bring them forth? Shall I, that give life to the womb, want strength to open it?
 Isaiah	Isa	27	66	10	Lovers of Jerusalem, rejoice with her, be glad for her sake; make holiday with her, you that mourned for her till now.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	66	11	So shall you be her foster-children, suckled plentifully with her consolations, drinking in, to your hearts’ content, the abundant glory that is hers.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	66	12	Thus says the Lord, Peace shall flow through her like a river, the wealth of the nations shall pour into her like a torrent in flood; this shall be the milk you drain, like children carried at the breast, fondled on a mother’s lap.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	66	13	I will console you then, like a mother caressing her son, and all your consolation shall be in Jerusalem;
 Isaiah	Isa	27	66	14	your eyes feasted with it, your hearts content, vigorous as the fresh grass your whole frame. Thus to his servants the Lord makes known his power; his enemies shall have no quarter given them.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	66	15	See, where the Lord comes with fire about him, with chariots that drive like the storm, angry his retribution, his vengeance like a scorching flame!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	66	16	Fire and sword shall be the world’s purging, till the Lord has taken full toll.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	66	17	Vainly they sought holiness, that would purify themselves in secret gardens, behind shut doors, and all the while ate flesh of swine and field-mouse and other meats abominable; one end there shall be for all of them, the Lord says.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	66	18	Trust me, I will hold assize upon all such deeds and devices of theirs; ay, upon all nations and races. All must come and see my glory revealed,
 Isaiah	Isa	27	66	19	and I will set a mark upon each of them. What of those that find deliverance? I have an errand for them, to be my messengers across the sea; to Africa, and to Lydia where men draw the bow, to Italy, and to Greece, and to the Islands far away. They shall go out where men never heard of my name, never saw my glory yet, to reveal that glory among the nations.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	66	20	And out of all nations they shall bring your brethren back, an offering to the Lord, with horse and chariot, with litter and mule and waggon, to Jerusalem, the Lord says, to this mountain, my sanctuary. A bloodless offering this, for the sons of Israel to bring, in its sanctified vessel, to the Lord’s house!
 Isaiah	Isa	27	66	21	And some among these newcomers, the Lord says, I will choose out to be priests and Levites.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	66	22	This, too, he promises: Enduring your race and name shall be as the new heavens, the new earth I fashion, to stand continually in my presence.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	66	23	Month after month, sabbath after sabbath shall go by, and still all mankind shall come to bow down before me, the Lord says.
 Isaiah	Isa	27	66	24	And ever as they leave the gates, mortal remains they shall see of the men that rebelled against me long since; a prey now, to worm undying, to fire unquenchable; none that sees it but shall turn with loathing from the sight.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	1	1	These are the words of Jeremias, son of Helcias, one of the priests who dwelt at Anathoth, in the lands of Benjamin.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	1	2	The word of the Lord came to him during the reign of Josias, son of Amon, over Juda, in the thirteenth year of it;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	1	3	came to him during the reign of Josias’ son, Joachim, and did not cease till the men of Jerusalem went into exile, when Sedecias, that was also son to Josias, had been reigning eleven years and five months.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	1	4	The word of the Lord came to me, and his message was:
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	1	5	I claimed thee for my own before ever I fashioned thee in thy mother’s womb; before ever thou camest to the birth, I set thee apart for myself; I have a prophet’s errand for thee among the nations.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	1	6	Alas, alas, Lord God (said I), I am but a child that has never learned to speak.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	1	7	A child, sayest thou? the Lord answered. Nay, I have a mission for thee to undertake, a message to entrust to thee.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	1	8	Have no human fears; am I not at thy side, to protect thee from harm? the Lord says.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	1	9	And with that, the Lord put out his hand, and touched me on the mouth; See, he told me, I have inspired thy lips with utterance.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	1	10	Here and now I give thee authority over nations and kingdoms everywhere; with a word thou shalt root them up and pull them down, overthrow and lay them in ruins; with a word thou shalt build them up and plant them anew.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	1	11	Then the Lord’s word came to me, Tell me, Jeremias, what is this thou seest? A branch of a tree, I told him, with the eyes already open.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	1	12	Well seen, he answered; and I too have my eyes open, watching for the opportunity to carry out the threats I utter.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	1	13	And again it came, Tell me, what is this thou seest? A boiling caldron, said I, that is coming from the north.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	1	14	And it is from the north, the Lord told me, that calamity is brewing for all thy fellow-countrymen.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	1	15	All the tribes the northern kings rule I mean to muster, the Lord says; hither they will march, and each will set up his throne where gate of Jerusalem stands, or encircling wall, or fortified city of Juda.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	1	16	And there I will plead my cause against the men of Juda, charging them with their rebellion in forsaking me; in offering libation to gods not theirs, and worshipping idols of their own making.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	1	17	Up, then, gird thee like a man, and speak out all the message I give thee. Meet them undaunted, and they shall have no power to daunt thee.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	1	18	Strong I mean to make thee this day as fortified city, or pillar of iron, or wall of bronze, to meet king, prince, priest of Juda, and common folk all the country through;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	1	19	impregnable thou shalt be to their attack; am I not at thy side, the Lord says, to deliver thee?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	2	1	Then the Lord’s word came to me:
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	2	2	Go and cry out so that all Jerusalem may hear, with this message from the Lord: What memories I have of thee, gracious memories of thy youth, of the love that plighted troth between us, when I led thee through the desert; alone in the barren wastes, thou and I!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	2	3	Israel was set apart for the Lord, first-fruits vowed to be his revenue; he lay under a ban that plucked them, and must rue his rashness, the Lord says.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	2	4	Listen, then, to the Lord’s word, men of Jacob; listen, every clan that bears the name of Israel,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	2	5	to the Lord’s message: What fault did they find in me, those fathers of yours, that they should keep their distance from me, and court false gods, false as themselves?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	2	6	And never a thought to ask where I, the Lord, was, that rescued them from Egypt, and led them on their way through the desert, wild and solitary, parched and dead, far from haunt of traveller and the homes of men!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	2	7	Into a land of plenty I brought you, to enjoy the fruits and the blessings of it; and you had no sooner entered it than you must needs defile it, my own land, turn my chosen home into a place abominable.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	2	8	Never a priest to ask where I, the Lord, was; never a man of law but made a stranger of me, never a ruler but played me false, never a prophet but took Baal for his oracle, and had recourse to powers that were impotent.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	2	9	Against you, the Lord says, my appeal still lies, and with your children I will yet be at issue.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	2	10	Sail the seas till you reach the isles of Cethim; send envoys out to the wilds of Cedar; look for yourselves and make earnest enquiry, to know if the like was ever heard!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	2	11	What nation ever changed its gods, though gods indeed they were not? And should my people barter away the glory that dwelt among them, for powers that power have none?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	2	12	In horror and dismay witness, you heavens, the sight; crumble in ruins!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	2	13	Two wrongs this people of mine committed; me they forsook, the fountain of living water, and thereupon they dug cisterns of their own, leaking cisterns, that water had none to give them.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	2	14	What, is the race of Israel a slave, a chattel, that it should pass from hand to hand as the prize of war?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	2	15	Roaring lions have claimed it for their prey; the land lies waste, the cities burnt and desolate.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	2	16	Even the Egyptians have come from Memphis and Taphne, to strip thee bare;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	2	17	tell me, Israel, how came this? Was it not because thou hadst forsaken the Lord thy God, that till then had led thee?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	2	18	What, wouldst thou turn to Egypt, to Assyria, and slake thy thirst with Nile or Euphrates?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	2	19	Here is the very proof of thy wickedness, the measure of thy unfaithfulness; see how ill it has gone with thee, says the Lord, the God of hosts, ever since thou didst forsake the Lord thy God, ever since thou didst banish the fear of me!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	2	20	It is an old tale, now, how thou didst break in pieces the yoke of my dominion, didst sever all the bonds between us, crying out, I will serve no more! Thou wast off to play the wanton, the nearest hill-top or secret forest for thy bower.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	2	21	Alas, vineyard of mine, that I planted with such care, never a worthless shoot! How is it thou hast played me false, and art no vineyard of mine?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	2	22	Ay, use nitre for thy cleansing, spread potash as thou mayst, foul with guilt I shall still find thee, says the Lord God.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	2	23	Nay, never boast that thou art undefiled, to countryside gods hast no recourse; bethink thee of thy traffickings in Ben-Ennom valley, and read there the story of thy doings. Camel never found its way so lightly;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	2	24	wild ass in its familiar desert, scenting its mate, never obeyed the fire in its blood more uncontrollably! Little search it needs to find thy haunts, as its mate in spring-time.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	2	25	Reckless of unshod feet, of parching throat, thou criest out despairingly, Return I cannot; to alien gods all my heart is vowed, and I must follow still!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	2	26	Thief caught in the act has less cause to blush than the men of Israel, king and prince, priest and prophet, with the rest.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	2	27	Stock of wood and block of stone they hailed as the father that had begotten them; on me they turned their backs, and gave me never a glance. And now, in their distress, it is Up, Lord, and bring us rescue!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	2	28	Where are those other gods thou madest for thyself? Bid them rise up and aid thee in the hour of peril; gods thou hadst a many; no city of thine, Juda, but must have its own!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	2	29	And would you still implead me? Nay, says the Lord, you have forsaken me, one and all.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	2	30	In vain I have smitten them, all those sons of yours; still you turned your swords against the prophets, bloodthirsty as lions.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	2	31	Out upon this age! Here is the Lord’s message, give good heed to it. Have I shewn myself unfriendly to Israel, like a desert, like a land overcast by shadows, that my own people has resolved to keep its distance, and come my way no more?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	2	32	What, should maid forget her jewels, bride her stomacher? And my own people, all these long days, has forgotten me!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	2	33	What avails it to justify thyself, in hope of winning back my love, when thou thyself dost blazon so openly thy doings, thy foul misdoings?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	2	34	There is blood on thy hands, the blood of friendless folk and innocent. It is not thieves I have found, but men guilty of such crimes as these.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	2	35	And still thou declarest thyself innocent of any fault, still thou biddest me withhold my vengeance! Come, let me answer thy plea of innocence.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	2	36	How light a woman thou art, ever at thy old ways! Not less than thy hopes of Assyria, thy hopes of Egypt shall be disappointed;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	2	37	thence, too, thou shalt come away wringing thy hands; all the confidence thou hast the Lord means to destroy; thou shalt make no shift with Egypt.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	3	1	What is the law of common life? Let wife that has been put away by her husband marry a second, can she afterwards return to the first? That were shame and defilement. And thou with many lovers hast played the wanton; yet come back to me, the Lord says, and thou shalt find welcome.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	3	2	Lift up thy eyes to the bare hills, and tell me, which of them has not been the scene of thy shame? Like a highway robber thou didst lurk by the road-side, waiting for thy lovers; by thy heartless wantonness the whole land was defiled.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	3	3	I called thee to account for it; heaven’s dews were stanched, and the late rains did not fall, and still never a blush on thy harlot’s brow!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	3	4	Little wonder thou shouldst have been crying out to me, since then, calling me father, calling me the loved friend of thy girlhood’s days;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	3	5	was there no quenching my anger? Would it smoulder on for ever? Ay, all this thou saidst, but still wouldst go on sinning, still wouldst have thy way.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	3	6	It was in the days of king Josias the Lord said to me: Israel’s apostasy thou hast seen, how she ever betook herself to the nearest high hill or leafy wood, to play the wanton there;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	3	7	and how, when I called her back to me in spite of it, she would not come. Now mark the treachery of her sister Juda.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	3	8	She too had seen it all, how I had bidden apostate Israel begone, and given her a writ of separation; and now treacherous Juda, unabashed, went off in her turn to play the wanton.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	3	9	So wayward, so wanton, she defiled all that land of hers, giving herself to lovers made of wood and stone!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	3	10	After all the warnings I had given, Juda, the treacherous, would never come back to me in good earnest, only with lying professions, the Lord says.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	3	11	And the Lord told me: Better than Juda’s treachery, the apostasy of Israel deserves to be acquitted.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	3	12	Carry this message of mine to the north country: Come back to me, apostate Israel, the Lord says, and there shall be no frown of mine awaiting you; I am merciful, the Lord says, and vengeance shall not last for ever.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	3	13	Only acknowledge thy fault, he tells thee, in deserting the Lord thy God and betaking thyself to the bowers of strange lovers, deaf to my call.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	3	14	Wandering hearts, the Lord bids you come back to him, and renew your troth; by ones and twos, from this city or that, from this clan or that, he will claim you for his own and bring you back to Sion;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	3	15	and you shall have shepherds of his own choice to guide you well and prudently.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	3	16	After that, the Lord says, when all is growth and fertility, no longer shall you have the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant for your rallying-cry; from thought and memory it will have passed away, nor any care shall be bestowed on the fashioning of it.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	3	17	It is Jerusalem men will speak of as the Lord’s throne; there at Jerusalem all the nations of the world will meet in the Lord’s name, the false aims of their perverse hearts forgotten.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	3	18	When that time comes, Juda and Israel will be united; together they will come back from the north country to the land I gave your fathers for their home.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	3	19	Must I ever be offering thee sonship, and a land so fair that all the peoples of the world might envy thee its possession? Must I ever be pleading with thee to acknowledge me as thy father, and forsake my guidance no more?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	3	20	Hitherto, the Lord says, nothing could I win from Israel but a false jade’s contempt.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	3	21	Now, from yonder hill-passes, another cry is heard; a cry of mourning and lament from the sons of Israel, over the wrong path they have chosen in forgetting the Lord their God.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	3	22	Wandering hearts, come back to me, and all your rebel acts shall be pardoned. See, we come to thee; art thou not the Lord our God?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	3	23	The many gods of hill-side and mountain-side have played us false; we know it now; we know now that Israel must look to the Lord our God for deliverance.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	3	24	Ever since the days of our youth all the hopes our fathers had, of flock and herd, of son and daughter, are lost; the worship of shame has cheated us.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	3	25	Lie we down with shame for our bed, and let reproach be all our covering; sinners from our youth upwards, we and our fathers before us, against the Lord our God; the Lord our God, and we would not listen to his voice!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	4	1	Do but retrace thy steps, Israel, and return to me, do but cast away the abominations that offend my sight, and in that mind persist;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	4	2	let but thy oath, As the Lord is a living God! be a true oath, in loyal duty uttered; then shall all the nations learn to bless and to praise him.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	4	3	And to the men of Juda, to Jerusalem, this is the Lord’s message: Yours to drive a new furrow, nor sow any longer among the briers.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	4	4	You must be circumcised afresh, men of Juda; citizens of Jerusalem, of heart’s defilement rid yourselves, if you would not see my vengeance burst into flame unquenchable, as your scheming malice has deserved.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	4	5	News for Juda, news that shall echo through Jerusalem; tell it out, sound the trumpet over the country-side! Loud be the cry raised, for all to muster and to man the fortified cities!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	4	6	Raise the standard in Sion, and rally to it with all haste! Here is peril I am bringing upon you from the north country, here is great calamity.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	4	7	Roused is the lion from his lair; he is astir, ready to prey on the nations; he is marching out to make earth a desert, and thy cities too shall be laid waste, and stand there untenanted.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	4	8	Well may you gird yourselves with sackcloth, well may you beat the breast and cry aloud; fire of the Lord’s vengeance has not passed us by.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	4	9	When that day comes, the Lord says, heart of king and heart of prince shall be dismayed; dumb-stricken the priest, the prophet unmanned.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	4	10	Alas, alas, Lord God, said I, can it be that thou hast deceived thy people, deceived Jerusalem, by telling them they should have peace, and here is the sword threatening our very lives?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	4	11	When that time comes, verdict shall be passed on this people of mine, and on Jerusalem: My people’s wanton ways are like the hot wind that blows from the desert slopes, that will neither winnow nor sift.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	4	12	And in return, I will summon to my side a wind that blows full, and so I will plead my cause against them.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	4	13	An overshadowing cloud the invader shall be, his chariots outspread like the storm-wrack, his horses swifter than eagles. Alas the day, we are ruined!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	4	14	Now, Jerusalem, as thy life thou lovest, rid thy heart of guile; wilt thou never cease to harbour those false thoughts of thine?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	4	15	Here is news cried from Dan, here are monstrous tidings from the hill-country of Ephraim;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	4	16	tell it far and wide, Jerusalem has heard the bruit of her besiegers coming from a distant land, that even now raise their battle-cry among the cities of Juda;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	4	17	even now they keep watch over the country-side about her, the Lord says, and all because she defied my vengeance.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	4	18	Ill deeds and ill counsel of thine have brought all this upon thee; the due reward of thy wickedness, how bitter the taste of it, how it wrings thy heart!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	4	19	Deep, deep rankles the wound; my very heart-strings echo lament; no rest is mine, since my ear caught bray of trumpet and cry of battle.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	4	20	Tale upon tale of ruin; a whole land laid waste, no cabin or hovel spared, suddenly, all in a moment!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	4	21	Always the sight of men fleeing, always the sound of the trumpet in my ears!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	4	22	Ah, reckless people of mine, that would not acknowledge me; blind fools, for mischief so shrewd, in well-doing so untutored!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	4	23	Earthward I looked, and all was void and empty; heavenward, and in heaven no light shone;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	4	24	looked at mountain and hill-side, and saw them stir and tremble;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	4	25	looked for some sign of man, and in vain; the very birds in heaven had all taken flight.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	4	26	It was a garden I looked at, but a garden untenanted; no city in it but had perished at the Lord’s glance, before the frown of his vengeance.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	4	27	For it was so the Lord’s sentence ran; the whole country-side should be abandoned, and still he will not have taken full toll.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	4	28	At his sentence, earth should mourn and heaven grow dark with sorrow, yet of his decree there should be no repenting; he would not go back from it.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	4	29	Everywhere, at the noise of archer and horseman, the townsfolk flee away, take to the hills and climb their high rocks; never a town but is left deserted of its inhabitants.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	4	30	And thou, Jerusalem, when thy turn comes to be despoiled, what shift wilt thou make? Vain was it to dress in scarlet, and deck thyself with chains of gold, and with antimony darken thy eyes; vain were those arts, thy lovers are weary of thee now, and thy life is forfeit.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	4	31	Cries of anguish I hear, as from a woman in the throes of travail; it is queen Sion, gasping out her life, and crying with hands outspread, Woe is me, I swoon away, here in the slaughter-house!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	5	1	Go the rounds of Jerusalem, search the streets of it with hue and cry; and if you find one man there that faithfully does his duty, and keeps troth, then the city shall be pardoned.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	5	2	Nay, though they call on the living God to be their witness, they forswear themselves none the less.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	5	3	On faithfulness, Lord, thy eyes are set. And these, when thou smitest them, are unrepentant still; when thou crushest them to earth, will not heed reproof; brows are theirs unyielding as rock, and return they will not.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	5	4	But indeed, thought I, perhaps they are poor men and foolish, that have never learnt the divine command, or what their God requires of them.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	5	5	I will go and have speech with the men of rank; what the divine command is, what their God requires of them, these will surely know. And these I found conspiring, as none other, to throw off the yoke, to break through their bonds.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	5	6	What wonder if they are attacked and despoiled by robbers, that leave the woods at night-time, stealthily as lion or wolf or prowling leopard, to beleaguer their towns and catch all who venture forth? So many their rebellions, so obstinate their defiance!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	5	7	For all this, how should I pardon thee? Thy sons have deserted me, by gods that are no gods their vows are taken; full-fed with my bounty, they left their wedded troth, to wanton in the bower of a mistress;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	5	8	bold in their adultery as stallion at grass neighing for its mate.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	5	9	What, shall I let all this pass me by, the Lord says; shall I not take my fill of vengeance against such a nation as this?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	5	10	Scale those ramparts, and fall to pillage, not taking full toll even yet; root out the slips of yonder vine, the Lord will not claim them.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	5	11	Obstinately they have defied me, the Lord says, Israel and Juda both;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	5	12	they disown me; Nay, they tell one another, this is none of his doing, harm shall never befall us, we shall have neither slaughter nor famine here;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	5	13	the prophets did but waste breath, no word of revelation made to them; on their own heads be it!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	5	14	Vain words; but not vainly the Lord, the God of hosts, has spoken; flaming words of his he has entrusted to my lips, and fuel this people shall be for their devouring.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	5	15	A nation from far away I am summoning, even now, Israel, to the attack; a warlike nation, of ancient lineage, whose very tongue shall be strange to thee, no word of it well understood;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	5	16	greedily as the tomb their quivers gape, and they are warriors all.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	5	17	They shall rob thee of harvest and of food, rob thee of son and daughter, rob thee of flock and herd, rob thee of vine and fig-tree; and all the strongholds, wherein thy hope lies, at the sword’s point shall be overthrown.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	5	18	Yet even then, the Lord says, I will not take full toll of thee.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	5	19	Ask you why the Lord has so much misused you, this is to be my answer: Did you not forsake me, to worship alien gods in your own land? Alien gods you shall worship in an alien land, for your punishment.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	5	20	To Israel’s race proclaim it, for all Juda to hear,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	5	21	Listen, foolish folk and unperceiving, with sightless eyes, ears that had as well been deaf!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	5	22	Have you no fear of me, the Lord says, will you stand unmoved in my presence? Was it not I gave the sea its frontier of sand, by my eternal decree inviolate? Vainly the waves boil and toss, they cannot pass beyond it.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	5	23	A faithless heart, a rebellious heart this people of mine has; in a moment they swerve aside from the path, and are gone;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	5	24	never a thought of reverence for the Lord their God, who gives them autumn and spring rains when the time comes, and secures them a full harvest.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	5	25	It is your wrong-doing that has altered their course; to guilt such as yours, blessings are denied.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	5	26	Godless men there are among my people that lie in wait like any fowler, but noose and trap of theirs is set to catch men.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	5	27	Never was cage so full of birds, as their homes of wealth ill gotten; men of power and riches,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	5	28	pampered and sleek, they defy my will past all bearing; redress they deny to the widow, right to the orphan, justice to the poor.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	5	29	What, shall I let all this pass me by, the Lord says, shall I not take my fill of vengeance against such a nation as this?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	5	30	A wonder this land has seen beyond all belief;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	5	31	here are prophets that utter a lying message, priests that clap their hands in applause, and this people of mine is well content. And what shift will you make when the end comes?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	6	1	Rally, tribesmen of Benjamin that live in the midst of Jerusalem; at Thecua sound the trumpet, raise the standard on Bethacarem; it is from the north peril may be seen coming, peril of great calamity.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	6	2	Poor Sion, all too fair she seems, all too delicate!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	6	3	Alas, what strange shepherds are these, what troops that follow them? See how they pitch their tents about her! See how many each has at his back, and there must be pasture for them all!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	6	4	Sound we the attack on the city; to move now were best, and march up under the light of noon! Plague upon it, the day is already spent, the shadows of evening lengthen already;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	6	5	up, then, march we on by night, by night plunder their houses!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	6	6	Down with yonder trees, the Lord of hosts says, and build siege-works about Jerusalem; here is a city must be called to account for all the oppression that is harboured there.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	6	7	Never cistern kept its waters so fresh, as she her store of wickedness; no news from her but of wrong and waste, no sight I see there but distress and violence.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	6	8	Jerusalem, be warned in time; else my love thou shalt forfeit, and I will make a ruin of thee, a land uninhabited.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	6	9	Israel, says the Lord of hosts, is a vineyard for the gleaning; no cluster shall be left; back with thee, vintager, to the baskets!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	6	10	Vain appeal, whom shall I cite for witness of it? Oh that it should fall on ears uncircumcised, oh that God’s word should be slighted, and find no welcome!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	6	11	Nay, but the divine anger burns within me, I can forbear no longer. I must blurt out my message to all, children playing in the streets, no less than warriors met in council; none shall be spared, husband or wife, greybeard or man of many summers.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	6	12	Homes, lands and wedded wives, all must pass into other hands; none that dwells in Juda, the Lord says, but shall feel my vengeance.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	6	13	High and low, ill-gotten gains they covet; treacherous the ways alike of prophet and of priest;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	6	14	here lies my people grievously hurt, and they tend her unconcernedly; All’s well, they say, all’s well, when in truth all goes amiss.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	6	15	Shamed they needs must be, that did so detestably; shamed, but never ashamed, for indeed they have lost the power to blush; theirs to fall amid the common ruin, crushed to earth, the Lord says, when I call all to account.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	6	16	The Lord’s message was, Halt at the cross-roads, look well, and ask yourselves which path it was that stood you in good stead long ago. That path follow, and you shall find rest for your souls. But follow they would not;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	6	17	and next, I would set watchmen on the heights; let them only listen, when these sounded the trumpet; but listen they would not.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	6	18	To the nations, then, I proclaim it; let my doom be pronounced in the public ear;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	6	19	all earth shall hear it. I mean to bring upon this people of mine the punishment their scheming wickedness has earned, so deaf to my calls, of my law so defiant.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	6	20	What avails it to offer me incense from Saba, and the fragrant calamus that grows far away? Unwelcome to me your burnt-sacrifice, undesired your victims.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	6	21	This doom the Lord pronounces; I mean so to entangle this people of mine that they shall stumble to their undoing all of them, father and son together, neighbour with neighbour, friend with friend.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	6	22	Here is a people marching from the north country, the Lord says, a great nation from the world’s end.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	6	23	Arrow and shield they ply, and their hard hearts pity none; loud their battle-cry as the roaring of the sea. So they ride on, as warriors ride, poor Sion, thy enemies.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	6	24	Unnerved our hands droop at the very rumour of it; grief overmasters us, sharp as the pangs of travail;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	6	25	forbidden is the country-side, the high roads untravelled; the drawn sword threatens, and peril is all about us.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	6	26	Juda, poor widowed queen, put sackcloth about thee and strew thyself with ashes; as for an only son make loud lament; without warning the spoiler will be upon us.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	6	27	I have a task for thee to perform among my people; thou shalt be my trusty assayer, putting the quality of their lives to the test.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	6	28	These faithless rulers that go about on their slanderous errands, what are they but copper and iron, base metal all?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	6	29	Bellows have done their work, the lead streams away in the fire, carrying nothing with it; vain, smelter, thy toil, the dross remains unpurged.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	6	30	Refuse-silver they shall be called; has not the Lord refused them?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	7	1	A message came from the Lord to Jeremias,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	7	2	bidding him take his stand at the temple gate, and there proclaim aloud: Listen to this word of the Lord, men of Juda, that make your way in through these gates to worship him.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	7	3	Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your lives and your likings, if you would have me dwell here among you.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	7	4	Trust never in the false assurances that proclaim this place The Lord’s temple, The Lord’s temple, The Lord’s temple.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	7	5	Will you but amend your lives and your likings, giving one man redress against another,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	7	6	not oppressing the alien, the orphan, the widow, nor in these precincts putting innocent men to death, nor courting, to your ruin, the gods of other nations,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	7	7	then indeed I will make my dwelling here among you, in the land which was my gift to your fathers from the beginning to the end of time.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	7	8	You put your trust in flattering hopes, which can nothing avail you;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	7	9	theft, murder, adultery, the false oath, libations to Baal, the courting of alien gods that are no gods of yours, nothing comes amiss,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	7	10	if only you can come and stand in my presence, here in this house, the shrine of my name, and tell yourselves you have made amends for all these your detestable doings!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	7	11	What, does this house, the shrine of such a name, count for no more than a den of thieves, in eyes like yours? Think you, the Lord says, that eternal God has no eyes to see it?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	7	12	Go and visit that sanctuary of mine at Silo, where of old my power rested; look well, what havoc I have made of it, to punish the misdeeds of Israel, that was my people too.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	7	13	Because of so much done amiss, the Lord says; because you would not listen when I cried early at your doors, or answer any call of mine;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	7	14	this house, shrine of my name and centre of your hopes, this home I gave to you and to your fathers, shall fare as Silo fared.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	7	15	All those brethren of yours, the whole stock of Ephraim, I banished from my presence, and you shall be banished in your turn.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	7	16	Nor do thou, Jeremias, think to plead for this people of mine, or take up in their name the burden of praise and prayer; thwart my will, thou shalt have no hearing.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	7	17	Canst thou not see for thyself what ill deeds are done in the townships of Juda, in the very streets of Jerusalem?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	7	18	See the children gathering sticks, the father lighting a fire, the mother kneading dough, and all to make cakes for the queen of heaven! See how they offer libation to alien gods, to despite me!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	7	19	Yet not to me they do despite, the Lord says, rather to themselves; every hope of theirs shall fail them.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	7	20	This warning, then, the Lord God sends them: Fury and indignation of mine are brewing against this place, man and beast, woodland tree and growing crop; and when that fire is lit, there shall be no quenching it.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	7	21	A message from the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: No more be at pains to distinguish between burnt-sacrifice and offering; use for your own eating the flesh of all alike!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	7	22	Burnt-sacrifices, offerings, not of these was my theme when I gave commandments to your fathers at the time of their deliverance from Egypt;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	7	23	my word of command to them was, Obey my bidding, if I am to be your God, you my people; follow the path I have marked out for you, as you hope to prosper.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	7	24	And did they listen? Hearing they gave me none; their own whim, the false aim of their corrupt hearts was all the rule they lived by; still turned their backs on me, and refused to look my way;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	7	25	so it has been since your fathers left Egypt, so it is yet. No day dawned but I was at work betimes, sending my servants to prophesy to them,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	7	26	but still they would not listen, still hearing they gave me none; stubborn under my yoke, they outdid their own fathers in wickedness.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	7	27	All this thou shalt say to them, but they will not listen to thee; thy call shall go unheeded.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	7	28	Then tell them, Here is a people who will not listen to the voice of their own God, or accept reproof from him; loyalty is dead, the word is on their lips no more.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	7	29	Cut off, Jerusalem, those locks of thine, and cast them away from thee; loud let the hills echo with thy lament; on a guilty age, the Lord has pronounced sentence of banishment and rejection.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	7	30	The men of Juda have defied my will, the Lord says; foul idols they have set up in the house that is the sanctuary of my name, and utterly profaned it;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	7	31	in the valley of Ben-Ennom stands the hill-shrine of Topheth, where they sacrifice their own sons and daughters in the furnace, a rite not of my bidding, not of my imagining.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	7	32	And now, the Lord says, a time is coming when no more will be heard of Topheth or Ben-Ennom; it will be called The Valley of the Slain; men will be finding room for their dead in Topheth, because other burying-ground is none.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	7	33	Nay, Juda shall be carrion for birds that fly in air, for beasts that roam the earth; and never a man left to drive them away.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	7	34	In the townships of Juda, in the streets of Jerusalem, cries of joy and mirth shall be heard no more, voice of bridegroom and of bride shall be heard no more; the whole land will have turned into a wilderness.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	8	1	All the tombs in Jerusalem will be rifled, the Lord says, when that day comes, tomb of king and prince of Juda’s line, tomb of priest and prophet, tomb of common citizen; naked their bones shall lie,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	8	2	with sun and moon and all the starry host to witness it, their gods aforetime; gods so loved, so well served, so hailed, so courted, so adored! Those bones there shall be none to gather, none to bury; they shall lie like dung on the bare ground.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	8	3	And the living shall envy the dead; so poor a home shall be left, the Lord of hosts says, to the remnant of a guilty race, in the far lands to which I have banished them.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	8	4	Give them this message from the Lord: A man falls but to rise, errs but to retrieve his path;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	8	5	how is it that this rebellious people of mine at Jerusalem has rebelled so obstinately? They cling to their illusion, and return no more.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	8	6	Listen I never so attentively, wholesome word I hear none; never a man that repents of his sin, asks himself what his life has been. No, each one follows his own bent, reckless as war-horse charging into battle.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	8	7	Yet the kite, circling in air, knows its time; turtle-dove can guess, and swallow, and stork, when they should return; only for my people the divine appointment passes unobserved.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	8	8	What, still boasting that you are wise, that the Lord’s law finds its home among you? Nay, but the scribes, with their false penmanship, have construed all amiss.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	8	9	In all their wisdom, how disappointed, how bewildered, how entrapped! God’s word they cast away, and wisdom left them.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	8	10	Alien lords their wives shall have, alien masters their lands; (high and low, ill-gotten gains they covet; treacherous the ways alike of prophet and of priest;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	8	11	here lies my people grievously hurt, and they tend her unconcernedly; All’s well, they say, all’s well, when in truth all goes amiss.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	8	12	Shamed they needs must be, that did so detestably; shamed, but never ashamed, for indeed they have lost the power to blush; theirs to fall in the common ruin, crushed to earth, the Lord says, when I call all to account).
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	8	13	I will make an end of them once for all, the Lord says; never a grape on the vine, or a fig on the fig-tree, every leaf withered; and I have given them… what has passed them by.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	8	14	Why do we linger here? Muster we, and man the stronghold, and wait there uncomplaining; silence the Lord our God has imposed on us, given us a draught to dull the senses; the Lord, whom our sins have offended.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	8	15	How we long for better times, and no relief comes to us; for remedy at last, and danger still threatens!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	8	16	All the way from Dan the noise of horses reaches us, gallant chargers neighing in their pride, till earth trembles with the echoes of it; on they come, bearing ruin to field and crop, to city and citizen!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	8	17	With such a brood of deadly serpents I am plaguing you, the Lord says, charm is none shall rid you of its bite.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	8	18	Grief beyond all grief, that bows down my heart within me!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	8	19	So cries my own people in its distress from a country far away. Does the Lord dwell in Sion no longer? Is she forsaken by her king?And she? What of the idols, what of the alien gods that turned me into her enemy?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	8	20	Harvest-time is over, summer is gone, and still no deliverance has come to us.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	8	21	Wounded she lies, my own people, and is not her wound mine? Shall I not go mourning, bewildered by grief?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	8	22	Grows the balm in Galaad no more, is the healer’s art lost there, that the people I love should lie wounded, and the wound will not close?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	9	1	Well-head were this head of mine, eyes of a fountain these eyes, day nor night should serve me to weep enough for my country’s dead.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	9	2	Oh that some lodging-place in the wilderness for me were dwelling-place, far from the haunts of my own people, that are faithless lovers, rebel subjects all!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	9	3	Deceitful tongues, treacherous as the hidden archer’s bow, hearts that lord it over their fellow-countrymen, wrong leading to wrong, and my claims forgotten! the Lord says.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	9	4	Neighbour of neighbour beware, kinsman let kinsman never trust; none goes about to overthrow thee more craftily than brother of thine or friend.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	9	5	None but will overreach his fellow with lies; all their schooling is in falsehood, all their striving for ill-gotten gain.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	9	6	In what a nest of treason thou dwellest! And such treason, the Lord says, as will acknowledge no claim of mine.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	9	7	This warning, then, he utters, the Lord of hosts: The fire for them! They must be tried in the crucible; what other choice has my faithless people left me?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	9	8	Tongues that wound like an arrow, with deceit for poison, ever the smooth word of friend laying snare for friend;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	9	9	what, shall I let all this pass me by, the Lord says; shall I not take my fill of vengeance against such a nation as this?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	9	10	Sad dirge be made for the hills, lament for all the wide pasture-lands, that are scorched bare, and left untravelled; silent the herdsman’s call; birds that nested there, cattle that grazed there, fled and gone.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	9	11	I mean to turn Jerusalem into a heap of dust, the lair of serpents; the cities of Juda shall stand desolate, with none to inhabit them.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	9	12	Come now, who is wise enough to read the riddle, to what spokesman shall the Lord’s proclamation be entrusted, when he tells us why the land lies ruined, burnt up like the wilderness, and never a passer-by?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	9	13	It is because they forsook the commandment I gave them, the Lord says, would not heed my call or follow it;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	9	14	because they had recourse to ill devices of their own, and to the gods of the country-side, whose worship their fathers taught them.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	9	15	This doom, then, the Lord of hosts pronounces, the God of Israel: On wormwood I will feed this people of mine, gall shall be the drink I give them;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	9	16	far away I will scatter them, in countries never they, never their fathers knew; and the sword shall follow close behind, to exterminate them.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	9	17	This too the Lord of hosts says, the God of Israel: Search all about, and find mourners, mistresses of their craft, and such as will answer your summons with all haste;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	9	18	no time let them lose in making dole for us; weep every eye, be every eye-lid blubbered with tears.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	9	19	Listen to Sion’s lament: Alas, what scathe, alas, what shame! Our land lies deserted, our homes in ruins!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	9	20	To you, women, the Lord’s word comes; this is matter for your hearing. To daughters of yours, neighbours of yours, teach the sad melody of yonder lament;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	9	21	here is death looking in at our windows, finding its way into our palaces, and soon there will be no children playing out of doors, nor grown men passing to and fro in the streets.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	9	22	A message from the Lord: Like dung they shall lie on the ground, the corpses of the dead, like the sheaf left after reaping is done, that none is at pains to gather.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	9	23	This, too, is the Lord’s message: Never boast, if thou art wise, of thy wisdom, if thou art strong, of thy strength, if thou art rich, of thy riches;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	9	24	boast is none worth having, save that insight which gives knowledge of me; in all my dealings with mankind so merciful a Lord, the Lord says, so just, so faithful, and a lover of such dealings where they are found.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	9	25	A time of reckoning there shall be, the Lord says, for all the nations that practice circumcision,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	9	26	Egypt, Juda, Edom, Ammon, Moab; ay, and the desert folk that clip their foreheads bare. The whole world is uncircumcised; all have hearts uncircumcised, and Israel with the rest.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	10	1	Listen, men of Israel, to the Lord’s utterance concerning you.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	10	2	Thus says the Lord: Do not learn to follow Gentile ways, or be dismayed by portents in the heavens, as the Gentiles are.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	10	3	How empty the observances the heathen use! What is the stuff upon which the carver works but a trunk of wood, felled by an axe out in the forest?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	10	4	Only he has tricked it out with gold and silver, hammer and nail must do their work, lest it should fall to pieces.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	10	5	Idols cunningly plated as palm-trees, yet dumb as they, and men must carry them to and fro, for movement they have none! To these give no reverence; they can neither mar nor make thee.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	10	6	No, Lord, thou hast no rival; so great thou art, so great is the sovereignty of thy name.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	10	7	King of all nations, how should we not fear thee in that majesty of thine? Boast the world as it will of wisdom or of empire, none can rival thee.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	10	8	Ah, folly and blindness, ah, fond teaching, lifeless as wood itself!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	10	9	Ay, bring plates of silver from Tharsis, gold from Ophaz, it is all man’s work, fresh from the smithy; bring robes of blue and purple, they are man’s work still!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	10	10	But the Lord is God in good earnest, a God that lives, that has eternal dominion, and can make earth tremble with his frown, strike the nations powerless when he threatens them.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	10	11	No place on earth or under heaven, you must tell the nations, for gods that could fashion neither heaven nor earth.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	10	12	Power that made the earth, wisdom that orders nature, foresight that spread out the heavens!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	10	13	At the sound of his voice, what mustering of the waters overhead! He summons up the cloud-wrack from the world’s end, turns the lightning into a rain-storm, brings the winds out of his store-house;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	10	14	how puny, then, is man’s skill, how sorry a thing is the carver’s workmanship; after all his pains, only a lifeless counterfeit!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	10	15	Fond imaginations, fantastic figures, when the time comes for reckoning, they will be heard of no more.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	10	16	Not such the worship that is the heirloom of Jacob’s line; their God is the God who made all things, Israel his patrimony, the Lord of hosts his name.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	10	17	Take up from the ground, poor besieged one, thy load of shame.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	10	18	This time, the Lord says, I mean to hurl them far away, the dwellers in this land, and great distress shall be theirs, that they may be found…
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	10	19	Alas, for my wounding, for the grievous hurt that is mine! Hitherto I had thought to bear my sickness, if this were all;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	10	20	but now what am I? A tent broken down, all its ropes severed: all my citizens have deserted me, and are no more to be found; who shall raise the pole, who shall stretch the curtains now?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	10	21	And the cause of it? Unskilful shepherds that would have no recourse to the Lord; see how their art has failed them, and all the flock is scattered far and wide!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	10	22	A sound comes to me that brings tidings with it, a great stir from the north country; all Juda is to become a desert, a lair for serpents now.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	10	23	Lord, I know it well enough, it is not for man to choose his lot; not human wisdom guides our steps aright.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	10	24	Chasten me, Lord, but with due measure kept; not as thy anger demands, or thou wilt grind me to dust.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	10	25	Pour out this indignation of thine upon the nations that do not acknowledge thee, on the tribes that never invoke thy name; by whom Jacob is devoured, devoured and devastated, and all his pride scattered to the winds.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	11	1	Here is a message which came from the Lord to Jeremias
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	11	2	about the covenant: Listen well to the terms of it, and be the spokesmen of it to all the race of Juda, all the citizens of Jerusalem.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	11	3	This warning thou shalt give them from the Lord God of Israel: Cursed be the man who will not obey the terms of this covenant,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	11	4	the commandment which I enjoined on your fathers when I rescued them from Egypt’s furnace of iron. Give heed to my call, I told them, and do as I bid you; then you shall be my people, and I will be your God.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	11	5	So would I fulfil the promise made on oath to their fathers before them; the promise of a land all milk and honey, that land which is yours to-day. So be it, Lord, said I;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	11	6	and he bade me cry the message aloud all through the townships of Juda, all through the streets of Jerusalem: Listen to the terms of this covenant, and keep them well;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	11	7	ever since I rescued them from Egypt I have been adjuring those fathers of yours, day in, day out, to listen to me,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	11	8	and listen they would not. No hearing would they give me, but went each his own way, perverse as ever, till at last I must carry out the threats contained in this covenant, still proclaimed and still defied.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	11	9	Why, the Lord said to me, here is a conspiracy among Juda’s folk, Jerusalem’s folk!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	11	10	They have gone back to the old guilty ways of their rebellious fathers; they in their turn have betaken themselves to the worship of alien gods; my immemorial covenant with Israel and Juda is void; they have rescinded it!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	11	11	And now, the Lord says, I mean to visit them with punishment inevitable, punishment inexorable;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	11	12	let Juda and Jerusalem have recourse, if they will, to the gods they honour with their sacrifices, it will avail them nothing in their distress.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	11	13	No township of thine, Juda, but must have its own deity, no street in Jerusalem but thou wouldst set up there altars abominable, where sacrifice is offered to the gods of the country-side!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	11	14	Nor do thou, Jeremias, think to intercede for this people of mine, or take up in their name the burden of praise and prayer; when they cry to me in their distress, hearing they shall have none.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	11	15	A people so well beloved, that so haunts my house, yet stained with crime! What, dost thou think the consecrated flesh will avail to rid thee of thy wanton guilt?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	11	16	An olive-tree, sturdy and fair and fruitful, so it was the Lord loved to think of thee; and now, at the sound of his majestic voice, fire breaks out in it, and all those shoots are burned away.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	11	17	Yes, it is the Lord of hosts, who once planted thee, that has now decreed the undoing of Israel and Juda, undoing for their own ill-doing, when they sacrificed to the gods of the country-side in defiance of me.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	11	18	Thou, Lord, didst make it all known to me past doubt, warning me beforehand of their devices.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	11	19	Hitherto, I had been unsuspecting as a cade lamb that is led off to the slaughter-house; I knew nothing of the plots they were hatching against me, as they whispered, Let us give him a taste of the gallows-tree; let us rid the world of him, so that his very name will be forgotten!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	11	20	But thou, Lord of hosts, true judge that canst read the inmost thoughts of man’s heart, let me live to see thee punish them; to thee I have made my plea known.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	11	21	And now the Lord has a word for yonder men of Anathoth, who conspired to kill me, and would have stopped me prophesying in the Lord’s name, on pain of my life.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	11	22	I will call them to account for it, says the Lord of hosts; by the sword their warriors shall perish, and their sons and daughters by famine.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	11	23	None shall be left; woe betide the men of Anathoth, when the year comes for my reckoning with them.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	12	1	Lord, I know well that right is on thy side, if I plead against thee, yet remon-strate with thee I must; why is it that the affairs of the wicked prosper; never a traitor double-dyed but all goes well with him?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	12	2	Deep roots they strike, so firmly thou hast planted them, thrive and bear fruit; yet all the while their hearts keep thee at a distance, only their lips proclaim thee.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	12	3	Yet it is I, Lord, that hold thy warrant; with favour thou regardest me, hast proof of my heart’s loyalty; wilt thou not herd them together like sheep, and mark them down for slaughter?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	12	4	How long must this land go in mourning, all the verdure of its fields be parched up, to avenge the ill-doing of its inhabitants? Neither beast nor bird left in it; and still their hope is, I shall not live to see their end come!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	12	5	What, tired out so soon when thy rivals were on foot? And hast thou the mettle to challenge horsemen? Easy to keep thy confidence, here on safe ground; what shift wilt thou make in the fens of Jordan?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	12	6	Even by thy own clansmen, thy own father’s kin, thou art betrayed; these too will join in the hue and cry after thee; never trust soft words of theirs.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	12	7	Farewell, my home; I have done with my chosen people; the life that was so dear to me I have handed over to its enemies.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	12	8	My people grown strange to me, as lion snarling in its forest lair; what marvel if I am weary of it?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	12	9	My people grown strange to me as carrion-bird, its mottled plumage all bathed in blood! Gather here, beasts that roam the earth, eager for your prey.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	12	10	Drovers a many have laid waste my vineyard, trampled down my lands; the land I loved so, turned into a lonely wilderness!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	12	11	Desolate they have made it, and desolate it mourns for me now; a very picture of desolation, and all for the want of men with heeding hearts.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	12	12	No track over the uplands but has seen the freebooters coming by; from end to end of the country the sword of divine vengeance must pass, leaving no peace for any living thing;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	12	13	where wheat was sown, the harvest shall be of briers, where men hold lands, they shall get no advantage of it; all your harvests shall disappoint you, so fierce the Lord’s anger burns.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	12	14	And this message comes from the Lord to those ill neighbours of his, that encroach upon the domain he has granted to his people of Israel: I mean to uproot them from their homes, when I uproot the men of Juda from the land that lies between them.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	12	15	Yet I will relent towards them, so uprooted, and have pity on them; to their scattered homes and countries they shall all return.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	12	16	Then, if they will but learn the traditions of my own people, and take their oaths by the Lord, the living God, as they once taught my people to take oaths by Baal, their fortunes shall be founded anew in the midst of Juda.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	12	17	But wherever my call goes unheeded, the Lord says, that people’s uprooting shall be that people’s undoing.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	13	1	The Lord’s word came to me: Go and buy a girdle of linen, and put it about thy loins, one that was never yet soaked in water.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	13	2	Girdle I bought me as the Lord had bidden, and wore it;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	13	3	and now the Lord spoke again:
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	13	4	Is the girdle bought and worn? Up, take it with thee to Euphrates river, and hide it there in a crevice of the rock.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	13	5	So I went obediently, and hid it away in the Euphrates.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	13	6	Many days afterwards, the Lord sent me on my travels again to the Euphrates, to recover the girdle hidden there at his command;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	13	7	so thither I went, and unearthed the girdle from its hiding-place, to find it all perished and useless.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	13	8	Whereupon the Lord’s word came to me,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	13	9	and this was his message: Not less the great pride of Juda, the great pride of Jerusalem, must perish.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	13	10	Here is a rebellious people that will not listen to my call; they must needs take their own false path, courting alien gods and submitting to their worship. No better, then, than yonder useless girdle;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	13	11	close as a man’s girdle fits about his loins I had bound Israel and Juda to myself; my people they were to be, my renown and prize and pride; but no, they would not listen.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	13	12	Tell them this, too, from the Lord God of Israel, Flagons must have wine to fill them. And when they answer, it is no news to them that flagons are for wine,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	13	13	give them this message from the Lord: Ay, but the people of this land, king of David’s line sitting on David’s throne, priest and prophet and citizens of Jerusalem every one, are flagons waiting to be filled. I mean to bemuse them, as with wine,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	13	14	and then shatter them; brother torn away from brother, and fathers from their children; ruth and respite none shall have, nor be spared in the common ruin.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	13	15	Hear and heed and humble yourselves; it is the Lord who speaks.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	13	16	Give God his due, ere the shadows fall, and your feet begin to stumble on the dark mountain-ways. For day you shall long, but he will have turned it into night; dark as death the lowering of the storm.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	13	17	Sirs, if you will not listen now, give me leave to hide myself away and bemoan your proud hearts; weep I must and wail, and my eyes run down with tears, if the Lord’s flock is doomed to captivity.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	13	18	To king and queen-mother say this, Come down and take your places with the rest, discrowned of your royalty.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	13	19	Shut off are the cities of the south, entry is none; dispeopled lies Juda, of all her sons dispeopled.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	13	20	New-comers from the north country, look about you and see!… … Ah, Jerusalem, what has become of the flock once entrusted to thee, thy honourable care?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	13	21	What wilt thou say when thou art called to give account of it? Thy enemies are such as thou hast taught how to attack thee; thy schooling has recoiled on thy own head; sharper than travail-throes the anguish that shall overtake thee.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	13	22	And wilt thou find room for surmise, why this should have befallen thee? Doubt not it is thy own wrong-doing that has stripped thee naked, and plunged thy steps deep in defilement.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	13	23	Sooner may Ethiop turn white, leopard’s hide unmarked, than Juda unlearn the lesson of ill-doing and amend.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	13	24	Far and wide I will scatter thy sons, like straws caught in the desert wind;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	13	25	such is the fortune sent thee, such thy retribution exactly awarded, because thou hast forgotten me, and in lying fables put thy trust.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	13	26	That is why I will pull thy skirts about thy ears and manifest thy shame;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	13	27	adulteries of thine, and lasciviousness, and all the guilt of thy debauchery, the foul deeds I have seen done on hill-tops, in the open country-side. Fie on thee, Jerusalem, that wilt not come back to me and be cleansed! Shall it last for ever?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	14	1	How the Lord answered Jeremias in the matter of the drought.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	14	2	Lamentation in Juda, faint hearts and the dress of mourners in the market-place, loud the cry that goes up from Jerusalem!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	14	3	Master sends man to fetch water, but when cistern is reached, water is none; back go the pails empty, and disappointed vexation veils its head.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	14	4	Vexation, too, and veiled heads among the country folk, so languish the fields for lack of rain;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	14	5	hind forsakes its new-born young, out on the plain, because grass has failed it,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	14	6	and the wild ass on the hill-side gasps for air, crocodile-fashion, eyes dim with the vain search for pasture.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	14	7	What though we have guilt to plead against us? For thy own honour, Lord, bring us aid, rebels so often, yet confessing how we have wronged thee!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	14	8	Thou, Israel’s hope, in time of calamity its refuge still, wilt thou pass us by, like stranger in a land that is none of his, like some traveller that will ask for a night’s lodging and be gone?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	14	9	Why dost thou hang back like a man irresolute, a warrior that has forgotten his strength? Lord, thy dwelling-place is among us; thy holy name we bear; wilt thou abandon us?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	14	10	Hearts ever in love with wandering, never at rest, what answer will the Lord make them? That his favour is not for them; at this hour he keeps their guilt in memory, for all their misdoings calls them to account.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	14	11	Nay, the Lord said to me, do not pray for the welfare of such a people as this.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	14	12	Fast they, their prayers shall go unheard; offer they burnt-sacrifice and victim, I will have none of it; sword, and famine, and the pestilence shall wear them down.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	14	13	Alas, alas, Lord God, said I, here are their prophets telling them they shall never see sword drawn, famine shall be none among them; theirs shall be a land of lasting content.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	14	14	These are but false promises, the Lord said, that they utter in my name; warrant they never had from me, nor errand, nor message; of false visions they tell you, and soothsayings, and trickery, and their own hearts’ inventions.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	14	15	Here is the Lord’s sentence upon prophets not of his sending, who speak to you in his name of a land unhurt by sword or famine; by sword and famine those prophets shall be devoured.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	14	16	Slain by sword and famine, the common folk that listen to them shall lie in the streets of Jerusalem, with none to bury them; wives and sons and daughters shall die with them; their own misdoings shall be a flood to drown them.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	14	17	This too thou shalt say to them… … Weep, eyes, day and night, never resting, at the great hurt, the grievous wound she suffers, my people, inviolable till now!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	14	18	Nothing the country-side shews but massacre, nothing the city but faces pinched with famine; prophet and priest are gone, in a land of strangers they must ply their trade now.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	14	19	Hast thou abandoned Juda once for all, art thou weary of Sion? Past all healing thou hast wounded us; how we long for better times, and no relief comes to us, for remedy at last, and danger still threatens!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	14	20	Lord, we acknowledge our rebelliousness, acknowledge our fathers’ guilt, confess that we have wronged thee;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	14	21	for thy own honour, do not shame us, do not drag thy own royal glory in the dust; wilt thou forget, wilt thou annul the covenant that binds thee?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	14	22	Grant rain they cannot, the false gods of the heathen, the dumb skies have no showers of their own to give; for these, his creatures, wait we patiently on the Lord our God.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	15	1	But it was thus the Lord answered me: Though Moses himself and Samuel made intercession for them, neither love nor liking would I have for this people of mine; banish them from my presence, to go where they will.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	15	2	If they ask whither, give them this message from the Lord: Whom the plague beckons, to the plague; whom the sword, to the sword; whom famine, to famine; whom exile, to exile.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	15	3	Escort they shall have of four kinds, the Lord says; the sword to slay and the dogs to tear them, birds in air and beasts on earth to devour and make an end of them.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	15	4	All the kingdoms of the world shall be in a ferment over them; so will I punish the ill deeds done in Jerusalem by Manasses, son of Ezechias, when he was king of Juda.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	15	5	Nay, Jerusalem, who shall pity or bemoan thee, who shall turn aside, as he passes, to wish thee well?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	15	6	Thou hast forsaken me, the Lord says, and wouldst journey with me no more; now my hand is raised to strike, and make an end of thee; I am weary of wooing thee.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	15	7	Over the threshold of the land I blow my people away like chaff, bereaved, diminished, and unrepentant still.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	15	8	Widows there be, countless as the sea-sand; where is now the warrior son? In broad daylight I send the roving spoiler to strike terror into their cities.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	15	9	Sick at heart and faint she lies, that seven sons had borne; her noon is night, her hopes and her pride gone; and all that she has left, the Lord says, shall fall a prey to the sword in battle.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	15	10	An ill day when thou, my own mother, didst bring me into the world! A world where all for me is strife, all is hostility; neither creditor I nor debtor to any man, yet they curse my name!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	15	11	But the Lord answered, I promise that thou shalt leave behind thee good service done, and that in all distress and persecution I am coming to thy side, to save thee from thy enemies.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	15	12	What, should iron and bronze be in league with the iron that comes from the north?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	15	13	… (All the riches and treasures of thy land shall be despoiled, in punishment for all its guilt, and to no purpose;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	15	14	I am summoning enemies to attack thee from a land far away; it is your own persons that shall be burnt up in the fires of vengeance my anger has kindled) …
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	15	15	Thou art my witness, Lord; bethink thee, and come to my defence against my persecutors; hold thy hand no longer, but claim me for thy own; if I have earned an ill name, it was in thy cause.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	15	16	When thy words were found, how greedily I devoured them! Great joy and content those words gave to my heart, heart of a prophet that bears thy name.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	15	17	Not for me the company of the merry-makers, I would not share in their boastfulness; under the threat of thy judgement I sat alone, filled with boding thoughts.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	15	18	Why are those sad thoughts still with me? Is my hurt desperate, beyond all remedy? Did it cheat me, like some empty water-course, my hope in thee?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	15	19	Draw near to me, the Lord said, and I will draw thee to myself, to wait upon me. When thou hast learned to separate worth from dross, thou shalt be my true spokesman, and thou shalt draw others to thyself, not let thyself be drawn to them.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	15	20	This people of mine shall find thee a stout wall of bronze, impregnable to their attack; am I not at thy side, the Lord says, to protect and deliver thee?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	15	21	Let the wicked be never so powerful, I will engage for thy safety.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	16	1	The Lord’s word came to me:
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	16	2	With such a land for thy dwelling-place, neither wive nor gender;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	16	3	for sons and daughters born in this land, for mothers who there gave them birth and fathers who begot them, the Lord has ill news to hear.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	16	4	Die they of the plague, they shall lie like dung on the ground, unwept, unburied; meet they their end by sword or famine, birds in air and beasts that roam the earth shall prey on the carrion of them.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	16	5	Where they hold wake for the dead, such is the Lord’s bidding, never enter thou, condole and console thou never; friendship of mine this people shall never have, nor grace, nor mercy, the Lord says.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	16	6	Die rich, die poor in that country of theirs, burial and wake they shall have none; never a limb gashed or a head shaved to honour them;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	16	7	none shall break bread with the mourner, nor give him a draught of wine for his comfort, though father or mother he bewail.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	16	8	Nor enter thou where men feast, to sit at meat and drink with them;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	16	9	this doom he utters, the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: You shall live to see the day when cries of joy and mirth, voice of bridegroom and of bride, in this land are heard no more.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	16	10	This warning uttered, if they ask thee why the divine sentence is so stern, wherein their guilt lies, what wrong they have done to the Lord their God,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	16	11	tell them this in his name: It is because your fathers have forsaken me, had recourse to alien gods, and submitted to the worship of them, my claim renounced, my laws defied.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	16	12	And you have out-done your fathers in malice, each of you following the ill bent of his own heart, and disobeying me.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	16	13	Exiles far from home, in a land neither you nor those fathers of yours ever saw, you shall spend day and night in the service of alien gods, without respite.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	16	14	(Ay, the Lord says, a time is coming when the living Lord men swear by will no longer be the God who rescued Israel from Egypt;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	16	15	the living God will be one who has rescued Israel from the north country, and all the places of exile that are now designed for you, restoring them to the home which was once his gift to their fathers. )
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	16	16	Many fishermen I have, the Lord says, to spread the nets for them; and after that many huntsmen, to hunt them down among mountains and hill-sides and rocky caverns.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	16	17	Good watch I keep on their doings, never lose sight of them; no guilt of theirs can escape my scrutiny.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	16	18	Twice over they shall pay for guilt of theirs, misdoing of theirs, the men that have profaned my own land with dead idols, spread pollution through all my domain.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	16	19	Strength and stronghold, Lord, refuge in time of peril, shall not the Gentiles themselves come to thee from the ends of the earth, confessing that all their patrimony is but a heritage of lies, that their idols cannot avail them?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	16	20	Shall men make gods for themselves, that gods in truth are none?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	16	21	Ay, it is the very lesson I mean to teach them now; that I act, and act with power; they shall learn to know the Lord’s name at last.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	17	1	Not more indelible were the guilt of Juda, if pen of steel or point of diamond had graven it with their hearts for tablet, or upon the rim of their altars;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	17	2	indelible, while there are sons of theirs to remember where altar stood once and sacred tree, shrine in the thick forest, shrine on the high hills;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	17	3	to offer sacrifice even yet in the open country-side. All the riches and treasures of thy land shall be destroyed, all its hill-shrines, in punishment for all its guilt.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	17	4	Lost to thee, the home that once I gave thee; in a land thou knowest not thou shalt be the slave of thy enemies; the fire of anger thou hast kindled in me can never be quenched.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	17	5	Cursed shall he be, the Lord says, that puts his trust in man, and will have flesh and blood to aid him, his thoughts far from God.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	17	6	Never shall the sight of better times greet him; forlorn as some bush of tamarisk out in the desert, he dwells in a parched waste, the salt plains for all his company.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	17	7	Blessed shall he be that puts his trust in the Lord, makes the Lord his refuge.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	17	8	Not more favoured is tree planted by the water’s edge, that pushes out its roots to catch the moisture, and defies the summer heat; its green leaves careless of the drought, its fruit unfailing.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	17	9	There is no riddle like the twists of the heart; who shall master them?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	17	10	Who but I, the Lord, that can see into man’s heart, and read his inmost thoughts, to every life awarding what its doings have earned?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	17	11	Partridge that fosters a brood not its own is fit emblem for the man that wins riches unjustly; when life is but half done, he must take leave of them, a fool to the last.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	17	12	Where from the first supreme majesty sits enthroned, there lies our sanctuary;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	17	13	thou, Lord, art Israel’s hope; the men who forsake thee will be disappointed, the men who swerve from thy paths will be names written in sand; have they not forsaken that Lord who is the fountain of living water?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	17	14	If I am to be healed, it is thou, Lord, must heal me; if I am to find deliverance, it is thou must deliver me; thou art all my boast.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	17	15	What has become of the Lord’s threat? (so men taunt me), we are waiting to see it accomplished!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	17	16	But this was no hasty word of mine, I did but lead where thou leddest; it was no wish of mine that calamity should befall mankind; no word I uttered but had the warrant of thy scrutiny.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	17	17	Not for me thy terrors; the day of affliction is coming, but I shall find refuge in thee.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	17	18	They must be abashed, and I vindicated; they must cower, while I stand confident. It is on them the day of affliction will fall; reward them, then, with twofold hurt for the hurt they did.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	17	19	The Lord bade me go and take my stand at the People’s Gate, where the kings of Juda passed to and fro; and then, in turn, at the other gates of Jerusalem.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	17	20	This was to be my message from the Lord to king and people of Juda, to every citizen of Jerusalem that used those gates:
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	17	21	No more, on peril of your lives, shoulder those packs of yours and carry them through Jerusalem gates on the sabbath day.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	17	22	Never a load must leave your houses, nor any work be done, on the sabbath; this was the command I gave to your fathers,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	17	23	only they would not listen or pay heed, chafed under the yoke of discipline and refused to obey me.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	17	24	And you, the Lord says, will you obey? Rid these gateways of their sabbath burdens, keep the sabbath holy by resting from work,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	17	25	and your kings and princes, David’s own heirs, shall still go riding through them, with horses and chariots, with their retinue of nobles, with the men of Juda and Jerusalem’s citizens in their train. Evermore your city shall be populous;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	17	26	from the townships of Juda, from your own country-side, from Benjamin, from plain and hill and the waste lands of the south, men shall come with burnt-sacrifice and victim and bloodless offering and incense to enrich the Lord’s temple.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	17	27	Refuse to keep the sabbath holy, profane it with burdens borne and burdens admitted through the gates, and I will set those gates in a blaze that shall burn down all Jerusalem ere you can quench it.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	18	1	The Lord’s word came to Jeremias,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	18	2	bidding him betake himself to the potter’s house; there a divine message awaited him.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	18	3	So I went to the potter’s house, and found him working at his wheel;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	18	4	just then, the thing of clay he was a-fashioning broke in his hands, and he, as the whim took him, turned it into another thing of clay.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	18	5	Then it was the Lord’s word came to me:
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	18	6	You are in my hands, men of Israel, as the clay in the potter’s; why may I not do as the potter did?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	18	7	All at once to a nation here, a kingdom there, I pronounced my sentence, for the uprooting and undoing of it, for its utter destruction.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	18	8	Let but that nation repent of the crimes I brought against it, I too will repent of the punishment I thought to exact.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	18	9	All at once to a nation here, a kingdom there, I promise restoration of its fortunes and new life.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	18	10	Let but that nation defy my will, shut its ears to my claim, I too will repent of all the fair promises I made it.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	18	11	Be this, then, thy message from the Lord to Juda’s folk, to the citizens of Jerusalem: Ill days I have in store for you; all my plans are laid; time that each one of you should return from the false path, shape aims and thoughts anew.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	18	12	Ah no, they tell me, too late! Each one clings to his own course, follows his own bent still.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	18	13	Search the world over, the Lord says, where were ever such deeds heard of as this deed Israel, false maid, has most foully done?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	18	14	What, shall the snows of Lebanon melt from those wild peaks, shall they be dried up at their source, those icy torrents that flow down from it?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	18	15	Not less strange that this people of mine should forget me, and resort to vain sacrifices; that they should find their own paths too rough for them, the tracks marked out so long ago, and journey on instead along by-paths untrodden.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	18	16	Desolate their country shall lie, doomed to everlasting scorn; every passer-by will shudder at it, or toss his head in derision.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	18	17	I will sweep them away before the enemy’s onset, as the east wind sweeps all before it; turn my back and never look their way in the hour of need.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	18	18	Hereupon they summoned a conclave to plot against me, Jeremias; What, they said, would he have us believe we need no more priests to expound the law, no more wise men to counsel us, no more prophets to say their word? They thought to compass my death by their clamour; to all my warnings would pay heed no longer.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	18	19	Lord, give me audience; listen to these pratings of my enemies.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	18	20	Must they make such a return for my good will, laying a snare to take my life? Bethink thee, how I ever stood up before thee to plead for them, to avert thy anger from them.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	18	21	Henceforth leave their children to famish, or give them up to butchery; may their wives be childless widows, their grown men die of pestilence, their young men by the sword-thrust in battle;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	18	22	let their homes ring with lamentation, a prey to the sudden onslaught of robbers! Cunning the snare they laid, deep the pit they dug to entrap me;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	18	23	but there is no hiding from thee, Lord, the designs they have on my life. Do not forgive their malice, keep their guilt ever in thy sight; cast them down to earth at thy presence, and in thy anger make an end of them.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	19	1	Up, the Lord said to me, and get thee a jar of earthenware;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	19	2	take it to the valley of Ben-Ennom, close to the Earthenware Gate, with elders of the people and some of the older priests for thy company; there prophesy as I bid thee.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	19	3	To the dynasty of Juda, to all the citizens of Jerusalem, give this message from the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: I mean to bring such calamity on this place, as shall ring in the ears of all that hear it.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	19	4	The place that once was mine, now alienated by the rebels that dwell there; to alien gods they never knew, no fathers of theirs, no kings of Juda ever knew, they have done sacrifice in this place, drenching it with the blood of the innocent.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	19	5	Here the gods of the country-side must have their hill-shrines, and children must be burnt as a sacrifice in their honour; a rite not of my prescribing, or enjoining, or imagining.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	19	6	And now, the Lord says, a time is coming when it will no more be called Topheth, or the Valley of Ben-Ennom; it will be called the Valley of the Slain.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	19	7	In this valley all the hopes of Juda and Jerusalem shall be poured away; at the sword’s point they shall meet their enemy and fall into pitiless hands, and I will give leave to bird in air, beast on earth, to prey on the carrion of them.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	19	8	A thing of horror and scorn this city shall be; no passer-by but will shudder at it, or hiss derision at the memory of its sufferings.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	19	9	Nay, a pitiless enemy shall beleaguer them with so hard a siege, that I will leave them no food save the flesh of son and daughter; man shall eat man.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	19	10	Then break that jar of thine, for all thy company to see,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	19	11	and give them this message from the Lord of hosts: Broken to pieces you shall be, nation and city, like yonder thing of clay that is past all repairing; men will be finding room for their dead in Topheth, because other burying-ground is none.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	19	12	Such, the Lord says, is the doom I have pronounced on city and citizens; Jerusalem itself shall be a Topheth,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	19	13	all the houses in it, and yonder palace where the kings of Juda reigned, as Topheth unclean; it was there, on the roof-tops, they sacrificed to all the host of heaven, and made offering to alien gods.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	19	14	His errand at Topheth done, Jeremias took his stand in the temple courts, and gave the people this message from the Lord God of Israel:
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	19	15	All these threats against Jerusalem and her daughter cities I mean to perform; the punishment of a yoke refused, a call unheeded.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	20	1	When Jeremias uttered this prophecy, one of those who heard him was Phassur, son of Emmer, a priest who was entrusted with the care of the temple.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	20	2	This Phassur gave Jeremias a beating, and put him in the stocks at the upper gate of Benjamin, in the temple precincts,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	20	3	but next day released him. A new name the Lord has for thee, Jeremias told him, instead of Phassur; he means to call thee Danger-Everywhere.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	20	4	Danger enough thou shalt have, the Lord says, thou and those friends of thine; with thy own eyes thou shalt see the enemy put them to the sword, when I make the king of Babylon master of Juda; to Babylon he will take them, and put them to the sword there.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	20	5	All the wealth of this city, all the fruits of its toil, all that is of price, all the treasury of Juda’s kings, those enemies shall have in their power, to plunder and carry off and take back to Babylon with them.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	20	6	And thou, Phassur, with all thy household, shalt go into exile; to Babylon thou shalt go, in Babylon thou shalt die, and there find burial with all such friends of thine as listened to thy lying prophecy.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	20	7	Lord, thou hast sent me on a fool’s errand; if I played a fool’s part, a strength greater than mine overmastered me; morn to night, what a laughing-stock am I, every man’s nay-word!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	20	8	Long have I prophesied, and still I clamoured against men’s wickedness, and still cried ruin; day in, day out, nothing it earns me, this divine spokesmanship, but reproach and mockery.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	20	9	Did I essay to put the Lord out of my thoughts, and speak no more in his name, all at once it seemed as though a raging fire were locked in my bosom, pierced my whole frame, till I was worn out with it, and could bear no more.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	20	10	For me, danger everywhere; so many crying, Denounce him, and that contemptuous cry echoed by all the companions I trusted, ever at my side: Denounce him we will; he may be fooled yet! Then we can overmaster him, and take our vengeance!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	20	11	But the Lord stands at my side, a strong champion; fall and fail they must, my persecutors, and be disappointed of their hopes; fools, that cannot foresee shame eternal, shame indelible, awaiting them!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	20	12	But thou, Lord of hosts, true judge that canst read the inmost thoughts of man’s heart, let me live to see thee punish them; to thee I have made my plea known.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	20	13	Sing to the Lord yet, praise the Lord yet; he does not leave a defenceless life at the mercy of the wicked.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	20	14	Cursed be the day of my birth! A time for cursing it was, not for blessing, when my mother brought me into the world.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	20	15	Cursed be the man who told my father a son had been born to him, and brought gladness, ay, gladness, into his heart!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	20	16	For that good news, be he rewarded with the noise of battle-cry at morn, dirge at noon, like some city the Lord overthrows in anger unrelenting!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	20	17	Why did he not slay me yet unborn, the womb for my tomb, and frustrate my mother’s hope eternally?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	20	18	Why must I come out into the light of day, where only labour and sorrow greet me, and in disappointed striving all my life is spent?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	21	1	And this was the answer Jeremias had from the Lord, when king Sedecias sent two envoys to consult him; their names were Phassur son of Melchias, and Sophonias son of Maasias, a priest.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	21	2	The king sought a divine oracle about the war then levied on him by Nabuchodonosor, king of Babylon; would the Lord grant his people wondrous deliverance as of old? Would the siege be raised?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	21	3	And Jeremias sent them back to the royal presence,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	21	4	with this message from the Lord, the God of Israel: All the strength you have put into the field, to meet the king of Babylon and your Chaldaean besiegers at a distance from the walls, I mean to force back into the city and coop it up within.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	21	5	Then my arm shall be raised to strike, then my power shall be exerted, but against you; I will be all anger, all indignation, all resentment,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	21	6	smiting the inhabitants of this city with a great pestilence that shall slay both man and beast.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	21	7	But not king Sedecias; he shall be left alive, and some of his courtiers and his retinue, some of the citizens will be left alive, plague and war and famine notwithstanding. And these shall fall into the hands of Nabuchodonosor, king of Babylon, into the hands of a pitiless enemy, that will put them to the sword without ransom, or ruth, or respite.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	21	8	And this warning the Lord gives to the common folk: Here is choice I offer you between life and death, take which course you will.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	21	9	To remain in this city means death by sword, famine, or pestilence; leave it, and go over to the investing army of Chaldaeans, and you shall be spared, glad enough to escape with your lives.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	21	10	For woe, not weal, I keep this city ever in regard; the king of Babylon shall be master of it, and burn it to the ground.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	21	11	And for king and princes of Juda: Men of David’s line, here is a message from the Lord for your hearing.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	21	12	Learn betimes to make true award, and rob the oppressor of his prey, or my vengeance will blaze out against you for your ill-doings, like fire that still burns and will not be quenched.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	21	13	Have at thee, proud city, the Lord says, the valley thy dwelling-place, rock-built guardian of the plain! Boast you, its townspeople, that on you no stroke shall fall, none shall reach your lair?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	21	14	You shall be called to account, the Lord says, as your ill-doings have deserved; in this forest I will light such a fire as shall consume all around it.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	22	1	A message from the Lord, I must betake myself to the royal palace, and make proclamation there;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	22	2	Listen to a divine warning, king of Juda though thou be, and heir to David’s throne; it is for thee and thy courtiers and thy retinue, all that claim entry here.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	22	3	Just sentence, the Lord says, and right award; rob the oppressor of his prey; to alien, orphan and widow do neither despite nor wrong; never, within these walls, be innocence condemned to death.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	22	4	This warning if you obey, through these palace gates the heirs of David and of David’s throne, with horses and chariots, courtiers and retinue, shall yet pass to and fro.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	22	5	Disobey, the Lord says, and my own honour is engaged to make, of this palace, a ruin.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	22	6	On the royal house of Juda this is the Lord’s sentence: Growth I found here once, generous as in Galaad or on Lebanon’s height; now I have sworn to make a desert of it, no place for the haunts of men.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	22	7	Who shall strike the blow, and with what arms, is decreed already; all those fair cedars shall be cut down, and cast into the fire.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	22	8	Nations a many shall pass by those ruins; and when a man asks his neighbour what it meant, that the Lord should deal so hardly with a great city like this,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	22	9	the answer will be, It was because they forsook the covenant of the Lord their God, and worshipped alien gods, took alien gods for their masters.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	22	10	Not for the dead your tears, not for him bow your heads; if weep you must, weep for him that must go and come again no more, never again see the land of his birth!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	22	11	Sellum, that followed his father Josias on the throne of Juda, is leaving Jerusalem, the Lord says, and will never come back to it;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	22	12	die he must in that country to which I have banished him, and see this land no more.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	22	13	Alas, for the palace that is built with gains ill gotten, for halls founded only on wrong! Alas for the man that sets his fellow-man vainly drudging, and leaves his wages unpaid!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	22	14	A fine house I will make of it, says he, and wide rooms in it! Here he will throw out a window, there he will panel a wall with cedar, and paint it vermilion.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	22	15	Art thou hoping for a long reign, that thou shouldst challenge comparison with the cedar? Thy father was one that ate and drank at his ease, gave every man his just due, and was content;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	22	16	well for him that he gave the friendless and the poor redress, as men will when they bethink themselves of me.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	22	17	Thou hast no eyes, no thoughts, but for gain; for innocent men’s undoing, for oppression, for the reckless pursuit of mischief.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	22	18	This, then, is the Lord’s sentence upon Joachim, son to Josias and king of Juda: For him no cry shall be made, Brother, what grief! Sister of mine, what grief! For him no cry shall be made, Ah, what a master! Ah, what renown!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	22	19	An ass’s burial he shall have, cast out, a stinking corpse, beyond the gates of Jerusalem.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	22	20	Get thee gone, faithless people, to Lebanon, and cry out there; fill Basan with thy voice, and let Abarim echo the cry again; ruin has overtaken all those lovers of thine.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	22	21	In the days of thy ease, I gave thee warning, but thou wouldst not listen; it was ever thus from thy girlhood’s days, my voice went unheard.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	22	22	Drifting with the wind, the drovers thou once didst follow, captive all those that once held thy love! Be ashamed at last, and blush for all thy wickedness.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	22	23	High on Lebanon thy dwelling-place, high in the cedars that nest of thine, piteous shall be thy moan when pangs overtake thee, like the pangs of a woman in travail.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	22	24	And of Joachim’s son Jechonias, that is heir to the throne of Juda, the Lord says this: Were he the signet ring on my right hand, I would cast him off none the less.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	22	25	Thou hast sworn enemies to fear; Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon, and his Chaldaeans, shall have the mastery of thee.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	22	26	Cast away, thyself and the queen-mother who bore thee, into an alien land, far from the land of your birth, to die there;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	22	27	ever longing for home, and home returning never.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	22	28	What, is he but a broken piece of earthenware, this Jechonias, a useless shard, that he should be thrown away, and his sons with him, cast out into a land unknown?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	22	29	Alas, my country, alas, alas, my country, bitter hearing the Lord sends thee:
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	22	30	Write him down a barren trunk, a life gone to waste; child of his race shall never mount David’s throne, or govern this realm of Juda.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	23	1	Out upon them, the Lord says, the shepherds who ravage and disperse my flock, sheep of my own pasturing!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	23	2	This is the Lord’s word to the shepherds that guide his people: You are the men who have dispersed my flock, driven it to and fro, and made no account of it; account you must give it me, says the Lord, Israel’s God, for all you have done amiss.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	23	3	Then will I reassemble all that is left of my flock, scattered over so many lands, and restore them to their old pasture-ground, to increase and grow numerous there;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	23	4	shepherds I mean to give them that will do shepherd’s work; fears and alarms shall be none to daunt them, and none shall be missing from their full count, the Lord says.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	23	5	Nay, a time is coming, the Lord says, when I will raise up, from the stock of David, a faithful scion at last. The land shall have a king to reign over it, and reign over it wisely, giving just sentence and due award.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	23	6	When that time comes, Juda shall find deliverance, none shall disturb Israel’s rest; and the name given to this king shall be, The Lord vindicates us.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	23	7	In those days to come, says the divine message, the living Lord men swear by will no longer be the God who rescued Israel from Egypt;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	23	8	the living God will be one who rescued Israel and brought them home from the north country, and from all the places of exile he had once designed for them, to live in their own land again.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	23	9	A message to the prophets: Crushed is the heart in me, and my whole being trembles; my thoughts whirl like a drunken man’s, bemused by a divine presence, by awe of a divine voice.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	23	10	The whole land is a nest of adulterers; their guilt it is that widows the countryside, parches the upland meadows; reckless their pursuit of mischief, through the power they wield all goes amiss.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	23	11	Prophet and priest alike are impious; in my own house, the Lord says, those ill-doings of theirs are plain to view.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	23	12	Perilously they shall fare as one that walks by night in slippery places; falter and fall they must; punishment awaits them, the Lord says, my audit-year is at hand.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	23	13	For the prophets of Samaria how was it I lost all liking? Because they were the spokesmen of Baal, and did but lead Israel astray, that was my people.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	23	14	And now the same foul adultery I find in the prophets of Jerusalem, the same treacherous dealings; and the sinner is encouraged to go on in his evil ways, till city and citizens, for me, are one with Sodom and Gomorrha.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	23	15	A warning to you then, prophets, from the Lord God of hosts, that he will give you wormwood to eat, gall to drink; you, the fountain-head of that pollution which overflows all the land.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	23	16	Do not listen, says the Lord of hosts, to the prophets who prophesy only to fool you; fancy of theirs, not word of mine, inspires the utterance.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	23	17	To my blasphemers they bring divine assurance that all shall go well with them; never a man so set on his own false aims but they will tell him, Harm shall never touch thee.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	23	18	Never a one of them privy to the Lord’s designs, never one looked and learned, listened and heard his message.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	23	19	Like a whirlwind it will suddenly appear, the Lord’s vengeance; will break in storm over rebel heads.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	23	20	Nor shall the divine anger be appeased till the blow has been struck and the decree executed; what his design was, you shall know all too well, all too late.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	23	21	An errand these prophets ran, but none of mine; a message they gave, but not of my sending.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	23	22	Privy to my design had they been, ah, then they should have uttered my own warnings, and so I might have turned my people aside from false paths, and erring thoughts!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	23	23	God am I, the Lord says, only when I stand near, and not when I am far away?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	23	24	Where, he would know, will you hide so close that he is not watching you, he, the Lord, that fills heaven and earth?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	23	25	No word, he says, but reaches my ears when one of these prophets gives false guidance in my name; I had a dream, he will tell you, I had a dream!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	23	26	Will they never have had enough of their lying divinations, their cheating fantasies?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	23	27	Dreams bandied from mouth to mouth, for these would they have my people barter away the memory of me, as their fathers did for Baal?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	23	28	Nay, let the dreamer be content to tell his dreams, and the prophet to whom my word comes utter my word faithfully; chaff and grain must not be mingled.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	23	29	My word is a fire, the Lord says, a hammer to break rocks in pieces;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	23	30	out upon the prophets, I say, who proclaim divine utterances they have borrowed from their fellow men;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	23	31	out upon the prophets, I say, who let their tongues wag and then cry, Oracle.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	23	32	Out upon the prophets, I say, who dream all amiss and recount their dreams, leading my people astray with their lies and their mummeries; yet errand or warrant they had none from me, the Lord says, nor yet to this people of mine bring any advantage.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	23	33	And if people, or prophet, or priest, should greet thee with the question, Pray, what burden is the Lord taking up today? thy answer shall be, You are the burden I bear, the Lord says, and I mean to cast you from my shoulders.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	23	34	Prophet, priest or simple citizen that asks thus about the Lord’s burden does it at his own peril, and the peril of all his household;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	23	35	be content to ask friend or neighbour, What oracle, what message has the Lord given?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	23	36	Do not speak any more of his burden. If you do, you lay a heavy charge upon yourselves, by bandying words with the living God, the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	23	37	Ask the prophet what the Lord’s oracle, what the Lord’s message is;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	23	38	if you ask after the Lord’s burden, this warning I give you from him: For your disobedience to the message I sent, commanding you to use the word Burden no longer,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	23	39	I will make a burden of you, and carry you away, and leave you abandoned, you and your city, my gift to you and to your fathers.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	23	40	You shall be a laughing-stock for ever, a by-word eternally; time shall never efface the memory of your shame.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	24	1	After king Nabuchodonosor, of Babylon, had carried off the king of Juda, Jechonias the son of Joachim, and taken him away to Babylon with all his nobles, and all the carpenters and smiths in Jerusalem, the Lord shewed me a vision. I saw two baskets of figs, set down at the gate of the Lord’s temple.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	24	2	The figs in one basket were of excellent nature, like those which first ripen; in the other, most foul, so foul there was no eating them.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	24	3	What seest thou, Jeremias? the Lord asked, and I told him, Figs, the good ones excellent good, the foul ones very foul, too foul for eating.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	24	4	Then the Lord’s word came to me,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	24	5	A message from the Lord God of Israel: This meaning the good figs have, that good will of mine goes with the men of Juda I have banished from their homes, and sent away into the country of Chaldaea.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	24	6	I will smile on them once more, and bring them back home, and all will be building now, not pulling down, planting now, not uprooting.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	24	7	And I will give them a heart to know me, know me by my divine name; they my people, and I their God, once in good earnest they have retraced their steps, and come back to me.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	24	8	And this meaning the foul figs have, that could not be eaten, they were so foul. Doom like theirs I have in store for Sedecias, king of Juda, the Lord says, and for his nobles, and for all those other men of Jerusalem that have either stayed in the city or taken up their abode in Egypt.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	24	9	Trouble and conflict their destiny shall be in every kingdom of the world; they shall be a laughing-stock and a warning, a by-word and a name to curse by, in all the countries I have appointed for their banishment.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	24	10	Sword and famine and pestilence I will let loose upon them, till none of them is left in this land, my gift to them and to their fathers.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	25	1	Here is a message for the whole people of Juda, entrusted to Jeremias in the fourth year of Joakim’s reign (that was son to Josias) in Juda, the first of Nabuchodonosor’s in Babylon.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	25	2	To all Juda, and to all the citizens of Jerusalem, the prophet Jeremias delivered it:
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	25	3	These twenty-three years, ever since the thirteenth year of Josias’ reign, that was son to Amon, the Lord’s word has been coming to me, and ever I was early at your doors repeating it, but you would not listen.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	25	4	Early to your doors the Lord sent all those prophets that were servants of his, but hearing there was none, nor heeding.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	25	5	False aims, he warned you, lead you by false paths astray; come back to me, and you shall dwell yet in this land, my gift to you and to your fathers from the beginning to the end of time.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	25	6	Would you court slavery by worshipping alien gods, defy my vengeance with your ill-doings, till I plague you?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	25	7	But you would not listen to me, the Lord says; ill was done yet, and my vengeance was yet defied.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	25	8	And now, says the Lord of hosts, finding you disobedient still,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	25	9	I mean to summon all the nations of the north country, with Nabuchodonosor, that servant of mine that is king in Babylon; I, the Lord, will bid him march on this land and its citizens, and all its neighbours. I mean to make an end of them, and leave it a thing to provoke wonder and scorn, desolate for all time.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	25	10	Never again cries of joy and mirth, never again the voice of bridegroom and of bride, never a mill turning, never a lamp to shine.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	25	11	For seventy years this whole land shall be a desert and a portent, and the king of Babylon shall have all these peoples for his slaves.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	25	12	Then, when seventy years have passed, I will call the king of Babylon to account, the Lord says, for all the wrongs he has done, with his people and with that Chaldaean country of his; that country in its turn I will leave desolate for ever.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	25	13	The sentence I have pronounced against it shall be executed in full, all the doom Jeremias has foretold in this book of prophecy against all the nations of the world.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	25	14	Great nations, proud kings, have held Israel enslaved; now for their own lives, their own deeds, they too must make amends.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	25	15	The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, bade me take the cup of vengeance that was in his hand, and give drink out of it to all the nations to which my errand lay;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	25	16	drink it they should, and reel to and fro, bemused by the threat of his sword let loose among them.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	25	17	So I took the cup from the Lord’s hand; nor was there any of the nations the Lord had sent me to threaten but must drink of it.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	25	18	Jerusalem must drink, and the townships of Juda, kings and nobles with the rest; the land was doomed to become a desert, a thing of wonder and scorn, a name to be used in cursing, as it is at this day.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	25	19	Pharao king of Egypt and all his court and his nobles must drink,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	25	20	and all the mingled people of his realm. No king in the land of Hus but must drink of it, nor among the Philistine cities, Ascalon, Gaza, Accaron and Azotus,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	25	21	nor in Edom, Moab and Ammon,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	25	22	no king in Tyre, and the Sidonian country, and the islands that lie beyond the sea.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	25	23	Dedan must drink, and Thema, and Buz, and all the folk with shaven heads,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	25	24	all the kings of Arabia, and the western desert kings.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	25	25	Nor any king in Zambri, Elam, and Media,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	25	26	nor any king in the north country, far or near, but must pledge his neighbour; all the kings of the earth must have their share, and Sesach not till the last.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	25	27	This message I was to give them from the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Drink, besot yourselves, and then fall to vomiting; and topple over at last, never to rise again, so well shall my sword do its work among you!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	25	28	If they made to refuse the cup I offered them, this more I should add: Nay, but drink you must, says the Lord of hosts;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	25	29	here am I beginning my work of vengeance with that city which is the shrine of my name, and shall you be acquitted, you others, and go scot-free? That shall never be, says the Lord of hosts; to the sword if I appeal, it is for a whole world’s punishment.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	25	30	With such words as these thou shalt prophesy to them: From on high, from his holy dwelling-place, the Lord makes his voice heard, terrible as lion roaring; as roar of lion against sheep-fold, and that fold his own! Loud echoes his vintage-cry as he treads down all the dwellers on earth;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	25	31	to the ends of the world it must echo; a whole world he calls to account, impleads the whole race of men; The sword’s point for my adversaries, the Lord says.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	25	32	From nation to nation, says the Lord of hosts, calamity will spread, like a great whirlwind sprung up from the corners of the earth,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	25	33	and from end to end of it the bodies of the Lord’s foes, unwept, ungathered, unburied, shall lie like dung on the ground.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	25	34	Cry out, make loud lament, shepherds of the nations, and you, the lordliest among their flocks, go strewn with ashes; your day is done, slain you must lie there, unvalued as some delicate vase broken to pieces.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	25	35	For shepherds, and the pride of the flock, no refuge now;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	25	36	hark how they lament, shepherds and pride of the flock, for pasture-grounds the Lord has laid waste!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	25	37	Silent they lie now, once happy fields, under ban of the Lord’s vengeance.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	25	38	Lion springs not from his lair more suddenly; all their land lies waste, so pitiless the invader’s onset, so pitiless the Lord’s anger.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	26	1	At the beginning of Joachim’s reign in Juda, that was son to Josias, word came from the Lord,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	26	2	and this was his bidding: Go and stand in the temple porch, and there, to pilgrims from all the townships of Juda, deliver the message I have entrusted to thee; no word of it do thou retrench.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	26	3	It may be they will listen, and go astray no longer; then I will forgo the punishment I have devised for their ill-doings.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	26	4	This divine warning give them: Listen to me, and live by the law I have enjoined upon you,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	26	5	obeying the call of the prophets, those servants of mine whom I sent early to your doors, upon an errand that went unheeded;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	26	6	or this sanctuary, too, shall be deserted as Silo, and this city shall be an accursed name, all the world over.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	26	7	Priests and prophets and townsfolk heard it alike, this utterance of Jeremias in the temple;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	26	8	and when he had thus done the Lord’s errand for all the people to hear, priests and prophets and townsfolk laid hands upon him, crying out, His life must pay for it!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	26	9	What, would he threaten in the Lord’s name that this temple is to share Silo’s doom, this city to be left forlorn, uninhabited? There, in the Lord’s house, Jeremias must confront the anger of a whole people.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	26	10	When they heard of it, the nobles of Juda left palace for temple, and there held assize, at the approaches of the New Gate.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	26	11	Before these, and before the general assembly, priest and prophet called for the death penalty; here was a man who had foretold, in the public hearing, calamity for Jerusalem.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	26	12	To nobles and to people Jeremias had but one defence: Nothing have I said against temple or city but what the Lord’s errand bade me.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	26	13	Come, do but amend your lives and your likings, and listen to the Lord your God; he will spare you the doom he has pronounced upon you.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	26	14	As for me, I am in your hands; do with me what you will, what you think right.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	26	15	Only be sure of this, if you kill me, you will bring the guilt of murder on yourselves, your city, and all that dwell there; no word you have heard from me but has the Lord’s true warrant.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	26	16	And this answer both nobles and townsfolk made to priest and prophet, There is no death sentence lies against this man; as the spokesman of the Lord our God he has given us his message.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	26	17	There were some of the older citizens that rose to defend him publicly;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	26	18	Remember the prophet Michaeas of Morasthi, they said, in the days of king Ezechias, who told the people of Juda: Sion shall be no better than a ploughed field, says the Lord of hosts, Jerusalem but a heap of stones, the temple height only a hanging wood.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	26	19	Did Ezechias king of Juda, or his subjects, thereupon put him to death? Nay, they feared the Lord too well for that; went about to appease his anger, so that he spared them the punishment he had threatened. It were pity of our lives, did we so great a wrong!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	26	20	Another prophet there was that came in the Lord’s name, Urias, the son of Semei, a man of Cariathiarim, and used no gentler language about this city and country than Jeremias himself.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	26	21	King Joachim, and all his chieftains and his nobles, were for making away with him when they heard such warnings; and though he took alarm at the rumour of it and fled to Egypt,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	26	22	royal pursuivants were sent there under Elnathan, son of Achobor, to bring him back;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	26	23	whereupon king Joachim put him to the sword, and cast his body away among the tombs of the common folk.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	26	24	But Jeremias had a friend in Ahicam, the son of Saphan, who would not let him be handed over to the people and put to death.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	27	1	At the beginning of the new king’s reign in Juda, that was son to Josias, word came from the Lord to Jeremias after this fashion.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	27	2	The Lord bade me make myself a yoke, band and bar, and put it about my neck;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	27	3	let it be the answer, he said, given by Sedecias, king of Juda, to the envoys that have come to him from the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre and Sidon.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	27	4	This message thou shalt give them, for their masters, from the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel:
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	27	5	My strength it was, the exertion of my power, that made earth, made man and beast to walk on it; and I give dominion over it to the man on whom my choice falls.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	27	6	And all these countries I have handed over to my servant Nabuchodonosor, king of Babylon, making even the wild beasts subject to him;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	27	7	all the world must obey him, and his son and his grandson after him, until the time has run out, for him and for his land both; nations a many and great kings shall pay him their homage.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	27	8	Nation or people that will not be vassal to Nabuchodonosor, will not bow to Babylon’s yoke, I will punish with sword and famine and pestilence, until the last of them is left at his mercy.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	27	9	Do not listen, then, to those prophets of yours, diviner and dreamer, soothsayer and sorcerer, who bid you resist the king of Babylon;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	27	10	whither will they bring you, these lying prophecies? To a land far from your home, to sentence of banishment, and your undoing.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	27	11	But let a nation once bow to the king of Babylon’s yoke, and become his vassal, to that nation, the Lord says, I will leave its own fields to till, its own home to dwell in.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	27	12	All this message I gave to Sedecias, king of Juda; Your lives shall be spared, I told him, if you will only bow your necks to the yoke, letting king and people of Babylon be your masters;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	27	13	will you court death, king and people at once, from sword, famine, and pestilence, the Lord’s threat against all who refuse submission?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	27	14	To the prophets who declare you shall never be vassals of Babylon, give no heed; they are cheating you with lies;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	27	15	warrant from me they have none, yet falsely claim to be my spokesmen, to your own casting away and undoing, and theirs moreover who so prophesy.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	27	16	And this message I gave from the Lord to priests and people: Do not listen to those prophets of yours, who bid you expect the speedy return of the sacred treasures from Babylon. These are but lying prophecies;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	27	17	do not let them deter you from submitting to the king of Babylon, your only hope of safety; shall this city become a desert?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	27	18	Prophets if they be, spokesmen of the Lord if they be, let them rather plead with him, the Lord of hosts, that the treasures still left in temple and palace and city may not find their way to Babylon too.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	27	19	Doom the Lord of hosts has decreed upon all of them, pillars and brazen basin and stands, and those other treasures that remained here untouched,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	27	20	when Joachim’s son Jechonias, that once reigned in Juda, was carried off to Nabuchodonosor’s capital at Babylon, with all the notables of this city and realm.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	27	21	This he would have you know, he, the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, that all the treasures left in temple, palace or city
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	27	22	shall be carried away to Babylon in their turn. There they shall remain, the Lord says, till the time comes for demanding an account of them, for bringing them back and setting them up again where they stood before.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	28	1	Sedecias had then but lately come to the throne of Juda; it was the fourth year of his reign. In the fifth month of that year a prophet from Gabaon, Hananias son of Azur, came up to me in the temple, in full sight of priests and worshippers.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	28	2	A message, he said, from the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: So much for the king of Babylon’s yoke! I have broken it to pieces.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	28	3	Two years must run their course, and then all shall come back again here; all the temple treasures Nabuchodonosor took away with him to his capital at Babylon,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	28	4	and the king of Juda too, Jechonias son of Joachim, with all the exiles from Juda Babylon now holds. I will bring them back, the Lord says, and break the yoke of the king of Babylon to pieces.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	28	5	But from Jeremias this prophet Hananias had a prophet’s answer, there in the presence of the priests, and of all who stood by in the Lord’s house;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	28	6	Amen to that! Well indeed it were if the Lord would grant this prophecy of thine fulfilment, would bring all the temple treasure home, and all the exiles at Babylon!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	28	7	Only, here is a word for thy hearing, and for the general hearing no less.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	28	8	So many prophets before thy day and mine, so many nations, such proud empires their theme, and all alike told of battle, of distress, of famine;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	28	9	here is one at last that brings good news! Why then, when his words come true, none will doubt that his errand was from the Lord.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	28	10	At that, Hananias took the band from Jeremias’ neck and broke it,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	28	11	crying out before all the people, A message from the Lord! Thus, when two years have run their course, I will break the yoke which king Nabuchodonosor of Babylon has laid on the necks of all the nations!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	28	12	And Jeremias said no more, but passed on. Thus did Hananias break the band on the neck of his fellow prophet; and thereupon came the word of the Lord to Jeremias,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	28	13	Go and give Hananias this message from the Lord: Wooden yoke break, iron yoke make!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	28	14	The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, tells thee that he is putting a yoke of iron on the necks of all the nations, subjecting them to Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon. His subjects they shall be; even over the wild beasts dominion is granted him.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	28	15	This, too, Jeremias said to his fellow prophet, Listen, Hananias; errand from the Lord thou hast none, thou art cheating yonder people with false hopes.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	28	16	And this doom the Lord has uttered: I mean to banish thee from this earth altogether; thou shalt die within the year, for this language of rebellion against the Lord.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	28	17	Hananias died that year, before seven months were over.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	29	1	To those other elders, priests and prophets who had already gone into exile, to all the citizens Nabuchodonosor had carried off with him to Babylon, the prophet Jeremias sent a message in writing.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	29	2	Among these were king Jechonias and the queen-mother, and the chamberlains, and all that were of note in realm or capital; nor were any carpenters or smiths left in Jerusalem.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	29	3	The new king of Juda, Sedecias, was sending Elasa, the son of Saphan, and Gamarias, the son of Helcias, on a mission to Nabuchodonosor at Babylon, and to their hands the letter of Jeremias was entrusted.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	29	4	It ran thus: A message from the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to the men of Jerusalem he has sent into exile at Babylon!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	29	5	I would have you build yourselves houses of your own to dwell in, plant yourselves gardens of your own to support you,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	29	6	wive and gender, and of your sons and daughters wed man with maid, maid with man, to breed sons and daughters in their turn; grow numerous, that are now so few, there in your land of exile.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	29	7	A new home I have given you; for the welfare of that realm be ever concerned, ever solicit the divine favour; its welfare is yours.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	29	8	And this warning he sends you, the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Never allow prophet and soothsayer that are of your company to mislead you; his dreams let the dreamer abandon;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	29	9	prophets there are, the Lord says, that claim falsely to be my spokesmen, and warrant from me have none.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	29	10	All but seventy years, he tells you, must have run their course before Babylon’s time is up; then I will come to relieve you, and make good the promise of your return.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	29	11	I have not lost sight of my plan for you, the Lord says, and it is your welfare I have in mind, not your undoing; for you, too, I have a destiny and a hope.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	29	12	Cry out to me then, and your suit shall prosper; plead with me, and I will listen;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	29	13	look for me, and you shall find me, if you will but look for me in good earnest.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	29	14	Find me you shall, the Lord says, and your sentence of exile shall be reversed; the same Lord who scattered them among alien folk and in far countries will bring the exiles home.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	29	15	So much for your claim that the Lord has revived the gift of prophecy among you, there in Babylon.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	29	16	As for the king who now sits on David’s throne, and the citizens who dwell here now, instead of sharing your exile, this is the divine sentence:
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	29	17	I mean to plague them, says the Lord of hosts, with sword and famine and pestilence; of no more account will I make them than a basket of foul figs, so foul there is no eating them.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	29	18	Sword and famine and pestilence shall follow at their heels; bane they shall be to all the kingdoms of the world, a name to curse by, a thing of wonder and of scorn, a laughing-stock among all the countries I have appointed for their banishment.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	29	19	All this, because they would not listen to any word of mine, the Lord says; early to their doors I sent the prophets that were servants of mine, I, your Lord, and could get no hearing.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	29	20	Listen, then, to the Lord’s decree, men of Jerusalem I have sent into exile at Babylon.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	29	21	This doom the Lord has pronounced upon Achab, the son of Colias, and Sedecias the son of Maasias, false prophets both of them, that speak to you as in my name; I mean to hand them over for punishment to Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon, and that punishment you shall witness for yourselves.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	29	22	Wherever exiles from Juda are found in the Chaldaean country, this shall be the curse they use: Such doom the Lord give thee as he gave to Sedecias and Achab, that the king of Babylon roasted over a fire!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	29	23	This is great shame they have brought on Israel, bedding with their neighbours’ wives, and uttering in my name counterfeit prophecies that had no warrant of mine; of these misdoings I am judge and witness both.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	29	24	And another message must be given to Semeias of Nehelam
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	29	25	from the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, about the letter he sent to the citizens left in Jerusalem, and namely to the high priest Sophonias, the son of Maasias, and his fellow priests. This letter ran,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	29	26	If the Lord would have thee follow Joiada in the high priesthood, it was to make thee master of his house, ready with stocks and gaol for any mad fellow that came a-prophesying.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	29	27	Why does Jeremias of Anathoth go unrebuked, and prophesy among you still?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	29	28	He has written to us here in Babylon for the very purpose of telling us our exile shall be long; we must build ourselves houses to dwell in, we must plant gardens to support us!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	29	29	This letter was read aloud to Jeremias by the high priest;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	29	30	and then it was that the Lord’s word came to Jeremias,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	29	31	with a message he must send to the exiles: This doom the Lord utters against Semeias of Nehelam. Would he prophesy in my name, a man that has no warrant from me, and give you confidence in false hopes?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	29	32	I will call Semeias of Nehelam to account for it, the Lord says, and his children after him. Man of his race there shall be none surviving among this people of mine, the Lord says, to see my bounty bestowed on it. Against me, the Lord, he has used the language of rebellion.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	30	1	Word came to Jeremias from the Lord,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	30	2	the God of Israel, bidding him write down in a book the revelation made known to him.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	30	3	A time is coming, the Lord says, when I will reverse the sentence of exile against my people of Israel and Juda; I, the Lord, will restore them to possession of the land I gave to their fathers.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	30	4	This is the divine promise made to Israel and Juda:
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	30	5	A cry of terror, the Lord says, for all to hear! All is consternation, where all was peace.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	30	6	Why, here is a riddle and a wonder; can motherhood fall to the lot of men folk? Why is there none to be seen but goes by, hand on loins, cheeks blanched, like a woman in travail?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	30	7	Alas for pity, what a day is this, none like it; what a time of distress for Jacob’s race! Yet it shall leave them unharmed.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	30	8	A promise they have from the Lord of hosts that he will break the yoke they bear, when that day comes, and part their chains asunder; no more shall they be at the mercy of alien masters,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	30	9	they shall obey the Lord their God only, and that David-king of theirs whom he will give them.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	30	10	Have thou no fear, the Lord says, Jacob, that art my servant still; not for Israel is danger brewing. From that far country of exile I mean to restore thee, restore those children of thine; Jacob shall return, and live at ease, every blessing shall enjoy, and enemies have none to fear;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	30	11	I am at thy side, the Lord says, to protect thee. Of all the lands in which I have dispersed thee I will take full toll, but not of thee; I would but chasten thee with due measure kept, lest thou shouldst hold thyself altogether acquitted.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	30	12	Poor Sion, thine is a wound past curing, a grievous hurt, the Lord says;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	30	13	no man brings thee redress or remedy, salve to heal thee thou hast none;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	30	14	thy old lovers think of thee no more, woo thee no more. A shrewd blow I struck thee, unsparing of correction; so many thy misdoings, thy guilt so inveterate.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	30	15	Misdoings a many, and guilt inveterate, these be the cause of thy hurt, and I the doer of it; and wouldst thou cry out upon a grief there is no remedying?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	30	16	Only be sure of this, the enemies that prey on thee shall themselves fall a prey to exile; spoiled thy spoilers shall be, and all that plunder thee I will give up to plunder.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	30	17	Then I will heal that scar of thine, the Lord says, cure thee of thy wounds; too soon they called thee a neglected bride, Sion the unwooed!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	30	18	Nay, says the Lord, I mean to bring tent-dwelling Jacob home, have pity on those ruined walls, build the city anew on its height, set up the temple and its ordinances anew;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	30	19	here songs of praise shall echo once again, and cries of mirth. They shall increase, that hitherto had dwindled, be exalted, that once were brought low.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	30	20	Then, as in days of old, the full muster of the tribes shall have its place in my regard; who wrongs them shall be called to account for it.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	30	21	A prince of their own race they shall have, a home-born ruler, singled out by my own call to serve me; that office, the Lord says, none may take on himself unbidden.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	30	22	You shall be my own people, and I your own God.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	30	23	Like a whirlwind it will suddenly appear, the Lord’s vengeance; will break in storm, and light upon rebel heads.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	30	24	Nor shall the divine anger be appeased till the blow has been struck and the decree executed; what his design was, will be known all too well, all too late.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	31	1	No clan in Israel, the Lord says, but shall own me as its God when that day comes, and all of them shall be my people.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	31	2	Out there in the solitudes they have won pardon, those exiles the sword left untouched; Israel shall find a home, the Lord says,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	31	3	the Lord, making himself known from far away. With unchanging love I love thee, and now in mercy I have drawn thee to myself.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	31	4	Israel, poor homeless maid, I will build thy fortunes anew; built anew they shall be, and thou shalt go forth once more, thy tambour hung about thee, among the choir of dancers.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	31	5	Once more thou shalt plant vineyards over the hill-country of Samaria; planted they shall be, and the men who planted them await the appointed time before they gather the vintage.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	31	6	Watchmen there shall be, when that day comes, in the hill-country of Ephraim that will cry aloud, Up, to Sion go we, and there worship the Lord our God!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	31	7	Rejoice, the Lord says, at Jacob’s triumph, the proudest of nations greet with a glad cry; loud echo your songs of praise, Deliverance, Lord, for thy people, for the remnant of Israel!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	31	8	From the north country, from the very ends of earth, I mean to gather them and bring them home; blind men and lame, pregnant women and women brought to bed, so great the muster at their home-coming.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	31	9	Weeping they shall come, and I, moved to pity, will bring them to their journey’s end; from mountain stream to mountain stream I will lead them, by a straight road where there is no stumbling; I, Israel, thy father again, and thou, Ephraim, my first-born son.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	31	10	Listen, Gentiles, to the Lord’s promise; his word must go out to the islands that are far away; word that he who scattered Israel will gather Israel in, will guard it faithfully as a shepherd guards his flock.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	31	11	The Lord means to ransom Jacob, to grant deliverance from the tyrant’s power.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	31	12	The exiles will return, greeting mount Sion with cries of gladness; thronging in to take possession of the Lord’s gifts, corn and oil and wine, increase of flock and herd. Revived their spirits shall be, like a garden when the stream flows full; they shall hunger no more.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	31	13	Glad the maidens shall dance, gladness there shall be for young and old alike; I will turn all their sorrow into joy, comfort and cheer their sad hearts.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	31	14	Full-fed my priests shall be with dainties; blessings my people shall have, the Lord says, till they ask no more.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	31	15	Now, the Lord says, a voice is heard in Rama, of lamentation and bitter mourning; it is Rachel weeping for her children, and she will not be comforted, because none is left.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	31	16	But thus he reassures thee: Sad voice, lament, sad eyes, weep no more; I, the Lord, give thee promise of a reward for thy working-days, a return from the enemy’s country.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	31	17	A hope is left for thee hereafter, the Lord says; to their own possessions thy sons shall return.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	31	18	Doubt not I heard it, the cry of Ephraim forlorn: Lord, it was thy task to chasten me, that must learn, like bullock untamed, to bear the yoke; grant me return, and I will return to thee; thou art the Lord my God.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	31	19	Only when thou calledst me back to thyself did I repent; only when my lesson was learnt did I cry out upon my shame. How did I blush with confusion, bearing the disgrace the sins of my youth had earned!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	31	20	Why, what a favourite son is this Ephraim, what a spoilt child of mine, that I should pronounce my doom on him, and care for him none the less! In truth, my heart goes out to him; I will be merciful to him yet, the Lord says.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	31	21	Way-marks leave behind thee, sad trophies be raising as thou goest, to put thee in mind of the straight road thou hast trodden. Return thou must, poor Israel, return thou must to these, thy own cities;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	31	22	fickle maid, dally no longer. Here is a new order of things the Lord has established on earth; weak woman is to be the protectress of man’s strength.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	31	23	A message from the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: To town and country-side of Juda I will restore the exiled folk, and once again the greeting will be heard, A blessing on thee from the Lord, fair home of true observance, holy mountain-side!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	31	24	Once again Juda and Juda’s townsfolk shall dwell there; fields shall be tilled and flocks led out to pasture;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	31	25	faint hearts shall be refreshed, and hunger’s craving satisfied.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	31	26	Ah, to wake upon such a sight! Then were sleep welcome.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	31	27	A time is coming, the Lord says, when I mean to enrich Israel’s home, Juda’s home, with stock of men and of cattle both;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	31	28	jealous watch I will still keep over them, but not, as of old, to root up and to demolish, to scatter and lay waste and to do hurt; all shall be building, the Lord says, all shall be planting now.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	31	29	When that time comes, no more shall be heard of the proverb, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are being set on edge;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	31	30	tooth of eater shall ache now, and a man’s own guilt shall be a man’s own doom.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	31	31	A time is coming, the Lord says, when I mean to ratify a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Juda.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	31	32	It will not be like the covenant which I made with their fathers, on the day when I took them by the hand, to rescue them from Egypt; that they should break my covenant, and I, all the while, their master, the Lord says.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	31	33	No, this is the covenant I will grant the people of Israel, the Lord says, when that time comes. I will implant my law in their innermost thoughts, engrave it in their hearts; I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	31	34	There will be no need for neighbour to teach neighbour, or brother to teach brother, the knowledge of the Lord; all will know me, from the highest to the lowest. I will pardon their wrong-doing; I will not remember their sins any more.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	31	35	A message from the Lord, from him, the God of hosts, the same who brightens day with the sun’s rays, night with the ordered service of moon and star, who can stir up the sea and set its waves a-roaring;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	31	36	All these laws of mine will fail me, he says, before the line of Israel fails me; a people it must remain until the end of time.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	31	37	You have the Lord’s word for it; When you can measure heaven above, he tells you, and search the foundations of earth below, then I will cast away the whole line of Israel, for all its ill deserving.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	31	38	Behold, says the divine promise, a time is coming when the city shall be rebuilt in the Lord’s honour, from Hananeel’s Tower as far as the Corner Gate;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	31	39	nay, in advance of that the limit of its range shall reach, across Gareb hill, to take in Goatha,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	31	40	burial-ground and ash-pit and all the dead soil as far as Cedron brook, and eastward as far as the corner by the Horsemen’s Gate; all shall be consecrated to the Lord; tree shall not be uprooted there henceforward, nor house overthrown.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	32	1	A message came from the Lord to Jeremias during the tenth year of Sedecias’ reign in Juda, the eighteenth of Nabuchodonosor’s at Babylon;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	32	2	the Babylonian army was besieging Jerusalem at the time, and Jeremias was a prisoner there, confined in the guard-court that lay before the royal palace.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	32	3	It was for his prophesying that king Sedecias had imprisoned him; what meant this threat from the Lord, of giving Jerusalem over to capture by the king of Babylon?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	32	4	He had said, besides: King Sedecias of Juda shall not escape from the Chaldaeans; the king of Babylon shall have the mastery of him; they shall have speech together, meet face to face.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	32	5	To Babylon Sedecias shall go, and there remain till I have entered into a reckoning with him. All shall go amiss, if you join battle with the Chaldaeans.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	32	6	And now Jeremias announced a new oracle the Lord had given him.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	32	7	The Lord told me, he said, that my cousin Hanameel, son of Sellum, would come and ask me to buy in certain land of his at Anathoth, which was my duty as his next of kin.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	32	8	And as the Lord foretold, so it fell out; Hanameel came to my prison doors, and said, Pray buy in that field of mine at Anathoth in Benjamin; thou art the rightful heir, and thy duty it is, as next of kin, to buy it from me. Then I knew that I had received a divine warning,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	32	9	and buy it I did, this field at Anathoth, from Hanameel, that was son to my uncle Sellum. I paid him the price, that was but seventeen pieces of silver;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	32	10	wrote and signed the deed, called in witnesses, and weighed out the money on the scales.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	32	11	So here was the deed of possession sealed up, all its terms set down and attested, and characters written without;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	32	12	all this I handed over to Baruch, son of Neri, son of Maasias, still in the presence of my cousin Hanameel, and the witnesses that had signed it, and the Jews who sat around me in the court where I was confined.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	32	13	Before them all, I gave Baruch this charge:
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	32	14	A message for thee from the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Take these two pieces of writing, the sealed deed within and the covering of it that is open to view, and keep them in some jar of clay, where they can remain long without damage.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	32	15	This is what he would tell thee, he, the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, that there shall yet be buying of house and field and vineyard, here in this land.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	32	16	The deed once made over to Baruch, son of Neri, I prayed to the Lord thus:
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	32	17	Alas, alas, Lord God! Thou art the maker of heaven and earth, so great is thy power, so wide thy reach; no task, for thee, is too difficult.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	32	18	A thousandfold thou shewest thy mercy; yet, when thou dost punish, into the son’s lap the father’s guilt overflows; how great, how strong that God, whose name is the Lord of hosts!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	32	19	How sublime thy counsels, thy thoughts how high above us! And still thou keepest watch over all mankind, ready to award each life what its own devices have earned.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	32	20	Such deeds thou didst as are signs and portents to this day in the land of Egypt, in Israel too and all the world over; didst win that renown which to this day is thine.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	32	21	Signs and portents there must be, and the exercise of thy constraining power, and a great dread, before thou couldst rescue thy people Israel from Egypt;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	32	22	then thou wouldst bestow upon them this land, the home promised to their fathers, a land all milk and honey;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	32	23	they invaded it, they took possession of it. But to thy voice they would not listen, thy law they would not follow; no duty thou hadst enjoined but lay neglected, and all the calamities we see about us are the issue.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	32	24	Here are siege-works raised to reduce the city; sword and famine and pestilence are giving it over to the Chaldaeans for their prey; of all thou hast threatened thou seest here the fulfilment.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	32	25	And now, Lord God, thou wouldst have me buy land, and call in witnesses of payment made; now, when this city lies at the mercy of the Chaldaeans!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	32	26	Hereupon the word of the Lord came to Jeremias:
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	32	27	Am I not the Lord, the God of all that lives? How should any task be too difficult for me?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	32	28	This is the divine sentence; I mean to hand over this city to capture by the king of Babylon and his Chaldaeans; they shall take it by storm,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	32	29	and set it alight, and burn all its houses to the ground; it was there, on the roof-tops, they sacrificed to Baal, and made offerings to alien gods in despite of me.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	32	30	From their youth up, Israel and Juda have defied my will unceasingly; even now, says the Lord, their ill-doings are a provocation to me.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	32	31	Anger and scorn this city of theirs has earned from me, nothing else, from the day they built it to this day when I purpose that it shall offend my sight no more;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	32	32	so long have Israel and Juda defied my vengeance with the wrong they did, king and prince, priest and prophet, country-folk and citizens of Jerusalem;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	32	33	always the back turned, never a glance my way, always the deaf ear, the warning unheeded, when I sent early to their doors to bring them to a better mind!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	32	34	Have they not profaned that house which is the sanctuary of my name, by setting up their idols in it?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	32	35	Have they not made hill-shrines for Baal in the valley of Ben-Ennom, and there initiated son and daughter with Moloch-rites that were never of my bidding? No thought was it of mine that they should do this foul deed, which has brought guilt on Juda.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	32	36	What, then, of this city, doomed in your eyes to fall into the power of Babylon’s king, through sword and famine and pestilence? This is the message the Lord God of Israel sends to it:
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	32	37	I mean to gather its people again, scattered over so many lands by the vengeance my fierce anger brought; restore them to this place, and bid them dwell there contentedly.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	32	38	They shall be my people, I their God;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	32	39	one will they shall have, and journey by one way, living evermore in the fear of me, winning for themselves and for their sons a blessing.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	32	40	An eternal covenant I will make with them, nor ever cease to speed them; inspire their hearts with the fear of me, that never swerves aside.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	32	41	My welcome task it shall be to prosper them, and root their stock firmly in this land of theirs; this shall be all my love and liking.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	32	42	Threat of mine and promise of mine, the Lord says, shall alike be fulfilled.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	32	43	This country of yours a desert, man nor beast to dwell in it, given up to the power of Babylon? So your fears tell you; but there shall be buying of lands in it yet,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	32	44	the price paid, the deed executed, the bond sealed, witnesses called in, all over Benjamin and round about Jerusalem, all through the cities of Juda, by hill and plain and the uplands of the south; I mean to bring the exiles home again, says the Lord.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	33	1	Jeremias was still confined to his prison in the court when the word of the Lord came to him a second time.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	33	2	It ran: Thus says the Lord, that all this will do, all this will devise and determine, so great is his name:
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	33	3	Cry out to me still, and thou shalt find audience; great mysteries that lie beyond thy ken I will make known to thee.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	33	4	Ruined houses of Jerusalem, ruined palace of the kings of Juda, what has the Lord to tell thee about these?…… to siege and sword.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	33	5	Come they to fight against the Chaldaeans, it is but to strew those earthworks with their own dead bodies; in anger and scorn I will smite them down, turning my back on the city they have stained with such guilt…
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	33	6	Closed and cured those wounds shall be; I myself will heal them, grant them peace and safety to their heart’s content.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	33	7	The fortunes of Juda and Jerusalem I will reverse, and they shall be established as firmly as ever;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	33	8	all the guilt that offends me purged away, all the wrong and despite they did me forgiven.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	33	9	My pride and prize, my renown and triumph, to be their benefactor, so that all the world shall hear of it; everywhere the tale of my bounty and my blessing shall strike awe and dread into men’s hearts.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	33	10	Where all seems to your eyes but a desert, man nor beast left in the townships of Juda and in Jerusalem, empty street, empty house, empty byre,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	33	11	there, says the Lord, you shall hear cries of joy and mirth, voice of bridegroom and voice of bride. There you shall hear men singing, Give thanks to the Lord, the Lord is gracious, his mercy endures for ever, as they bring to his temple the offerings they have vowed. Your country’s doom shall be reversed, says the divine promise, and all shall be as of old.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	33	12	Juda and all its townships a desert, no living thing to dwell there? Nay, says the Lord of hosts, once again it shall be the abode of shepherds, a resting-place for their flocks.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	33	13	By hill and plain and the uplands of the south, all over Benjamin and round about Jerusalem, all through the cities of Juda, there shall be flocks passing to and fro, and their masters a-counting them, the Lord says.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	33	14	Behold, he says, a time is coming when I will make good my promise to Israel and Juda;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	33	15	the day will dawn, the time be ripe at last for that faithful scion to bud from David’s stock; the land shall have a king to reign over it, giving just sentence and due award.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	33	16	When that time comes, Juda shall find deliverance, none shall disturb Jerusalem’s rest; and the name given to this king shall be, The Lord vindicates us.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	33	17	Never a man wanting of David’s line, the Lord says, to sit on Israel’s throne;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	33	18	never a lack of priest and Levite to wait upon me, bring me burnt-sacrifice and burn the bloodless offering, and slaughter victims, day after day.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	33	19	And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	33	20	giving him this message: If you can rescind my ordinance of day and night, that there should be day-time and night-time no more,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	33	21	only then will I rescind the privilege granted to my servant David, and there shall be heirs of his throne no more, Levites and priests to wait on me no more.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	33	22	My servant David, the Levites that wait on me, these shall have a posterity countless as the stars of heaven, measureless as the sea-sand.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	33	23	This message, too, Jeremias had from the Lord:
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	33	24	Mark well how they declare, the folk among whom thou dwellest, that there are two families the Lord has chosen, and both he has cast off; so that they despise my own people, and no longer count it a nation.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	33	25	But this is the divine answer: Laws if I have made none for day and night, for heaven and earth no ordinances prescribed,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	33	26	then let it be thought that I mean to cast Israel away, or depose the line of David from its headship over all who spring from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Trust me, their doom shall be reversed, their lot shall be pitied.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	34	1	The word of the Lord came to Jeremias at the time when king Nabuchodonosor of Babylon, at the head of his own army, with vassal kingdoms and peoples to aid him, levied war on Jerusalem and its daughter cities.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	34	2	This was the message sent by the Lord God of Israel: Go and warn Sedecias, king of Juda, in my name that I mean to hand over this city to the Babylonian king, who will burn it to the ground.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	34	3	And add this besides: Thou thyself wilt not escape from him; they will catch thee, sure enough, and hand thee over to him; thou and the king of Babylon shall have speech together, meet face to face, and to Babylon thou shalt go.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	34	4	Wouldst thou but listen, King Sedecias of Juda, to the Lord’s bidding! Die by the sword, he tells thee, thou shouldst not;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	34	5	peaceful thy death should be, and they should make such burning for thee as they made for thy fathers that reigned before thee, raise such cries of lamentation, Alas, what a king was this! This is my promise to thee, the Lord says.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	34	6	All this king Sedecias of Juda must hear from the prophet Jeremias, there in Jerusalem;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	34	7	and still the Babylonian army pressed hard on the city, and on those other cities of Juda that were left, Lachis and Azecha; the rest of the fortified cities had already been taken.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	34	8	Here is another message the Lord entrusted to Jeremias, and this was the occasion of it. King Sedecias had bound the citizens of Jerusalem by a covenant;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	34	9	all alike were to set free their slaves and handmaids that were of Hebrew blood; would they play the master to their own Jewish kinsfolk?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	34	10	On hearing the proclamation, nobles and common people alike had agreed to release slave and handmaid, and exempt them from all service henceforward; and this they did obediently enough;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	34	11	but afterwards they changed their minds, haled them off, men and women, and reduced them to slavery once again.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	34	12	Then it was word came from the Lord to Jeremias, and thus the divine message ran:
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	34	13	Word from the Lord God of Israel! I made a covenant with your fathers, when I rescued them from their place of bondage in Egypt.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	34	14	Seven years up, every slave sold in bondage to his fellow Hebrew must go free; six years of service, and then release. Your fathers would not listen, turned a deaf ear to me;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	34	15	but you, to-day, have thought better of it, and done my will, proclaiming liberty to your fellow-countrymen; you have sworn it in my presence, in the house that is the shrine of my name.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	34	16	And then you went back, and dragged my name in the dust! You would claim them afresh, men and women servants you had set free, now their own masters; they must be your servants and handmaids still.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	34	17	This sentence, then, the Lord pronounces: You have not obeyed me, by granting freedom to your own brethren and neighbours, and here is the freedom I mean to grant you in return; freedom of the sword, freedom of the famine, freedom of the pestilence! A bane I will make you to all the kingdoms of earth.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	34	18	I will have no more of them, the men who transgress my covenant, have no respect for the agreement they made in my own presence, the calf they cut in two and walked between the slices of it,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	34	19	nobles of Juda and Jerusalem, chamberlains and priests, and all the common folk that passed between share and share.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	34	20	I mean to give them up into the hands of enemies that are sworn upon their lives; bird in air and beast on earth shall prey upon that carrion of theirs.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	34	21	Sedecias, king of Juda, and his nobles, shall fall into the hands of pitiless enemies, the armies of Babylon, that now give you a respite.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	34	22	These, at my command, shall march on this city again, lay siege to it, and capture it, and burn it to the ground; and I will make the townships of Juda into a desert, never a soul to dwell there.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	35	1	In the reign of Josias’ son Joachim, word came to Jeremias from the Lord,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	35	2	Go, make thyself acquainted with the men of Rechab’s clan; I would have thee entertain them in one of the treasury rooms at the temple, and there set wine before them.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	35	3	So Jezonias, son of Jeremias, son of Habsanias was my guest, with his brethren and his sons and the whole Rechabite clan;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	35	4	into the temple I brought them, to the apartment of Hanan’s sons, that come down from God’s servant Jegedelias. It was next to the apartment of the door-keeper, Maasias the son of Sellum.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	35	5	Here I set a bowl and goblet of wine before the men of Rechab’s clan, and bade them drink,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	35	6	but drink wine they would not. Our father Jonadab, said they, the son of Rechab gave us a rule to live by. Wine neither we should drink, nor any son of ours in perpetuity;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	35	7	no house build, no crops sow, no vineyard plant or possess; in tents we were to live all our days, and long those days should last in this land that was none of ours.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	35	8	As our father Jonadab son of Rechab bade us live, so live we, so our wives and sons and daughters live, drinking no wine at any time.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	35	9	Houses we build none to dwell in, vineyards and fields and crops have none;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	35	10	tent-dwellers we remain, true to every command of our father Jonadab;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	35	11	it was only when king Nabuchodonosor of Babylon marched against us that we were fain to take shelter in Jerusalem from threats of Chaldaean and Syrian; that is why we make our abode in Jerusalem.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	35	12	And now the Lord’s word came to Jeremias:
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	35	13	A message from the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel! Go and tell all the men of Juda, all the citizens of Jerusalem. Great marvel it is, the Lord says, you are so unruly still, and will not heed my bidding.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	35	14	Here is Jonadab son of Rechab will have his sons drink no wine, and his word holds; wine they drink none to this day, for love of their father’s rule; and I, that send word early to your doors, can win no obedience.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	35	15	Early I sent them to your doors, the prophets that were servants of mine, bidding you come back from your straying, and shape your thoughts anew; have recourse no longer to the worship of alien gods, if you would dwell securely in this land, my gift to you and to your fathers; but you gave me neither heed nor hearing.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	35	16	So loyal the Rechabites to the commands of their father Jonadab, and my people so disobedient!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	35	17	I mean, then, says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to punish the citizens of Jerusalem for warnings unheeded, for calls refused, with all the punishments I have threatened.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	35	18	To the clan of Rechab Jeremias gave this message from the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: For your obedience to your father Jonadab, for precept remembered and for duty done,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	35	19	he, the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, promises that this line of Rechab and Jonadab, long as time lasts, shall never want a posterity to do him service.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	36	1	In the fourth year of Josias’ son Joachim, the Lord gave Jeremias this commandment:
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	36	2	Get thyself a scroll, and write down on it all the warnings I have uttered against Israel and Juda, and against the other nations of the world, ever since I first spoke to thee under king Josias.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	36	3	Maybe, when the men of Juda hear of all the mischief I mean to do them, they will leave off their straying in false paths, and so I will overlook the guilt of their wrong-doing.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	36	4	So Jeremias sent for Baruch the son of Nerias; the Lord’s utterances, every one, Jeremias rehearsed and Baruch wrote down on the scroll.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	36	5	And now Jeremias had an errand for him; I must keep my house, said he, go into the Lord’s temple I may not.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	36	6	Do thou, on a fasting day, go there instead, and read out some of the divine utterances I have dictated to thee, in the temple itself, for all the citizens to hear, and all the men of Juda besides, that have come in from their several townships.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	36	7	Maybe their intercession will find its way into the Lord’s presence; maybe they will leave off their straying in false paths; here are grievous threats from the Lord of angry vengeance against his people.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	36	8	So it was Baruch son of Nerias, but in fulfilment of Jeremias’ command, that took the scroll and read out, there in the Lord’s house, the Lord’s message.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	36	9	It was the ninth month, in the fifth year of Josias’ son Joachim, when they proclaimed a fast, that was to be kept in the Lord’s presence by all the citizens and all who had come in from the other towns of Juda.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	36	10	And there in the Lord’s house, from the apartment of Gamarias, whose father, Saphan, had once been secretary, in the upper court, close by the entry of the new temple gate, Baruch read out Jeremias’ book of warning.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	36	11	No line he read of the divine utterance but had an eager listener in Gamarias’ son Michaeas,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	36	12	who thereupon went down to the secretary’s room, where he found all the notables assembled. There was the secretary, Elisama; there were Dalaias son of Semeias, and Elnathan son of Achobor, and Gamarias son of Saphan, and Sedecias son of Hananias, and all the notables in general.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	36	13	To these Michaeas repeated all he had heard Baruch read out from the scroll in public;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	36	14	and Judi, son of Nathanias, son of Selemias, son of Cushi, was sent on an errand to Baruch in the name of all present. Come thither he must, and bring the scroll he had read thus publicly with him. So it was Baruch, son of Nerias, that came before them, and the scroll with him;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	36	15	they bade him be seated, and read it aloud to them, so read it he did.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	36	16	When all the reading was over, they looked each at other in amazement, and told Baruch all this must be brought to the king’s ears.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	36	17	Then they asked, How comes it that these are the words of Jeremias, and yet of thy writing?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	36	18	Why, said he, Jeremias gave them out, as if he were reading them aloud, and I sat by with paper and ink to write them down.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	36	19	Go into hiding, they told him, thou and Jeremias with thee, and be sure none knows where to find you.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	36	20	Then they made their way into the palace court to find the king, leaving the book there in the secretary’s room. When they had brought their news to his hearing,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	36	21	the king would have Judi fetch the book itself from Elisama’s room; which he did, and read it out for the king to hear, and all the courtiers that stood about him.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	36	22	Since it was the ninth month, Joachim was in his winter parlour, and a brazier of coals in front of him;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	36	23	and when Judi had read but three columns or four, he took his pen-knife and began cutting the scroll into pieces, which he threw on to the brazier until the whole book had perished in the flames.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	36	24	King and courtiers listened to all these warnings, yet feared they never, nor rent their clothes;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	36	25	and although Elnathan, Dalaias and Gamarias would have prevented Joachim from burning the scroll, he would not listen to them.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	36	26	Jeremiel son of Amalech, Saraias son of Ezriel, and Selemias son of Abdeel were bidden to attach the persons of the scribe Baruch and the prophet Jeremias; but the Lord kept them in safe hiding.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	36	27	And this was the Lord’s word to the prophet Jeremias, when the king burnt the scroll, and with it all the utterances he had dictated to Baruch:
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	36	28	Get thee another scroll, and write down on it whatever was contained in the one king Joachim burnt.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	36	29	And to king Joachim give this message from the Lord: Burn book and chide prophet, if thou wilt, for warning thee that the king of Babylon will come back with all speed, and lay this country waste, leaving neither man nor beast to dwell in it.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	36	30	But this is the Lord’s doom against king Joachim of Juda: No son of his shall follow him on the throne of David; his body shall be cast away in the open, to bear the day’s heat and the night frost.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	36	31	With guilt of his, with guilt of household and court of his, I will reckon in full; all my unheeded threats against Jerusalem and Juda shall be made good.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	36	32	So Jeremias must get Baruch another scroll to write on, and all the contents of the book Joachim burnt must be dictated anew; much more was added besides to enlarge it.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	37	1	In place of Jechonias, that was son to Joachim, Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon would have Sedecias, another of Josias’ sons, mount the throne of Juda;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	37	2	but no heed would the new king give, nor his courtiers, nor his subjects, to the warnings uttered in the Lord’s name by the prophet Jeremias.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	37	3	To him the king sent envoys, Juchal the son of Selemias and the priest Sophonias, son of Maasias, bidding him pray to the Lord their God for the common welfare.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	37	4	Jeremias was still free to come and go as he pleased among his fellow-citizens; they had not yet imprisoned him. At this time, Pharao’s army was on the march, advancing from the Egyptian frontier; and the Chaldaeans, this news reaching them, had raised the siege of Jerusalem.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	37	5	So the Lord’s word came to the prophet Jeremias:
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	37	6	Take back this message from the Lord God of Israel to the king who sent you to consult me. Back home to Egypt it shall march, the army of Pharao that has come out in your support;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	37	7	whereupon the Chaldaeans will return to the attack, will capture this city and burn it to the ground.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	37	8	Never cheat yourselves with the hope that the enemy will march away and leave you alone; march away they will not, the Lord says.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	37	9	Low though you should lay every Chaldaean that takes the field against you, save for some few wounded, those wounded men shall rise up from their tents, and burn this city to the ground notwithstanding.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	37	10	And now, while Pharao still threatened, and the Chaldaeans had raised the siege,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	37	11	Jeremias took occasion to leave Jerusalem and make his way to Benjamin, where he must divide up some property in the presence of his fellow-citizens.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	37	12	When he reached the Benjamin gate, the officer whose turn it was to mount guard there, Jerias, the son of Selemias, the son of Hananias, put the prophet under arrest, under the charge of deserting to the Chaldaeans.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	37	13	In vain did Jeremias protest, What, I desert to the Chaldaeans? There is no truth in it! Jerias led him away into the presence of the nobles;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	37	14	and these, in a rage, first had him beaten, then confined him in the house of the secretary, Jonathan, who had charge of the prisoners at this time.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	37	15	So came Jeremias to a dungeon cell, and long remained there.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	37	16	It was king Sedecias who released him, sending for him and questioning him privately in the palace. Has the Lord any message for me? he asked. Yes, said Jeremias; that thou shalt be at the mercy of Nabuchodonosor.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	37	17	Then he asked the king, What wrong have I done to thee, to thy courtiers or thy subjects, that thou hast thrown me into prison?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	37	18	Tell me, how have they sped, those prophets of yours who foretold that the king of Babylon should never reach you, never invade this land of yours?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	37	19	Listen to me, my lord king, I entreat thee, and look favourably on my suit. Do not send me back to the house of yonder secretary Jonathan, for there I needs must die!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	37	20	So king Sedecias had him confined in the court without, and given a loaf of bread each day, with seasoning added, as long as bread there should be in the city. And there Jeremias was left, among the prisoners in the courtyard.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	38	1	Still Jeremias would speak out before all the people; and among those who lis-tened to him were Saphatias son of Mathan, Gedelias son of Phassur, Juchal son of Selemias, and Phassur son of Melchias.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	38	2	This message they heard him proclaim from the Lord: To remain in this city means death by sword, famine and pestilence; go over to the Chaldaeans, you shall have your lives for guerdon, and be spared.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	38	3	And this: Past doubt, the city will fall into the hands of the king of Babylon, by right of capture.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	38	4	And they urged the king, these notables, to make an end of him; He goes about, said they, to weaken the resolve of the garrison, and of the people at large, by talking in this fashion; there is malice here, not good will.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	38	5	He is at your disposal, king Sedecias answered; not for a king to withstand you!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	38	6	So they had their way with Jeremias; he should be left helpless in the cistern of Melchias the son of Amelech, there in the court where the prisoners were kept. Into the cistern they lowered him with ropes; there was no water in it now, only mire, and into the mire he sank.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	38	7	But there was an Ethiopian chamberlain at the court, named Abdemelech, that heard how Jeremias had been let down into the cistern; and as the king was sitting at the Benjamin Gate,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	38	8	this Abdemelech came out from the palace and remonstrated with him.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	38	9	My lord king, he said, here is foul wrong done to the prophet Jeremias; they have let him down into a cistern, where he will die of hunger, such lack of bread there is in the city.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	38	10	Why then, said the king to Abdemelech the Ethiopian, take thirty men with thee, and rescue Jeremias from the cistern while there is yet life in him.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	38	11	So Abdemelech took the men with him, made his way into the palace, beneath the store-chamber, took old rags and clouts that lay mouldering there, and let them down by ropes to Jeremias in the cistern.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	38	12	Here be torn things and mouldering, the Ethiopian said to Jeremias, but thou mayst put these under thy arm-pits, and the ropes under these again. Jeremias obeyed,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	38	13	and they pulled him up by the ropes till he was clear of the cistern; but the courtyard was his prison still.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	38	14	Then king Sedecias would have the prophet come to him by the third door of the palace, the one that leads to the temple. I have a question to ask thee, he said to Jeremias; hide nothing from me.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	38	15	Why, Jeremias answered, if I tell thee what I know, thou wilt but kill me, and if I give thee advice, thou wilt not heed it.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	38	16	But king Sedecias took a secret oath, As the Lord is a living God, the Lord who gave us this breath we breathe, slay thee I will not, nor hand thee over to thy mortal enemies.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	38	17	Thereupon Jeremias told him a message from the Lord, the God of hosts: Go out and give thyself up to Nabuchodonosor’s chieftains, and thy life shall be safe, nor shall there be any burning of the city; thou and thine shall be spared.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	38	18	If thou dost not give thyself up to them, then the Chaldaeans shall gain mastery of the city and burn it to the ground, and for thyself there is no escaping them.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	38	19	Yet my heart misgives me, Sedecias told him, over the Jews that have already made their submission; what if I should be handed over to these, and they wreak their spite on me?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	38	20	That shall not be, Jeremias answered. Give heed, only give heed, to this message from the Lord I bear thee; so thou shalt speed well, and life be granted thee.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	38	21	Refuse to yield, and here is the doom he has made known to me.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	38	22	Never a woman that is left in the palace of the kings of Juda but shall be spoil for the chieftains of the king of Babylon! And as they are led away, this shall be their lament: False friend fooled thee, and had the better of thee; feet fast in the treacherous morass has left thee!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	38	23	Wife of thine and son of thine led away into the enemy’s camp, and thou thyself powerless to escape; thyself the king of Babylon shall take prisoner, and burn thy city to the ground.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	38	24	On peril of thy life, king Sedecias warned him, let none hear what has passed between us.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	38	25	If it reach the ears of the nobles that we have had speech together, and they bid thee repeat what thou saidst, or what said the king, hiding nothing as thou holdest thy life dear, then be this thy answer,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	38	26	Why, I pleaded my suit with the king’s grace that he would not have me sent back to Jonathan’s house, to die there.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	38	27	Come and ask him they did, and he answered as the king bade him; so with that they let him be; nothing had been overheard.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	38	28	This imprisonment of Jeremias in the courtyard lasted until the taking of Jerusalem; for, sure enough, Jerusalem was taken.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	39	1	Sedecias had been reigning for eight years and ten months in Juda when Nabu-chodonosor king of Babylon led his armies to the siege of Jerusalem;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	39	2	in the eleventh year, on the fifth day of the fourth month, the city wall was breached.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	39	3	In they marched, Neregel, Sereser, Semegarnabu, Sarsachim, Rabsares, (Neregel, Sereser), and Rebmag, and all the king of Babylon’s other chieftains, and occupied the central gate.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	39	4	Sedecias king of Juda and all his warriors fled at their approach, leaving the city at dead of night by way of the royal garden and the gate between the two walls; it was the desert road they took when they left it.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	39	5	The Chaldaean army went in pursuit, and overtook Sedecias in the open plain of Jericho; captured him, and brought him before Nabuchodonosor at Reblatha, in the Emath country; and there sentence was pronounced on him.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	39	6	Slain by the king of Babylon were all his sons, there in their father’s sight; slain by the king of Babylon were all the nobles of Juda;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	39	7	and as for Sedecias himself, his eyes were put out, and he was carried off, loaded with chains, to Babylon.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	39	8	King’s palace and poor man’s house the Chaldaeans burnt to the ground, and threw down the walls of Jerusalem in ruins.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	39	9	All the rest who survived, defenders and deserters alike, were carried off by Nabuzardan, the captain of the royal bodyguard, to Babylon;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	39	10	he left none except the poorest of the inhabitants, landless men, in Juda, who found themselves enriched, that day, with vineyards and cisterns of their own.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	39	11	This Nabuzardan, captain of the royal bodyguard had orders from king Nabuchodonosor about Jeremias;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	39	12	Take him under thy loving charge, said he, and let him have what cheer he will.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	39	13	So here were Nabuzardan, captain of the royal bodyguard, and Nabusezban, and Rabsares, and Neregel, and Sereser, and Rebmag, and all the king of Babylon’s great chieftains,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	39	14	sending out to free Jeremias from his prison in the courtyard. And they entrusted him to the care of Godolias, son of Ahicam; with him Jeremias should dwell, and make his home among his own people.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	39	15	While he was still in the courtyard prison, Jeremias had been entrusted with a message from the Lord for the Ethiopian, Abdemelech:
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	39	16	All my doom against this city, says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, I mean to fulfil; ban it is and not blessing, and thou shalt live to see it;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	39	17	but to thee I will grant safety, the Lord says. Never shall dreaded foe have the mastery,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	39	18	when I am there to deliver thee; thou art marked out for safety, that didst put thy confidence in me, the Lord says.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	40	1	To Jeremias the word of the Lord still came, after the captain of the bodyguard, Nabuzardan, had set him at liberty. This happened at Rama, where he was singled out, still in chains, among the prisoners from Jerusalem and Juda who were on their way to Babylon.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	40	2	As he took him apart from the rest, the captain of the bodyguard said to him, With calamity the Lord thy God threatened this land of thine,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	40	3	and calamity he has brought upon it; his threat is fulfilled. What guilt was this, to refuse the Lord obedience! And here is the issue.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	40	4	From thy hands I have struck the chains, as thou seest; bear me company, if thou wilt, to Babylon, and I will take good care of thee; if thou wilt not go my way, then abide where thou art. The whole land is at thy disposal, and thou art free to take thy own path; none may constrain thee to go with me.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	40	5	Here is Godolias, son of Ahicam, son of Saphan, that is entrusted by the king of Babylon with the charge of all Juda; dwell with him if thou wilt, here among thy own people, or where thou hast a mind betake thee. And with that, the captain of the bodyguard furnished him with provisions, and made him a present besides, and so took leave of him.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	40	6	It was to Godolias son of Ahicam, at Maspath, that Jeremias repaired, and dwelt with him among the remnant of the land’s inhabitants.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	40	7	Men, women, and children, to Godolias son of Ahicam the king of Babylon entrusted them, all these landless folk who had not been carried off into exile. And when the news of this appointment reached the army chieftains, scattered here and there with their men,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	40	8	they rallied to Godolias at Maspha. Here were Ismahel, son of Nathanias, Johanan and Jonathan, sons of Caree, Sareas, son of Thanehumeth, the sons of Ophi from Netophathi, and Jezonias, son of Maachathi, all with men at their backs.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	40	9	To these, chiefs and men alike, Godolias son of Ahicam son of Saphan took an oath. They need have no fear of living under Chaldaean rule; let them remain in the country as the king of Babylon’s vassals, and all should go well with them.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	40	10	I am living here in Masphath, said he, to take the orders sent me from Chaldaea; it is for you to gather in vintage and harvest and olive-yield, each of you abiding in the city he now occupies.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	40	11	There were other Jews living in Moab, Ammon, Edom, and the countries round about; these, when they heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant in Juda, and put Godolias, son of Ahicam, son of Saphan, in charge of them,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	40	12	came back from the countries where they had taken refuge into Judaea, came to Godolias at Masphath; and abundant was the store they brought in, of grapes and grain both.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	40	13	And now, at Masphath, Godolias was visited by Johanan son of Caree, and the other chieftains from the countryside,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	40	14	with this warning: We have information that Ismahel, son of Nathanias, was sent here by Baalis, king of Ammon, to take thy life. But Godolias would not believe it.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	40	15	When Johanan was at Masphath he took Godolias aside; Let me go and make away with Ismahel secretly, he urged; if he should take thy life, all the Jews that have rallied about thee will be scattered again, and Juda have a remnant no more.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	40	16	But Godolias would have none of it; Nay, said he to Johanan, leave off thy purpose; it is but a false report thou tellest me concerning Ismahel.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	41	1	The seventh month had come; and now Ismahel, son of Nathanias, son of Elisama, one of the royal princes and the king’s vassals, came with ten followers to Masphath, where Godolias was, and at Masphath they sat at table together.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	41	2	There and then, at the sword’s point, Ismahel and his ten men put Godolias to death. So perished Godolias, son of Ahicam, son of Saphan, that held the king of Babylon’s warrant to rule the country.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	41	3	Such Jews as were with Godolias at Masphath, such Chaldaean soldiers as he found there, Ismahel despatched at the same time.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	41	4	And the day after Godolias’ murder, before the news of it was out,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	41	5	came eighty pilgrims from Sichem, Silo, and Samaria, beards shaven, garments rent, in mourning all of them, with bloodless offerings and incense for the Lord’s temple.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	41	6	Out came Ismahel son of Nathanias from Masphath to meet them, and wept ever as he went; Welcome, said he, from Godolias son of Ahicam!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	41	7	And when they had reached the middle of the town, just by the cistern, they were slain by Ismahel and his men;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	41	8	all except ten of them, who pleaded for their lives and told Ismahel they had a hoard of wheat, barley, oil and honey hidden away under their lands; these were spared the fate of the rest.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	41	9	When he slew the companions of Godolias, Ismahel had thrown their bodies into the cistern; it was one which king Asa had made to defend the place against Baasa, king of Israel; now, Ismahel’s massacre filled it to the brim.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	41	10	Thus there was no longer a remnant at Masphath; the king’s daughters, and all the other folk left there by Nabuzardan under the care of Godolias, Ismahel took off with him as his captives, and so would have marched away into the Ammonite country.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	41	11	But Johanan, son of Caree, and the other army chieftains that were on his side, no sooner heard the ill news of what Ismahel had done
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	41	12	than they mustered all their men to give him battle, and caught up with him at the pool of Gabaon.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	41	13	A welcome sight it was to Ismahel’s company, when they saw Johanan, son of Caree, and the other chieftains approaching;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	41	14	back went all the prisoners to Masphath, and threw in their lot with Johanan instead;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	41	15	Ismahel fled at the sight of him, and reached the Ammonite country with only eight men at his back.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	41	16	Johanan and his fellow chieftains would not leave at Masphath this remnant they had rescued from Ismahel after the murder of Godolias; all the fighting men, the women and children, the eunuchs, who had returned with them from Gabaon.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	41	17	They went off and made their home for a time at Chamaan, near Bethlehem, thinking to take refuge in Egypt
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	41	18	from the vengeance of the Chaldaeans. From these they had much to fear, now that Ismahel son of Nathanias had murdered Godolias son of Ahicam, the king of Babylon’s own representative in Juda.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	42	1	And now all the army chieftains, Johanan son of Caree and Jezonias son of Osaias and their followers, high and low, came
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	42	2	to consult Jeremias. Look kindly, they said, on our request; we would have thee intercede with the Lord thy God for this poor remnant, left so few in number, as thou seest.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	42	3	Whither go we? What shift make we? Please it the Lord thy God to make all this known to us.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	42	4	And the prophet Jeremias said, Your request shall be granted. Pray I will, as you bid me pray, to the Lord your God, and his answer you shall hear in full, no word kept hidden from you.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	42	5	And this promise they made on their part: The Lord himself bear witness against us, unerring and unfailing, if we are not true to every word of that message the Lord sends us through thy means.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	42	6	Be it for weal or woe, it is the voice of the Lord our God; to him lies thy errand, and him we will obey; heed we the commands of the Lord our God, nothing can go amiss.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	42	7	Ten days passed, and then the Lord’s word came to Jeremias.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	42	8	Johanan son of Caree he summoned to him, and all the army chieftains, and their followers, high and low;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	42	9	and thus spoke to them: A message to you from the Lord, the God of Israel! To him I went on your errand, and laid your prayers before him.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	42	10	Wait on quietly, he says, in this land of yours, and all shall be building now, not destroying, all shall be planting now, not uprooting; amends enough is the calamity I have brought on you.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	42	11	What, does the king of Babylon daunt you with his terrors? Of him have no fear; danger from him is none, the Lord says, when I am at your side to protect you, and deliver you from his power.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	42	12	I will take pity on you now; only pity shall you find, and on your native soil an abiding home.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	42	13	But if you refuse to make it your home, if you disobey the divine command;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	42	14	if you are heard crying, No! To Egypt! There we will dwell, where are no sights of bloodshed, no sound of trumpet-call, no famine to be endured!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	42	15	then, last of the Jews, listen to this, the Lord’s message. This he tells you, he, the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel! If you turn your faces towards Egypt, and thither repair to find a refuge,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	42	16	the sword you dread shall overtake you, there in Egypt, the famine that haunts you shall be with you still, there in Egypt, and in Egypt you shall die.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	42	17	None that turns his face towards Egypt for refuge but sword or famine or pestilence shall be the undoing of him; such calamity I mean to bring on it as none shall survive, none shall escape.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	42	18	Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Go you to Egypt, my angry vengeance shall blaze out against you no less than when you dwelt once at Jerusalem; yours shall be a name of execration and horror, a name to curse by and to revile, and this land you shall never see more.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	42	19	Last of the Jews, this is the Lord’s message: Go to Egypt you must not. Bear me witness, all of you, that I have given you solemn warning this day.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	42	20	But no, you did but hoodwink yourselves; you would have me do your errand to the Lord our God, and so you promised, Pray to the Lord our God for us, make known to us whatever is his divine will, and it shall be done;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	42	21	but now I have told it you, and where is your obedience to that divine will, to the message he bade me deliver to you?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	42	22	Here then is full warning that the land where you mean to take refuge shall be the undoing of you, by war and famine and pestilence.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	43	1	Such was the errand upon which the Lord now sent Jeremias to his people. And when Jeremias had delivered all this message to them from the Lord their God,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	43	2	Azarias, son of Osaias, contradicted him; Johanan, too, the son of Caree, and the other malcontents held the same language. Thou liest, they said, warrant thou hast none from the Lord our God to prevent us taking refuge in Egypt;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	43	3	it is Baruch, son of Nerias, who sets thee on, thinking to betray us to the Chaldaeans, and have us put to death, or carried away to Babylon.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	43	4	Thus Johanan, son of Caree, with the army chieftains and all their men in his support, refused to obey the Lord’s bidding and remain where they were in Juda.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	43	5	He and his fellow chieftains took all the remaining Jews away with them; some of these had been scattered in distant parts, but had now come back to live at home
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	43	6	with their wives and children; others, the king’s daughters among them, had been entrusted by Nabuzardan, the captain of the bodyguard, to Godolias, son of Ahicam, son of Saphan, that had the prophet Jeremias and Baruch son of Nerias at his side.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	43	7	With all these at their back they crossed the Egyptian frontier, in defiance of the Lord’s bidding, and made their way to Taphnis.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	43	8	And at Taphnis the word of the Lord came to Jeremias:
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	43	9	Take a load of great stones with thee, and go to the vault under the brick wall by the gate of Pharao’s palace at Taphnis; there bury them, with Jewish folk by to watch thee.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	43	10	And this message thou shalt give them from the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: I mean to summon one that is my servant, Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon, and set up a throne for him on these foundations; where these stones lie buried, his canopy shall rise.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	43	11	He it is that shall come and doom the Egyptians; whom the plague beckons, to the plague, whom exile, to exile, whom the sword, to the sword.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	43	12	The idols of Egypt he shall carry away into banishment, first setting light to their temples and burning them down. Lightly as shepherd dons cloak, he shall invest himself with sovereignty over its people, and unmolested go his way,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	43	13	breaking in pieces the statues that adorn Egypt’s sun-temple, the shrines of Egypt burning to the ground.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	44	1	Here is a message that was sent through Jeremias to all the Jews living in Egypt, whether in Magdalus or Taphnis or Memphis or the Phatures country:
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	44	2	Thus says the Lord, the God of hosts: You have seen for yourselves what calamity I brought on Jerusalem and the cities of Juda, how this day they are empty of inhabitants.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	44	3	By their own guilt they earned it, when they defied my vengeance, courting the sacrifices and the worship of alien gods they had never known till then, they and you and your fathers alike.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	44	4	Early to your doors I sent those prophets that were servants of mine, bidding you leave off such foul doings of yours, doings most hateful to me;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	44	5	but heed and hearing they gave me none, still went astray, to alien gods still made sacrifice.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	44	6	At last my angry vengeance blazed up, and lit such a fire in the townships of Juda, in the streets of Jerusalem, as has left them, this day, a barren wilderness.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	44	7	And now, says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, what of yourselves? Would you fasten a noose round your own necks, court death for man and woman, child and weanling, till remnant of Juda there is none?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	44	8	For rivals must I have images of your own making? Will you sacrifice to gods not yours, there in Egypt? Why would you take refuge there, to your own undoing, to be a name all the world should curse by and revile?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	44	9	Have you forgotten them, ill deeds done in your fathers’ days by king and queen, by man and wife, throughout Juda and the streets of Jerusalem?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	44	10	Alas, to this day there is no amending; no dread of me, no living by the divine law, by the rule I held up for a pattern to you and to your fathers!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	44	11	Thus, then he threatens you, he, the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: It is my frown you shall see henceforward; the whole of Juda shall be cut away.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	44	12	The remnant that looked to find a refuge in Egypt, in Egypt shall perish, sword and famine their undoing, sword and famine for all of them, high and low. Theirs shall be a name of execration and of wonder, a name to curse by and to revile.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	44	13	Sword, famine and pestilence, so I called Jerusalem to account, and so I will call Egypt to account;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	44	14	for those Jewish survivors that have taken refuge in Egypt there is no escaping with their lives, no returning to Juda, home of their eager desire; only fugitives shall return.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	44	15	Jeremias did not go unanswered; there were men there who knew well their wives made offering to alien gods; of the women themselves, many were standing by. They had but one thought, all these exiles that were making their home at Phatures in Egypt;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	44	16	Ay, so the Lord bids thee tell us, but we will have none of it.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	44	17	Sworn we are, and by that oath we mean to stand, that we will do sacrifice to the queen of heaven, and make offering of cakes to her, as we ever did, we and our fathers, kings and rulers of ours, in the townships of Juda and in Jerusalem streets; bread we had in those days to our heart’s content, and all went well with us; bad times we never saw.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	44	18	It is only since we left off doing sacrifice to the queen of heaven, and paid tribute of cakes no more, that all is woe and want, sword wasting us and famine.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	44	19	Sacrifice when we women make to the queen of heaven, and pour libation to her, be sure our men-folk know in whose honour cake is made, and wine is poured!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	44	20	But Jeremias turned upon them all, men and women alike, all that had given him his answer.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	44	21	Nay, said he, when you did sacrifice all through Juda and in Jerusalem streets, and your fathers before you, king and noble and plain citizen, be sure the Lord was heeding you, and marked it well.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	44	22	It was when the Lord could bear no longer with false aims and foul deeds of yours, that your land became a wilderness, a thing of wonder, a name to curse by, a land empty of inhabitants, as it is this day.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	44	23	It was because you sacrificed, in the Lord’s despite, to false gods, because you would not obey him, would not follow law and decree and ordinance of his, that all the calamity of these times has come upon you.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	44	24	This, too, Jeremias said to the crowd about him, and to their women-folk besides: Jews of Egypt, listen to the message he sends you,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	44	25	he, the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel. So you will be as good as your word; sacrifice and libation you have vowed to the queen of heaven, and must pay it; all is accomplished, will has turned into act!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	44	26	Then listen, Jews of Egypt, to the doom which the Lord pronounces: By the honour of my own name I have sworn it, the Lord says, never Jew shall be heard more taking his oath by the living God, in all this land of Egypt!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	44	27	For woe, not for weal, these eyes of mine shall watch over them, till sword and famine have done their work, and Jew in Egypt is none.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	44	28	To Juda from Egypt they shall return, such few as have escaped the sword’s point, and the remnant that took refuge here shall learn to their cost whose prophecy was fulfilled, theirs or mine.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	44	29	Here is a sign I mean to give you, the Lord says, here in this land, in proof that my threats shall be accomplished.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	44	30	Thus says the Lord: I, that gave up Sedecias of Juda to Nabuchodonosor, his mortal enemy, will give up to his mortal enemies yonder Ephree, that is now Pharao in Egypt.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	45	1	When Baruch, son of Nerias, had written down the words dictated to him by Jeremias, in the fourth year of Joachim’s reign in Juda, this comfort Jeremias gave him:
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	45	2	A message from the Lord, the God of Israel, to thee, Baruch!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	45	3	Woe is thee, heavy is thy heart; sorrow upon sorrow the Lord gives thee, and respite thou canst find none.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	45	4	Yet this message the Lord has for thee: Here am I destroying what my own hands built, uprooting what my own hands planted;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	45	5	and for thee must it be all prizes? For prizes never look thou; enough for thee that, go thou where thou wilt, safe-conduct of thy life I am granting thee.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	46	1	Here follows the doom which the Lord pronounced to the prophet Jeremias against the nations of the world.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	46	2	And first against Egypt, whose army stood at Charcamis, by the river Euphrates, under its king Pharao Nechao, and there was defeated by Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon, in the fourth year of Joachim’s reign over Juda, that was son to Josias.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	46	3	Buckler, there, and shield; march we to battle!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	46	4	Yoke steed, and, horsemen, mount; stand to your ranks, helmeted; scour lance, and don breastplate!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	46	5	What means it? Here be cowards turning their backs, here be great warriors slain; pell-mell they flee, and never a glance behind; peril is all around, the Lord says.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	46	6	For the swift no escape, for the strong no prevailing; there in the north, by Euphrates banks, they fail and fall!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	46	7	Can it be a river that comes up in flood, eddies are these of a foaming torrent?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	46	8	Like river in flood, like foaming torrent marches Egypt to battle, threatening to cover earth with its advance, drown city and citizen.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	46	9	Ay, mount horse, dizzily reel the chariot; way there for the warriors, Ethiop and Libyan with their great shields, men of Lydia that ply bow and shoot arrow so well!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	46	10	Alas, not yours the day; this day the Lord, the God of hosts, has chosen for his day of vengeance, when he will take toll of his enemies; fed and glutted his sword shall be, drink deep of men’s blood; here, on Euphrates banks, the Lord, the God of hosts, will claim his sacrifice.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	46	11	Egypt, poor maid, to Galaad betake thee, to find balm for thy wounds! Salve after salve thou wilt try in vain; there is no healing thee.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	46	12	Thy shame has come to all men’s ears, earth echoes with thy lament; warrior leaned upon warrior of thine for support, and they fell both together.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	46	13	And thus the Lord prophesied to Jeremias the coming of Nabuchodonosor, king of Babylon, and his victory over Egypt.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	46	14	Here is news for Egypt; cry it in Magdalus, wake the echoes of Memphis, in Taphnis tell it abroad! Stand to arms, make ready for battle; thy border countries have fallen a prey to the sword already!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	46	15	Why have thy warriors melted away? Stand they could not, when the Lord was minded to overthrow them.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	46	16	Many he brought to earth; stumbled they, man over his fellow, crying out, Up, to men of our own race return we, to the land of our birth; escape we from the invader’s sword!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	46	17	What name shall we give to Pharao? Call him, Din of Battle at Last.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	46	18	By his own life he has sworn it, that King whose name is the Lord of hosts; Pharao’s conqueror is on the way, towering high as Thabor among the hills, as Carmel above the sea.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	46	19	Poor maid of Egypt, an exile’s pack provide thee! A lonely wilderness Memphis shall be, where none may dwell henceforward.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	46	20	Fitting emblem of Egypt, a heifer lithe and graceful; from the north a gad-fly shall come to trouble her rest.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	46	21	But those mercenaries of hers that went to and fro like bullocks full-fed, see how they have turned about and taken flight all at once, none ready to stand his ground! The day has come when they are marked down for slaughter; they shall be called to account at last.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	46	22	Loud her voice shall rise above the clash of bronze, now that the invader’s army draws near, pitiless as woodmen that go a-hewing;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	46	23	forest is none so deep they shall not lay it bare, numberless as the locust-swarm.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	46	24	Poor Egypt, all shame and confusion, prey of the northern folk!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	46	25	The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, has pronounced his doom: I mean to have a reckoning now with Ammon of Thebes, with Pharao and Egypt, with all its gods and all its kings, with Pharao and all who trust in Pharao’s aid!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	46	26	I mean to give them up into the hands of their mortal enemies, Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon and his vassals; then Egypt shall have rest, as Egypt did of old.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	46	27	Have thou no fear, the Lord says, Jacob, that art my servant still; not for Israel is danger brewing. From that far country of exile I mean to restore thee, restore those children of thine; Jacob shall return, and live at ease, every blessing shall enjoy, and enemies have none to fear.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	46	28	For thee no terrors, Jacob that art my servant, the Lord says; am I not at thy side? Of all the lands in which I have dispersed thee I will take full toll, but not of thee; I would but chastise thee with due measures kept, lest I should leave thee altogether acquitted.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	47	1	And this doom the Lord pronounced to the prophet Jeremias against the Philistines, before the defeat of Gaza by king Pharao.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	47	2	Waters rising in the north, the Lord says, a river that overflows its banks, covering earth and earth’s increase, city and citizen! Loud the cries everywhere, a whole world in lament,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	47	3	as the sound of armed hosts draws nearer, groan of chariot and rattle of wheels; listless hang hands, father for son has never a glance to spare.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	47	4	So comes the day when Philistia shall be plundered, all of it, Tyre and Sidon of all their defenders shall be stripped; Philistia the Lord despoils, and all that is left of the island-dwellers from Caphtor.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	47	5	Shorn heads in Gaza; Ascalon is silent now, silent all their valleys. Long wilt thou bear the marks of thy mourning!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	47	6	Rest thee, sword of the Lord! Back into thy scabbard, calm thyself, and rest!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	47	7	Nay, rest how should it? It holds the Lord’s warrant to subdue Ascalon and the sea-board country; there he has made tryst with it.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	48	1	And thus to Moab speaks the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel. Alas for Nabo, spoiled and shamed, for Cariathaim taken, the high fortress humbled, a prey to alarms!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	48	2	For Moab, scant triumph; against Hesebon there are plots a-brewing, Away with it, a nation let it be no more! Silence for thee, a long silence; the sword is at thy heels.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	48	3	From Oronaim the cry goes up, rack and ruin everywhere;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	48	4	Moab lies crushed, let Segor echo the cry!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	48	5	Weep they and wail, that climb the slopes of Luith; all the way down from Oronaim their foes may hear it, the cry of desolation.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	48	6	Fly he must that would escape with life, stripped though he be as the desert tamarisk.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	48	7	Ill reposed that confidence in ramparts of thine, stores of thine; taken thou shalt be like the rest, and Chamos go into exile, all his priests and all his votary chiefs with him.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	48	8	Of all thy cities, none shall be safe from the spoiler’s entry; wasted thy valleys shall be, swept bare the hill-sides; the Lord decrees it.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	48	9	Weave a coronal for Moab; in the flower of her pride she goes into exile, and all her cities lie desolate, none to dwell there.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	48	10	Cursed the man who goes about the Lord’s work grudgingly, nor with blood stains his sword!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	48	11	Since those first days of his, ever was Moab too rich; he, that knew not exile, is like a wine that has settled on its lees, never decanted; tang and reek of it were never lost;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	48	12	a time is coming now, the Lord says, when I mean to send certain stewards of mine that shall tilt those jars; draw wine, drain goblet, and break jar to pieces!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	48	13	Chamos will play Moab false, as Bethel played Israel false, when Israel trusted in its sanctuary.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	48	14	Ay, boast on of your bravery, tell us you are warriors all!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	48	15	Yet Moab is laid waste, its townships aflame, all the flower of its chivalry gone to their death; so that king decrees, whose name is the Lord of hosts.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	48	16	Not long delayed, Moab’s last hour; runs on swift feet his calamity.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	48	17	Mourn with him, you that are his neighbours, you that are his familiars; so trusty a rod broken, a staff so fair.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	48	18	Poor maid of Dibon, come down from thy splendour and sit on the parched ground; the spoiler of Moab has scaled thy heights, dismantled thy walls;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	48	19	poor maid of Aroer, by the wayside linger and look around thee; ask of the fugitives, How went the day?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	48	20	Alas, Moab’s hope is lost; Moab lies conquered. Loud be the cry of lament in Arnon, that tells of fields laid waste;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	48	21	doom on the hill-country, on Helon, Jasa, and Mephaath,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	48	22	Dibon, Nabo, and Beth-Deblathaim,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	48	23	Cariathaim, Beth-gamul, Bethmaon,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	48	24	Carioth, and Bosra, and all the cities of Moab, far and near.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	48	25	Blunted now is that horn, the Lord says, crushed that strong arm!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	48	26	Senseless let him fall, that once for the divine power vaunted himself a match; a laughing-stock let him be, that once, vomiting over his wine, clapped hands
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	48	27	in derision to make a laughing-stock of Israel! An interloper thou didst call him, and now, for this ill speaking of thine, thyself shalt be cast into exile.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	48	28	Leave your cities, Moabites, and take to the hills; make the dove your model, that ever at the outermost edge of cave will build her nest.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	48	29	The boasting of Moab has long been in our ears, as it was ever boastful; proud, scornful, boastful Moab, with head so high in air!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	48	30	Well I know, the Lord says, those high pretensions of hers, that have no strength to warrant them, those dreams that never come true!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	48	31	So, from one end of Moab to the other, there is dole and dirge, mournful hearing for the men behind those walls of hardened brick.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	48	32	Jazer laments for thee, vineyard of Sabama, and with Jazer I too will mourn; thy shoots reached from Jazer itself to the Dead Sea and beyond; now, harvest of thine and vintage of thine the spoiler has overrun.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	48	33	From the garden-lands of Moab joy and triumph have died away; all the presses I have emptied of their wine, no vintage-song, no treading the grapes as of old.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	48	34	The dirge goes up from Hesebon, from Eleale and Jasa; goes up all the way from Segor to Oronaim, like the lowing of heifer full-grown; foul run the waters of Nemrim.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	48	35	None will I leave in Moab, the Lord says, to worship at the hill-shrines, or do sacrifice to its gods.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	48	36	For Moab my heart wails like the wailing of flutes, wailing of flutes for those brick-walled cities of hers; too high she aimed, and see, they lie in ruins.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	48	37	Every head is shorn, every beard shaved in mourning; with bound hands men go, sackcloth on their backs.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	48	38	Roof-top and street in Moab is none but echoes with grief; I have cast Moab away, the Lord says, like a jar past mending.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	48	39	Lament for Moab in defeat, bowed heads for Moab’s shame! A laughing-stock it will be and a by-word for all its neighbours.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	48	40	An eagle’s flight yonder conqueror has, the Lord says, and will sweep down on Moab too.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	48	41	Now Carioth is lost, and all the strongholds taken; cowed as woman’s heart in child-bearing are those warrior hearts;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	48	42	Moab, that set the Lord at defiance, shall be a people no more.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	48	43	Terror in front of its people, the Lord says, trap and toil behind them;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	48	44	from terror flee thou, into trap fall thou; from the trap free thee, toils shall fasten thee. Such shall be my year of reckoning with the men of Moab, the Lord says.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	48	45	From the toils escaped, who turns to Hesebon for shelter? Helpless he stands; such a fire comes out from Hesebon, all Seon’s capital aflame, till cheek and head of blustering Moab are consumed.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	48	46	Alas, Moab, alas, people of Chamos, for thy undoing! Gone into exile now thy sons and daughters!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	48	47	Yet a time shall come at last, the Lord says, when her lot shall be reversed. Thus far the doom of Moab.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	49	1	And thus the Lord speaks to the Ammonites: Did Israel, then, leave no sons, no heirs to follow him? How comes it that Melchom boasts possession of Gad, and worshippers of his dwell in yonder cities?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	49	2	A time is coming, the Lord says, when Rabbath Ammon shall hear the din of fighting, and shall be thrown down in ruins; when her daughter cities shall be burnt to the ground, and Israel, so runs the divine promise, shall drive out the intruder.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	49	3	Shall Hesebon mourn for Hai laid waste, and the women of Rabbath for Rabbath make no lament? Nay, put on sackcloth, raise the dirge as you scatter among the hedge-rows; Melchom goes into banishment, his priests and his votary chieftains with him.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	49	4	So proud of thy valleys! Wasted away, now, is that vale of thine, pampered maiden; confident in thy rich store, thou didst flatter thyself none should come near to harm thee,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	49	5	but I mean to fill thee with dread, says the Lord, the God of hosts, dread of all thy neighbours. Each man shall take his own path, scattering in flight, and there shall be none to rally the fugitives.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	49	6	Yet afterwards, the Lord says, I will bring the exiled sons of Ammon back to their home.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	49	7	And for Edom, this. No more is Theman wise, as of old, says the Lord of hosts; the prudence of that breed is lost, its wisdom all gone to waste.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	49	8	Flee away, men of Dedan, and never look behind you, or hide deep in earth; I am bringing ruin upon Esau, calling him to account at last.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	49	9	Here are such vintagers as will leave thee never a cluster, such night-robbers as will have their fill;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	49	10	mine to strip Esau bare, dig up his lairs till there is no hiding in them. The whole brood of him must be destroyed, never a kinsman or neighbour left, that will say,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	49	11	To my care entrust thy orphans, to me let thy widows look for support.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	49	12	So many there are, the Lord says, that must drink the cup of vengeance all undeserving; and wouldst thou be spared, wouldst thou be acquitted? Acquittal for thee is none; thou shalt drain it to the dregs.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	49	13	By my own honour I have sworn it, the Lord says, that Bosra shall be an empty wilderness, a name to revile and to curse by; that her daughter cities shall for ever be desolate.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	49	14	Hue and cry the Lord has brought to my ears, that even now goes out among the nations, Muster we and march we against her; on to battle!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	49	15	A little thing I mean thee to be in the world’s eyes henceforward, unregarded among the nations;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	49	16	till now, pride and the insolence of thy heart deluded thee, so safe thy nest among the rock-crevices, so close thou didst cling to the mountain summits; but now, be thy eyrie high as the eagle’s, I will yet drag thee down, the Lord says.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	49	17	A very desert Edom shall be; no passer-by but will stand amazed, and hiss derision at its sufferings;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	49	18	not more ruinously Sodom fell, and Gomorrha, and their neighbour cities, that lie uninhabited, far from the homes of men.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	49	19	See how lion from the fens of Jordan sallies out against yonder protected fold! Not less sudden the alarm shall be; and the flock shall have a master of my own choosing. Match for me is none, there is none dare implead me, no rival shepherd may challenge a claim like mine!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	49	20	Would you know what the Lord’s design is for Edom, what plans he is devising against the homesteads of Theman? Why, he says, it will but need an array of weaklings to dislodge them, pull their dwelling-place down about their ears!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	49	21	And with the crash of that ruin earth shakes, far as the Red Sea ring the echoes of it.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	49	22	An eagle’s flight yonder conqueror has, to soar high and sweep down on Bosra; cowed as woman’s heart in child-bearing are the warrior hearts of Edom.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	49	23	And for Damascus, this. Hamath and Arphad see their hopes betray them; grievous the news that reaches them, and they are rocked on a sea of doubt; anxiety gives them no respite.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	49	24	As for Damascus, her strength has left her; no thought has she but for flight, daunted by her peril, overcome, like woman in child-bearing, with sharp pangs.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	49	25	City so renowned, home of such delights, must all abandon her?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	49	26	In her streets they lie slain, all the flower of her youth, all her brave warriors lie silent now, the Lord says;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	49	27	and such a fire I will light within Damascus walls as shall feed on the palaces of Benadad.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	49	28	And this for Cedar, and the realms of Asor, that were destroyed by Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon. Word comes from the Lord: Up, march against Cedar, despoil we these children of the East!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	49	29	Pillage there shall be of home and herd, plundering of tents and gear and camels, and cries of Danger everywhere.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	49	30	Flee away, wander far away, men of Asor; deep, says the Lord, be your hiding-places! Here is Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon holding a council of war, devising plans against you.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	49	31	Up, march against a people that lives at ease, fearing no attack, the Lord says; gates and bars they have none, dwelling there in the wilderness;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	49	32	camels for your plunder, herds a many for your prey! Scattered they shall be to all the winds, the folk that clip their foreheads bare, and from every corner of their lands death shall threaten them, the Lord says.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	49	33	Asor shall be a lair for serpents, a land for ever desolate; uninhabited it shall lie, far from the homes of men.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	49	34	And here is the doom the Lord pronounced to the prophet Jeremias against Aelam, at the beginning of Sedecias’ reign in Juda.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	49	35	A message from the Lord of hosts! I mean to break the bows of yonder Aelamites, wherein lies all their strength.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	49	36	Upon Aelam I will bid the winds blow from the four corners of heaven, and before each scatter them like chaff, till nation is none that has not seen their fugitives.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	49	37	Daunted the Aelamites shall be by the onset of their mortal enemies; my angry vengeance I will let loose against them, the Lord says, and my sword shall go at their heels till I have taken full toll of them.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	49	38	In Aelam I will set up my throne, he says, and rid it altogether of kings and princes.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	49	39	Yet afterwards, so runs the divine promise, I will bring the exiled sons of Aelam back to their home.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	50	1	And here is the doom the Lord pronounced, with Jeremias for his spokesman, against Babylon and Chaldaea.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	50	2	Tell it out, proclaim it for all the world to hear; set up a trophy, and cry the news, leave nothing untold! News of Babylon taken, and Bel thwarted, and Merodach overcome; all the idols put to shame, routed, all the false gods!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	50	3	Here is a people on the march from the north country that shall attack Babylon and turn her land into a desert; man nor beast shall dwell there, all are fled and gone.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	50	4	So the day shall dawn, the time be ripe at last, the Lord says, when Israel and Juda both together shall come back, weeping as they hasten on their journey to find the Lord their God.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	50	5	For Sion every voice asking, every face towards Sion turned, they will come back, and bind themselves to the Lord by an eternal covenant, never to be forgotten.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	50	6	My people, all this while, has been but a flock gone astray; their shepherds led them by false paths, and left them to roam the hill-side; hill and mountain-side they crossed, and their own resting-place lay forgotten.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	50	7	None passed by but preyed on them; nor did the oppressor’s conscience smite him; had they not set the Lord at defiance, that Lord who was the home of their loyalty, the hope of their race?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	50	8	Flee, Israel, from Babylon; from Chaldaea’s land be foremost to depart, like buck-goats that lead the way for their fellows.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	50	9	See what a confederacy of great nations I am mustering, there in the north country, to besiege and take Babylon, death-dealing archers that never speed arrow in vain!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	50	10	Chaldaea shall be a prize of war, the Lord says, and all her spoilers be content.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	50	11	Ay, boast and brag, trample on my own domain, like calves at grass or bellowing bull!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	50	12	Shame waits for the mother that bore you, her pride must be lowered in the dust; least regarded of all realms, a desert, pathless and parched!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	50	13	Doomed, all of her, by the Lord’s vengeance to empty desolation; no passer-by but shall stand amazed at Babylon, or hiss derision at her sufferings.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	50	14	To your posts, archers, around the walls of Babylon; shoot, never spare arrow; to the Lord her life is forfeit.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	50	15	Now, raise the cry! Everywhere she is yielding; falls buttress and gapes wall, the Lord is avenged! Ay, take your fill of vengeance, pay her what she has earned.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	50	16	Leave none in Babylon to sow the fields, or carry scythe in harvest-time; fled, each to his own, before the invader’s sword, fled, this way and that, to the countries of their birth.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	50	17	Poor Israel, a flock so scattered! Lions have chased them away; first the Assyrian king would prey on them, and since then yonder Nabuchodonosor, of Babylon, has mangled their bones!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	50	18	And now, says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, I mean to have a reckoning with the Babylonian king, and his realm, as once with Assyria.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	50	19	And Israel I will restore to his home; Carmel and Basan shall be his pasture-ground again, hill-country of Ephraim and Galaad his hunger shall content.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	50	20	When that day dawns, the Lord says, when the time is ripe for it, guilt shall be found in Israel no more, for the record of Juda’s sins you shall search in vain; the remnant which I leave shall win my pardon.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	50	21	March on, the Lord says, into the land of tyranny, and call its citizens to account; bale and ban at their heels! All my command see thou execute.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	50	22	Din of battle sounds through the land, and the crash of ruin;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	50	23	rack and ruin everywhere! And this Babylon was once a hammer to smite the world; now it lies by all the world abandoned!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	50	24	I laid a trap for thee, Babylon, and thou wast caught unawares; thy long defiance of the Lord has found thee out and overtaken thee at last.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	50	25	Now the Lord opens his armoury, takes out from it the tools that shall wreak his vengeance; he, the Lord of hosts, has work for them to do in the country of the Chaldaeans.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	50	26	From the furthest confines of the land draw near; open a way for the spoilers; pile up stones from the road in heaps; make an end of her, leave nothing to survive.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	50	27	An end of all her warriors, to the slaughter-house with them! Woe betide them, their day has come, the time when they must meet their reckoning.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	50	28	Listen to the buzz of voices, as the fugitives escaped from Babylon come back to Sion, spreading the news how the Lord has been avenged, how the Lord’s temple has been avenged.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	50	29	Archers a many with bent bows, give them orders how the city must fare: Stand about in a ring, let never a man escape, pay it what its deeds have earned; to Babylon do as Babylon did to others, the city that was the Lord’s enemy, defied the holy One of Israel.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	50	30	In her streets they lie slain, all the flower of her youth, all her brave warriors lie silent now, the Lord says.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	50	31	Have at thee, says the Lord, the God of hosts; thy day has come, the time when thou must meet thy reckoning!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	50	32	Stumbles the tyrant and falls, with none there to raise him; and in those cities of his I will kindle such a fire as shall consume all around it.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	50	33	Thus says the Lord of hosts: Here is great wrong done to Israel and to Juda both; he that has them holds them fast, and let them go he will not.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	50	34	Yet they have a strong champion that claims them as his own; his name is the Lord of hosts; right and redress he will bring them in such a fashion as will shake earth, and make the homes of Babylon tremble.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	50	35	The sword it must be, the Lord says, for the men of Chaldaea, for citizen of Babylon, and prince, and councillor;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	50	36	the sword for their wise men, that shall be fools, and their brave men, that shall be cowards;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	50	37	the sword for horse and chariot, the sword for all the mixed breed in it, that shall be weak as women, the sword for all their treasure-houses, that shall be given up to plunder.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	50	38	And for their waters, not a sword, but drought to dry them up; is not this a land of idols, that loves to see portents befall?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	50	39	It shall be a lair for serpents and strange monsters, a haunt of the ostrich, but never again shall man dwell there; age after age, it shall never be rebuilt;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	50	40	not more ruinously the Lord overthrew Sodom and Gomorrha and their neighbour cities, that lie uninhabited, far from the homes of men.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	50	41	Here is a people marching from the north country, the Lord says, a great nation from the world’s end, and vassal kings a many.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	50	42	Bow and shield they ply, and their hard hearts pity none; loud their battle-cry as the roaring of the sea. So they ride on, as warriors ride, poor Babylon, thy enemies.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	50	43	Unnerved the king’s hands droop at the very rumour of it; grief overmasters him, sharp as the pangs of travail.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	50	44	See how lion from the fens of Jordan sallies out against yonder protected fold! Not less sudden the alarm shall be; and the flock shall have a master of my own choosing. Match for me is none, there is none dare implead me, no rival shepherd may challenge a claim like mine!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	50	45	Would you know what the Lord’s design is for Babylon, what plans he is devising against the realm of Chaldaea? Why, he says, it will need but an array of weaklings to dislodge them, pull their dwelling-place down about their ears!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	50	46	Babylon has fallen; earth trembles at the sound of it; a great cry goes up for all the world to hear.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	51	1	Thus says the Lord, I mean to let loose on Babylon, and the whole of Defiance-land, a destroying blast;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	51	2	winnowers of mine shall reach Babylon and fall to winnowing it, till all the heaps are gone; an ill day for Babylon, cut off on every side.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	51	3	Let not a man live to bend bow again, or don breastplate for battle; never a warrior spare, army she must have none left.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	51	4	Everywhere in country-side and street of Chaldaea the mangled corpses lie;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	51	5	Juda’s God, the Lord of hosts, has not altogether forsaken her, and to that holy One of Israel the whole land is forfeit.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	51	6	Flee away from the confines of Babylon, flee for your lives; would you meekly accept her punishment? The time has come when the Lord will take vengeance on her, he it is that sends this retribution.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	51	7	Babylon, that was once a golden cup in the Lord’s hand, for a whole world’s bemusing! Drank nations of that cup, how they reeled and tottered!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	51	8	And now, all in a moment, Babylon herself falls to her ruin. Raise the dirge, go find balm to heal those wounds of hers!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	51	9	Alas, we sought a cure for Babylon, but curing her there was none; time it is we left her, and went back each to his own land; towers heaven-high the measure of her punishment, and is lost among the clouds.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	51	10	Come, then, since he has given us the redress we needed, recount we in Sion the great doings of the Lord our God.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	51	11	Whet arrow, and fill quiver; the Lord has put a resolve into the heart of the Median king; he will have Babylon overthrown. The Lord shall be avenged, his temple shall be avenged!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	51	12	Against Babylon’s walls display the standard, keep strict watch, post sentinels, lay ambush; the doom of its folk, long since devised, long since denounced, he will execute.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	51	13	Land by all those tributary streams so enriched, thy end is reached, thy thread is spun.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	51	14	By his own honour the Lord of hosts has sworn it, thy enemies shall swarm about thee like locusts, raising their vintage-song.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	51	15	His the power that made the earth, the wisdom that orders nature, the foresight that spread out the heavens.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	51	16	At the sound of his voice, what mustering of the waters overhead! He summons up the cloud-wrack from the world’s end, turning the lightning into a rain-storm, bringing the winds out of his store-house;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	51	17	how puny, then, is man’s skill, how sorry a thing is the metal-caster’s workmanship; after all his labour at the forge, only a lifeless counterfeit!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	51	18	Fond imaginations, fantastic figures, when the time comes for reckoning, they will be heard of no more.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	51	19	Not such the worship that is the heirloom of Jacob’s line; their God is the God who made all things, Israel his patrimony, the Lord of hosts, his name.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	51	20	Great conqueror, the weapon I wield! By thy means I crush the nations, undo empires;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	51	21	crush horse and rider, crush chariot and charioteer,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	51	22	crush man and woman, crush old and young, crush lad and lass,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	51	23	crush shepherd and flock, crush ploughman and team, crush prince and ruler!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	51	24	And now I mean to repay Babylon, and all the people of Chaldaea, for the wrongs they did, says the Lord, and your eyes shall see it.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	51	25	Have at thee, stronghold of ruin, the Lord says, a whole world’s ruin! My hand is raised to smite thee, and tear thee from thy rocky bed; a calcined heap thou shalt be,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	51	26	that never corner-stone, never foundation-stone shall yield; the Lord dooms thee to lie for ever desolate.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	51	27	Display your standard for all the world to see, sound the trumpet far and wide, enrol the nations against her; make tryst with the kings of Ararat, Menni, and Ascenez, and count Taphsar among her enemies; like locusts in bristling array swarm your cavalry.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	51	28	Plight all the nations to make war on her, the kings of Media with their chieftains and satraps, all their wide dominion;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	51	29	a whole world in turmoil and travail with the stir of the divine resolve to crush Babylon, make Babylon an empty desert.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	51	30	See how her warriors quit the field, to garrison their strongholds, how their valour dies away and grows womanish, how her roofs blaze, the bars of her gates are shattered!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	51	31	Courier meets courier, post to post hands the tidings on; tell the king of Babylon how his capital has fallen, length and breadth of it,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	51	32	the fords occupied, the reed-beds aflame, dismayed the defenders.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	51	33	Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Babylon is a threshing-floor time has worn smooth; wait but a little, and it is ready for harvest.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	51	34	Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon, how he has preyed on me, feasted on me, left me but an empty shell; a devouring monster that with kernel fills his maw, throws husk away!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	51	35	Thus Sion, for her torn flesh, thus Jerusalem, for her blood spilt, arraigns Babylon and all yonder Chaldaean folk;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	51	36	and now the Lord of hosts promises to maintain their quarrel, to redress their wrongs. I will turn her sea into desert sand, he tells you, dry up her flow of waters;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	51	37	Babylon shall remain a heap of ruins, a lair for serpents, a thing of wonder and derision, and never a soul to dwell in it.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	51	38	What though they rage like roaring lion, like young lion that tosses his mane?
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	51	39	I have a medicine for this thirst of theirs, to bemuse them and steal away their senses; they shall sleep on, the Lord says, with that eternal sleep from which there is no waking.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	51	40	Never was lamb led to the slaughter-house, never ram or buck-goat, so unsuspecting.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	51	41	Sesach taken, the paragon of kingdoms fallen! Babylon turned into a sight of horror for all the world to see!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	51	42	Babylon foundered and gone, the waste waves closing over her!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	51	43	All her cities a picture of desolation, an empty desert, uninhabited, untrodden by mortal foot.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	51	44	Bel, too, the God of Babylon, I will call to account, and make him disgorge his treasures; no more shall pilgrims flock into his temple from distant lands; Babylon’s defences are down.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	51	45	You that are my own people, separate yourselves from her, flee all of you from the Lord’s venegeance;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	51	46	else you shall be ever faint with alarms, ever daunted by the news that reaches you, each year a fresh rumour of wrongs done in this land, of rulers struggling for preeminence.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	51	47	A time is coming when I mean to have a reckoning with the idols of Babylon; the land will learn that they have played it false, when corpses lie thick in the heart of it.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	51	48	Heaven and earth, and all they contain, will be triumphing over Babylon, says the Lord, as they see the spoilers marching against her from the north country;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	51	49	through Babylon so many slain in Israel, of Babylon so many slain, in every corner of their land!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	51	50	Come, linger not, you that have escaped the sword; exiled far away, bethink you still of the Lord, still let the thought of Jerusalem return to your hearts.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	51	51	Alas, we are all confusion; what taunts we must listen to, shame-faced, now that the Lord’s holy temple by alien intruders is defiled!
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	51	52	A time is coming, the Lord says, when I mean to have a reckoning with those false gods of hers. Everywhere in Chaldaea there shall be wounded men a-groaning;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	51	53	let Babylon scale the skies, fortify her walls heaven-high, they shall yet find their way in, the spoilers that do my errand, the Lord says.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	51	54	Babylon shall be all lament, Chaldaea a crash of ruin;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	51	55	the mighty stir of the city will be drowned, when the Lord lays it waste, by the surge of armies, wave upon wave, and the noise of their shouting.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	51	56	The spoiler has come upon Babylon; her warriors are caught in a trap, their bows are useless now; the Lord’s vengeance is irresistible, and he pays full measure.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	51	57	Bemused they shall be, prince and councillor and chieftain and ruler and warrior; all shall sleep eternally the sleep from which there is no waking; such is the decree of that King whose name is the Lord of hosts.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	51	58	That wide wall of Babylon, says the Lord of hosts, shall be dismantled at last, those high gates burnt. So men labour for nothing; so the toil of nations perishes in the fire.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	51	59	And now Jeremias had an errand for Saraias, son of Nerias, son of Maasias. When king Sedecias departed to Babylon, in the fourth year of his reign, Saraias went with him as his principal spokesman.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	51	60	Jeremias had written down on a single scroll all the doom that was to befall Babylon, all the prophecy against Babylon aforegoing.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	51	61	When thou reachest Babylon, he told Saraias, be sure thou readest all this.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	51	62	And say, in reading it: Lord, thou dost threaten this place with destruction; man nor beast shall dwell there, it shall lie desolate for ever.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	51	63	Then, when thou hast finished reading the scroll, tie a stone to it and sink it in the midst of Euphrates;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	51	64	and this add: Thus Babylon shall sink, and rise no more out of the calamity I mean to bring upon it; Babylon shall melt away. Here ends the prophecy of Jeremias.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	52	1	Sedecias was twenty-one years old when he came to the throne, and his reign at Jerusalem lasted eleven years; his mother’s name was Amital, daughter of Jeremias of Lobna.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	52	2	He disobeyed the Lord’s will, as Joachim had;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	52	3	for now the Lord’s anger hung over Juda and Jerusalem, ready to banish them from his presence. And Sedecias in his turn revolted from the king of Babylon.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	52	4	And now, in the ninth year of Sedecias’ reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nabuchodonosor reached Jerusalem at the head of his army. They surrounded it and threw up siege works about it,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	52	5	and so the city continued beleaguered until king Sedecias’ eleventh year.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	52	6	Then, on the ninth day of the fourth month, when famine had broken out in the city and the poorer folk had nothing left to eat,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	52	7	a breach was made in the walls; and that night all the fighting men made their escape by way of the gate between the two walls, by the royal garden, leaving the Chaldaeans to continue the siege of the city. They chose for their flight the road which leads to the desert,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	52	8	and in the desert by Jericho Sedecias was overtaken by the Chaldaeans, who had set out in pursuit. All his retinue deserted him;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	52	9	and so, a prisoner, the king was borne away to Reblatha, in the Emath country, where Nabuchodonosor passed sentence on him.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	52	10	Slain by the king of Babylon were all his sons, there in their father’s sight; slain by the king of Babylon, at Reblatha, were all the nobles of Juda;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	52	11	and as for Sedecias himself, his eyes were put out, and he was carried off, loaded with chains, to Babylon, where he remained a prisoner till the day of his death.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	52	12	On the tenth day of the fifth month in the nineteenth year of Nabuchodonosor’s reign, the commander of his bodyguard, Nabuzardan, came on his master’s errand to Jerusalem,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	52	13	where he burned down temple and palace and private dwellings too; no house of note but he set it on fire.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	52	14	The troops he brought with him were employed in dismantling the walls on every side of it.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	52	15	Then Nabuzardan carried off the remnants of the people that were left in the city, the deserters who had gone over to Nabuchodonosor, and the common folk generally;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	52	16	leaving only such of the poorer sort as were vine-dressers and farm labourers.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	52	17	Brazen pillars and brazen stands and the great basin of bronze that stood in the Lord’s temple the Chaldaeans broke up, and took away all the bronze to Babylon;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	52	18	for bronze, too, they carried away pot and fork, ladle and cup and saucer, all the appurtenances of worship that were of bronze;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	52	19	for gold, too, and for silver, bowl and censer and urn and basin and lamp-stand and spoon and goblet; nothing did Nabuzardan leave behind him.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	52	20	There was no reckoning the weight of bronze, when the two pillars, the great basin, and the twelve brazen calves supporting it, all set up by Solomon in the temple, are included;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	52	21	each pillar was eighteen cubits high, twelve cubits round, and four fingers thick, and they were hollow within.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	52	22	On each rested a brazen capital, five cubits in height, with network and pomegranate mouldings on the rim; the pattern of each was the same.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	52	23	There were ninety-six pomegranates besides, making a hundred in all, and all had network around them.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	52	24	Prisoners, too, Nabuzardan carried away with him, the two chief priests, Saraias and Sophonias, the three door-keepers from the temple,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	52	25	and among the citizens, the chamberlain who commanded the army, seven other courtiers who were left in the city, the secretary who was charged with the army and had the levying of recruits, and sixty surviving citizens of the common sort.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	52	26	All these were carried away by Nabuzardan to Reblatha, into Nabuchodonosor’s presence;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	52	27	and there at Reblatha, in the Emath country, Nabuchodonosor put them to death. So the men of Juda were exiled from their country.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	52	28	Three thousand and twenty-three Jewish citizens Nabuchodonosor banished in the seventh year of his reign,
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	52	29	and another eight hundred and thirty-two, from Jerusalem, in the eighteenth year of it;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	52	30	then, in his twenty-third year, seven hundred and forty-five were banished by Nabuzardan, the captain of the bodyguard; four thousand six hundred in all.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	52	31	On the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month, in the thirty-seventh year after king Joachim of Juda had been carried into exile, the new king of Babylon, Evil-Merodach, in this first year of his reign, gave redress to his captive and released him from prison.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	52	32	Graciously did Evil-Merodach receive him, gave him a seat of honour above the other captive kings, and relieved him of his prisoner’s garb.
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	52	33	All the rest of his life he was entertained at the royal table;
 Jeremiah	Jer	28	52	34	all the rest of his life he received, day and day, a perpetual allowance granted to him, as long as he should live, by the king’s bounty.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	1	1	When Israel was brought into captivity, and Jerusalem left deserted, the prophet Jeremias sat down there and wept, with this mournful lamentation following. And as he spoke, ever he sighed and moaned in the bitterness of his heart.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	1	2	Alone she dwells, the city erewhile so populous; a widow now, once a queen among the nations; tributary now, that once had provinces at her command.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	1	3	Be sure she weeps; there in the darkness her cheeks are wet with tears; of all that courted her, none left to console her, all those lovers grown weary of her, and turned into enemies.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	1	4	Cruel the suffering and the bondage of Juda’s exile; that she must needs dwell among the heathen! Nor respite can she find; close at her heels the pursuit, and peril on either hand.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	1	5	Desolate, the streets of Sion; no flocking, now, to the assembly; the gateways lie deserted. Sighs priest, and the maidens go in mourning, so bitter the grief that hangs over all.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	1	6	Exultant, now, her invaders; with her enemies nothing goes amiss. For her many sins, the Lord has brought doom on her, and all her children have gone into exile, driven before the oppressor.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	1	7	Fled is her beauty, the Sion that was once so fair; her chieftains have yielded their ground before the pursuer, strengthless as rams that can find no pasture.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	1	8	Grievous the memories she holds, of the hour when all her ancient glories passed from her, when her people fell defenceless before the invader, unresisting before an enemy that derided them.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	1	9	Heinously Jerusalem sinned; what wonder if she became an outlaw? How they fell to despising her when they saw her shame, that once flattered her! Deeply she sighed, and turned away her head.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	1	10	Ill might skirts of her robe the defilement conceal; alas, so reckless of her doom, alas, fallen so low, with none to comfort her! Mark it well, Lord; see how humbled I, how exultant my adversary!
 Lamentations	Lam	29	1	11	Jealous hands were laid on all she treasured; so it was that she must see Gentiles profane her sanctuary, Gentiles, by thy ordinance from the assembly debarred.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	1	12	Kindred was none but went sighing for lack of bread, offered its precious heirlooms for food to revive men’s hearts. Mark it well, Lord, and see my pride abased!
 Lamentations	Lam	29	1	13	Look well, you that pass by, and say if there was ever grief like this grief of mine; never a grape on the vineyard left to glean, when the Lord’s threat of vengeance is fulfilled.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	1	14	Must fire from heaven waste my whole being, ere I can learn my lesson? Must he catch me in a net, to drag me back from my course? Desolate he leaves me, to pine away all the day long with grief.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	1	15	No respite it gives me, the yoke of guilt I bear, by his hand fastened down upon my neck; see, I faint under it! The Lord has given me up a prisoner to duress there is no escaping.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	1	16	Of all I had, the Lord has taken away the noblest; lost to me, all the flower of my chivalry, under his strict audit; Sion, poor maid, here was a wine-press well trodden down!
 Lamentations	Lam	29	1	17	Pray you, should I not weep? Fountains these eyes are, that needs must flow; comforter is none at hand, that should revive my spirits. Lost to me, all those sons of mine, outmatched by their enemy.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	1	18	Quest for consolation is vain, let her plead where she will; neighbours of Jacob, so the Lord decrees, are Jacob’s enemies, and all around they shrink from her, as from a thing unclean.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	1	19	Right the Lord has in his quarrel; I have set his commands at defiance. O world, take warning; see what pangs I suffer, all my folk gone into exile, both man and maid.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	1	20	So false the friends that were once my suitors! And now the city lacks priests and elders both, that went begging their bread, to revive the heart in them.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	1	21	Take note, Lord, of my anguish, how my bosom burns, and my heart melts within me, in bitter ruth. And all the while, sword threatens without, and death not less cruel within.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	1	22	Uncomforted my sorrow, but not unheard; my enemies hear it, and rejoice that my miseries are of thy contriving. Ah, but when thy promise comes true, they shall feel my pangs!
 Lamentations	Lam	29	1	23	Vintager who didst leave my boughs so bare, for my much offending, mark well their cruelty, and strip these too in their turn; here be sighs a many, and a sad heart to claim it.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	2	1	Alas, what mantle of cloud is this, the divine anger has thrown over unhappy Sion? The pride of Israel cast down from heaven to earth; the ground where the Lord’s feet once rested, now, in his anger, forgotten?
 Lamentations	Lam	29	2	2	Blessed abodes of Jacob, by the Lord’s unsparing vengeance engulfed; towers that kept Juda inviolable hurled to the ground in ruin; kingdom and throne dragged in the dust!
 Lamentations	Lam	29	2	3	Crushed lay all the defences of Israel, under his displeasure; failed us, at the enemy’s onset, the protection of his right hand; Jacob must be hedged about, as by flames of a consuming fire.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	2	4	Deadly his bent bow, steady the play of his right hand assailing us; all that was fairest in poor Sion’s dwelling-place needs must perish, under the fiery rain of his vengeance.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	2	5	Enemies he counts us, and has engulfed the whole of Israel in ruin; gone the palaces, gone the strongholds; Alas, poor Sion! weeps man, weeps maid, with cowed spirits.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	2	6	Fallen, as it had been some garden shed, his own tabernacle; his own trysting-place with men he would pull down! Feast-day and sabbath should be forgotten in Sion; for king and priest, only anger and scorn.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	2	7	Grown weary of his altar, from his own sanctuary turning away in abhorrence, the Lord has given up yonder embattled towers to the enemy; their cries ring through the temple like shout of holiday.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	2	8	Heedfully the Lord went about his work, to strip the inviolable city of her walls; exact his measuring-line, busy his hand with the task of overthrow, till wall and rampart should lament their common ruin.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	2	9	Idly the gates of her sag towards earth, bars riven and rent; king and chieftain are far away, exiled among the heathen; tradition is dead, nor any prophet learns, in vision, the Lord’s will.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	2	10	Jerusalem’s aged folk sit there in the dust, dumb with sorrow; dust scattered over their heads, and sackcloth their garb; never a maid shall you see but has her head bowed down to earth.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	2	11	Keen anguish for the overthrow of an unhappy race, that dims eye with tears, that stirs my being to its depths, as my heart goes out in boundless compassion! Child and babe lie fainting in the streets.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	2	12	Listen, how they ask where all the bread and wine is gone to! Wound they have none, yet there in the open streets you shall see them faint away, sighing out their lives on their mothers’ bosoms.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	2	13	Might I but confront thee with such another as thyself! What queen so unhappy as Jerusalem, what maid as Sion desolate? How shall I comfort thee? Sea-deep is thy ruin, and past all cure.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	2	14	Never a true vision or a wise thy prophets have for thee, never shew thee where thy guilt rests, and urge thee to repentance; lies and lures are all the burden of their revealing.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	2	15	Openly the passers-by deride thee, poor maid; clap hands, and hiss, and wag their heads at thee; So much, they cry, for the city that was once the nonpareil of beauty, pride of the whole earth!
 Lamentations	Lam	29	2	16	Pale envy mops and mows at thee; how they hiss and gnash their teeth! Now to prey on her carrion! What fortune, that we should have lived to see this day, so long looked for in vain!
 Lamentations	Lam	29	2	17	Quit is the Lord of his oath taken in times past; all his purpose is fulfilled; for thee, ruin relentless, for thy bitter enemy, triumph and high achievement.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	2	18	Round those inviolable defences, cry they upon the Lord in good earnest. Day and night, Sion, let thy tears stream down; never rest thou, never let that eye weary of its task.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	2	19	Sleepless in the night-watches raise thy song; flow thy heart’s prayer unceasingly; lift ever thy hands in supplication for infant lives; yonder, at the street corner, they are dying of famine.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	2	20	Think well, Lord, is there any other people of whom thou hast taken such toll? Shall woman eat her own child, so tiny, hands can still clasp it? In the Lord’s sanctuary, priest and prophet be slain?
 Lamentations	Lam	29	2	21	Untended they lie on the bare earth, the young and the aged; maid and warrior slain by the sword! This day of thy vengeance was to be all massacre, thou wouldst kill unsparingly.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	2	22	Vengeance this day all around me; what mustering of thy terrors, as for a solemn assembly! Escape is none, nor any remnant left; of all I fondled and fostered, the enemy has taken full toll.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	3	1	Ah, what straits have I not known, under the avenging rod!
 Lamentations	Lam	29	3	2	Asked I for light, into deeper shadow the Lord’s guidance led me;
 Lamentations	Lam	29	3	3	Always upon me, none other, falls endlessly the blow.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	3	4	Broken this frame, under the wrinkled skin, the sunk flesh.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	3	5	Bitterness of despair fills my prospect, walled in on every side;
 Lamentations	Lam	29	3	6	Buried in darkness, and, like the dead, interminably.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	3	7	Closely he fences me in, beyond hope of rescue; loads me with fetters.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	3	8	Cry out for mercy as I will, prayer of mine wins no audience;
 Lamentations	Lam	29	3	9	Climb these smooth walls I may not; every way of escape he has undone.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	3	10	Deep ambushed he lies, as lurking bear or lion from the covert;
 Lamentations	Lam	29	3	11	Drawn aside from my path, I fall a lonely prey to his ravening.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	3	12	Dread archer, of me he makes a target for all his arrows;
 Lamentations	Lam	29	3	13	Each shaft of his quiver at my vitals taught to strike home!
 Lamentations	Lam	29	3	14	Evermore for me the taunts of my neighbours, their songs of derision.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	3	15	Entertainment of bitter herbs he gives me, and of wormwood my fill,
 Lamentations	Lam	29	3	16	Files all my teeth with hard gravel-stones, bids me feed on ashes.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	3	17	Far away is my old contentment, happier days forgotten;
 Lamentations	Lam	29	3	18	Farewell, my hopes of long continuance, my patient trust in the Lord!
 Lamentations	Lam	29	3	19	Guilt and suffering, gall and wormwood, keep all this well in memory.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	3	20	God knows it shall be remembered, and with sinking of the heart;
 Lamentations	Lam	29	3	21	Gage there can be none other of remaining confidence.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	3	22	His be the thanks if we are not extinguished; his mercies never weary;
 Lamentations	Lam	29	3	23	Hope comes with each dawn; art thou not faithful, Lord, to thy promise?
 Lamentations	Lam	29	3	24	Heart whispers, The Lord is my portion; I will trust him yet.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	3	25	In him be thy trust, for him thy heart’s longing, gracious thou shalt find him;
 Lamentations	Lam	29	3	26	If deliverance thou wouldst have from the Lord, in silence await it.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	3	27	It is well thou shouldst learn to bear the yoke, now in thy youth,
 Lamentations	Lam	29	3	28	Just burden, in solitude and silence justly borne.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	3	29	Joy may yet be thine, for mouth that kisses the dust,
 Lamentations	Lam	29	3	30	Jeering of the multitude, and cheek buffeted in scorn, bravely endured.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	3	31	Know for certain, the Lord has not finally abandoned thee;
 Lamentations	Lam	29	3	32	Kind welcome the outcast shall have, from one so rich in kindness.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	3	33	Kin of Adam he will not crush or cast away wantonly;
 Lamentations	Lam	29	3	34	Let there be oppression of the poor under duress,
 Lamentations	Lam	29	3	35	Law’s right denied, such as the most High grants to all men,
 Lamentations	Lam	29	3	36	Lying perversion of justice, then he cannot overlook it.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	3	37	Man may foretell; only the Lord brings his word to pass;
 Lamentations	Lam	29	3	38	Mingled good and evil proceed both from the will of the most High;
 Lamentations	Lam	29	3	39	Mortal is none may repine; let each his own sins remember.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	3	40	Narrowly our path scan we, and to the Lord return;
 Lamentations	Lam	29	3	41	Never hand or heart but must point heavenward this day!
 Lamentations	Lam	29	3	42	Nothing but defiant transgression on our part; and shouldst thou relent?
 Lamentations	Lam	29	3	43	Over our heads thy angry vengeance lowered; smiting, thou wouldst not spare.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	3	44	Oh, barrier of cloud, our prayers had no strength to pierce!
 Lamentations	Lam	29	3	45	Offscouring and refuse of mankind thou hast made us,
 Lamentations	Lam	29	3	46	Put to shame by the mocking grimaces of our enemies.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	3	47	Prophets we had, but their word was peril and pitfall, and ruin at the last.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	3	48	Poor Sion, for thy calamity these cheeks are furrowed with tears;
 Lamentations	Lam	29	3	49	Quell if thou wouldst the restless fever of my weeping,
 Lamentations	Lam	29	3	50	Quickly, Lord, look down from heaven and pay heed to us,
 Lamentations	Lam	29	3	51	Quite forspent, eye and soul, with grief Jerusalem’s daughters bear.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	3	52	Relentless as hawk in air they pursued me, enemies unprovoked,
 Lamentations	Lam	29	3	53	Reft me of life itself, sealed with a stone my prison door.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	3	54	Round my head the waters closed, and I had given myself up for lost,
 Lamentations	Lam	29	3	55	Save for one hope; to thee, Lord, I cried from the pit’s depth,
 Lamentations	Lam	29	3	56	Sure of thy audience; wouldst thou turn a deaf ear to sighs of complaint?
 Lamentations	Lam	29	3	57	Summoned, thou didst come to my side, whispering, Do not be afraid.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	3	58	Thine, Lord, to take my part; thine to rescue me from death;
 Lamentations	Lam	29	3	59	The malice of my enemies to discover, my wrongs to redress.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	3	60	Thrust away from thy sight, the grudge they bear me, the ill they purpose,
 Lamentations	Lam	29	3	61	Unheard by thee their taunts, their whispered plottings?
 Lamentations	Lam	29	3	62	Uttered aloud or in secret, their malice assails me from morn till night;
 Lamentations	Lam	29	3	63	Up in arms, or met in secret conclave, ever against me they raise the battle-song.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	3	64	Visit them with the punishment their ill deeds have earned;
 Lamentations	Lam	29	3	65	Veiled be those blind hearts with fresh blindness of thy own making;
 Lamentations	Lam	29	3	66	Vanish from the earth their whole brood, ere thy vengeance leaves off pursuing them!
 Lamentations	Lam	29	4	1	All dim, now, and discoloured, the gold that once shone so fair! Heaped up at every street-corner lie hallowed stones.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	4	2	Bright they shone once in all their renown, the men of Sion, and now what are they? Little regarded as common earthenware, of the potter’s fashioning.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	4	3	Cub of jackal is fed at its dam’s breast; and has my people grown unnatural towards its own children, like some ostrich in the desert?
 Lamentations	Lam	29	4	4	Dry throat and parching tongue for babe at the breast; children asking for bread, and never a crust to share with them!
 Lamentations	Lam	29	4	5	Ever they fared daintily, that now lie starved in the streets; ever went richly arrayed, and now their fingers clutch at the dung-hill.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	4	6	Faithless Juda! Heavier punishment she must needs undergo than guilty Sodom, that perished all in a moment, and never a blow struck.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	4	7	Gone, the fair bloom of princely cheeks, snowy-pure, cream-white, red as tinted ivory, and all sapphire-clear;
 Lamentations	Lam	29	4	8	Here is no recognizing them, out in the streets, coal-black, skin clinging to bones, dry as wood!
 Lamentations	Lam	29	4	9	It were better to have fallen at the sword’s point than yield thus to the stab of hunger, wasted away through famine.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	4	10	Juda brought low, and mother-love forgotten; that women should eat their own children, cooked with their own hands!
 Lamentations	Lam	29	4	11	Kindled at last is the Lord’s anger; rains down from heaven the storm of his vengeance, lighting a flame that burns Sion to the ground.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	4	12	Little dreamed they, king and common folk the world over, that any assault of the foe should storm Jerusalem gates;
 Lamentations	Lam	29	4	13	Malice and lawlessness it was of priest and prophet, whereby innocent men came to their deaths, that brought such punishment.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	4	14	Now, as they walk blindly through the streets, they are defiled with blood; no help for it, gather their skirts about them as they may;
 Lamentations	Lam	29	4	15	Out of my way! cries one to another; Back, pollution, do not touch me! The very Gentiles protest in alarm, Here is no place for them!
 Lamentations	Lam	29	4	16	Protection the Lord gives them no longer, they are dispersed under his frown; the priesthood no honour claims, old age no pity.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	4	17	Quenched is the hope our eyes strained for, while hope was left us; looking for help so eagerly to a nation that had none to give!
 Lamentations	Lam	29	4	18	Refuge for us in the treacherous highways is none; we are near the end; all is over, this is the end;
 Lamentations	Lam	29	4	19	Swifter than flight of eagles the pursuit; even on the mountains they give chase, even in the desert take us by surprise.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	4	20	Through our fault he who is breath of life to us, our anointed king, is led away captive; under his shadow we hoped our race should thrive.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	4	21	Until thy turn comes, shout on, Edom, triumph on, land of Hus; the same cup thou too shalt drink, and be drunken, and stripped bare.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	4	22	Vengeful audit-day! Sion’s account closed, recovered her fortunes; Edom called to account, discovered her guilt!
 Lamentations	Lam	29	5	1	Bethink thee, Lord, of our ill case; see where we lie humiliated, and seeing take pity!
 Lamentations	Lam	29	5	2	New tenants our lands have, our homes foreign masters;
 Lamentations	Lam	29	5	3	orphaned sons of widowed mothers were not more defenceless.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	5	4	Ours to buy the very water we drink, pay a price for every stick of fire-wood;
 Lamentations	Lam	29	5	5	led hither and thither under the yoke, with no respite given,
 Lamentations	Lam	29	5	6	we must make our peace with men of Egypt or Assyria, for a belly-full of bread.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	5	7	So must we bear the guilt of our fathers, that sinned and are gone!
 Lamentations	Lam	29	5	8	Slaves for our masters now, and none to ransom us;
 Lamentations	Lam	29	5	9	bread won out in the desert, and at peril of our lives from the sword’s point!
 Lamentations	Lam	29	5	10	What wonder if our skins are burnt dry as an oven, seared by long famine?
 Lamentations	Lam	29	5	11	Never a woman in Sion, never a maid in all Juda’s cities, but has met with dishonour;
 Lamentations	Lam	29	5	12	merciless hands hurry our princes to the gallows; reverence is none for grey hairs.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	5	13	Toiling at the mill, the flower of our youth, or staggering under loads of wood;
 Lamentations	Lam	29	5	14	never an old man left to sit at the gate, or a young man to wake the echoes of the harp;
 Lamentations	Lam	29	5	15	gone, all our mirth, all our music drowned in sadness.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	5	16	Alas, we are sinners; the wreath has faded from our brows;
 Lamentations	Lam	29	5	17	there are sad hearts everywhere, and dim eyes.
 Lamentations	Lam	29	5	18	What, does not the hill of Sion lie desolate, ravaged by the foxes?
 Lamentations	Lam	29	5	19	Lord, thou abidest ever; age after age thy throne endures;
 Lamentations	Lam	29	5	20	and wilt thou still be forgetful of us, through the long years leave us forsaken?
 Lamentations	Lam	29	5	21	Bring us back to thee, Lord, and let us find our home; bring back to us the days of our youth;
 Lamentations	Lam	29	5	22	wouldst thou altogether abandon us, shall thy indignation know no measure?
 Baruch	Bar	30	1	1	The words which follow were committed to writing in the country of Babylon. The writer of them, Baruch, was descended from Helcias, through Nerias, Maasias, Sedecias and Sedei,
 Baruch	Bar	30	1	2	and wrote in the fifth year,… on the seventh day of the month, at the time when the Chaldaeans took Jerusalem and burnt it to the ground.
 Baruch	Bar	30	1	3	Baruch read this book of his aloud to Jechonias, son of Joakim, king of Juda. All the people, too, flocked to hear the reading of it,
 Baruch	Bar	30	1	4	nobles and royal princes, and elders, and common folk high and low; all that were then living in the country of Babylon, near the river Sodi.
 Baruch	Bar	30	1	5	And as they heard it, all was weeping and fasting and prayer offered in the Lord’s presence;
 Baruch	Bar	30	1	6	they made a collection of money besides, each according to his means,
 Baruch	Bar	30	1	7	which they sent to the chief priest, Joachim, son of Helcias, son of Salom, and his fellow priests and fellow citizens at Jerusalem.
 Baruch	Bar	30	1	8	… when he travelled to Juda on the tenth day of Sivan, taking with him the sanctuary ornaments which had been removed from the temple, and were now to be restored. They were of silver; Sedecias, the son of Josias, that now reigned in Juda, had had them made,
 Baruch	Bar	30	1	9	when Jechonias, with the princes and all the nobles and many other citizens of Jerusalem, was carried off by Nabuchodonosor, king of Babylon, to his own country.
 Baruch	Bar	30	1	10	Here is money, they said, with which you are to buy victims for burnt-sacrifice, and incense; bloodless offerings too you must make, and amends for fault committed, at the altar of the Lord our God.
 Baruch	Bar	30	1	11	You shall pray long life for king Nabuchodonosor of Babylon, and his son Baltassar, that their reign on earth may last as long as heaven itself.
 Baruch	Bar	30	1	12	May the Lord grant courage to all of us, and send us a gleam of hope; long thrive we under the protection of king Nabuchodonosor and his son Baltassar, persevering loyally in their service and winning their favour!
 Baruch	Bar	30	1	13	And intercede with the Lord our God for us exiles; against his divine will we have rebelled, and to this hour he has not relented.
 Baruch	Bar	30	1	14	Scan closely, too, this book we are sending to you; it is to be read aloud on feast-days and in times of solemn assembly.
 Baruch	Bar	30	1	15	You shall make your prayer in these words following. The fault was never with him, the Lord our God; ours the blush of shame, as all Juda this day and all the citizens of Jerusalem can witness.
 Baruch	Bar	30	1	16	With king and prince of ours, priest and prophet of ours the fault lies, and with our fathers before us.
 Baruch	Bar	30	1	17	We have defied the will of the Lord our God; trust and loyalty we had none to give him,
 Baruch	Bar	30	1	18	nor ever shewed him submission, by listening to his divine voice and following the commands he gave us.
 Baruch	Bar	30	1	19	Ever since the day when he rescued our fathers from Egypt we have been in rebellion against the Lord our God, straying ever further from the sound of his voice;
 Baruch	Bar	30	1	20	till at last, as these times can witness, bale and ban have caught us by the heels, the very same he pronounced to his servant Moses long ago, when he had rescued our fathers from Egypt and was leading them on to a land all milk and honey.
 Baruch	Bar	30	1	21	Unheeded, that divine voice, when message after message came to us through his prophets;
 Baruch	Bar	30	1	22	each must follow the whim of his own false heart, doing sacrifice to alien gods, and setting the will of the Lord, our own God, at defiance.
 Baruch	Bar	30	2	1	That is why the Lord our God has made good his threats against us; against the rulers of Israel, whether kings or nobles, and against the common folk of Israel and Juda.
 Baruch	Bar	30	2	2	Here was a threat made in the law of Moses, that went beyond all hitherto seen on earth, and yet in Jerusalem it came true;
 Baruch	Bar	30	2	3	that men would be eating the flesh of their own sons and daughters!
 Baruch	Bar	30	2	4	Neighbouring kings had the mastery, and in all the far countries to which the Lord had banished us, we became a thing of scorn and horror.
 Baruch	Bar	30	2	5	Slaves are we, that might have ruled; and the reason of it? Because by sinning we offended the Lord our God, and left his voice unheeded;
 Baruch	Bar	30	2	6	his was never the fault; for us and for our fathers the blush of shame, as this day can witness.
 Baruch	Bar	30	2	7	No calamity has befallen us but he, the Lord, had prophesied it;
 Baruch	Bar	30	2	8	and still we would not sue for the divine mercy, but each of us went on straying by false paths.
 Baruch	Bar	30	2	9	That is why the Lord’s jealous care was for our undoing; he has but fulfilled what he threatened; in all he has imposed upon us, the Lord our God is without fault.
 Baruch	Bar	30	2	10	It was our fault if we would not listen to his warnings, would not follow the divine commands which he set before us.
 Baruch	Bar	30	2	11	Lord God of Israel, whose constraining hand rescued thy people from Egypt with portents and wonders, with sovereign power signally manifested, and won thee renown that is thine yet,
 Baruch	Bar	30	2	12	we are sinners! We have wronged thee, revolted against every claim thou hast upon us.
 Baruch	Bar	30	2	13	But oh, would thy vengeance give over the pursuit! So wide thou hast parted us, and we are left so few.
 Baruch	Bar	30	2	14	Grant a hearing, Lord, to this our plaint and plea; for thy own honour, be our rescuer still, and win over the hearts of our captors;
 Baruch	Bar	30	2	15	prove to the whole world that thou art the Lord our God, that it was thy name Israel bore, and Israel’s race yet bears.
 Baruch	Bar	30	2	16	Look down upon us, Lord, from the sanctuary where thou dwellest; thine be the attentive ear,
 Baruch	Bar	30	2	17	the watchful eye! Once breath has left body, and a man lies in the grave, honour and devoir is none he can pay thee;
 Baruch	Bar	30	2	18	but let a man be downcast over his great misfortune, so that he goes bowed and tottering, dim eyes and hungry belly, there, Lord, thou shalt have the honour that is thy due.
 Baruch	Bar	30	2	19	Well for us, O Lord our God, as we pour out our supplications for thy mercy, if we could plead that fathers of ours, kings of ours, did loyally thy will.
 Baruch	Bar	30	2	20	But no; thou hadst given them due warning, through those prophets that were servants of thine, before letting thy angry vengeance have its way, and the warning went unheeded.
 Baruch	Bar	30	2	21	Bow shoulder and bow neck, said the divine voice, and be vassals to the king of Babylon; and the land I gave to your fathers shall still be your home.
 Baruch	Bar	30	2	22	Refuse to serve the king of Babylon at my divine bidding, and Jerusalem with her daughter cities shall mourn their loss;
 Baruch	Bar	30	2	23	no more the cry of joy and mirth, no more the voice of bridegroom and of bride; untrodden the whole land shall be, and uninhabited.
 Baruch	Bar	30	2	24	But all thy threats could not persuade them to be the king of Babylon’s vassals; thy servants prophesied in vain. And so thy threats were performed; kings of ours and fathers of ours might not rest quiet in their graves;
 Baruch	Bar	30	2	25	their bones were cast out to endure sun’s heat and night frost, and great anguish they endured in their deaths, from the sword, and famine, and pestilence.
 Baruch	Bar	30	2	26	As for the temple that was the shrine of thy name, thou madest it into the thing it is this day, for Israel’s sin, for Juda’s sin.
 Baruch	Bar	30	2	27	No greater proof we could have had of thy consideration, of that abundant mercy which is thine.
 Baruch	Bar	30	2	28	And merciful was the promise thou didst make to thy servant Moses, when thou badest him write down thy law for Israel’s acceptance.
 Baruch	Bar	30	2	29	Out of all this swarming multitude, thou didst say to him, what a sorry remnant of scattered exiles will be left, if my voice goes unheeded!
 Baruch	Bar	30	2	30	And go unheeded it will; this is a race that ever spurns the yoke. What then if they come back to a right mind, there in the country of their banishment?
 Baruch	Bar	30	2	31	What if they learn to recognize that I, the Lord, am their God (the heedful heart, the listening ear, are mine to give them);
 Baruch	Bar	30	2	32	what if they remember to honour me, to invoke my name, in their exile?
 Baruch	Bar	30	2	33	What if they follow the example of their fathers, that were sinners before them, repent of their stubborn indifference and of all their ill doings?
 Baruch	Bar	30	2	34	Then they shall come home again; back to the country I promised to their fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; they shall be masters of it, and their dwindled strength shall thrive anew.
 Baruch	Bar	30	2	35	A fresh covenant I will make with them, that shall last for ever; I their God, and they my people; never again will I banish my people, the sons of Israel, from the land I have made theirs.
 Baruch	Bar	30	3	1	Lord Almighty, God of Israel, here be lives in jeopardy, here be troubled hearts, that plead with thee!
 Baruch	Bar	30	3	2	Listen, Lord, and have mercy, none so merciful as thou; pardon the sins that lie open in thy sight.
 Baruch	Bar	30	3	3	Thou reignest for ever; must we for ever be lost?
 Baruch	Bar	30	3	4	Lord Almighty, God of Israel, listen to the prayer Israel makes to thee from the grave! Our fathers it was that defied the Lord their God, and gave no heed to him; and to us, their sons, the punishment clings.
 Baruch	Bar	30	3	5	Forget the wrong they did, those fathers of ours; remember thy ancient power, thy own honour, this day;
 Baruch	Bar	30	3	6	only to thee, the Lord our God, shall praise of ours be given.
 Baruch	Bar	30	3	7	Why else hast thou inspired us with such dread of thee? Thou wouldst have us learn to invoke thy name, to utter thy praise, here as exiles, in proof that we disown the wrong our fathers did, when their sins defied thee.
 Baruch	Bar	30	3	8	Exiles we are this day, dispersed by thee to suffer scorn and reviling, until we have made amends for all the wrong our fathers did when they abandoned thee, abandoned the Lord our God.
 Baruch	Bar	30	3	9	Listen, Israel, to the warnings that shall bring thee life; give attentive audience, if thou wouldst learn to be wise.
 Baruch	Bar	30	3	10	What means it, Israel, that thou findest thyself in the enemy’s land,
 Baruch	Bar	30	3	11	grown old in exile, unclean as a dead body, no more taken into account than men who have gone down into their graves?
 Baruch	Bar	30	3	12	It is because thou hast forsaken the fountain whence all wisdom comes.
 Baruch	Bar	30	3	13	If thou hadst but followed the path God shewed thee, thou mightest have lived in peace eternally.
 Baruch	Bar	30	3	14	Learn where to find wisdom, and strength, and discernment; so thou wilt find length of years, too, and true life, and cheerfulness, and peace.
 Baruch	Bar	30	3	15	Who can tell where wisdom dwells, who has made his way into her store-house?
 Baruch	Bar	30	3	16	What has become of those heathen princes, who gained mastery of the beasts that roam the earth,
 Baruch	Bar	30	3	17	tamed the birds for their pastime;
 Baruch	Bar	30	3	18	heaping up silver and gold, man’s confidence, man’s interminable quest? How anxiously they toiled for wealth! And now these devices of theirs are beyond our tracing.
 Baruch	Bar	30	3	19	They disappeared, went to their graves, and other succeeded them;
 Baruch	Bar	30	3	20	a younger generation saw the light and peopled the earth in its turn; but still they could not find their way to the true wisdom,
 Baruch	Bar	30	3	21	the path to it was hidden still. Their children, too, clutched at it in vain, it was as far as ever from their reach.
 Baruch	Bar	30	3	22	In Chanaan, none had heard tell of it, in Theman none had caught sight of it;
 Baruch	Bar	30	3	23	even the sons of Agar, so well schooled in earthly wisdom, even the merchants of Merrha and Theman, with all their store of legend, their skill and cunning laboriously gained, never found the track of true wisdom, or told us what its haunts were.
 Baruch	Bar	30	3	24	Israel, how wide is God’s house, how spacious is his domain,
 Baruch	Bar	30	3	25	large beyond all bound, high beyond all measure!
 Baruch	Bar	30	3	26	The heroes of old were nurtured there, men whose fame has come down to us from the beginning of time, huge in stature, great warriors;
 Baruch	Bar	30	3	27	but it was not these God had chosen; they died without ever attaining true knowledge.
 Baruch	Bar	30	3	28	Not for them was the possession of wisdom, and in their folly they perished.
 Baruch	Bar	30	3	29	What man ever scaled heaven, gained wisdom there, and brought it back from the clouds?
 Baruch	Bar	30	3	30	What man ever crossed the sea, and found it there, brought it back like a cargo of pure gold?
 Baruch	Bar	30	3	31	The path to it none may know, the clue of it none may find.
 Baruch	Bar	30	3	32	Only he who knows all things possesses it, only his mind conceives it. He it is who framed the abiding earth, and filled it with cattle and four-footed beasts of every kind.
 Baruch	Bar	30	3	33	It is on his errand that the light goes forth, his summons that it obeys with awe;
 Baruch	Bar	30	3	34	joyfully the stars shine out, keeping the watches he has appointed,
 Baruch	Bar	30	3	35	answer when he calls their muster-roll, and offer their glad radiance to him who fashioned them.
 Baruch	Bar	30	3	36	Such a God is ours; what rival will be compared to him?
 Baruch	Bar	30	3	37	He it is who has the key to all knowledge, and gave it to his servant Jacob, to the well-loved race of Israel;
 Baruch	Bar	30	3	38	not till then would he reveal himself on earth, and hold converse with mortal men.
 Baruch	Bar	30	4	1	Here is the book in which you may read God’s commandments, that law of his which stands for ever; holding fast by it or forsaking it, a man makes life or death his goal.
 Baruch	Bar	30	4	2	Jacob, thy steps retrace, and this path follow, guiding thy steps by glow of the light that beckons thee;
 Baruch	Bar	30	4	3	this is thy pride, wouldst thou yield it up to another? Thy prize, shall an alien race enjoy it?
 Baruch	Bar	30	4	4	Israel, a blessed race is ours, that has knowledge of God’s will.
 Baruch	Bar	30	4	5	People of God, take courage, all that is left of Israel’s muster-roll!
 Baruch	Bar	30	4	6	Sold as slaves though you be, he does not mean your ruin. He has given your enemies the mastery, none the less; had you not defied his vengeance?
 Baruch	Bar	30	4	7	Had you not challenged the eternal power that made you, by sacrificing to evil powers, that gods were none?
 Baruch	Bar	30	4	8	To God that fostered you, what ingratitude, to Jerusalem that nursed you, what bitter pain!
 Baruch	Bar	30	4	9	Alas, she cried, as she saw the divine vengeance falling on you, listen, neighbour cities all, to my complaint; here is a heavy load of grief God has charged me with!
 Baruch	Bar	30	4	10	Sentence of banishment he, the eternal, has pronounced upon my people, sons and daughters of mine;
 Baruch	Bar	30	4	11	how joyously I nurtured them, with what tears of anguish I saw them depart!
 Baruch	Bar	30	4	12	And let none boast over my widowing, that so much have lost; if I am thus forlorn, it is because of my sons’ transgression, that refused God’s will;
 Baruch	Bar	30	4	13	his claim disowned, his paths left untrodden; not for them the straight road of loyal observance.
 Baruch	Bar	30	4	14	Come, neighbours, tell we the sad tale again, how he, the eternal, would sentence these sons and daughters of mine to exile.
 Baruch	Bar	30	4	15	A cruel race he summoned to the attack from far away, men of an alien speech;
 Baruch	Bar	30	4	16	for old age they had no reverence, for childhood no pity; robbed widow of her darling sons, and left her desolate.
 Baruch	Bar	30	4	17	Alas, my children, look not to me for aid!
 Baruch	Bar	30	4	18	He it is must save you from the power of your enemies, who is the author of your calamity.
 Baruch	Bar	30	4	19	Go your ways, my children, go your ways; I am left desolate;
 Baruch	Bar	30	4	20	the festal robe of happier times I have put aside, clothed myself in sackcloth as the suppliants do; I will spend my days pleading with him, the eternal.
 Baruch	Bar	30	4	21	Take courage, my children, and raise your voices, too, in appeal; from the enemy’s tyrant grasp the Lord shall deliver you.
 Baruch	Bar	30	4	22	Upon him, the eternal, I pin evermore my hopes of your happiness, the holy God, evermore our deliverer! Light grows my heart, to think of the mercy he has in store for you.
 Baruch	Bar	30	4	23	With lamentation I bade farewell to you, and with tears; with joy and triumph he will bring you back to me, and for ever;
 Baruch	Bar	30	4	24	these neighbours of mine, that saw you banished at his decree, shall witness ere long a divine deliverance; what renown shall be yours when it comes, what dawn unending!
 Baruch	Bar	30	4	25	Bear patiently, my children, with the punishment that has overtaken you. What if thy enemy hunts thee down? Ere long thou shalt see the ruin of him, set thy foot on his neck!
 Baruch	Bar	30	4	26	Ah, the rough roads delicate feet of yours have travelled! Like a plundered flock the enemy drove you.
 Baruch	Bar	30	4	27	Yet take courage, my children, and cry out upon the Lord; he, the author of your exile, has not forgotten you.
 Baruch	Bar	30	4	28	Hearts that loved to stray, ten times more eagerly retrace your steps, and come back to him!
 Baruch	Bar	30	4	29	And he, that compassed your woe, in unfading joy will compass your deliverance.
 Baruch	Bar	30	4	30	Thyself, Jerusalem, take courage! He that called thee by thy name brings thee comfort.
 Baruch	Bar	30	4	31	Woe to the men that harassed thee, and triumphed in thy ruin,
 Baruch	Bar	30	4	32	woe to every city that enslaved and harboured children of thine!
 Baruch	Bar	30	4	33	No smile of content greeted the disaster of thy fall, but shall be paid for with a sigh of desolation;
 Baruch	Bar	30	4	34	the city that was once so populous, all its boasting gone, all its pride of yesterday turned into lament!
 Baruch	Bar	30	4	35	Long shall the fires of eternal justice smoulder there, long shall it be the haunt of devils.
 Baruch	Bar	30	4	36	Turn thee about, Jerusalem, and look to the sun’s rising; see what rejoicing the Lord has in store for thee;
 Baruch	Bar	30	4	37	sons of thine, in many lands lost to thee, gathered by his call from east to west shall come back again, praising joyfully God’s holy will.
 Baruch	Bar	30	5	1	Enough, Jerusalem; lay aside now the sad garb of thy humiliation, and put on bright robes, befitting the eternal glory God means for thee;
 Baruch	Bar	30	5	2	cloak of divine protection thrown about thee, thy temples bearing a diadem of renown.
 Baruch	Bar	30	5	3	In thee God will manifest the splendour of his presence, for the whole world to see;
 Baruch	Bar	30	5	4	and the name by which he will call thee for ever is, Loyalty rewarded, Piety crowned.
 Baruch	Bar	30	5	5	Up, Jerusalem, to the heights! Look to the sun’s rising, and see if thy sons be not coming to thee, gathered from east to west, joyfully acknowledging God’s holy will!
 Baruch	Bar	30	5	6	Afoot they were led off by the enemy; it is the Lord that shall lead them home, borne aloft like royal princes.
 Baruch	Bar	30	5	7	He will have the ground made level; high mountain must stoop, and immemorial hill, and the valleys be filled up, for Israel’s safe passage and God’s glory;
 Baruch	Bar	30	5	8	spinneys of every scented tree shall grow, by his divine command, to give Israel shade.
 Baruch	Bar	30	5	9	So merciful he is, and so faithful! In great content, their journey lit by the majesty of his presence, Israel shall come home.
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	1	Here follows a copy of the letter Jeremias sent to the prisoners whom the king of Babylon was carrying off to his own country, with the warnings God bade him give them: In atonement for the sins by which you have offended God, you shall now be carried off to Babylon, by Nabuchodonosor that is king of it.
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	2	Babylon once reached, you shall have a long exile there, years a many, till seven generations have passed; then I will grant you a safe return.
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	3	And you must know that you will see, in that country, gods of gold and silver, gods of stone and wood, that are carried about on men’s shoulders; to the heathen, things of great dread.
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	4	Look well to it that you do not fall in with these alien customs, by the same fear overmastered.
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	5	What though a great throng of worshippers attends them, before and behind? Let your hearts whisper in adoration, To thee, Lord, all worship belongs!
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	6	My angel is at your side, and your lives shall be held to account for it.
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	7	Puppets of gold and silver, speak they cannot, for all the craftsman has given them tongues to speak with.
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	8	Ay, gold must go to their fashioning, never was maid so bravely tricked out;
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	9	gods they are, and must wear golden crowns. And of this gold and silver the priests will steal some part for their own uses,
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	10	and spend it on their minions; what the gods wore, harlots wear, what harlots wore, the gods.
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	11	From rust they cannot protect themselves, nor from the moth;
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	12	alas for the purple robes that deck them! And the temple dust lies thick upon them, so that their faces must be wiped clean.
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	13	Here is an idol bearing a sceptre, human-fashion, as though it ruled the country-side, yet has it no power to kill the blasphemer;
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	14	another carries sword or axe, yet from alarm of war or of robbers cannot defend itself; be sure, then, gods they are not.
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	15	Never fear them; broken jar a man throws away as useless can be matched with such gods as these.
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	16	There they sit in their temples, with eyes full of dust from the feet of passers-by,
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	17	mewed up by their priests with bolt and bar for fear of robbery, like king’s enemy in his dungeon, dead man in his tomb;
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	18	of all the lights that burn before them, they see none; roof-beam is not more senseless.
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	19	Yet men will have it that serpents creep out of the earth and drink in the secrets of their hearts! Worms, more like, that eat the idol up, clothes and all, and it none the wiser.
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	20	Smoke of the temple blackens their faces;
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	21	about their bodies and heads fly owl and swallow; birds hover and cats prowl.
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	22	Be sure they are no gods; never fear them.
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	23	Fair, golden faces! Yet will they not shine on the worshipper, till he rub off the stains on them; cast once for all in a mould, without feeling.
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	24	Cost what they will, there is never a breath of life in them;
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	25	never a pace they walk, but must still be carried on men’s shoulders, putting their own worshippers to shame by the betrayal of their impotence.
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	26	Fall they to earth, they cannot rise from it, and though they be set up again, it is in no power of their own that they stand. As well bring gifts to dead men as to these;
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	27	the victim thou offerest yonder priest will sell, or put to his own use, nor ever a slice his wife cuts shall find its way to the sick and the needy.
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	28	Those offerings every woman may touch if she will, child-birth and monthly times notwithstanding. And are these gods? Are these to be feared?
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	29	Things of silver and gold and wood, that have women for their ministers, shall the divine name be theirs?
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	30	In their temples you shall find priests sitting by with clothes rent, shaven and shorn, heads uncovered,
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	31	raising lament over their gods as at a dead man’s dirge.
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	32	Vestments their idols wore they will carry away, to dress their wives and children;
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	33	so powerless are these gods to requite injury or reward service done. Not theirs to make kings or unmake them,
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	34	grant riches, or wreak vengeance; the unpaid vow they cannot exact,
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	35	nor deliver men from death, and the tyrant’s oppression,
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	36	give sight to the blind, succour in time of peril,
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	37	shew mercy to the widow, or cheer the orphan’s lot.
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	38	Things of wood and stone, gold and silver, no more than rock on the mountain-side can they speed their worshippers;
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	39	gods do we reckon them, gods do we call them?
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	40	And indeed the Chaldaeans themselves have but scant reverence for these idols of theirs; hear they of a dumb child that can utter no word, Bel’s image must be brought to it and petitioned for the gift of speech;
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	41	as if the senseless thing which cannot move could yet hear them! Sense neither god nor worshipper has, else god should find no worship.
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	42	See where their women sit in the streets, with ropes about them, each before a fire of olive-stones,
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	43	each waiting till some passer-by drags her away and beds her, then taunting her less coveted neighbours, that have ropes about them still!
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	44	All lies, the worship of them, and shall they claim the title of gods?
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	45	Carpenters made them and goldsmiths, only at the priests’ whim;
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	46	and shall the handicraft of mortal craftsmen be divine?
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	47	One day, their descendants will reproach them with a legacy of imposture.
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	48	Come war, come peril, the priest thinks only of hiding himself and his gods both;
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	49	gods who shall think them, that from war and peril their own selves cannot deliver?
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	50	Recognize it at last they will, kings and peoples everywhere, that gods of wood, gold and silver are false gods, creatures of man, not creators.
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	51	Man’s handiwork, with nothing in them of the divine, who can doubt it?
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	52	Not through them comes king to throne, comes rain to country folk;
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	53	redress wrong they may not, nor rid a people of tyranny; dead crow hung between heaven and earth is not more powerless.
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	54	Does a temple catch fire? You shall see priests taking refuge in flight, and the wooden gods, for all the silver and gold on them, burning among the woodwork.
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	55	Against the king’s power, against the enemy’s attack, they can make no head; who shall reckon them or name them divine?
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	56	Wood and stone, gold and silver, how to protect themselves against the superior strength of house-breaker and robber,
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	57	that will carry off sheathes of silver and gold, carry off the clothes from their backs, and leave them powerless?
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	58	Better some golden emblem of royal prowess, cup of silver meant for use, not only for display, door of wood that keeps safe the treasures of a house, than these deceiving idols!
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	59	How fair to look upon are sun and moon and stars! Yet theirs is loyal and useful service;
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	60	and so it is with yonder lightning, that dazzles the view. Everywhere winds blowing,
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	61	clouds drifting across the earth as God bade them, fulfil an appointed task;
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	62	an appointed task, too, has the heaven-lit fire that burns mountain-side and forest. What beauty have the idols, or what power, that they should be compared with any of these?
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	63	Gods never think them, gods never call them, that have no power to execute judgement, to do men good or ill.
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	64	And, since gods they are not, need is none to fear them;
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	65	can they pronounce a curse or a blessing on kings?
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	66	Can they startle the world with portents, shine like the sun, light up darkness like the moon?
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	67	Why, the very beasts are their betters, that know at least how to take shelter for their own safety!
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	68	Fear we never the gods that ungod themselves so plainly!
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	69	Wood and silver and gold, that watch over the world as a scare-crow over a herb-garden;
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	70	wood and silver and gold, patient of the birds that perch on them as bush of white-thorn, or corpse left to lie in a dark alley!
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	71	From the purple robes that rot on them, you may learn they are no gods; they, too, shall be eaten away when their time comes, and be a disgrace to the country-side.
 Baruch	Bar	30	6	72	Well it is for God’s loyal servants, that eschew idolatry, and live from all censure far removed.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	1	1	Thirty years had passed; it was the fifth day of the fourth month, and I was sharing the lot of the exiles by the river Chobar, when heaven opened, and I saw a vision of God.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	1	2	The fifth day of the month, and the fifth year since king Joachin was banished.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	1	3	To the priest Ezechiel, son of Buzi, the divine word came; there in the Chaldaean land, by the river Chobar, the power of the Lord could reach him.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	1	4	I looked round me, to find that a storm-wind had sprung up from the north, driving a great cloud before it; and this cloud had fire caught up in it, that fringed it with radiance. And there in the heart of it, in the very heart of the fire, was a glow like amber,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	1	5	that enclosed four living figures. These were human in appearance,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	1	6	but each had four faces, and two pairs of wings.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	1	7	Either leg was straight-formed, yet ended in a calf’s hoof; they sparkled like red-hot bronze.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	1	8	On each of the four sides, human arms shewed beneath the wings; faces and wings looked outwards four ways.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	1	9	Wings of each were held touching wings of other; and when they moved, they did not turn round, but each kept an onward course.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	1	10	As for the appearance of their faces, each had the face of a man, yet each of the four looked like a lion when seen from the right, like an ox when seen from the left, like an eagle when seen from above.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	1	11	So much for their faces; each had two wings spread out above him, those two which met his neighbours’ wings; with the other two he veiled his body.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	1	12	Each of them marched straight forward, following the movement of a divine impulse, never swerving as he marched.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	1	13	There was that, too, in the appearance of the living figures which put me in mind of flaming coals, or of torches; that was what I saw going to and fro in the midst of the living figures, a glow as of fire, and from this glow lightning came out.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	1	14	So the living creatures came and went, vivid as lightning-flashes.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	1	15	And as I watched the living figures, all at once wheels appeared close to them, one at each of the four sides,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	1	16	of strange colour and form. All four were alike, the colour of aquamarine, and each looked like a wheel within a wheel.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	1	17	Moved they, it was ever one of the four ways the living figures looked; and they did not turn round in moving.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	1	18	As for their size, their height was terrible to look upon; and the whole frame of them, all round, was full of eyes.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	1	19	Onward the wheels moved, when the living figures moved onward, at their side; rose above the earth when the living figures rose above it.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	1	20	They too had a living impulse in them, they too, whenever that impulse stirred them, must rise up and follow the way it went;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	1	21	with the living figures, whose vital impulse they shared, the wheels too moved, and halted, and rose.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	1	22	Over the living figures a vault seemed to rise, like a sheet of dazzling crystal resting on their heads;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	1	23	under this vault each held two wings erect to meet his neighbour’s. Each had two turned upwards to overshadow him, and two turned downwards to veil his body.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	1	24	When they moved, the sound of their wings reached me, loud as waters in flood or thunders from on high, incessant as the hum of a great throng or an armed camp; only when they came to rest did they lower their wings.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	1	25	A voice would come from the firmament over their heads; then they would halt, then they would lower their wings.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	1	26	Above this vault that rested on them, sapphire blue towered up into the form of a throne, nor did that throne seem to be empty; a shape was there above it, as of one enthroned,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	1	27	and all about him it was filled with amber-coloured flame. Upwards from his loins, downwards from his loins, an arch of light seemed to shine,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	1	28	like rainbow among the clouds on a day of storm; there was brightness all about him.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	2	1	So much I saw of what the Lord’s glory is like; and seeing it, I fell down face to earth. And now I heard a voice, which said to me, Rise up, son of man, I must have speech with thee.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	2	2	And at his words, a divine force mastered me, raising me to my feet, so that I could listen to him.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	2	3	Son of man, he told me, I am sending thee on an errand to the men of Israel, this heathen brood that has rebelled and forsaken me; see how my covenant has been violated by the fathers yesterday, the children to-day!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	2	4	To brazen-faced folk and hard-hearted thy errand is, and still from the Lord God a message thou must deliver,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	2	5	hear they or deny thee hearing; rebels all, at least they shall know that they have had a prophet in their midst.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	2	6	Never fear them, son of man, never let rebuke of theirs dishearten thee; with the unbelieving and the unruly thou must learn to live, scorpions ever at thy side; rebels all, they must not frighten thee, must not dishearten thee.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	2	7	Hear they or deny thee hearing, remonstrate with them thou must; they are a defiant brood.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	2	8	Do my bidding, then, son of man; no rebel thou, like those others; open thy mouth and eat what I give thee.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	2	9	And with that, I saw a hand stretched out towards me, with a closed book in it; and this, when he opened it to my view, had writing on both sides of it; nothing was there but dirge and lamenting, nothing but cries of woe.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	3	1	Son of man, he told me, eat thou must what eat thou canst; here is this scroll for thy eating. After that, go and give my message to the sons of Israel.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	3	2	Thereupon I opened my mouth, and he gave me the scroll to eat,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	3	3	promising me safe digestion and a full belly with the gift; and indeed, it was sweet as honey when I ate it.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	3	4	Now, son of man, said he, to the men of Israel betake thee, and give them my message.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	3	5	Are they strange folk that lisp and stammer, these men of Israel? Ah, no;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	3	6	nations there are a many that lisp and stammer, past thy understanding, but I am sending thee to Israel instead. These might have listened to thee;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	3	7	hearing from Israel thou shalt have none; my word goes ever unheeded, so stubborn of forehead they are and so hard-hearted, all the brood of them.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	3	8	But see, I have given thee strength of brow, hardness of forehead, that shall outmatch theirs;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	3	9	unyielding as flint or adamant thou shalt face them. Fear them not, never let their frown daunt thee, this brood of rebels.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	3	10	Then he said to me, Son of man, all the words I tell thee heed and hear;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	3	11	then to captive Israel betake thee, and give them thy message in the name of the Lord God, hear they or deny thee hearing.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	3	12	And with that, a sudden transport seized me, and as I went, I heard the noise of a great stir behind me.… Blessed be the glory of the Lord… from the place where he was.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	3	13	Beat of wing against wing as the living figures moved onwards, and whirr of the wheels that followed them, great stirring there was all about me;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	3	14	and I, in a transport borne up and on, set out on my journey, unwillingly enough, and vexed at heart, but the Lord’s hand was there to hold me to my purpose.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	3	15	So I made my way to the settlement of exiles at Tel-Abib, near the river Chobar; and when I had found them, I sat there for seven days in their company, dumb all the while with grief.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	3	16	Then, when seven days had passed, the Lord’s word came to me.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	3	17	Son of man, he told me, I am posting thee here as a sentry, to give the sons of Israel warning; no message I send thee but thou must pass it on in my name.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	3	18	When I threaten I the sinner with doom of death, it is for thee to give him word, and warn him, as he loves his life, to have done with sinning. If not, he shall die as he deserves, but for his undoing thyself shalt be called to account.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	3	19	If thou warn him, and leave his rebellious sinning he will not, die he shall as he deserves, and thou go free.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	3	20	Or if the upright man leaves his innocence, and I take him unawares in his wrong-doing, dies he for want of warning? Die he shall, his good deeds all forgotten, but thou for his undoing shalt be called to account.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	3	21	Thine to warn the upright man against the marring of his innocence; and he, sin avoiding, shall owe his life to thy remonstrance; thy duty is done.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	3	22	Then the power of the Lord came over me, bidding me rise up and keep tryst with him, out in the open plain.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	3	23	Rise up I did, and when I reached the open plain, there was the glory of the Lord rising above it, such as I had seen it by the banks of Chobar; and I fell face to earth.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	3	24	But a divine force mastered me and raised me to my feet again. Now go within doors, he said, and shut thyself in there…
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	3	25	And thou, son of man… here are bonds confining thee; closely thy fellow-countrymen shall keep thee imprisoned, so that thou canst not escape from them.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	3	26	And I, meanwhile, will keep tongue of thine fast fixed in thy mouth; dumb thou shalt be, when thou wouldst fain expostulate with a rebellious brood.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	3	27	Then, when my message I give thee, I will unseal thy lips, and thou shalt speak to that rebellious brood in the name of the Lord God, hear they or deny thee hearing.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	4	1	And now, son of man, go and get thee a tile; set it before thee and make marks on it, to represent the city of Jerusalem.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	4	2	This thou art to beleaguer; siege-works built, mound raised, camp pitched, battering-rams all around.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	4	3	And therewithal get thee an iron cooking-pan, that shall make a ring of iron between thee and this city of thine; look closely as thou wilt, here is siege complete. So thou shalt beleaguer it; a sign, this, for the race of Israel.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	4	4	This, too, thou must do; ever on thy left side lie down to sleep, weighing it down, day after day as thou sleepest upon it, with the guilt of Israel; bear it thou must.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	4	5	Three hundred and ninety days of guilt-bearing I have allotted thee, one day for every year of Israel’s guilt;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	4	6	this done, Juda’s guilt thou must bear for forty days yet, sleeping on thy right side; a day for a year, for every year a day.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	4	7	And ever towards beleaguered Jerusalem thou shalt turn thy face, and hold thy arm stretched out, prophesying its doom;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	4	8	I hold thee enchained, and never shalt thou turn from one side to other, till the days of thy siege are over.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	4	9	For thy food, wheat thou must have by thee, and barley, and beans, and lentils, and spelt, and vetch; all in one pan mix them, and make thee bread, while thou art sleeping ever on thy same side; for three hundred and ninety days thou shalt eat it.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	4	10	Nine ounces shall be all thy daily food, at set times apportioned,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	4	11	and water thou shalt drink at set times, two pints by measure.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	4	12	Cooked in the ashes thy bread, like barley cakes, and dung of man shall be thy fuel, for all to see.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	4	13	Polluted as this, the Lord says, shall be the bread Israel eats, in the land I have decreed for his exile.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	4	14	Alas, alas, Lord God, said I, here is a soul that never knew defilement; from childhood’s days, beast I never ate that died by chance or lay mangled, nor ever did food unclean cross my lips.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	4	15	Be it so, he answered; for dung of man droppings of cattle thou shalt have, and cook thy bread with these.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	4	16	But be sure of this, son of man; I mean to cut off from Jerusalem every source of bread; weighed out to them their bread shall be, and anxiously, measured out to them their water, and in great lack.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	4	17	And at last, for want of bread and water, every man’s face shall fall as he looks at other, and they shall pine away in their guilt.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	5	1	And next, son of man, to the sharp sword betake thee! A razor thou must take, and pass it over head and beard both; then weigh thy hair in the scales and make equal portions of it.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	5	2	A third of it thou shalt set alight and burn up within this city of thine, when the days of its besieging are over; a third thou shalt cut to pieces with the blade thou carriest, round about it; and a third thou shalt scatter to the winds, for my unsheathed sword to go in pursuit.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	5	3	Of this last third, gather some few hairs and secure them in the fold of thy cloak;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	5	4	yet even of these take some away and throw them into the heart of the fire, to burn there; fire enough to kindle the whole race of Israel!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	5	5	Look you, says the Lord God, here is Jerusalem, that I have set down at earth’s very midst, the nations all about her,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	5	6	and she has defied my will, than the very heathen more rebellious, defied my commandments, as neighbouring peoples never did. My bidding they have cast to the winds, followed never where my commandments led.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	5	7	All your neighbours, the Lord God says, outdone in wickedness, my paths untrodden, my bidding unheeded! False even to the heathen traditions of yonder country-side!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	5	8	Have at thee, says the Lord God; in thy very heart I will execute judgement for all the world to see;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	5	9	such punishment I will inflict as never was before, never shall be again, for thy detestable doings.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	5	10	Men’s flesh men shall eat, father of son and son of father; then, when my sentence is executed, I will scatter all that is left of thee to the four winds.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	5	11	As I am a living God, the Lord says, since thou hast not scrupled to profane my sanctuary with vile things and detestable things a many, I will make havoc of thee, and my eye shall not melt with pity; I will not scruple in my turn.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	5	12	A third of thy sons shall die of pestilence, or with famine pine away; a third shall fall in thy defence; a third I will scatter to the four winds, and my sword unsheathed in pursuit.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	5	13	And at last, my anger spent, my vengeance glutted, my grief healed, doubt they shall not that the God whom they slighted has decreed it; my sentence shall take full toll of them.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	5	14	Desolate, and the scorn of thy neighbours, so every passer-by shall see thee.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	5	15	A name of scorn and reproach, a by-word thou shalt be and a thing of horror, to all the nations about thee, when thy punishment is done, so fierce the anger, so shrewd the blow;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	5	16	I, the Lord, have decreed it. Hungry arrows of mine shall fly abroad, dolorous and deadly, for your minishing; famine that grows worse and worse as the stocks of bread fail,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	5	17	and with the famine wild beasts to bereave you, visitations of plague and violent death; and the sword too, I will let loose upon you; I, the Lord, have decreed it.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	6	1	And now the Lord’s word came to me:
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	6	2	Turn thy eyes, son of man, towards the hills of thy own country, and prophesy their doom.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	6	3	Mountains of Israel, thou shalt say, listen to the word of the Lord God; here is a message from the Lord God to mountain and hill, to rocky slope and river-bed. I mean to let the sword loose on you, pull shrine down,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	6	4	overthrow altar, break column, pile corpses before the false god’s feet;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	6	5	before every idol, sons of Israel prostrate in death, before every altar, the ground strewn with their bones.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	6	6	In all your confines, every city desolate, every shrine wrecked and ruined; deserted and defaced the altars, forlorn the idols, shattered the columns, obliterated all the work of man;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	6	7	and ever the dead lying in the midst of you. Will you doubt, then, the power of the Lord?
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	6	8	I will leave a remnant of you; some shall escape the sword, to live on among the Gentiles, dispersed far and wide;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	6	9	and these survivors, in their land of exile, shall once again bethink themselves of me. Wanton heart that played me false, eyes that hankered still after idols, shall be tamed now; they will look back with loathing on all the foul wrong they did,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	6	10	and confess it was no empty boast, when I threatened this calamity.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	6	11	Clap hands and stamp feet, the Lord God says, and cry aloud, Out upon the foul wrong the men of Israel did, that are now doomed to perish by sword, famine and pestilence!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	6	12	Keep they their distance, the plague shall smite them, come they to grips, the sword; safe behind the battlements, they shall die of famine; so shall my vengeance take toll of them.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	6	13	Who shall doubt the Lord’s power, when the dead lie thick at the feet of your idols and about your altars; on hill-top and mountain height, in forest covert and under spreading oak, where once men would burn fragrant incense to their false gods?
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	6	14	When the blow falls, I will make their countryside, once so thickly inhabited, into a wilderness; Deblatha itself is not more forlorn. And who shall doubt the Lord’s power?
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	7	1	Then the Lord’s word came to me:
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	7	2	And thou, son of man… A message to the land of Israel from the Lord God! For this land, for every corner of it, here is doom, here is doom.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	7	3	Doom for thee at last; I mean to wreak vengeance on thee, pass sentence on thy evil life, bring home to thee thy foul deeds.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	7	4	Nor shall my eye melt with pity; I will not spare. All thy evil life brought home to thee, all thy foul deeds confronting thee; who shall doubt that it comes from the Lord?
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	7	5	The blow, the first blow has fallen, says the Lord God;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	7	6	all is over now, all is over; the day dawns, and for thee doom comes with day.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	7	7	Dwellers in the land, this is the end of you; your time is up, your day has come; a day when your mountains shall echo with tumult, not with harvest-home.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	7	8	Close at hand, now, I will rain down my vengeance upon you, give my anger full play, no crime unjudged, no weight of punishment unborne.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	7	9	Never shall my eye melt with pity for thee; all thy evil life shall be accounted for, all thy foul deeds brought to light; and none shall doubt that I, the Lord, punish.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	7	10	It has come, the day has come; the wheel full circle, the branch in full bloom, pride bears its harvest.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	7	11	Violence has grown up into a shoot of rebellion… and not by their means, not through clamouring multitude of theirs; rest they shall have none.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	7	12	The time is up, the day of reckoning come; who buys now, of his purchase shall have no joy, who sells now, shall not feel his loss; the Lord’s vengeance will overtake the whole throng of citizens alike;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	7	13	alas! here is property alienated for ever, though buyer and seller count among the living yet. The vision is for the whole throng of citizens; there is no reversing it; never a man of that guilty race shall survive.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	7	14	Sound the trumpet there, rally all to arms! But none goes out to war; on the whole throng of citizens my vengeance has fallen;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	7	15	sword without, pestilence and famine within; sword for the straggler, pestilence and famine for the besieged.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	7	16	Fugitives there shall be that make good their flight, but these must take to the mountains, fluttered as the doves that haunt their ravines, sinners all;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	7	17	hands that hang listless, knees weak as water.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	7	18	See where men go clad in sackcloth, trembling in every limb, with downcast faces, and their heads shorn!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	7	19	See where they cast their silver out of doors, their gold on to the dung-hill; how should precious metal speed them in this day of the Lord’s vengeance? Hunger it sates not, belly it fills not; and this, all the while, was the very occasion of their guilt!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	7	20	Did they not pride themselves on the beauty of their workmanship, was it not from this they made images of their detestable false gods? And now there it lies, all defilement!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	7	21	Now I am giving it over to strangers for spoil; the vilest of earth’s inhabitants shall plunder it.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	7	22	Still my eyes shall be averted, while my own treasure-chamber is broken open, while the enemy’s pursuivants enter and profane it.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	7	23	Make short work of it, a land where innocent lives are forfeit, a nest of wrong!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	7	24	The very refuse of the heathen I will summon to dispossess them of their homes, to be masters of their holy places, that proud boast of theirs now for ever silenced.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	7	25	Days of despair, when they will look about them for a respite, and respite shall be none!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	7	26	Fresh anxieties still, and fresh alarms; vainly they ask the prophet for revelation; tradition among the priests, counsel among the elders is none.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	7	27	Mourns king, princes go covered with dismay, numb with despair the common folk; ill they shall fare, that ill did, cruelly be judged, that were cruel judges; they shall know what manner of God they serve.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	8	1	The sixth year of King Sedecias came; and on the fifth day of the sixth month, as I sat in my house with the elders of Juda for my company, the power of the Lord God came over me there.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	8	2	I had a vision; a figure was there before me all aglow, fire beneath where his loins shewed, and from the loins upwards, brightness made visible, like amber to see.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	8	3	It seemed as if an outstretched hand caught me by a lock of my hair; and with that, a force lifted me up between heaven and earth, and I was carried away in a divine transport to Jerusalem. There was the gateway of the inner court, looking northwards, and there was that image of rival deity God sees and hates.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	8	4	There, too, was the bright presence of Israel’s God, as I had seen it earlier on the river plain;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	8	5	Son of man, he told me, look northwards; so northwards I looked from the altar-gate, and saw the image of rival deity standing at the very entrance.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	8	6	Foul deeds a-doing, son of man, said he; little wonder if I was fain to withdraw from my sanctuary, where the men of Israel do me such wrong. But thou art not finished with them; thou hast fouler yet to see.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	8	7	And with that, he brought me close up to the door of the court, where I found a hole in the wall.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	8	8	Then he would have me dig through the wall; so dig I did, and there was a door facing me.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	8	9	Now go in, he told me, and see for thyself what foul deeds are done here.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	8	10	And when I went in to look, what should I find painted on the walls but likenesses of reptile and of beast! A very foul sight it was; no idol Israel worships but it was there;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	8	11	and in front of these pictures stood Jezonias, the son of Saphan, with seventy elders of Israel about him, censer in hand each of them, so that a thick cloud of incense went up.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	8	12	Now, son of man, he told me, thou canst see for thyself what work they make in the darkness, these elders of Israel, each hidden where hide he may; Fear is none, they say, the Lord should see us; he has forsaken the land for good and all, the Lord has.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	8	13	Thou hast not seen all yet, he told me; thou shalt see still fouler things done;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	8	14	and he took me through the northern gate of the temple, and there what found I but women that sat weeping for Adonis?
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	8	15	Hast thou marked it well, son of man? he asked. Prepare thyself for a sight fouler yet.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	8	16	Then he took me into the inner court of the temple, and there, at the door of the Lord’s own house, between porch and altar, some five and twenty men were standing with their backs to the temple, that worshipped the eastern sun.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	8	17	Hast thou marked it well, son of man? he asked. And are they not content, the men of Juda, with such detestable doings as these, that they must provoke me further yet, filling the whole land with wrong? See how they hold branch to nostril!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	8	18	For their busy wickedness, busy shall my vengeance be; unmelting this eye, this heart unpitying, deaf these ears to their cry of complaint.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	9	1	Then I heard him cry aloud, Make way there for the plagues that must befall the city, for the weapon-bearers of death!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	9	2	And with that, from the upper gate which looks northwards, I saw six men coming on their way, and none of them but bore his deadly weapon; in their midst walked another, clad in linen, with a writer’s ink-horn at his girdle. All, when they had entered, took their stand by the brazen altar;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	9	3	and now, borne on cherub wings, the glory of Israel’s God rose above the threshold of the house, summoning him of the linen clothes and the ink-horn to set about his task.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	9	4	Make thy way, the Lord said to him, all through the city, from end to end of Jerusalem; and where thou findest men that weep and wail over the foul deeds done in it, mark their brows with a cross.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	9	5	To the others I heard him say, Yours it is to traverse the city at his heels, and smite. Never let eye of yours melt with pity;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	9	6	old and young, man and maid, mother and child, all alike destroy till none is left, save only where you see the cross marked on them. And begin first with the temple itself. So they began with the elders in the court.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	9	7	Desecrate yonder temple, said he, and fill its precincts with the slain; then go out on your errand. So out they went, and now it was on the city their strokes came.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	9	8	And I, left alone amid that carnage, fell face to earth; Alas, alas, Lord God, cried I, wilt thou destroy all the poor remnant of Israel, pouring out thy vengeance on Jerusalem thus?
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	9	9	Nay, he told me, the guilt of Israel and Juda is past bound or measure; all bloodshed the country-side, the city all wrong-doing; The Lord has forsaken the land for good and all, say they; fear is none the Lord will see it.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	9	10	And should eye of mine melt with pity? Nay, they shall rue yet the false paths they have taken.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	9	11	And sure enough, the man clad in linen stood there with the ink-horn at his side to give account of himself, and reported, I have done thy errand.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	10	1	And now I looked up at the vault over the cherubim, and there was the hue of sapphire, and the likeness of a throne.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	10	2	And his word came to the man clad in linen, Make thy way in where the whirring is loudest, beneath the cherubim, take a handful of the coals that lie there among them, and pour these out over the city. So I watched him make his way in;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	10	3	and all the while, as he did so, the cherubs were standing close to the right of the temple, and the inner court was full of smoke.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	10	4	And the brightness of the Lord’s presence, cherub-throned, rose up above the threshold, till the house was all smoke, and all the precincts filled with the divine radiance;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	10	5	and ever the beating of the cherubs’ wings could be heard in the outer court, loud as the voice of the Omnipotent heard in thunder.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	10	6	There by the wheels stood the man clad in linen, ready to receive the cherub-guarded flame as he was bidden;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	10	7	and one cherub, parting from the rest, reached hand out, took fire from the midst, and gave it him; so he went on his errand.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	10	8	Cherub hand shewed under every cherub wing.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	10	9	Such was the vision I saw; four wheels beside four cherubim, one by each, and their colour shewed like aquamarine;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	10	10	all alike had the same appearance, of a wheel within a wheel.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	10	11	Moved they to this quarter or that, they followed ever without ado the lead of the foremost; there was no turning about when they moved.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	10	12	Eyes were everywhere, on body and neck and hand and wing and wheel too, for each cherub had its own wheel.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	10	13	(It was these wheels I had heard spoken of as the whirring. )
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	10	14	Fourfold was the semblance of them, now cherub, now man, now lion, now eagle.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	10	15	They rose aloft, these cherubim, (such living figures as I had seen by Chobar;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	10	16	the wheels accompanying them as they went, never left behind, but still at their side when they spread their wings for flight,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	10	17	resting when they rested, rising when they rose; these too had a living impulse in them),
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	10	18	and therewith the bright presence of the Lord left the temple threshold, and stood there, cherub-throned.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	10	19	With my own eyes I saw them, as they spread their wings and rose aloft; saw the wheels follow as they went; saw a halt made at the eastern gate of the temple, and the Lord’s bright presence resting above them.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	10	20	Full well I knew that cherubs they were, these living figures I had seen bearing God’s throne by Chobar,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	10	21	each with four semblances, and four wings, and human hands shewing under their wings;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	10	22	the same faces, the same looks, I had seen by Chobar, the same onward impulse of their journeying.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	11	1	Thereupon a transport seized me, carrying me off to the gate of the temple that looks eastward; and here were twenty-five men at the gate’s threshold, with two nobles, Jezonias son of Azur and Pheltias son of Benaias, plain to be seen among them.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	11	2	Son of man, the divine voice said to me, here are folk that plot mischief, and give the city ruinous counsel.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	11	3	What, say they, have we not houses here newly built? We may lie as snug here as meat in a cooking-pot.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	11	4	Tell them of their doom, son of man, tell them of their doom.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	11	5	With that, the spirit of the Lord came full upon me, and bade me speak. This message I gave them from the Lord of hosts, These are your own words, men of Israel; can I not read your hearts?
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	11	6	So many done to death in this city, you have filled all the streets of it with bodies of the slain!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	11	7	You have peopled it with the dead, says the Lord God; their flesh it is shall line yonder cooking-pot; as for you, I will fetch you out of it.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	11	8	The sword it is you dread, and to the sword I doom you, the Lord God says;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	11	9	out of it you shall come, and fall into the enemy’s hands, and be punished as you deserve.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	11	10	Doomed to fall by the sword, up and down the countryside of Israel; then you shall learn what manner of God the Lord is!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	11	11	Cooking-pot is none here to shelter you; up and down the country-side you shall meet your sentence,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	11	12	and learn what manner of God it is whose paths you have left untrodden, whose will you have disobeyed, to follow the ill customs of your neighbours!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	11	13	So, in my vision, I prophesied, and while I was prophesying, Pheltias the son of Banaias sank down dead. Thereupon I fell face to earth, crying aloud, Alas, alas, Lord God, wilt thou take full toll of the remnant left to Israel?
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	11	14	But the Lord’s answer came to me:
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	11	15	Thou hast brethren, son of man, thou hast brethren still. They are nearest of kin to thee that are far away, exiled sons of Israel. What though these dwellers at Jerusalem cry, Keep your distance, the land is ours?
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	11	16	Not such is the message the Lord God sends them; Far away I have banished them, says he, widely scattered them; yet, go they where they will, a sanctuary in little they shall find in my companionship.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	11	17	Tell them this, from the Lord God, Lost among the peoples, I will gather you, scattered over the world, I will muster you, and give you the land of Israel for your home.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	11	18	To it they shall find their way, and rid it of all that is foul, all that is abominable there;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	11	19	one mind they shall have, and a new spirit shall fill their inmost being; gone the heart of stone, and a human heart theirs in place of it.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	11	20	My paths they shall tread, my will jealously obey, they my people, and I their God.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	11	21	Only where men’s hearts are set on their own foul abominations, the Lord God says, they shall bear their punishment.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	11	22	And now the cherubim spread their wings for flight, the wheels beside them, the bright presence of the Lord above them;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	11	23	and that presence, withdrawn from the city’s midst, came to rest upon the mountain height eastwards of it.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	11	24	With that, a fresh transport seized me, and I was back among the exiles in Chaldaea, still in a trance, still full of the divine impulse. So the vision faded from my eyes,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	11	25	and I told the exiles all the Lord had made known to me.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	12	1	Word came to me from the Lord:
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	12	2	Son of man, thou dwellest among a brood of rebels, that have eyes to see with, ears to hear with, yet see and hear nothing, so bent are they on rebellion.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	12	3	Do thou, then, son of man, provide thee with an exile’s pack, and while it is daylight, let them see thee marching to and fro; in their full view, if those rebellious eyes will but mark it, remove from one place to another,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	12	4	carrying those goods of thine with thee, as if ready for a journey. Then, at nightfall, take thy leave in public, as if thou wert going into exile.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	12	5	Let them see thee dig a hole through the wall of thy house, to escape by;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	12	6	let them see thee carried out on men’s shoulders, darkness all around, blindfold, so that thou canst not view the land about thee. A portent of doom thou shalt be to the men of Israel.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	12	7	His bidding was done; while daylight served, I brought my exile’s pack out into the open; then, at nightfall, dug wall through and went out on my dark journey, borne on men’s shoulders, plain to view.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	12	8	And word came to me from the Lord:
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	12	9	What of the rebel brood? Have the Israelites asked to know what thou meanest?
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	12	10	This tell them from the Lord God, A princely burden! Here went the prince that rules over Jerusalem, and over all such Israelites as dwell in their native country.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	12	11	Tell them, This is your own doom I foreshadow; the men of Israel shall fare as I do, exile and prison their lot,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	12	12	and he who rules among them shall be fain to escape in the darkness, borne on men’s shoulders. They shall breach wall to make way for him, and he shall go with his face covered, so that he will look on the land no more.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	12	13	But my net is spread; I have him in the noose; Babylon for him, the Chaldaean country for him; that land, too, he shall not see, yet die in that land he must.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	12	14	Retinue and bodyguard of his, nay, all his army, I will scatter to the four winds, with my naked sword at their heels.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	12	15	Then at last they shall learn what manner of God I am, when they find themselves lost among the nations, dispersed all the world over!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	12	16	A few shall survive, in despite of sword, famine, and pestilence, to tell these new neighbours of theirs what foul deeds they did; so shall the Gentiles learn to know me.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	12	17	Word came to me from the Lord:
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	12	18	Son of man, tremble still when bread thou eatest, nor ever drink water but with anxious fear;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	12	19	and this message send from the Lord God to thy countrymen that are left at home: Never citizen of Jerusalem, never inhabitant of Israel, but must eat in fear, put cup to his lips unmanned, till at last unmanned it lies, the whole country-side around them, for their guilt that dwelt in it.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	12	20	Lonely the crowded streets, wasted the country-side must be, ere you learn to know me.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	12	21	Word came to me from the Lord:
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	12	22	What means this saying you have in Israel, The days drag on, and never a warning comes true?
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	12	23	Tell them this from the Lord God: Here is a proverb shall be heard in Israel no more; I mean to do away with it. Tell them the time is close at hand now for the fulfilment of all my warnings.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	12	24	Vain vision and flattering hopes Israel shall know no longer;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	12	25	the divine foretelling shall not wait for the divine fulfilling; in your own days, brood of rebels, you shall witness both, the Lord God says.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	12	26	And the Lord’s word came to me:
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	12	27	Fond hope of Israel, that these should be distant things thou foretellest, the prophet of a later age!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	12	28	Give them word from the Lord God: Warning of mine knows no delay; here and now, the Lord says, it shall be accomplished.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	13	1	Word came to me from the Lord:
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	13	2	Son of man, on the prophets pronounce my doom, the prophets whom Israel heeds; would they prophesy after their own devices? Give them this message from the Lord:
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	13	3	Out upon the reckless prophets, the Lord God says, that follow their own whim, and vision have none!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	13	4	Poor Israel, that such foxes as these should burrow among thy ruins!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	13	5	What did you to restore the fortunes of the day, when the Lord’s stroke fell? Not for you to man the breach, to throw up a wall about Israel!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	13	6	Vain vision and cheating hopes are theirs, that warrant from me have none, yet speak in the Lord’s name, and look to see their word fulfilled;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	13	7	has the Lord spoken? Not the Lord, only your empty dreams, your lying oracles.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	13	8	For these vain visions, these cheating hopes of yours, have at you! says the Lord God.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	13	9	On false prophet and sightless seer my hand is raised in judgement; never shall they take part in the assembly of Israel, or have their names written in its muster-roll, or find a home in Israel’s land! So shall you learn what manner of God the Lord is.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	13	10	How dared they cheat my people with false hopes, crying, All’s well, when in truth all went amiss? My people, that strove to build a wall, and here were the prophets plastering it with clay that had no straw in it!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	13	11	Thine to warn these unskilful plasterers that the wall must needs crumble; here is a rain-storm brewing, and I mean to ply it with a volley of great hail-stones, and a tempestuous wind that scatters all before it;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	13	12	crumble your wall, shall no one ask what became of the mortar that went to its plastering?
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	13	13	Like a tempestuous wind my anger shall break out, the Lord God says; like the rain-storm my indignation shall be, and like a volley of hail-stones my vengeance shall take toll of you;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	13	14	down shall come the wall you plastered so ill, razed to earth, and all its foundations shewing, overthrown to your common ruin; so you shall learn what manner of God the Lord is.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	13	15	Wall nor plasterer my vengeance shall spare; Down with the wall, my sentence is, and down with the plasterers that plastered it so unworkmanly,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	13	16	Israel’s prophets, that gave Jerusalem comfort, the Lord says, promising all should be well when all went amiss.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	13	17	There are women, too, among this people of mine who would play the prophetess as their own whim bids them. Turn upon these, son of man, and tell them their doom:
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	13	18	Out upon them, says the Lord God, the women who stitch an elbow-cushion for every comer, make a soft pillow for the heads of young and old! Men’s lives are their prey; shall they cast a net about the lives of Israelites, and save their own?
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	13	19	For a handful of meal, or a crust of bread, they will put me to shame before my own people; will doom to life or death the undeserving, such credence they win from a people ever credulous.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	13	20	Have at those elbow-cushions of yours, the Lord God says, the nets yonder silly birds are caught in! I mean to snatch them away from your grasp, and set the birds free, those lives you have ensnared with your prophesying.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	13	21	Your pillows shall be torn in pieces; I will rescue my people from your power, and they shall no longer be yours to ensnare; then you will learn what manner of God the Lord is.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	13	22	You have brought woe on innocent lives, when I was fain to comfort them, confirmed the sinner in those evil ways that shall be his undoing;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	13	23	now there shall be no more of your empty visions, there shall be no more divinings; I mean to save my people from your clutches, and you shall know the Lord’s power at last.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	14	1	At a time when some of the Israelite leaders had come to visit me, and sat closeted with me,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	14	2	this message I had from the Lord:
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	14	3	Son of man, here be folk that have cumbered their own hearts with false gods, entangled their own feet with guilt; wouldst thou have me answer when I am consulted by such as these?
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	14	4	Speak to them, thou, and tell them this from the Lord God: When a man of Israel’s race comes to consult me through a prophet, his own heart yet cumbered with false gods, his own feet yet entangled with guilt, shall I, the Lord, give him answer in his idolatry?
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	14	5	Nay, the faithless heart that leaves me for the worship of false gods shall be Israel’s undoing.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	14	6	This warning give them in the name of the Lord God: Come back to me, leave those idols of yours, have no eyes henceforward for sights detestable!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	14	7	If a man of Israel’s race, or any of alien breed among them, forsakes me, cumbers his heart with false gods, entangles his feet with guilt, and then comes to consult me through a prophet, shall I, in my own name, answer him?
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	14	8	Nay, that man, under my frown, shall become a warning and a by-word, lost to his people, and you shall doubt the Lord’s power no longer.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	14	9	Or, if misguided the prophet speaks, it is I, the Lord, that have guided that prophet amiss. And thereupon I will exert my power, and rid my people Israel of his company;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	14	10	both alike shall be held guilty, the prophet and his dupe;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	14	11	till Israel learns to wander from me no more, stain itself with guilt no more. So they shall be my people, and I will be their God, says the Lord of hosts.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	14	12	And word came to me from the Lord:
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	14	13	Son of man, if a land lies deep in guilt, sin upon sin, and I cut off every source of bread; sending famine upon it to slay man and beast,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	14	14	though three such men as Noe, Daniel, and Job were counted among its citizens, innocence of theirs no life but theirs should save.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	14	15	If I send beasts to make a pathless wilderness of it, none daring to pass for fear of their encounter;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	14	16	as I am a living God, the Lord says, man nor maid should those three rescue by their companionship; in a desert land they alone should live.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	14	17	The sword if I let loose, bid the sword pass through that land to destroy man and beast,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	14	18	as I am a living God, the Lord says, their own lives those three should ransom, and neither man nor maid besides.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	14	19	Or if pestilence does my errand of punishment, taking deadly toll of man and beast;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	14	20	though Noe dwell there, and Daniel, and Job, as I am a living God, the Lord says, only their own lives they shall ransom, neither man nor maid besides.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	14	21	And what of Jerusalem, says the Lord God, when I send all four plagues on her at once, sword and famine and wild beast and pestilence, till men nor cattle are left alive there?
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	14	22	A remnant only shall survive, sons and daughters of your race led out into exile. When these reach you, and you find out what manner of folk they are in thought and deed, for the sorrows of Jerusalem you shall weep no more, though I have plagued her so abundantly.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	14	23	From thought and deed of theirs you shall take consolation, nor doubt it was with good reason I used her thus, says the Lord God.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	15	1	Word came to me from the Lord:
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	15	2	So much timber in the forest, son of man! And what of the vine that grows wild there?
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	15	3	What avails the wood of it for any manner of craftsmanship? Who will use it to make so much as a peg that pot or pan should hang from?
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	15	4	And now it has been thrown away to feed the fire; now either end is burnt up altogether, and the middle of it no better than charcoal; of what use is it now,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	15	5	that use had none even when it was whole? Half burned away, half scorched, here is right unserviceable timber!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	15	6	And I, the Lord says, that destined yonder wild vine to feed the oven, have decreed for the citizens of Jerusalem no other destiny.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	15	7	My frown shall meet them yet; if they have escaped the fire, it is to be consumed by fire anew. Under my frown, they shall learn what manner of God I am;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	15	8	their land all pathless and desolate, for their guilt’s rewarding, says the Lord God.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	16	1	Word came to me from the Lord:
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	16	2	And now, son of man, do thou confront Jerusalem with the record of her misdoings.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	16	3	Tell her this, in the name of the Lord God: Root of thee, stock of thee, spring from yonder soil of Chanaan; an Amorrhite it was begot thee, a Hethite bore thee.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	16	4	Born when thou wast, there was none to cut navel-string, in healing water wash thee, with salt harden thee, wrap thee in swaddling-clothes;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	16	5	never an eye melted with pity, none befriended thee; on the bare ground thou wert cast away, a thing of abhorrence, that day of thy birth.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	16	6	Who but I found thee, as I passed on my way, blood-bespattered as thou wert, and trodden under foot; in that plight preserved thee, bade it live on, this defiled thing?
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	16	7	Swift as the wild blossoms I bade thee grow; grow thou didst and thrive, and camest to woman’s estate, the breasts formed, new hair shewing; and still thou wast all naked, and blushing for thy nakedness.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	16	8	Who but I came upon thee, as I passed on my way? And already thou wert ripe for love; cloak of mine should be thrown about thee, to hide thy shame; my troth I plighted to thee, the Lord God says, and thou wert mine.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	16	9	Water to wash thee, all thy stains gone, oil I brought to anoint thee;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	16	10	clad thee with embroidery, shod thy feet with leather; of fine linen thy tiring should be, of silk thy wear.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	16	11	How I decked thee with ornaments! Bracelets for those arms, a collar for that neck;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	16	12	a frontlet on thy brow, rings in thy ears, on thy head a crown magnifical.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	16	13	Of gold and silver thy adorning, of fine linen and silk and embroidery thy apparel, of wheat and honey and oil thy nourishment; matchless beauty, too, was thine, such beauty as brought thee to a throne.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	16	14	All the world heard the fame of thy loveliness; I had made thee so fair, says the Lord God, utterly fair!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	16	15	Fatal beauty, fatal renown, which emboldened thee to play the harlot, lavish thy favours on every passer-by, and be his!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	16	16	That thou shouldst use those garments of thine to make curtains for thy hill-shrines, what age can match the villainy of it?
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	16	17	Silver and gold of mine, thy adornment and my gift, should they be turned into gods of male form, at thy harlot’s whim?
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	16	18	And these wouldst thou clothe with thy own embroideries, offer them the perfume and incense that was mine by right,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	16	19	set before them the bread, the oil, the honey I gave thee, to appease them with the smell of burnt-sacrifice? More happened besides (he, the Lord God, reminds thee);
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	16	20	to these gods thou wouldst bring sons and daughters of thine and mine, consecrating them to death. Could not thy wanton desires rest content,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	16	21	without immolating my own sons as victims to such as these?
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	16	22	Most foul deeds and most lecherous, that quite put thy youth out of mind, the days when thou wast naked, and overcome with shame, blood-bespattered and trodden under foot.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	16	23	And at last, to crown thy misdoings (Fie on thee, fie on thee for shame! says the Lord God),
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	16	24	thou wouldst build thee a brothel, a common stew, in every street;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	16	25	no cross-roads but should carry the blazon of thy harlotry. O the dishonour done to thy beauty, when thou didst welcome every passer-by to thy favours, insatiable in thy dalliance!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	16	26	With those lusty neighbours of thine, the Egyptians, thou wouldst play the wanton; these should be my rivals!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	16	27	What wonder I should interpose, and abridge the rights thou didst enjoy, handing thee over for a prey to the maids of Philistia, rivals of thy own, and such as blushed to witness thy ill-doings?
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	16	28	It was not enough; thou must needs dally with the men of Assur, nor might their dalliance content thee;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	16	29	thou wouldst extend thy trade as far as Chaldaea, where all is for sale, insatiable to the last.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	16	30	Salve is none, says the Lord God, for such a heart as thine, set on following a harlot’s ways.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	16	31	Never a cross-roads, never a street, but thou hast set up some brothel for public resort; no harlot thou, to bargain over a hateful trade.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	16	32	Thine was the craving of the false wife, that must ever bring a stranger between her husband’s sheets.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	16	33	The price of love other harlots claim, thou wouldst offer; gifts of thine should entice gallants from every side to thy bower.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	16	34	Never did wanton the like, nor shall again; it is out of all nature, a harlot that gives, not takes.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	16	35	Here then, poor wanton, is the Lord’s doom;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	16	36	this message he has for thee. Because all thy bronze was put to such ill use, because thou didst wanton so shamelessly with those lovers of thine, idols most foul, in whose honour the lives of thy own children were sacrificed,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	16	37	I mean to have a reckoning with thee. All the gallants that have enjoyed thee, men that love thee and men that hate, I will muster together; muster them from all around, and then lay thy shame bare, expose thy nakedness for all to see.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	16	38	Such punishment thou shalt have as unfaithful wives have, or murderers; to my jealous anger thy life must make amends;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	16	39	I mean to leave thee at their mercy. Ruined thy bower, ransacked thy brothel shall be; thy garments stripped off thee, plundered thy fair adornment; naked they shall leave thee, and overcome with shame.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	16	40	Hue and cry they shall raise against thee, stone thee and put thee to the sword;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	16	41	house of thine the flames shall not spare. Before all womankind they will make an example of thee; no more dalliance, no more hired lovers now.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	16	42	Then at last my vengeance shall be complete, my jealous anger appeased; thou shalt have a respite from my ill-will.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	16	43	So forgetful of thy youth, so obstinate in thy provocations, what wonder if I pay thee what thou hast earned? the Lord says. Yet even now I have not requited thee as thy most foul crimes have deserved.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	16	44	Like mother, like daughter; so runs the proverb, and of thee it shall be spoken.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	16	45	Thou art thy mother’s daughter, that was false to husband and child; false to husband and child were those sisters of thine; thy mother a Hethite, thy father an Amorrhite, sure enough.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	16	46	Here was thy elder sister on thy left, Samaria, thy younger sister on thy right, Sodom, with daughter towns both of them.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	16	47	Didst thou follow their example, share their misdoings? Nay, that was not enough for thee; it should go hard but thou wouldst outdo them in their crimes.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	16	48	As I am a living God, the Lord says, never were Sodom and her daughters guilty as thou and thine.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	16	49	Pride was the fault of her, this sister of thine; pride and a full belly; the peace and plenty she and her daughters had, with no thought for the poor that stood in need!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	16	50	So it was they rebelled against me, ever I must see foul deeds done, till I rid myself of them, as thou seest.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	16	51	Nor was Samaria in her turn half so guilty as thou. It remained for thee to outvie thy sisters in crime, till thy more abominable doings put them in countenance.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	16	52	Their lesser guilt, that somewhat excuses them, is the measure of thy shame; of that shame thou must bear the brand, while thy sisters go free.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	16	53	When I reverse the doom of exile against Sodom and her daughters, Samaria and her daughters, then, in their company, thy own exiles shall return;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	16	54	a sorry boast for thee, that thou hast cheered, in such fashion, their loneliness!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	16	55	Only when Sodom and her daughters, Samaria and her daughters, to their former state return, is there any hope for thy daughters and for thee.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	16	56	Time was, when no mention of Sodom’s name might soil thy proud lips;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	16	57	that was before thy own sins came to light, that now disgrace thee before Syria’s daughters, Philistia’s daughters, thy watchful neighbours north and south.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	16	58	Now it is thy turn, the Lord God says, to undergo the shame of thy guilt.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	16	59	And this is his doom: False to thy oath, thou hast forsworn our covenant, and thou shalt have the punishment thou hast earned.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	16	60	That covenant I made with thee in thy youth shall not be forgotten; nay, I will ratify it eternally,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	16	61	but humbled thou shalt be with memories of past days, when thou must needs take thy sisters, older and younger, to thyself. Daughters of thine they shall be, strangers to the covenant no longer.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	16	62	My covenant thus ratified with thee, thou shalt know my power at last;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	16	63	remembering still, shamefaced and tongue-tied still, even when I have pardoned all thy ill-doing, says the Lord God.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	17	1	Word came to me from the Lord:
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	17	2	A riddle, son of man, a parable for the men of Israel to interpret!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	17	3	This shall be thy message from the Lord God: A great eagle there was, strong of wing, long of limb; thick and gay his plumage. And this eagle flew to Lebanon, where he robbed cedar of cedar’s very pith;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	17	4	tore away its crown of leaves and carried it off to Merchant-land, set it down in Traffic City.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	17	5	Then back he flew to that same country, chose out both seed and seed-ground there; it was on a level lawn by a brimming stream he planted it.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	17	6	When the plant grew, it proved to be a spreading vine, low of stature, and ever branch curled inwards and root struck downwards, yet vine it was, with sprig that burgeoned, shoot that sprang.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	17	7	But now, here is a second eagle comes in sight, another great eagle, strong of wing, thick-plumed; and it seems as if the vine, in the garden where it grows, were stretching out its roots, waving its tendrils, to ask this second eagle for water instead.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	17	8	What, when it was planted in ground so fair, by waters so abundant, with such promise of leaf and fruit, a vine so destined to greatness!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	17	9	Will any good come of this? asks the Lord God. Nay, roots shall be plucked up, fruit ravaged, branches left to wither; fade it must, nor is it like to need great strength or many hands for its unearthing.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	17	10	Take root is not thrive; rich soil or none, when the sirocco parches it, the vine must wither.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	17	11	Then the Lord’s word came to me,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	17	12	bidding me ask the rebel brood, Were they at a loss for the meaning of it? This tells how Nabuchodonosor came to Jerusalem, carried off the king and princes and took them away to Babylon;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	17	13	yet spared a prince of the blood royal, making a treaty with him and exacting an oath of allegiance. All the flower of the citizens he carried away;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	17	14	the kingdom should be submissive henceforward, and rebel no more, should keep troth with him loyally.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	17	15	Straightway the new king revolted from Nabuchodonosor, and sent envoys to Egypt, asking for horses, asking for the despatch of a great army in his support. Speeds he, finds he deliverance? Should broken faith avail him?
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	17	16	As I am a living God, the Lord says, Babylon that made a king of him, Babylon that trusted in his false oath of allegiance, shall be the place of his death.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	17	17	Nor think that his enemy will need great strength, a great muster of men, to overcome him, mound here, trench there, and the loss of many lives;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	17	18	for the man that did so ill, held his faith a light thing and broke the bond he had set his hand to, there is no escape.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	17	19	This doom the Lord pronounces: As I am a living God, false troth and broken treaty shall be the undoing of him!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	17	20	My net is spread; I have him in the noose; Babylon for him! There I will call him to account for the dishonour he has done to my name by his treachery;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	17	21	and all that escape with him, nay, his whole army, must fall by the sword, or survive scattered to the four winds; you shall learn what manner of God you worship.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	17	22	And here is a message from the Lord God: Pith of the tall cedar I will take and set it firm, young branch from its crest of branches I will snap off, and plant it on a mountain that stands high above the rest.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	17	23	High in the hill-country of Israel I will plant it, and there it shall grow into a great cedar-tree; no bird on the wing but shall find rest under its shade, nestle among its branches;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	17	24	till all the forest learns its lesson, that I, the Lord, bring high tree low, raise low tree high, wither the burgeoning trunk, give life to the barren. What the Lord promises, the Lord fulfils.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	18	1	Word came to me from the Lord: Strange,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	18	2	that a proverb should be current in Israel, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are being set on edge!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	18	3	As I am a living God, the Lord says, this proverb shall be current in Israel no more.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	18	4	What, is not every soul at my disposal, father and son alike? It is the guilty soul that must die.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	18	5	Is a man loyal to me, does he live innocently and uprightly?
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	18	6	Is he one who never feasted at mountain-shrines, or looked for help to the false gods that are worshipped in Israel; never came between his neighbour’s sheets or had commerce with a woman when she was defiled?
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	18	7	Does he keep clear of oppression, giving back the pledge he took from his neighbour, and seizing nothing by violence? Does he feed the hungry, clothe the naked?
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	18	8	Does he shun usury and extortion? Does he refuse the bribe, and judge honestly between man and man?
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	18	9	Does he follow my commandments, hold fast to my ordinances, as a true man should? Here is a loyal servant of mine; life for him, he shall live on, says the Lord God.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	18	10	But now, what if son he begets that is a man of violence, a murderer; lends himself to any of those practices
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	18	11	which his father ever shunned? At hill-shrine eats he, neighbour’s wife wrongs he,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	18	12	the friendless poor oppresses; gets him ill gains, withholds the pledge, betakes himself to false god and foul rite;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	18	13	a usurer besides and an extortioner. Shall he live on? Nay, no life for him; he must die the death his foul crimes have earned him.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	18	14	Son of his, in turn, warned by such a father’s doom, forswears that ill example.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	18	15	Not for him the hill-feast, the false gods of the country-side, the adulterous bed;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	18	16	never a wrong done, a pledge withheld, gain dishonestly come by; feeds he the hungry, clothes the naked,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	18	17	and keeps clear of oppression, and usury, and extortion; what of him? Doer of my will, keeper of my law, he shall not die for his father’s sins; he shall live on.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	18	18	His father, a man of wrong and violence, that deserved ill of his countrymen, has paid for his guilt by death;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	18	19	would you have the son, too, make amends for it? Nay, but here is a man upright and honest, that holds fast by decrees of mine and obeys them; he must live on.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	18	20	It is the guilty soul that must die; not for the son the father’s punishment, not for the father the son’s; good shall befall the good, evil the evil.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	18	21	It may be the wicked man will repent of all his sinful deeds, and learn to keep my commandments, and live honestly and uprightly; if so, he shall live on; life, not death, for him.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	18	22	All his transgressions shall be forgotten, and his uprightness shall bring him life.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	18	23	What pleasure should I find in the death of a sinner, the Lord God says, when he might have turned back from his evil ways, and found life instead?
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	18	24	It may be the innocent man will lose his innocence, and begin to live as foul a life as that other in his wickedness; if so, shall he be spared? No, all his upright life shall be forgotten; a traitor, shall he not die in his treachery, a sinner in his sins?
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	18	25	And yet you say, The Lord is inconsiderate in his dealings! Listen, sons of Israel; it is your dealings that are inconsiderate, not mine.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	18	26	The innocent man loses his innocence, and lives amiss; it is death I deal to him; he dies for his guilty deeds.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	18	27	The wicked man abandons his wicked ways, and learns to live honestly and uprightly; he wins life by it.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	18	28	He bethinks himself, and turns away from his evil doings; there is life, not death, for him.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	18	29	What, should the sons of Israel hold the Lord inconsiderate? It is you who are inconsiderate, men of Israel, not he.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	18	30	Each by his own life you shall be judged, men of Israel, the Lord God says. Come back, and make amends for all this guilt of yours, that shall else be your undoing;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	18	31	away with them, your defiant rebellions against me; a new heart, a new spirit! Why must you choose death, men of Israel?
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	18	32	Die who will, his death is none of my contriving, says the Lord God; come back to me, and live!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	19	1	… Thine to raise a dirge over the princes of Israel:
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	19	2	Prince, that mother of thine was a lioness indeed; where lions haunt, she made her lair, among their whelps nursed her brood.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	19	3	One cub she reared that grew to lion’s estate, learned to bring down his prey, to eat men;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	19	4	the neighbours heard of it, caught him, not scatheless, in their pit, and carried him off in chains to Egypt.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	19	5	Baulked of her hopes, she reared another, till it was a grown lion.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	19	6	This one, in turn, took his ease like a lion among the rest; learned to bring down prey, eat men,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	19	7	of women make widows, of cities a desert; dispeopled a whole land with his roaring.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	19	8	At that, folk came from far and near with nets to snare him, caught him in their cruel toils and caged him.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	19	9	This one they led off in chains to the king of Babylon; in Babylon he remained a prisoner, and his voice was heard on the hill-sides of Israel no more.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	19	10	Mother of that royal stock! Vine planted by the water-side, and in that neighbourhood leafy and fruitful both, was never so fertile.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	19	11	Here was a vine could yield sturdy boughs, sceptres for kings to govern with; high grew the leaves, fair the branching tendrils.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	19	12	But vengeance fell upon it, torn up and thrown away on the ground, the sirocco to wither its leaves; faded and dry those strong boughs, till at last fire consumed them!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	19	13	It is planted now far away, in the parched soil of a desert.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	19	14	Fire came out from those branching boughs, that consumed all the fruit of it; never a sturdy bough more, to be a king’s sceptre. Make lament, then; here is good cause for lament.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	20	1	And now it was the seventh year, the tenth day of the fifth month. Some of the Israelite leaders had come to visit me, asking what was the Lord’s will, and sat closeted with me.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	20	2	And this message I had from the Lord:
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	20	3	Son of man, tell the leaders of Israel this from the Lord God: Would you come to ask my will? As I am a living God, the Lord says, you shall have no answer.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	20	4	Arraign them, son of man, arraign them for their crimes; tell them what foul things their fathers did before them.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	20	5	This shall be thy message to them from the Lord God: Long ago I made choice of Israel, plighted to Jacob my troth, when I made myself known to them in the land of Egypt. I swore to be their own God,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	20	6	swore that I would take them away to the home I had destined for them, a land all milk and honey, the best of lands.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	20	7	Only, I told them, his darling idolatries each man must set aside; not for you to be contaminated with the false gods of Egypt; I, the Lord, am your God.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	20	8	All was defiance and disobedience; idolatry still cherished, the worship of Egypt’s gods still unforsaken. I was minded to let my anger have its way, glut my vengeance on them, there in Egypt.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	20	9	But no, I would be their champion, for my own honour’s sake; the heathen all around, that had witnessed my coming to deliver them, must not learn to hold my honour cheap.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	20	10	So from Egypt I rescued them, and led them out into the desert.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	20	11	There I gave them a law, made known to them the usages that bring life;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	20	12	bade them share my sabbath rest, that should be a token between me and them, a token that they were divinely set apart.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	20	13	What did Israel then? Defied my anger, disobeyed my law, life-giving commandments cast away, left my sabbath all unhonoured. Should I give vent to my anger, and make an end of them, there in the desert?
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	20	14	And let the heathen see my work of deliverance half accomplished? For my honour’s sake, I must not.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	20	15	But I swore, out in the desert, that the promised land, all milk and honey, best of lands, should never be theirs.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	20	16	My will defied, my law forsaken, my sabbath neglected, a heart set on idols, they should learn to rue;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	20	17	had not my pity spared them, they should have died there and then, swallowed up in those wastes.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	20	18	To their sons, the desert-born, warning I gave: Not for you your fathers’ example, your fathers’ traditions, the contamination of the false gods they worshipped.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	20	19	I, the Lord, am your God; mine the laws you must follow, the usages you must cherish and obey;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	20	20	my sabbath you must honour, in token that the Lord is the God you worship.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	20	21	But they too, the sons, defied me; my laws forsook, my life-giving usages forgot, my sabbaths profaned. There in the desert I would have given vent to my anger, let my vengeance take its toll of them,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	20	22	but still I held my hand; for my own honour, the heathen must see my work of deliverance accomplished.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	20	23	But once more in the desert I bound myself by an oath… I would scatter them among all the nations, spread them over the face of earth,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	20	24	men defiant of my will, contemptuous of my law, careless of my sabbath as ever, after the false gods of their fathers hankering still.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	20	25	Laws they should have, but for their harm, usages that brought, not life, but death;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	20	26	guilty, they should stain themselves with fresh guilt by the very offerings they made, when they consecrated their first-born to the fire; they must have proof of my power at last.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	20	27	They blasphemed me (tell Israel from the Lord God), those fathers of yours, and did me great despite.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	20	28	Scarce had I brought them into the promised land, when the sight of high mountain here, thick forest there, set them offering victims in honour of my rivals, burning incense, pouring libations!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	20	29	Well might I ask them, Whither resort you? And hill-resorts they are called to this day.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	20	30	Give the men of Israel, then, this message from the Lord God: Still the same ways your fathers went, still the same itch for things abominable?
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	20	31	To this day, when you would make offering, you pass your sons through the fire; guilt of idolatry stains you yet, and shall I make answer to you, men of Israel? As I am a living God, the Lord says, you shall have no answer from me!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	20	32	Never think I will allow you to worship wood and stone like other races of men, your neighbours;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	20	33	as I am a living God, the Lord says, I mean to reign over you, though it should need all the exercise of my constraining power, all the outpouring of my vengeance.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	20	34	Rescued from many masters, summoned from many lands, you shall serve me perforce, my power constraining you, my vengeance threatening you.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	20	35	I will lead you out into a desert world, and there plead my cause against you,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	20	36	as I did with your fathers long ago, in the desert confines of Egypt.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	20	37	I will force you under my sceptre, chain you to my covenant.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	20	38	The rebels I will set apart, and though I summon them away from their banishment, they shall never return to the land of Israel; then you will know what manner of God you serve.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	20	39	Come, then, says the Lord God, let each man have recourse to his own idol, and pay it due worship! If that counsel you will not follow, nor drag my name in the dust with foul rites and false gods…
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	20	40	On that holy mountain of mine, the Lord God says, that high mountain that looks down over Israel, all the race of Israel shall be my worshippers, favoured suitors in a favoured land; first-fruit and tithe, all your hallowings shall be awaited there.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	20	41	Rescued from so many masters, summoned from so many lands, you shall be a fragrant offering; all my dealings with you the heathen shall acclaim,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	20	42	and you yourselves shall recognize my power, restored to the land of Israel, the land I promised to your fathers.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	20	43	False paths and foul misdoings you shall remember yet, and think with loathing of what you were;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	20	44	my power you shall know, men of Israel, says the Lord God; and that I was your benefactor, not for your deserts, that erred and sinned, but for my own honour’s sake.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	20	45	Word came to me from the Lord:
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	20	46	Look southward, son of man; pour out thy complaint towards the noon-day sun, and let the southern woodlands hear thee prophesy.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	20	47	To the listening forest give this message from the Lord God: I mean to set thee alight, burn up green tree and dry; unquenchable, that flame shall scorch the faces of all beholders, northward and south alike;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	20	48	plain enough it shall be for all the world to see that it was I, the Lord, set it ablaze, and there is no quenching it.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	20	49	Alas for pity, Lord God, said I, they are complaining already that I speak to them only in parables!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	21	1	So the Lord’s word came to me,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	21	2	Why then, son of man, towards Jerusalem turn thee, pour out thy complaint sanctuarywards, and let the land of Israel hear thee prophesy.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	21	3	And this be thy message to the land of Israel: Have at thee! the Lord God says; here is my sword unsheathed to make an end of thy inhabitants, innocent souls and guilty.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	21	4	In token that all alike must perish, northward and south alike, all the world over, my unsheathed sword must go on its errand;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	21	5	drawn it is, plain for all the world to see, and there is no sheathing it.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	21	6	And therewithal I would have thee groan, as men groan that have an aching in the loins, very piteously in the public view;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	21	7	ask they the reason of it, thou wilt say, For ill tidings. Faint every heart shall be, when those tidings come, every hand shall hang listless; cowed every spirit shall be, every knee be weak as water. Those tidings are on the way, the Lord God says; there is no averting it.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	21	8	Word came to me from the Lord:
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	21	9	Tell them, son of man, the Lord God has this message for thee to utter: Whetted the sword is, polished the sword is,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	21	10	whetted for slaughter, polished to dazzle as lightning does. Never a tree but must fall at thy onset, woodman who art to overthrow the sceptre my son wields.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	21	11	Polished, for the hand to grasp it well, the sharp sword, the bright sword, which the slayer must needs handle!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	21	12	Cry aloud, son of man, and bewail thee, that on my people it must fall, and all the princes of Israel that are left; prince and people, doomed to perish by the sword; smite on thy thigh most dolorously.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	21	13	A tried sword, the Lord God says, and when yonder sceptre it has overthrown, brought to nothing….
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	21	14	Prophesy, then, son of man; smite hands together and call for a second stroke and a third of the avenging sword; a sword of massacre, that strikes men dumb,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	21	15	turns their hearts faint, and lays all in ruin. Havoc wrought at every gate by the sharp sword, the sword polished till it shines again, wrapped about the hilts for more ease of smiting!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	21	16	Sharp be thy blade; cut right, cut left, wherever thy lust beckons thee!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	21	17	I too will smite hands together, telling the tale of my vengeance; I, the Lord, command thee.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	21	18	Word came to me from the Lord:
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	21	19	And now, son of man, draw a picture. A picture of two roads, both leading from a common point, by which the sword of the Chaldaean king may travel. Here he is, planning his course at the sign-post, where two roads meet, a city at the end of either.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	21	20	Draw the two roads, one beckoning that sword to Rabbath, where the Ammonites dwell, one to Juda, and Jerusalem the impregnable.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	21	21	There stands the king of Babylon at the parting of the ways, taking omens; there is shuffling of arrows, consulting of deities, searching of entrails.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	21	22	Choose he the right, it is for Jerusalem; the battering-rams, the breach made ere the slaughter can begin, the cries of battle, the assault on the gates, the mound, the siege-works.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	21	23	Thy picture will shew him as a man baffled by the omens given him, that remains idle, as if he were keeping the sabbath rest. Then he remembers the guilt; shall a guilty race go free?
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	21	24	Ay, says the Lord God, still fresh is the memory of that guilt; open rebels you are, and never a thought in your hearts but shews vile; capture awaits you, that revive those memories still.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	21	25	And thou, perjured wretch that rulest Israel, thy time has run out;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	21	26	off with head-band, off with crown, symbols that honour the base, the noble degrade!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	21	27	I will wrest it this way, wrest it that, as it was never wrested yet; at last one shall come that claims it of right, and to him I will give it.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	21	28	Prophesy, son of man, and give a message from the Lord God to the men of Ammon, in answer to their taunts: Drawn be the sword, cried they, whetted be the sword and bright for its work of slaying!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	21	29	Nay, sword of Ammon, it was but a vain dream, a lying augury, that it should be thy office to fall on the necks of yonder doomed sinners, whose time has run out.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	21	30	Back to thy sheath with thee, back to thy native soil; there, in the land where thou wast fashioned, I will call thee to account.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	21	31	I mean to pour out my vengeance on thee, blast thee with the fire of my anger; barbarian foes shall have the mastery of thee, that are skilful only to destroy.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	21	32	Fire shall feed on thee, earth run with thy blood, oblivion bury thy name; I, the Lord, have given sentence.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	22	1	Word came to me from the Lord:
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	22	2	Wilt thou not arraign them, citizens of this murderous place, wilt thou not arraign them?
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	22	3	Confront them with their foul misdeeds, and give them this message from the Lord God: Here is a city that hastens her own end with open bloodshed, soils herself with idols to her own undoing.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	22	4	Blood-spilth and idol-filth have brought thy time nearer, shortened thy years; what marvel if I let the heathen reproach thee, a whole world mock thee?
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	22	5	What marvel if men exult over thee, far and near, great only in thy misfortune, as thou art renowned only for thy shame?
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	22	6	No better title now to Israel’s nobility, than to fill those streets with blood!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	22	7	Home of wrong, where father and mother are despised, the stranger oppressed, widow and orphan ill-used!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	22	8	My sanctuary, how it is despised, my sabbath how profaned!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	22	9	Innocent lives sworn away, feasting at the hill-shrines, and foul deeds done besides;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	22	10	see where a father’s bed is dishonoured, a woman pleads her defilement in vain;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	22	11	neighbour comes lecherously between his neighbour’s sheets, father beds incestuously with his son’s wife, brother mates with sister sprung of the same blood!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	22	12	The murderer’s hire, usury and extortion, gains won by violence; and of me, the Lord God says, never a thought!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	22	13	Well may I smite hands together, indignant at thy ill-gotten gains, thy murderous doings;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	22	14	will thy courage be so high, thy arm so powerful, when it is I that reckon with thee? What the Lord threatens, the Lord fulfils.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	22	15	Far will I banish thee, widely scatter thee, and bring the tale of thy shame to an end;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	22	16	so I will claim my rights over thee for all the world to see, and thou shalt learn at last my power.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	22	17	And word came to me from the Lord:
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	22	18	Son of man, where the race of Israel shews in the heart of the furnace, nothing I find but dross; all is copper, and tin, and iron, and lead; dross of silver where silver should be.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	22	19	This warning, then, the Lord God has for them: I mean to shut you up in Jerusalem, dross as you are;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	22	20	this shall be your furnace, silver and copper and tin and iron and lead, all together; and I will light a fire to smelt you. There my angry vengeance shall imprison you, and I will give you respite for a little, and then melt you down.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	22	21	Beleaguered there, with the fire of my anger to smelt you
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	22	22	like silver in the furnace, you shall feel the force of the Lord’s vengeance at last.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	22	23	Then word came to me from the Lord:
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	22	24	Son of man, tell the land of Juda that it is unclean, and, when my vengeance falls on it, rain it shall have none.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	22	25	What of the prophets? A sworn conspiracy; lions roaring for their prey, the lives of men; wealth and treasure they must have; there be widows everywhere.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	22	26	What of the priests? Priests, that despise my law, violate my sanctuary, cannot tell sacred from profane, count all one, clean or unclean; priests, that leave my own sabbath unregarded; am I not defiled by their company?
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	22	27	What of the nobles? Ravening wolves, all blood and murder, greedy for gain;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	22	28	and here are the prophets with their untempered mortar, their vain dreams and false auguries, crying a message from the Lord when message from the Lord they have none.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	22	29	Great wrong the citizens themselves do, robbing where they will, harrying the helpless poor, oppressing the stranger and denying him redress.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	22	30	Who would close the breach, intercede with me to spare the land from ruin? Never a man was found!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	22	31	What wonder if I have poured out my vengeance, burnt them up in my anger? It was but their deserts I gave them, says the Lord God.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	23	1	Word came to me from the Lord:
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	23	2	There were two women once, son of man, daughters of the same mother,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	23	3	that went to Egypt and played the wanton there, so wanton and so young! There those breasts surrendered to the attack, virginity was ravished.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	23	4	For their names, the elder was called Oölla, the younger Oöliba; both I espoused, and they bore me sons and daughters. (Samaria and Jerusalem are the true names.)
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	23	5	What did Oölla? She played me false, love-sick for the Assyrians that dwelt hard by, her paramours.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	23	6	Gay gallants were these, princes and noblemen that went clad in purple, and proudly they came riding, for they were horsemen all.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	23	7	Among the flower of Assyrian chivalry was none but enjoyed her favours; and she, that courted all alike, soiled herself with their idolatry.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	23	8	Alas, still unforgotten her dalliance in Egypt; the lovers that bedded her in her youth, mishandled her virgin breast, plied her with their debauchery!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	23	9	Love-sick for new paramours, into their keeping she should be given up, the Assyrians should have the mastery of her.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	23	10	How they stripped and dishonoured her, robbed her of sons and daughters both, and then put her to the sword! Never fell such signal punishment upon womankind.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	23	11	That sight before her, what did the other sister, Oöliba? Why, she outwent the first in her wantonness, more lascivious yet;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	23	12	she too cast shame aside, gave herself to the gallants of Assyria that came riding by, horsemen all, princes and noblemen in their broidered cloaks, so young, so fair!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	23	13	Light women both; I knew them now.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	23	14	This other would set no bounds to her lust; her eye fell on some pictured wall, where the men of Chaldaea stood portrayed, all in crimson.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	23	15	What girdles they had about their loins, these men of Babylon, what gaily-coloured turbans they wore! Sure, they must be princes, all of them, in their own Chaldaean land!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	23	16	And with that, her eye fell a-doting on them, and she must send them a message all the way to Chaldaea.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	23	17	So the Chaldaeans, too, were her bed-fellows, dishonoured her with their embraces, till even she grew weary of dishonour.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	23	18	Weary was I too, as once of her sister; the open harlotry, the public shame!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	23	19	Must she still renew her unfaithfulness, hanker still after those old debaucheries in Egypt,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	23	20	when she was love-sick for gallants lusty as the wild ass, hot as stallions?
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	23	21	Alas, Oöliba, are they remembered still, the passions of thy youth, far away in Egypt, when those breasts surrendered to the attack, that virginity was ravished?
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	23	22	This doom, then, the Lord God pronounces on thee: They shall be summoned to the attack, all those old lovers thou art wearied of, beleaguer thee round about;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	23	23	all those Chaldaeans from Babylon, nobleman and prince and chieftain, all those gay gallants from Assyria, captains and rulers, lords paramount and knights of renown!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	23	24	What rattling of chariot-wheels, what hordes of warriors in breastplate and shield and helmet, mustered about thy walls! These shall be thy judges; theirs the sentence thou must abide.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	23	25	Ministers of my jealous anger, they shall cut nose and ears off thee, and there shall be sword-strokes yet; carry off thy sons and thy daughters, and the fire shall have work to do yet.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	23	26	They shall strip thee of thy clothes, rifle thy proud ornaments;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	23	27	gone the memory of thy harlotries in Egypt, no hankering for them now, no thought of Egypt now!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	23	28	Weary thou art and disdainful of them, says the Lord God, but they shall have the mastery of thee;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	23	29	and they shall use thee cruelly enough; carry all thy harvest away, and leave thee stripped and humbled; lay bare the secret of thy shame. Lust it is and lechery of thine
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	23	30	that has brought thee to this pass; so wantonly didst thou court the heathen, till at last their idolatry infected thee.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	23	31	Thy sister’s counterpart, the cup of thy sister’s doom thou shalt inherit;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	23	32	deep thy cup shall be as hers, wide as hers; full of mockery and reproach, so much it holds,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	23	33	full of dizziness and dismay, full of despair and melancholy, the cup of thy sister Samaria.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	23	34	Drink it thou shalt, ay, drain it to the dregs, till thou art ready to devour cup itself piecemeal, or mutilate thy own breasts in thy madness.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	23	35	Me thou didst forget; on me thy back was turned; wanton and faithless, thou shalt be held to account.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	23	36	Arraign them, son of man, the Lord God said to me; confront Oölla and Oöliba with the record of their foul deeds.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	23	37	Blood-stained those adulterous hands; false gods they have taken for their paramours, and to the greed of false gods sacrificed their own children and mine.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	23	38	Theirs to defile my sanctuary, profane my sabbath;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	23	39	no sooner had they done offering their sons to false gods, than my sanctuary must be violated; so would they treat me in my own house.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	23	40	And then they sent word to their paramours, summoning them from afar. They came, those paramours; and thou, fresh from the bath, eyes painted, all thy ornaments hung about thee,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	23	41	didst await them, sitting on a fine bed with a table before it; incense of mine, oil of mine was there.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	23	42	What a stir was heard there, as of a great throng taking their ease! They had brought in a rabble of desert folk with them, and these must be given bracelets for their arms, fine garlands for their heads.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	23	43	And I wondered whether she would grant them her favours, even she, that had grown so old in unfaithfulness;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	23	44	but sure enough they went in, boldly as to a harlot’s bed. Such lovers had Oölla and Oöliba, wantons both.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	23	45	Yet honest folk there be, that can judge their deeds as adultery should be judged and murder; adulterous they are and murderous both at once.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	23	46	Muster me a company of such men, the Lord God says, and let them make a fearful example of these women, their prize.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	23	47	With stones from many hands, with swords from every side dispatch them; death for their children, the fire for their homes!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	23	48	Rid we the land of its guilt; of such harlotry let all women beware!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	23	49	Wantonness punished, idolatry’s guilt uncondoned; you shall know the Lord’s power at last.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	24	1	And so the ninth year came, and the tenth month, and the tenth day of it. And the Lord gave me this message:
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	24	2	Son of man, write down this day as The Day Itself. This day, this very day, the king of Babylon has closed his grip on Jerusalem.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	24	3	A riddle, a parable, for the rebellious brood! Tell them the Lord God this bidding gave thee: Set a pot on the fire, but filling it first with water;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	24	4	slice after slice goes in, all that is best; thigh and shoulder, the best joints of all, to fill the pot;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	24	5	and fat be the sheep that yields them. Pile high the fuel beneath; now boil pot, and see the stew, there in the heart of it!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	24	6	But ah, says the Lord God, what of the city that is stained with blood? It is no better than a pot covered with rust, that cannot be scraped off any longer; broken in pieces that must be cast away one by one; never shall the lot fall upon it.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	24	7	Blood plain for all to see, spilt on the polished rock, not on earth that might hide it away under the dust;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	24	8	rock, not earth, so I would have it; blood unconcealed, to warrant my angry frown, my avenging punishments!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	24	9	Out upon the blood-stained city, says the Lord God, the great pyre I mean to kindle!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	24	10	Pile high the fuel for its burning! Why, how is this, meat wasted, the whole dish charred, the very bones calcined?
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	24	11	Empty of water it must be set on the coals, till it is red-hot, and copper melts away, and the stain on it is burnt out, and it is rusty no more!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	24	12	Alas, it is but labour spent in vain; so deep is that rust, even the fire will not drive it out.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	24	13	A curse lies on this uncleanness of thine; purge thee I would, yet purged thou wilt never be, never till I have taken full toll of my vengeance on thee.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	24	14	Such is my divine doom; come it must, executed it needs must be; indulgence is none, nor mercy, nor pity; I will pay thee what thy ill life, thy ill thoughts have earned.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	24	15	The Lord’s word came to me,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	24	16	Son of man, I mean to smite thee down, by taking away from thee what thou most lovest. Dole make thou none, nor lament, shed never a tear.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	24	17	Unmarked be thy sighing, with no funeral grief made; thy head covered, thy feet shod, no veil on thy face, no customary fare of mourners.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	24	18	And so it was; that morning I uttered my word to the people, and my wife died at set of sun. Next day, I did as the Lord bade me,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	24	19	and the people were all agog to know the meaning of what I did.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	24	20	Why, I told them, the Lord has spoken to me,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	24	21	giving me a message for the race of Israel: he means to profane his own sanctuary, that proud boast of yours, which you love so, trembling ever for its safety. Sons and daughters of yours, left behind at Jerusalem, will die at the sword’s point.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	24	22	As I do now, you will do then; no veils on your faces, no customary fare of mourners;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	24	23	heads covered, feet shod, you will make neither dole nor lament, but languish ever under the load of your guilt, sighing each of you in his neighbour’s ear.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	24	24	In Ezechiel, says the Lord God, read your own doom; when that day comes, you will be at pains to do as he does now; you will have learned what power the Lord God has.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	24	25	Yes, son of man, the day is coming when I will rob them of that citadel of theirs, that proud boast of theirs, so well loved, the comfort of their thoughts; rob them, too, of sons and daughters.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	24	26	And what of thyself? Wait till a fugitive comes and tells thee the news;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	24	27	then, when he utters his message, utter thou thine, dumb no longer. So thou shalt be the presage of their doom, and they shall learn my power at last.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	25	1	Word came to me from the Lord:
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	25	2	Son of man, turn thy regard towards the Ammonites, and prophesy their doom.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	25	3	Give Ammon this message from the Lord God: Joy, joy! was thy cry when my sanctuary was profaned, Israel ravaged, the men of Juda carried off into exile;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	25	4	what shall be thy reward? The eastern folk shall enjoy thy lands; sheep-cote of theirs, tent of theirs shall be found in thee, crop of thine they shall eat, milk of thine drink;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	25	5	camels lodged in Rabbath, and all Ammon a pasture-land of sheep! Thus you shall know what power is mine.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	25	6	For clapping of hand and stamping of foot, and heart that rejoiced at Israel’s fall,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	25	7	that power shall be used in vengeance; all the world shall have the pillaging of thee, till thou art a nation no longer, a kingdom no longer; thy ruin shall teach thee what manner of God I am.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	25	8	This doom, too, the Lord God pronounces: Boasted they, the Moabites and the men of Seir, that Juda had gone the way of other lands?
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	25	9	I will lay open the valleys of Moab, that climb up from the cities, those frontier cities, fair Bethjesimoth, and Beelmeon and Cariathaim;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	25	10	open them to the men of the east in their pursuit of the Ammonites, and all shall be overrun. Ammon shall be blotted out from the memory of mankind,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	25	11	and there is justice, too, awaiting the Moabites; they too shall learn my power.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	25	12	And this: Ill did the Edomites to glut their malice, by taking their revenge on Juda.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	25	13	This doom the Lord God pronounces: My hand is raised to smite Edom, sparing neither man nor beast, making a desert of it all the way from Teman in the south to Dedan, that shall be put to the sword.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	25	14	My own people of Israel shall execute this sentence against Edom, avenge for me the grudge I bear it; then it shall be seen how I punish my enemies, the Lord God says.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	25	15	And this: Rancour of the Philistines, that murderous toll would take, old scores would settle!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	25	16	Against the Philistines, too, this hand is raised; executed they shall be, the executioners; the dwellers on the sea-coast, all that is left of them, I mean to exterminate.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	25	17	Great havoc I mean to make of them, unrelenting in my anger; such havoc as shall teach them to know what the Lord is.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	26	1	In king Sedecias’ eleventh year, on the first day of the… month, word came to me from the Lord:
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	26	2	Son of man, what was the cry of Tyre over Jerusalem? Joy, joy, the toll-gate of the world has been broken down! It is mine now; I shall grow fat on Jerusalem’s ruin!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	26	3	This doom the Lord God pronounces: Have at thee, Tyre! I mean to bring hordes of nations marching on thee, like wave upon wave of the sea.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	26	4	Walls of Tyre they shall break down, and towers of her overthrow; all the soil I will scrape away from her, and leave her bare rock,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	26	5	doom her to be but an island where fisher-folk dry their nets; I, the Lord God, will give her over as a prey to all the nations.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	26	6	Daughter-towns that stand in her territory shall be put to the sword, and learn my power at last.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	26	7	Here is Nabuchodonosor of Babylon, the Lord says, a king that has kings for his vassals, marching from the north with horse and chariot, with his knights and all his retinue, a great army of men,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	26	8	to put thy daughter-towns to the sword, compass thee with siege-works and raise a mound about thee. A barrier of shields he will raise under thy walls,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	26	9	ply engine and battering-ram against them, and bring down thy towers with grappling-irons.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	26	10	Of horses such a company, as shall cover thee all with dust; with cries of horsemen and rattle of chariot-wheels entering thy gates, thy walls shall ring again like the walls of a breached city.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	26	11	Never a street of thine but must echo with hoofs; butchered thy citizens shall be, thy fair pillars cast down,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	26	12	thy wealth plundered, thy merchandise taken for spoil. Down shall come walls, palaces totter in ruins; stone and timber and mortar of thine shall strew the seas.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	26	13	Hushed the murmur of thy songs; never more the sound of harp shall be heard in thee.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	26	14	Bare rock thou shalt be, for fisher-folk to dry their nets on; there shall be no building thee again, says the Lord God.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	26	15	This too: The very isles shall echo with the crash of thy fall, ring with the cries of the wounded dying in thy streets.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	26	16	Down from their thrones they shall come, all the lords of the sea-harbours, throw robe aside, broidered coats lay down; wrapped in dismay they sit on the bare ground, at the sudden fall of thee bewildered and amazed.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	26	17	And thus they shall sing thy dirge: What a doom was thine, sea-built city, far renowned! Mistress of the seas, mother of a race that all held in dread!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	26	18	Day of terror, that affrights the very ships, fills the islands with alarm, to see no ships leave thy harbour now!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	26	19	This too: Desolate thou shalt be, thy place among the lost cities; higher and higher yet the fathomless ocean shall rise about thee, swallowing thee up under its waters.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	26	20	Among the dead thy place is, that go down into the grave, where time is not; entombed with those other ruined cities in the depths of earth, tenanted no longer. The living world shall see the glory of my presence,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	26	21	but thou shalt have no part in it, thou shalt no longer be; who searches for thee will search evermore in vain, says the Lord God.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	27	1	And word came to me from the Lord:
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	27	2	Son of man, do thou thyself sing the dirge over Tyre.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	27	3	A message from the Lord God to the city that is built by the sea’s gates, and trafficks with many peoples on many shores! Thine was the boast of perfect beauty,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	27	4	the embosoming sea thy frontier. A well-fitted ship thou wert, such as they build on yonder coast;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	27	5	of fir-wood from Sanir thy outer planks, of Lebanon cedar thy mast,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	27	6	oars shaped from Basan oak, thy thwarts of box-wood from the western islands, with marquetry of Indian ivory.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	27	7	Of broidered linen from Egypt the sails they spread for thee, awning of blue and purple from the Grecian isles gave thee shade.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	27	8	For thee, men of Sidon and of Arad manned the oar; thyself, Tyre, gavest men of skill, thy own citizens, to be helmsmen.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	27	9	For thy dockyards, all the grey-haired wisdom of Gebal was at thy command, and for trafficking, never was ship or sailor in the world but visited thee.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	27	10	Warriors from Persia, from Lydia, from Africa, fought thy battles, with shield and helmet decked thy walls;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	27	11	men of Arvad ringed the battlements, thy defenders, and the Gammadim, too, were mounted on thy towers, on thy walls hung their quivers; lacked nothing for thy adornment.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	27	12	And for the merchants that dealt with thee, how Carthage poured her wealth into thy market-place, of silver and iron, of tin and lead!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	27	13	What purveyors of thine were Ionia, Thubal, and Mosoch, with their slaves to sell thee, their urns of bronze;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	27	14	and the men of Thogorma, with horse and horseman and mule!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	27	15	The sons of Dedan were thy pedlars; riches came to thee from the islands far away; ivory and ebony thou couldst win by barter.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	27	16	Syria, too, for the multitude of thy wares, must trade with thee, exposing in thy mart carbuncles, and purple, and embroidery, and lawn, and silk, and rubies.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	27	17	Juda and Israel themselves had their yield to bring thee, fresh wheat and balm and honey and oil and gum for thy stalls.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	27	18	Damascus, for thy many goods, had much to exchange, rare wines and brightly dyed wool;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	27	19	Dan and Ionia and Mosel offered wrought iron for sale, with cassia and calamus supplied thee.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	27	20	Dedan brought thee saddles;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	27	21	Arabia and Cedar’s chieftains were at thy call, driving in lamb and ram and goat for thy purchasing.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	27	22	The merchants of Saba and Reema were thy merchants too, with spices and precious stones and gold to shew in thy fairs;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	27	23	Haran, Chene and Eden, Saba, Assur and Chelmad, none of them but exchanged traffick with thee;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	27	24	and how rich the variety of it, the coverlets of blue, the embroideries, the treasure-caskets wound about with cords, the cedar-wood, all for thy profit!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	27	25	But the ships, they were thy pedlars in chief; the ocean-going ships, that gave thee thy wealth, gave thee thy sea-environed renown.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	27	26	Alas, that those oarsmen of thine should have ferried thee out into deep waters, for the storm-wind to wreck thee, out in the heart of the sea!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	27	27	All thy wealth and treasure and merchandise, thy mariners and helmsmen, dockyard masters and captains, all the warriors thou hast, and the common folk that dwell in thee, must sink down to the sea’s depths in this day of thy fall.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	27	28	Bewildered, all thy navy, with the helmsmen’s shouts;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	27	29	down come the rowers from their ships, mariner and pilot line the shore.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	27	30	Loud they bewail thee, bitter their cry, as they throw dust on their heads and sprinkle themselves with ashes;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	27	31	heads are shaven, sackcloth is every man’s wear; woeful hearts are all around, and woeful lament.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	27	32	And a sad dirge they shall sing as they mourn over thee: City was none like Tyre, that now lies forgotten in the depths of the sea!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	27	33	Peoples a many thy trafficking supplied; all the kings of the earth were richer for wealth of thine, enterprise of thine;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	27	34	and now the sea has swallowed thee up; buried in the deep waters all the prosperity that was thine, all the citizens that thronged thee.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	27	35	The island peoples, how they stood aghast at thy fall; the island kings, how their faces fell at the news of thy shipwreck!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	27	36	How they hissed in derision, the traders of other nations! Only ruin is left of thee, for ever vanished and gone.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	28	1	And word came to me from the Lord:
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	28	2	Son of man, give this message from the Lord God to the prince of Tyre: An ill day for thee, when thy proud heart told thee thou wast a god, enthroned god-fashion in the heart of the sea! Mortal man, thou hast played the god in thy own thoughts.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	28	3	What if more than a Daniel thou wert for wisdom, no secret hidden from thee?
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	28	4	Skill and craft have brought thee power, lined thy coffers with gold and silver;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	28	5	and this skill of thine, this pedlar’s empire of thine, have made thee proud of thy own strength.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	28	6	This doom, then, the Lord God has for thee, man that wouldst play the god:
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	28	7	I mean to embroil thee with foreign foes, a warrior nation as none else, that shall draw sword on that fair creature, thy wisdom, soil thy beauty in the dust!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	28	8	Dragged down to thy ruin, wounded to thy death, there in the heart of the sea,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	28	9	wilt thou still boast of thy godhead to the slayer, while his sword ungods thee?
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	28	10	Such my doom is for thee, death at an alien’s hand, the uncircumcised for thy company.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	28	11	This too: Son of man, sing a dirge over yonder king of Tyre.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	28	12	This be thy message to him from the Lord God: The token, thou, of my considerateness. How wise thou wast, how peerlessly fair,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	28	13	with all God’s garden to take thy pleasure in! No precious stone but went to thy adorning; sardius, topaz, jasper, chrysolith, onyx, beryl, sapphire, carbuncle and emerald; all of gold was thy fair fashioning. And thy niche was prepared for thee when thou wast created;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	28	14	a cherub thou shouldst be, thy wings outstretched in protection; there on God’s holy mountain I placed thee, to come and go between the wheels of fire.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	28	15	From the day of thy creation all was perfect in thee, till thou didst prove false;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	28	16	all these traffickings had made thee false within, and for thy guilt I must expel thee, guardian cherub as thou wert, from God’s mountain; between the wheels of fire thou shouldst walk no longer.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	28	17	A heart made proud by its own beauty, wisdom ruined through its own dazzling brightness, down to earth I must cast thee, an example for kings to see.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	28	18	Great guilt of thine, all the sins of thy trafficking, have profaned thy sanctuaries; such a fire I will kindle in the heart of thee as shall be thy undoing, leave thee a heap of dust on the ground for all to gaze at.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	28	19	None on earth that recognizes thee but shall be dismayed at the sight of thee; only ruin left of thee, for ever vanished and gone.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	28	20	This too:
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	28	21	Son of man, turn thy regard towards Sidon, and prophesy its doom.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	28	22	This message give it from the Lord God: Have at thee, Sidon! Battle-field thy territory shall be of my renown! In her, too, my power shall be made known, my sentence executed, my holiness vindicated.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	28	23	Plague I mean to bring down on her and blood-letting both; the sword everywhere, and wounded men dying in her streets, to prove what power the Lord has.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	28	24	No more shall the Israelites have scornful enemies round about, thorns and briers to prick and hurt them; they shall know at last what manner of God they serve.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	28	25	When I restore the scattered race of Israel from its exile, the Lord God says, my holiness shall be vindicated for all the world to see. The land I gave to my servant Jacob shall be thenceforward its home;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	28	26	securely it shall dwell there, build houses, plant vineyards, fear no attack. It shall see every scornful neighbour punished, and know at last what it is to have the Lord for its God.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	29	1	It was the tenth year of Sedecias, on the eleventh day of its tenth month, when word came to me from the Lord:
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	29	2	Son of man, turn thy regard towards Pharao, king of Egypt, and prophesy his and all Egypt’s doom.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	29	3	This message give him from the Lord God: Have at thee, Pharao, king of Egypt, great dragon that liest couched between thy streams, boasting that yonder river is thy own, thou art a god, self-created!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	29	4	Trust me, I will bridle those jaws of thine, and all the fish in thy river I will fasten to thy scales! Out of the river, fish clinging to scales, I will drag thee,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	29	5	and leave thee aground in the desert, and thy fish too. None shall go out to search for thy corpse, or bring it home; carrion it shall be for beast on earth, for bird in heaven,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	29	6	and all the citizens of Egypt shall learn my power. This, because thou didst prove a staff of cane to the men of Israel;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	29	7	grasped they that staff, it splintered, and there was an arm wounded; leaned they on it, it broke, and their strength gave way under them.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	29	8	This doom, then, the Lord God pronounces: For thee, the sword; man nor beast will I spare in thee;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	29	9	a lonely desert thou shalt be, till thou hast learned what my power is, thou that wouldst be river’s lord and river’s maker.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	29	10	Out upon thee, out upon those streams of thine; a desert Egypt shall be, devastated by the sword, from Syene’s tower to the marches of Ethiopia;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	29	11	man nor beast shall set foot in it till it has lain forty years desolate.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	29	12	Land of Egypt shall be as the desert lands are, cities of Egypt as the ruined cities are, for forty years uninhabited; and the men of Egypt shall be scattered wide as earth among the nations.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	29	13	This too: At the end of forty years I will bring the Egyptians back from their countries of exile,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	29	14	restore them from banishment, and in Phatures, the land of their birth, give them a home once more; there they shall be a kingdom of little account.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	29	15	Least of the kingdoms Egypt shall be, no more hold up its head among the nations, too weak for empire now.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	29	16	No more shall it raise hopes among the men of Israel, and bring upon them the guilt of finding a refuge there; they shall learn that I, the Lord, am their God.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	29	17	It was on the first day of the twenty-seventh year that word came to me from the Lord:
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	29	18	Son of man, here is great drudgery king Nabuchodonosor of Babylon has given his men in the assault upon Tyre; every head worn bald, every shoulder smooth, by the burdens they carried! A thankless service it was they did me there, he and his army;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	29	19	but now, says the Lord God, I will make use of Egypt to pay Nabuchodonosor his wages; all its great wealth he shall have, spoil for his spoiling, plunder for his plundering, and so his men shall have their reward.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	29	20	He has fought my battles, and Egypt shall be his recompense, the Lord God says.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	29	21	When that day comes, new life shall spring from the stock of Israel, and to the men of Israel thou shalt speak with unhampered utterance, to attest my divine power.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	30	1	And again word came to me from the Lord:
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	30	2	Son of man, tell them their doom in the name of the Lord God, and bid them raise loud lament: Alas, alas the day!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	30	3	Nearer, nearer it comes, the Lord’s reckoning day, dawning in cloud; it is the heathen’s turn now.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	30	4	Egypt shall feel the sword, and Ethiopia tremble to see Egypt’s warriors dying, Egypt’s wealth carried away, the foundations of Egypt overthrown.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	30	5	Ethiop and Libyan and Lydian, all that motley host, men of Chub and men that hold their lands under treaty, by that same sword shall perish.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	30	6	Such doom the Lord God pronounces; gone, all the props that supported her, gone her proud empire; all that lies beyond Syene, the Lord says, ravaged by the sword!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	30	7	Land of Egypt shall be as the desert lands are, cities of Egypt as the ruined cities are;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	30	8	my power they will never learn till I have spread fire over their country, till all their allies have perished.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	30	9	When that day comes, there will be ships carrying news of my onset, to daunt the courage of Ethiopia; Egypt’s doom approaching, they shall know it and be afraid.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	30	10	This too: I mean to make an end of Egypt’s prosperity, through king Nabuchodonosor of Babylon;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	30	11	he and his army, in all the world is none fiercer, shall be let loose for the land’s undoing, their swords drawn to fill Egypt with dead.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	30	12	I will dry up the course of its rivers, and leave the land at the mercy of its bitter enemies; nothing in it but shall be ravaged by alien hands; I, the Lord, have decreed it.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	30	13	Down shall come the idols of Memphis, the Lord God says, I will have no more false gods there, and prince in all the land shall be none. Such terrors Egypt shall know,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	30	14	Phatures all in ruin, Taphnis afire, in Alexandria my doom executed.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	30	15	Pelusium, her fortress, shall feel my vengeance, Alexandria be laid waste;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	30	16	all Egypt shall be ablaze, such bitter throes Pelusium shall have, Alexandria such devastation, Memphis such hard straits day by day.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	30	17	Their warriors put to the sword, Heliopolis shall be enslaved and Bubastis;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	30	18	dark days there shall be at Taphnis, when I crush the power of Egypt there, and all the pride of her empire is gone; a city in darkness, with all her women-folk carried off into exile.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	30	19	Such doom I will execute upon the Egyptians, and they shall know my power at last.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	30	20	In the eleventh year of Sedecias, on the seventh day of the first month, word came to me from the Lord:
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	30	21	Son of man, I have left Pharao, king of Egypt, with his arm broken; bound up and healed it may not be, clout or bandage is none to wind about it and give it support, give it strength to hold sword again.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	30	22	Out upon Pharao, king of Egypt, says the Lord God; that strong arm of his, that broken arm of his, I will disable, strike the sword from his hand;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	30	23	dispersed among the nations Egypt shall be, scattered to the winds.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	30	24	Strong arms I will give the king of Babylon, and a sword to wield, to Pharao broken arms, and the groans of dying men for all his comfort.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	30	25	The king of Babylon strong, and Pharao disabled; my power shall be known, when my sword, in Babylon’s hand, hangs over Egypt;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	30	26	my power shall be known, when the men of Egypt are scattered wide as earth among the nations.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	31	1	That same year, on the first day of the third month, word came to me from the Lord:
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	31	2	Son of man, here is a message for Pharao, king of Egypt, and his retinue. Say to him, This greatness of thine, whose memory does it recall?
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	31	3	Not less powerful once was the Assyrian king, a very cedar of Lebanon. How fair its boughs, yonder tree, its leaves how overshadowing; what height, what thickness of growth about its top!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	31	4	Water nourished it, water came up from the depth beneath to sustain it, washed about its roots and parted into runnels to feed the trees around.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	31	5	In all the country-side none rose so tall, had covert so thick, branches so wide; none fed so deep.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	31	6	Among its boughs the birds nested, the beasts in their travail sought its shade; proud nations a many under Assyria’s shelter grew.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	31	7	So fair it was, so tall and spreading, there by the brimming water’s side,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	31	8	in God’s own garden cedar could not overtop it, fir-tree match it for height, or plane-tree for shade. God’s garden itself could not shew such beauty:
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	31	9	never a tree there, tree of Eden, but must envy it the leafy loveliness that was my gift.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	31	10	Alas, that he should aim too high, the Lord God says; alas for youth’s luxuriant promise, that swelled his heart with pride!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	31	11	I must needs hand him over to a conquering power, that should settle my reckoning with him; he, the godless, homeless should be.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	31	12	Cut down, yonder tree, by alien folk, heathen that pity have none, and left to lie on the hill-side, boughs choking the valleys, branches carried off by the mountain streams; vassal nations abandoned his shelter, and he was all alone.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	31	13	In the fallen trunk birds nested, under torn branches the wild beasts made their lair;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	31	14	never again should tree boast of its height, there by the river bank, overtopping the covert of the woods, never again should the waters nourish its pride. Death and the deep earth should await them all, mortal things to a mortal doom appointed.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	31	15	Sad dirge was his, the Lord God says, at his down-going; the great depth was the shroud of him, its flooding streams hushed and stayed; mourned Lebanon, and all the forest swooned away.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	31	16	How it echoed through the world, the crash of his fall! He too, like all mortal things, was for the earth at last; comfort for those others that were brought to earth like himself, trees of Eden like himself, so noble, so fair, so well watered!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	31	17	All alike must go down to the grave, the sword’s way; his arm… … his shadow their protection against surrounding nations.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	31	18	And thou, in thy greatness and glory among Eden’s trees so like him! Yet thou, like other Eden trees, must come down low as earth can bring thee; and the sword shall level thee with the uncircumcised in death. (Pharao is meant, and Pharao’s retinue, the Lord God says. )
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	32	1	And in the twelfth year, on the first day of the twelfth month, word came to me from the Lord:
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	32	2	Son of man, sing a dirge for Pharao, the king of Egypt, that counts for a lion among the nations: Monster thou art of the depths, holding up thy head in those rivers of thine, trampling them under foot, till their waters run foul!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	32	3	This doom the Lord God pronounces: A net-work I have of many peoples that I will cast over thee, a seine that will bring thee presently ashore.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	32	4	High on the beach I will leave thee aground, for all the birds to perch on thee, all the beasts to take their fill of thee;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	32	5	flesh of thine shall strew the mountains, with blood of thine the gullies shall overflow,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	32	6	reeking blood that drenches hill and chokes valley with its stream.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	32	7	Thy light when I quench, muffled the skies shall be, the stars dim, the sun beclouded, and the moon shall refuse her light;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	32	8	no luminary in heaven but shall go mourning for thee, and in that land of thine, the Lord God says, all shall be darkness.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	32	9	Here shall be a challenge to many nations, in lands thou still knowest not, when I tell them the story of thy downfall;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	32	10	peoples a many there shall be that gape in bewilderment, kings that tremble and quake at the story of thee. My sword they shall see flashing before their eyes, and each for his own life shall tremble in the day of thy fall.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	32	11	Sword of the king of Babylon shall reach thee, the Lord God says;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	32	12	tried warriors thy thronging multitudes shall cut down, pitiless hordes that shall harry the pride of Egypt, scatter her wealth.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	32	13	The very beasts that roam beside your full stream I will destroy; never foot of man, hoof of beast shall sully it thenceforward;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	32	14	clear those waters shall be as never they were, smooth as oil the river’s flow, the Lord God says;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	32	15	all Egypt, now, shall be desolate, all its busy life shall be still, when I smite the men that dwell in it, and teach them to recognize my power.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	32	16	Make dole, then; here is good cause; Egypt shall have the world for her mourner, none but shall mourn for Egypt and her lost greatness, says the Lord God.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	32	17	And in the twelfth year, on the fifteenth day of the month, this:
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	32	18	Son of man, a dirge now for the common folk of Egypt; sing Egypt to her grave, and with her those other proud nations that must go down into the dark:
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	32	19	Measure not thy beauty against another’s; to thy grave get thee, and with the uncircumcised take thy rest.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	32	20	The sword carries off all alike; once loose it, she and all her multitudes must perish.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	32	21	From the tomb they greet the newcomer, those great warriors, men of the uncircumcised races, allies once, that now lie there, slain in battle.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	32	22	Here is the Assyrian king with all his muster-roll; how their graves ring him about, dead warriors all!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	32	23	Down there in the dark, his grave and theirs around him, dead now in battle, that once daunted the hearts of the living!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	32	24	Here are the Elamites, too, lying about their king, men uncircumcised that made themselves feared in life, and now lie in the pit beneath with all those others, stripped and shamed as they were left on the battle-field;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	32	25	(here he lies, with his men about him for monument, once so feared; stripped and shamed they lie, Elamites uncircumcised, there in the dark, there amongst the slain).
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	32	26	Uncircumcised, too, the king of Mosoch and Thubal, with all his retinue buried around him, dead now and feared no longer;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	32	27	shall they not sleep on there with the slain warriors, with the uncircumcised, still armed, swords beneath their heads; their corpses lawless yet, and feared no longer?
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	32	28	Thy place too, the place of thy slain warriors, is with the uncircumcised in their ruin.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	32	29	King and chief of the Edomites lie slain among the uncircumcised, there in the dark;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	32	30	so do all the kings of the north, and the Sidonians, dismayed now and trusting no more in their own valour, stripped and shamed.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	32	31	Well may Pharao and his men be comforted by that sight over the multitude of their slain, the Lord God says.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	32	32	He too, in this living world, wielded my terrors; he too lies there, the Lord God says, slain in battle, with the uncircumcised about him.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	33	1	Word came to me from the Lord:
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	33	2	Son of man, tell thy fellow-countrymen this: Plague I a country with war, some frontier-dweller is chosen by the citizens to be their sentry.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	33	3	Let such a man spy the invader’s approach, and sound the alarm with his trumpet;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	33	4	whoever hears it must give good heed, or else the enemy may catch him, and none but himself to blame.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	33	5	What, hear trumpet, and pay no heed? The fault is his. More cautious, he should have found safety.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	33	6	But what if sentry, when he sees the invader coming, sounds no alarm to warn his neighbours? Here is some citizen overtaken by the enemy; well, his guilt deserved it. But for his death I will hold the sentry accountable.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	33	7	So it is with thee, son of man; for the whole race of Israel thou art my watchman; the warning thou hearest from my lips, to them pass on.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	33	8	Sinner if I threaten with death, and word thou give him none to leave off his sinning, die he shall, as he deserves to die, but thou for his death shalt answer to me.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	33	9	If warning thou givest, and he will not leave off his sinning, he dies by his own fault, and thou shalt stand acquitted.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	33	10	This be thy word, son of man, to the race of Israel: Think you no hope of life is left, so burdened you are, so languish under the guilt of your sins?
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	33	11	This message give them from the Lord: As I am a living God, the sinner’s death is none of my contriving! I would have him leave his sinning, and live on. Come back, come back from your ill-doing; why must you choose death, men of Israel?
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	33	12	And warn them, son of man, warn thy fellow-countrymen that, once the upright man falls a-sinning, his uprightness shall nothing avail him. Sinner that will leave his sinning, no harm shall he have; upright man that sins, no life shall his uprightness bring him.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	33	13	Promise I the upright he shall live on, he must not by his own uprightness be emboldened to sin; forgotten, all his good deserts, his guilt shall be his undoing.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	33	14	Threaten I the sinner with instant death, he has but to repent of his sins, do innocently and uprightly,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	33	15	restore the debtor’s pledge, the ill-gotten gains, follow the life-giving law, forswear ill-doing, and it shall be life, not death for him.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	33	16	Forgotten, all his ill deserving; innocent and upright, he shall live on.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	33	17	And yet they say, these fellow-countrymen of thine, that the Lord’s dealings are inconsiderate, when in truth it is they that deal inconsiderately.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	33	18	Death for the upright that is upright no more, and turns ill-doer;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	33	19	life for the sinner that will leave his sinning, upright and innocent now!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	33	20	Will you still have it that the Lord’s dealings are inconsiderate? Nay, men of Israel, each of you shall have his deserts.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	33	21	It was in the twelfth year of the exile, on the fifth day of the tenth month, that a fugitive came to me with the news that Jerusalem had fallen.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	33	22	The night before this man reached me, the power of the Lord had visited me, to unseal my lips in readiness for his coming on the morrow; so now I could speak out, and was dumb no longer.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	33	23	And a message came to me from the Lord:
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	33	24	Son of man, what are they saying, the folk that now inhabit yonder ruins of Israel? Enough of us, they say, to be the true heirs of this land! Abraham was granted possession of it when he was all alone.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	33	25	Tell them this from the Lord God: You, that cook your meat with the blood in it, that look to false gods for aid, that thrive by murder, the land’s heirs!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	33	26	You, that live by the sword, that practise foul rites, that dishonour your neighbours’ wives, the land’s heirs!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	33	27	This is the Lord’s message to them: As I am a living God, ruin-dwellers, the sword shall be your ruin! Or choose you the open country, you shall be a prey to the wild beasts; choose you mountain-fastness and cave, the pestilence shall take you.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	33	28	A lonely desert this land shall be, all its proud boast at an end; the hill-country of Israel shall lie desolate, untrodden by wayfarers;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	33	29	desert and desolate their land must be, in punishment of all their foul doings, before they learn to recognize my power.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	33	30	And thou, son of man, listen to what they are saying of thee, as they stand close to wall, huddled under doorway. Each says to other, Come and find out whether the Lord has any message for us.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	33	31	Ay, they come crowding about thee, this people of mine, and sit here closeted with thee, listening to all thou sayest, but do thy bidding they will not. No, they will have thee sing in their own tune, and all their thought dwells upon gains ill-gotten.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	33	32	As well had it been some tuneful air, sung excellently well; better listeners thou couldst not have, nor less achievement.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	33	33	But when thy words come true, as come true they shall, none shall doubt that they have had a prophet in their midst.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	34	1	Word came to me from the Lord:
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	34	2	Now, son of man, prophesy doom to the rulers of Israel, the shepherds of my flock. This be thy message from the Lord God: Out upon Israel’s shepherds, that had a flock to feed, and fed none but themselves;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	34	3	the milk drank, the wool wore, the fat lambs slaughtered, but pastured these sheep of mine never at all!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	34	4	The wasted frame went unnourished, the sick unhealed; nor bound they the broken limb, nor brought strayed sheep home, nor lost sheep found; force and constraint were all the governance they knew.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	34	5	So my sheep fell a-wandering, that shepherd had none; every wild beast fell a-preying on them, and they scattered far and wide.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	34	6	All over the mountains they strayed, all over the high hills were scattered, this flock of mine, and no search was made for them, no search at all.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	34	7	This doom, then, the Lord pronounces on yonder shepherds:
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	34	8	As I am a living God, I will have a reckoning for sheep of mine carried off, sheep of mine the wild beasts have preyed on, while they went all untended, with shepherds that would not go in search of them, shepherds that no flock would feed, but themselves only.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	34	9	A word, shepherds, for your hearing,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	34	10	a message from the Lord God: Out upon yonder shepherds! I will hold them answerable for the flock entrusted to them, and they shall have charge of it no more, feed themselves out of its revenues no more. From their greedy power I will rescue it; no longer shall it be their prey.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	34	11	This is what the Lord God says: I mean to go looking for this flock of mine, search it out for myself.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	34	12	As a shepherd, when he finds his flock scattered all about him, goes looking for his sheep, so will I go looking for these sheep of mine, rescue them from all the nooks into which they have strayed when the dark mist fell upon them.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	34	13	Rescued from every kingdom, recovered from every land, I will bring them back to their own country; they shall have pasture on the hill-sides of Israel, by its watercourses, in the resting-places of their home.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	34	14	Yes, I will lead them out into fair pastures, the high mountains of Israel shall be their feeding-ground, the mountains of Israel, with soft grass for them to rest on, rich feed for them to graze.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	34	15	Food and rest, says the Lord God, both these I will give to my flock.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	34	16	The lost sheep I will find, the strayed sheep I will bring home again; bind up the broken limb, nourish the wasted frame, keep the well-fed and the sturdy free from harm; they shall have a true shepherd at last.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	34	17	And what of you, my flock? I mean to do justice, the Lord God says, among the beasts themselves, give redress against the rams and the buck-goats.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	34	18	What, was it not enough to have stripped the pasture-lands with your grazing, drunk all that was purest out of the stream, but you must trample and foul all that was left?
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	34	19	None but trampled fields must my sheep graze, none but fouled waters drink?
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	34	20	This is what the Lord God says: I mean to see justice done between fat beast and lean.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	34	21	Thrust back with side and shoulder, gored with the horn, all the weaker of them have been driven away;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	34	22	but now I mean to protect this flock of mine against your greed, give beast redress against its fellow.…
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	34	23	They shall have a single shepherd to tend all of them now; who should tend them but my servant David? He shall be their shepherd,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	34	24	and I, the Lord, will be their God, now that he rules them on earth; such is my divine promise to them.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	34	25	Such a covenant I will make as shall grant them security; beasts of prey there shall be none, safe resting, now, in the desert, safe sleeping in the woods;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	34	26	on my hill-sides they shall dwell, a blessed people in a blessed home, rain in its season fall on them, and blessings all the while.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	34	27	Wild trees their fruit, the earth its crops shall afford; undisturbed they shall dwell on their own lands, acknowledging my power at last, my power that severed strap of yoke, rescued them from the tyrant’s hand.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	34	28	Forgotten, the enemies that despoiled, the wild beasts that preyed on them; they will live sheltered from all alarms.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	34	29	Once more their renown shall burgeon; never again the land starve with drought, never the alien’s taunts be heard.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	34	30	None shall doubt that I, the Lord their God, am at their side, and they are my own people, the race of Israel, the Lord God says.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	34	31	Flock of mine, the Lord God says, flock of my pasturing, you are but men, yet I, the Lord, am your God.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	35	1	Word came to me from the Lord:
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	35	2	Son of man, turn thy regard towards the hill-country of Seir, and prophesy its doom.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	35	3	This be thy message from the Lord God: Have at thee, Seir! My hand is raised to smite thee; desert thou shalt be and desolate;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	35	4	when I have pulled down thy cities and left thee in ruins, thou shalt know my power at last.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	35	5	Relentless foe, didst thou not cut off Israel’s retreat in its most need, when doom closed round it?
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	35	6	As I am a living God, the Lord says, to bloodshed I doom thee, bloodshed shall hunt thee down, the very bloodshed that liked thee so little.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	35	7	Desolate and desert mount Seir shall be, none come and go there,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	35	8	every crest of it piled high with the slain. Slain they shall fall, thy warriors, by hill-slope and valley and ravine,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	35	9	till thou art left solitary for all time, thy cities uninhabited; so thou shalt witness my power.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	35	10	Two nations and two countries (thy boast was), and both are mine; to me is left the enjoyment of them! forgetting that I, the Lord, dwell there.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	35	11	As I am a living God, the Lord says, the rankling grudge that embittered thee thou shalt feel to thy cost; by the doom I execute upon thee, Israel shall learn to know me better;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	35	12	and thou too shalt learn that I, the Lord, was listening, when thy arrogance claimed its deserted hill-country for thy prey.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	35	13	I was listening to all those defiant blasphemies of thine,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	35	14	and now, says the Lord God, let all the world rejoice as it will, thou shalt lie desolate.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	35	15	Ruined utterly they shall be, mount Seir and all Edom, that triumphed in the ruin of Israel; the Lord’s power shall be made known at last.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	36	1	And now, son of man, to the mountains of Israel address thy prophecy, and give them my divine message,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	36	2	comforting them, in the name of the Lord God, for the taunts of the enemy, that think to claim possession of their ancient strongholds.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	36	3	Thus shall thy word of prophecy begin: Desolate you lie, the Lord God says, and overrun by the invader; aliens have the lordship of you, and your name is on men’s lips, a byword of common talk.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	36	4	Yet here is word for you, mountains of Israel, from the Lord God; word from him for crag and hill, ravine and valley and barren upland, ruined wall and deserted city, empty now and a mockery to their neighbours!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	36	5	On Edom, on all the Gentiles that fell to and feasted on lands of mine, marked them down for pillage, my jealous love pronounces doom.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	36	6	A promise, then, from the Lord God to every mountain and hill, every upland and valley in the land of Israel! Till now, the Lord God says, you have been put to the blush before your neighbours, but now my love and my indignation can contain itself no more.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	36	7	My oath upon it, the Lord God says, these neighbours of yours shall be put to the blush in their turn.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	36	8	But you, mountains of Israel, must burgeon anew, and grow fruit for my own people to enjoy; their home-coming is not far off now.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	36	9	Watch for me, I am coming back to you; soil of you shall be ploughed and sown anew;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	36	10	and men, too, shall thrive on it, Israel’s full muster-roll, peopling the cities, restoring the ruins.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	36	11	Full tale you shall have of men and beasts that thrive and multiply; I will make you populous as of old, more than of old my blessings lavish, and you shall not doubt my power.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	36	12	Masters you shall have, and those masters my people of Israel, your rightful lords; never shall they want lands or you lords again.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	36	13	Till now, the Lord God says, men have called thee a land that starves folk and empties cradle;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	36	14	henceforth, his will is that thou shouldst starve thy folk, bereave thy folk, no longer;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	36	15	scoff and taunt of heathen neighbours thou wilt have none to bear, he says, nor lack men to till thee henceforward.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	36	16	This too:
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	36	17	Son of man, how the race of Israel profaned this country of theirs, when they still dwelt in it, by their lives and their likings! Cast clouts of woman were less defiling.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	36	18	What marvel if my vengeance was let loose on them for all the blood that stained it; all the idols that polluted it?
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	36	19	What marvel if I drove them out among the nations, scattered them wide as earth, as lives and likings of theirs had deserved?
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	36	20	But alas, wherever they went among the heathen, they brought my holy name into ill repute; These are the Lord’s people, folk said, and here they are, exiled from the land he loves!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	36	21	Should I let my holy name go unhonoured, among the heathen that harboured them?
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	36	22	Give Israel, then, this message from the Lord God: It is not for your own sakes, men of Israel, that I come forward as your champion; it is for the sake of my holy name, brought into disrepute among the Gentiles who have crossed your path.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	36	23	That great renown of mine I mean to vindicate, that is now dragged in the dust among the Gentiles, dragged in the dust because of you. The very Gentiles will recognize my power, the Lord God says, when I proclaim my majesty in their sight by delivering you.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	36	24	I mean to set you free from the power of the Gentiles, bring you home again from every part of the earth.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	36	25	And then I will pour cleansing streams over you, to purge you from every stain you bear, purge you from the taint of your idolatry.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	36	26	I will give you a new heart, and breathe a new spirit into you; I will take away from your breasts those hearts that are hard as stone, and give you human hearts instead.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	36	27	I will make my spirit penetrate you, so that you will follow in the path of my law, remember and carry out my decrees.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	36	28	So shall you make your home in the land I promised to your fathers; you shall be my people, and I will be your God.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	36	29	I will set you free from the guilt which stains you; I will send my word to the harvest, and bid it come up abundantly, from dearth spare you;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	36	30	yield of tree and crop of earth I will multiply, and the heathen shall taunt you no longer with your starving lot.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	36	31	Well may you think with loathing of what you were, as your minds go back to false paths and crooked aims you once followed!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	36	32	Be assured of it, the Lord God says, it was for no deserts of yours I delivered you; blush still, men of Israel, for your crimes, hang your heads still!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	36	33	This too: A time is coming when I will set you free from the guilt which stains you; when I will people your cities, rebuild your ruins;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	36	34	when the deserted land shall be tilled anew. Desolate the passers-by saw it once;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	36	35	now they will say, Why, it is a very garden of Eden, the country-side which once lay all uncultivated; the empty towns, all gone to rack and ruin, are walled and populous!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	36	36	And the heathen shall know, such heathen as are your neighbours still, that I, the Lord, rebuild ruin and plant wilderness; what the Lord promises, the Lord fulfils.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	36	37	This boon, says the Lord God, Israel shall yet have of me, as a flock thrives their manhood shall thrive.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	36	38	See how the victim-herd throngs the streets of Jerusalem on her feast-days! Yonder empty cities shall be thronged, too, but with men; the proof of my divine power.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	37	1	… The Lord’s power laid hold of me, and by the spirit of the Lord I was carried away and set down in the midst of the plain, which was covered with bones.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	37	2	Round the whole extent of them he took me, where they lay thick on the plain, all of them parched quite dry.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	37	3	Son of man, he said, can life return to these bones? Lord God, said I, thou knowest.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	37	4	Then he bade me utter a prophecy over the bones: Listen, dry bones, to the word of the Lord.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	37	5	A message to these bones from the Lord: I mean to send my spirit into you, and restore you to life.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	37	6	Sinews shall be given you, flesh shall grow on you, and skin cover you; and I will give you breath to bring you to life again; will you doubt, then, the Lord’s power?
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	37	7	So I prophesied as he had bidden me, and as I prophesied a sound came, and I felt a stirring, and the bones came together, each at its proper joint;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	37	8	under my eyes the sinews and the flesh clothed them, and the skin covered them, but there was no breath in them even now.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	37	9	Son of man, he said, prophesy now to the breath of life; give the breath of life itself this message from the Lord God: Come, breath of life, from the four winds, and breathe on these slain men to make them live.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	37	10	So I prophesied as he had bidden me, and the breath of life came into them, so that they lived again; and all rose to their feet, host upon host of them.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	37	11	Then he told me, Son of man, in these bones here thou seest the whole race of Israel. They are complaining that their very bones have withered away, that all hope is lost, they are dead men.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	37	12	It is for thee to prophesy, giving them this message from the Lord God: I mean to open your graves and revive you, my people; I mean to bring you home to the land of Israel.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	37	13	Will you doubt, then, the Lord’s power, when I open your graves and revive you?
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	37	14	When I breathe my spirit into you, to give you life again, and bid you dwell at peace in your own land? What the Lord promises, the Lord performs; you will know that, he tells you, at last.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	37	15	And word came to me from the Lord:
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	37	16	Son of man, take two pieces of wood, and write on one, For Juda, and the tribes of Israel that take part with him; on the other, that is the stick of Ephraim, write, For Joseph, and all the tribes of Israel that take part with him.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	37	17	Then join them together into the form of a single stick, so that they are united in thy hand.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	37	18	And when thy fellow-countrymen would have thee tell them what thou meanest by all this,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	37	19	give them this message from the Lord: Here is this stick of Joseph and his confederate tribes, with Ephraim at their head; I mean to join it with Juda’s and make one stick of it; one stick now, and in my hand.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	37	20	And while thou art still holding the inscribed sticks, there in the presence of thy fellow-countrymen,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	37	21	say this: A message from the Lord God! I mean to recall the sons of Israel from their exile among the Gentiles, gather them from every side and restore them to their home.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	37	22	And there, in the hill-country of Israel, I will make one nation of them, with one king over them all; no longer shall they be two nations under two crowns.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	37	23	No more shall they be contaminated with idol-worship, and foul rites, and forbidden things a many; I will deliver them from the lands that were once the haunts of their sinning, and make them clean again; they shall be my people, and I will be their God.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	37	24	They shall have one king over them, a shepherd to tend them all, my servant David; my will they shall follow, my commands remember and obey.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	37	25	And their home shall be the home of your fathers, the land I gave to my servant Jacob; they and their children shall enjoy it, and their children’s children, in perpetuity, and ever my servant David shall be their prince.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	37	26	My covenant shall pledge them prosperity, a covenant that shall never be revoked; I will make them… and give them increase, and set up my sanctuary in their midst for ever.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	37	27	My tabernacle over them; they my people, and I their God;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	37	28	proof to all the world that I, the Lord, have set Israel apart, I that dwell apart in their midst for ever.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	38	1	Word came to me from the Lord:
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	38	2	Son of man, turn thy regard now towards Gog, Magog’s country, that has the lordship of Mosoch and Thubal, and prophesy its doom.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	38	3	This be thy message to it from the Lord God: Have at thee, Gog, that hast the lordship of Mosoch and Thubal!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	38	4	Trust me, I will turn thee about this way and that, bridle those jaws of thine! I will bring thee out to battle, with all thy army; with horses and mailed cavalry, with a great company that ply spear and shield and sword.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	38	5	Persians shall be there, and Ethiopians, and Libyans, all with shield and helmet,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	38	6	Gomer with his hordes, the men of Thogorma from the northern fastnesses, mustered in full strength; what an array thou hast about thee!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	38	7	Now hold thyself in readiness, marshal thy own strength and the hordes that follow thee; thine is the leadership.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	38	8	Long hence thy turn shall come; long years must pass before thou dost march on Israel; a land, now, recovered from its blood-letting; its hills, desolate till now, are repeopled with exiles from many shores, come back to dwell there in security.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	38	9	Storm never rose so suddenly, cloud-wrack never darkened it so fearsomely, as thou with that host of thine, those confederate hordes.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	38	10	What thoughts will be in thy heart that day, the Lord God says, what foul design will be a-brewing?
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	38	11	Why, thou wilt think to march on a land unfortified, a people dwelling free from all alarms, that walls about them have none, bolt nor bar to shut them in;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	38	12	spoil for thy spoiling, plunder for thy plundering. Easily enough they are like to fall into thy hand, the ruins so lately rebuilt; the men restored from exile, that hold but the heart of the country, and are already enriched!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	38	13	Small wonder if the traders of Saba, Dedan and Tharsis, ravenous lions all, would know whether it is plunder thy heart is set on? Such a muster of men, it can but mean spoil; silver and gold to rifle, stock and stuff to carry away, ay, there is spoil behind this, and spoil worth the taking!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	38	14	Prophesy, then, son of man, and make known to Gog this divine message: None better ware of it than thou, when my people of Israel is living at peace, free from alarms!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	38	15	Then it is thou wilt come down from those northern fastnesses, with thy hordes about thee, thy troops of cavalry, a great muster, an army irresistible,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	38	16	sweeping down on my people of Israel like a cloud that overshadows the land. Offspring of that later age, thou shalt march on yonder land of mine, so that in Gog’s doom my power may be vindicated, and the heathen may learn what I am.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	38	17	Long years ago, the Lord God says, there were servants of mine that foresaw my will concerning thee, and even then warned Israel, in my name, of thy coming.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	38	18	When Gog marches against Israel, the Lord God says, my indignation will contain itself no longer;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	38	19	jealous love and fierce anger of mine, I swear it, shall throw all the land of Israel into commotion.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	38	20	Fish in sea, bird in air, beast on earth and all the creeping things of earth shall tremble at my presence, and the world of men, too, shall tremble; mountains be overthrown, defences totter, walls come toppling to the ground.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	38	21	All through this hill-country of mine my word shall run, The sword! And with that, the Lord says, friend shall turn his sword against friend;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	38	22	ordeal they shall have of pestilence and of blood-letting, of lashing storm and great hail-stones; fire and brimstone I will rain down upon them, all that great army and the hordes that follow with it.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	38	23	My greatness, my holiness, shall then be displayed for a world of nations to see, and they will recognize my power at last.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	39	1	Prophesy, then, son of man, the doom of Gog; be this the divine message thou givest him: Have at thee, Gog, that hast the lordship of Mosoch and Thubal!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	39	2	This way and that I will turn thee, whistle thee on and bid thee leave thy northern fastnesses, to march against the hill-country of Israel;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	39	3	then I will strike yonder bow from thy left hand, spill the arrows from thy right!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	39	4	Host and horde of thine shall fall with thee on the mountains of Israel, carrion for every bird in air, every beast on earth;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	39	5	cast away on the bare ground thou shalt lie, such is my doom for thee, the Lord God says.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	39	6	Such a fire I will light as shall reach Magog, and others besides, island-dwellers far away that have no thought of peril; they too shall know my power.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	39	7	Among my own people of Israel my renown shall spread, and never more shall my holy name be dragged in the dust; the heathen shall know what manner of God it is that dwells apart in Israel.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	39	8	When all is over and done, and my day of doom past,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	39	9	the townsfolk of Israel will come out to gather kindling-wood and fire-wood out of the spoils that were left; shield and spear, bow and arrow, staff and pole; and they will be seven years a-burning.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	39	10	All that time, faggots will strew the country-side ungathered, and never axe will be laid to forest tree; weapons of war shall be all their fuel, spoil of the spoiler, plunder of the plunderer, the Lord God says.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	39	11	Then, too, Gog shall have a burying-place named after him, there in Israel, none other than the Valley of the Wayfarers, east of the Dead Sea; a thing of wonder to all that pass by. There they shall bury Gog with all the rabble that came after him, and Valley of Gog’s Rabble the place shall be called.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	39	12	Seven months’ work Israel shall have burying them, and cleansing the land from its defilement;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	39	13	all the citizens shall take part in it, and shall commemorate that day as the day on which I was vindicated, says the Lord God.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	39	14	Even when the seven months are over, some there will be whose office it is to search ever the country-side, finding those remains and burying them, to rid the land of defilement;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	39	15	still they will be scouring those plains, and setting up a mark where they see men’s bones lie, for the grave-diggers to bury them, there in the Valley of Gog’s Rabble;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	39	16	from this the city of Amona, Rabble, shall take its name. And so the land shall be cleansed.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	39	17	This too: Son of man, here is a message for every bird in air, every beast that roams the earth: Come all, come with haste, gather from every side for the sacrificial feast I am making for you, a great feast on the uplands of Israel, flesh to eat, blood for your drinking!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	39	18	Flesh of fighting men, blood of the world’s great ones; never was ram or lamb, never was goat or bull, food so rich or so dainly!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	39	19	Glutted with fat, drunk you shall be with blood, at this feast of mine;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	39	20	horse and brave rider, warriors of high rank and low, are the cheer they shall have at my table, says the Lord God.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	39	21	In glory I will reveal myself to the Gentiles; the doom I have executed, the power I have exerted, shall be for all to see;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	39	22	nor shall Israel doubt thenceforward that I, the Lord, am their God.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	39	23	All the world shall know why it was that Israel went into banishment, why I turned my back on them and gave them up to massacre; that it was because they wronged me and deserted me;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	39	24	that it was foul crime of theirs bade me disown them.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	39	25	I mean to restore Jacob from exile, the Lord God says, and extend my mercy to the whole race of Israel; the honour of my name demands it.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	39	26	The disgrace, the punishment of all their guilt, they needs must bear… … when they are dwelling safely in their own land, free from all alarms;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	39	27	when I have brought them back from banishment among strangers, in hostile countries, and so, before the whole world’s eyes, retrieved my honour.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	39	28	They shall know at last that I, the Lord, am their God: if it was I that drove them into captivity, it was I, too, that restored them to their home, not a man of them left in exile.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	39	29	And I will turn away from them no longer, I, that have poured out my spirit on the whole race of Israel.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	40	1	It was the tenth day of the month; the twenty-fifth year of our banishment, and the fourteenth since the fall of the city, was just beginning. This was the precise day upon which the Lord’s power came over me, and I fell into a transport;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	40	2	in which transport, so the divine revelation would have it, I was carried off to the country of Israel. There, I found myself on the top of a very high mountain, that seemed to have a city built on it, sloping away towards the south.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	40	3	Into this city I was taken, and there met a man whose look dazzled the eye like bronze; he stood there in the gateway, holding a flaxen cord and a measuring-rod.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	40	4	The open eye, son of man, said he, the open ear, and mark well all I shew thee! Thou wast brought here to see, and tell the men of Israel what thou seest.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	40	5	There was an outer wall that ran round the whole building, which he measured with his rod, that was six cubits and a palm in length; a rod’s thickness there was in the wall, and a rod’s height;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	40	6	when he came to the gate at the eastern approach and had mounted the stairs of it, the entrance-way was spanned by a single rod; each entrance was of a rod’s thickness.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	40	7	Within were guard-chambers, six cubits square and five cubits apart;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	40	8	then came an inner gateway, a rod’s length deep;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	40	9	then an inner entrance-hall, measuring eight cubits across, with pillars two cubits thick.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	40	10	This eastern gateway had three guard-chambers on each side, alike in size, and alike in size the pillars between them.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	40	11	The entrance of the gateway was ten cubits across, and the span of the gateway itself thirteen cubits;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	40	12	on either side the six-cubit guard-chamber was set a cubit back.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	40	13	From gable-window of guard-room to gable-window of guard-room opposite was twenty-five cubits.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	40	14	(And he made the whole length of the colonnade sixty cubits, but this was measuring right up to the pillars which stood out round the gateway);
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	40	15	the distance from the outer gate to the inner was fifty cubits…
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	40	16	and slanting windows in the guard-chambers and in the thickness of the walls that separated them, all round the gateway; the hall, too, within had its windows all round, and there was a pattern of palm-trees on the pillars between them.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	40	17	So he led me into the outer courtyard, which was surrounded by parlours, that had the ground about them paved with stone; there were thirty parlours standing in this strip of pavement.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	40	18	It stretched up to the gateways, and was broad as they were long; like them, it was on the level of the ground.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	40	19	And now he measured the distance from the eastern gate to the inner courtyard, where they stood fronting one another; it was a hundred cubits. As with the east, so with the north;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	40	20	length and breadth he must measure of the outer gate that looked northwards.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	40	21	This, too, was fifty cubits long and twenty-five broad; it had guard-chambers, three on each side, pillar and hall like the other.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	40	22	Hall and windows and palm-tree pattern differed nothing from those of the eastern gate; all was the same, from the seven steps of the approach to the hall within.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	40	23	As on the east, so on the north, the inner court had a gateway matching it, a hundred cubits distant.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	40	24	And next he took me to the south, where there was a fresh gate, which he measured, pillar of it and hall of it, as before;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	40	25	the same windows about the hall, the same length and breadth;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	40	26	the seven steps, the hall at the further end, the pillars with a palm-tree patterned on either side.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	40	27	Here, too, a hundred cubits away, was a gateway on the south side of the inner courtyard.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	40	28	It was through this southern gateway of it that he led me into the inner courtyard itself; a gateway with the same measurements as before,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	40	29	guard-chamber and pillar and hall. It had the same windows and window-pillars, the same length and breadth,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	40	30	and the porch round it was twenty-five cubits long, five cubits broad.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	40	31	The pillars had the same pattern, but this time the hall was on the outer side of the gateway, and there were eight steps instead of seven.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	40	32	Then he took me to the east side of the inner court, with the same measurements,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	40	33	guard-chamber and pillar and hall, window and window-pillar, length and breadth;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	40	34	the pillared hall again facing the outer court, the steps eight in number.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	40	35	And next to the northern gate, with the same measurements still,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	40	36	guard-chamber and pillar and hall and windows and length and breadth;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	40	37	the pillared hall facing outwards, the eight steps.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	40	38	… and each ante-chamber had a door, between pillars. This was where they washed the victims for burnt-sacrifice;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	40	39	and in the hall of the entrance-way there were two tables on each side, for the slaying of the victims, whether it were a burnt-sacrifice, or some offering for a fault or for a wrong done.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	40	40	On the outer side of the gateway, towards the north gate, and again on the opposite side, there were two more tables, close to the hall.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	40	41	Thus altogether there were eight tables ranged along the side of the entrance-way, all for sacrifice.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	40	42	And for the burnt-sacrifice there were four other tables of hewn stone, a cubit and a half square, and a cubit in height; here they laid the instruments needed for sacrifice and offering;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	40	43	they had ledges, too, curving upwards all round, a palm in breadth, for these tables must also hold the flesh of the victims.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	40	44	In the inner court itself, beyond the gateway, the singers had their lodging, on the north side, facing south. There was a parlour, too, at the side of the eastern gate, facing… north;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	40	45	the one facing south, he told me, was for the priests who kept watch over the temple,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	40	46	the one facing north for the priests who are busied with the service of the altar, Sadocite Levites, that were the Lord’s privileged ministers.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	40	47	The court, with the altar standing in it, was a hundred cubits square.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	40	48	Then he led me to the porch of the temple; the jamb on either side was five cubits deep, and the width of the gate… three cubits on either side;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	40	49	the porch itself was twenty cubits long and eleven broad. As we climbed up the eight steps to it, there were columns facing us, one on either side.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	41	1	So he brought me into the temple, between pillars that were six cubits square by tabernacle measure.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	41	2	The door was ten cubits across, the recess behind the doorway five cubits on either side; the whole length of the outer temple was forty cubits, and the width twenty.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	41	3	Then he went into the inner sanctuary, measuring the doorway, two cubits thick, the door, six cubits across, and the width of the recess behind the doorway, seven cubits.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	41	4	Each side had the length of the side next to the outer temple, twenty cubits. This, said he, is the innermost sanctuary.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	41	5	Then he measured the temple wall, which was six cubits thick; it was flanked all round by rooms four cubits square.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	41	6	There were sixty of these rooms, in three storeys one on the top of another; and their upper storeys jutted out all round the temple wall, but keeping apart from it; the temple wall must not be touched.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	41	7	And there was a round stair-case which went up in a spiral to this upper loft of the temple building, which projected outwards for that very reason; there was thus an easy passage from the lower to the middle, and from the middle to the upper storey.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	41	8	The building, I saw, was all raised above the ground; the rod shewed that the ground level of the rooms was six cubits up.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	41	9	The rooms were at a distance of five cubits beyond the temple wall, and they enclosed it all round;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	41	10	and there was a close of twenty cubits’ width between these and a line of parlours which flanked the temple.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	41	11	The doors of the inner rooms let out, to north and south, on a praying-walk, five cubits in width, which ran round the temple.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	41	12	Round this again was the close of twenty cubits, and beyond that, on the west, a pavilion seventy cubits by ninety, with a wall five cubits thick.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	41	13	He shewed me that the temple was a hundred cubits long; the close with the pavilion beyond it, including its walls, a hundred cubits long;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	41	14	the eastern face of the temple, with the close on each side of it, a hundred cubits long;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	41	15	and the breadth from side to side of the pavilion beyond the close (with its galleries) a hundred cubits long… … and the inner sanctuary, and the halls that gave on to the courtyard,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	41	16	the doorways, the slanting windows, the galleries that went round on three sides, over the several doorways; all were completely panelled in wood. The panelling ran right up to the windows, which it framed, right up to the top level of the doorway;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	41	17	ran all the way round to meet the inner sanctuary, keeping the same height within and without it.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	41	18	The design was of alternate cherubs and palm-trees, and each cherub had two faces,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	41	19	shewing like a man towards one palm-tree and like a young lion towards the other; the same pattern ran all through the building,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	41	20	carved cherubs and palm-trees on each wall from ground level to the height of the door’s lintel.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	41	21	The entrance of the temple stood square, facing the inner sanctuary;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	41	22	facing the altar, which was of wood, three feet high, and two feet across; corners and slab and sides were all of wood. This, he told me, is the table that stands in the Lord’s presence.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	41	23	Outer temple, inner sanctuary, had two doors each;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	41	24	and either door had leaves that folded together, two leaves on each door,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	41	25	with the same pattern of cherubs and palm-trees that the walls had. To match this, the outer porch was faced with thick beams
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	41	26	reaching up to the level of the slanting windows; thick beams figured with palm-trees in either recess… matching the width of the rooms and of the temple walls.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	42	1	Then he took me into the outer court again, the northern part of it, and would have me enter the parlours that lay there, close to the pavilion and to the northern side of the temple.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	42	2	The long side of them, facing the north door, was a hundred cubits, the breadth fifty;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	42	3	between the twenty-cubit close of the inner court, and the paving of the outer, they rose, gallery upon gallery, three storeys in all.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	42	4	In front of them was a walk ten cubits wide, encroaching on the inner court by one cubit; all their doors faced the north.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	42	5	Here, the top rooms were narrower, since they must make room for porticos at the side, built out over the two lower storeys;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	42	6	these three-storeyed parlours had no columns in front of them, like the parlours in the outer court, but made up for it by porticos that rose from the roof of the first two floors, filling in the width of the fifty cubits.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	42	7	Inner parlours faced outer only with fifty cubits of their wall’s length;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	42	8	in the outer court, the parlours were but fifty cubits long, whereas those beside the temple were a hundred.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	42	9	These inner parlours were entered from below at their eastern end, from the outer court.… in the thickness of the court’s eastern wall
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	42	10	… opposite the pavilion, and here too there were parlours close to the pavilion.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	42	11	Southern parlours, like northern, had a walk in front of them; had the same length and breadth, were entered by doors of the same kind;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	42	12	the doors of these parlours opened on a walk along their southern side, and the main entrance was approached at the eastern end, from the walk that faced the hall and the close.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	42	13	These parlours, he told me, built to north and south beside the pavilion, are hallowed precincts, where the priests who sacrifice to the Lord may eat what is set apart for holy uses. All that is set apart, all the offerings made for fault and for wrong done, shall there be laid out, as on holy ground.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	42	14	Nor, entering it, shall the priests leave it for the inner court all at once; here they must lay aside their vestments, for these, too, are hallowed, and put on other clothes before ever they mingle with the people.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	42	15	With that, he made an end of measuring the precincts within, and led me through the eastern doorway, to measure them from without.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	42	16	Along the eastern side his reed measured five hundred cubits;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	42	17	five hundred cubits along the northern side,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	42	18	and five hundred cubits along the southern;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	42	19	westwards, too, the measure of it was five hundred cubits.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	42	20	All round the four quarters of the wind he would measure it, five hundred cubits in length as in breadth, this boundary between things sacred and things profane.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	43	1	Then he took me to the eastern gate;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	43	2	and all at once, from the sun’s rising, the bright presence of the God of Israel made entry there. Like the sound of waters in deep flood his voice was, and earth was lit up with the splendour all around.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	43	3	Such was the appearance I had seen of him, when he came bent on the city’s destruction, when I saw my vision by the banks of Chobar; down fell I, face to earth.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	43	4	In it came through the eastern gateway, the splendour of the Lord himself;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	43	5	and with that, a transport seized me, carrying me off into the inner court, where already the brightness of the Lord’s presence filled the temple.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	43	6	Thence it was I heard his voice speaking to me; and the man who stood at my side passed on the message.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	43	7	Son of man, he told me, here is my throne; here eternally, in the heart of Israel, is my resting-place. No more shall Israel’s folk, Israel’s kings, drag my name in the dust with their infidelities, with the dead gods they served, with their hill-sanctuaries.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	43	8	Door next to door of mine, pillar to pillar, only a wall between us; and for the foul doings that dragged my name in the dust, my vengeance took full toll of them.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	43	9	Bid they those infidelities, those dead gods farewell, I will make my eternal home here in the midst of them.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	43	10	Thine, son of man, to shame the men of Israel by the sight of yonder temple; who measures the fabric of it,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	43	11	shall learn to blush for his misdeeds. Form and fashion of the temple, gates that lead in and out, all the plot of it do thou make known to them; and what observances they are that govern the ordering of it. All this they must see in writing, and so learn to keep its pattern ever unaltered, its laws ever to fulfil.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	43	12	Wouldst thou know what the temple’s charter is? No part of the mountain top that lies within its bounds but is my inmost sanctuary; that, nothing less, is the charter of the temple.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	43	13	These measurements the altar had, measured by the true cubit, that is the width of a fore-arm and a palm; first came a gutter, of a cubit’s depth and a cubit’s width, ending in a lip a span broad all round; thus the altar was drained.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	43	14	Above this gutter, which was at ground level, came the lower base, two cubits high and a cubit across; the upper base rose four cubits above it, and was again a cubit wide.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	43	15	The altar proper was four cubits high, with four horns projecting above it,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	43	16	and the sides of it were square, twelve cubits by twelve.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	43	17	The base was also square, fourteen cubits by fourteen, and had a projecting rim half a cubit across; the groove under this was a cubit in height. The steps of the altar faced eastwards…
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	43	18	Son of man, he told me, when the altar is set up, ready for burnt-sacrifice and for blood-sprinkling, these ceremonies the Lord God would have thee observe.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	43	19	A young bullock the priests must have, those priests of Sadoc’s line that are my true ministers, for a transgression-victim.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	43	20	Horns of the altar, and the four corners of its base, and the rim round about it, thou shalt smear with the victim’s blood, to cleanse them and purge them of fault,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	43	21	then take the victim itself to a place apart, beyond the temple precincts, and there burn it.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	43	22	Next day, the transgression-victim shall be a male kid, without blemish; with this, as with the calf, the altar must be purged;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	43	23	and when the purging is over, bullock and ram must be offered, these too without blemish;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	43	24	when they have been brought into the Lord’s presence, and the priests have sprinkled them with salt, they must be given to the Lord in burnt-sacrifice.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	43	25	Each day, for seven days, goat and bullock and ram must be offered, all unblemished;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	43	26	purged and cleansed and hallowed the altar must be for seven days,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	43	27	and when these are over, on the eighth day and ever afterwards, the priests may use it for burnt-sacrifice and welcome-offering of yours, and I will look favourably on you, the Lord God says.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	44	1	Then he brought me back to the eastern gate of the outer precincts, that was fast shut.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	44	2	Shut this gate must ever be, the Lord told me, nor open its doors to give man entrance again, since the Lord, the God of Israel, entered by it. Access to it is none,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	44	3	even for the prince himself; sit there he may, to eat his share of the welcome-offering, but it is through the hall at the other end of the gateway he comes and goes.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	44	4	And so he took me towards the northern gate, in full view of the temple; and all the temple was filled with the brightness of the Lord’s presence, a sight that brought me to my knees, face to earth.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	44	5	Give good heed, son of man, the Lord said to me; the open eye, the open ear! Rule and observance of the Lord’s house I mean to tell thee; of the temple, and who may approach it, of my sanctuary, and the manner of leaving it.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	44	6	This message deliver, from the Lord God, to the rebel brood of Israel: Will you never have done with insult, men of Israel,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	44	7	letting alien folk, that in mind and body circumcision have none, profane my house by entering the sanctuary? What avails it, to offer me bread, and fat, and blood, when all the while these foul doings of yours violate my covenant?
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	44	8	The sacred charge committed to you went for nothing; guardians of my own worship, in my own sanctuary, should be men of your choosing!
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	44	9	Place the alien may have, though body and mind be both uncircumcised, in the commonwealth of Israel, the Lord says; place in my sanctuary he has none.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	44	10	There be Levites that have forsaken the following of me, when all the race of Israel went a-straying; that have betaken themselves to false gods, and must needs do penance for their fault.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	44	11	What forbids they should be sacrists and door-keepers of mine, temple attendants to prepare burnt-sacrifice, slay victim, and stand ministering in the people’s presence?
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	44	12	Ministers of false worship, that betrayed Israel into guilt, they have made me their sworn enemy, and must be held to account for it;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	44	13	never may they come before me as priests, never touch consecrated gift that is set apart for holy uses; disgraced they must needs be, penance must needs bear;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	44	14	yet I would have them keep the doors of my house, and be charged with all the menial offices that belong to it.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	44	15	The priests, the true Levites, shall be those sons of Sadoc that held fast by my temple worship when Israel left the following of me. Theirs to come forward as my ministers; theirs to wait upon my presence, offering me fat and blood of victims, the Lord God says;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	44	16	theirs my sanctuary to enter, my table to approach, servants of mine that shall keep the charge I gave them.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	44	17	Come they within the inner gate, they shall be all vested in linen; nothing of wool shall clothe them, when they serve me in the intimacy of the inner court;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	44	18	mitres of linen on their brows, breeches of linen about their loins, with no such habiting as may bring them out in a sweat.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	44	19	These vestments of office they must lay aside, and put away in the temple sacristy, when they go out to mingle with the people in the outer court; that holy contact is not for common folk; it is time they put on their workaday clothes instead.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	44	20	They shall be at pains to cut their hair, not grow it long; yet cropped their heads must not be.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	44	21	As for wine, a priest may not drink it when he is soon to enter the sanctuary.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	44	22	Wed he, it must be a maid he weds, of Israelite birth; not rejected wife or widow, save it be the widow of another priest.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	44	23	Their office it is, to teach the people what is clean and unclean, what is holy and what profane;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	44	24	when dispute arises, to take their place at my judgement-seat and give award; my feasts with due rite and ordinance to observe, my sabbaths to keep holy.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	44	25	Never shall they defile themselves with dead body’s contact, save only it be father or mother, son or daughter, brother or unwedded sister of theirs.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	44	26	Cleansed though he be after such contact, a priest must wait for seven days yet,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	44	27	nor enter the inner court to do service in my sanctuary, the Lord God says, till he has made an offering in amends for his fault.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	44	28	And for the priestly tribe, it must have no patrimony assigned to it; I am their patrimony, nor needs he portion, whose portion is his God.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	44	29	Bloodless offering they shall eat, and the victim that is offered for a fault or a wrong done; theirs every gift an Israelite vows to me,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	44	30	theirs the first of all first-fruits, and the residue of all you offer; and the first batch of your baking you must give to the priest, to win his blessing for you and yours.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	44	31	Bird or beast that drops dead, or has been a wild thing’s prey, the priest may not eat.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	45	1	When you set about the allotment of your territory, one strip you must leave out, twenty-five thousand cubits by ten thousand, a hallowed strip of land that is to be the Lord’s peculiar, all the length and breadth of it hallowed.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	45	2	(Hallowed entirely one plot in it shall be, a square plot of five hundred cubits each way, with fifty cubits’ space for approach all about it. )
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	45	3	Within the Lord’s domain, a space of twenty-five thousand cubits by ten thousand, surrounding temple and sanctuary, must be measured out
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	45	4	as dedicated to the priests, that serve the sanctuary and worship in the Lord’s presence; this shall be their home, this their sacred enclosure.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	45	5	And for the Levites that serve the temple another like space is to be measured out; twenty cells they shall have there.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	45	6	Marching with the sacred enclosure, there shall be a strip of twenty-five thousand cubits by five thousand, where the common folk of Israel shall have their city and their city’s lands.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	45	7	And at either end of the enclosure, and of the city lands, the prince shall have his domains, adjoining either end, and stretching away to west and east as far as each of the tribal allotments stretches westwards and eastwards.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	45	8	He shall enjoy his own possessions on Israelite soil; there shall be no more encroaching on the public rights; each tribe shall be given its own territory, to have and to hold.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	45	9	Will you never have enough, princes of Israel? the Lord God says. Must it always be wrong and robbery, never right and redress? Right of king and right of people he bids you determine once for all.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	45	10	Let us have true scales, a true ephi, a true bate;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	45	11	let ephi and bate match, a tenth part of a cor either of them; by the standard of the cor they shall be measured.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	45	12	Let twenty obols go to the sicle, twice twenty sicles and fifteen besides go to the mina.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	45	13	And so let these be the tithings you pay; a sixth of an ephi for every cor of wheat or barley,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	45	14	and a tenth of a bate for every cor of oil, tenth of bate or hundredth of cor, since the cor is to measure ten bates;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	45	15	and one ram you must contribute out of every two hundred that feed in Israel’s pasture-lands. That each may pay his scot, for bloodless offering or burnt-sacrifice or welcome-offering, the Lord says,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	45	16	this tax the whole land of Israel owes to its prince.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	45	17	And he, on Israel’s behalf, shall defray the cost of burnt-sacrifice, and bloodless offering, and libation, on feast-day and new moon and sabbath, whenever the folk of Israel keep holiday; transgression-victim, and burnt-sacrifice, and welcome-offering, he must provide them all.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	45	18	On the first day of the year, the Lord God says, the sanctuary must have a calf, without blemish, sacrificed for its purging.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	45	19	Door-posts of the temple, corners of the altar’s base, door-posts of the inner court, the priest shall smear with blood of the transgression-victim.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	45	20	And the like must be done again on the seventh day of that month, for faults committed unwittingly, through inadvertence; and so the temple shall be purged clean.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	45	21	On the fourteenth day of the first month you will keep the paschal feast, and for a week eat bread without leaven.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	45	22	On the feast itself, the prince must provide a calf, in amends for fault of his own, fault of his people;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	45	23	and every day during the week seven calves and seven rams without blemish; every day, too, a goat for a transgression-victim;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	45	24	with each ram or goat a bushel of flour, and with each bushel of flour a gallon and a half of oil.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	45	25	The same provision he must make, of transgression-victim, burnt-sacrifice, bloodless offering, and oil, for the fifteenth day of the seventh month, and its week of holiday.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	46	1	Eastern gate of the inner court, the Lord God says, must be shut on the six working days, open on the sabbath; on the day of the new moon, too, it shall be opened.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	46	2	When it is opened, the prince shall come in by way of the outer hall, and wait in the entrance till the priests have done presenting burnt-sacrifice of his, welcome-offering of his; there on the threshold he shall do reverence, and go his ways, but the gate shall not be shut after him, not till the evening.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	46	3	On sabbath days, and when the moon is new, before this gate the people also shall do reverence.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	46	4	Six lambs and a ram, without blemish, are the prince’s burnt-sacrifice to the Lord every sabbath,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	46	5	with a bushel of flour for the ram, and for the lambs what bloodless offering he will; and of oil a gallon and a half to the bushel.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	46	6	And when the moon is new, the same victims, and a bullock besides, unblemished as they;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	46	7	with the bullock, too, a bushel goes as bloodless offering, and the rest shall be as before.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	46	8	Through the outer hall of the gateway the prince comes and goes;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	46	9	but on feast-days, when a great throng comes into the Lord’s presence, they must enter by one gate and leave by the opposite, from north to south or south to north,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	46	10	and the prince, that worships in their midst, shall enter and leave as they.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	46	11	And for the bloodless offering, come feast-day, come holiday, it shall be made as aforesaid.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	46	12	Will the prince make burnt-sacrifice or welcome-offering of his own free will, the eastern gate shall be opened for him, as on the sabbath, till burnt-sacrifice or welcome-offering is done; but when he goes out, the gate shall be shut behind him.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	46	13	And there shall be daily burnt-sacrifice; morning by morning he shall offer one of that year’s lambs, unblemished;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	46	14	of flour, morning by morning, the sixth part of a bushel, and half a gallon of oil mingled with it; ever this bloodless offering is the Lord’s due, continual and unalterable.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	46	15	Lamb and flour and oil, morning by morning, an eternal sacrifice.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	46	16	If the prince will make a gift of land to sons of his, the Lord God says, their patrimony it is, held by right of inheritance;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	46	17	crown lands he cannot alienate to any of his servants beyond the year of jubilee, when they must needs return to him; the crown lands are entailed upon his sons.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	46	18	And at no time shall he rob the people by violence of their rightful patrimony; if he will endow his sons, out of his own patrimony let him do it; my people must not be disinherited.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	46	19	And now he took me through an entry close by the side of the gate, which led to the northern row of priests’ rooms round the sanctuary. Where this reached its western end,
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	46	20	there was a kitchen, which the priests used, he told me, to boil the flesh of victims for a fault or a wrong done, to bake the bloodless offering. They must not be carried out into the courtyard; such holy contact was not for the people.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	46	21	Afterwards he took me into the outer court, round all the corners of it in turn, and shewed me that there was a little garth in each of them; no corner but had its garth;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	46	22	in each, there was a space of forty cubits by thirty, perfectly matched.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	46	23	The wall enclosed them, and here, under an open roof, kitchens were built.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	46	24	These kitchens, he told me, were used by the temple attendants for cooking the welcome-offerings made by the people.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	47	1	And last, he took me to the door of the temple itself, and shewed me where a stream of water flowed eastwards from beneath the threshold of it. Eastward the temple looked, and eastward these waters flowed, somewhat to the temple’s right, so as to pass by the southern side of the altar.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	47	2	Through the northern gate he led me, and round the walk that passed the outer gate, taking the eastern sun; and here, to the right of the gate, the water gushed out.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	47	3	Eastward then he faced, the man of the measuring-rod; measured a thousand cubits, and led me across a stream that reached my ankles.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	47	4	Another thousand, and when I crossed the stream it reached my knees;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	47	5	another thousand, and it was up to my waist, another thousand, and now it had become a torrent I might not cross any longer, so high the waters had swelled, out of my depth.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	47	6	Mark it well, son of man, said he; and with that he brought me out on to the bank again;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	47	7	when I reached it, I found that there were trees growing thick on either hand.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	47	8	This stream, he told me, must flow eastward to the sand-dunes, and so fall into the desert; pass into the Dead Sea and beyond it, cleansing those waters by its passage.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	47	9	Wherever it flows, there shall be teeming life once again; in the Dead Sea itself there will be shoals of fish, once this stream has reached it, this stream that heals all things and makes all things live.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	47	10	Fisher-folk will line the shores of it, and there will be drying of nets all the way from Engaddi to Engallim, and fish there will be in great shoals, varied in kind as the ocean fish are.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	47	11	Only the swamps and marshes about it there is no cleansing; these shall turn into salt-pits.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	47	12	And on either bank of the stream fruit-trees shall grow of every kind; never leaf lost, never fruit cast; month after month they shall yield a fresh crop, watered by that sanctuary stream; fruit for man’s eating, and medicinal leaves.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	47	13	This message, too, the Lord God has for you, about the frontiers of the territory you are to divide among the twelve tribes; twelve, because Joseph must have a double portion.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	47	14	I promised it to your fathers long ago; This land, I told them, shall be allotted to you. And you must allot it among yourselves in equal shares.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	47	15	These are to be its boundaries on the north; from Hethalon, on the Great Sea, across the pass which leads to Sedada
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	47	16	and Emath, by Berotha and Sabarim (where Emath marches with Syria) and Hazar Tichon (near the Hauran country)
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	47	17	to the Syrian frontier-town of Hazar Enan, its extreme limit inland. Ever northward it stretches, this northern frontier of yours, till it reaches Emath.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	47	18	The eastern frontier is to be drawn between Hauran and what is now Syria, between Galaad and Israel proper, down the line of the Jordan to the Dead Sea.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	47	19	Towards the south and the noon-day sun, the line stretches from Thamar to the Waters of Challenge at Cades, then follows the Brook of Egypt to the sea;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	47	20	and on the west, it runs straight from the Egyptian border to the Emath pass.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	47	21	All this territory must be apportioned between the tribes of Israel;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	47	22	then you will divide it up among yourselves. Aliens will have their share in it, such aliens as have thrown in their lot with yours and bred amongst you; native Israelites you shall count them, and allot them their portions in this tribe or that.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	47	23	Amidst the tribe which has given him shelter, each shall find a home, the Lord God says.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	48	1	And here is a list of the tribal domains. First Dan, with its northern frontier on a line from Hethalon, across the Emath pass, to the Syrian frontier-town of Hazar Enan, and marching with Emath all the way; its eastern limit… the sea.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	48	2	Next, stretching from Israel’s eastern frontier to the sea, Aser;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	48	3	next, in like manner, Nephthali;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	48	4	next, in like manner, Manasses;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	48	5	next, in like manner, Ephraim;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	48	6	next, in like manner, Ruben;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	48	7	next, in like manner, Juda.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	48	8	Next, in like manner, comes the strip of dedicated land you are to set apart; in breadth, twenty-five thousand cubits, in length, stretching from Israel’s frontier to the sea like the rest; and in the heart of it, the sanctuary.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	48	9	The Lord’s own domain will be twenty-five thousand cubits by ten thousand;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	48	10	and in this holy plot, measuring twenty-five thousand cubits north and south, ten thousand cubits east and west, the priests are to dwell, with the sanctuary in their midst.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	48	11	Priests, I say, of Sadoc’s line, that held fast by my observances and never went a-straying with strayed Israel, as the other Levites did;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	48	12	first-fruit of the first-fruits their domain shall be, the domain of the Levites marching with it.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	48	13	This neighbouring strip will be of the same size, twenty-five thousand cubits by ten thousand;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	48	14	sell their land they may not, nor exchange it; the consecrated ground is unalienable.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	48	15	The remaining strip of five thousand cubits’ breadth shall be for city’s buildings and city’s lands; the city itself standing in the middle;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	48	16	north, south, east and west it shall measure four thousand five hundred cubits;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	48	17	north, south, east and west it shall have purlieus two hundred and fifty cubits deep.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	48	18	In length, it will fall short of the Lord’s domain by ten thousand cubits on the east, and as much on the west; but this remaining space will be city lands, like the sanctuary lands, growing food for the needs of labouring men in the city;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	48	19	these shall have the right to cultivate it, come they from what tribe they will.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	48	20	All the length and breadth of this square of territory, twenty-five thousand cubits either way, shall be sanctuary enclosure and city lands;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	48	21	beyond this square of sanctuary and city, all that is left of the dedicated domain, eastwards to the Jordan and westwards to the sea, shall belong to the prince; the hallowed plot that surrounds the temple shall divide his lands in two.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	48	22	Royal lands and Levite lands shall march with Juda, royal lands and city lands with Benjamin.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	48	23	For the rest of the tribes, Benjamin comes first, stretching from Israel’s frontier on the east to the sea on the west;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	48	24	next, in like manner, Simeon;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	48	25	next, in like manner, Issachar;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	48	26	next, in like manner, Zabulon;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	48	27	next, in like manner, Gad.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	48	28	Gad shall be the southernmost, facing the noon-day sun, with a frontier running from Thamar to the Waters of Challenge at Cades, and along the Brook to the Great Sea.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	48	29	Such shall be the territory allotted to Israel’s tribes, the Lord God says, and thus allotted they shall be.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	48	30	And these are the city’s limits; on the north side, measure four thousand five hundred cubits;
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	48	31	and here (for all must be named after Israel’s tribes) are three gates named after Ruben, Juda and Levi.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	48	32	As many on the east, and here are gates named after Joseph, Benjamin, and Dan.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	48	33	As many on the south, and here are gates named after Simeon, Issachar and Zabulon.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	48	34	As many on the west, and here are gates named after Gad, Aser and Nephthali.
 Ezechiel	Eze	31	48	35	The whole circumference is one of eighteen thousand cubits. THE LORD IS THERE; such is the name by which the city will be known ever after.
 Daniel	Dan	32	1	1	When Nabuchodonosor, king of Babylon, marched against Jerusalem and laid siege to it, in Joakim’s third year as king of Juda,
 Daniel	Dan	32	1	2	the Lord gave him the mastery. Not only Joakim fell into his hands, but… some of the temple treasures, which he carried off to Sennaar as offerings to his own god, and there, in the treasure-house of his own god’s temple, bestowed them.
 Daniel	Dan	32	1	3	Meanwhile, he had a command for Asphenez, his head chamberlain. He was to take under his charge certain young Israelites, of royal or princely stock,
 Daniel	Dan	32	1	4	in body well formed, handsome of mien, so well versed and grounded, so keen of wit, as they might be taught lore and language of the Chaldaeans, and have places at his court.
 Daniel	Dan	32	1	5	For three years they should have daily allowance of the king’s meat and wine; then he would send for them.
 Daniel	Dan	32	1	6	Among these were four tribesmen of Juda, called Daniel, Ananias, Misael and Azarias;
 Daniel	Dan	32	1	7	the chamberlain had given them fresh names, to Daniel Baltassar, to Ananias Sidrach, to Misael Misach, and to Azarias Abdenago.
 Daniel	Dan	32	1	8	Daniel had resolved, neither meat nor wine from the royal table should sully his lips; and for this abstinence he hoped to get leave from the head chamberlain;
 Daniel	Dan	32	1	9	with such kindness and pity God had touched his heart.
 Daniel	Dan	32	1	10	But this would not serve; Nay, said he, what of the charge my lord king gave me, that you should have food and drink? It were as much as my life is worth, if he saw you haggard-cheeked beside others of your own age.
 Daniel	Dan	32	1	11	Hereupon Daniel went to Malasar, one of the other chamberlains, to whose care Asphenez had entrusted all four of them.
 Daniel	Dan	32	1	12	Sir, said he, be pleased to put us on our trial. For ten days, give us nothing but pulse to eat, water to drink,
 Daniel	Dan	32	1	13	then compare our looks with the looks of those others who have fed on the king’s bounty; judge by what thou seest, and do with us what thou wilt.
 Daniel	Dan	32	1	14	The challenge was accepted, and the ten days’ trial began;
 Daniel	Dan	32	1	15	when it was over, never a one of the king’s pensioners shewed healthy and well nourished as they.
 Daniel	Dan	32	1	16	After that, Malasar had their allowance of meat and wine, and they pulse.
 Daniel	Dan	32	1	17	Meanwhile, in all lore and learning, God made apt pupils of these four; and of visions and dreams especially Daniel was master.
 Daniel	Dan	32	1	18	And now, the time of their probation over, Asphenez presented his pupils before Nabuchodonosor,
 Daniel	Dan	32	1	19	who had speech with all of them; and no match was found for Daniel, Ananias, Misael and Azarias; all must have places at court.
 Daniel	Dan	32	1	20	Never a question the king could propound, to make trial of their learning and their quick wits, but they could answer it ten times better than any diviner or sage in his kingdom.
 Daniel	Dan	32	1	21	And still, up to the beginning of Cyrus’ reign, Daniel was…
 Daniel	Dan	32	2	1	In the second year of his reign,Nabuchodonosor had a dream; and his mind, between sleep and waking, was all distraught.
 Daniel	Dan	32	2	2	Diviner and sage, soothsayer and astrologer must be summoned without more ado, to pronounce on the royal dream;
 Daniel	Dan	32	2	3	and when they were admitted to his presence, he said to them, I have had a dream, but my mind is so distraught, I cannot tell what it was.
 Daniel	Dan	32	2	4	And the astrologers gave him answer.
 Daniel	Dan	32	2	5	Why, said the king, I know no more than this; dream and interpretation both you must needs tell me, or else your lives must be forfeit, and your houses put to public use.
 Daniel	Dan	32	2	6	Gifts and great honour shall be your reward, if you will but tell me both. Come now, what dreamt I, and what meant my dream?
 Daniel	Dan	32	2	7	Once again they demurred; would the king be pleased to recount his dream to them, interpreted it should be forthwith.
 Daniel	Dan	32	2	8	Nay, said the king, I see how it is, you are trying shifts with me. You know well there is but one way to it;
 Daniel	Dan	32	2	9	dream of mine or doom of yours it must be. Some lying story you have ready, that will suit your turn; how shall I know your interpretation is right, if you cannot tell me what dream I saw?
 Daniel	Dan	32	2	10	Nay, said they, never a man on earth could do what the king’s grace asks. Princes and great rulers there have been a many, but none of them yet, from diviner, sage or astrologer, expected so much!
 Daniel	Dan	32	2	11	Here is riddle indeed thou wouldst have us read for thee, lord king; where is counsellor can tell thee the secret? Unless it were the gods only, and they walk not with men.
 Daniel	Dan	32	2	12	At this, the king was in such a taking of fury that he would have all the wise men of Babylon put to death;
 Daniel	Dan	32	2	13	and, once the warrant was out for the extinction of them, there was hue and cry against Daniel and his fellows.
 Daniel	Dan	32	2	14	Arioch it was, the captain of the king’s guard, that was commissioned to rid Babylon of all its wise men, and from him Daniel would have the why and wherefore of it;
 Daniel	Dan	32	2	15	here was cruel work committed to him; what moved the king’s grace to be so absolute? And, when Arioch had made all clear to him,
 Daniel	Dan	32	2	16	into the king’s presence he went, asking for more time to answer the royal question.
 Daniel	Dan	32	2	17	So, returning to his fellows, Ananias, Misael and Azarias, he made all known to them,
 Daniel	Dan	32	2	18	and would have them cry out upon the God of heaven for better knowledge of his secret, without which both he and they should perish in the general massacre of the wise men.
 Daniel	Dan	32	2	19	Then, in a vision by night, the secret was revealed to Daniel, and he fell to praising the God of heaven,
 Daniel	Dan	32	2	20	with such words as these: Blessed be the Lord’s name from the beginning to the end of time; his are the wisdom and the power;
 Daniel	Dan	32	2	21	change and chance of our mortal life he rules, crowns one man and discrowns another. Wisdom of the wise, skill of the skilful, what are they but his gift?
 Daniel	Dan	32	2	22	The hidden depths he can lay bare, read the secrets of the dark; does not light dwell with him?
 Daniel	Dan	32	2	23	God of our fathers, I give thee thanks and praise for thus enabling, thus enlightening me; for prayer answered, doubt resolved, and the king’s thought revealed.
 Daniel	Dan	32	2	24	With that, he betook himself to Arioch, that was to slay the wise men, and made suit to him, slay the wise men he should not. Thou hast but to take me into the king’s presence, said he, and the riddle shall be read.
 Daniel	Dan	32	2	25	Without more ado, Arioch granted his request; here was an exile from Juda, he said, that would answer the royal question.
 Daniel	Dan	32	2	26	Is this true? the king asked of Daniel. Canst thou, Baltassar, tell me the dream and its meaning both?
 Daniel	Dan	32	2	27	And Daniel spoke out in the royal presence, Never wizard or sage, never diviner or prophet, that can give the king’s grace an answer!
 Daniel	Dan	32	2	28	But there is a God in heaven, king Nabuchodonosor, that makes hidden things plain; he it is that has sent thee warning of what must befall long hence. Let me tell thee what thy dream was, what visions disturbed thy sleep.
 Daniel	Dan	32	2	29	As thou wast lying there abed, my lord king, thy thoughts still turned on future times; and he that makes hidden things plain revealed to thee what the pattern of those times should be.
 Daniel	Dan	32	2	30	If the secret was disclosed to me also, it is not that I have wisdom beyond the wont of living men; I was but the instrument by which the meaning of it was to be made known, and a king’s thoughts unravelled.
 Daniel	Dan	32	2	31	A vision thou hadst of a great image; what splendour, how terrible an aspect it was that confronted thee!
 Daniel	Dan	32	2	32	Of fine gold the head, breast and arms of silver, belly and thighs of bronze;
 Daniel	Dan	32	2	33	of iron the legs, and of the feet, too, part was iron, part was but earthenware.
 Daniel	Dan	32	2	34	And as thou wert watching it, from the mountain-side fell a stone no hands had quarried, dashed against the feet of yonder image, part iron, part clay, and shattered them.
 Daniel	Dan	32	2	35	With that, down came iron and clay, down came bronze and silver and gold; chaff of the threshing-floor was never so scattered on the summer breeze. They were gone, none knew whither; and stone that had shattered image grew into a high mountain, filling the whole earth.
 Daniel	Dan	32	2	36	So much for the dream, and now we that know the secret of it will tell the king’s grace what it means.
 Daniel	Dan	32	2	37	Thou hast kings for thy vassals; royalty, power, dominion and great renown the God of heaven has bestowed on thee;
 Daniel	Dan	32	2	38	every haunt of man and wild beast and flying bird he has given over to thee, all alike he has made subject to thee; the head of gold, who else but thou?
 Daniel	Dan	32	2	39	Another and a lesser empire must follow thine, one of silver, then another of bronze, still wide as the world;
 Daniel	Dan	32	2	40	then a fourth, of iron, breaking down and crushing all before it, as iron has power all-conquering, all-subduing.
 Daniel	Dan	32	2	41	But feet and toes of the image were part iron, part clay; this fourth empire will be divided within itself. Foundation of iron there shall yet be, from which it springs; sure enough, in the feet thou sawest, earthenware was mixed with true steel.
 Daniel	Dan	32	2	42	Yet was true steel mixed with base earthenware, token that this empire shall be in part firmly established, in part brittle.
 Daniel	Dan	32	2	43	Iron and clay mingled; race of the conquerors shall be adulterated with common human stock; as well mix clay with iron!
 Daniel	Dan	32	2	44	And while those empires yet flourish, another empire the God of heaven will bring into being, never to be destroyed, never to be superseded; conqueror of all these others, itself unconquerable.
 Daniel	Dan	32	2	45	This is that stone thou sawest none ever quarried, that fell from the mountain-side, bringing clay and iron and bronze and silver and gold to nothing; this was a revelation the king’s grace had from the most high God himself of what must come about; true was thy dream, and this, past doubt, the meaning of it.
 Daniel	Dan	32	2	46	With that, king Nabuchodonosor bowed down face to earth, and made Daniel reverence; ay, he would have sacrifice offered to him, and incense,
 Daniel	Dan	32	2	47	and with these words greeted him: Doubt is none but this God of yours of all gods is God, of all kings the master; he it is brings hidden things to light, or how couldst thou have read the secret?
 Daniel	Dan	32	2	48	Thereupon, he raised Daniel to high rank, and showered riches on him; ruler he should be of all Babylon’s provinces, and over all its wise men have the pre-eminence.
 Daniel	Dan	32	2	49	But Daniel made suit to him, and it was Sidrach, Misach and Abdenago that had Babylon under their charge; Daniel himself was the king’s courtier still.
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	1	It was this king Nabuchodonosor made a golden image, sixty cubits high and six cubits broad, which he set up on the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon;
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	2	and word went round in king Nabuchodonosor’s name, summoning all the governors, magistrates, judges, chieftains, rulers, prefects and leading men from every part of his dominions, to be present at the dedication of the image king Nabuchodonosor had set up.
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	3	So they gathered there, governors, magistrates, judges, chieftains, rulers, noblemen in high office, and leading men from every part, for the dedication of king Nabuchodonosor’s image. And, as they stood before the image he had set up,
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	4	a herald cried lustily to men of all peoples, nations and languages:
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	5	As soon as you hear the sound of horn, flute, harp, zither, dulcimer, pipe and other instruments of music, you are to fall down and worship the image of gold which king Nabuchodonosor has set up.
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	6	Whoever does not fall down in worship will be thrown, there and then, into the heart of a raging furnace.
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	7	No sooner, then, did the sound of horn, flute, harp, zither, dulcimer, pipe and the rest reach the assembly than all of them, whatever their tribe, people or language, fell down in worship of king Nabuchodonosor’s image.
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	8	It was then that certain Chaldaeans came forward with malicious accusations against the Jews.
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	9	They wished long life to king Nabuchodonosor,
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	10	and said, Lord King, thy command was that all men, at the sound of horn, flute, harp, zither, dulcimer, pipe and the rest, should fall down and worship the golden image,
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	11	on pain of being thrown into a raging furnace.
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	12	And here are certain Jews, entrusted by thee with the affairs of Babylon province, to wit, Sidrach, Misach and Abdenago, who have set the royal command at defiance, and will not reverence thy gods, or worship the golden image thou hast set up.
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	13	Upon this, in a transport of rage, Nabuchodonosor sent for Sidrach, Misach and Abdenago; and when they were brought, without delay, into his presence,
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	14	this was the threat king Nabuchodonosor uttered: So Sidrach, Misach and Abdenago will not reverence my gods, or worship this golden image of mine?
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	15	Here is your choice, then; either you will fall down and worship this image of mine when the sound of horn, flute, harp, zither, dulcimer, pipe and the other music reaches you, or then and there you shall be thrown into a raging furnace. You are in my power; what God can deliver you?
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	16	Then Sidrach, Misach and Abdenago said to king Nabuchodonosor, There is no need for any answer of ours to that question;
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	17	thou wilt see for thyself whether the God we worship is able to rescue us from the raging fire, and from thy royal power.
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	18	But, whether he rescues us or no, be assured, sir king, here are men who do not reverence thy gods, or worship any image of thine.
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	19	At this, Nabuchodonosor fell into a rage; his features, as he glared at Sidrach, Misach and Abdenago, were distorted with fury. He would have the furnace heated seven times hotter than its wont;
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	20	and into this raging furnace he bade the most stalwart of his fighting men throw Sidrach, Misach and Abdenago with their feet tied together.
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	21	So they were bound just as they were, in breeches and turban, shoes and coat, and thrown into the heart of the raging furnace;
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	22	the king’s order admitted no delay. So fiercely was the furnace heated that those who threw them in were burned to death.
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	23	Meanwhile these three, Sidrach, Misach and Abdenago, fell fast bound into the heart of the fires that raged in it.
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	24	And there, in the hottest of the flames, they walked to and fro, singing to God their praises, blessing the Lord.
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	25	There, as he stood in the heart of the fire, Azarias found utterance, and thus made his prayer:
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	26	Blessed art thou, Lord God of our fathers, renowned and glorious is thy name for ever!
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	27	In all thy dealings with us, thou hast right on thy side; so true to thy promises, so unswerving in thy course, so just in thy awards!
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	28	No punishment thou hast inflicted upon us, or upon Jerusalem, holy city of our fathers, but was deserved; for sins of ours, faithfulness and justice that stroke laid on.
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	29	Sinners we were, that had wronged and forsaken thee, all was amiss with us;
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	30	unheard thy commandments, or else unheeded, thy will neglected, and with it, our own well-being!
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	31	Nothing we had not deserved, pillage of thy contriving, plague of thy sending,
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	32	and at last the foul domination of godless foes, of a tyrant that has no equal on earth!
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	33	Tongue-tied we stand, that have brought disgrace on the livery of thy true worship.
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	34	For thy own honour, we entreat thee not to abandon us eternally. Do not annul thy covenant, and deprive us of thy mercy.
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	35	Think of Abraham that was thy friend, of thy servant Isaac, of Jacob whom thou didst set apart for thyself;
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	36	the men to whom thou didst promise that thou wouldst increase their posterity, till it was countless as the stars in heaven, or the sand by the sea-shore.
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	37	Whereas now, Lord, we are of all nations the most insignificant; all the world over, men see us humbled for our sins.
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	38	In these days we are without prince or leader or prophet, we have no burnt-sacrifice, no victim, no offering; for us no incense burns, no first-fruits can be brought into thy presence
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	39	and win thy favour. But oh, accept us still, hearts that are crushed, spirits bowed down by adversity;
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	40	look kindly on the sacrifice we offer thee this day, as it had been burnt-sacrifice of rams and bullocks, thousands of fattened lambs; who ever trusted in thee and was disappointed?
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	41	With all our hearts, now, we choose thy will, we reverence thee, we long after thy presence;
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	42	for that clemency, that abundant mercy of thine must we hope in vain?
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	43	By some wondrous deliverance vindicate thy own renown;
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	44	theirs be the vain hope, that would do thy servants an injury. Fools, that would match themselves with omnipotence! Crush down their might;
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	45	teach them that in all the world Lord there is none, God there is none, glorified as thou.
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	46	Meanwhile, their tormentors were not idle; naphtha and tow, pitch and tinder must be heaped on the furnace,
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	47	till the flame rose forty-nine cubits above the furnace itself,
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	48	breaking out and burning such Chaldaeans as stood near it.
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	49	But an angel of the Lord had gone down into the furnace with Azarias and his companions; and he drove the flames away from it,
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	50	making a wind blow in the heart of the furnace, like the wind that brings the dew. So that these three were untouched, and the fire brought them neither pain nor discomfort.
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	51	Whereupon all of them, as with one mouth, began to give praise and glory and blessing to God, there in the furnace, in these words that follow:
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	52	Blessed art thou, Lord God of our fathers, praised above all, renowned above all for ever; blessed is thy holy and glorious name, praised above all, renowned above all for ever.
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	53	Blessed art thou, whose glory fills thy holy temple, praised above all, renowned above all for ever;
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	54	blessed art thou, who reignest on thy kingly throne, praised above all, renowned above all for ever.
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	55	Blessed art thou, who art throned above the cherubim, and gazest down into the depths, praised above all, renowned above all for ever.
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	56	Blessed art thou, high in the vault of heaven, praised above all, renowned above all for ever.
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	57	Then they cried out upon all things the Lord had made, to bless him, and praise him, and extol his name for ever.
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	58	Bless the Lord they should, the Lord’s angels;
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	59	bless him they should, the heavens,
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	60	and the waters above the heavens;
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	61	bless him they should, all the Lord’s powers.
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	62	Bless him they should, sun and moon,
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	63	stars of heaven,
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	64	each drop of rain and moisture,
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	65	and all the winds of God.
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	66	Bless him they should, fire and heat,
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	67	winter cold and summer drought,
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	68	dew and rime at morning,
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	69	frost and the cold air.
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	70	Bless him they should, ice and snow,
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	71	day-time and night-time,
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	72	light and darkness,
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	73	lightnings and storm-clouds.
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	74	And earth in its turn should bless the Lord, praise him, and extol his name for ever.
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	75	Bless the Lord they should, mountains and hills,
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	76	every growing thing that earth yields,
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	77	flowing fountains,
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	78	seas and rivers.
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	79	Bless him they should, sea-monsters and all life that is bred in the waters,
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	80	all the birds that fly in heaven,
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	81	wild beasts and tame,
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	82	and the sons of men.
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	83	Bless him Israel should,
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	84	priests of the Lord bless him,
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	85	servants of the Lord bless him;
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	86	bless him they should, spirits and souls of all faithful men;
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	87	bless him they should, dedicated and humble hearts.
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	88	And for Ananias, Azarias and Misael, well might they bless the Lord, praise him and extol his name for ever; here was the grave spoiled, death robbed of its prey, and ever they were kept safe from the furnace, let its flames rage as they would.
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	89	Give thanks to the Lord, they cried, the Lord is gracious; his mercy is eternal!
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	90	Bless the Lord, you that are his worshippers; he is God above all gods; praise him and give him thanks, whose mercy is eternal.
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	91	Sore amazed was king Nabuchodonosor, and started to his feet; Tell me, he said to his courtiers, did we not cast three men into yonder furnace, all closely bound? And when they answered, Sire, past doubt,
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	92	he told them what he had seen; here were four men, that bonds wore none, walking to and fro in the heart of the fire, and never the worse. And such an aspect he wore, the fourth of them, as it had been a son of God.
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	93	With that, close went Nabuchodonosor to the furnace door, and cried, Come forth, Sidrach, Misach and Abdenago! Servants of the most high God, come out to me! So out came Sidrach, Misach and Abdenago, from the fire’s heart all of them;
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	94	and with one accord governor and judge and courtier clustered round them to look. Plain it was, the heat had no power over them; never a hair singed, nor a coat shrivelled, nor any smell of burning marked its passage.
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	95	And at that, Nabuchodonosor could contain himself no longer; Blessed be this God whom Sidrach, Misach and Abdenago worship! Here were servants of his that trusted in him, and defied a king’s edict, ready to put their lives in peril, so they might be free men, worshipping no God but their own; and he has sent an angel to deliver them.
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	96	Hereby, then, I enact that if anyone blasphemes against the God of Sidrach, Misach and Abdenago, come he of what people, what tribe, what race he may, he shall pay for it with his life, and his house be put to public use. God there is no other that can grant such deliverance as this!
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	97	And be sure he promoted them to high rank in Babylon province.
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	98	King Nabuchodonosor to men of every race, tribe and tongue, dwell they where they will, all health!
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	99	Here be wondrous portents the most high God has been manifesting, and in my person.
 Daniel	Dan	32	3	100	And my will is to make them known, portents most weighty, wonders most compelling; such a reign as his lasts for ever, such power as his the ages cannot diminish.
 Daniel	Dan	32	4	1	All went well in my household; never was Nabuchodonosor’s court more flourishing.
 Daniel	Dan	32	4	2	And then I had a dream that put me in fear; nor waking thoughts gave my troubled wits repose.
 Daniel	Dan	32	4	3	Thereupon I gave orders that all the wise men of Babylon should appear before me, to interpret my dream;
 Daniel	Dan	32	4	4	diviner and sage, astrologer and soothsayer, all must assemble, and there in their presence I rehearsed what dream it was, but never one of them could tell me the meaning of it.
 Daniel	Dan	32	4	5	At last came Daniel, one of their number, styled after my own god’s name Baltassar, and endowed by all the holy gods with their spirit. To him I unfolded my dream thus:
 Daniel	Dan	32	4	6	Diviner is none, Baltassar, such as thou art; the spirit of all the holy gods is in thee, and there is no mystery beyond thy ken. Tell me, thou, what vision came to me in sleep, what events it boded.
 Daniel	Dan	32	4	7	Wouldst thou know, what fantasies disturbed my rest, this was what I saw. Grew a tree from the heart of earth, beyond measure tall;
 Daniel	Dan	32	4	8	a great tree and a thriving; top of it reached the heavens, and the ends of the earth had view of it.
 Daniel	Dan	32	4	9	What fair leaves it had, what foison of fruit, enough to cater for a whole world! Beast was none but might take shelter under it, bird was none but might nest in its branches, and to all living creatures it gave food.
 Daniel	Dan	32	4	10	But as I lay watching in my dream, came down from heaven one of the holy ones that mount guard there,
 Daniel	Dan	32	4	11	and loud rang his message: Down with yonder tree, lop branch, strip leaves, spill fruit! Let beast its shade, bird its covert forsake!
 Daniel	Dan	32	4	12	Yet leave the stock of it fast in earth. Band of iron, chain of bronze! There on the soft meadow-grass heaven’s dew wet him, pasture with the beasts find he;
 Daniel	Dan	32	4	13	heart of man be changed in him, beast’s heart given him, till seven seasons there have found him, and passed him by.
 Daniel	Dan	32	4	14	Doom it is of the unsleeping ones, will and word of the holy ones; live men and learn that he, the most High, of human kingship is overlord, gives it to whom he will, and holds none too base for the having of it.
 Daniel	Dan	32	4	15	Thus dreamt I, the great king Nabuchodonosor. Make haste, Baltassar, and read me the riddle; wise man was none in my kingdom that could tell me the meaning of it, but thou hast the spirit of the holy gods in thee; thou canst unravel it.
 Daniel	Dan	32	4	16	But Daniel, Baltassar if you will, made no answer. For a whole hour, in silence, he gave himself up to his thoughts, and right comfortless they were. Nay, Baltassar, the king said at last, never lose heart over a dream, and the interpretation of a dream! Lord king, said he, such dreams be for thy enemies! To ill-wishers of thine bode they what they bode!
 Daniel	Dan	32	4	17	A tree tall and sturdy, top reaching the heavens, in all the world’s view,
 Daniel	Dan	32	4	18	fair branches, fruit abounding, food for all, beasts sheltering, birds nesting there,
 Daniel	Dan	32	4	19	what is it, lord king, but thou? So great thy power has grown, it reaches heaven; earth’s bounds are the bounds of thy dominion.
 Daniel	Dan	32	4	20	He watches ever, that holy one thou sawest coming down from heaven; and his word was, Down with the tree, away with it, yet leave the stock of it rooted fast! Of iron band he spoke, and chain of bronze; of soft meadow-grass under the dews of heaven; of one that should have his pasture among the beasts, till seven seasons had found him there, and passed him by.
 Daniel	Dan	32	4	21	Sentence from the most High this dream forbodes, and the king’s grace the subject of it.
 Daniel	Dan	32	4	22	Far from the haunts of men thou shalt be driven out, and among brute beasts thou shalt have thy dwelling; eat grass, ox-fashion, and with heaven’s dew be drenched, till seven seasons have passed thee by; so learn thou must, that of all human kingship the most High is overlord, and grants it where he will.
 Daniel	Dan	32	4	23	If stock of tree is to be left rooted, be sure thy throne shall be thine once again; but first thou must learn thy lesson, that all power is from above.
 Daniel	Dan	32	4	24	Deign, my lord king, to be advised by me; with almsgiving, with mercy to the poor, for fault and wrong-doing of thine make amends; it may be he will condone thy guilt.
 Daniel	Dan	32	4	25	All this king Nabuchodonosor underwent.
 Daniel	Dan	32	4	26	A twelvemonth later, as he walked to and fro on the roof of his palace at Babylon,
 Daniel	Dan	32	4	27	he said aloud: Babylon lies before me, the great city, the royal city I have built; sure proof of my power, fair monument of my renown!
 Daniel	Dan	32	4	28	And before the words had died on his lips, came a voice from heaven: King Nabuchodonosor, here is thy doom! Pass away from thee it must, that royal power of thine;
 Daniel	Dan	32	4	29	driven from the haunts of men, with beasts dwell thou, grass like the cattle eat thou, till seven seasons have passed thee by, and learned thou hast that the most High is overlord of all human kingship, to grant it where he will.
 Daniel	Dan	32	4	30	There and then fell the doom on Nabuchodonosor; thrust him out they did, to feed on grass, and ever the dew of heaven drenched him; thick as eagle’s feathers his hair grew, and like birds’ talons his nails.
 Daniel	Dan	32	4	31	When the appointed time was over, I lifted up my eyes to heaven, I, Nabuchodonosor, and right reason came back to me. Blessed I then the most high God, to the eternal gave glory and praise; such a reign as his lasts for ever, such power as his the ages cannot diminish.
 Daniel	Dan	32	4	32	Matched with him, the whole world of men counts for nothing; in the heavenly powers, as in our mortal lives, he accomplishes his will, and none may resist him, none may ask his meaning.
 Daniel	Dan	32	4	33	And when reason came back to me, back came royal pomp and state, back came the beauty I once had; prince and senator waited on me, restored to my throne now in more magnificence than ever.
 Daniel	Dan	32	4	34	What wonder if I, Nabuchodonosor, praise this King of heaven, extol and glorify him, so faithful to his promise, so just in his dealings? Proud minds none can abase as he.
 Daniel	Dan	32	5	1	Now turn we to king Baltassar, that made great cheer for courtiers of his a thousand, each man drinking wine as his rank entitled him.
 Daniel	Dan	32	5	2	And he, in his cups, would have the spoils of the old temple at Jerusalem brought in, cups of gold, cups of silver that his father Nabuchodonosor had carried away; king and court, wife and concubine should drink from them.
 Daniel	Dan	32	5	3	Brought in they were, all the spoils of Jerusalem; king and courtier, wife and concubine, drank from those vessels;
 Daniel	Dan	32	5	4	drank, and to their own gods gave the praise, gods of gold and silver, bronze and iron, wood and stone.
 Daniel	Dan	32	5	5	Then, in that hour, an apparition came to them. They saw the fingers of a man’s hand writing on the plaster of the palace wall, full in the lamp’s light; joints of a hand that wrote there the king could not choose but see.
 Daniel	Dan	32	5	6	All at once he changed colour, a prey to anxious thoughts; melted his heart within him, and his knees knocked together.
 Daniel	Dan	32	5	7	With a loud cry, he bade them summon the wise men of Babylon, sage and astrologer and diviner; and to these he made proclamation: Who reads me yonder writing, and tells me the meaning of it, shall go clad in purple, a gold chain about his neck, and hold the third place in my kingdom.
 Daniel	Dan	32	5	8	But when they came into the banqueting-hall, never a wise head among them could read the characters, nor tell the king what they meant;
 Daniel	Dan	32	5	9	whereupon king Baltassar was in a great taking of fear, his cheeks paler yet, and his princes were no easier in mind than himself.
 Daniel	Dan	32	5	10	But now all this ado brought the queen-mother down into the banqueting-hall; Long life to the king’s grace! cried she; here is no need for daunted hearts and pale looks!
 Daniel	Dan	32	5	11	One man thou hast in thy realm the holy gods inspire; in thy father’s time, good proof he gave of the wisdom and learning that were his. Did not thy father, king Nabuchodonosor, put him at the head of his wise men one and all, sage nor wizard nor astrologer nor soothsayer to match him? In such renown thy royal father held him, my lord king;
 Daniel	Dan	32	5	12	no common spirit is his, no common prudence and discernment, dreams to interpret, hidden things to reveal, spells to unbind. For his name, it is Daniel; thy father called him Baltassar. Let Daniel be summoned, and thy riddle shall not long go unread.
 Daniel	Dan	32	5	13	So Daniel was brought into the king’s presence, and the king asked him if Daniel he were, one of the Jewish exiles his father had brought to Babylon?
 Daniel	Dan	32	5	14	Great things were told of him; that he had the spirit of the gods, gave proof of skill, discernment and wisdom above the common.
 Daniel	Dan	32	5	15	And here was certain writing, that had baffled sage and diviner called in to read them; meaning of it they could not tell.
 Daniel	Dan	32	5	16	If Daniel had skill indeed to reveal mysteries and unbind spells, let him read those characters and interpret them; robe of purple he should have, and a gold chain about his neck, and hold the third place in the kingdom.
 Daniel	Dan	32	5	17	But Daniel spoke out, there in the king’s presence: Purple and gold keep for thyself; and for thy honours, let him have them who will. But for the writing, I will read it willingly, and tell thee the meaning of it.
 Daniel	Dan	32	5	18	Sir king, thy father was Nabuchodonosor; to him the most High gave royal state, and splendid renown;
 Daniel	Dan	32	5	19	for that renown of his, every people and race and tribe must tremble in awe of him; slew he, smote he, exalted he, abased he, all he would.
 Daniel	Dan	32	5	20	With that, his heart beat high; proud grew his will and obstinate; and the issue of it? From that throne he must come down, be shorn of that glory;
 Daniel	Dan	32	5	21	cast out henceforth from the haunts of men. Heart of beast the heart of him; dwelling-place of wild ass should be his, food of the ox; and the dews of heaven should drench him, till he had learned that the most High is overlord of all human kingship, grants it to whom he will.
 Daniel	Dan	32	5	22	All this, Baltassar, thou knewest, yet son no more than father would abate his pride;
 Daniel	Dan	32	5	23	heaven’s Ruler defying, thou wouldst bring out yonder cups, the spoil of his temple, to serve wine for thee and thy court, for wife and concubine. Gods of silver and gold, bronze and iron, stone and wood, that cannot see or hear or feel, thou wouldst magnify; for the God that holds thy life, thy fortunes, in his keeping, never a word of praise.
 Daniel	Dan	32	5	24	That is why the hand appeared to thee, fingers that wrote what there stands written.
 Daniel	Dan	32	5	25	This is the charactery of it: Mané, Thecel, Phares.
 Daniel	Dan	32	5	26	Mané betokens numbering; so many years allotted to thy empire, and now God has brought them to an end.
 Daniel	Dan	32	5	27	And thecel, weighing; the equal of his benefits God demands, and has not found in thee.
 Daniel	Dan	32	5	28	And phares, rending; Persian and Mede shall be thy successors in the kingdom that is torn from thy grasp.
 Daniel	Dan	32	5	29	With that, at the royal bidding, they clothed Daniel in purple, and hung a chain of gold about his neck; proclamation, too, was made that he held the third place in the kingdom.
 Daniel	Dan	32	5	30	But that same night Baltassar, the Chaldaean king, was slain,
 Daniel	Dan	32	5	31	and his crown passed to Darius, a Mede, then in the sixty-third year of his age.
 Daniel	Dan	32	6	1	This Darius saw fit to appoint a hundred and twenty lords lieutenant, who should govern the provinces of his empire;
 Daniel	Dan	32	6	2	and over these, three viceroys, of whom Daniel was one; governor should be answerable to viceroy, and the king’s grace should not be troubled with such matters.
 Daniel	Dan	32	6	3	Yet governor was none or viceroy that could compare with Daniel, so richly God inspired him;
 Daniel	Dan	32	6	4	and soon the king’s thought was, to put the whole empire under his care. Right gladly would his rivals have found opportunity to discredit him in the king’s eyes; but no, handle or pretext they could find none, so faithful was he, so far removed from all breath of suspicion.
 Daniel	Dan	32	6	5	And at last they were fain to admit, if charge was to be found against Daniel at all, keeping of his God’s law must be the ground of it.
 Daniel	Dan	32	6	6	So they took the king by surprise; Long life, they said, to the king’s grace!
 Daniel	Dan	32	6	7	Here is a design upon which we are all agreed, viceroy and magistrate and governor and senator and judge; that an edict should go out under the royal seal forbidding thy subjects to make any request of god or man these next thirty days, save only of thyself. And if any man disobeys, it shall be at his peril; he is for the lion-pit.
 Daniel	Dan	32	6	8	May it please the king’s grace to give this design of ours effect, and make the decree unalterable, under law of the Medes and Persians, the law there is no amending.
 Daniel	Dan	32	6	9	Draw up the edict he did, and signed it.
 Daniel	Dan	32	6	10	As for Daniel, when he heard it was law, he took himself home; and now as ever, three times a day, he would open his chamber window towards Jerusalem eastwards, doing reverence on bended knee and praising his God.
 Daniel	Dan	32	6	11	Be sure they surprised him at it, these enemies of his; found him a-praying to his God,
 Daniel	Dan	32	6	12	and went off to remind the king of his edict. Had not a law been enacted, prayer there should be none to god or man those thirty days following, save to the king; and that on pain of the lions? Law it is, said he, and law of the Medes and Persians there is no amending.
 Daniel	Dan	32	6	13	Why then, they asked the king, what of Daniel, Daniel the Jewish exile, that for law and edict cares nothing? Three times a day he offers his God prayer.
 Daniel	Dan	32	6	14	Pitiful hearing was this for the king’s ear; to save Daniel was all his thought, and to that end he laboured till set of sun;
 Daniel	Dan	32	6	15	but the trap they had devised was too crafty for him, and ever they put him in mind there was no help for it. By the law Medes and Persians use, let the king once make a decree, there is no amending it.
 Daniel	Dan	32	6	16	At last the king gave orders Daniel should be sent for and shut up in the lion-pit; So faithful a servant, he told him, thy God must needs deliver.
 Daniel	Dan	32	6	17	And with that, a stone was brought and set down at the pit’s entrance, which the king sealed and his nobles both; there should be no interfering with Daniel.
 Daniel	Dan	32	6	18	Home went the king, and supperless to bed; he would have no food brought him, and sleep he could not.
 Daniel	Dan	32	6	19	With the first light of day, the king was up and stirring; to the lion-pit he hastened,
 Daniel	Dan	32	6	20	and as he came up to it, he cried out most lamentably: Daniel, worshipper of the God that lives, thou wert ever his true servant; has power of his availed to rescue thee from the lions?
 Daniel	Dan	32	6	21	Long life to the king’s grace, Daniel answered;
 Daniel	Dan	32	6	22	angel of his did his errand, and stopped the lions’ mouths. What harm should they do me, one that my God sees guiltless? And for thyself, lord king, nought did I to earn thy displeasure.
 Daniel	Dan	32	6	23	Right glad the king was to learn of Daniel’s safety; be sure he gave orders they should bring Daniel up out of the pit, and out of the pit they brought him, unscathed from head to foot; such reward they have that trust in God.
 Daniel	Dan	32	6	24	Thereupon, at the king’s bidding, they fetched his accusers, and thrust them into the lion-pit, their wives and children with them. But these never reached the floor of it, so quickly the lions fell upon them, and broke all the bones of them to nothing.
 Daniel	Dan	32	6	25	Then Darius sent out a proclamation to all the world, without distinction of nation, race or language, wishing them well,
 Daniel	Dan	32	6	26	and enjoining this decree upon them, that all the subjects of his empire should hold the God of Daniel in awe and reverence. Here is a God that lives, he told them, a God that abides for ever; such a reign as his there is no overthrowing, such power as his the ages cannot diminish.
 Daniel	Dan	32	6	27	His to deliver, his to save, his to shew wondrous portents in high heaven and on earth beneath, the God who saved Daniel from the lions.
 Daniel	Dan	32	6	28	Let Darius reign, or Cyrus the Persian, this same Daniel throve yet.
 Daniel	Dan	32	7	1	In the first year of the Babylonian king Baltassar, Daniel had a dream; sleep he might, but still his thoughts were busy. The substance of this dream he put on record, giving no more than the sum of it, in these words following.
 Daniel	Dan	32	7	2	Night came, and brought with it a vision for my seeing. All the winds of heaven, I thought, did battle over the wide sea,
 Daniel	Dan	32	7	3	and out of it came four great beasts, each of them different from the last.
 Daniel	Dan	32	7	4	A lioness the first seemed, that yet had eagle’s wings; but as I watched, these wings were plucked, and with that it rose up from the ground, standing on its feet like a man, and a man’s heart was given to it.
 Daniel	Dan	32	7	5	Then rose up another by its side, this one like a bear; three rows of teeth it had in its mouth, and a summons came to it, great part of mankind it should devour.
 Daniel	Dan	32	7	6	What saw I next? A leopard it seemed, yet had a bird’s wings, four of them, on its back, and four heads; this beast it was that now attained dominion.
 Daniel	Dan	32	7	7	But still I dreamed on, and a fourth beast saw at last, fiercer, and stranger, and more powerful yet. It had great teeth of iron, ready to crush and to devour, and ever what these spared it would trample down with its feet; match it those others might not; and out of its head grew ten horns.
 Daniel	Dan	32	7	8	Even as I watched them, a new horn grew up in the midst of the others, and three of them must be plucked away to make room for it; eyes it had, this new horn, like a man’s eyes, and a mouth that talked very boastfully.
 Daniel	Dan	32	7	9	While I still watched, there were judgement-thrones a-setting; and one took his seat there crowned with age. White as snow his garments were, his hair could match unsullied wool for whiteness; his throne all of flame, the wheels under it glancing fire;
 Daniel	Dan	32	7	10	and ever from his presence a stream of fire came rushing onward. A thousand thousand they were that waited on his bidding, and for every one of these, a thousand others were standing there before him. Assize should be held now, and the records lay open.
 Daniel	Dan	32	7	11	And still I watched, to see what would become of the boasts yonder horn had made; and all at once I was aware the beast itself had been slain, and even the carcase of it had vanished, handed over to the flames;
 Daniel	Dan	32	7	12	nor might those other beasts enjoy power any longer, though life they should enjoy for a while, until their turn came.
 Daniel	Dan	32	7	13	Then I saw in my dream, how one came riding on the clouds of heaven, that was yet a son of man; came to where the Judge sat, crowned with age, and was ushered into his presence.
 Daniel	Dan	32	7	14	With that, power was given him, and glory, and sovereignty; obey him all must, men of every race and tribe and tongue; such a reign as his lasts for ever, such power as his the ages cannot diminish.
 Daniel	Dan	32	7	15	By this, Daniel wrote, my heart was ill at ease; a dread sight it was, and as I dreamed, my thoughts bewildered me.
 Daniel	Dan	32	7	16	So I drew closer to one that stood by, and asked to know the truth of all that had gone forward; he it was that read the riddle for me, and thus he unravelled it:
 Daniel	Dan	32	7	17	It is but earthly kingdoms they betoken, these four great beasts thou hast seen;
 Daniel	Dan	32	7	18	the servants of the most high God shall have dominion yet; theirs it shall be for ever and for evermore.
 Daniel	Dan	32	7	19	But I was minded to know the truth more fully; what was the fourth beast, so different from all the rest, so dreadful; why must it have teeth and claws of iron, to crush and to devour, to trample on what was left?
 Daniel	Dan	32	7	20	What of the ten horns on its head, and that other, before which three of them fell, the horn that had eyes, and a mouth to boast with, and grew greater than the rest?
 Daniel	Dan	32	7	21	This horn it was I saw doing battle against the servants of the most High, and getting the better of them,
 Daniel	Dan	32	7	22	until the Judge appeared, crowned with age, to give them redress, and their turn came to have dominion.
 Daniel	Dan	32	7	23	And his answer was, this fourth beast was the fourth of those earthly kingdoms, and the greatest of them all, to crush and devour and trample down a whole world.
 Daniel	Dan	32	7	24	Ten kings be the ten horns of that kingdom, and after these another shall rise, more poweful yet, and three of them shall bite the dust.
 Daniel	Dan	32	7	25	Boastfully he shall challenge the most High, and do his servants despite; calendar and ordinance he shall think to set aside; for a space of time, and for twice as long, and for half as long, he must needs have his way.
 Daniel	Dan	32	7	26	Then assize shall be held on him, and all his power be taken away, crushed down and forgotten for ever.
 Daniel	Dan	32	7	27	Then what royalty, what empire, what earth-embracing dominion shall be theirs, the people set apart for the most High! Sovereignty everlasting; no monarch but must bow to its yoke.
 Daniel	Dan	32	7	28	So ended the revelation made to Daniel. Bewildered my thoughts were, and my cheek pale, but I kept the memory of it faithfully in my heart.
 Daniel	Dan	32	8	1	To me, to Daniel, another revelation came, besides that I had first seen. It was now the third year of king Baltassar,
 Daniel	Dan	32	8	2	and I was at the town of Susa, in Aelam province, but it seemed, in my vision, it was by the gate of Ulai I stood.
 Daniel	Dan	32	8	3	I looked at what lay before me, and what saw I, at the edge of the marsh, but a ram standing there, with one high-branching horn, and another that grew up after it, but grew higher yet.
 Daniel	Dan	32	8	4	With those horns it tossed every enemy that came to meet it; west and north and south was never a beast could match it, or escape its attack; no wonder this ram carried all before it, and rose to greatness.
 Daniel	Dan	32	8	5	But now, as I looked, came a buck-goat from the west country, earth overshadowing, and spurning the ground beneath him; one horn this goat had between the eyes of him, a horn of noble aspect.
 Daniel	Dan	32	8	6	Close he came to the ram, the great horned ram I had espied in yonder gateway, and bore down upon it with very furious onslaught.
 Daniel	Dan	32	8	7	So madly he charged that he overcame the ram and broke either horn of it with one blow; what shift could it make now? Brought down it was and trampled under foot; there was no rescuing it.
 Daniel	Dan	32	8	8	So now it was the goat’s turn to enjoy dominion; yet no sooner had he reached his full strength, than the great horn was broken, and four other horns must grow up in place of it, fronting the four winds of heaven.
 Daniel	Dan	32	8	9	It was from one of these a single horn now sprang; a little horn that grew till it outrivalled south and east, aye, and the armies…
 Daniel	Dan	32	8	10	For the armies of heaven itself it proved a match, bringing heavenly powers down to earth, stars down to earth, and trampling them under foot;
 Daniel	Dan	32	8	11	a match even for the captain of those armies, that must lose the daily sacrifice offered to him, and look on at the destruction of his sanctuary.
 Daniel	Dan	32	8	12	Alas for our guilt! That such an enemy, by armed force, should avail against the sacrifice, truth itself should dethrone, and should thrive yet, should prosper yet!
 Daniel	Dan	32	8	13	This complaint I heard one of God’s servants making to another, I know not who; and when that other asked how long a cessation of sacrifice the vision portended, how long the estranging guilt, and the defeat, and the profanation,
 Daniel	Dan	32	8	14	Night first, said he, morning after; two thousand three hundred days it will be, ere the sanctuary is cleansed.
 Daniel	Dan	32	8	15	But for me, for Daniel, that saw the vision, understanding of it was none, till one appeared to me that had the semblance of a man,
 Daniel	Dan	32	8	16	and a voice hailed him from between Ulai gates; For thee it is, Gabriel, to make the vision clear.
 Daniel	Dan	32	8	17	Came he close, then, to where I was standing; but I, at his coming, fell down in terror, face to earth. Heed thou well, son of man, said he; what here thou seest, in the last days shall be accomplished.
 Daniel	Dan	32	8	18	But he spoke to one that lay swooning on the ground; so he must put out his hand, and raise me to my feet.
 Daniel	Dan	32	8	19	Then he went on: I mean to tell thee how all shall fall out when the days of punishment are over; be sure the end of them is fixed.
 Daniel	Dan	32	8	20	Horned ram of thy vision rules over the Medes and Persians;
 Daniel	Dan	32	8	21	buck-goat over the realm of Greece, and the great horn between his eyes is first of the Greek kings.
 Daniel	Dan	32	8	22	Those four others that grew after its breaking are four kings that shall arise, fellow-countrymen of his, but not his peers.
 Daniel	Dan	32	8	23	These reigning, the world shall go from bad to worse, till a new king comes to the throne, brazen-faced, a master of riddles.
 Daniel	Dan	32	8	24	Great power shall he wield, though of that first king not the peer, making havoc beyond belief, thriving and prospering. Strength of arms nor holiness of life shall rescue peoples
 Daniel	Dan	32	8	25	from his will; all shall go well with crafty scheming of his, till his heart grows proud, and he deals death all about him, when peril is none. And at last with the Prince of princes he shall try conclusions; no human hand it shall be that crushes him down at last.
 Daniel	Dan	32	8	26	Night comes first, then morning; but the revelation made to thee is a true one; seal it up, till those last days when it must have effect.
 Daniel	Dan	32	8	27	So much he told me; and for many days after I lay sick; when I was on my feet again, I had the king’s business to do, but still I was all dazed by the vision, and there was no interpreting it.
 Daniel	Dan	32	9	1	Then Darius the Mede, son of Assuerus, was raised to the throne of Chaldaea;
 Daniel	Dan	32	9	2	and in the year when his reign began who but I, Daniel, should discover, by the reading of old records, how to compute the seventy years of Jerusalem’s widowhood? Such doom the Lord had foretold to the prophet Jeremias.
 Daniel	Dan	32	9	3	And with that, I turned to the Lord my God; pray to him I would, and sue for mercy, fasting ever, sackcloth and ashes my only wear.
 Daniel	Dan	32	9	4	Prayed I then to the Lord my God, and made confession of my sins, in these words following: Mercy, mercy, Lord God, the great, the terrible; to those who love thee, so gracious, with those who keep thy commandments, troth keeping still!
 Daniel	Dan	32	9	5	Sinned we have, and wronged thee, rebelled we have, and forsaken thee, turned our backs on decree and award of thine,
 Daniel	Dan	32	9	6	nor heeded thy servants, the prophets, that spoke to us in thy name, to king and prince and the common folk that gendered us.
 Daniel	Dan	32	9	7	Fault with thee is none; ours, Lord, to blush for the wrong-doing that has offended thee, men of Juda, citizens of Jerusalem, Israel near at hand, Israel banished far away, in what plight thou seest!
 Daniel	Dan	32	9	8	Blush we, king and prince of ours, fathers of ours that did the wrong;
 Daniel	Dan	32	9	9	be it thine, O Lord our God, to have mercy and to forgive. So far we have strayed from thee,
 Daniel	Dan	32	9	10	so deaf to the divine voice, when the prophets that served thee bade us follow thy law!
 Daniel	Dan	32	9	11	A whole people that would transgress thy command, turn a deaf ear to thy calls! What wonder if it fell on us, drop by drop, the avenging curse God’s servant Moses wrote of? Our sins had deserved it,
 Daniel	Dan	32	9	12	and if yonder unexampled punishment befell Jerusalem, it was but a threat fulfilled; warning we had of it, we and the princes that governed us.
 Daniel	Dan	32	9	13	No misfortune overtook us, but the law of Moses had foretold it; and yet, O Lord our God, appease thy anger we would not, nor leave our sinning, nor bethink ourselves, how well thy word thou keepest;
 Daniel	Dan	32	9	14	what wonder if bane, not blessing, the divine regard brought us? Be our punishment what it will, not ours to find fault with the God we have disobeyed.
 Daniel	Dan	32	9	15	Thou art the Lord our God, whose constraining power rescued thy people from the land of Egypt, who hast won thyself glory, too, in this our day; we, Lord, have been sinners, we have shewn ourselves unworthy
 Daniel	Dan	32	9	16	of all thy faithful dealings with us. But wilt thou let thy indignant anger fall on Jerusalem, on that holy mountain of thine? Too long, for our sins and the sins of our fathers before us, all our neighbours have held Jerusalem, and us thy people, in contempt.
 Daniel	Dan	32	9	17	God of our race, give audience at last to the prayer, the plea thy servant brings before thee; for thy own honour, restore the sanctuary, that now lies forlorn, to the smile of thy favour.
 Daniel	Dan	32	9	18	My God, give ear and listen to us; open thy eyes, and see how desolate is this city of ours, that claims to be thy own. No merits of ours, nothing but thy great love emboldens us to lay our prayers at thy feet.
 Daniel	Dan	32	9	19	Thy hearing, Lord, and thy pardon; thy heed, Lord, and thy aid! For thy own honour, my God, deny thyself no longer to the city, the people that is called thy own!
 Daniel	Dan	32	9	20	Thus prayed I, thus did I confess my own sins, and the sins of my fellow Israelites, pouring out supplication, there in the presence of my God, for that holy mountain which is his dwelling-place.
 Daniel	Dan	32	9	21	And I was still at my prayer, when the human figure of Gabriel, as I had seen it at the beginning of my vision, flew swiftly to my side; it was the hour of the evening sacrifice when he reached me.
 Daniel	Dan	32	9	22	And with these words he enlightened me: Daniel, my errand is to instruct thee and give thee discernment.
 Daniel	Dan	32	9	23	Even as thy prayer began, a secret was disclosed, and I am here to make it known to thee, so well heaven loves thee. Mark well, then, the message, and read the revelation aright.
 Daniel	Dan	32	9	24	It is ordained that this people of thine, that holy city of thine, should wait seventy weeks before guilt is done away, sin ended, wrong righted; before God’s everlasting favour is restored, and the visions and the prophecies come true, and he who is all holiness receives his anointing.
 Daniel	Dan	32	9	25	Be assured of this, and mark it well; a period of seven weeks must go by, and another period of sixty-two weeks, between the order to rebuild Jerusalem and the coming of the Christ to be your leader. Street and wall will be built again, though in a time of distress;
 Daniel	Dan	32	9	26	and then sixty-two weeks must pass before the Christ is done to death; the people will disown him and have none of him. Then the army of an invading leader will destroy both city and sanctuary, so that his taking away will mean utter destruction; only a ruin is to be left when that war is ended.
 Daniel	Dan	32	9	27	High covenant he shall make, before another week is done, and with folks a many; but when that week has run half its course, offering and burnt-sacrifice shall be none; in the temple all shall be defilement and desolation, and until all is over, all is fulfilled, that desolation shall continue.
 Daniel	Dan	32	10	1	Then, in the third year of Cyrus’ reign, that was king of Persia, a fresh revelation was made to Daniel, who is also called Baltassar. Here is truth indubitable, and a great host… And right well he understood its meaning; little avails vision where understanding is none.
 Daniel	Dan	32	10	2	For three weeks together I, Daniel, that saw it, had been making sad cheer;
 Daniel	Dan	32	10	3	for three weeks together dry bread was my diet, nor ever did meat or wine cross my lips, nor oil anoint me.
 Daniel	Dan	32	10	4	Came now the twenty-fourth day of the new year, and I stood by the banks of the great river, where it is called Tigris.
 Daniel	Dan	32	10	5	I looked up, and saw a man standing there clad all in linen, and his girdle of fine gold.
 Daniel	Dan	32	10	6	Clear as topaz his body was, like the play of lightning shone his face, and like burning cressets his eyes; arms and legs of him had the sheen of bronze, and when he spoke, it was like the murmur of a throng.
 Daniel	Dan	32	10	7	The vision was for me, for Daniel, alone; my companions never saw it; such fear overcame them, they were fain to hide themselves,
 Daniel	Dan	32	10	8	and I was left alone with this high vision for my company. No wonder if my spirits were cowed; pale grew my cheek, and all the strength in me ebbed away.
 Daniel	Dan	32	10	9	He spoke, and as I listened to that voice, I swooned where I stood, and lay there, face to earth,
 Daniel	Dan	32	10	10	till a hand touched me, giving fresh impulse to knee and wrist.
 Daniel	Dan	32	10	11	Daniel, he said to me, Daniel, so well beloved, up with thee, and heed thou well; I have an errand to thee. Yet for all he spoke thus to me, I stood there trembling,
 Daniel	Dan	32	10	12	and still he must allay my fears. Take heart, Daniel, said he; thy prayers did not go unheard. Prayer of thine it was beckoned me to thy side, from the very moment when thou didst set about thy search for knowledge, by fasting in the presence of thy God;
 Daniel	Dan	32	10	13	but these twenty-one days he who guards the realm of Persia has delayed my coming. At last Michael, one of the high lords, brought me aid, and there, at Persia’s court, I was left master of the field.
 Daniel	Dan	32	10	14	Now I am here to tell thee what shall befall thy people in the last days; long days must pass ere the revelation is accomplished.
 Daniel	Dan	32	10	15	Ever, as he spoke, I stood there dumb, and with eyes downcast,
 Daniel	Dan	32	10	16	till all at once a touch fell on my lips, like the touch of human hand. Now found I speech, to give yonder visitant his answer. Bethink thee, my lord, I said, that sight of thee unknits my frame; strength in me is none.
 Daniel	Dan	32	10	17	How should slave bandy words with master? Not strength alone fails me; the very breath will not come.
 Daniel	Dan	32	10	18	Once again a hand seemed to touch me, and words came to hearten me;
 Daniel	Dan	32	10	19	Nay, fears are not for thee, so well beloved; never harm befall thee! Take courage, and play a man’s part! With that, I found my strength again; Speak on, my Lord, said I; thou hast put new heart into me.
 Daniel	Dan	32	10	20	And he answered, Hast thou read, by this, the secret of my coming to thee? I am even now on my way back to fight against the lord of Persia; when I left him, what saw I but the lord of the Greeks already on the march?
 Daniel	Dan	32	10	21	Only I must shew thee first what is written in the book of doom. Much is to do, and save for Michael, that is guardian of your race, I have none to aid me.
 Daniel	Dan	32	11	1	Him to strengthen and uphold has been my task, ever since Darius the Mede began reigning.
 Daniel	Dan	32	11	2	And now, doom to foreshew thee, a king shall rise in Persia, the fourth from this, rich in great revenue beyond all the others; in the power such wealth gives him, he will set the whole world in motion against the realm of Greece…
 Daniel	Dan	32	11	3	And a warrior king shall arise, winning such empire that there is no resisting his will.
 Daniel	Dan	32	11	4	Divided that empire shall be, as soon as it is established, between the four quarters of heaven; not sons of his they shall be that rule it, nor peers of his; besides these, foreign lords shall part his dominions between them.
 Daniel	Dan	32	11	5	The southern kingdom a strong ruler shall have, but of his vassals one shall be mightier than he, and in dominion excel him; wide, wide his domain;
 Daniel	Dan	32	11	6	until at last these two make terms between them, and, to seal their amity, daughter of Egyptian king to Syrian king must pass. Yet thrive she may not, nor dynasty of hers endure; herself in due time, with retinue of hers, faction of hers, must be a victim.
 Daniel	Dan	32	11	7	Not unavenged; scion of her own father’s stock shall march on Syria, and do battle, and prevail;
 Daniel	Dan	32	11	8	shall carry off to Egypt the images of Syria’s gods, its treasures of silver and gold. Then, his rival mastered,
 Daniel	Dan	32	11	9	with that inroad he shall be content, and to his own kingdom return.
 Daniel	Dan	32	11	10	To Syria’s heirs the quarrel is left; and now there are great hosts a-mustering, under a new king that must ever be hurrying on, like river in flood, returning with spirit to the charge, throwing all his forces into the assault.
 Daniel	Dan	32	11	11	See with what fury the Egyptian king takes the field against him, rallies a great host of his own, and over Syria’s host gains the mastery!
 Daniel	Dan	32	11	12	Captives a many, dead warriors a many, to gladden his heart, but all to no purpose;
 Daniel	Dan	32	11	13	back Syria comes, in greater force than ever, ranks filled, and treasures swollen, with the years.
 Daniel	Dan	32	11	14	All the world will be for picking a quarrel with Egypt then; hot-heads there will be among thy own people who think to fulfil the old prophecies thus, but to their cost.
 Daniel	Dan	32	11	15	On marches he, yonder Syrian king, raises mound, and makes fortified cities his own; Egypt’s vigour is all spent, never a halt, though its best warriors engage him;
 Daniel	Dan	32	11	16	irresistible he comes, to impose terms on his enemy, sets foot in a noble land and crushes it under his heel.
 Daniel	Dan	32	11	17	How to gain secure possession of the whole kingdom? A bargain must be struck; gift of a royal bride shall be the land’s undoing! But no, that will not serve, never shall it be his.
 Daniel	Dan	32	11	18	To the sea-coast he turns his thoughts instead, and conquers lands a many; puts to silence the author of his own disgrace, and covers him with disgrace in his turn.
 Daniel	Dan	32	11	19	But at last, to his own province turning back, he totters to his fall, and the fame of him is heard no more.
 Daniel	Dan	32	11	20	To a vile creature his throne must pass, of a throne unworthy; soon shall his end come, and yet no blow struck in anger, or in battle.
 Daniel	Dan	32	11	21	And after him a man little thought of; royal investiture he has none, yet see how stealthy his approach, what shifts he uses to win a throne!
 Daniel	Dan	32	11	22	Down go strong armies, crushed before him, down goes covenanted chief;
 Daniel	Dan	32	11	23	treaty first, and then treachery; of armed following he needs but little.
 Daniel	Dan	32	11	24	So he makes his way into rich cities that suspect no harm, outdoes father and grandsire both in havoc, so much wealth to plunder and to squander; into strong cities, too, by crafty devices, while fortune serves.
 Daniel	Dan	32	11	25	Power of his and policy of his he shall match at last against Egypt, with a great army at his back; alas, Egypt, what avails that great muster of warriors? Craft wins the day;
 Daniel	Dan	32	11	26	men that feed on thy royal bounty are thy own undoing, and with great slaughter that army of thine is overborne.
 Daniel	Dan	32	11	27	See where the two kings plot mischief at one table, liars both! But nothing they shall achieve; not yet the appointed hour has come.
 Daniel	Dan	32	11	28	Back goes the king of Syria, enriched with spoil, wreaking his spite on God’s covenant as he journeys home;
 Daniel	Dan	32	11	29	then, when the time is ripe, marches once again southwards. Yet speed he shall not as once he sped;
 Daniel	Dan	32	11	30	here are Roman galleys overtaking him, and he must return discomfited. And now, as he returns, he shall vent his spleen against the holy covenant in good earnest. The forsakers of that covenant have not escaped his eye,
 Daniel	Dan	32	11	31	and there are willing hands a many to help him profane the inviolable sanctuary, daily sacrifice annulling, spreading defilement and desolation there.
 Daniel	Dan	32	11	32	Fawning knaves, and traitors to the covenant! But those others, that their God acknowledge, shall go all the more boldly to work,
 Daniel	Dan	32	11	33	counsellors a few that give right counsel to many. Crippled they shall be for a while, by sword and flame, by prison and plunder;
 Daniel	Dan	32	11	34	then, even as they are falling, it will need but a little support, and the fickle multitude will rally to their side.
 Daniel	Dan	32	11	35	What if some of them should fall, those wise counsellors? Assayed let them be for a little, sifted, purged for a little; there shall be happier times yet.
 Daniel	Dan	32	11	36	As for the king, he shall have all his own way; in his pride, he will think himself a match for any god, even of that God boast himself the rival, who is above all gods, And still he shall thrive; vengeance is not yet ready to overtake him; doom shall come when doom must.
 Daniel	Dan	32	11	37	What are his fathers’ gods to him? Women’s dalliance is all his concern; of gods he recks little, that will set himself up over all.
 Daniel	Dan	32	11	38	When his turn comes, it is the god of Maozim he will worship; for such a god, that never his fathers knew, the gold, and the silver, and the precious jewels;
 Daniel	Dan	32	11	39	with this new-found god to aid him, he will make Maozim his stronghold, shower honours and dignities upon its folk, make a present of lands to them.
 Daniel	Dan	32	11	40	Then comes the hour of destiny. Egypt shall declare war, and he, the Syrian king, shall sweep down upon it with horse and chariot and a great fleet.
 Daniel	Dan	32	11	41	Which lands will he invade and conquer, which pass by, ere he reach the noblest of them all? Ruined a many shall be, but Edom shall escape his onslaught, and Moab, and the princedom of Ammon.
 Daniel	Dan	32	11	42	A country here he will attempt, a country there, and be sure Egypt shall not go unscathed;
 Daniel	Dan	32	11	43	gold and silver of Egypt, and all its precious treasures shall come into his power. Then, as through Libya and Ethiopia he makes his way,
 Daniel	Dan	32	11	44	tidings shall come from east and north, to bring him back with all his host, ready for havoc, ready for carnage.
 Daniel	Dan	32	11	45	See where he sets up his royal pavilion betwixt sea and sea on yonder noble hill, yonder sacred hill; reaches its very summit, and none brings aid!
 Daniel	Dan	32	12	1	Time, then, that Michael should be up and doing; Michael, that high lord who is guardian of thy race. Distress shall then be, such as never was since the world began; and in that hour of distress thy fellow-countrymen shall win deliverance, all whose names are found written when the record lies open.
 Daniel	Dan	32	12	2	Many shall wake, that now lie sleeping in the dust of earth, some to enjoy life everlasting, some to be confronted for ever with their disgrace.
 Daniel	Dan	32	12	3	Bright shall be the glory of wise counsellors, as the radiance of the sky above; starry-bright for ever their glory, who have taught many the right way.
 Daniel	Dan	32	12	4	For thyself, Daniel, keep this revelation locked away; sealed up the record of it must be until the hour appointed. Leave others to hasten to and fro, in search of knowledge.
 Daniel	Dan	32	12	5	Thus he spoke; and now, looking up, I saw two others that stood there, one on either bank of the stream.
 Daniel	Dan	32	12	6	But he, the man clad in linen, stood there yet over the river itself; and when I asked how long these wondrous doings should last,
 Daniel	Dan	32	12	7	it was from him I had my answer. Both hands raised to heaven, he swore by the God who lives for ever that there should be an end to it; it should last for a space of time, and for twice as long, and for half as long, no more. Strength of God’s holy people must be broken utterly; when that is over, all is over and done.
 Daniel	Dan	32	12	8	So I had my answer, but still could not tell the meaning of it; Ay, my Lord, I said, but what shall be the end of it all?
 Daniel	Dan	32	12	9	Nay, Daniel, said he, no more of this; needs must that this revelation be shut away and sealed up, till the appointed hour comes;
 Daniel	Dan	32	12	10	and still there shall be chosen souls a many, that are purged by the fire’s assaying, and still there are sinners that will not leave their sinning. The riddle, for these others, a riddle must remain, but wise counsellors there be that will find the clue to it.
 Daniel	Dan	32	12	11	Of this be sure; after the time when the daily sacrifice is abrogated, and all becomes defilement and desolation, twelve hundred and ninety days must pass.
 Daniel	Dan	32	12	12	Blessed shall his lot be that waits patiently till thirteen hundred and thirty-five days are over.
 Daniel	Dan	32	12	13	And for thyself, Daniel, go thy way… till the end; till the end of the days rest thou shalt, and rise to fulfil thy appointed destiny.
 Daniel	Dan	32	13	1	There was a man called Joakim living in Babylon,
 Daniel	Dan	32	13	2	married to one Susanna, daughter of Helcias. This was a woman of great beauty, and one that feared God,
 Daniel	Dan	32	13	3	so well had her parents, religious folk, schooled their daughter in the law of Moses.
 Daniel	Dan	32	13	4	A rich man was Joakim, and had a fruit-garden close to his house; and he was much visited by the Jews, among whom there was none more honoured than he.
 Daniel	Dan	32	13	5	There came a year in which those two elders of the people were appointed judges, of whom the Lord said, Wickedness has sprung up in Babylon, and the roots of it are those elders and judges who claim to rule the people.
 Daniel	Dan	32	13	6	These two were often at Joakim’s house, and all those who had disputes to settle appeared before them there.
 Daniel	Dan	32	13	7	At noon, when the common folk had returned home, Susanna would walk about in her husband’s garden,
 Daniel	Dan	32	13	8	and these two elders, who saw her go in and walk there day after day, fell to lusting after her.
 Daniel	Dan	32	13	9	Reason they dethroned, and turned away their eyes from the sight of heaven; its just awards they would fain have forgotten.
 Daniel	Dan	32	13	10	The love that tortured both, neither to other would disclose;
 Daniel	Dan	32	13	11	confess it for very shame they might not, this hankering after a woman’s favours;
 Daniel	Dan	32	13	12	yet day after day they seized the opportunity to have sight of her. A day came at last when one said to the other,
 Daniel	Dan	32	13	13	Home go we, it is dinner-time; and go they did, taking their several ways;
 Daniel	Dan	32	13	14	yet both returned hot-foot to their watching-place, and there met one another. So there was questioning on both sides, and out came the story of their lust; and now they made common cause; at a suitable time they would waylay her together, when she was alone.
 Daniel	Dan	32	13	15	They watched, then, for their opportunity; and she, as her custom was, went out one day with two of her maids, and had a mind to bathe, there in the garden, for it was summer weather,
 Daniel	Dan	32	13	16	and none was by except the two elders; and they were in hiding, watching her.
 Daniel	Dan	32	13	17	So she bade her servants go and bring her oil and soap, and shut the garden door while she was a-bathing.
 Daniel	Dan	32	13	18	Her whim was obeyed; shut the door of the garden they did, and went out by a back entrance to bring her what she had asked for; they knew nothing of the elders that were hiding there within.
 Daniel	Dan	32	13	19	And these two, as soon as the servants were gone, rose from their hiding-place and ran to her side.
 Daniel	Dan	32	13	20	See, they told her, the garden door is shut, and there is no witness by. We are both smitten with a desire for thy favours; come, then, let us enjoy thee.
 Daniel	Dan	32	13	21	Refuse, and we will bear witness that thou hadst a gallant here, and this was the reason thou wouldst rid thyself of thy hand-maidens’ company.
 Daniel	Dan	32	13	22	Whereupon Susanna groaned deeply; There is no escape for me, she said, either way. It is death if I consent, and if I refuse, I shall be at your mercy.
 Daniel	Dan	32	13	23	Let me rather fall into your power through no act of mine, than commit sin in the Lord’s sight.
 Daniel	Dan	32	13	24	With that, Susanna cried aloud, and the elders, too, began crying shame on her;
 Daniel	Dan	32	13	25	meanwhile, one of them ran to the garden door and opened it.
 Daniel	Dan	32	13	26	And now the servants of the house, hearing such outcry in the garden, came running in through the back entrance to know what was afoot;
 Daniel	Dan	32	13	27	and they were greatly abashed when the elders told their story; never before had Susanna been defamed thus. When the morrow came,
 Daniel	Dan	32	13	28	there was a throng of people in Joakim’s house, and the two elders were there, intent upon their malicious design against Susanna’s life.
 Daniel	Dan	32	13	29	They asked publicly that Susanna, daughter of Helcias and wife to Joakim, should be sent for; sent for she was,
 Daniel	Dan	32	13	30	and came out with her parents and her children and all her kindred.
 Daniel	Dan	32	13	31	So dainty she was, and so fair,
 Daniel	Dan	32	13	32	these two knaves would have her let down her veil, the better to enjoy the sight of her charms.
 Daniel	Dan	32	13	33	All her friends, all her acquaintances, were in tears.
 Daniel	Dan	32	13	34	Then the two elders rose amidst the throng, and laid their hands upon Susanna’s head,
 Daniel	Dan	32	13	35	while she, weeping, looked up to heaven, in token that her heart had not lost confidence in the Lord.
 Daniel	Dan	32	13	36	We were walking in the garden apart, said the elders, when this woman came out with two hand-maidens. She had the garden door shut close, and sent the maidens away;
 Daniel	Dan	32	13	37	whereupon a young man, who had been in hiding till then, came out and had his will with her.
 Daniel	Dan	32	13	38	We, from a nook in the garden, saw what foul deed was being done, and ran up close, so that we had full view of their dalliance;
 Daniel	Dan	32	13	39	but lay hold of the man we could not; he was too strong for us, opening the garden door and springing out.
 Daniel	Dan	32	13	40	The woman we caught, and asked her who her gallant was, but she would not tell us. To all this, we bear witness.
 Daniel	Dan	32	13	41	They were elders, they were judges of the people, and they persuaded the assembly, without more ado, to pass the death sentence.
 Daniel	Dan	32	13	42	Whereupon Susanna cried aloud, Eternal God, no secret is hidden from thee, nothing comes to pass without thy foreknowledge.
 Daniel	Dan	32	13	43	Thou knowest that these men have borne false witness against me; wilt thou let me die, a woman innocent of all the charges their malice has invented?
 Daniel	Dan	32	13	44	And the Lord listened to her plea;
 Daniel	Dan	32	13	45	even as she was being led off to her death, all at once he roused to utterance the holy spirit that dwelt in a young boy there, called Daniel.
 Daniel	Dan	32	13	46	This Daniel raised his voice and cried out, I will be no party to the death of this woman;
 Daniel	Dan	32	13	47	and when all the people turned upon him, asking what he meant,
 Daniel	Dan	32	13	48	he stood there in their midst, and said, Are you such fools, men of Israel, as to condemn an Israelite woman without trial, without investigation of the truth?
 Daniel	Dan	32	13	49	Go back to the place of judgement; the witness they have borne against her is false witness.
 Daniel	Dan	32	13	50	Eagerly enough the people went back, and the elders would have Daniel sit with them, such credit God had given him beyond his years.
 Daniel	Dan	32	13	51	He bade them part the two men, at a distance from each other, while he questioned them.
 Daniel	Dan	32	13	52	So parted they were, and when the first was summoned, thus Daniel greeted him: Grown so old in years, and years ill spent! Now, that past sinning of thine has found thee out,
 Daniel	Dan	32	13	53	a man that perverts justice, persecutes innocence, and lets the guilty go free. Has not the Lord said, Never shalt thou put the innocent man, the upright man, to death?
 Daniel	Dan	32	13	54	Thou foundest her; good; they met under a tree; tell us what kind of tree. And he answered, Under a mastic-tree I surprised them.
 Daniel	Dan	32	13	55	The right word! cried Daniel; prized asunder thyself shall be, when God bids his angel requite thee for this calumny.
 Daniel	Dan	32	13	56	Then he had this one removed, and bade the other come near. Brood of Chanaan, said he, and no true son of Juda, so beauty ensnared thee? So lust drove thy heart astray?
 Daniel	Dan	32	13	57	Such approaches you have made, long since, to women of the other tribes, and they, from very fear, admitted your suit; but you could not bring a woman of Juda to fall in with your wicked design.
 Daniel	Dan	32	13	58	And now tell me, under what tree it was thou didst find them talking together? Under a holm-oak, said he, I saw them.
 Daniel	Dan	32	13	59	The right word again! cried Daniel. Saw thee asunder the angel of the Lord will, with the sharp blade he carries yonder; you are both dead men.
 Daniel	Dan	32	13	60	And with that, the whole multitude cried aloud, blessing God that is the deliverer of those who trust in him.
 Daniel	Dan	32	13	61	And they turned on the two elders, by Daniel’s questioning self-convicted of false witness; served they must be as they would have served others,
 Daniel	Dan	32	13	62	and the law of Moses obeyed; so they put them to death. That day, an innocent life was saved.
 Daniel	Dan	32	13	63	Good cause had Helcias and his wife to praise God for their daughter Susanna, good cause had Joakim and all his friends; no breath of suspicion assailed her now.
 Daniel	Dan	32	13	64	And as for Daniel, he was in high favour with all the people from that day forward.
 Daniel	Dan	32	13	65	When king Astyages became part of his line, it was Cyrus, the Persian, succeeded him.
 Daniel	Dan	32	14	1	Of this king, Daniel was the courtier, and valued above all his other friends.
 Daniel	Dan	32	14	2	A great idol there was, that the men of Babylon worshipped; Bel was the name of it, and day by day it must be fed with thirty-two bushels of fine flour, and forty sheep, and of wine thirty-six gallons.
 Daniel	Dan	32	14	3	The king himself honoured it with the rest, and no day passed but he went to pay it reverence. A time came when he asked Daniel, that worshipped no God but his own, why Bel he would not worship;
 Daniel	Dan	32	14	4	and this answer Daniel made him, that for idols made by men’s hands worship he had none, only for that living God that made heaven and earth, and of all mankind held the sovereignty.
 Daniel	Dan	32	14	5	What,cried the king, wilt thou have it Bel is not a living god? Hast thou no eyes for the great trencherman he is, day in, day out, of food and drink both?
 Daniel	Dan	32	14	6	Nay, my lord king, Daniel answered with a smile, give no heed to false tales. Clay he is within, and bronze without; I warrant thee, eat he cannot.
 Daniel	Dan	32	14	7	Whereupon the king, in high displeasure, summoned Bel’s priests. You shall give account, said he, of yonder revenues, and that on pain of your lives. Who is it has the eating of them?
 Daniel	Dan	32	14	8	Prove to me it is Bel himself, and Daniel shall die instead, that blasphemed him. As it pleases the king’s grace, said Daniel.
 Daniel	Dan	32	14	9	Seventy of these priests there were, that had wives and children to fend for besides. And when the king reached their temple, with Daniel in attendance,
 Daniel	Dan	32	14	10	this challenge they offered: Withdraw we, as thou seest; for thee it is, lord king, to set food, pour out wine, lock and seal door with thy own hand.
 Daniel	Dan	32	14	11	To-morrow, come thou and find aught left over from Bel’s banqueting, we die for it; or else Daniel dies, that so traduced us.
 Daniel	Dan	32	14	12	Lightly enough the challenge was made; had they not provided a hidden entrance-way, close under the god’s table, by which they came in and ate what eat they would?
 Daniel	Dan	32	14	13	So out they went, and the king set on Bel’s viands with his own hand; and what did Daniel? He would have his servants bring ashes, and scatter them all over the temple floor, there in the king’s presence. Which done, all withdrew, leaving the door locked, and the royal seal upon it.
 Daniel	Dan	32	14	14	And that night in they came as came they ever, priest and priest’s wife and priest’s children, and left neither bite nor sup between them.
 Daniel	Dan	32	14	15	Next day, the king was early abroad, and Daniel with him.
 Daniel	Dan	32	14	16	What of the seals, Daniel? the king asked. Are they unbroken? Ay, my lord king, unbroken yet.
 Daniel	Dan	32	14	17	What a cry was that the king gave, when he opened the door and caught sight of the table within! A great god thou art, Bel, said he, and no deceiver!
 Daniel	Dan	32	14	18	But Daniel smiled, and would not have the king go in yet; Look about thee, he said, and ask thyself who it was left their prints on yonder floor.
 Daniel	Dan	32	14	19	Why, cried the king, these be foot-prints of living men, and women and children besides! With that, he fell into a rage;
 Daniel	Dan	32	14	20	priest and priest’s wife and priest’s children must be taken into custody. And when these had shewed him the door by which they came in and swept the table bare of its offerings,
 Daniel	Dan	32	14	21	he put the whole company of them to death. And as for Bel, he left him to Daniel’s mercy, who threw down image and temple both.
 Daniel	Dan	32	14	22	There was a great serpent, too, in those parts that was worshipped by the folk of Babylon;
 Daniel	Dan	32	14	23	and of this the king said to Daniel, here at least was a god that lived; gainsay that he could not, and therefore he needs must worship.
 Daniel	Dan	32	14	24	Nay, said Daniel, my own God I worship still; living God is none but he. Here is no living God;
 Daniel	Dan	32	14	25	let me but have the royal warrant, and I will make an end of it, and neither sword nor club to help me. So the king gave his warrant,
 Daniel	Dan	32	14	26	and what did Daniel? Pitch and fat and hairs he boiled all together, and with lumps of this fed the serpent, which thereupon burst all to pieces; and, Here, said Daniel, is your god.
 Daniel	Dan	32	14	27	Angry men were the folk of Babylon when they heard of these doings, and they made their way into the royal presence, crying out, Here is the king himself turned Jew! Here is Bel overthrown, and the dragon slain, and our priests massacred!
 Daniel	Dan	32	14	28	And when they found audience, Give up Daniel to us, they said, or we will make an end of thee, and thy household with thee.
 Daniel	Dan	32	14	29	The king, finding their onslaught so determined, gave up Daniel to them against his will;
 Daniel	Dan	32	14	30	and they threw him into a pit in which lions were kept, where he spent six whole days.
 Daniel	Dan	32	14	31	Seven lions there were in the pit, and each day two human bodies were given them as food, and two sheep; but now they were kept unfed, so that Daniel might be their prey.
 Daniel	Dan	32	14	32	Far away, in Judaea, the prophet Habacuc had been making broth, and crumbling bread in a great bowl, and was even now carrying it to the reapers on the farm;
 Daniel	Dan	32	14	33	when suddenly the angel of the Lord said to him, Take the dinner thou hast with thee to Babylon, and give it to Daniel; he is in the lion-pit.
 Daniel	Dan	32	14	34	Lord, said Habacuc, I was never yet in Babylon, and know nothing of any lion-pit there.
 Daniel	Dan	32	14	35	Upon which the angel of the Lord caught at his head and lifted him by the hair of it; then by the force of his impulse, set him down in Babylon, close to the pit.
 Daniel	Dan	32	14	36	So Habacuc cried out, Daniel! Servant of God! The Lord has sent thee thy dinner; come and take it.
 Daniel	Dan	32	14	37	And Daniel said, Thou wouldst not forget me, O God, wouldst not forsake such as love thee.
 Daniel	Dan	32	14	38	So he rose and ate, while the angel of the Lord brought Habacuc, all at once, back to his home.
 Daniel	Dan	32	14	39	When the seventh day came, the king went out to mourn for Daniel; and now, reaching the pit and looking in, he saw Daniel seated there among the lions.
 Daniel	Dan	32	14	40	And at that, the king cried aloud, How great thou art, O Lord, thou who art Daniel’s God! And he took him out of the lion-pit,
 Daniel	Dan	32	14	41	and shut up there instead the men who had conspired to ruin him; and in a moment, as he watched, the lions devoured them.
 Daniel	Dan	32	14	42	Whereupon the king said, Well may the whole world stand in awe of Daniel’s God. What deliverance he effects, what signal proofs of his power, here on earth, the God who has rescued Daniel out of a den of lions!
 Osee	Os	33	1	1	This is the message which came from the Lord to Osee, son of Beeri, during the reigns of Ozias, Joathan, Achaz and Ezechias in Juda, and during the reign of Jeroboam, son of Joas, in Israel.
 Osee	Os	33	1	2	When first the divine voice made itself heard through Osee, this was the command given him: Wanton wed thou, wantons breed thou; in a wanton land thou dwellest, that keeps troth with its Lord never.
 Osee	Os	33	1	3	So it was he came to marry Gomer, a daughter of Debelaim. When he got her with child, and she bore him a son,
 Osee	Os	33	1	4	This one, the Lord told him, thou art to call Jezrahel; at Jezrahel the blood was spilt for which, ere long, Jehu’s line must be punished, and Israel have kings no more;
 Osee	Os	33	1	5	in Jezrahel valley, my doom is, bow of Israel shall be broken.
 Osee	Os	33	1	6	And next, she was brought to bed of a daughter; of whom the Lord said, Unbefriended call her, in token that I will befriend Israel no longer, heed them no longer.
 Osee	Os	33	1	7	To Juda I will be a friend yet, not with bow or sword of theirs delivering them, not in battle, with horse or horseman to give aid, but by the power of the Lord their God only.
 Osee	Os	33	1	8	Unbefriended, then, was the name of her; and after she was weaned, once more Gomer conceived, and had a son.
 Osee	Os	33	1	9	This time the command was, Call him Strange-folk; no longer shall you be my people, or I be your… …
 Osee	Os	33	1	10	Measureless the race of Israel shall be and countless as the sand by the sea-shore. In the very place where once the doom was uttered, You are but strangers to me, they shall be welcomed as sons of the living God.
 Osee	Os	33	1	11	As one people, Juda and Israel shall be rallied, under a leader of their common choice; and they shall come flocking from every corner of the land; such great doings there shall be at Jezrahel.
 Osee	Os	33	2	1	God’s-folk and Befriended, these are the names they should have by rights, brother and sister of yours.
 Osee	Os	33	2	2	Blame her, blame your mother, that she is no true wife of mine, nor I any longer her Lord. Must she still flaunt the harlot’s face of her, the wantonness of her breasts?
 Osee	Os	33	2	3	Must I strip her, leave her naked as babe new-born, leave her desolate as the barren waste, the trackless desert, to die of thirst?
 Osee	Os	33	2	4	Those children of hers, must I needs leave them unpitied, the children of her shame?
 Osee	Os	33	2	5	Harlot mother of theirs brought reproach on the womb that bore them; Haste I away, she said, to those gallants of mine, the gods of whose gift bread comes to me, and water, wool and flax, oil and wine!
 Osee	Os	33	2	6	See if I do not hedge her way about with thorns, fence in her prospect, till way she can find none!
 Osee	Os	33	2	7	Then, it may be, when her gallants she courts in vain, searches for them in vain, she will have other thoughts: Back go I to the husband that was mine once; things were better with me in days gone by.
 Osee	Os	33	2	8	Yet I it was, did she but know it, that bread and wine and oil gave her, gave her all the silver and gold she squandered on Baal.
 Osee	Os	33	2	9	And now I mean to revoke the gift; no harvest for her, no vintage; I will give wool and flax a holiday, that once laboured to cover her shame;
 Osee	Os	33	2	10	no gallant of hers but shall see and mock at it; such is my will, and none shall thwart me.
 Osee	Os	33	2	11	Gone the days of rejoicing, the days of solemnity; gone is new moon, and sabbath, and festival;
 Osee	Os	33	2	12	vine and fig-tree blighted, whose fruit, she told herself, was but the hire those lovers paid; all shall be woodland, for the wild beasts to ravage as they will.
 Osee	Os	33	2	13	Penance she must do for that hey-day of idolatry, when the incense smoked, and out she went, all rings and necklaces, to meet her lovers, the gods of the country-side, and for me, the Lord says, never a thought!
 Osee	Os	33	2	14	It is but love’s stratagem, thus to lead her out into the wilderness; once there, it shall be all words of comfort.
 Osee	Os	33	2	15	Clad in vineyards that wilderness shall be, that vale of sad memory a passage-way of hope; and a song shall be on her lips, the very music of her youth, when I rescued her from Egypt long ago.
 Osee	Os	33	2	16	Husband she calls me now, the Lord says, Master no longer;
 Osee	Os	33	2	17	that name I stifle on her lips; master-gods of the country-side must all be forgotten.
 Osee	Os	33	2	18	Beast and bird and creeping thing to peace pledge I; bow and sword and war’s alarms break I; all shall sleep safe abed, the folk that dwell in her.
 Osee	Os	33	2	19	Everlastingly I will betroth thee to myself, favour and redress and mercy of mine thy dowry;
 Osee	Os	33	2	20	by the keeping of his troth thou shalt learn to know the Lord.
 Osee	Os	33	2	21	When that day comes, heaven shall win answer, the Lord says, answer from me; and from heaven, earth;
 Osee	Os	33	2	22	and from earth, the corn and wine and oil it nourishes; and from these, the people of my sowing.
 Osee	Os	33	2	23	Deep, deep I will sow them in the land I love; a friend, now, to her that was Unbefriended;
 Osee	Os	33	2	24	to a people that was none of mine I will say, Thou art my people, and they to me, Thou art my God.
 Osee	Os	33	3	1	The Lord’s word came to me: To wife that will have gallants a-courting her, shew thyself a lover yet. The Lord is yet Israel’s lover, that has no eyes but for alien gods, leaves grape for husk.
 Osee	Os	33	3	2	So buy her back to me I must, fifteen pieces of silver paying for her ransom, and a core and a half of barley.
 Osee	Os	33	3	3	A long time thou must wait for me, I told her, thy wantonness leaving, yet still unwed; and I will wait for thee as faithfully.
 Osee	Os	33	3	4	A long time the sons of Israel must wait, neither king nor prince to rule them, neither sacrifice nor shrine to worship at, neither sacred mantle nor their own images to consult.
 Osee	Os	33	3	5	Then they will come back, and to the Lord, their own God, betake them, and to David that is their true king; the Lord, and the Lord’s goodness, holds them spell-bound at last.
 Osee	Os	33	4	1	Listen, sons of Israel, to a message from the Lord, notice of a suit he prefers against all that dwell in this land of yours; a land where loyalty, and tenderness of heart, and knowledge of God is none.
 Osee	Os	33	4	2	Curse they and lie, murder they and steal and live adulterously, till there is no checking it; never feud ends but another feud begins.
 Osee	Os	33	4	3	What wonder the land lies widowed, and its folk dwindle; gone, beast and bird, and the sea-beach piled high with fish?
 Osee	Os	33	4	4	Nay, let us have no recriminations between man and man; so should this people of thine fall to railing at their priests!
 Osee	Os	33	4	5	Ruin for thee, sir priest, this day, and, come night, the prophet shall share thy ruin; name of the mother that bore thee shall perish,
 Osee	Os	33	4	6	as, through thy fault, this people of mine perishes for want of knowledge. Knowledge wouldst thou spurn, and shall not I spurn thy priesthood; my law wouldst thou forget, and shall race of thine be spared oblivion?
 Osee	Os	33	4	7	Priests a many, and sins to match their number; shall that title bring glory any longer, and not reproach?
 Osee	Os	33	4	8	Fault if Israel committed, guilt if Israel incurred, it was but the meat and drink such priests craved for.
 Osee	Os	33	4	9	Priest, now, shall fare no better than people; he shall pay for his ill living, reap what his false aims deserve;
 Osee	Os	33	4	10	greed, that remained still unsated, wantonness, that could never have enough. Ah, faithless guardians, that you should play your Lord false!
 Osee	Os	33	4	11	That dalliance, and wine, and revelry, should so steal away your wits!
 Osee	Os	33	4	12	And what of my people? See where they have recourse to tree-stump or senseless wand, for an answer to their perplexities! Lust for strange worship swept them away, made them false to their troth with God;
 Osee	Os	33	4	13	on mountain and hill-side, grateful for leafy shade of oak, poplar or terebinth, they slay the victim, and burn incense. What wonder daughters should turn harlot, wives play the wanton?
 Osee	Os	33	4	14	Harlot daughter and adulterous wife shall go unpunished; what did father and husband, but keep harlots’ company, share revel with consecrated minions? Want wit, be sure a people is ruined.
 Osee	Os	33	4	15	Wanton though Israel be, at least let Juda shun the wrong; not for them the way that leads to Galgal, Bethaven’s pilgrimage, or the oath taken by the living God…
 Osee	Os	33	4	16	Stubborn as frisking heifer, Israel turns away the head; would you have the Lord feed him, like a cade lamb, unconfined?
 Osee	Os	33	4	17	Wedded to idols, this Ephraim; go his own way he must;
 Osee	Os	33	4	18	here be revellers that will keep their own company, here be idolaters in grain, and princes that dote still on their own disgrace.
 Osee	Os	33	4	19	Ay, but a storm is coming that shall carry them away on its wings, to rue the unavailing sacrifice.
 Osee	Os	33	5	1	Priest and people, hear and heed! And you, too, mark it well, men of the court; whose but yours the blame, if there are snares on every commanding height, if Thabor itself is ringed with toils,
 Osee	Os	33	5	2	and your quarry is driven down to the depths? But to all alike comes the warning.
 Osee	Os	33	5	3	Think you that I have no eyes for Ephraim’s wantonness? that Israel escapes my scrutiny, Israel, so defiled?
 Osee	Os	33	5	4	Return to the Lord? Not for such hearts the message; lust for strange worship is there, and of the Lord they reck nothing.
 Osee	Os	33	5	5	Self-condemned, the pride of Israel; what wonder Israel… and Ephraim should be entangled in guilt? Juda itself shall not escape their downfall.
 Osee	Os	33	5	6	All their flocks and herds shall not win them access to the Lord; he stands aloof from them,
 Osee	Os	33	5	7	sinners that have defied him; a bastard brood, that ere yonder moon rises new shall be disinherited and brought to nothing.
 Osee	Os	33	5	8	The trumpet, there, in Gabaa; at Rama sound for battle; let Bethaven echo with the rallying-cry! Benjamin, to arms!
 Osee	Os	33	5	9	Alas for Ephraim, in the hour of punishment left forlorn! Mine to teach Israel’s tribes a lesson of faithfulness.
 Osee	Os	33	5	10	And what of Juda’s chieftains? A neighbour’s land-mark scrupled they never to remove; on these, too, the full flood of my vengeance shall come down.
 Osee	Os	33	5	11	Poor Ephraim, ever since he set his face towards the mire, all is oppression with him, all is judgement gone amiss.
 Osee	Os	33	5	12	And all the while I, none other, wear away strength of Ephraim and Juda alike; moth nor canker so surely!
 Osee	Os	33	5	13	What did Ephraim, in his great sickness, what did Juda, bound hand and foot? To Assyria Ephraim would despatch envoys, to yonder ruthless king; but heal you he could not, nor unbind.
 Osee	Os	33	5	14	Mine the encounter Ephraim has to fear, and Juda both; lion’s dam nor whelp mauls prey and carries it off so inexorably.
 Osee	Os	33	5	15	All in a moment come and gone whence I came! Who knows if weariness will drive you back to my presence?
 Osee	Os	33	6	1	Ay, in their distress they will be waiting full early at my door; Back to the Lord! will be their cry;
 Osee	Os	33	6	2	salve he only can bring, that wounded us; hand that smote us shall heal.
 Osee	Os	33	6	3	Dead men to-day and to-morrow, on the third day he will raise us up again, to live in his presence anew. Acknowledge we, cease we never to acknowledge the Lord, he will reveal himself, sure as the dawn, come back to us, sure as the rains of winter and spring come back to the earth.
 Osee	Os	33	6	4	What way will serve with you, men of Ephraim? Juda, what way will serve? Ruth of yours is but momentary, fades like the early mist, like morning dew.
 Osee	Os	33	6	5	What wonder I should send prophets first, to shape men to my will if they could, and then utter my sentence of ruin? Believe me, this doom of thine shall be clear as daylight.
 Osee	Os	33	6	6	A tender heart wins favour with me, not sacrifice; God’s acknowledging, not victim’s destroying;
 Osee	Os	33	6	7	and these be very children of Adam, keep troth they cannot, here is a land where my will is set at defiance.
 Osee	Os	33	6	8	What is Galaad but a stronghold of idolatry, bedabbled with footprints of blood?
 Osee	Os	33	6	9	Nor much imports it, company of priests thou meet on Sichem road, or troop of robbers thirsting for men’s lives; be sure there is mischief afoot;
 Osee	Os	33	6	10	foul deeds I see done in Israel. Ephraim so wanton, Israel so defiled; and,
 Osee	Os	33	6	11	Juda, what of thyself? For thee, no harvest? When I restore my people from exile…
 Osee	Os	33	7	1	When I would grant healing to Israel…Foul shews the guilt of Ephraim, Samaria’s malice is plain to view. What a workshop of wrong-doing is here, all thieving within doors, all robbery without!
 Osee	Os	33	7	2	Let them never complain I am too nice over the chronicling of their misdeeds; why, they blazon these ill designs of theirs, under my very eyes!
 Osee	Os	33	7	3	King himself there is no pleasing but by villainy, nor his nobles but by flattering speeches;
 Osee	Os	33	7	4	false is every one of them to his troth. What else is this whole realm but baker that lights his fire, and then takes a rest from his kneading, leaves yeast to spread as it will?
 Osee	Os	33	7	5	Huzza for our king? Ay, but see how the princes fall to their carousing, and he himself reaches out for the wine, reckless as they!
 Osee	Os	33	7	6	Their scheming adds fuel to the fire; are there not plots afoot? Sleeps baker the long night through, and morning finds him flaming hot like the rest.
 Osee	Os	33	7	7	A very furnace the city is; ruler may not abide nor king stand before the heat of it, and never a man among them invokes my name!
 Osee	Os	33	7	8	What wonder Ephraim should throw in his lot with the Gentiles? No better than a girdle-cake is Ephraim, baked only on one side.
 Osee	Os	33	7	9	Foreign neighbours, all unawares, have drained the strength of him; the dark locks, all unawares, dappled with grey;
 Osee	Os	33	7	10	and even now self-condemned stands the pride of Israel; return to the Lord, recourse to the Lord is none, even now.
 Osee	Os	33	7	11	Never silly dove so lost her wits as this Ephraim, now calling on Egypt, now turning to Assyria for aid!
 Osee	Os	33	7	12	Fatal the journey; my net I mean to spread over them, catch them as in the fowler’s snare; public the chastisement shall be, as public the warning.
 Osee	Os	33	7	13	Dearly they shall pay for their wandering from me, ruin follow on the heels of rebellion; I their ransomer, and they so false!
 Osee	Os	33	7	14	Never do their hearts cry out to me; growl they like beast in den, or beast-like eat and drink and chew the cud; me they have forsaken.
 Osee	Os	33	7	15	Now I chasten them, now I strengthen their hands, and still they have no thought for me but of hatred;
 Osee	Os	33	7	16	ever they step back from the yoke, like a twisted bow recoil. Put to the sword their nobles must be, railing tongues the ruin of them. This the taunt that shall be uttered against them in the land of Egypt…
 Osee	Os	33	8	1	The trumpet to thy mouth! Eagle’s wings threatening the Lord’s domain! Conscious of faith forsworn, of my law defied,
 Osee	Os	33	8	2	to me Israel cries out, My God! cries out, We acknowledge thee!
 Osee	Os	33	8	3	Estranged, poor Israel, from the good that was his, and the enemy pressing hard upon him.
 Osee	Os	33	8	4	Kings a many, and with no warrant from me; princes a many, that were none of my choosing; idols a many, of their own gold and silver minted; here is cause enough for their undoing.
 Osee	Os	33	8	5	Cast calf, Samaria, is yonder calf of thine; for this burning affront, it shall be long ere thou canst find acquittal.
 Osee	Os	33	8	6	Israel gave birth to it, this calf of Samaria, that came of man’s fashioning, and god is none; it shall be beaten fine as filigree.
 Osee	Os	33	8	7	Sow the wind, reap the whirlwind; empty stook is empty bin, and here if grain is any, alien folk shall have the eating of it!
 Osee	Os	33	8	8	Poor Israel, already engulfed, the heathen all around making a despised tool of him!
 Osee	Os	33	8	9	Lone as wild ass in the desert, to Assyria he betakes himself; if mate he would, he must pay for his dalliance.
 Osee	Os	33	8	10	Well, hire they mercenaries where they will, they shall be cooped up in their own land none the less, and have respite from the exactions of king and nobles both.
 Osee	Os	33	8	11	So many the altars Ephraim has, and they shall increase his guilt, none of them but shall increase his guilt;
 Osee	Os	33	8	12	so many the laws I gave him, and all alike went unrecognized.
 Osee	Os	33	8	13	Appointed sacrifice they still offer, flesh of the sacrifice still eat, but the Lord will have none of it; no more their guilt shall go unrecorded, their sins unpunished; Egypt once again for them!
 Osee	Os	33	8	14	The God that made them forgotten, Israel builds shrine and Juda stronghold still; but the fire I am kindling shall fall upon Juda’s cities, shall devour them, citadel and all.
 Osee	Os	33	9	1	No rejoicing, Israel, no cries of gladness now! Wouldst thou be like the heathen, and rejoice that thou hast played thy God false, ever selling thy favours to the first comer, in return for a full threshing-floor?
 Osee	Os	33	9	2	Not for such reapers harvest and vintage; the wanton must go without her wine;
 Osee	Os	33	9	3	dispeopled, now, the Lord’s territory, Ephraim back in Egypt again, or tasting, among the Assyrians, unhallowed food.
 Osee	Os	33	9	4	Libation shall be none to win the Lord’s favour, nor any sacrifice; bread of theirs shall be as the bread mourners eat, defiling to the lips; fill their bellies it may, but into the Lord’s house it cannot enter.
 Osee	Os	33	9	5	Alas, what shift will you make when the great days come round, the Lord’s festivals?
 Osee	Os	33	9	6	Ruin fell on the citizens, and they are gone; Egypt the home of them now, Memphis the tomb of them; bowers that shone with silver the nettles have claimed, burdocks grow in the doorways.
 Osee	Os	33	9	7	Close at hand the audit-day, the doom close at hand! And wouldst thou know, Israel, why prophet is turned fool, and he can but rave now that once was inspired? God’s heavy plague is this for thy much sinning;
 Osee	Os	33	9	8	prophet of thine, watchman of thine, Ephraim, is a snare at every turn, luring thee to thy ruin, and at God’s decree; he stands there in God’s house, a plague to thee.
 Osee	Os	33	9	9	So deep the canker of their sin; Gabaa itself never knew worse wrong. For the remembered guilt of it they shall be called to account.
 Osee	Os	33	9	10	When I kept tryst with Israel long ago, rare the encounter, as of grapes out in the desert, of spring figs a-ripening high up on the tree. And all at once to Beelphegor they betook themselves, sold honour for shame, caught foul contagion from the things they loved!
 Osee	Os	33	9	11	Light as bird on bough, Ephraim’s glory has come and gone; womb is none that breeds, or, breeding, bears;
 Osee	Os	33	9	12	ay, though they should bring sons to manhood, childless their race shall be, nameless among men. Woe betide them indeed, when I withdraw my presence from them!
 Osee	Os	33	9	13	Ephraim’s land, so fair a garden, as I look out over it towards Tyre! And must Ephraim rear her sons for the slaughter-house?
 Osee	Os	33	9	14	Thy gift to them, Lord, what is the best gift they can have of thee? A womb, assuredly, that miscarries, and dried-up breasts!
 Osee	Os	33	9	15	See where, at Galgal, their offence comes to a head; there it is they have made an enemy of me. They shall dwell in my domain no longer, claim love from me no longer; chieftains of theirs are no vassals of mine.
 Osee	Os	33	9	16	On Ephraim blight has fallen; withered the root now, wizened the fruit; beget they, doom of death is on their offspring, so dearly loved.
 Osee	Os	33	9	17	Cast away, my God, from thy presence, because heed thee they would not, cast away to wander homeless through the world!
 Osee	Os	33	10	1	A spreading vine is yonder vine of Israel, and fruit of him matches leaf. Rich, fertile soil; alas, how rich in altars, in sacred trees how fertile!
 Osee	Os	33	10	2	A race half loyal, half false, but the penalty must be paid in full; those altars God himself will devote to extinction, strip those trees bare.
 Osee	Os	33	10	3	King we have none, you say; God we fear not; what of the great king? What will he do to us?
 Osee	Os	33	10	4	All is vain promise and making of treaties; never a furrow in your land but shall yield the bitter fruit of punishment.
 Osee	Os	33	10	5	Calf of Bethaven, the folk of Samaria once honoured, what ado is here! Mourns people and writhes priest at the passing of its glory;
 Osee	Os	33	10	6	carried off, now, into Assyria, for the pleasure of a ruthless king; fooled is Ephraim, Israel’s hopes have played him false.
 Osee	Os	33	10	7	Like foam on the river Samaria sees her king pass by;
 Osee	Os	33	10	8	and with that, vanish the hill-shrines of false worship, Israel’s darling sin; grows thorn and thistle on their altars; no prayer have the men of Israel now but that mountains should fall on them, hills should bury them alive.
 Osee	Os	33	10	9	Old is the tale of Israel’s guilt, old as what befell at Gabaa; there stood they unmoved; was it not at Gabaa the tide of battle reached them, battle against the champions of wrong?
 Osee	Os	33	10	10	A jealous chastiser I will be to them; twofold their guilt, and many the nations I will muster for their chastisement.
 Osee	Os	33	10	11	Heifer that has learned the welcome task of the threshing-floor, such is Ephraim; that sleek neck of hers I have spared till now; now she is to be harnessed; when Juda goes a-ploughing, Jacob it shall be that breaks the clods for him.
 Osee	Os	33	10	12	If mercy is to be the measure you reap by, seed of yours must be sown in right doing; there are fallow acres to be tilled. Not too late to have recourse to the Lord, waiting for him to come and bring you redress!
 Osee	Os	33	10	13	But alas, shameful furrows they were you traced, and what came of it? A harvest of wrong, fruit that cheated you in the tasting!So thou wouldst trust in thy own devices, in thy own warrior strength?
 Osee	Os	33	10	14	Believe me, there shall be turmoil among thy folk, and all thy strongholds shall fall, as fell Salmana before Jerobaal when the day was won; fell child, fell mother, dashed to pieces.
 Osee	Os	33	10	15	So much shall yonder Bethel countervail the heinousness of your guilt!
 Osee	Os	33	11	1	Soon fades the dawn; soon passes king of Israel. Israel in his boyhood, what love I bore him! Away from Egypt I beckoned him, henceforth my son. …
 Osee	Os	33	11	2	They called them, the more they refused obedience; gods of the country-side must have their victims, dumb idols their incense!
 Osee	Os	33	11	3	Yet it was I, none other, guided those first steps of theirs, and took them in my arms, and healed, all unobserved, their injuries.
 Osee	Os	33	11	4	Sons of Adam, they should be drawn with leading-strings of love; never waggoner was at more pains to ease bridle on jaw, fed beast so carefully.
 Osee	Os	33	11	5	Never again to Egypt; Assyria shall rule him now, the unrepentant;
 Osee	Os	33	11	6	already the sword is let loose in those towns of his, the brave shall engulf, the wise shall devour.
 Osee	Os	33	11	7	Can my people be reconciled with me? All hangs in doubt, until at last I put a yoke on all alike, never to be taken away from them.
 Osee	Os	33	11	8	What, Ephraim, must I abandon thee? Must I keep Israel under watch and ward? Can I let thee go the way of Adama, share the doom of Seboim? All at once my heart misgives me, and from its embers pity revives.
 Osee	Os	33	11	9	How should I wreak my vengeance, of Ephraim take full toll? God am I, not a man in the midst of you, the Holy One, that may not enter those city walls;
 Osee	Os	33	11	10	the Lord must lead, and man follow. Loud he will call, like lion roaring, and at the sound of it, sons of his will come trembling from the distant sea;
 Osee	Os	33	11	11	fluttering like sparrow or dove from Egypt, from the Assyrian country, and in their own home, the Lord says, I will give them rest.
 Osee	Os	33	11	12	Ephraim so false, Israel so treacherous, all about me! But Juda governs his folk with God to aid him; Juda takes part with the holy ones, loyal yet.
 Osee	Os	33	12	1	Ephraim, that would still play shepherd to the wind, still hunt in the track of the storm, and nothing hoard up but treachery, nothing but his own ruin! See him making treaties with the Assyrian, sending tribute of oil to Egypt!
 Osee	Os	33	12	2	On Juda’s part the Lord takes up the quarrel, will call Jacob to account, for ill deeds and ill designs rewarding him.
 Osee	Os	33	12	3	Here was one that took precedence of his brother even in the womb; strength was his, of celestial strength the rival.
 Osee	Os	33	12	4	Did he not hold his own in contest with an angel, and prefer, with tears, his suit? Ay, and what of that encounter at Bethel, when the promises came to us
 Osee	Os	33	12	5	from him, the Lord of hosts, from the God whose name we remember yet?
 Osee	Os	33	12	6	Wouldst thou to thy God return? A tender heart keep thou must, and a right mind, and wait for thy God’s help continually.
 Osee	Os	33	12	7	Is it the Chanaanite that carries false weights, and loves ill gotten gain?
 Osee	Os	33	12	8	Here is Ephraim boasting that he has grown rich, has found a false god to worship; will not these earnings of mine, thinks he, buy me out from the punishment I have deserved?
 Osee	Os	33	12	9	I, the Lord, thy God in Egypt, and thy God still! Once again thou shalt dwell in tents, as in the days when I kept tryst with thee;
 Osee	Os	33	12	10	once again I will bestow utterance upon the prophets. Mine it is, by the prophets’ means, to grant clear vision, to speak in parables.
 Osee	Os	33	12	11	If Galaad is all idolatry, vain the sacrifice of oxen that is made at Galgal; stone heaps their altars shall be, out in the plough-lands.
 Osee	Os	33	12	12	Time was when Jacob fled to the Aram country; Israel worked for a wife, and for that wife’s sake loyally kept his troth.
 Osee	Os	33	12	13	Time was, when the Lord rescued Israel from Egypt by a prophet’s means, and, for that prophet’s sake loyally preserved them.
 Osee	Os	33	12	14	For bitter jealousy of mine Ephraim must pay the penalty; spurned Master spurns him now.
 Osee	Os	33	13	1	Spoke Ephraim, all Israel trembled at his word; how else came they, for Baal’s worship, to barter away life itself?
 Osee	Os	33	13	2	And they are busy yet over their sinning; melt down silver of theirs to fashion models of yonder images, craftsman copying craftsman’s design! And of such models they say, The man who would do sacrifice has but to kiss these calves.
 Osee	Os	33	13	3	Fades the memory of them, light as early mist or morning dew, light as chaff on the threshing-floor, smoke from the chimney, when high blows the wind!
 Osee	Os	33	13	4	And all the while I am the Lord thy God … from the land of Egypt; God thou shalt own no other, other deliverance is none;
 Osee	Os	33	13	5	out in the desert, out in the parched wastes, owned I thee.
 Osee	Os	33	13	6	Fatal pasturing! With food came satiety, and with satiety pride, and with pride forgetfulness of me!
 Osee	Os	33	13	7	Now their way lies to Assyria, and on that road I will meet them again, their enemy now, watchful as lion or leopard;
 Osee	Os	33	13	8	bear robbed of its young should not tear open breast more cruelly, lion devour more greedily; they shall be a prey, now, to the wild beasts.
 Osee	Os	33	13	9	Alas, Israel, undone! Who but I can aid thee?
 Osee	Os	33	13	10	Thy king, where is he? Now, if ever, from end to end of thee thou hast sore need of king and princes both; king and court thou didst demand of me,
 Osee	Os	33	13	11	and gift of mine was never so grudgingly made, so angrily withdrawn.
 Osee	Os	33	13	12	Trust me, it is stored away, it is jealously preserved, the record of Ephraim’s sinning.
 Osee	Os	33	13	13	Pangs like the pangs of travail shall come upon him; or say he is babe ill-guided, that shall thrive never when it comes to the birth.
 Osee	Os	33	13	14	From the grave’s power to rescue them, from death to ransom them; I, death’s mortal enemy, I, corruption’s undoing! Pity? My eyes are closed to it;
 Osee	Os	33	13	15	these, that now have a share among their brethren, shall feel the Lord’s vengeance, a burning desert wind that shall dry up their brooks, foul their springs, lay waste the store-houses where they hoard their treasure.
 Osee	Os	33	14	1	Death to Samaria, that has provoked her God’s anger! Death at the sword’s point; children dashed headlong, ripped open the womb!
 Osee	Os	33	14	2	Come back, Israel, to the Lord thy God; it is sin that has caused thy overthrow.
 Osee	Os	33	14	3	Come back, men of Israel, with a plea ready on your lips: Pardon all our guilt, and take the best we have in return; the praises we utter shall be our victims now.
 Osee	Os	33	14	4	No longer we will find refuge in Assyrian help, mount our men on horses from Egypt; no longer will we give the name of gods to the things our own hands have made; thou art the friend of the friendless who trust in thee.
 Osee	Os	33	14	5	I will bring healing to their crushed spirits; in free mercy I will give them back my love; my vengeance has passed them by.
 Osee	Os	33	14	6	I will be morning dew, to make Israel grow as the lilies grow, strike roots deep as the forest of Lebanon.
 Osee	Os	33	14	7	Those branches shall spread, it shall become fair as the olive, fragrant as Lebanon cedar.
 Osee	Os	33	14	8	None that dwells under the protection of that name but shall come back to me; corn shall be theirs in plenty, and they will grow like one of their own vineyards, famed as the vintage of Lebanon itself.
 Osee	Os	33	14	9	The false gods of Ephraim are forgotten; mine to answer his prayer and tend him, ever-green as a fir-tree; from me all thy increase comes.
 Osee	Os	33	14	10	All this the wise discern, the thoughtful understand; straight paths the Lord has shewn us for his friends to walk in; who leaves them shall stumble to his ruin.
 Joel	Joel	34	1	1	This message came from the Lord to Joel, the son of Phatuel.
 Joel	Joel	34	1	2	Citizens, hear and heed, ruler and commoner alike! Tell me, what happenings are these, in your days and in your fathers’ days unmatched,
 Joel	Joel	34	1	3	a tale you must needs hand on to your children, and they to theirs, and theirs to a fresh generation yet?
 Joel	Joel	34	1	4	That locusts, breed upon breed of them, so ravage yonder country-side, Swarmer devouring what Spoiler, Ruin-all what Gnaw-all has left?
 Joel	Joel	34	1	5	Weep they and wail, the tipplers that must be ever at their cups, for the sweet wine they drank, and shall drink no more!
 Joel	Joel	34	1	6	Alas, my country, how valiant an enemy is this, in number past all counting, that comes to invade thee; lion nor lion’s whelp has teeth can grind so pitilessly.
 Joel	Joel	34	1	7	Spoiled thy vineyards lie, stripped of the very bark thy fig-trees; bare and blanched and ruinous every bough.
 Joel	Joel	34	1	8	Weep bitterly, then, as maid that goes clad in sackcloth, untimely widowed;
 Joel	Joel	34	1	9	in the Lord’s house, bread nor wine is offered now; for the priests, the Lord’s own ministers, no office now but tears.
 Joel	Joel	34	1	10	Desolate the land lies, every field forlorn; crops ravaged, the vine thirsty, strengthless the oil.
 Joel	Joel	34	1	11	Alas, for husbandman’s labour lost, for vintage-song turned to lament! Alas for harvest perished,
 Joel	Joel	34	1	12	for vineyard withered, and drooping fig-tree! Pomegranate, and palm, and apple, no tree in the wood but fades there; what wonder? Has not joy faded in human hearts?
 Joel	Joel	34	1	13	Mourn, priests, and lament; in mourners’ garb go about your work at the altar; ministers of God, to his presence betake you, and there, in sackcloth, keep vigil; your God’s house, that offering of bread and wine has none!
 Joel	Joel	34	1	14	Then proclaim a fast, assemble the folk together, ruler and commoner alike summon to the temple, and there for the Lord’s help cry lustily.
 Joel	Joel	34	1	15	Woe betide us this day! The day of the Lord is coming; his the dominion, his the doom.
 Joel	Joel	34	1	16	Here in our sight, here in the temple of our God, the festal cheer abolished, all the contentment, all the rejoicing!
 Joel	Joel	34	1	17	Beast on dung-heap rots; barn-wall gapes, and store-house lies in ruin, the hope of harvest gone;
 Joel	Joel	34	1	18	echoes byre with lowing of bewildered cattle, that pasture have none; even the flocks dwindle.
 Joel	Joel	34	1	19	What help, Lord, but thine? Parched are the upland meadows, every tree scorched in the forest;
 Joel	Joel	34	1	20	to thee even the wild beasts make their dumb appeal, from dry river-beds, from upland pastures laid bare.
 Joel	Joel	34	2	1	The trumpet, there, in Sion! On yonder mountain-height, my sanctuary, sound the alarm! Tremble, fellow-countrymen, one and all; the day of the Lord is coming, coming so soon.
 Joel	Joel	34	2	2	Day of gloom and darkness, day of cloud and storm; spread out, like dawn over the hills, this great, this valiant army; never was the like since time began, never shall be, while the ages run their course.
 Joel	Joel	34	2	3	Fire running greedily before them, and a track of flame behind; in front, a land that could match Eden for loveliness, and where they have passed, nothing but a desert waste; escape from them is none.
 Joel	Joel	34	2	4	Horse nor horseman so terrible of aspect, so speedy in advance;
 Joel	Joel	34	2	5	hark to the noise of them, as they spurn the hill-slopes! Din of chariots is not so loud, nor crackling of flames that feed on stubble; a valiant army, all arrayed for battle!
 Joel	Joel	34	2	6	What wonder if whole nations groan at their coming, everywhere pale cheeks?
 Joel	Joel	34	2	7	Bravely they hasten to the attack, warrior-like scale the wall; unswerving they press on,
 Joel	Joel	34	2	8	never one jostling with another, so well keeps each one his course; storm the loop-hole unhurt;
 Joel	Joel	34	2	9	and now, the city breached, mount wall, climb house-top, enter by windows, the thief’s way.
 Joel	Joel	34	2	10	Before that army, quakes earth, and heaven rocks; dark grow sun and moon, and the stars withhold their radiance;
 Joel	Joel	34	2	11	with his own voice the Lord heralds its coming. Wide it stretches, that host of the Lord, valiant it is, and ever ready to do his will. O great, O terrible day of the Lord; who shall find strength to bear it?
 Joel	Joel	34	2	12	Time now, the Lord says, to turn the whole bent of your hearts back to me, with fasting and with mourners’ tears.
 Joel	Joel	34	2	13	It is your hearts, not the garments you wear, that must be torn asunder. Come back to the Lord your God; he is ever gracious and merciful, ever patient and rich in pardon; threatens he calamity, even now he is ready to forgive.
 Joel	Joel	34	2	14	Who knows but he will relent, and be appeased; cast one glance behind him, and, enough for his own due of bread and wine-offering, spare us largesse yet?
 Joel	Joel	34	2	15	The trumpet, there, in Sion! Here is fasting proclaimed, the citizens assembled;
 Joel	Joel	34	2	16	the folk summoned, the cleansing rites performed, the elders met; weanling must be there and babe unweaned, groom leave his chamber and bride her bower.
 Joel	Joel	34	2	17	Hark how the priests, that wait upon the Lord, make lament between porch and altar, crying aloud: Spare thy people, Lord, spare them; thy chosen people, do not put them to the shame of obeying heathen masters! Wilt thou let the Gentiles ask, What has become of their God?
 Joel	Joel	34	2	18	People of a land well loved, he spares us yet.
 Joel	Joel	34	2	19	His answer comes, Here is corn and wine and oil to your hearts’ content; no more will I let the nations mock you.
 Joel	Joel	34	2	20	Far he shall be driven from your lands, the northern invader; out in the trackless desert he shall lie, vanguard to eastern, rearguard to western sea, and nothing more shall assail you but stench and stink of him, this enemy that did so wondrously.
 Joel	Joel	34	2	21	Fear no more, land of Israel; in the Lord’s wondrous doings triumph and rejoice!
 Joel	Joel	34	2	22	Fear no more, beasts that roam the country-side; grass grows on the upland meadows! There is fruit on the trees again; vine nor fig-tree ever bore so lustily.
 Joel	Joel	34	2	23	Rejoice, men of Sion, and triumph in the Lord your God; proof he gives you of your restoration to favour, making the winter and the spring rains fall, as in time past.
 Joel	Joel	34	2	24	Now the threshing-floor shall be piled with wheat, and the presses overflow with wine and oil.
 Joel	Joel	34	2	25	Profitless years, when the locust ravaged you, Gnaw-all and Ruin-all and Spoiler, that great army of mine I let loose among you, they shall be made good.
 Joel	Joel	34	2	26	Eat you shall to your hearts’ content, praising the name of the Lord your God for his wondrous protection; never again shall Israel go away disappointed.
 Joel	Joel	34	2	27	I will make myself known among you, I, the Lord your God, who alone am God; Israel cheated of their hopes never again!
 Joel	Joel	34	2	28	And afterwards? Afterwards I will pour out my spirit upon all mankind, and your sons and daughters will be prophets. Your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men see visions;
 Joel	Joel	34	2	29	everywhere servants of mine, handmaids of mine, inspired to prophesy!
 Joel	Joel	34	2	30	I will shew wonders in heaven, and on earth blood, and fire, and whirling smoke.
 Joel	Joel	34	2	31	The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the day of the Lord comes, the great, the terrible day.
 Joel	Joel	34	2	32	And never a soul shall call on the Lord’s name but shall find deliverance; here on mount Sion, here in Jerusalem there shall be refuge; for a remnant, a remnant of the Lord’s own summoning, there shall be deliverance at last.
 Joel	Joel	34	3	1	Perilous those times shall be, when the hour has come for reversing my sentence against Juda and Jerusalem.
 Joel	Joel	34	3	2	Into the valley of Josaphat I will herd the heathen folk, one and all, and there hold assize over them for the wrong they did to my people, to Israel, my own domain. People of mine they scattered through the world, land of mine they parcelled out between them.
 Joel	Joel	34	3	3	Must they be awarded by lot, such captives, and then sold cheap, boy-slave for a harlot’s hire, girl-slave for the draining of a wine-stoup?
 Joel	Joel	34	3	4	What, would you chaffer with me, men of Tyre and Sion, men from the pale of Philistia? Must there be barter and exchange between us? Nay, if you will have exchanges with me, look to it that the reward does not fall on your own heads, swift and sudden!
 Joel	Joel	34	3	5	Would you carry off silver of mine and gold, lay up the choicest of my treasures in yonder temples?
 Joel	Joel	34	3	6	Citizens of Jerusalem, men of Juda’s breed, would you sell them to Grecian masters, far away from their home?
 Joel	Joel	34	3	7	See if I do not summon them back from exile that was of your contriving, and, for that service done, pay you in your own coin;
 Joel	Joel	34	3	8	make over son and daughter of yours to these same men of Juda, slaves they can barter at will to the remote Sabaeans; I, the Lord, have decreed it.
 Joel	Joel	34	3	9	Cry it to the nations, they should do sacrifice and muster their tried warriors for battle; rally they, march they, all that bear arms.
 Joel	Joel	34	3	10	Ploughshare beat into sword, spade into spear; weakling is none but must summon up his manhood now!
 Joel	Joel	34	3	11	To arms, to the rendezvous, nations all about; doom of the Lord awaits you, warriors all!
 Joel	Joel	34	3	12	Up, up, to Josaphat’s valley betake you; here, upon all neighbouring peoples, I will hold assize.
 Joel	Joel	34	3	13	The sickle, there! Harvest is ripe already. Down to the vineyard with you! Are not the vats full, the presses overflowing? Has it not come to a head, the measure of their wickedness?
 Joel	Joel	34	3	14	Thronging, thronging they come, in yonder valley to try their destiny, appointed trysting-place of a divine audit;
 Joel	Joel	34	3	15	dark grow sun and moon, light of the stars is none.
 Joel	Joel	34	3	16	Loud as roaring of lion speaks the Lord in thunder from his citadel at Jerusalem, till heaven and earth quake at the sound. To his own people, the sons of Israel, refuge he is and stronghold;
 Joel	Joel	34	3	17	doubt you shall have none thenceforward that I, the Lord your God, have my dwelling-place at Jerusalem; a holy city Jerusalem shall be, never again shall alien foe breach the walls of her.
 Joel	Joel	34	3	18	Drip now with sweet wine the mountain-slopes, bathed in milk the upland pastures; never a stream in all Juda but flows full and strong. What fountain is this that comes out from the Lord’s temple, and waters the dry valley of Setim?
 Joel	Joel	34	3	19	A lonely ruin Egypt shall be, and Edom a desert waste; here was great wrong done to Jewry’s people, here unoffending lives were taken.
 Joel	Joel	34	3	20	For Juda, for Jerusalem, there shall be peace undisturbed, long as time shall last;
 Joel	Joel	34	3	21	for these, guilt of blood that went still unpardoned shall be pardoned now; here, in Sion, the Lord will have his dwelling-place.
 Amos	Am	35	1	1	Here tells Amos, one of the shepherd folk at Thecue, what visions he had con-cerning Israel. In Juda, Ozias was then reigning, in Israel, Jeroboam son of Joas, and it was two years before the earthquake.
 Amos	Am	35	1	2	Loud as roaring of lion, said he, the Lord will speak in thunder from his citadel at Jerusalem; forlorn they lie, yonder pastures the shepherds loved once, the heights of Carmel all shrivelled away.
 Amos	Am	35	1	3	A message from the Lord: Thrice forfeit Damascus, and forfeit once again,that rode rough-shod over the men of Galaad;
 Amos	Am	35	1	4	fall fire on Azael’s court, to burn down all the strongholds of Benadad!
 Amos	Am	35	1	5	Broken Damascus gate shall be, nor any be left to dwell in Aven’s plain, or rule over Eden valley; far off, at Cir, the Syrian folk shall go into banishment, the Lord says.
 Amos	Am	35	1	6	This, too: Thrice forfeit Gaza, and forfeit once again, that secured for the men of Edom their full toll of captives;
 Amos	Am	35	1	7	fall fire on Gaza’s walls, to burn down all its strongholds!
 Amos	Am	35	1	8	None shall dwell in Azotus, none rule over Ascalon; upon Accaron, too, my stroke shall fall; every trace of Philistia vanished and gone, the Lord God says.
 Amos	Am	35	1	9	This too: Thrice forfeit Tyre, and forfeit once again, that gave Edom its full toll of captives, as though bond there were none between brethren;
 Amos	Am	35	1	10	fall fire on its walls, to burn down its strongholds!
 Amos	Am	35	1	11	This too: Thrice forfeit Edom, and forfeit once again, that would hunt down his own brother at the sword’s point; unnatural cruelty, so to hug his enmity, nor ever let rancour die down;
 Amos	Am	35	1	12	fire fall on Theman, to burn down the strongholds of Bosra!
 Amos	Am	35	1	13	This, too: Thrice forfeit Ammon, and forfeit once again, that so coveted Galaad’s lands, every mother’s womb he would rip open;
 Amos	Am	35	1	14	fire fall on Rabba’s walls, to burn down its strongholds! Hark to the bray of battle, blustering of the storm-wind!
 Amos	Am	35	1	15	Into exile Melchom shall go, with all his retinue.
 Amos	Am	35	2	1	This, too: Thrice forfeit Moab, and forfeit once again, that burned the king of Edom’s bones to dust;
 Amos	Am	35	2	2	fall fire on Moab, to burn down all the strongholds of Carioth! With tumult and the bray of trumpets, Moab shall go to his death;
 Amos	Am	35	2	3	ruler of theirs I will strike down in their midst, and all his vassals shall perish with him, the Lord says.
 Amos	Am	35	2	4	This, too: Thrice forfeit Juda, and forfeit once again, that spurned the Lord’s law and left his bidding undone, so mazed were they by the false gods their fathers had gone a-courting;
 Amos	Am	35	2	5	fire fall on Juda, to burn down all the strongholds of Jerusalem!
 Amos	Am	35	2	6	And this, too: What of Israel? Thrice forfeit Israel like the rest, and forfeit once again, that for a debt, though it were but the price of a pair of shoes, will make slaves of poor, honest folk.
 Amos	Am	35	2	7	Ground in the dust, the poor man’s rights, shouldered aside, the claim of the unbefriended! See where father and son, to my name’s dishonour, bed with one maid!
 Amos	Am	35	2	8	See where they lie feasting beside the altar, at the very shrine of their God, no cloak there but is some borrower’s pledge, no stoup of wine but is some debtor’s forfeit!
 Amos	Am	35	2	9	Was it for such men as these I exterminated the Amorrhites, a race tall as the cedar, hardy as the oak, root and fruit of them doomed to destruction?
 Amos	Am	35	2	10	These are the men I rescued from Egypt, guided them, all those forty years, through the wilderness, to make the domain of the Amorrhites theirs!
 Amos	Am	35	2	11	Tell me, men of Israel, the Lord says, what avails it that I should call sons of yours, from their boyhood’s days, to serve me as prophets and Nazirites?
 Amos	Am	35	2	12	Ever you tempt the Nazirites with wine, ever you forbid the prophet to raise his voice in prophecy.
 Amos	Am	35	2	13	Henceforth, you shall seek my help in vain; waggon-axle overladen with sheaves groans not so reluctant as I!
 Amos	Am	35	2	14	Speed shall be no profit to the speedy, strength to the strong; warrior shall not escape,
 Amos	Am	35	2	15	nor bowman stand firm; the fleet of foot, nay, the very horseman shall have no deliverance;
 Amos	Am	35	2	16	a day is coming, the Lord says, when tried valour shall be fain to throw arms away, and take flight.
 Amos	Am	35	3	1	This, then, is the Lord’s message to you, men of Israel, to the whole race I rescued from Egypt:
 Amos	Am	35	3	2	Nation is none I have claimed for my own, save you; and guilt of yours is none that shall go unpunished.
 Amos	Am	35	3	3	Tryst there must be, if friends will meet and journey together;
 Amos	Am	35	3	4	prey there must be, ere lion will roar in the forest, lion’s whelp growl in its lair;
 Amos	Am	35	3	5	bird is not pinned to the ground, without fowler to snare it, nor trap released without a catch made.
 Amos	Am	35	3	6	Sounds trumpet in the streets, men do well to be afraid; if peril is afoot in the city, doubt not it is of the Lord’s sending.
 Amos	Am	35	3	7	Never does he act, but his servants, the prophets, are in the secret.
 Amos	Am	35	3	8	Roars lion, who but will tremble? Comes the divine warning, who but will prophesy?
 Amos	Am	35	3	9	Raise a cry from the house-tops, there in Azotus, there in Egypt’s land: To the hills about Samaria betake you, and look deep into the heart of her, what turbulent doings are there, what wrongs men suffer!
 Amos	Am	35	3	10	In yonder palaces, the Lord says, that are store-houses of oppression and rapine, honest doing is all forgot.
 Amos	Am	35	3	11	This doom, then, the Lord God utters: Distress and siege for such a land as this! All thy fastnesses shall be dismantled, all thy palaces spoiled.
 Amos	Am	35	3	12	Wilt thou have lion disgorge his prey? Pleased enough the shepherd, if a pair of legs he recover, a mangled ear! They shall fare no better, the Israelites that lie on a corner of the mattress at Samaria, and have their bed at Damascus.
 Amos	Am	35	3	13	A message for you, says the Lord, the God of hosts, a warning for the sons of Jacob!
 Amos	Am	35	3	14	I will have a reckoning with the rebellions of Israel, a reckoning with those altars of theirs at Bethel, that shall have the horns of them cut off and hurled to the ground;
 Amos	Am	35	3	15	on summer dwelling of yours and winter dwelling my hand shall fall, houses of ivory and houses of the common folk; all shall lie in ruin, the Lord says.
 Amos	Am	35	4	1	Here is word for you, pampered cattle that dwell at Samaria, the poor wronging, the friendless folk spurning, and ever crying out upon your husbands, Wine, there! We would drink!
 Amos	Am	35	4	2	Never let me be called holy, the Lord God says, if doom does not overtake you for this; see if you be not trussed on spears, and your children given up to feed the cooking-pan!
 Amos	Am	35	4	3	Leave the city walls you must, the Lord says, one by this breach, one by that, and be cast away in Armon.
 Amos	Am	35	4	4	On with you to Bethel, and defy me, thence to Galgal, and repeat defiance there; morning victims, tithes on the third day,
 Amos	Am	35	4	5	bread, leavened bread, for thank-offering, gifts of devotion publicly proclaimed! Have your will, men of Israel, says the Lord God, have your will.
 Amos	Am	35	4	6	What would you? Never a city left but men’s teeth were idle, never a village but bread lacked there, and you would not come back to me, the Lord says.
 Amos	Am	35	4	7	It was three months to harvest, and rain I denied you; or rain fell on one city, and not on the next, one village had a drenching and the next was dry,
 Amos	Am	35	4	8	till one city must supply water for three neighbours, and none had its fill, and you would not come back to me.
 Amos	Am	35	4	9	You would not come back to me, the Lord says, when sirocco I sent, and mildew, and the locust preyed on garden and vineyard, fig-tree and olive-tree of yours;
 Amos	Am	35	4	10	you would not come back to me, when with Egypt’s pestilence I slew you, when your warriors fell at the sword’s point, and your horses were carried off, and never a camp of yours but the stench of it plagued your nostrils;
 Amos	Am	35	4	11	you would not come back to me, when ruin threatened, swift as the divine stroke that ruined Sodom and Gomorrha, and you yourselves were like a brand saved from the burning.
 Amos	Am	35	4	12	Now I have worse, Israel, in store for thee; when that worse comes, prepare thou must, Israel, to meet thy God.
 Amos	Am	35	4	13	He is here, that fashioned the hills and made the winds; he is here, that gives man warning of his designs, that turns dawn into darkness, and sets his feet on the highest heights of earth; the Lord God of hosts is the name of him.
 Amos	Am	35	5	1	Please you then listen to the dirge I raise for you, men of Israel: Fallen she is, never to rise again,
 Amos	Am	35	5	2	Israel, the unsubdued; stretched at full length she lies there forsaken!
 Amos	Am	35	5	3	Ay, the Lord God says, but a hundred citizens, but ten villagers left to you, city that marched out a thousand, village a hundred strong!
 Amos	Am	35	5	4	Yet warning the Lord gave to the race of Israel: On peril of your lives, to my aid betake you!
 Amos	Am	35	5	5	Not to Bethel, not to Galgal’s ring-shrine, or Bersabee pilgrimage; a long road yonder circle shall lead you, a road that never returns; house of God shall not avail you, that is home of idols now!
 Amos	Am	35	5	6	On your lives, to the Lord betake you, as you would not see all Joseph ablaze, quenchless fire raging over Bethel!
 Amos	Am	35	5	7	And still you poison the springs of justice, still in the dust fling honour away.…
 Amos	Am	35	5	8	Creator he of Arcturus and Orion; dawn brings he out of darkness, and turns night to day, beckons to the waters of the sea, and over the surface of earth spreads them, such the power of his name!
 Amos	Am	35	5	9	At his glance falls ruin on the strong, devastation on the fortified.
 Amos	Am	35	5	10	Ill looks he will earn at yonder city gate, that finds fault; the wise word, there, is a thing abominable.
 Amos	Am	35	5	11	Yet, trust me, it shall nothing avail you, this harrying of the poor, and taking toll of the best they have. Houses of stone you build you shall never dwell in, sunny vineyards you plant you shall drink of never.
 Amos	Am	35	5	12	Your often misdoing, your heinous guilt, never think I am blind to it; innocence hated, the bribe taken, the poor refused their rights at the judgement-seat!
 Amos	Am	35	5	13	And should wisdom keep silence in times like these, ill times like these?
 Amos	Am	35	5	14	Set your minds on right, that now are set on wrong-doing; so you shall find life, so your boast shall come true that the Lord, the God of hosts, is with you.
 Amos	Am	35	5	15	Shun wrong, cherish the right, justice enthrone at your judgement-seat; then there is hope that the Lord, the God of hosts, will have mercy on some remnant of Joseph’s line.
 Amos	Am	35	5	16	This doom he utters, he, the Lord of hosts, he, our Master: Market-place or street is none but shall echo with wailing and cries of woe; country-folk, and such as are skilled in mourning, they shall call in to make dirge and dole;
 Amos	Am	35	5	17	dirge, too, the vineyards shall sing; all this, when I make my way through your midst, the Lord says.
 Amos	Am	35	5	18	Fools, that wait eagerly for the day of the Lord’s coming! Think you it shall serve your turn? Nay, it is the Lord’s day of triumph, not yours; dawn it must, but in darkness, not in light.
 Amos	Am	35	5	19	Speeds he well, that shuns lion and meets bear? Has he joy of his home-coming, that leans hand on wall, and all at once is bitten by a viper?
 Amos	Am	35	5	20	And for you, that day brings darkness, not the light you craved for; no radiance haunts about it, only gloom.
 Amos	Am	35	5	21	Oh, but I am sick and tired of them, your solemn feasts; incense that goes up from your assemblies I can breathe no longer!
 Amos	Am	35	5	22	Burnt-sacrifice still? Bloodless offerings still? Nay, I will have none of them; fat be the victims you slay in welcome, I care not.
 Amos	Am	35	5	23	O to be rid of the singing, the harp’s music, that dins my ear!…
 Amos	Am	35	5	24	And like waters rolling in full tide, like a perennial stream, right and justice shall abound…
 Amos	Am	35	5	25	What, men of Israel, did you spend forty years in the desert, ever for me your burnt-sacrifice, ever for me your offerings;
 Amos	Am	35	5	26	and now would you have Moloch for your king, a star for your god, carry shrine of theirs, idolatrous image you made of them, hither and thither?
 Amos	Am	35	5	27	What wonder if I banish you beyond Damascus far away? Dooms you with his own sign-manual the Lord, the God of hosts.
 Amos	Am	35	6	1	Poor fools, that in Sion or high Samaria take your ease, and fear nothing! That lord it over the Gentiles, and pass proudly through Israel’s domain,
 Amos	Am	35	6	2	bidding us make our way to Chalane, and thence to noble Emath, or go down to Gath, where the Philistines are, and see if land of theirs be fairer, borders of theirs be wider, than these of ours.
 Amos	Am	35	6	3	Poor fools, with the evil day ever at arm’s length, wrong enthroned ever close at hand!
 Amos	Am	35	6	4	Sleep they on beds of ivory, sprawl they at table, eating the best lambs flock can provide, calves fattened at the stall;
 Amos	Am	35	6	5	and ever must harp and voice nicely accord, ay, very Davids they think themselves for musical invention!
 Amos	Am	35	6	6	All their drinking is from the bowl, all their ointment of the best, and what care they for Joseph’s ruin?
 Amos	Am	35	6	7	Lead their folk they shall, but into exile; the revel must break up at last.
 Amos	Am	35	6	8	By my divine power I swear it, says the Lord God of hosts, pride of yours shall weary me, great houses of yours shall offend my sight, no longer; city and citizens, I will leave you at the enemy’s mercy.
 Amos	Am	35	6	9	Be there ten men left alive in a house, death shall take toll of them… …
 Amos	Am	35	6	10	Kinsman that comes to take him away must burn him first, and so carry his bones without. Ho, there! cries he to one that lurks in the inner rooms, hast thou any left?
 Amos	Am	35	6	11	And when he hears the task is over, bids him say no more, unless it be to call the Lord’s name to memory …
 Amos	Am	35	6	12	A word from the Lord, and all shall be a gaping ruin, palace and cottage both.
 Amos	Am	35	6	13	Strange, if yonder mountain-crags men should climb on horseback, or plough with oxen! Stranger still, that people of mine should poison the springs of right and justice, all wormwood now!
 Amos	Am	35	6	14	And still you boast over some conquest of little worth;To what greatness, you say, valour of ours has brought us!
 Amos	Am	35	6	15	Trust me, men of Israel, the Lord God of hosts says, I mean to embroil you with such an enemy as shall crush the life out of you, from Emath pass to the brook that bounds the desert.
 Amos	Am	35	7	1	This was a vision the Lord God shewed me; here were locusts a-making, just at the time when the aftergrowth was coming up, after the king’s crop had been carried.
 Amos	Am	35	7	2	Short work had these made of all the land yielded; Ah, Lord God, said I, be merciful! How should Jacob survive, the puny creature he is?
 Amos	Am	35	7	3	And with that, the Lord relented; Happen it shall not, said he.
 Amos	Am	35	7	4	And a second vision the Lord God shewed me, how he would summon them to ordeal by fire; fire should devour the waters below the earth, and devoured some part of them were.
 Amos	Am	35	7	5	Ah, Lord God, said I, for pity! How should Jacob survive, the puny creature he is?
 Amos	Am	35	7	6	And with that, the Lord relented again; Happen it shall not, said he.
 Amos	Am	35	7	7	But now the Lord shewed me a third vision; a plastered wall, and the Lord himself standing by it with a trowel in his hand,
 Amos	Am	35	7	8	asking me if I could see what he had there. Why, Lord, I said, a plasterer’s trowel! Ay, he answered, and here, in full view of Israel’s folk, that trowel I lay aside; cementing they shall have from me no more.
 Amos	Am	35	7	9	Hill-shrines of Aven shall tumble down, sanctuaries of Israel be laid waste; at the sword’s point I will try conclusions with the race of Jeroboam.
 Amos	Am	35	7	10	Hereupon, a message came to Jeroboam, king of Israel, from Amasias that was priest at Bethel. Here is Amos, said he, raising revolt against thee in the realm of Israel; there is no room in all the land for such talk as his;
 Amos	Am	35	7	11	Jeroboam to die at the sword’s point, Israel to be banished from its native country!
 Amos	Am	35	7	12	And this was his counsel to Amos, Sir prophet, get thee gone; in Juda take refuge if thou wilt, and there earn thy living by prophecy.
 Amos	Am	35	7	13	Prophesy here in Bethel thou mayst not, where the king’s chapel is, and the king’s court.
 Amos	Am	35	7	14	What, said Amos, I a prophet? Nay, not that, nor a prophet’s son neither; I am one that minds cattle, one that nips the sycamore-trees;
 Amos	Am	35	7	15	I was but tending sheep when the Lord took me into his service. It was the Lord bade me go and prophesy to his people of Israel.
 Amos	Am	35	7	16	He has a message for thee: Thou wilt have no prophesying against Israel, no word dropped against Bethaven?
 Amos	Am	35	7	17	Here, then, is the divine doom pronounced on thee: Wife of thine, here in the city streets, shall be dishonoured; sons and daughters of thine shall die at the sword’s point; lands of thine shall feel the measuring-rope. And for thyself, on unhallowed soil death awaits thee, when Israel is banished, as banished it needs must be, from the land of its birth.
 Amos	Am	35	8	1	Then the Lord God shewed me another vision, of a hook such as they use for fruit-gathering.
 Amos	Am	35	8	2	And when he asked, could I see what he had there, Why, Lord, I said, a grappling-hook for fruit-trees! Ay, said he, and right autumn it is for my people of Israel; no further chance shall they have of repentance.
 Amos	Am	35	8	3	Day of doom! How shriek the hinges of yonder temple gates; then, what massacre! Everywhere deep silence falls.
 Amos	Am	35	8	4	Here is word for you, oppressors of the poor, that bring ruin on your fellow-citizens in their need;
 Amos	Am	35	8	5	you that long for new moon and sabbath to be at an end, for trading to begin and granary to be opened, so you may be at your shifts again, the scant measure, the high price, the false weights!
 Amos	Am	35	8	6	You that for a debt, though it were but the price of a pair of shoes, will make slaves of poor, honest folk; you that sell refuse for wheat!
 Amos	Am	35	8	7	By Jacob’s ancient renown the Lord swears it, crimes of yours shall remain for ever unforgotten.
 Amos	Am	35	8	8	Well may the earth quake over such doings, to the hurt of all that dwell in it; everywhere mount up, and shift, and sink, like Egypt’s river in flood.
 Amos	Am	35	8	9	Day of doom, says the Lord God, when there shall be sunset at noon, and earth shall be overshadowed under the full light!
 Amos	Am	35	8	10	All your feasting turned to lament, all your songs to dirge and dole; not a loin but goes clad in sackcloth, not a head but is shaved bald; never was such mourning made, though it were for an only son; bitter the day, bitter its ending.
 Amos	Am	35	8	11	A time is coming, says the Lord God, when there shall be great lack in the land, yet neither dearth nor drought. Hunger? Ay, they shall hunger for some message from the Lord,
 Amos	Am	35	8	12	yet go they from eastern to western sea, go they from north to south, making search for it everywhere, message from the Lord they shall have none.
 Amos	Am	35	8	13	Thirst, ay, they shall thirst, fair maid and brave warrior both.
 Amos	Am	35	8	14	Fools, that by the shame of Samaria take their oaths, pin their faith to Dan’s worship or Bersabee pilgrimage! Here is fall there is no amending.
 Amos	Am	35	9	1	And now I saw the Lord standing above the altar; Smite column there, he cried, lintel there dislodge, nest of ill-gotten gains! To the last man, the sword must take its toll; refuge shall be none. Flee they, never a fugitive shall escape;
 Amos	Am	35	9	2	from the pit beneath I will dig them up, from heaven above I will drag them down;
 Amos	Am	35	9	3	hide they on Carmel’s heights, I will search and seize them, lurk they in the sea’s depths, my writ runs there; maw of monster shall devour them.
 Amos	Am	35	9	4	Let enemy drive them into exile, even there the sword shall be my pursuivant; watch and ward I keep over them, never doubt it, but to their undoing.…
 Amos	Am	35	9	5	The Lord God of hosts, whose touch melts earth, to the hurt of all that dwell in it, makes it everywhere mount up and sink, like Egypt’s river in flood;
 Amos	Am	35	9	6	his the arched stairway of heaven, his the knitted frame of earth; beckons he to the waters of the sea, and over the earth spreads them, such the power of his name!
 Amos	Am	35	9	7	Ethiop or Israelite, what care I? the Lord says. God that brought you here from Egypt was God that brought the Philistines from Caphtor, brought the Syrians from Cir!
 Amos	Am	35	9	8	Divine regard that watches ever this kingdom, marks ever its guilt; I will blot it out, believe me, from the face of the earth. And blot out the name of Jacob altogether? Nay, not that, the Lord says.
 Amos	Am	35	9	9	At my command, the whole world shall be a sieve, to sift the race of Israel as corn is sifted in the riddle, and never a grain cast out loose on the bare ground;
 Amos	Am	35	9	10	at the sword’s point they shall die, all the guilty that are found among my people; the guilty, who now flatter themselves that evil shall never come next or nigh them.
 Amos	Am	35	9	11	Then, I mean to rebuild the fallen dwselling-place of David, all its breaches made good, all its ruins restored; it shall stand once more as it stood long ago;
 Amos	Am	35	9	12	empire it shall have over the Edomites, and all the Gentile folk I claim for my own.
 Amos	Am	35	9	13	A time is coming, the Lord says, when ploughman shall tread on the heels of reaper, sower’s task begin ere vintager’s is ended; never a mountain-side but shall run with sweet wine, never a hill but its rugged nature shall be tamed.
 Amos	Am	35	9	14	I will bring back my people of Israel from its exile, to rebuild ruined cities and dwell there, plant vineyards and drink of them, till gardens and eat the fruits of them.
 Amos	Am	35	9	15	Firm root they shall take in their native soil, never again to be torn away from the home I have given them, says the Lord, thy own God.
 Abdias	Abd	36	1	1	Here follows the vision of Abdias. What doom does the Lord God pronounce on Edom? What bruit is this has reached our ears, what embassage has been sent abroad among the nations? Up, march we out to engage him in battle!
 Abdias	Abd	36	1	2	Sorry the lot I have given thee among the peoples of the world, no better than a thing of contempt;
 Abdias	Abd	36	1	3	yet, dwelling where thou dost in the clefts of the rocks, thou art puffed up with pride; high thou hast built thy throne, and thinkest there is none can drag thee down to earth.
 Abdias	Abd	36	1	4	Build thy eyrie high as the eagle, nest, if thou wilt, among the stars, I will yet drag thee down thence, the Lord says.
 Abdias	Abd	36	1	5	Strange, the silence that has fallen upon Edom! Thieves were they, midnight robbers, that had assailed thee, at least they had been content to carry off what they had need of; some gleanings at least those vintagers would have left thee!
 Abdias	Abd	36	1	6	But now, see how Esau is ransacked, how all his treasury is rifled!
 Abdias	Abd	36	1	7	See how the very folk that are in league with thee drive thee back to thy own frontier, thy own confederates playing thee false, pressing thee hard! Stabbed from beneath by boon companions of thy own? Thou art a fool for thy pains.
 Abdias	Abd	36	1	8	Day of doom, the Lord says, when wise man shall be none in Edom, nor any prudent counsellor on all Esau’s hill-side;
 Abdias	Abd	36	1	9	dismayed the warriors of Teman shall be, till slaughter leaves all the mountains of Esau desolate.
 Abdias	Abd	36	1	10	What wonder if hopes of thine come to nothing, name of thine perish eternally, that didst assail thy own brother, with murderous wrong?
 Abdias	Abd	36	1	11	Hast thou forgotten the day when thou stoodest aloof, while the enemy disarmed his ranks, while aliens thronged through yonder gates, and parcelled out Jerusalem by lot, thyself making common cause with them?
 Abdias	Abd	36	1	12	What, look on idly, when fortune turns against that brother of thine; nay, triumph over Juda’s fall, boast of his calamity?
 Abdias	Abd	36	1	13	He overthrown, and thou wouldst find thy way in at the gates of my own city; he overthrown, and thou wouldst rejoice at his discomfiture; he overthrown, and thou wouldst offer him battle?
 Abdias	Abd	36	1	14	Thou wouldst take up thy post in the breach, and cut off the fugitive, bar the way to the straggler, when all is lost?
 Abdias	Abd	36	1	15	Be sure of this, a time is soon coming when the Lord will summon all the nations to their account; then, as thou didst, it shall be done to thee, in thy own coin thou shalt be paid.
 Abdias	Abd	36	1	16	The cup of vengeance you, my people, have drunk, there on that mountain which is my sanctuary, all the heathen shall drink henceforward; drink, ay, drink deep, and fall into forgetfulness, as if they had never been.
 Abdias	Abd	36	1	17	But here, on mount Sion, all shall be deliverance, all shall be holiness, and their spoilers the men of Jacob shall despoil.
 Abdias	Abd	36	1	18	A fire Jacob shall be, a living flame the sons of Joseph, and Esau’s race stubble before their onset; the spark once kindled, all shall be consumed, and of Esau’s race no memory be left; the Lord decrees it.
 Abdias	Abd	36	1	19	Hill-country of Esau shall fall to the southern folk, and Philistia to the men of the plain; all that is Ephraim and Samaria now shall be theirs, and Galaad shall be made over to Benjamin.
 Abdias	Abd	36	1	20	Warriors of Israel, banished far away, shall hold all the Chanaanite lands, Sarepta their northern frontier; men of Jerusalem, come back from the shores of Bosphorus to claim the cities of the south.
 Abdias	Abd	36	1	21	No lack of champions Sion shall have, to do justice on the mountains of Edom; and of that empire the Lord himself shall be sovereign ruler.
 Jonas	Jon	37	1	1	The Lord’s voice came to Jonas, the son of Amathi:
 Jonas	Jon	37	1	2	Up, and to the great city of Nineve make thy way; I would have thee preach to them; great guilt of theirs claims my cognizance.
 Jonas	Jon	37	1	3	Rise up he did, but his thought was, he would escape to Tharsis, and there avoid the Lord’s scrutiny. So he made his way to Joppa, and there, sure enough, was a ship bound for Tharsis; passage-money was paid, and aboard went Jonas with the rest of them, sailing for Tharsis to be out of the Lord’s way.
 Jonas	Jon	37	1	4	But now the Lord sent out a boisterous wind over the sea, that raised a great tempest there, and the ship was like to have been broken all to pieces.
 Jonas	Jon	37	1	5	Sore afraid the mariners were, and loud they called upon their god; ay, and fell to throwing the tackle overboard, to lighten ship. And what of Jonas? He had gone down into the ship’s hold, and fallen fast asleep.
 Jonas	Jon	37	1	6	But that would not serve; up came the captain and asked what he meant, to lie there sleeping? Up, said he, and cry out upon thy God! Who knows but God will take pity on us, and grant us our lives yet?
 Jonas	Jon	37	1	7	By this, the ship’s company were of another counsel; Nay, said one to other, cast we the lot, and so find out how it is that such peril has befallen us! Cast lots they did, and Jonas was singled out.
 Jonas	Jon	37	1	8	Tell us, they cried, for whose sake it is that we are come into such peril! Tell us what thy errand is, whence thou art journeying and whither, what nation it was gave thee birth.
 Jonas	Jon	37	1	9	I am a Hebrew, he told them, and worship the Lord, the God of heaven, that made the sea and the dry land both.
 Jonas	Jon	37	1	10	And when they heard (for he told them all) that this was a man who would escape from the Lord’s sight, they were in a great taking of fear. What ailed thee? they asked.
 Jonas	Jon	37	1	11	And how must we use thee, if we would have yonder seas calmed for us? (Even as they spoke, the waves grew more angry yet.)
 Jonas	Jon	37	1	12	Why, said he, take me up and throw me over the ship’s side, and the sea will grant you respite; doubt there is none, I am the cause of all this peril that has befallen you.
 Jonas	Jon	37	1	13	What would you? They fell to the oars, hoping to make land thus, but could nothing avail; ever angrier grew the seas about them.
 Jonas	Jon	37	1	14	And at last they cried out upon the Lord; Take we this man’s life, they said, let it not be to our own undoing! Do not charge us with the death of an innocent man, thou who hast so manifested thy divine will!
 Jonas	Jon	37	1	15	And with that, they took Jonas up, and threw him over the ship’s side. All at once, the raging of the sea was stilled;
 Jonas	Jon	37	1	16	what awe fell on those mariners! What sacrifices they made, what vows they offered to the Lord!
 Jonas	Jon	37	2	1	And what of Jonas? At the Lord’s bidding, a great sea-beast had swallowed him up; and there, in the belly of it, three days spent he and three nights.
 Jonas	Jon	37	2	2	This was the prayer which Jonas made to the Lord his God, there in the belly of the sea-beast:
 Jonas	Jon	37	2	3	Call I on the Lord in my peril, redress he grants me; from the very womb of the grave call I, thou art listening to me!
 Jonas	Jon	37	2	4	Here in the depths of the sea’s heart thou wouldst cast me away, with the flood all about me, eddy of thine, wave of thine, sweeping over me,
 Jonas	Jon	37	2	5	till it seemed as if I were shut out from thy regard: yet life thou grantest me; I shall gaze on thy holy temple once again.
 Jonas	Jon	37	2	6	Around me the deadly waters close, the depths engulf me, the weeds are wrapped about my head;
 Jonas	Jon	37	2	7	mountain caverns I must plumb, the very bars of earth my unrelenting prison; and still, O Lord my God, thou wilt raise me, living, from the tomb.
 Jonas	Jon	37	2	8	Daunted this heart, yet still of the Lord I would bethink me; prayer of mine should reach him, far away in his holy temple!
 Jonas	Jon	37	2	9	Let fools that court false worship all hope of pardon forgo;
 Jonas	Jon	37	2	10	mine to do sacrifice in thy honour, vows made and paid to the Lord, my deliverer!
 Jonas	Jon	37	2	11	And now, at the Lord’s bidding, the sea-beast cast Jonas up again, high and dry on the beach.
 Jonas	Jon	37	3	1	A second time the Lord’s voice came to Jonas:
 Jonas	Jon	37	3	2	Up, and to the great city of Nineve make thy way; there preach, what preach I bid thee.
 Jonas	Jon	37	3	3	That voice he obeyed; rose up and took the road for Nineve, a great city indeed, three days’ journey from end to end.
 Jonas	Jon	37	3	4	And when he had advanced into it as far as one day’s journey would carry him, he began crying out, In forty days, Nineve will be overthrown.
 Jonas	Jon	37	3	5	With that, the Ninevites shewed faith in God, rich and poor alike, proclaiming a fast and putting on sackcloth;
 Jonas	Jon	37	3	6	nay, the king of Nineve himself, when word of it reached him, came down from his throne, cast his robe aside, put on sackcloth, and sat down humbly in the dust.
 Jonas	Jon	37	3	7	And a cry was raised in Nineve, at the bidding of the king and his nobles, A fast for man and beast, for herd and flock; no food is to be eaten, no water drunk;
 Jonas	Jon	37	3	8	let man and beast go covered with sackcloth; cry out lustily to the Lord, and forsake, each of you, his sinful life, his wrongful deeds!
 Jonas	Jon	37	3	9	God may yet relent and pardon, forgo his avenging anger and spare our lives.
 Jonas	Jon	37	3	10	Thus, when God saw them amending their lives in good earnest, he spared them, in his mercy, their threatened punishment.
 Jonas	Jon	37	4	1	As for Jonas, he took it sore amiss, and was an angry man that day.
 Jonas	Jon	37	4	2	And thus he made his prayer to the Lord: See if this be not the very thought I had, far away in my own country! Good cause had I to seek refuge at Tharsis from such an errand as this. I knew from the first what manner of God thou art, how kind and merciful, how slow to punish, how rich in pardon, vengeance ever ready to forgo.
 Jonas	Jon	37	4	3	A boon of thee, Lord! Take away this life of mine; I had rather die than live.
 Jonas	Jon	37	4	4	Why, the Lord said, what anger is this?
 Jonas	Jon	37	4	5	Jonas had left the city, and sat now under a little arbour he had made for himself on the east of it, waiting there in the shade to see what doom would fall on Nineve.
 Jonas	Jon	37	4	6	And now, at the Lord God’s bidding, an ivy-plant grew up over Jonas’ head, to give him shade and shelter after his toiling; and great joy he had of his ivy-plant.
 Jonas	Jon	37	4	7	But when the morrow dawned, came at God’s bidding a worm, that struck at the plant’s root and killed it.
 Jonas	Jon	37	4	8	Up rose the sun, and at the Lord’s bidding the sirocco came; here was Jonas with the sun’s rays beating on his head, and all of a sweat. Now indeed his heart’s prayer was, he might die; Better death than life, said he.
 Jonas	Jon	37	4	9	Why, said the Lord, what anger is this over an ivy-plant? Deadly angry am I, Jonas answered, and no marvel either.
 Jonas	Jon	37	4	10	Great pity thou hast, the Lord said, for yonder ivy-plant, that was not of thy growing, and no toil cost thee; a plant that springs in a night, and in a night must wither!
 Jonas	Jon	37	4	11	And what of Nineve? Here is a great city, with a hundred and twenty thousand folk in it, and none of them can tell right from left, all these cattle, too; and may I not spare Nineve?
 Michaeas	Mic	38	1	1	This message came from the Lord to Michaeas the Morasthite, during the reigns of Joathan, Achaz and Ezechias in Juda; this revelation was made to him concerning Samaria and Jerusalem both together.
 Michaeas	Mic	38	1	2	A word for you, nations far and near; let the whole world give audience, and all the world contains! Listen to this indictment the Lord God brings, from his high throne all beholding.
 Michaeas	Mic	38	1	3	See, where the Lord comes out from his dwelling-place; and, as he makes his way down, the topmost peaks of earth for his stairway,
 Michaeas	Mic	38	1	4	melt hills at his touch, melt valleys like wax before the fire, like water over the steep rocks flowing away!
 Michaeas	Mic	38	1	5	Alas, what betokens it? What but Jacob’s going astray, what but guilt of Israel’s line? Head and front of Jacob’s sinning Samaria needs must be, sure as Jerusalem is Juda’s place of pilgrimage.
 Michaeas	Mic	38	1	6	In ruin Samaria shall lie, a heap of stones in the open country-side, a terrace for vineyards; all down yonder valley I will drag the stones of her, till her very foundations are laid bare.
 Michaeas	Mic	38	1	7	Shattered all those idols must be, burnt to ashes the gauds she wears; never an image but shall be left forlorn; all shall go the way of a harlot’s wages, that were a harlot’s wages from the first.
 Michaeas	Mic	38	1	8	For this, should I not raise the dirge aloud? Barefoot go I and stripped; jackal nor ostrich cries out more lamentably.
 Michaeas	Mic	38	1	9	Hurt is here past all cure, that to Juda itself must spread; Jerusalem itself, mart of my own country-side, shall feel the blow.
 Michaeas	Mic	38	1	10	Gate of Gath must never hear the news, hushed be the sound of weeping; afar at Beth-aphra cast the dust on your heads.
 Michaeas	Mic	38	1	11	Away with you, Shaphir’s folk, shivering and shamed; of coming and going in Saanan sign is none; mourning of Beth-ezel… has taken the ground from under your feet.
 Michaeas	Mic	38	1	12	Marred, now, are the anxious hopes of Maroth; so ruthless the Lord’s decree against yonder gates of Jerusalem.
 Michaeas	Mic	38	1	13	Recklessly, at Lachis, harness they steed to chariot; Lachis, that first betrayed poor Sion into guilt, that was Israel’s mistress in wrong-doing!
 Michaeas	Mic	38	1	14	Marriage-dower this daughter of thine, Moreseth-gath, shall cost thee; here is Achsib, too, for the royal policy how rude a set-back!
 Michaeas	Mic	38	1	15	Thy marches, Maresa, shall be ridden once again; to Odollam…… Israel’s glory shall come.
 Michaeas	Mic	38	1	16	Such pride in thy children! Shaven bare thy brow; vulture itself is not so bald; alas, for sons of thine exiled far away!
 Michaeas	Mic	38	2	1	Out upon you, that lie awake over dreams of mischief, schemes of ill, and are up at dawn of day to execute them, soon as your godless hands find opportunity!
 Michaeas	Mic	38	2	2	Covet they house or lands, house or lands by robbery become theirs; ever their oppression comes between a man and his home, a man and his inheritance.
 Michaeas	Mic	38	2	3	And I, too, the Lord says, am devising mischief, mischief against the whole clan of you; never think to shake it off from your necks and walk proudly as of old; ill days are coming.
 Michaeas	Mic	38	2	4	A by-word then they shall make of you, dirge and dole of music raise over you: Stripped, stripped bare! My country’s bounds removed! Come he but once again, that so parcels out our lands, all is lost to me!
 Michaeas	Mic	38	2	5	Trust me, when lands are allotted among the Lord’s people, never shall one of yonder clan have rope to throw.
 Michaeas	Mic	38	2	6	Prophets, leave your prophesying; word of prophecy is never for such as these, never may shame overtake them.
 Michaeas	Mic	38	2	7	What, cry they of Jacob, is the Lord so easily offended? Are his designs indeed so unfavourable? Nay, certain it is, if a man will follow the straight path, award of mine shall prosper him;
 Michaeas	Mic	38	2	8	but what of you? Has not this people of mine long counted you enemies, rising up to arraign you? Robbers, that will have cloak and coat both; what marvel if simple folk are up in arms against you?
 Michaeas	Mic	38	2	9	My people! And you would dispossess its women of the homes they loved, take away from its children… my glory for ever.
 Michaeas	Mic	38	2	10	Do you, in your turn, rise up and go your ways; no resting-place shall you have here; corruption most foul the guilt of this land shall breed in it.
 Michaeas	Mic	38	2	11	Alas, that I should be one beckoned by the spirit, and not rather some forger of lies! Wine and revel to inspire him, he might prophesy, and a people such as this take him for an oracle:
 Michaeas	Mic	38	2	12	Trust me, Jacob, I mean to assemble thee in full strength, rally all that is left of Israel in one place, thronging like sheep in fold, like herd in byre, hum of voices echoing all around;
 Michaeas	Mic	38	2	13	where the breach has been made ready for them, break they out and pass on their way, sally forth with a king to lead them, with the Lord at their head!
 Michaeas	Mic	38	3	1	But no, this is my word to you, chieftains of Jacob’s line, rulers of Israel: Who should acclaim justice, if not you?
 Michaeas	Mic	38	3	2	Alas, that you should be the foes of right, the friends of wrong! Beasts of prey, that will have skin and flesh both, leave nothing save the bare bone.
 Michaeas	Mic	38	3	3	My people! And you will gnaw flesh of them, tear skin of them, break bones of them; cut them to pieces, meat for your pot, roast for your oven!
 Michaeas	Mic	38	3	4	What marvel, if the Lord will not listen to such cry as yours, turns his back on you in your distress, for your ill deserving?
 Michaeas	Mic	38	3	5	And this message the Lord has for prophets that guide my people amiss, prophets that must have their mouths filled ere they will cry, All’s well; sop thou must give them, else thou shalt be their sworn enemy.
 Michaeas	Mic	38	3	6	Visions would you see, all shall be night around you, search you the skies, you shall search in the dark; never a prophet but his sun is set, his day turned into twilight!
 Michaeas	Mic	38	3	7	Seers that see nothing, baffled diviners, acknowledge they, finger on lip, word from God is none.
 Michaeas	Mic	38	3	8	But here stands one that is full of the Lord’s spirit; vigour it lends me, and discernment, and boldness, fault of Jacob to denounce, guilt of Israel to proclaim.
 Michaeas	Mic	38	3	9	A word with you, chieftains of Jacob’s line, rulers of Israel, that hold right abominable, and all justice pervert;
 Michaeas	Mic	38	3	10	that build up strength of Sion, fortunes of Jerusalem, with deeds of bloodshed and of wrong!
 Michaeas	Mic	38	3	11	Never a judge but has his price; never a priest tradition teaches, but for hire; never a prophet but must have his hand lined with silver! And all the while, how lean they on the Lord! Is not he in their midst (they ask)? How should harm befall them?
 Michaeas	Mic	38	3	12	Trust me, for such guilt as yours I will turn mount Sion into plough-lands; standing heaps of stones that were once Jerusalem, and brushwood of the high forest growing over the Temple hill.
 Michaeas	Mic	38	4	1	The Temple hill! One day it shall stand there, highest of all the mountain-heights, overtopping the peaks of them, and the nations will flock there together.
 Michaeas	Mic	38	4	2	A multitude of peoples will make their way to it, crying, Come, let us climb up to the Lord’s mountain-peak, to the house where the God of Jacob dwells; he shall teach us the right way, we will walk in the paths he has chosen. The Lord’s command shall go out from Sion, his word from Jerusalem;
 Michaeas	Mic	38	4	3	over thronging peoples he shall sit in judgement, give award to great nations from far away. Sword they will fashion into ploughshare and spear into pruning-hook; no room there shall be for nation to levy war against nation, and train itself in arms.
 Michaeas	Mic	38	4	4	At ease you shall sit, each of you with his own vine, his own fig-tree to give him shade, and none to raise the alarm; such blessing the Lord of hosts pronounces on you.
 Michaeas	Mic	38	4	5	Let other nations go their own way, each with the name of its own god to rally it; ours to march under his divine name, who is our God for ever and for evermore!
 Michaeas	Mic	38	4	6	When that time comes, the Lord says, I will gather them in again and take them to myself, flock of mine that go limping and straggling, ever since I brought calamity on them;
 Michaeas	Mic	38	4	7	lame shall yet be a stock to breed from, and wayworn shall grow into a sturdy race; here in Sion they shall dwell, and the Lord be king over them, for ever henceforward.
 Michaeas	Mic	38	4	8	And thou, the watch-tower of that flock, cloud-capped fastness where the lady Sion reigns, power shall come back to thee as of old, once more Jerusalem shall be a queen.
 Michaeas	Mic	38	4	9	When that time comes! At this present time, what anguish is this constrains thee? Have king and counsellor played thee false, that the pangs of travail take hold on thee?
 Michaeas	Mic	38	4	10	Sorrow thou well mayst, lady of Sion, and labour as any woman brought to bed; city thou must needs leave, and lodge in the open country-side, nay, to distant Babylon thou must journey; there it is thou wilt find deliverance, there it is the Lord will ransom thee from the power of thy enemies.
 Michaeas	Mic	38	4	11	At this present time, how many the nations that gather about thee, crying, Death to the adulteress! Feast we our eyes on Sion’s downfall!
 Michaeas	Mic	38	4	12	Little they know God’s thoughts; little they guess his purpose is to store them up, like wheat on the threshing-floor!
 Michaeas	Mic	38	4	13	Up, lady of Sion, and set about the threshing of them! Horn of iron, hoof of bronze he will give thee, to grind all that conspiracy of nations to dust. Forfeit to the Lord their ill-gotten gains shall be; nothing of theirs but must be his, who is master of the whole earth.
 Michaeas	Mic	38	5	1	At this present time, what is left thee but to muster thy roving bands, daughter of an outlaw king? Hard siege presses us now; smitten on the cheek, now, is the ruler of Israel.
 Michaeas	Mic	38	5	2	Bethlehem-Ephrata! Least do they reckon thee among all the clans of Juda? Nay, it is from thee I look to find a prince that shall rule over Israel. Whence comes he? From the first beginning, from ages untold!
 Michaeas	Mic	38	5	3	Marvel not, then, if the Lord abandons his people for a time, until she who is in travail has brought forth her child; others there are, brethren of his, that must be restored to the citizenship of Israel.
 Michaeas	Mic	38	5	4	Enabled by the Lord his God, confident in that mighty protection, stands he, our shepherd, and safely folds his flock; fame of him now reaches to the world’s end;
 Michaeas	Mic	38	5	5	who else should be its hope of recovery? What though the Assyrian invade our country, trample down our strongholds? Seven leaders of men we shall find to marshal us, and an eighth yet in reserve;
 Michaeas	Mic	38	5	6	sword in hand, they shall herd the men of Assyria, naked steel for the land of Nemrod! Invade they, trample they as they will, he shall be our deliverance.
 Michaeas	Mic	38	5	7	Poor remnant of Jacob, lost among that multitude of peoples! Yet thrive it shall; does not the grass thrive, with dew and shower from the Lord to water it, nor looks for man’s tending, unbeholden to our human toil?
 Michaeas	Mic	38	5	8	Poor remnant of Jacob, among those heathen multitudes lost! Yet lion amid the forest herds, lion’s whelp amid flock of sheep, finds not easier passage, brings not down more inexorably his prey.
 Michaeas	Mic	38	5	9	High triumph thou shalt have over thy enemies; perish all that bear thee ill-will!
 Michaeas	Mic	38	5	10	All other help, the Lord says, shall then be denied thee; gone, horse and chariot of thine,
 Michaeas	Mic	38	5	11	the cities lost, ruined the strongholds. Sorcery thou shalt have none to trust in, nor divinings;
 Michaeas	Mic	38	5	12	gone idol and sacred pillar of thine, nor any of thy own imaginings left thee;
 Michaeas	Mic	38	5	13	uprooted the woods of thy false worship, fallen the cities.
 Michaeas	Mic	38	5	14	Only then shall my fierce anger find its scope, only then fall my vengeance upon the nations that defied me.
 Michaeas	Mic	38	6	1	Listen to this message I have from the Lord: Up, and to the mountains make thy complaint, let the hill-sides echo with thy voice!
 Michaeas	Mic	38	6	2	Listen they must, yonder sturdy bastions of earth, while the Lord impleads his people; Israel stands upon its trial now.
 Michaeas	Mic	38	6	3	Tell me, my people, what have I done, that thou shouldst be a-weary of me? Answer me.
 Michaeas	Mic	38	6	4	Was it ill done, to rescue thee from Egypt, set thee free from a slave’s prison, send Moses and Aaron and Mary to guide thee on thy way?
 Michaeas	Mic	38	6	5	Bethink thee, what designs had Balach, king of Moab, and how Balaam the son of Beor answered him… from Setim to Galgala; and canst thou doubt, then, the faithfulness of the Lord’s friendship?
 Michaeas	Mic	38	6	6	How best may I humble myself before the Lord, that is God most high? What offering shall I bring? Calf, think you, of a year old, for my burnt-sacrifice?
 Michaeas	Mic	38	6	7	Fall rams by the thousand, fattened buck-goats by the ten thousand, will the Lord be better pleased? Shall gift of first-born for wrong-doing atone, body’s fruit for soul’s assoiling?
 Michaeas	Mic	38	6	8	Nay, son of Adam, what need to ask? Best of all it is, and this above all the Lord demands of thee, right thou shouldst do, and ruth love, and carry thyself humbly in the presence of thy God.
 Michaeas	Mic	38	6	9	So comes the divine voice to yonder city; best he shall thrive, that stands in awe of thy name. Listen, tribesmen, to that voice; which of you dares acclaim it?
 Michaeas	Mic	38	6	10	What of homes unhallowed, that hide yet the ill-gotten gain, the false measure to call down my vengeance?
 Michaeas	Mic	38	6	11	Here the uneven scales, there the bag of short weights, and shall I hold you acquitted?
 Michaeas	Mic	38	6	12	City where the rich are ever busy with oppression, where all is treachery, and a man has a tongue in his mouth only to deceive!
 Michaeas	Mic	38	6	13	Thy turn, now, to feel my lash; thy guilt is thy undoing.
 Michaeas	Mic	38	6	14	Thine to eat, and eating, never have thy fill; for all alike, now, the same affliction. Thine to enslave, but thy slaves never to keep; those thou hast, I mean to make over to the sword.
 Michaeas	Mic	38	6	15	Sow shalt thou, and never reap, press olive, and never anoint thee, tread grape, and no wine drink.
 Michaeas	Mic	38	6	16	Commands of Amri thou wouldst obey, not mine, Ahab’s purposes, not mine, fulfil; their bidding if thou wouldst follow, what marvel that I should mark thee down for ruin, Jerusalem for the hiss of scorn? Shame of its own origins the people that is mine must bear.
 Michaeas	Mic	38	7	1	Your tears for Sion! Not more pitiful work is gleaning when the vintage is done; never a cluster to eat; for the ripe figs belly craves in vain.
 Michaeas	Mic	38	7	2	Fled is piety, vanished honesty, from human kind; murderous plots afoot; the hunt is up everywhere, man spreading his nets for man.
 Michaeas	Mic	38	7	3	Ever the wrong done, and fair names devised for it; ruler must have his benevolence, and judge his gratuity, and tyrant makes known what is his earnest wish; they know well how to wrap it up.
 Michaeas	Mic	38	7	4	Cruel as thorns they be, that are kindliest of them, close as thorn-hedge, that are honest above the rest. Surely this is the day thy watchmen foretold, surely thou wilt call them to account; not long delayed their last extremity!
 Michaeas	Mic	38	7	5	Trust no man, give thy heart to no man, though he be friend and counsellor of thine; against the wife that lies on thy bosom, guard the entry of thy lips;
 Michaeas	Mic	38	7	6	here, where son fools father, and daughter her mother, and son’s wife her mother-in-law, where a man’s own household are his enemies!
 Michaeas	Mic	38	7	7	On the Lord my eyes are set; it is to God I look for my protection; my own God, and will he deny me audience?
 Michaeas	Mic	38	7	8	City that Sion hatest, never triumph over her fall; fall I, it is but to rise again, sit I in darkness, the Lord will be my light.
 Michaeas	Mic	38	7	9	The Lord’s displeasure I must bear, I that have sinned against him, till at last he admits my plea, and grants redress. Out into the light he will bring me, to find him faithful still.
 Michaeas	Mic	38	7	10	Sore abashed that enemy of mine shall behold it; only yesterday she was crying, What is become of thy God now? Welcome the sight, when she is trampled down like mire in the streets!
 Michaeas	Mic	38	7	11	Day of pell-mell disorder it shall be, the day of thy walls’ rebuilding;
 Michaeas	Mic	38	7	12	a day when folk shall resort to thee from all the lands that lie between Assyria and the towns of Egypt, between Egypt and… Euphrates, between sea and sea, mountain-range and mountain-range.
 Michaeas	Mic	38	7	13	By then, the whole country-side will be lying desolate, such reward the inhabitants of it have earned by their ill-doing.
 Michaeas	Mic	38	7	14	With that staff of thine gather thy people in, the flock that is thy very own, scattered now in the forest glades, with rich plenty all around them; Basan and Galaad for their pasture-grounds, as in the days of old.
 Michaeas	Mic	38	7	15	Now for such wondrous evidences of power as marked thy rescuing of them from Egypt!
 Michaeas	Mic	38	7	16	Here is a sight to make the Gentiles hold their valour cheap, stand there dumb; ay, and why not deaf too?
 Michaeas	Mic	38	7	17	Let them lick the dust, serpent-fashion, crawl out from their homes, like scared reptiles, in terror of the Lord our God; much cause they shall have to fear him.
 Michaeas	Mic	38	7	18	Was there ever such a God, so ready to forgive sins, to overlook faults, among the scattered remnant of his chosen race? He will exact vengeance no more; he loves to pardon.
 Michaeas	Mic	38	7	19	He will relent, and have mercy on us, quashing our guilt, burying our sins away sea-deep.
 Michaeas	Mic	38	7	20	Thou wilt keep thy promise to Jacob, shew mercy to Abraham, thy promised mercies of long ago.
 Nahum	Nah	39	1	1	What burden for Nineve? Here is matter revealed to Nahum the Elcesite.
 Nahum	Nah	39	1	2	A jealous lover the Lord is, and takes full vengeance; full vengeance the Lord takes, no stranger, he, to indignation; nor spares rebel, nor forgets the wrong.
 Nahum	Nah	39	1	3	Bide his time he may, but power lacks not; guilty is guilty still. Storm and whirlwind are the path he treads, cloud-wrack the dust he spurns;
 Nahum	Nah	39	1	4	the sea at his rebuke dries up, streams turn into a desert, Basan withers away, and Carmel; all the leaf of Lebanon fades.
 Nahum	Nah	39	1	5	Shrink and shrivel they, mountain-top and hill-side, before him; quakes earth at his coming, and all the world of men with it.
 Nahum	Nah	39	1	6	Alas, when the blow of his resentment falls, who may confront that fierce anger unmoved? Here is vengeance poured out like fire, to melt the hard rock!
 Nahum	Nah	39	1	7	None so gracious as the Lord, no strength like his in the hour of distress; do but trust him, and he will keep thee in his care…
 Nahum	Nah	39	1	8	… Flood-tide shall overwhelm the site of it; ever his enemies find darkness at their heels.
 Nahum	Nah	39	1	9	Think not, by shifts of yours, to thwart the Lord’s will; believe me, he will take full toll, there shall be no second visitation.
 Nahum	Nah	39	1	10	Close be it as thicket of thorns, yonder conspiracy over the cups, all at once, like scorched stubble, they shall be consumed.
 Nahum	Nah	39	1	11	Here is one of thy number devising rebellion against the Lord, folly’s counsellor.
 Nahum	Nah	39	1	12	But thus the Lord says: Are they in full muster? At least there are over-many of them; they must be shorn of their strength. It will pass; once chastened is chastened enough,
 Nahum	Nah	39	1	13	and now I mean to shatter that yoke of his that lies on thy back, tear thy chains asunder…
 Nahum	Nah	39	1	14	For thee, this doom the Lord has; race shall never spring from thee to bear thy name, nor in the temple of thy god any images be left, cast or carven; and I will write it on thy tomb-stone, thou wast nothing worth.
 Nahum	Nah	39	1	15	See where they bring good news on the mountain heights, proclaiming that all is well! Now, Juda, keep holiday; paid be thy vows; mocking enemy shall pass through thee no more; never a one left.
 Nahum	Nah	39	2	1	Here is an enemy at thy gates that scatters all before him; here is close siege, no entry but must be guarded; gird thee well, summon up all thy strength!
 Nahum	Nah	39	2	2	Honour of Juda the Lord retrieves now, and honour of Israel both, that have seen the spoiler ransack them, strip vineyard bare.
 Nahum	Nah	39	2	3	Bright flash that enemy’s shields, warriors of his go clad in scarlet; dart like flame his chariots as he goes to the attack, dizzily sways charioteer.
 Nahum	Nah	39	2	4	How jostle they in the streets, those chariots, hurtle they in the open market-place; dazzle they like flame of torches, like the lightning that comes and goes!
 Nahum	Nah	39	2	5	Alas, for the muster-roll of the king’s vassals, fallen as they went about their task! Swiftly they manned the walls, but the engines were in place already.
 Nahum	Nah	39	2	6	Open, now, stands the water-gate, crumbles yonder temple into dust.
 Nahum	Nah	39	2	7	Alas, for warriors of Nineve gone into exile, for maids of hers led away, that sigh and moan like ring-doves in the bitterness of their heart!
 Nahum	Nah	39	2	8	Nineve, welcome sight as pools of water to the fugitive; stay, stay! But never a one looks back.
 Nahum	Nah	39	2	9	Out with silver, out with gold of hers; store is here of costly stuff beyond price or reckoning!
 Nahum	Nah	39	2	10	Roof to cellar rifled and ransacked! Sore hearts are here, and knees that knock together, loins that go labouring, and pale cheeks.
 Nahum	Nah	39	2	11	Lair of lion, and nursery of his whelps, what trace is left of thee, once so secure a retreat, his haunt and theirs?
 Nahum	Nah	39	2	12	Cub nor lioness should want, so preyed he, so mauled he, so filled with plunder of his forays the den where he lay.
 Nahum	Nah	39	2	13	Have at thee! says the Lord of hosts; yonder chariots shall be burnt to ashes; whelps of thine shall die at the sword’s point, plunder of thine be swept off the face of earth; and for thy heralds, their voices shall be heard no more.
 Nahum	Nah	39	3	1	Out upon thee, city of blood, full fed with treason and rapine, yet still at prey!
 Nahum	Nah	39	3	2	What sounds are these? Crack of whip, whirring of wheels, beat of horse-hoof, rattle of chariot. Mounts horseman,
 Nahum	Nah	39	3	3	flash like lightning sword and spear; what carnage! How cumbered the earth with slain! Dead bodies past counting; the living stumble over the dead.
 Nahum	Nah	39	3	4	Harlot so unwearied in thy harlot’s ways, so fair, so full of witchery, too long hast thou betrayed a nation here, a tribe there, with sorcery of thine, harlotry of thine;
 Nahum	Nah	39	3	5	and now I will be even with thee, says the Lord God of hosts. I mean to set thy skirts flying about thy ears, and lay bare the naked shame of thee, for all the kingdoms of the world to see;
 Nahum	Nah	39	3	6	pelted thou shalt be with things abominable, and foully bemocked; such a public show I will make of thee,
 Nahum	Nah	39	3	7	passer-by will be fain to shun thee; Nineve fallen, says he, and never a tear! Search where I will, never a friend to comfort thee!
 Nahum	Nah	39	3	8	Here was another city, No-Ammon, fair as thyself; she too was built on the river-side, water all about her; the sea her mart, the sea her defences.
 Nahum	Nah	39	3	9	Hers the Ethiop land, hers was Egypt; wanted there strength yet, African and Libyan were at her side;
 Nahum	Nah	39	3	10	yet thy fate was hers, exile, and captivity, and children at every street’s turning dashed to death; honour and rank condemned to the lot’s mercy, and the chain’s grip!
 Nahum	Nah	39	3	11	Bemused and helpless with fear, looking about for succour against the invader, so she was, so thou shalt be.
 Nahum	Nah	39	3	12	At a touch thy bastions shall fall, like ripe figs that drop into the eater’s mouth, soon as tree is shaken;
 Nahum	Nah	39	3	13	woman-hearted the defenders, the gates wide open to the enemy’s onrush, touchwood the bars of them.
 Nahum	Nah	39	3	14	Water, there, water for a siege! Raise the battlements higher yet! Down to the clay-pit with thee, tread the mortar, put thy hand to the brick-mould!
 Nahum	Nah	39	3	15	Fire shall consume thee none the less, the sword cut thee off, hungry as locust to devour. Thrive thou as locust thrives or grasshopper,
 Nahum	Nah	39	3	16	ay, let thy enterprises outnumber the stars in heaven, what avails it? Early hatches locust, early flies away.
 Nahum	Nah	39	3	17	Forgotten, the high lords, forgotten, the princelings, as they had been locusts, and brood of locusts, that cling to yonder hedge-row in the chill of morning, and are gone, once the sun is up, who knows whither?
 Nahum	Nah	39	3	18	Gone to their rest thy marshals, king of Assyria; thy vassals lie silent in the dust; out on the hills the common folk take refuge, with none to muster them.
 Nahum	Nah	39	3	19	Wound of thine there is no hiding, hurt of thine is grievous; nor any shall hear the tidings of it but shall clap their hands over thee, so long thy tyrannous yoke has rested on so many.
 Habacuc	Hab	40	1	1	This burden following was revealed to the prophet Habacuc.
 Habacuc	Hab	40	1	2	Lord, must I ever cry out to thee, and gain hearing never? Plead against tyranny, and no deliverance be granted me?
 Habacuc	Hab	40	1	3	Must I nothing see but wrong and affliction; turn where I will, nothing but robbery and oppression; pleading at law everywhere, everywhere contention raising its head?
 Habacuc	Hab	40	1	4	What marvel if the old teachings are torn up, and redress is never to be found? Innocence by knavery circumvented still, and false award given!
 Habacuc	Hab	40	1	5	Have you no eyes for the world about you? Look upon it with wonder and awe; in your own days here be strange deeds a-doing, so strange, a man would scarce credit them if they were told in story.
 Habacuc	Hab	40	1	6	What a nation is this I am spurring on to battle, the Chaldaean folk, so implacable, so swift! Ready to march the wide world over, so there be lands, not theirs, to covet!
 Habacuc	Hab	40	1	7	A grim nation and a terrible; no right they acknowledge, no title, but what themselves bestow.
 Habacuc	Hab	40	1	8	Not leopard so lithe as horse of theirs, not wolf at evening so fast; wide the sweep of their horsemen, that close in, close in from afar, flying like vultures hungry for their prey.
 Habacuc	Hab	40	1	9	Plunderers all; eager as the sirocco their onset, whirling away, like sand-storm, their captives.
 Habacuc	Hab	40	1	10	Here be men that hold kings in contempt, make princes their sport; no fortress but is a child’s game to such as these; let them but make a heap of dust, it is theirs.
 Habacuc	Hab	40	1	11	Veers wind, and he is gone; see him fall down and ascribe the victory to his god!
 Habacuc	Hab	40	1	12	But thou, Lord, my God and all my worship, thou art from eternity! And wilt thou see us perish? Warrant of thine they hold, take their strength from thee, only to make known thy justice, thy chastening power!
 Habacuc	Hab	40	1	13	So pure those eyes, shall they feast on wrong-doing? Wilt thou brook the sight of oppression, look on while treason is done? Innocence the prey of malice, and no word from thee?
 Habacuc	Hab	40	1	14	As well had men been fishes in the sea, or creeping things, that ruler have none!
 Habacuc	Hab	40	1	15	And indeed it nothing spares, hook of yonder Chaldaean; seine and drag he spreads for all, and great joy has he of his sport.
 Habacuc	Hab	40	1	16	Nay, seine must have its victims, incense be offered to drag; whom else thanks he for the rich fare on his plate, viands most dainty?
 Habacuc	Hab	40	1	17	Trust me, wider still yonder net shall be flung; sword of his will never have done with massacre.
 Habacuc	Hab	40	2	1	What message, then, is entrusted to me? What answer shall I make when I am called to account? Here on the watch-tower my post shall be; stand I on the battlements, and await his signal.
 Habacuc	Hab	40	2	2	Write down thy vision, the Lord said, on a tablet, so plain that it may be read with a glance;
 Habacuc	Hab	40	2	3	a vision of things far distant, yet one day befall they must, no room for doubting it. Wait thou long, yet wait patiently; what must be must, and at the time appointed for it.
 Habacuc	Hab	40	2	4	Foul air the doubter breathes; by his faith he lives, who lives right.
 Habacuc	Hab	40	2	5	Tyrant, like drunkard, is mocked by false dreams of glory. See him whet his appetite, not death itself nor the grave more insatiable; gather up a tribe here, a nation there, heap his plate with them!
 Habacuc	Hab	40	2	6	One day, what a by-word they will make of him! What riddling taunts shall be hurled at him! As here follows:So thou wouldst hoard up the possessions that are none of thine, load thyself with base dross, and it should go on for ever?
 Habacuc	Hab	40	2	7	All unawares the foe shall spring, worry thee, harry thee, make a helpless prey of thee.
 Habacuc	Hab	40	2	8	So many lands thou hast plundered, plundered thyself shalt be; enough nations are left for that; for men’s blood shed, and for fields ravaged, plundered the city shall be, and all that dwell there.
 Habacuc	Hab	40	2	9	Ill-gotten gains thou wouldst amass to deck that house of thine; make it an eyrie, too high for envious hands to reach?
 Habacuc	Hab	40	2	10	Nay, with this undoing of many peoples thou hast done thy own house despite, thy own life is forfeit;
 Habacuc	Hab	40	2	11	stone from ruined wall cries out against thee, and beam from gaping roof echoes the cry.
 Habacuc	Hab	40	2	12	City thou wouldst found, city’s walls build up, with deeds of bloodshed and of wrong?
 Habacuc	Hab	40	2	13	What, has not the Lord of hosts uttered his doom, toil of nations shall feed the fire, and all their labour be spent for nothing?
 Habacuc	Hab	40	2	14	It is the Lord’s glory men must learn to know, that shall cover the earth, flooding over it like the waters of the sea.
 Habacuc	Hab	40	2	15	Thou wouldst pour out a draught for thy neighbour, a draught thy own hand has poisoned; bemuse him as with wine, to leave him stripped and bare?
 Habacuc	Hab	40	2	16	This was to cover thyself with shame, not with glory; drink thou in thy turn, and grow dizzy! A round for thee, now, from yonder cup the Lord holds in his hand; how shamefully is that glory of thine bespewed!
 Habacuc	Hab	40	2	17	Wrong done to Lebanon, scathe of the roaming beasts, shall recoil on thee; fear shall overtake them, city of thine and all that dwell there, for men’s blood shed, and for fields ravaged.
 Habacuc	Hab	40	2	18	What avails image, that carver should be at pains to carve it? In metal his own hands have melted shall a man put his trust? Cheating likenesses, dumb idols all!
 Habacuc	Hab	40	2	19	And thy prayer was, stock and stone should wake up and come to thy aid, senseless things that cannot signify their will; nay, breath in their bodies have none, for all they are tricked out with gold and silver!
 Habacuc	Hab	40	2	20	And all the while, the Lord is in his holy temple. Keep silence, earth, before him.
 Habacuc	Hab	40	3	1	A prayer of the prophet Habacuc for Shigionoth.
 Habacuc	Hab	40	3	2	I have heard, Lord, the tale of thy renown, awe-stricken at the divine power thou hast. Reveal that power in these latter days, in these latter days make it known once more! And though we have earned thy anger, bethink thee of mercy still.
 Habacuc	Hab	40	3	3	God coming near from Teman, the holy One from yonder hills of Pharan! See how his glory overspreads heaven, his fame echoes through the earth;
 Habacuc	Hab	40	3	4	the brightness that is his, like light itself, the rays that stream from his hand, masking its strength;
 Habacuc	Hab	40	3	5	pestilence his outrider, the wasting sickness in his train!
 Habacuc	Hab	40	3	6	There stood he, and scanned the earth; at his look, the nations were adread; melted were the everlasting mountains, bowed were the ancient hills, his own immemorial pathway, as he journeyed.
 Habacuc	Hab	40	3	7	I saw the Ethiop quail in his tent, the dwellings of Madian astir with terror.
 Habacuc	Hab	40	3	8	Is it the rivers, Lord, that have awaked thy anger; should it be the rivers? Or has the sea earned thy vengeance, that thou comest thus mounted on thy horses, on thy victorious chariot;
 Habacuc	Hab	40	3	9	that bow of thine brought into full play, which grants to Israel the assurance of thy succour? Earth is torn into ravines;
 Habacuc	Hab	40	3	10	the mountains tremble at the sight. Fierce falls the rain-storm, the depths beneath us roar aloud, the heights beckon from above;
 Habacuc	Hab	40	3	11	sun and moon linger in their dwelling-place; so bright thy arrows volley, with such sheen of lightning glances thy spear.
 Habacuc	Hab	40	3	12	Nay, if thou ride through the world so angrily, with thy disdain striking the nations dumb,
 Habacuc	Hab	40	3	13	it is to rescue thy own people, rescue thy own anointed servant, that thou goest out to battle. Down fall the turrets in yonder castle of godlessness, down sink the foundations to their very base;
 Habacuc	Hab	40	3	14	lights thy ban on its princes, on the heads of its warriors, whose blustering rage would overthrow me, confident now as some petty tyrant who oppresses the poor in secret.
 Habacuc	Hab	40	3	15	Over the sea, over the ooze beneath its waves, thou hast made a path for thy horses to tread.
 Habacuc	Hab	40	3	16	Such was the tale that set my whole frame trembling; at the rumour of it my lips quivered with fear; there was a faintness overcame my whole being, my steps faltered as I went. Now with tranquil heart let me await this day of doom; upon the enemies of our people it is destined to fall.
 Habacuc	Hab	40	3	17	What though the fig-tree never bud, the vine yield no fruit, the olive fail, the fields bear no harvest; what though our folds stand empty of sheep, our byres of cattle?
 Habacuc	Hab	40	3	18	Still will I make my boast in the Lord, triumph in the deliverance God sends me.
 Habacuc	Hab	40	3	19	The Lord, the ruler of all, is my stronghold; he will bring me safely on my way, safe as the hind whose feet echo already on the hills.(For the chief singer, to the harp’s music. )
 Sophonias	Sop	41	1	1	To Sophonias, that was descended from Ezechias through Amarias, Godolias and Chusi, this message came from the Lord, at the time when Josias son of Amon reigned in Juda.
 Sophonias	Sop	41	1	2	Fall to I must, and weed yonder plot of ground, the Lord says;
 Sophonias	Sop	41	1	3	rid it, says he, of man and beast, of bird in air and fish under water; and down shall the godless come too, never a man left alive upon it.
 Sophonias	Sop	41	1	4	All Juda, all the citizens of Jerusalem, shall feel the stroke. Not a trace shall they leave behind, yonder gods of the country-side, acolyte and priest of theirs not a memory;
 Sophonias	Sop	41	1	5	forgotten, all that worship the host of heaven from the roof-tops, all that worship…, take they their oaths to the Lord, or swear they by Melchom;
 Sophonias	Sop	41	1	6	forgotten, all that turn their backs on the Lord, and will neither seek nor search for him.
 Sophonias	Sop	41	1	7	Silence, there, to greet the Lord! Here is day of his appointing, here is great sacrifice of his preparing; all his guests bidden, all their cleansing done.
 Sophonias	Sop	41	1	8	The Lord’s sacrifice! A day of reckoning it shall be, king and prince I will call to account, all that go clad in foreign bravery,
 Sophonias	Sop	41	1	9	all that spurn yonder threshold, and fill the house of the Lord their God with deeds of treachery and wrong.
 Sophonias	Sop	41	1	10	What an outcry that day, the Lord says, from the Fishmongers’ Gate, what lamenting from the New Town! How the hill-sides will echo to the noise of your ruin!
 Sophonias	Sop	41	1	11	Ay, lament indeed, you that dwell in Mortar Valley; of the merchant folk no more is heard; here is an end of all that trafficked in silver.
 Sophonias	Sop	41	1	12	Time, then, to call for lamps, and search Jerusalem through! Trust me, I will find them out, spoiled natures, like wine that has settled on its lees, the men who think to themselves, From the Lord nothing is to hope, nothing to fear.
 Sophonias	Sop	41	1	13	Ransacked their wealth shall be, and their homes ruined; houses they build they shall never dwell in, vineyards they plant they shall drink of never.
 Sophonias	Sop	41	1	14	Nearer, nearer comes the great day of the Lord’s reckoning, ay, and soon; bitter the bruit of its coming; here is peril to cow the bravest heart.
 Sophonias	Sop	41	1	15	Day of vengeance, day of strain and stress, day of ransack and ruin; dim and dark, overcast with cloud and storm!
 Sophonias	Sop	41	1	16	City is none so well fortified, pinnacle is none so high in air, but shall hear braying of trumpets and the battle-cry.
 Sophonias	Sop	41	1	17	Guilty wretches, they shall grope in the dark, flesh and blood of them cheap as dust and dung;
 Sophonias	Sop	41	1	18	silver and gold of them powerless to buy off the Lord’s present vengeance. Burns through the land the fire of his slighted love; takes full toll, and speedily, of all that dwell there.
 Sophonias	Sop	41	2	1	Band together, men of a nation so little loved, bind yourselves in one;
 Sophonias	Sop	41	2	2	ere resolve can bear fruit, like flying chaff passes the day. Before the divine vengeance falls on you, before the day of divine retribution comes, to the Lord betake you!
 Sophonias	Sop	41	2	3	To honest doing and patient suffering betake you, men of humble heart wherever you be, men obedient to his will; it may be, when the hour of the Lord’s vengeance comes, you shall find refuge.
 Sophonias	Sop	41	2	4	Gaza and Ascalon to rack and ruin left, Azotus stormed ere the day is out, root and branch destroyed is Accaron!
 Sophonias	Sop	41	2	5	Out upon the forfeited race that holds yonder strip of coast-land; the Lord’s doom is on it, the little Chanaan of the Philistines; wasted it shall be, and never a man to dwell in it.
 Sophonias	Sop	41	2	6	There on the coast-land shepherds shall lie at ease, there shall be folds for flocks;
 Sophonias	Sop	41	2	7	and who shall dwell there? The remnant that is left of Juda’s race; there they shall find pasturage, take their rest, when evening comes, in the ruins of Ascalon, when the Lord their God brings them relief, restores their fortunes again.
 Sophonias	Sop	41	2	8	And what of Moab, what of Ammon? Doubt not I have heard the blasphemous taunts they uttered against my own people, as they encroached upon its borders.
 Sophonias	Sop	41	2	9	As I am a living God, says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, no better shall Moab and Ammon be than Sodom and Gomorrha, all waste and brushwood and salt-pits, for ever desolate; of my own people enough remnant shall be left, a nation still, to plunder and to conquer them.
 Sophonias	Sop	41	2	10	Pride that would mock and overreach his own people he, the Lord of hosts, knows how to punish;
 Sophonias	Sop	41	2	11	see what terror he strikes into them! Peak and pine they, gods of the other nations; rise they from their places, one by one, to adore him, island-dwellers of the world.
 Sophonias	Sop	41	2	12	You too, men of Ethiopia, shall feel my sword.
 Sophonias	Sop	41	2	13	That hand shall stretch out northward, and make an end of Assyria; Nineve shall be left forlorn, a trackless desert.
 Sophonias	Sop	41	2	14	Flocks shall lie down there… all the wild things of earth; bittern and hedgehog make their dwelling in its doorways, bird-song there shall be in the windows, and raven perched on lintel; so ebbs the strength of it.
 Sophonias	Sop	41	2	15	And this was the proud city that dwelt so free from alarms, thinking to herself, Here I stand, with no rival; a desert now, lair of the wild beasts! Hisses the passer-by in mockery, and shakes his fist.
 Sophonias	Sop	41	3	1	Out on the rebellious city, the defiled city, so full of wrong!
 Sophonias	Sop	41	3	2	Never the call heard, the warning heeded; trust in the Lord is none; nay, they would keep God at a distance.
 Sophonias	Sop	41	3	3	Here be rulers no better than ravening lions, judges like wolf that prowls at night, and not a bone left on the morrow;
 Sophonias	Sop	41	3	4	prophets that are heedless men and treacherous, priests that profane the sanctuary and do violence to the law.
 Sophonias	Sop	41	3	5	And all the while the Lord is there in the midst of it! Not his the blame; never morning passes but he makes known his award for their enlightening, without fail; and still injustice goes on unashamed!
 Sophonias	Sop	41	3	6	Short work I have made of other nations; crumbling battlements, unfrequented streets, with never a foot-fall, their cities lie ruined and forlorn, with none to dwell in them;
 Sophonias	Sop	41	3	7	Ah, thought I, now at least thou wilt learn to fear me, wilt profit by the warning! Here at least is a city that may be left habitable, send them what plagues I may! But no, early and late they would be at their perverse doings still!
 Sophonias	Sop	41	3	8	Hope, then, is none, till the day, long hence, when I will stand revealed; what gathering, then, of the nations, all kingdoms joined in one! And upon these, my doom is, vengeance shall fall, fierce anger of mine shall fall; the whole earth shall be consumed with the fire of my slighted love.
 Sophonias	Sop	41	3	9	And after that, all the peoples of the world shall have pure lips, invoking one and all the Lord’s name, straining at a single yoke in the Lord’s service.
 Sophonias	Sop	41	3	10	From far away, beyond Ethiop rivers, my suppliants shall come to me, sons of my exiled people the bloodless offering shall bring.
 Sophonias	Sop	41	3	11	No need, then, to blush for wayward thoughts that defied me; gone from thy midst the high-sounding boast; no room, in that mountain sanctuary of mine, for pride henceforward;
 Sophonias	Sop	41	3	12	a poor folk and a friendless I will leave in thy confines, but one that puts its trust in the Lord’s name.
 Sophonias	Sop	41	3	13	The remnant of Israel, strangers now to treachery and wrong, the true word ever on their lips! Yonder flock may graze and lie down to rest, none to dismay it.
 Sophonias	Sop	41	3	14	Break into song, fair Sion, all Israel cry aloud; here is joy and triumph, Jerusalem, for thy royal heart.
 Sophonias	Sop	41	3	15	Thy doom the Lord has revoked, thy enemy repulsed; the Lord, there in the midst of thee, Israel’s king! Peril for thee henceforth is none.
 Sophonias	Sop	41	3	16	Such is the message yonder day shall bring to Jerusalem: Courage, Sion! What means it, the unnerved hand?
 Sophonias	Sop	41	3	17	Thou hast one in the midst of thee, the Lord thy God, whose strength shall deliver thee. Joy and pride of his thou shalt be henceforward; silent till now in his love for thee, he will greet thee with cries of gladness.
 Sophonias	Sop	41	3	18	Truants that were lost to the covenant I will reclaim; of thy company they are, thou shalt be taunted with them no longer;
 Sophonias	Sop	41	3	19	only for thy persecutors that hour shall be the hour of doom. Lame sheep medicined, and strayed sheep brought home! Lands that despised them shall hear name and fame of them now.
 Sophonias	Sop	41	3	20	Name and fame you shall have, all the world over, the Lord says, when I call you back and gather you in; when you see the fortunes of Israel retrieved at last.
 Aggaeus	Agg	42	1	1	It was in the second year of Darius’ reign, on the first day of the sixth month of it, that a message came from the Lord through the prophet Aggaeus; came to Zorobabel, son of Salathiel, that was governor of Juda, and to the high priest, Josue son of Josedec. And thus it ran:
 Aggaeus	Agg	42	1	2	Word from the Lord of hosts to his people, that will not restore his temple, but cry, Too early yet!
 Aggaeus	Agg	42	1	3	Listen, the Lord said to them through the prophet Aggaeus,
 Aggaeus	Agg	42	1	4	is it not too early yet for you to have roofs over your heads, and my temple in ruins?
 Aggaeus	Agg	42	1	5	Think well on it, says the Lord of hosts;
 Aggaeus	Agg	42	1	6	here is much sown, and little reaped, nor eating brings you a full belly, nor wine a merry heart; such clothes you wear as leave you shivering, such wages win as leak out at purse’s bottom!
 Aggaeus	Agg	42	1	7	Think well on it, says the Lord of hosts;
 Aggaeus	Agg	42	1	8	up to the hill-side with you, fetch timber and restore my temple, if content me you will, the Lord says, if honour me you will!
 Aggaeus	Agg	42	1	9	So much attempted, so little attained; store you brought into your houses withered at my breath; would you know the reason for it? says the Lord of hosts. Because to your own houses you run helter-skelter, and my temple in ruins!
 Aggaeus	Agg	42	1	10	That is why the skies are forbidden to rain on you, earth to afford its bounty;
 Aggaeus	Agg	42	1	11	ban of barrenness lies on plain and hill, wheat and wine and oil and all the earth yields, man and beast and all they toil to win.
 Aggaeus	Agg	42	1	12	What made they of it, Salathiel’s son Zorobabel, and the high priest, Josue son of Josedec, and all the people with them? That voice they could not choose but heed, that message from the Lord their God sent to them by the prophet Aggaeus, and they were sore adread of the divine warning.
 Aggaeus	Agg	42	1	13	Yet here was divine encouragement; Aggaeus, the Lord’s own messenger, gave them the Lord’s own assurance he was at their side.
 Aggaeus	Agg	42	1	14	So the Lord put heart into them, governor and priest and people alike; and they set to work building up the temple of the Lord God of hosts.
 Aggaeus	Agg	42	2	1	This was on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month, in the second year of Darius.
 Aggaeus	Agg	42	2	2	Afterwards, on the twenty-first day of the seventh month, the Lord sent another message through the prophet Aggaeus.
 Aggaeus	Agg	42	2	3	To Zorobabel, and Josue, and all the people with them his word was:
 Aggaeus	Agg	42	2	4	Tell me, those of you who saw this house in its former brightness, what make you of it now? It is no better in your eyes than a very nothing.
 Aggaeus	Agg	42	2	5	Take heart, Zorobabel; Josue, son of Josedec, take heart! And you, too, people of the land, the Lord of hosts bids you put heart into the work; is not he, the Lord of hosts, at your side?…
 Aggaeus	Agg	42	2	6	the promise I gave when you escaped from Egypt; my own spirit shall be among you, do not be afraid.
 Aggaeus	Agg	42	2	7	A little while now, the Lord of hosts says, and I mean to set heaven and earth, sea and dry land rocking;
 Aggaeus	Agg	42	2	8	stirred all the nations shall be, hither shall come the prize the whole world treasures, and I will fill this temple with the brightness of my presence, says the Lord of hosts.
 Aggaeus	Agg	42	2	9	Silver or gold, what matters it? the Lord of hosts says. Both are mine!
 Aggaeus	Agg	42	2	10	Bright this new temple shall be, he tells you, as never the first was; here, he tells you, his blessing shall rest.
 Aggaeus	Agg	42	2	11	Then, on the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in this second year of king Darius, another message came from the Lord to the prophet Aggaeus,
 Aggaeus	Agg	42	2	12	bidding him, in the name of the Lord of hosts, make enquiry of the priests upon a matter touching the law.
 Aggaeus	Agg	42	2	13	And the question was this: Here is one carries consecrated meat in the fold of his garment, and with this same fold chances to touch bread or broth, wine or oil, or what food you will; does this food become consecrated thereby? And the priests said No.
 Aggaeus	Agg	42	2	14	Why then, Aggaeus went on, let some other man touch this food, one that is contaminated by the contact of a dead thing, will the food be defiled? And they answered, Defiled it is.
 Aggaeus	Agg	42	2	15	Then Aggaeus opened his mind to them: Here is a whole people, a whole race, the Lord says, that shews defiled under my scrutiny. Never an enterprise of theirs, never an offering they bring, but is defiled.
 Aggaeus	Agg	42	2	16	But now, mark well how you thrive henceforward. Whilst none would be at pains to set pillar on base, here in the Lord’s temple,
 Aggaeus	Agg	42	2	17	how fared it with yonder twenty-bushel heap of corn? Look closer, and it was but ten bushels. Did you think to press fifty quarts into the vat? There were but twenty.
 Aggaeus	Agg	42	2	18	Sirocco I sent and mildew, smote all your crops with hail, and you would not come back to me, the Lord says.
 Aggaeus	Agg	42	2	19	Mark well how you thrive henceforward, from this twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, when you laid the foundations of the Lord’s temple; mark it well.
 Aggaeus	Agg	42	2	20	Not yet has the corn ripened, not yet have vine and fig, pomegranate and olive, had time to blossom; but on all these my blessing lies henceforward.
 Aggaeus	Agg	42	2	21	And this further message Aggaeus had from the Lord, on that twenty-fourth day of the month,
 Aggaeus	Agg	42	2	22	for Zorobabel, the governor of Juda: Earth and heaven both I mean to set rocking;
 Aggaeus	Agg	42	2	23	royal thrones shall be overturned, and the power of Gentile kingdoms brought to nothing; overthrown they lie, chariot and charioteer, down come horse and rider, friend turning his sword against friend;
 Aggaeus	Agg	42	2	24	but thou, son of Salathiel, says the Lord of hosts, thou, Zorobabel, art my servant still; on that day I will take thee to my side, keep thee there, close as signet-ring; it is a divine choice that has fallen on thee, says the Lord of hosts.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	1	1	It was in the second year of Darius’ reign, and the eighth month of it, that a message from the Lord came to the prophet Zacharias, son of Barachias, son of Addo. And thus it ran:
 Zacharias	Zac	43	1	2	Beyond question, your fathers incurred the Lord’s displeasure;
 Zacharias	Zac	43	1	3	and now this word thou must proclaim from the Lord of hosts, Come back to me, he bids you, and I, he promises, will come back to your side.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	1	4	Prophets there were long since, that warned those fathers of yours in his name, they should turn away from ill living and rebellious thoughts; yet neither heed nor hearing, he says, would they give me; not for you to follow their example.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	1	5	Gone, the men of an earlier day; prophets that spoke to them might not live on for ever,
 Zacharias	Zac	43	1	6	but warning of mine, promise of mine, entrusted to the prophets that were my true servants, live on yet. See how the fulfilment of them overtook your fathers, till at last they must needs repent, must acknowledge the Lord of hosts had not threatened them, sinners and rebels, in vain!
 Zacharias	Zac	43	1	7	Then, on the twenty-fourth day of Sabath, which is the eleventh month, word came from the Lord afresh, and once more it came to Zacharias, son of Barachias, son of Addo.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	1	8	A vision appeared to me in the night, of one that was mounted on a sorrel horse, at a stand among the myrtle-trees, down in the Valley; and never a horse in all his company but was sorrel, roan or white.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	1	9	Scarce had I asked, My Lord, what be these? when the angel that inspired me promised he would shew me the meaning of it;
 Zacharias	Zac	43	1	10	and with that, my answer came from him who stood among the myrtle-trees, These have gone out on the Lord’s errand, patrolling the earth.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	1	11	And to him, now, the angel of the myrtle-wood, those others made their report: All earth we have patrolled, said they, and everywhere is safety, everywhere is rest.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	1	12	Ah, Lord of hosts, my angel monitor said, wilt thou never relent, never take pity upon Jerusalem and the towns of Juda? Here be seventy years come and gone.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	1	13	And with that, the Lord answered him; gracious his words were, gracious and full of comfort.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	1	14	Cry it abroad, now, my monitor said to me, this message from the Lord of hosts: Jealous, right jealous my love for Sion’s hill,
 Zacharias	Zac	43	1	15	deep, full deep my anger against the heathen that are so well content! I would have punished Jerusalem but lightly, it was these drove home the blow.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	1	16	And now, the Lord says, I am for Jerusalem again, bringing pardon with me; temple shall be built there for the Lord of hosts, Jerusalem shall see mason’s plummet busy once again.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	1	17	And this, too: A promise from the Lord of hosts! Yonder towns shall yet overflow with riches; Sion shall yet receive comfort, Jerusalem be the city of my choice.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	1	18	Then I looked up, and what saw I? Here were four horns;
 Zacharias	Zac	43	1	19	and when I asked my guide what they should be, he told me, Upon these horns, Juda and Israel and Jerusalem were tossed about.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	1	20	After that, the Lord sent me another vision of four blacksmiths;
 Zacharias	Zac	43	1	21	What errand, said I, have these? Why, said he, yonder horns made such havoc of Juda till now, never a man might lift his head; what should be the blacksmiths’ errand but to turn them back? Polled they must be henceforward, the heathen folk that once tossed Juda to the winds.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	2	1	When next I looked up, I saw a man there that carried a measuring-line;
 Zacharias	Zac	43	2	2	so I asked him, whither he was bound? For Jerusalem, said he, to measure length and breadth of it.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	2	3	And at that, my angel monitor would have gone out on his errand, but here was a second angel come out to meet him.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	2	4	Speed thee, said he, on thy way, and tell that pupil of thine: So full Jerusalem shall be, of men and cattle both, wall it shall have none to hedge it in;
 Zacharias	Zac	43	2	5	I myself, the Lord says, will be a wall of fire around it, and in the midst of it, the brightness of my presence.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	2	6	Away, away, from the north country get you gone, the Lord says; what if I have scattered you, far as the four winds?
 Zacharias	Zac	43	2	7	Away with thee, Sion; wouldst thou still make thy home with widowed Babylon?
 Zacharias	Zac	43	2	8	This promise the Lord of hosts makes: After…… glory, I hold his warrant against the nations that plunder you; apple of my eye he touches, that touches you.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	2	9	Lift I my hand, they shall be at your mercy that are your masters now; doubt shall be none it was the Lord who sent me.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	2	10	Sion, poor maid, break out into songs of rejoicing; I am on my way, coming to dwell in the midst of thee, the Lord says.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	2	11	There be nations a many that shall rally that day to the Lord’s side; they, too, shall be people of mine, but with thee shall be my dwelling. Doubt there shall be none it was the Lord of hosts sent me to thy aid.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	2	12	Juda the Lord shall claim for his own, his portion in a holy land; still Jerusalem shall be the city of his choice.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	2	13	Be silent, living things, in the Lord’s presence; yonder in his holy dwelling all is astir.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	3	1	Another vision the Lord shewed me; here was an angel of his, and before this angel stood the high priest Josue, with the Accuser at his right hand bringing accusation against him.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	3	2	But to the Accuser the divine answer came, The Lord rebuke thee, Satan; the Lord, that makes choice of Jerusalem, rebuke thee! What, is not this a brand saved from the embers?
 Zacharias	Zac	43	3	3	Then, for he saw Josue standing there in his presence very vilely clad,
 Zacharias	Zac	43	3	4	the angel gave it out to his attendants they should take away these vile rags from him; Guilt of thine, said he, I have set by; thou shalt have new garments to wear instead.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	3	5	A clean mitre they should give him besides. And so, when the new mitre was on his head and the new garments were about him, the angel of the Lord rose up
 Zacharias	Zac	43	3	6	and gave Josue his commission from the Lord of hosts:
 Zacharias	Zac	43	3	7	My beckoning follow thou, my commands keep thou, people of mine thou shalt govern, house of mine shalt have in thy charge, and in their company, that here stand about thee, shalt come and go.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	3	8	This for the hearing of the high priest Josue, and others his co-assessors, names of good omen all. Time is I should bring hither my servant, that is the Dayspring.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	3	9	Stone is here I will set before yonder Josue; a stone that bears seven eyes, device of my own carving, says the Lord of hosts. All the guilt of this land I will banish in a single day.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	3	10	That shall be a day of good cheer, the Lord of hosts says, friend making glad with friend under vine and under fig-tree.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	4	1	Once the angel monitor roused me to my senses, as though I had lain asleep;
 Zacharias	Zac	43	4	2	Now, said he, what seest thou? Why, I said, here is a lamp-stand meets my eyes, all of gold. A bowl this lamp-stand has at the top of it, and from the bowl run seven pipes, to feed the seven lamps that crown it.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	4	3	And there are two olive-trees hanging over it, one to the right and one to the left of the bowl.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	4	4	Then in my turn I asked a question of the angel, Tell me, what does all this mean?
 Zacharias	Zac	43	4	5	What, said my monitor, canst thou not recognize it? Not I, my Lord, I answered.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	4	6	And thereupon the angel told me…… Word from the Lord to Zorobabel: By arms, by force nothing canst thou; my spirit is all, says the Lord of hosts.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	4	7	Vain is towering height of thine, great mountain; down to plain’s level thou must stoop at Zorobabel’s coming; stone from thee he must quarry and smooth to be his coping-stone, how fair, how fair!
 Zacharias	Zac	43	4	8	This message, too, I had from the Lord:
 Zacharias	Zac	43	4	9	Yonder temple hand of Zorobabel has founded, hand of Zorobabel shall finish. No more you shall doubt that I come to you on the Lord’s errand.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	4	10	Humble fortunes of yesterday who dared belittle? Rejoice they now, to see plummet at work in Zorobabel’s hand…… What should they be, those seven, but eyes the Lord has, glancing this way and that to scan the earth?
 Zacharias	Zac	43	4	11	Then I asked him about the two olive-trees, to right and left of the lamp-stand; and there was more I would know,
 Zacharias	Zac	43	4	12	What of the two olive-shoots, close beside the two golden taps that feed yonder pipes of gold?
 Zacharias	Zac	43	4	13	What said he, canst thou not tell? Not I, my Lord, I answered.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	4	14	What should these be, he said, but the two newly-anointed ones that stand in his presence, who is Master of the whole earth?
 Zacharias	Zac	43	5	1	Once again I looked up, and there before me was a scroll, that had wings to fly with.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	5	2	So when he asked, what saw I, A scroll, I said, that flies past, twenty cubits long and ten broad.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	5	3	Here is ban, said he, that runs all the world over; thief is none, perjurer is none but shall be judged by the tenour of it.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	5	4	It shall go out under my warrant, says the Lord of hosts, making its way into house of thief, house of perjurer that wrongs my name, and clinging close till it makes an end of all, wood-work and stone-work both.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	5	5	Again the angel visited me, and bade me look well at the revelation that was sent me.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	5	6	What is it? I asked. Bushel-measure is this, he told me; And it is nothing other, said he, than guilt of theirs, spread abroad over the whole earth.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	5	7	Then he lifted up the cover, that was a talent’s weight of lead, and what should I see but a woman sitting there within?
 Zacharias	Zac	43	5	8	Godlessness, he told me, is the name of her; and with that he thrust her back into the barrel, and fastened down the cover of lead.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	5	9	And now, looking up, I saw two other women appearing, that had wings spread out to the wind, strong as a hawk’s wings; and these carried the barrel off, midway between heaven and earth.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	5	10	When I would know whither they carried it, the angel told me,
 Zacharias	Zac	43	5	11	To Sennaar, where it must have a shrine built for it; there it must be set up, and rest on a pedestal of its own.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	6	1	Once more yet I looked up, and had a vision of four chariots, coming out of a pass between two mountains that were all of bronze.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	6	2	Of the horses, the first pair were sorrel, the second black,
 Zacharias	Zac	43	6	3	the third white, the fourth a sturdy pair of roans.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	6	4	And when I asked of my angel monitor what these might be,
 Zacharias	Zac	43	6	5	Here be four winds, he told me, going out on their errand; their place is in his presence, who is Master of the whole earth.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	6	6	So out they went, chariot drawn by black horses turning northwards; the white followed these, and the roans turned southwards,
 Zacharias	Zac	43	6	7	the sturdiest pair of all……Went out on their errand, fain to traverse the whole world through.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	6	8	And a great cry came to me, See, where they reach the north country! All is well in the north country, my heart is content.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	6	9	And a message from the Lord came to Zacharias:
 Zacharias	Zac	43	6	10	From yonder emissaries of the exiled Jews, Holdai, Tobias and Idaias, toll thou must take; this very day bestir thee, and make thy way to the house of Josias, son of Sophonias, whither they have repaired, newly come from Babylon.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	6	11	Gold and silver thou must take from them, and make crowns, to crown the high priest, Josue son of Josedec…
 Zacharias	Zac	43	6	12	This message thou shalt give him from the Lord God of hosts: Here is one takes his name from the Dayspring; where his feet have trodden, spring there shall be. He it is shall rebuild the Lord’s temple;
 Zacharias	Zac	43	6	13	builder of the Lord’s temple, to what honours he shall come! On princely throne he sits, throne of a priest beside him, and between these two, what harmony of counsel!
 Zacharias	Zac	43	6	14	For Helem, Tobias, Idaias, and Hem the son of Sophonias, the crowns they gave shall win remembrance in the temple of the Lord.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	6	15	Men shall come from far away, to work at the temple’s rebuilding; you shall not doubt, then, it was the Lord of hosts gave me my warrant. Will you but heed the voice of the Lord your God, this shall be your reward…
 Zacharias	Zac	43	7	1	In the fourth year of Darius’ reign, another message from the Lord came to Za charias; it was on the fourth day of Casleu, the ninth month.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	7	2	This was the occasion of it; here was Sarasar, with Rogommelech and others of his company, sending envoys to implore the Lord’s favour.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	7	3	A question they put to the priests, there in the temple of the Lord of hosts, and to the prophets besides: Must I yet mourn, yet rid myself of defilement, when the fifth month comes round, as my wont has been these many years past?
 Zacharias	Zac	43	7	4	Then came this message to me from the Lord of hosts:
 Zacharias	Zac	43	7	5	Ask this, of priests and people both; was it indeed fast of mine you kept, all these seventy years, the fifth month and the seventh observing ever with fasting and lament,
 Zacharias	Zac	43	7	6	you, that when food and drink were set before you, shared them with none?
 Zacharias	Zac	43	7	7	Bethink you, what warnings gave he by the prophets of an earlier day, when Jerusalem was yet safe and prosperous, she and the cities about her, populous the western valleys, populous the hill-country of the south.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	7	8	(Such was the word the Lord sent to Zacharias. )
 Zacharias	Zac	43	7	9	A message from the Lord of hosts: Come now, the true award, the tender heart that pities a neighbour’s need!
 Zacharias	Zac	43	7	10	Widow and orphan, the alien and the friendless, wrong no more; brother against brother plot no more!
 Zacharias	Zac	43	7	11	And would they listen? Shrank every shoulder from the burden, deaf ears they turned him,
 Zacharias	Zac	43	7	12	hardened their hearts to adamant. Heed his law they would not; heed they would not, when the Lord of hosts inspired those older prophets to speak in his name. What wonder if his divine anger was aroused beyond measure?
 Zacharias	Zac	43	7	13	What wonder, says the Lord of hosts, they should call in vain on me, that in vain had warned them?
 Zacharias	Zac	43	7	14	So it was I scattered them in unknown countries, left their land a desert, where none came or went; a land so fair, by its own inhabitants laid waste.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	8	1	This word, too, came from him:
 Zacharias	Zac	43	8	2	A message from the Lord of hosts! Great ruth have I for Sion, and sore it grieves me.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	8	3	To Sion I will return, so runs his promise, and make in Jerusalem my home; The loyal city, men shall call her, and that mountain where dwells the Lord of hosts, The holy mountain.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	8	4	This, too: Trust me, there shall yet be aged folk in the streets of Jerusalem, men and women both, that go staff in hand, they are so bowed with years;
 Zacharias	Zac	43	8	5	thronged they shall be, those streets, with boys and girls at play in the open.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	8	6	And this: Hard to believe? So now they find it, poor remnant of a people; but should I, the Lord of hosts, find it hard to perform?
 Zacharias	Zac	43	8	7	And this, too: See if I do not rescue my people from the east country and the west,
 Zacharias	Zac	43	8	8	bring them back to dwell here, in the midst of Jerusalem; they my people, and I their God, in troth and loyalty either to other bound.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	8	9	A message from the Lord of hosts! Take courage, then, you that still hold fast by the commands the prophets gave you, when the foundations of yonder house were a-laying, and the Lord of hosts had no temple yet.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	8	10	Before that time, labour went unrewarded, for man and beast; so hard pressed were you, none might come or go in safety; every man, in those days, I left at his neighbour’s mercy.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	8	11	But now, says the Lord of hosts, this remnant of my people shall enjoy better fortune;
 Zacharias	Zac	43	8	12	a happier seed-time is theirs. Its fruit the vineyard shall yield, the land its harvest, heaven its rain, and all for this remnant to enjoy.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	8	13	Breed of Juda, breed of Israel, by-words of misfortune once, when heathen folk fell to cursing their enemies; happy deliverance, they shall be names of blessing now! Your fears vanquish, go bravely on;
 Zacharias	Zac	43	8	14	he, the Lord of hosts, gives you his warrant for it. Time was, says he, when your fathers had roused my anger, and I was ever planning mischief against you;
 Zacharias	Zac	43	8	15	no respite then! Today, for the good estate of Juda and Jerusalem plan I no less eagerly; vanquish your fears.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	8	16	And for your part, this do: deal honestly with your neighbours, give ever in your market-place the true, the salutary award;
 Zacharias	Zac	43	8	17	harbour no ill thoughts one against another, nor set your hearts on the oath falsely sworn; every deed of wrong is hateful to me, the Lord says.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	8	18	And word came to me from the Lord of hosts, bidding me say this in his name:
 Zacharias	Zac	43	8	19	Fasts you kept ever, when three months of the year, or four, six months or nine were gone, shall be all rejoicing and gladness for the men of Juda now, all high festival, will you but love true dealing and peaceful ways.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	8	20	This promise I give you from the Lord of hosts: What alien throngs, from what far cities, shall make pilgrimage yet!
 Zacharias	Zac	43	8	21	And ever, as fresh towns they reach, says pilgrim, Come with us, and welcome; court we the divine favour, to the Lord of hosts repair we; says townsman, Go with you I will.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	8	22	No nation so populous, no kingdom so strong, but shall betake itself to Jerusalem, to find the Lord of hosts and court his divine favour.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	8	23	This, too: A time is coming, when there is never a man of Jewish blood but shall have ten Gentiles at his heels, and no two of the same speech; clinging all at once to the skirts of him, and crying, Your way is ours! The tale has reached us, how God is there to protect you.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	9	1	Burden of the Lord’s doom, where falls it now? On Hadrach’s land; ay, and Damascus shall be its resting-place; all men’s eyes are fixed on the Lord, all the tribes of Israel are watching him now.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	9	2	Perilously near is Emath, and yonder cities of Tyre and Sidon, so famed for wisdom.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	9	3	This Tyre, how strong a fortress she has built, what silver and gold she has amassed, till they were common as clay, as mire in the streets!
 Zacharias	Zac	43	9	4	Ay, but the Lord means to dispossess her; cast into the sea, all that wealth of hers, and herself burnt to the ground!
 Zacharias	Zac	43	9	5	At the sight of it, how Ascalon trembles, how Gaza mourns, and Accaron, for hopes belied; no chieftain in Gaza, no townsfolk left in Ascalon now;
 Zacharias	Zac	43	9	6	in Azotus dwells a bastard breed. So low will I bring the pride of yonder Philistines;
 Zacharias	Zac	43	9	7	snatch the blood-stained morsel from their mouths, the unhallowed food theirs no longer; servant of our God he shall be that is left surviving, a clansman in Juda; so shall Accaron be all one with the Jebusite.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	9	8	I have sentinels that shall march to and fro, guarding this home of mine, and none shall take toll of it henceforward; my eyes are watching now.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	9	9	Glad news for thee, widowed Sion; cry out for happiness, Jerusalem forlorn! See where thy king comes to greet thee, a trusty deliverer; see how lowly he rides, mounted on an ass, patient colt of patient dam!
 Zacharias	Zac	43	9	10	Chariots of thine, Ephraim, horses of thine, Jerusalem, shall be done away, bow of the warrior be unstrung; peace this king shall impose on the world, reigning from sea to sea, from Euphrates to the world’s end.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	9	11	How should they be ransomed, but by the blood of thy covenant with me, those thy fellow-countrymen, in waterless dungeons bound?
 Zacharias	Zac	43	9	12	To these sheltering walls, O patient prisoners, return; you have my warrant, double recompense shall be granted you.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	9	13	Bow of mine is Juda, Ephraim my shafts employ; Greece, look to thy sons when I match the sons of Sion against them, sword in a warrior’s hand!
 Zacharias	Zac	43	9	14	See him there, in visible form, high above them, the Lord God, that volleys down shaft of his lightning, sounds with the trumpet, rides on the storm-wind of the south!
 Zacharias	Zac	43	9	15	He, the Lord of hosts, will be their protection; with sling-stones for teeth, flesh of men eat they, drink blood like revellers at their wine; not sacrificial bowl, nor altar’s horns, so drenched with blood.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	9	16	His own people, his own sheep, will not the Lord God in that hour defend them? His own sacred trophy themselves shall be, to this land of his beckoning all men’s eyes;
 Zacharias	Zac	43	9	17	a people how blessed and how fair! So well with corn and wine furnished, both man and maid shall thrive.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	10	1	For rain in spring whom but the Lord entreat we? He it is, none else, fashions the snow, waters the crops on this farm or that.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	10	2	Vain the false god’s foretelling, vainly diviner cheats us, and dreams delude; comfort they have none to give; such ways Israel has followed, like a flock of sheep untended, and to its cost.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	10	3	What marvel if my anger blazed out against the shepherds? A reckoning I must have with yonder buck-goats; ay, the Lord of hosts would keep strict count of his flock, the sons of Juda. Who but Israel is the proud charger I will ride into battle?
 Zacharias	Zac	43	10	4	Corner-stone, he, of the building, peg of the tent’s rope, bow that shall win the day; spoilers of the world he, none other, shall send forth.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	10	5	Warriors they shall be that go out to battle trampling all before them in the mire; does not the Lord go out to battle at their side? Well mounted, their enemies could yet nothing win.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	10	6	Such aid the men of Juda shall have, the sons of Joseph such deliverance; in pity I will restore them, and all shall be as it was before I cast them off from me; I am the Lord their God, shall I not heed them?
 Zacharias	Zac	43	10	7	Ephraim, of great warriors the peer! Glad all hearts shall be, as when the wine-cup goes round; children of his shall acclaim the sight, and triumph lustily in the Lord.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	10	8	Flock of my ransoming, see how they gather at my call! Thriving now as they throve long since,
 Zacharias	Zac	43	10	9	yet scattered through the world, in those distant lands they shall remember me; with spirits revived, they and their children shall return.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	10	10	Back from Egypt, back from Assyria I will summon them, rally them, to Galaad and Lebanon bring them home; and that home shall be too small for them.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	10	11	Crossed, yonder straits, the sea’s wave checked, depths of the river disappointed of their prey! Assyria’s pride brought low, empire of Egypt cut down!
 Zacharias	Zac	43	10	12	In the Lord they shall find strength, under his protection come and go; so runs the divine promise.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	11	1	Fling thy gates wide, Lebanon, for the fire to come in, and devour thy cedars!
 Zacharias	Zac	43	11	2	Lament, neighbour pine-tree, for cedar overthrown; here be lordly ones plundered; lament, oaks of Basan, for the secret forest that is cut down!
 Zacharias	Zac	43	11	3	Hark, how the shepherd-folk lament, their fine mantle gone, how roars lion for the thickets of Jordan stripped!
 Zacharias	Zac	43	11	4	This message the Lord my God sent me: To this flock that is a-fattening for slaughter thou must play the shepherd.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	11	5	What, would they slay without remorse, yonder lords of the flock, sell carcase, and thank the Lord that so enriches them; are there shepherds so unmerciful?
 Zacharias	Zac	43	11	6	Nay, I will be unmerciful too, the Lord says, to all that dwell on earth; I will leave every son of Adam at the mercy of his neighbour, or the king that rules over him; broken and bowed the land shall be, and no redress shall they have from me henceforward!
 Zacharias	Zac	43	11	7	Poor sheep fattening for slaughter, take charge of your flock I must; and two staves I made me, for the better tending of it, one I called Beauty, and the other Cords.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	11	8	Before a month was up, of three shepherds I had rid them, yet had I no patience with them, and they of me grew no less weary.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	11	9	No more will I tend you, said I; perish all of you that will perish, be lost all that will be lost; and for the residue, let them devour one another; I care not.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	11	10	With that, I took up the staff I called Beauty, and cut it in two; in token that my covenant with all the world should be null.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	11	11	Null it was thenceforward; and doubt they might not, the starvelings of the flock that looked up to me, the Lord’s word had come to them.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	11	12	… And now, said I, pay me my wages, if pay you will; if not, say no more. So they paid me for my wages thirty pieces of silver.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	11	13	Why, the Lord said, here is a princely sum they rate me at! Throw it to the craftsman yonder. So there, in the Lord’s temple, I threw the craftsman my thirty pieces of silver…
 Zacharias	Zac	43	11	14	Then I took my other staff, Cords, and cut it in two; in token that all brotherhood was at an end between Juda and Israel.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	11	15	And the Lord said, Gear of a foolish shepherd thou must take to thee now.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	11	16	See if I do not find me such a shepherd for this land of theirs, as will leave lost sheep uncounted, strayed sheep unsought, hurt sheep unhealed; and such as are left whole, feed he will not, but eat ever the fattest of them, tearing only the hoofs away.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	11	17	Out upon the false shepherd that abandons his flock! Sword shall pierce the arm of him, and the right eye of him, till arm is withered and eye darkened quite.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	12	1	Burden of the Lord’s doom, where falls it now? On Israel. Word from the Lord, who spread heaven out, founded earth, fashions the life that beats in man!
 Zacharias	Zac	43	12	2	This is my decree, that Jerusalem’s walls (ay, and the whole of Juda shall man those ramparts) be offered to all the nations round about for a fatal cup;
 Zacharias	Zac	43	12	3	to all the world Jerusalem shall be a stone immoveable; lift it who will, shall be torn unmercifully. See where they muster to the attack, all the kingdoms of the world!
 Zacharias	Zac	43	12	4	Time now, the Lord says, to dazzle steed and craze rider’s wits; for Juda, the sunshine of my regard, the heathen must ride in darkness.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	12	5	Vainly do yonder chieftains of Juda look to the garrison of Jerusalem to be their succour, in the strength of the Lord their God;
 Zacharias	Zac	43	12	6	chieftains of Juda themselves shall be my instruments then, fire-brand in the forest, spark among the dry sheaves, to devour all the nations right and left of them. Jerusalem shall stand, when all is over, where Jerusalem stood;
 Zacharias	Zac	43	12	7	but to the country folk of Juda the Lord grants deliverance first; clan of David, citizens of Jerusalem shall not boast themselves better than the rest.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	12	8	When that day comes, the men of Jerusalem shall have the Lord for their stay; the lowest fallen among them shall seem royal as David’s self, and David’s clansmen a race divine, as though an angel of the Lord marched at their head.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	12	9	Never a nation that marched on Jerusalem but I will hunt it down, when that day comes, and make an end of it.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	12	10	On David’s clan, on all the citizens of Jerusalem, I will pour out a gracious spirit of prayer; towards me they shall look, me whom they have pierced through. Lament for him they must, and grieve bitterly; never was such lament for an only son, grief so bitter over first-born dead.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	12	11	When that day comes, great shall be the mourning in Jerusalem, great as Adadremmon’s mourning at Mageddo;
 Zacharias	Zac	43	12	12	the whole land in mourning, all its families apart. Here the men of David’s clan, yonder their women,
 Zacharias	Zac	43	12	13	here the men of Nathan’s, yonder their women, here the men of Levi’s, yonder their women, here the men of Semei’s, yonder their women;
 Zacharias	Zac	43	12	14	apart they shall mourn, whatever families there be, and all their women-folk apart.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	13	1	When that day comes, clansmen of David and citizens of Jerusalem shall have a fountain flowing openly, of guilt to rid them, and of defilement.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	13	2	A time shall come, says the Lord of hosts, when I will efface the memory of the false gods; the very names of them shall be forgotten; banish, too, the false prophets, and the unclean spirit they echo.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	13	3	Dares one of them prophesy again, all men will turn against him, even the parents that begot him; Still at thy lying, and in the Lord’s name? Thou shalt die for it! And with a javelin’s thrust father and mother will take the life they gave.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	13	4	When that day comes, never a prophet but shall rue the false vision he trusted in. Deceitful garb of sackcloth each one shall throw aside;
 Zacharias	Zac	43	13	5	No prophet am I, but a simple peasant, that grew up to follow Adam’s trade!
 Zacharias	Zac	43	13	6	Ask they, What wounds be these in thy clasped hands? Thus wounded was I, he shall answer, in the house of my friends.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	13	7	Up, sword, and attack this shepherd of mine, neighbour of mine, says the Lord of hosts. Smite shepherd, and his flock shall scatter; so upon the common folk my vengeance shall fall.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	13	8	All over this land, the Lord says, two thirds of them are forfeit to destruction, only a third shall be left to dwell there;
 Zacharias	Zac	43	13	9	and this third part, through fire I will lead them; purged they shall be as silver is purged, tried as gold is tried. Theirs on my name to call, their plea mine to grant; My own people, so I greet them, and they answer, The Lord is my own God.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	14	1	The Lord’s appointed time is coming, when spoil of thee shall be divided in thy midst.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	14	2	All the nations of the world I will muster to the siege of Jerusalem; taken the city shall be, and its houses pillaged, and its women-folk ravished; of the defenders, half will go into exile, and leave but a remnant in the city.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	14	3	And then the Lord will go out to battle against those nations, as he did ever in the decisive hour.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	14	4	There on the mount of Olives, that faces Jerusalem on the east, his feet shall be set; to east and west the mount of Olives shall be cloven in two halves, with a great chasm between, and the two halves shall move apart, one northward, one southward.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	14	5	Down the clefts of that sacred hill-side you shall flee, each of them now leading to the next; flee as you fled before the earthquake, in Ozias’ time, that reigned over Juda; on, on he comes, the Lord my God, with all his sacred retinue.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	14	6	Light there shall be none that day, all shall be frost and cold;
 Zacharias	Zac	43	14	7	one day there shall be, none but the Lord knows the length of it, that shall be neither daylight nor dark, but when evening comes, there shall be light.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	14	8	Then a living stream will flow from Jerusalem, half to the eastern, half to the western sea, winter and summer both;
 Zacharias	Zac	43	14	9	and over all the earth the Lord shall be king, one Lord, called everywhere by one name.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	14	10	What shall be the land’s frontiers? The desert, and Geba, and Remmon that is south of Jerusalem. What of the city? It shall be built up high, and its true limits keep, from gate of Benjamin to main gate and corner gate, from tower of Hananeel to the king’s wine-press.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	14	11	A populous city, no ban resting on it thenceforward; a secure dwelling-place.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	14	12	And what of the visitation that shall smite down the assailants of Jerusalem? Wasted away the flesh of them, till they can keep their feet no longer; wasted away eye in socket and tongue in mouth;
 Zacharias	Zac	43	14	13	with great tumult of mind the Lord will bemuse them that day, each of them laying hands on his fellow, brother engaging brother in fight.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	14	14	Juda meanwhile, shall set about the regaining of Jerusalem, and find the spoils of every neighbouring people amassed there, gold, and silver, and of raiment great abundance;
 Zacharias	Zac	43	14	15	but as for horse and mule, camel and ass, and all the cattle in yonder camp, these will have perished by the same plague as their masters.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	14	16	Yet of all the nations that sent their armies against Jerusalem there shall be some remnant left; and these, year by year, shall make pilgrimage, to worship their King, the Lord of hosts, and keep his feast of Tent-dwelling.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	14	17	Come and worship their King they must, the Lord of hosts; else no rain shall fall on them, all the world over.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	14	18	What then of Egypt’s folk, that rain have none? What if they refuse to go on pilgrimage? Why, for their neglecting of this feast, the same plague shall fall on them which the Lord sent on the heathen armies aforesaid.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	14	19	Be it Egypt, or be it any other nation, that will not keep the feast of Tent-dwelling, punished it shall be in this fashion or in that.
 Zacharias	Zac	43	14	20	Spoils from the enemy’s bridle-rein shall be consecrated on that day to the Lord’s service, till there is never pot or pan in his temple but rivals the altar’s bowls for costliness!
 Zacharias	Zac	43	14	21	Nay, never pot or pan in all Jerusalem but shall be consecrated to the Lord of hosts, for any who will to come and take it and seethe victim in it; trafficking there shall be no more in the Lord’s temple, when that day comes.
 Malachias	Mal	44	1	1	Here follows burden of the Lord’s doom for Israel, that was entrusted to Mala-chias.
 Malachias	Mal	44	1	2	Oh, but I have dealt lovingly with you! the Lord says. Would you know, wherein I shewed my love? This tell me; was not Esau brother to Jacob? Yet to Jacob I proved myself a friend, the Lord says,
 Malachias	Mal	44	1	3	no friend to Esau; I have made a waste of yonder mountain-side, of all his lands a dragon-haunted desert.
 Malachias	Mal	44	1	4	Ay, but, says Edom, what if we have fallen on evil days? Give us time to repair the ruins! Trust me, says the Lord of hosts, as fast as they build, I will pull down; land of rebellion men shall call it, brood the Lord hates, and for ever.
 Malachias	Mal	44	1	5	Glad sight, to make you cry God praise from end to end of Israel!
 Malachias	Mal	44	1	6	Son to father, servant to master gives his due. Your father I, where is the honour, your master I, where is the reverence you owe me? Such complaint the Lord of hosts makes, and to whom?
 Malachias	Mal	44	1	7	To you, priests, that care so little for my renown. Ask you what care was lacking, when the bread you offer at my altar is defiled, ask you what despite you have done me, when you write down the Lord’s table a thing of little moment?
 Malachias	Mal	44	1	8	What, no harm done, when victim you offer in sacrifice is blind? No harm done, when it is lame or diseased? Pray you, says the Lord of hosts, make such a gift to the governor yonder, will he be content? Will he make favourites of you?
 Malachias	Mal	44	1	9	Ay, says the Lord of hosts, the guilt is yours. To the divine presence betake you, and sue for pardon; which of you finds favour with him?
 Malachias	Mal	44	1	10	Never a man of you but must be paid to shut door, light altar-fire; no friends of mine, says the Lord of hosts, no gifts will I take from such as you.
 Malachias	Mal	44	1	11	No corner of the world, from sun’s rise to sun’s setting, where the renown of me is not heard among the Gentiles, where sacrifice is not done, and pure offering made in my honour; so revered is my name, says the Lord of hosts, there among the Gentiles;
 Malachias	Mal	44	1	12	and you? That you should hold it so cheap! That you should think to yourselves, The Lord’s table is desecrated now; it makes no matter what food lies there, or what fire burns it!
 Malachias	Mal	44	1	13	Weary work, say you, and dismiss it with a sigh. Beast mangled, beast gone lame, beast that is ailing you present to me, and the bloodless offering with it. And should the Lord of hosts accept the gift you make him?
 Malachias	Mal	44	1	14	Cursed be the knavery that offers the Lord gelt beast, when vows are a-paying, and all the while there is an entire beast left at home! Offers it to the Lord of hosts, the great King, no name in all the world so terrible!
 Malachias	Mal	44	2	1	It is for you, priests, to see that this law of mine is obeyed.
 Malachias	Mal	44	2	2	Give me neither heed nor hearing, says the Lord of hosts, let my name go unhonoured, and with sore distress I will visit you; falls my curse on all the blessings you enjoy, falls my curse…, to the punishing of your heedlessness.
 Malachias	Mal	44	2	3	Arm of yours I will strike motionless, bury your faces in dung, ay, the dung of your own sacrifices, and to the dung-pit you shall go.
 Malachias	Mal	44	2	4	So you shall learn your lesson; my law I gave you, says the Lord of hosts, in token of my covenant with Levi’s family.
 Malachias	Mal	44	2	5	Live they should and thrive, but the fear of me I enjoined upon them; none but should fear, and hold my name in reverence.
 Malachias	Mal	44	2	6	Faithfully they handed on tradition, the lie never on their lips; safe and straight was the path they trod at my side, and kept many from wrong-doing.
 Malachias	Mal	44	2	7	No utterance like a priest’s for learning; from no other lips men will expect true guidance; is he not a messenger to them from the Lord of hosts?
 Malachias	Mal	44	2	8	That path you have forsaken; through your ill teaching, how many a foothold lost! Nay, says the Lord of hosts, you have annulled my covenant with Levi altogether.
 Malachias	Mal	44	2	9	What wonder if I have made you a laughing-stock, a thing contemptible in all men’s sight, priests that so ill kept my command, gave award so partially?
 Malachias	Mal	44	2	10	Have we not all one Father, did not one God create us all? No room, then, for brother to despise brother, and unmake the covenant by which our fathers lived.
 Malachias	Mal	44	2	11	Here is great wrong in Juda, here are foul deeds done by Israel and Jerusalem! Juda, that was once content to be set apart for the Lord, has profaned that holy estate, has taken wives that worship a god he knew not.
 Malachias	Mal	44	2	12	Doer of such a deed, set he or followed the ill example, shall be lost to the dwelling-place of Jacob, for all his offerings made to the Lord of hosts.
 Malachias	Mal	44	2	13	And anon, weeping and wailing, you drench the Lord’s altar with your tears! What marvel if I heed your sacrifices no more, gift of yours is none can appease me?
 Malachias	Mal	44	2	14	And the reason of it? Because the Lord bears witness to her wrongs, that wife of thy manhood’s age, whom now thou spurnest, thy partner, thy covenanted bride!
 Malachias	Mal	44	2	15	Yet doer of this is the same man as ever, the will of him is unchanged; he asks nothing better, now as before, than to breed a God-fearing race; to that will, men of Juda, keep true. Spurn her not, the wife of thy manhood’s age;
 Malachias	Mal	44	2	16	what though the God of Israel gives thee leave to send her away if she suits thee ill? Garment of her, says the Lord of hosts, is yet stained with the wrong thou didst her. Will of thine forgo not, wife of thine spurn not.
 Malachias	Mal	44	2	17	Oh, but the Lord is aweary of your doings! And little wonder, when you think so amiss of him; telling yourselves, Foul is fair in the Lord’s sight, and wrong-doing well likes him; God that judges us is none.
 Malachias	Mal	44	3	1	See where I am sending an angel of mine, to make the way ready for my coming! All at once the Lord will visit his temple; that Lord, so longed for, welcome herald of a divine covenant. Ay, says the Lord of hosts, he is coming;
 Malachias	Mal	44	3	2	but who can bear the thought of that advent? Who will stand with head erect at his appearing? He will put men to a test fierce as the crucible, searching as the lye that fullers use.
 Malachias	Mal	44	3	3	From his judgement-seat, he will refine that silver of his and cleanse it from dross; like silver or gold, the sons of Levi must be refined in the crucible, ere they can offer the Lord sacrifice duly performed.
 Malachias	Mal	44	3	4	Then once more the Lord will accept the offerings of Juda and Jerusalem, as he did long since, in the forgotten years.
 Malachias	Mal	44	3	5	Come I to hold assize, not slow to arraign the sorcerer, the adulterer, the forsworn, all of you that deny hired man his wages, widow and orphan redress, the alien his right, fearing no vengeance from the Lord of hosts.
 Malachias	Mal	44	3	6	In me, the Eternal, there is no change, and you, sons of Jacob, are a people still.
 Malachias	Mal	44	3	7	What though you have refused my claims, left them unhonoured, as your fathers did before you? Nay, says the Lord of hosts, you have but to relent towards me, and I, in my turn, will relent. Would you know the manner of it,
 Malachias	Mal	44	3	8	bethink you that it is not for man to wrong God, as you wrong me; out of all question you wrong me, over your tithes and first-fruits.
 Malachias	Mal	44	3	9	Ay, here is sworn conspiracy; it is myself you wrong, the whole brood of you!
 Malachias	Mal	44	3	10	Do but carry your tithe into the tithe-barn, for my temple’s needs, and see if I do not open the windows of heaven for you, rain down blessing to your hearts’ content!
 Malachias	Mal	44	3	11	Ban of mine shall fall on the locust, and to your crops he shall do no harm; nowhere in all your country-side, I promise you, shall vine cast its fruits;
 Malachias	Mal	44	3	12	the envy of all nations you shall be, says the Lord of hosts, a land of content.
 Malachias	Mal	44	3	13	And now, says the Lord of hosts, your complaints have had their way with me.
 Malachias	Mal	44	3	14	Complain you did: Who serves God serves him for nothing; what reward is ours for keeping command of his, attending with sad mien the Lord of hosts?
 Malachias	Mal	44	3	15	Here are proud folk more to be envied than we, ill-doers that yet thrive, abusers of his patience that escape all harm!
 Malachias	Mal	44	3	16	So they used to talk among themselves, his true worshippers, till at last the Lord gave them heed and hearing; and now he would have a record kept in his presence of all that so worshipped him, all that prized his renown.
 Malachias	Mal	44	3	17	Dear they shall be to me, says the Lord of hosts, when I declare myself at last; never to loyal son was father more gracious;
 Malachias	Mal	44	3	18	then you shall think better of it, and know them apart, the just that serve God and the sinners that are none of his.
 Malachias	Mal	44	4	1	Trust me, a day is coming that shall scorch like a furnace; stubble they shall be before it, says the Lord of hosts, all the proud, all the wrong-doers, caught and set alight, and neither root nor branch left them.
 Malachias	Mal	44	4	2	But to you that honour my name there shall be a sunrise of restoration, swift-winged, bearing redress; light-hearted as frisking calves at stall you shall go out to meet it,
 Malachias	Mal	44	4	3	ay, and trample on your godless enemy, ashes, now, to be spurned under foot, on that day when the Lord of hosts declares himself at last.
 Malachias	Mal	44	4	4	Yours to keep the law ever in mind, statute and award I gave to assembled Israel through Moses, that was my servant.
 Malachias	Mal	44	4	5	And before ever that day comes, great day and terrible, I will send Elias to be your prophet;
 Malachias	Mal	44	4	6	he it is shall reconcile heart of father to son, heart of son to father; else the whole of earth should be forfeit to my vengeance.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	1	1	Now turn we to Alexander son of Philip, the Macedonian, that was the first to reign over all Greece. This Alexander marched out from his own land of Cethim, and overcame Darius, king of the Medes and Persians.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	1	2	Battles he waged a many; nor any fortress might hold out against him, nor any king escape with his life;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	1	3	and so he journeyed on to the world’s end, spoiling the nations everywhere; at his coming, silence fell on the earth.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	1	4	So great the power of him, so valiant his armies, what wonder if his heart grew proud?
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	1	5	All those lands conquered, all those kings his tributaries!
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	1	6	Then, all at once, he took to his bed, and the knowledge came to him he must die.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	1	7	Whereupon he summoned the noblest of his courtiers, men that had shared his own upbringing, and to these, while he had life in him yet, divided up his kingdom.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	1	8	So reigned Alexander for twelve years, and so died.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	1	9	And what of these courtiers turned princes, each with a province of his own?
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	1	10	Be sure they put on royal crowns, they and their sons after them, and so the world went from bad to worse.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	1	11	Burgeoned then from the stock of Antiochus a poisoned growth, another Antiochus, he that was called the Illustrious. He had been formerly a hostage at Rome, but now, in the hundred and thirty-seventh year of the Grecian empire, he came into his kingdom.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	1	12	In his day there were godless talkers abroad in Israel, that did not want for a hearing; Come, said they, let us make terms with the heathen that dwell about us! Ever since we forswore their company, nought but trouble has come our way.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	1	13	What would you? Such talk gained credit,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	1	14	and some were at pains to ask for the royal warrant; whereupon leave was given them, Gentile usages they should follow if they would.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	1	15	With that, they must have a game-place at Jerusalem, after the Gentile fashion,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	1	16	ay, and go uncircumcised; forgotten, their loyalty to the holy covenant, they must throw in their lot with the heathen, and become the slaves of impiety.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	1	17	And now that he was firmly established on his throne, Antiochus would be lord of Egypt, and wear two crowns at once.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	1	18	So, with overwhelming force, with chariots and elephants and horsemen and a great array of ships, he marched on Egypt,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	1	19	and levied war against king Ptolemy, that could not hold his ground, but fled away, leaving many fallen.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	1	20	So Antiochus made himself master of all the strongholds in Egypt, and ransacked it for spoil;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	1	21	then, in the hundred and forty-third year, he turned his victorious march against Israel.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	1	22	With all that great army of his he came to Jerusalem
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	1	23	and entered the sanctuary in royal state; the golden altar, the lamp-stand with its appurtenances, the table where bread was set out, beaker and goblet and golden bowl, curtain and capital and golden facings of the temple, all alike were stripped.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	1	24	Silver nor gold was spared, nor any ornament of price, nor hoarded treasures could he but find them; and thus laden he went back to his own country,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	1	25	first shedding a deal of blood, and speaking very blasphemously.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	1	26	Loud mourning there was in Israel, mourning in all the country-side;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	1	27	wept ruler and elder, pined man and maid, and colour fled from woman’s cheeks;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	1	28	bridegroom took up the dirge, bride sat in her bower disconsolate;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	1	29	here was a land that trembled for its inhabitants, a whole race covered with confusion.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	1	30	Two years passed, and then the king sent his chief collector of revenue to visit the cities of Juda. To Jerusalem he came, with a great rabble at his heels,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	1	31	and won credence with idle professions of friendship.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	1	32	Then he fell suddenly on the town and grievously mishandled it, slaying Israelites a many,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	1	33	plundering the city and setting fire to it. Houses and encircling walls of it were thrown down in ruins,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	1	34	women and children carried off into slavery, cattle driven away.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	1	35	And as for David’s Keep, they enclosed it with high, strong walls, and strong towers besides, to serve them for a fortress;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	1	36	garrisoned it with a godless crew of sinners like themselves, and made it fast, storing it with arms and provisions, besides the plunder they had amassed in Jerusalem,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	1	37	which they bestowed there for safety. Alas, what peril of treachery was here,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	1	38	what an ambush laid about the holy place, what devil’s work against Israel!
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	1	39	What a tide of guiltless blood must flow about the sanctuary, till it was a sanctuary no more!
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	1	40	Little wonder if the inhabitants of Jerusalem took to flight, leaving their city to strangers; mother so unnatural her own children must forsake.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	1	41	Her sanctuary a desert solitude, her feasts all lament, her sabbaths derided, her greatness brought low!
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	1	42	Her pride was the measure of that abasement, her glory of that shame.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	1	43	And now came a letter from king Antiochus to all the subjects of his realm, bidding them leave ancestral custom of this race or that, and become one nation instead.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	1	44	As for the heathen, they fell in readily enough with the royal will;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	1	45	and in Israel itself there were many that chose slavery, offering sacrifice to false gods and leaving the sabbath unobserved.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	1	46	Both in Jerusalem and in all the cities of Juda the king’s envoys published this edict; men must live by the law of the heathen round about,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	1	47	burnt-sacrifice, offering and atonement in God’s temple should be none,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	1	48	nor sabbath kept, nor feast-day.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	1	49	And, for the more profanation of the sanctuary, and of Israel’s holy people,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	1	50	altar and shrine and idol must be set up, swine’s flesh offered, and all manner of unhallowed meat;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	1	51	children be left uncircumcised, and their innocent lives contaminated with rites unclean, abominable; till the law should be forgotten, and the divine precepts fashioned anew.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	1	52	Durst any neglect the royal bidding, he must die.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	1	53	Through the whole of his dominions the king’s writ ran, and commissioners were appointed besides to enforce it;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	1	54	no city of Juda but was ordered to do sacrifice.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	1	55	Many there were, traitors to the divine law, that took their part, and much mischief they did,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	1	56	driving the men of Israel to seek refuge in hiding, where refuge was to be had.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	1	57	It was on the fifteenth of Casleu, in the hundred and forty-fifth year, that king Antiochus set up an idol to desecrate God’s altar; shrines there were in every township of Juda,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	1	58	offering of incense and of victims before house doors and in the open street;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	1	59	never a copy of the divine law but was torn up and burned;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	1	60	if any were found that kept the sacred record, or obeyed the Lord’s will, his life was forfeit to the king’s edict.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	1	61	Month by month such deeds of violence were done, in all townships where men of Israel dwelt,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	1	62	and on the twenty-fifth of the month sacrifice was made at the shrine that overshadowed the altar.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	1	63	Death it was for woman to have her child circumcised in defiance of the king;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	1	64	there in her own house she must be hung up, with the child about her neck, and the circumciser, too, must pay for it with his life.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	1	65	Many a son of Israel refused the unclean food, preferring death to defilement;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	1	66	and die they must, because they would not break God’s holy law.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	1	67	Grievous, most grievous was the doom that hung then over his people.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	1	In those days it was that Mattathias came forward, son of John, son of Simeon, a priest of Joarib’s family; he was for Jerusalem no more, but would take up his dwelling on the hill-side at Modin.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	2	Five sons he had, John, that was also called Gaddis,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	3	Simon (or Thasi),
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	4	Judas (or Machabaeus),
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	5	Eleazar (or Abaron), and Jonathan (or Apphus)
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	6	and these saw well what foul things were a-doing in Juda’s country and the city of Jerusalem.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	7	Alas, what needed it, cried Mattathias, I should have been born into such an age as this? To see my people and the holy city alike brought to ruin, to sit by while the enemy overcame her,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	8	and in her very sanctuary the alien had his will? Temple of hers like a churl’s lot disregarded,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	9	rare treasure of hers into exile carried away; young and old, in the open streets of her, put to the sword!
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	10	Never a race in heathendom but may parcel out her domains, grow rich with the spoil of her!
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	11	Gone, all her fair adornment; the mistress is turned maid;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	12	laid waste, yonder sanctuary, that was our prize and pride, by Gentile feet dishonoured!
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	13	And would we live yet?
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	14	With that, they tore their garments about them, Mattathias and his sons, and went clad in sackcloth, mourning right bitterly.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	15	And now the pursuivants of king Antiochus came to Modin; take refuge there who might, he must do sacrifice none the less, and burn incense, and leave the following of God’s law.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	16	Out went the folk of Israel to meet them, some complaisantly enough, but Mattathias and his sons firm in their resolve.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	17	And they singled out Mattathias from the rest; A man of mark, said they, and a great chieftain thou; brethren and sons thou hast a many.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	18	Wilt thou not be the first to come forward and do the king’s bidding, with the whole world, and the men of Juda everywhere, and what is left of Jerusalem? To be the king’s friend, thou and thy sons with thee, gold and silver and much else for thy reward!
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	19	Loud rang the answer of Mattathias: What though king Antiochus have the whole world for his vassals? Obey the edict who will, forsaking the custom his fathers lived by,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	20	both I and son of mine, both I and clansman of mine, will obey the law handed down to us.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	21	Mercy of God! What needs it we should leave his will undone, his claims unhonoured?
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	22	To deaf ears king Antiochus proclaims the sacrifice; we swerve not from the law’s path, right or left.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	23	Before he had done speaking, a Jew came to offer the false gods sacrifice, there in full view of all, before the altar at Modin, as the king bade.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	24	Mattathias took fire at the sight of it; one heave of anger his heart gave, and his zeal for the law could contain itself no longer; there on the altar the sacrificer was slain.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	25	Nor spared he the pursuivant of king Antiochus that enjoined it; the altar, too, he pulled down.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	26	Not Phinees himself struck a better blow for the law, when he slew Zamri, the son of Salom!
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	27	And now Mattathias raised a cry in the city, Who loves the law? Who keeps the covenant unbroken? Out with you, and follow me!
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	28	So fled he with his sons into the hill-country, leaving his possessions behind, there in the city.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	29	Many there were that went out into the desert at this time, for love of truth and right;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	30	took children and women-folk and cattle with them, and settled down there, castaways in a flood of misfortune.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	31	But news of it reached Jerusalem, and the king’s men that were in David’s Keep; here were rebels lurking in the waste country, and drawing many over to their side.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	32	So they went out in pursuit, and offered battle; on a sabbath day, as it chanced.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	33	What, still stubborn? cried they. Come out, and yield yourselves to the king’s pleasure; your lives shall be spared.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	34	But the Jews’ answer was, come out and yield to the king’s pleasure they might not; law of the sabbath rest forbade it.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	35	So the attack began in good earnest;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	36	but the Jews made no resistance, never a stone flew, never a hiding-place of theirs was put in a state of defence;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	37	Die we all, they said, innocent men, and let heaven and earth bear witness, it was for no fault of ours we died.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	38	Thus, because it was a sabbath day when the attack was made, these men perished, and their wives and children and cattle with them; a thousand human lives lost.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	39	Great grief it was to Mattathias and his company when they heard what had befallen them;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	40	and now there was high debate raised: Do we as our brethren did, forbear we to give battle for our lives and loyalties, and they will soon make an end of us!
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	41	Then and there it was resolved, if any should attack them on the sabbath day, to engage him, else they should be put to death all of them, like those brethren of theirs in the covert of the hills.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	42	Now it was that the Assidaeans rallied to their side, a party that was of great consequence in Israel, lovers of the law one and all;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	43	and all who would escape from the evils of the time made common cause with them, and came to their assistance.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	44	So, mustering their forces, they wrought indignant vengeance upon sinners that were false to the law, till they were fain to take refuge among the heathen;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	45	wherever they went, Mattathias and his company, they threw the altars down,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	46	and whatever children they found uncircumcised, from one end of Israel to the other, they circumcised by right of conquest.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	47	Ere long, they drove the tyrant’s minions before them, and to such good purpose
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	48	that Gentile was none, king though he were, could restrain the law’s observance; against their onslaught the powers of evil could not make head.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	49	Meanwhile, the life of Mattathias was drawing to an end. And this charge he gave to his sons: Here be days when tyrant and blasphemer have their will, when all is calamity and bitter retribution.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	50	The more reason, my sons, why you should be jealous lovers of the law, ready to give your lives for that covenant your fathers knew.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	51	Your fathers, what deeds they did in their time! Great glory would you win, and a deathless name, let these be your models.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	52	See how Abraham was tested, and how trustfulness of his was counted virtue in him;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	53	see how Joseph in ill fortune was true to the commandment still, and came to be ruler of all Egypt.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	54	Here was Phinees, our own father, that grew hot in God’s cause, and earned the right of priesthood inalienable;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	55	and Josue, that for his loyalty was given command of Israel;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	56	and Caleb, that spoke out in the assembly, what broad acres were his!
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	57	David, for the tender heart of him, left a dynasty that fails not;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	58	for Elias heaven opened, that was champion of the law;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	59	by faith Ananias, Azarias and Misael overcame the furnace,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	60	nor Daniel’s innocence might ravening lions devour.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	61	No generation but proves it; want they never for strength that trust in God.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	62	What, would you fear the tyrant’s threats? In dung and worms his glory shall end;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	63	all royal state to-day, and to-morrow there shall be no news of him; gone back to the dust he came from, and all his designs brought to nothing!
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	64	Nay, my sons, take courage; in the law’s cause rally you, in the law’s annals you shall win renown.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	65	Here is your brother Simon, trust me, a man of prudence; to him ever give heed, he is your father now.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	66	And here is Judas Machabaeus, from boyhood’s days a warrior; let him be your leader, and fight Israel’s battles.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	67	All lovers of the law make free of your fellowship; bring your country redress,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	68	and pay the Gentiles what they have earned; yet heeding ever what the law enjoins.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	69	With that, he gave them his blessing, and became part of his race.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	2	70	He was a hundred and forty-six years old when he died; his sons buried him where his fathers were buried, at Modin, and great lament all Israel made for the loss of him.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	3	1	And now his son Judas, that was called Machabaeus, came forward to succeed him;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	3	2	nor any of Judas’ clan, nor any that had taken his father’s part, but lent him their aid still; right merrily they fought Israel’s battle.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	3	3	Here was one that brought his race renown; as great a warrior as ever donned breastplate, or armed himself for the fight, or drew sword to save his camp from peril;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	3	4	lion-hearted his deeds, not lion itself more relentless in pursuit.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	3	5	Traitors he ever sought out and hunted down, ever with fire-brand the oppressors of his people dislodged,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	3	6	till enemy was none but was daunted by the fear of him, traitor was none but fled in confusion, so well sped he the work of deliverance.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	3	7	Great deeds, that kings rued bitterly, Jacob with exultation heard, posterity holds blessed evermore!
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	3	8	From city to city he went, ridding Juda of its law-breakers, averting the vengeance guilt of theirs had deserved;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	3	9	no corner of earth but he was renowned there, for one that had been able to rally a doomed people.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	3	10	How sped Apollonius, that mustered a great force, of Gentiles and Samaritans both, to fight against Israel?
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	3	11	No sooner Judas heard of it, than he met and routed and slew him; fell many and fled more,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	3	12	leaving their spoils behind them. The sword of Apollonius Judas himself carried away; and this it was he evermore used in battle.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	3	13	And next it was Seron, captain of the armies in Syria, heard what a great retinue and faithful following Judas had;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	3	14	and nothing would serve, but he must win renown and high favour at court by crushing Judas, and all other his companions that defied the king’s edict.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	3	15	So he made all ready, and marched in with a strong muster of the ungodly at his heels, to be even with the men of Israel.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	3	16	As far as Bethoron pass they reached, and there Judas met them with his company, no better than a handful.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	3	17	These, when they saw such a host facing them, were for counsels of prudence; What, they said to Judas, should we offer battle to foes so many and so strong, faint as we be from a day of hungry marching?
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	3	18	Nay, said Judas, nothing forbids great numbers should be at the mercy of small; what matter makes it to the God of heaven, few be his soldiers or many when he grants deliverance?
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	3	19	Armed might avails not to win the day; victory is from above.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	3	20	What though they come to meet us in the proud confidence of superior strength, and think it an easy matter to slay us, slay our wives and children, plunder our goods?
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	3	21	Life and loyalty at stake, we will offer battle none the less;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	3	22	and he, the Lord, will crush them to earth at our coming; never be afraid.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	3	23	And with that, all unawares, he fell upon Seron and his army, that were crushed, sure enough, by his onslaught;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	3	24	all down the pass of Bethoron he gave them chase, down into the plain, and eight hundred of them had fallen before ever they took refuge in the country of the Philistines.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	3	25	By this, the neighbouring peoples had begun to take alarm, so formidable did Judas and his brethren appear to them,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	3	26	and the renown of him reached the king’s court; all the world was talking of Judas and his victories.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	3	27	An angry man was king Antiochus when the news came to him; he sent word round, and had all his army summoned together, a brave array, be sure of it.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	3	28	The treasury must be opened, to provide the troops with a whole year’s pay, and keep them in readiness for every need.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	3	29	Why, what was this? So heavily had Juda suffered, so great the discord he had aroused by the abolishing of its ancient usages, that scant revenue had come in from it, and the treasury was in default!
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	3	30	Whence, now, to defray the cost of that largesse he had made so often, and with so lavish a hand? Never was king before him could rival his munificence.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	3	31	Here was the king in great confusion of mind; and his thought was, to march into Persia and take toll of those countries; great store of money he might there amass.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	3	32	He left Lysias behind, that was a man of high rank and royal blood; he was to administer all the business of the kingdom, from Euphrates down to the Brook of Egypt,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	3	33	and have charge of the young prince Antiochus, until the king’s return.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	3	34	Half his army he entrusted to Lysias, and the elephants besides; and he signified all that he would have done, concerning Juda and Jerusalem particularly.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	3	35	A force must be sent to overpower all that fought for Israel, or were yet left in Jerusalem, and make a clean riddance of them; no trace of these must be left;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	3	36	all through the country settlers must be brought in from abroad, and the lands allotted between them.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	3	37	With that, the king left his capital of Antioch, taking the remainder of his army with him; it was the hundred and forty-seventh year of the empire. Soon he was across Euphrates river, and on the march through the high countries.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	3	38	Three generals Lysias appointed for the task; Ptolemy son of Dorymenes, Nicanor and Gorgias, nobles all that were high in the royal favour;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	3	39	with forty thousand foot and seven thousand horse they were to march on Juda and make an end of it, as the king had ordered.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	3	40	So out they went, with all this army at their back, marched in, and pitched their tents near Emmaus, down in the valley.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	3	41	Be sure the traders all about were apprised of their coming, and made their way into the camp with great sums of silver and gold, and a retinue of servants besides, thinking to buy Israelite slaves; levies, too, from Syria and Philistia made common cause with the invader.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	3	42	Judas, then, and his brethren found that matters had gone from bad to worse; here were the enemy encamped within their frontiers; they heard, besides, what orders the king had given for the destruction and taking away of their people.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	3	43	And the word went round among them, Now to restore the lost fortunes of our race; now to do battle for people of ours, sanctuary of ours!
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	3	44	So a general assembly was called; they must make ready for the fight, and pray besides, to win mercy and pardon.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	3	45	Not at Jerusalem; Jerusalem lay there, no city but a desert waste, nor any of her sons came and went; her sanctuary defiled, her citadel garrisoned by the alien, she was but a haunt of the Gentiles. Sad days for the men of Jacob; pipe nor harp sounded there now.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	3	46	At Maspha, then, they gathered, looking across towards Jerusalem; time was when Maspha, too, had its place of prayer.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	3	47	All that day they fasted, and wore sackcloth, and covered their heads with ashes, and tore their garments about them.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	3	48	What sights were these? Here, lying open, was a copy of the law, such as the heathen were ever making search for, … the counterpart of their own images.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	3	49	Here they had brought priestly vestments, and offering of first-fruits and tithes; here Nazirites were gathered, ripe and ready for the payment of their vows.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	3	50	And a loud cry rose to heaven, What shall we do for these, thy votaries? Whither escort them now?
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	3	51	Sanctuary of thine is all profanation and defilement, priesthood of thine all misery and despair.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	3	52	And now, see where the heathen muster their armies to destroy us! Needs not we should tell thee, how murderous their intent.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	3	53	Lord, but for thy aid, how shall we resist their onslaught?
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	3	54	Loudly their voices, and loud the trumpets rang.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	3	55	Thereupon Judas chose out who should be their leaders, one with a thousand, one with a hundred, one with fifty, one with ten men to follow him;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	3	56	he sent home, too, all such as the law holds exempt; all that had but just built house, or married wife, or planted vineyard, and whoever had no stomach to the fight.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	3	57	Then they moved camp, and pitched their tents southward of Emmaus.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	3	58	Now for girded loins, cried Judas, and brave hearts! By to-morrow’s light, you must engage yonder heathen, sworn enemies to us, and to the ground we hold sacred.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	3	59	Better die in battle, than live to see our race and our sanctuary overpowered.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	3	60	Be it what it may, heaven’s will be done!
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	4	1	That night, a detachment of five thousand foot and a thousand picked horsemen left their lines, under the command of Gorgias,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	4	2	thinking to reach the Jewish camp and strike a sudden blow at it; for guides, they had men of the Jerusalem garrison.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	4	3	But Judas had word of it; out he went, and all his valiant company with him, to attack the main body of the king’s army at Emmaus,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	4	4	while the defences of the camp were yet scattered.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	4	5	So Gorgias, making his night attack on the camp of Judas, and finding it empty, made no doubt they had given him the slip, and fell to scouring the hill-country for them;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	4	6	meanwhile, came day-break, and there was Judas down in the valley. True, there were but three thousand at his back, for defence and attack very ill arrayed;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	4	7	and here was this army of heathen folk, both strong and well protected, with cavalry circling about them, men bred to war!
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	4	8	But Judas cried to his fellows, What, would you be daunted by the numbers of them? Would you give ground before their attack?
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	4	9	Bethink you, what a host it was Pharao sent in pursuit of our fathers, there by the Red Sea, and they escaped none the less.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	4	10	Now, as then, besiege we heaven with our cries; will not the Lord have mercy? Will he not remember the covenant he had with our fathers, and rout, this day, yonder army at our coming?
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	4	11	No doubt shall the world have thenceforward, but there is one claims Israel for his own, and grants her deliverance.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	4	12	And now the heathen folk caught sight of them as they advanced to the attack,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	4	13	and left their lines to give battle. Thereupon Judas’ men sounded with the trumpet,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	4	14	and the two armies met. Routed the Gentiles were, sure enough, and took to their heels across the open country,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	4	15	sword of the pursuer ever catching the hindmost. All the way to Gezeron they were chased, and on into the plains by Idumaea, Azotus and Jamnia, with a loss of three thousand men.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	4	16	When Judas and his army came back from the pursuit,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	4	17	Not yours, he told them, to run greedily after the spoils of the camp; there is battle still awaiting us over yonder.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	4	18	Not far away, in the hill-country, lie Gorgias and his army; first meet you and beat you the enemy, and then you shall fall to your pillaging unafraid.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	4	19	Even as he spoke, they were ware of a company that watched them from the hill-side.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	4	20	But by now the camp was on fire, and it needed no more than the smoke of it to warn Gorgias of his defeat;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	4	21	that sight took the heart out of Syria, the more so when it proved that Judas and his army were in the valley, all appointed for battle,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	4	22	and they fled for their lives, down into the plain of Philistia.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	4	23	So to the pillaging of the camp Judas returned; what gold and silver they found there, what garments of blue and sea-purple, what rich treasures!
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	4	24	Be sure there was singing of songs on their homeward journey, as they praised God in heaven, God who is gracious, whose mercy endures for ever.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	4	25	Here was a day of signal deliverance for Israel.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	4	26	And what of Lysias? News reached him, through the survivors, of what had befallen,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	4	27	and he was both sick and sorry at the hearing; his own will crossed, and his master’s command ill carried out!
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	4	28	So, in the following year, he made a muster of sixty thousand picked men, with five thousand horse, to crush the rebellion;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	4	29	into Judaea they marched, and encamped at Bethoron, where Judas met them with ten thousand.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	4	30	At the sight of their great numbers, this was Judas’ prayer: Blessed art thou, Saviour of Israel, who didst make use of thy servant David, a giant’s onset to overthrow! Victory thou didst give, over an invading army, to Saul’s son Jonathan and the squire that bore him company!
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	4	31	So may yonder host, left at Israel’s mercy, unlearn its confidence in strength and in speed;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	4	32	strike terror into them, let their manhood melt away, as they tremble at the approach of doom;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	4	33	sword of thy true lovers be their undoing, triumph-song of thy worshippers their dirge!
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	4	34	With that, battle was joined, and of Lysias’ men, five thousand were left dead on the field.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	4	35	What should he do? Here were his troops fled in disorder, here was Judas in command of brave men, that would as soon have an honourable death as life itself. Back he went to Antioch, and there levied soldiers for a greater expedition yet against Judaea.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	4	36	And now Judas and his brethren had but one thought; the enemy vanquished, they would betake themselves to Jerusalem, to cleanse and restore the sanctuary.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	4	37	So the whole army fell into rank, and they climbed the hill of Sion together.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	4	38	What saw they? The holy place desolate, the altar profaned, charred gates, courts overgrown with brushwood, like forest clearing or mountain glen, the priests’ lodging in ruins.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	4	39	Upon this, there was rending of garments, and loud lament; dust they cast on their heads,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	4	40	and fell face to earth; then, as the trumpet’s note gave the summons, raised their cries to heaven.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	4	41	And what did Judas? First, he sent a force to engage the citadel’s garrison, while the holy place was a-cleansing;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	4	42	then he chose priests, without blot or blemish, and true lovers of the law besides,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	4	43	who thereupon cleansed the sanctuary, nor any stone that was polluted with idolatry but they had it away into a place unclean.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	4	44	And next, he must concern himself with the altar of burnt-sacrifice, that was now all defiled.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	4	45	And it was good counsel they took; the altar must be destroyed, else the day when the Gentiles polluted it should be remembered to their shame. So destroy it they did,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	4	46	and laid up the stones in a place apt for their purpose, there on the temple hill. Here they must remain, until the coming of a prophet that should give sentence, what was to be done with them.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	4	47	Then they raised a new altar in place of the old, using stones that had never felt the pick, as the law bade;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	4	48	repaired shrine and inner walls, and rid both temple and temple courts of their defilement.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	4	49	New appurtenances, too, the temple must have, lamp-stand, incense-altar and table be restored to it;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	4	50	incense be put on the altar, lamps kindled to light the holy place,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	4	51	loaves set out on the table, and veils hung up; then at length their task was accomplished.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	4	52	On the twenty-fifth of Casleu, the ninth month, in the hundred and forty-eighth year, they rose before daybreak,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	4	53	and offered sacrifice, as the law bade, on the new altar they had set up.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	4	54	This was the very month, the very day, when it had been polluted by the Gentiles; now, on the same day of the same month, it was dedicated anew, with singing of hymns, and music of harp, zither and cymbals.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	4	55	Thereupon all the people fell down face to earth, to adore and praise, high as heaven, the author of their felicity;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	4	56	and for eight days together they celebrated the altar’s renewal, burned victim and brought welcome-offering with glad and grateful hearts.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	4	57	They decked the front wall of the temple, at this time, with gold crowns and escutcheons, consecrated the gates and the priest’s lodging anew, and furnished it with doors;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	4	58	and all the while there was great rejoicing among the people; as for the taunts of the heathen, they were heard no more.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	4	59	No wonder if Judas and his brethren, with the whole assembly of Israel, made a decree that this feast should be kept year by year for eight days together, the feast-day of the altar’s dedication. Came that season, from the twenty-fifth day of Casleu onwards, all was to be rejoicing and holiday.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	4	60	At this time, too, they fortified the hill of Sion, with walls and strong towers all about; never more should Gentile feet profane it.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	4	61	Judas put a garrison there, and would have it strong enough to command Bethsura; a bulwark Israel must have against attack from the frontiers of Edom.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	5	1	Great indignation had the Gentiles that lived round about, when they heard that altar and temple were standing as of old.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	5	2	Their first thought was to rid their own territory of Jacob’s breed, and all at once they set about to murder and harry them.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	5	3	So Judas must needs take arms against them, Esau’s race in Idumaea, and the men of Acrabathane, that were keeping Israelite folk under strict siege; and signally he defeated them.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	5	4	Nor might he overlook Beän’s tribe and the treachery they shewed, ever catching Israel at unawares by laying an ambush in his path.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	5	5	These he chased into their strongholds and besieged them there; laid them under a ban and burned the strongholds to the ground, with their defenders in them.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	5	6	Then he crossed over into Ammon, where he came upon strong resistance and a great muster of men, that had one Timotheus for their leader;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	5	7	often he engaged them, and as often put them to rout; when he had defeated them,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	5	8	and taken Gazer with its daughter townships, he marched back into Judaea.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	5	9	But by this all the heathen folk in the country of Galaad were making common cause against the Israelites who dwelt there, eager to be rid of them. And these, taking refuge in the stronghold of Datheman,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	5	10	sent dispatches to Judas and his brethren. Here be all the neighbours, they wrote, banded together for our destruction.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	5	11	Even now, Timotheus at their head, they are setting about the reduction of this our fortress;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	5	12	come speedily to the rescue; they have taken cruel toll of our lives already.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	5	13	Slain, all those clansmen of ours that had their dwelling in the Tubin country, carried away, their wives, their children, and their goods; nigh upon a thousand warriors then and there have perished.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	5	14	This letter was still in the reading, when all of a sudden came other envoys from Galilee, their garments rent about them; their message was,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	5	15	Ptolemais, Tyre and Sidon were up in arms together, and all Galilee was overrun with heathen folk, bent on massacre.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	5	16	Grave tidings, these, for Judas and his people; met they in high debate, and took counsel how they might best aid their brethren in peril of assault.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	5	17	And now Judas must share the command with his brother Simon; Pick thy men, said he, and make for Galilee, while Jonathan and I march into Galaad.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	5	18	Part of his army he left to defend Judaea, with Joseph son of Zachary and Azarias for its captains;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	5	19	Here is your charge, said he; and see to it that you do not embroil yourselves with the Gentiles while we are gone.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	5	20	To Simon and to Galilee three thousand men were allotted; to Judas and to Galaad eight thousand.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	5	21	As for Simon, when he reached Galilee, full many a battle he must fight with the Gentiles, that he drove ever before him, till he pursued them at last to the very gates of Ptolemais.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	5	22	Of the enemy, some three thousand fell, and his men had the spoiling of them;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	5	23	the Israelites that dwelt in Galilee and Arbata he took home with him, and their wives and children and all they had; great rejoicing there was when he brought them back safe to Judaea.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	5	24	Meanwhile Judas Machabaeus and his brother Jonathan had crossed the Jordan, and marched for three days through the desert.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	5	25	There the Nabuthaeans came to meet them, and gave them friendly welcome, and told them of all that had befallen their brethren in the Galaad country;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	5	26	how there were many whom their fellow-citizens had brought to bay in such great fortified cities as Barasa, Bosor, Alima, Casphor, Mageth and Carnaim;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	5	27	besides many others cut off in the rest of the Galaadite towns. And to-morrow, he was told, the heathen mean to occupy these cities with their army, seizing upon the Israelites and making an end of them, all in one day’s work.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	5	28	Whereupon Judas and his men suddenly turned aside from their course into the desert of Bosor, and took the city; all its men-folk he put to the sword, and carried off the spoil of it, and burned it to the ground.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	5	29	At night-fall they continued their journey, and reached the Israelite stronghold.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	5	30	What a sight was this that met their eyes, when day broke! A great rabble of men past all counting, that brought up scaling-ladders and engines, as if they would take the stronghold by storm.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	5	31	Here was the battle fairly begun; the cry of them went up to heaven, loud as clarion-call, and a great cry, too, was raised within the city.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	5	32	Now, cried Judas to his men, now to fight for your brethren’s deliverance!
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	5	33	And hard at the enemy’s heels he followed, with three companies of warriors that blew trumpets as they went, and cried aloud in prayer.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	5	34	The name of Machabaeus once heard, how fled Timotheus’ army at his approach! How grievous the blow that fell on them, when eight thousand fell in a single day!
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	5	35	Once more Judas turned aside, to Maspha; took it by storm, slew men of it, took spoil of it, burned it to the ground;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	5	36	then on to seize Casbon, and Mageth, and Bosor, and the remaining cities of Galaad.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	5	37	Yet, when all was done, Timotheus put another army into the field, and encamped close by Raphon, across the stream.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	5	38	What learned Judas from the scouts he had sent forward? Here were all the neighbouring tribes assembled in great force,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	5	39	with hired support from Arabia besides, camped beyond the stream ready to engage him; so out he marched to offer battle.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	5	40	Wait we, said Timotheus to his captains, till Judas and his army reach yonder stream. Cross he and challenge us, we may not speed; beyond doubt he has the mastery of us.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	5	41	Fear he the passage, and encamp on the further side, then cross we boldly, the day is ours.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	5	42	But Judas, when he drew near the ravine, had muster-masters in attendance by the stream, that were charged to let none linger behind, but send every man across into battle.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	5	43	So he crossed, challenging them, and all the army at his heels, and sure enough the Gentile host was routed at their coming; threw arms away, and sought refuge in the temple at Carnaim.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	5	44	Upon taking the city, he burned its temple to the ground with all that were sheltered in it; so was Carnaim vanquished, and could make head against Juda no more.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	5	45	And now Judas gathered all the Israelites in the Galaad country, high and low, with their wives and children, a whole army of them, to come back with him to Juda.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	5	46	They journeyed safely as far as Ephron, that was a great city and well fortified, the very gate of Juda; turn to right or left they might not, their road lay through the heart of it.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	5	47	And what must they do, the townspeople, but stand to the defence of it, and barricade the entrance with great boulders! Thereupon Judas made peaceful overtures to them;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	5	48	Grant us leave, said he, to make our way through your country to ours, nor any harm shall befall you; we ask but the right of passage, and on foot. But open the gates they would not;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	5	49	so Judas made a cry through the camp, every man should go to the assault, there where he stood;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	5	50	and go to the assault they did, the fighting men of his company. All day and all night they attacked the city, and Judas was given the mastery of it.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	5	51	Never a male creature there but was put to the sword; the city was plundered and pulled down; and so he passed on through the streets of it, all paved with dead men.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	5	52	Jordan they must still cross, there by the great plain that faces Bethsan;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	5	53	and to the last Judas went ever to and fro, rallying the stragglers and encouraging the people on their journey, till the land of Juda was reached.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	5	54	Glad and merry were men’s hearts as they climbed up Sion mountain, and there offered burnt-sacrifice in thanks for their safe home-coming, with never a life lost.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	5	55	So fought Judas and Jonathan in Galaad, and their brother Simon in Galilee at the gates of Ptolemais;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	5	56	meanwhile, what of Joseph son of Zachary, and Azarias, that had charge of the garrison? News came to them of victories gained, and great deeds done,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	5	57	and nothing would serve but they must make a great name for themselves too, by offering battle to the Gentiles round about.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	5	58	So orders went out to the army, to march on Jamnia,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	5	59	where Gorgias and his men came out to meet them.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	5	60	Back fell Joseph and Azarias to the frontiers of Judaea in great disorder, with a loss to Israel of two thousand men; such defeat they brought on our arms,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	5	61	because they would not listen to Judas and his brethren, but must be great warriors like the rest.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	5	62	Not of that race they sprang that should afford Israel deliverance.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	5	63	But as for Judas and his company, they were held high in honour, both among Israelite folk, and wherever the renown of them was heard;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	5	64	all flocked to greet them with cries of acclaim.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	5	65	But still he and his brethren would be on the march, reducing the men of Edom in the south country; on Hebron and its daughter townships the blow fell, neither wall nor tower of it but was burned to the ground.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	5	66	Then he moved camp, to march on Philistia, and would make his way through Samaria.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	5	67	Priests there were that took up arms and fell in battle that day, rashly desirous of a warrior’s renown.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	5	68	And now Judas turned aside to Azotus, in the country of the Philistines; altars he pulled down, images of their gods burned to ashes, gave up their cities to plunder, and so came back again to the land of Juda.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	6	1	King Antiochus was still on his journey through the high countries, when he heard tell of a city in Persia called Elymais, renowned for its treasures of silver and gold;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	6	2	here was a temple of great magnificence, that had golden armour in it, breastplate and shield left there by Philip’s son, Alexander of Macedon, the first overlord of Greece.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	6	3	Thither he marched, intent on seizing the city and plundering it; but seize it he might not, because the townsfolk had news of his purpose,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	6	4	and came out to offer battle. So he was put to the rout, and must take himself back to Babylon, grievously disappointed.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	6	5	And here, in the Persian country, a messenger reached him with tidings from Juda. Fled were his armies,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	6	6	and Lysias, that erstwhile marched out with so brave a retinue, had left the Jews masters of the field. Now they were strong and well-armed, such spoil they had taken from the armies they overthrew;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	6	7	gone was that defiling image he had set up over the altar at Jerusalem; high walls, as of old, protected the sanctuary; nay, they had made shift to fortify his own stronghold of Bethsura.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	6	8	What news was this! The king was all bewilderment and consternation; he took to his bed, fallen into a decline for very sadness that his hopes had failed him.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	6	9	Long time he languished under the double burden of his grief, and knew at last he was a-dying.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	6	10	So he called his friends about him, and bade them farewell; Here is sleep quite gone from me, said he; so dazed is this heart of mine with doubt unresolved.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	6	11	Thus runs my thought: How comes it that I have fallen upon such evil times, such a flood of calamity as now engulfs me; I, that in the days of my greatness loved men well, and was well beloved?
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	6	12	And now returns the memory of all the havoc I made in Jerusalem, spoil of gold and silver I robbed from it, doom of mine against the townsfolk, and for no fault.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	6	13	Past all doubt, here is the source of all those miseries that have come upon me; look you, how I die consumed of grief, in a strange land!
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	6	14	Then he sent for Philip, one of his trusted friends, and gave all the kingdom into his charge;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	6	15	crown and robe and ring he delivered to him, bidding him seek out prince Antiochus, and bring him up as heir to the throne.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	6	16	Then and there died king Antiochus, in the hundred and forty-ninth year of the Grecian empire.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	6	17	And Lysias, hearing of his death, crowned this same prince Antiochus, that he had brought up from boyhood, giving him the name of Eupator.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	6	18	Meanwhile, what of the Jews that dwelt about the holy place? Here was the garrison of the citadel hemming them in, seeking ever to do them injury, and to sustain the Gentile cause.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	6	19	So Judas was fain to make an end of it, and summoned the whole people to rally for the siege.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	6	20	Rally they did, and began the siege in the hundred and fiftieth year, with much contriving of catapults and engines.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	6	21	But some of the defenders slipped out; and these, with traitors of Israelite stock to support them,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	6	22	went off to gain the king’s audience. Wilt thou never bring redress, they asked, and do our brethren right?
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	6	23	Jews are we, that resolved we would be loyal to thy father, his policy furthering, his will obeying.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	6	24	What came of it? Our own fellow Israelites would have no more of our company, slew all they could lay hands on, robbed us of our possessions.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	6	25	Not us only, but all the country about them, their violence threatens;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	6	26	even now they stand arrayed against the citadel of Jerusalem, ready to take it by storm, and have fortified Bethsura.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	6	27	Forestall their plans thou must, and speedily, or they will go further yet, and there will be no holding them.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	6	28	Angered by these tidings, the king sent for all his trusted friends, for his army captains and his commanders of horse;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	6	29	mercenaries, too, were hired from foreign countries, and from the islands out at sea,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	6	30	till he could put a hundred thousand foot and twenty thousand horse into the field, besides thirty-two elephants, inured to war.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	6	31	Through Edom they marched, and invested Bethsura; long they held it besieged, and built engines to attack it, but these, by a brave sally, the defenders burned to ashes.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	6	32	Meanwhile, Judas drew away from the citadel, and encamped at Bethzacharam, close to the king’s army.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	6	33	Ere dawn broke, the king was astir, and his men marching hot-foot towards Bethzacharam, where the armies made ready for battle, with a great blowing of trumpets.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	6	34	As for the elephants, they were blooded to battle with juice of grape and mulberry,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	6	35	and so divided here and there among the troops. A thousand foot-soldiers were assigned to each, in coat of mail and helmet of bronze; with each went five hundred picked horsemen;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	6	36	these were waiting ready for every beast at its station, and must go wherever it went, never leaving its side.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	6	37	On the back of every beast was a strong protecting tower of wood, cunningly fitted; and thirty-two valiant men were appointed to do battle from this height, over and above the Indian that was the beast’s driver.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	6	38	The remainder of the cavalry were stationed on either wing, to daunt the oncoming host with a clamour of trumpets, and harass them as they stood tight packed in their ranks.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	6	39	Brightly the sun shone down on shield of gold, shield of bronze, till all the mountain-side gave back the glancing rays of them, and dazzled like points of fire.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	6	40	Part of the king’s army was drawn up on the heights, part on the level plain; warily they came on and in good order;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	6	41	and ever, as they went, murmur of voices, tramp of feet, and clash of arms daunted the country-side around them, so great yonder army was, and so valiant.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	6	42	But Judas and his men closed with them, and gave battle; and of the king’s soldiers, there were six hundred that fell.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	6	43	What did Eleazar that day, the son of Sauran? Here was one of the beasts that went decked in royal trappings, and towered high above the rest; There rides the king, thought he,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	6	44	and with that, he gave his life, to win deliverance for his country, and for himself imperishable renown.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	6	45	Bravely he ran up to it, there in the heart of the press, slaying to right and left of him, men falling on either side,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	6	46	till he could creep in between the very feet of the elephant; crouched there, and dispatched it, and so, crushed by its fall to earth, died where he lay.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	6	47	But now, finding the royal forces so strong, and so determined in their attack, the Jews withdrew from the encounter.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	6	48	To Jerusalem the king’s men followed them, and now here was the king entrenched against Judaea and mount Sion itself.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	6	49	With the defenders of Bethsura he had made terms; yield up the city they must, so ill were they victualled for a siege, in a year when the land lay fallow;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	6	50	thus Bethsura was in the king’s hands, and he put a garrison there.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	6	51	But it was against the holy place itself that he turned his arms, and long he beleaguered it; what catapults he brought to bear on it, what engines! Flew fiery darts, flew stone and javelin and arrow from mangonel and arbalest, and the slings took their turn.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	6	52	As for the Jews, they met engine with engine, and fought on day after day;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	6	53	but the seventh year had come round, and what store was left in the city had been eaten up by the new citizens rescued from Gentile countries, so food was none to be had.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	6	54	Only a few defenders were left in the holy place now; the rest, overtaken by famine, had dispersed to their homes.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	6	55	But Lysias could not wait; he had news from Antioch. That same Philip, whom king Antiochus, on his death-bed, had appointed to bring up the young prince as heir to the throne,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	6	56	was now returned at the head of his army from the land of the Medes and Persians, and would fain take charge of the realm.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	6	57	So Lysias must betake himself to the king and his generals, with such words as these: Our plight grows daily worse; scant food is left us, and here is a fortress well defended; all the business of the realm claims our care.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	6	58	What remains, but to make friendly advances, offer terms to the besieged and to all their countrymen?
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	6	59	Give we leave they should follow their own customs as of old, which customs neglecting, we have brought all this ill-will and all this trouble upon us.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	6	60	King and chieftain fell in with his design; offer peace they did, and the offer was accepted.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	6	61	So, upon terms with the king and his generals, the Jews gave up their stronghold;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	6	62	and what must the king do, once he had set foot on mount Sion and discovered the strength of its defences, but break his oath, and have all the walls of it pulled down!
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	6	63	Then, with all haste, he took leave of it, and returned to Antioch, where he found Philip in possession, and levied war on him, taking the city by storm.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	7	1	It was now, in the hundred and fifty-first year, that Demetrius, the son of Seleu-cus, escaped from Rome and landed with a small retinue at one of the sea-ports, where he was proclaimed king.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	7	2	No sooner had he set foot in the palace of his ancestors, than his men laid hold of Antiochus and Lysias, meaning to bring them into his presence.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	7	3	But he was warned of it, and gave it out, sight of them he would have none;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	7	4	so they were dispatched by the troops, and Demetrius established himself on the royal throne.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	7	5	To him came certain Israelites, enemies of the law and of religion, with Alcimus at their head, a man who coveted the high-priestly office.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	7	6	And thus, in the royal presence, they defamed their own people: Here be Judas and his brethren have made away with all thy friends, and driven us out of our country!
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	7	7	Do but send some trusted agent to survey the scene of it, the havoc this man has wrought upon our own persons and upon the king’s domain; ay, and to punish his partisans, with all who comfort them.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	7	8	The king’s choice fell on Bacchides, a courtier that was loyal to him, and had charge now of all the realm east of Euphrates.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	7	9	Of the havoc wrought by Judas he should be judge, and with him went the traitor Alcimus, now confirmed in the high priesthood; thus should the royal vengeance fall on Israel.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	7	10	So they took the road, and reached the land of Juda with a great army at their heels. Envoys they sent out, to cheat Judas and his brethren with fair promises;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	7	11	but from these they got no hearing; the sight of such armed strength was enough.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	7	12	It was a company of scribes that went out to meet Alcimus and Bacchides, asking for honourable terms;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	7	13	of all Israel, the Assidaeans were foremost in demanding peace;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	7	14	Here is a priest of Aaron’s line, said they, in yonder company, fear we no treachery from him.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	7	15	Fair promises he made them, and swore they should take no harm, nor their friends neither;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	7	16	and they took him at his word. And what did he? A full sixty of them he seized and put to death in one day. Not idly the word was written,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	7	17	Bleeding corpses of thy true lovers they have strewn about on every side of Jerusalem, and there was none to bury the dead.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	7	18	After this, all alike dreaded the newcomers and shrank from them; here was neither trust nor troth, when covenant and sworn promise went for nothing.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	7	19	So Bacchides left Jerusalem and pitched his camp at Bethzecha, where he made search and laid hands on many that had deserted from his own army; some of the Jews he massacred besides, and had their bodies thrown into the Great Cistern;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	7	20	then he left the whole country in Alcimus’ charge, with troops to maintain him. So off went Bacchides to his master,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	7	21	and Alcimus remained to make the best of his high priesthood.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	7	22	Be sure all the malcontents in Judaea rallied to his side, and took possession of the country, to Israel’s great mischief.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	7	23	Little it liked Judas, to see Alcimus and his crew mishandling the men of Israel as never the Gentiles had;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	7	24	from end to end of Juda he passed, executing vengeance on such as had left his cause, till they might take the field no longer.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	7	25	Everywhere Judas and his company had their way, and the sight of it warned Alcimus he was no match for them; so he, too, went back to the king, loud in his complaints.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	7	26	Thereupon the king sent out an army for the people’s undoing, with Nicanor at the head of it, that was one of his most notable princes, and had a grudge against Israel to satisfy.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	7	27	This Nicanor, reaching Jerusalem with a great array, made peaceful overtures to Judas and his brethren, but treacherously;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	7	28	Need is none there should be blows given between us, he said. Let me come with a handful of men, and parley we together under safe conduct.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	7	29	Come he did, and the greeting between them was friendly enough, but Judas was like to have been seized, then and there, by the enemy;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	7	30	and when he had proof of Nicanor’s treachery, he went in dread of him and would parley with him no longer.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	7	31	Nicanor, then, his plot being now manifestly discovered, would take to the field; it was close to Capharsalama that he engaged Judas;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	7	32	and his army, routed with a loss of five thousand men, must needs take refuge in the Keep of David.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	7	33	It was after this that Nicanor made his way to mount Sion, where some of the priests and elders came out to greet him in friendly fashion, and shew him how burnt-sacrifice was offered there on the king’s behalf.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	7	34	But nothing could they get from him but mockery and contempt; he did despite to their sacred persons, and sent them away with threats.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	7	35	In his anger, he swore to them nothing would serve but he should have Judas and Judas’ army at his mercy; if not, he would burn the temple down, as soon as ever he returned in safety. So, in high disdain, he left them;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	7	36	and the priests must take themselves back within the walls, where they stood before altar and temple, praying very mournfully.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	7	37	Lord, they said, thou hast chosen this house to be the shrine of thy name; here thy people should offer prayer, and sue for thy favour.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	7	38	Do thou avenge thyself on chieftain and army both; die they at the sword’s point! Wouldst thou forget their blasphemy; should they escape with their lives?
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	7	39	After this, Nicanor left Jerusalem, and pitched his camp at Bethoron, where he was met by a fresh army from Syria;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	7	40	Judas, in his camp at Adarsa, had but three thousand men. And this was the prayer Judas prayed:
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	7	41	Time was, Lord, when Sennacherib’s men were loud in their blasphemy, and thy angel must go out to smite them down, a hundred and eighty thousand of them.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	7	42	This day a new enemy overwhelm with our onslaught, and let all the world know what comes of threatening thy holy place; for his ill-doing, ill requite him!
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	7	43	It was the thirteenth of Adar when the two armies met; sure enough, Nicanor’s army was overwhelmed, and himself the first to fall in the encounter;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	7	44	whereupon the rest, seeing their leader gone, cast weapons away and took to their heels.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	7	45	For a whole day the pursuit of them went on, all the way from Adazer to the approaches of Gazara, and ever there were trumpets sounding the hue and cry.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	7	46	Out came Jewish folk from all the villages round about, to head them off, till at last they turned at bay and fell at the sword’s point all of them, never a man left.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	7	47	Spoil of them was plundered where they lay; as for Nicanor, the Jews cut off the head from his body, and that right hand he lifted up so defiantly, and took them away, to be hung up in full sight of Jerusalem.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	7	48	Glad men they were that day, and kept high festival,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	7	49	decreeing that never thenceforward should the thirteenth day of Adar go unobserved.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	7	50	And for a little while the land of Juda had peace.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	8	1	Judas had heard tell of the Romans, and their renown. Here was a powerful nation, that would entertain overtures none the less from such as craved their friendship, plighting their word faithfully. A powerful nation indeed;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	8	2	what battles they had fought, what exploits achieved yonder among the Galatians, their conquered vassals now!
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	8	3	In Spain, too, they had done great feats of arms; and at last, by policy and patient striving, won over the whole country, made themselves masters of all the silver and gold that was mined there.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	8	4	Came peoples from far away, kings from the furthest corners of earth, to offer battle, they were overwhelmed and signally defeated; those nearer at hand were content to pay yearly tribute.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	8	5	Had they not crushed and conquered Philip, and Perseus king of the Greeks, and all others that had levied war upon them?
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	8	6	And what of Antiochus the Great, that ruled all Asia, and came against them with a hundred and twenty elephants, with horsemen and chariots, and a great array besides? The Romans overcame him,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	8	7	caught him alive, and demanded both from him and from his heirs rich tribute, and hostages, with other conditions of surrender;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	8	8	took away from him India, Media, and Lydia, that were his most cherished provinces, and gave them to king Eumenes instead.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	8	9	Later, word came that the men of Hellas were for marching in and making an end of them; what was the issue of it?
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	8	10	One of the Roman generals was sent out to engage them; fell many in battle, wives and children were carried off into exile, goods plundered, the land conquered, its fortresses destroyed, and they are slaves to this day.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	8	11	So it was with all the kingdoms and islands that defied their will; the Romans crushed them and took their lands away.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	8	12	But to their friends, that would live at peace with them, they were ever good friends in return. Kingdoms both far and near became their vassals, nor any that heard their name but feared it;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	8	13	helped they any man to a throne, the throne was his; their good will lost, his throne was lost too; so high was their renown.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	8	14	Yet, with all this, was never one of them that wore crown, or went clad in purple for his own aggrandizement.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	8	15	A senate-house they would have, where a council of three hundred and twenty met day by day, providing ever for the good estate of the commonalty;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	8	16	and every year they would entrust one man with the rule and governance of their whole country, the rest obeying him, without any debate or contention moved.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	8	17	So now Judas made choice of two envoys, Eupolemus, son of John, son of Jacob, and Jason, son of Eleazar; to Rome they should go, and there make a treaty of good will and alliance.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	8	18	Rome’s task it should be to rid them of the Grecian yoke; from the Greeks it was plain they could expect nothing better than grinding slavery.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	8	19	So, after long journeying, to Rome they came, and were admitted to the senate house, where they gave their message as follows:
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	8	20	We have been sent to you by Judas Machabaeus and his brethren, and by our countrymen at large, to make a treaty of alliance with you; fain would they be enrolled among your confederates and friends.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	8	21	This proposition liked the Romans well;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	8	22	and they wrote back to the Jews on tablets of bronze, that should be kept in Jerusalem to serve them for a memorial of treaty and alliance made, to this effect:
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	8	23	Well speed they at all times, the Roman and the Jewish peoples, by sea and land alike; far removed from either be alarm of war, assault of the enemy!
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	8	24	Yet if war befall, and threaten the Romans first, or any ally of theirs in any part of their dominions,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	8	25	such aid the Jewish people shall give as the occasion demands, ungrudgingly.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	8	26	For the needs of the enemy they shall nothing find or furnish, be it corn, or arms, or money, or ships, according to the agreement made at Rome; and they shall observe these undertakings with no thought of their own advantage.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	8	27	In like manner, if the Jews be first threatened, it shall be for the Romans to give aid as the occasion demands, most willingly;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	8	28	providing neither corn nor arms, money nor ships, to any that take part against them, according to the agreement made at Rome; and they shall observe these undertakings honourably.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	8	29	Upon these terms the Romans and the Jewish people are agreed;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	8	30	if hereafter it should be the will of both parties to enlarge or to restrict them, they may do so at their discretion, and such enlargement or restriction shall have force accordingly.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	8	31	As for the wrong done by king Demetrius, we have sent him warning, What meanest thou, to burden with so heavy a yoke the Jewish people, our friends and allies?
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	8	32	Let them complain of thee once more, and we will surely give them redress, by land and sea levying war against thee.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	1	While this was afoot, news came to Demetrius that Nicanor and his men had perished in the encounter. But he would still have his way; Bacchides and Alcimus should be sent back to Judaea, and the northern command of his army with them.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	2	Marching out along the Galgala road, they encamped at Masaloth in Arbella; the town was surprised, and many of its inhabitants massacred.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	3	Then, in the first month of the hundred and fifty-second year, they began an attack on Jerusalem,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	4	moving their camp to Berea. It was a force of twenty thousand foot and two thousand horse;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	5	Judas, encamped at Laisa, had three thousand picked followers with him,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	6	but these were greatly daunted when they saw what heavy odds were against them, and began to desert their lines, till no more than eight hundred of them were left.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	7	One by one they slipped away, and raise fresh levies he might not, with the battle so hard upon his heels; what wonder if Judas lost heart, and was unmanned?
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	8	Yet said he to the remnant that was left him, Up, go we to the attack, and try conclusions with the enemy!
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	9	In vain they sought to dissuade him; Speed we may not, they said; let us save our skins now, we may yet join hands with our brethren, and do battle hereafter; why, we are but a handful!
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	10	Nay, said Judas, that may I never do; what, shew them our backs? If our time is come, die we manfully in our brethren’s cause, nor suffer any foul blot to fall on our name!
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	11	By this, the opposing army had moved forward out of its lines, and stood fronting them; here were the two bodies of horse, the slingers and archers going on before the rest, and the choice troops that would bear the shock of the encounter;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	12	here was Bacchides himself, on the right wing. This side and that the phalanx drew nearer, with a great blowing of trumpets,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	13	and Judas’ men, they raised a great cry on their own part, till the earth rang again with the noise of the two armies. Thus begun, the battle went on from morning till dusk.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	14	On the right, where he saw Bacchides’ army was strongest, Judas made the attack, and all the most valiant of his men with him;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	15	broke their line, and chased them all the way to mount Azotus.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	16	But now those on the left, seeing their right wing routed, cut off Judas and his men from the rear;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	17	now indeed the battle grew fierce, and there were many fell wounded on either part,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	18	till at last Judas fell, and with that, all the rest took to their heels.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	19	As for his body, his brothers Jonathan and Simon recovered it, and so buried him where his fathers were buried, in the city of Modin.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	20	Great lament all Israel made over him, and long they mourned him;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	21	Here is a great warrior fallen, they said, that once brought his people deliverance!
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	22	What other battles Judas fought, deeds did, greatness achieved, you shall not find set down here; too long the record of them.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	23	Once Judas was dead, there was no corner in Israel but treason began to shew its face there, and lawlessness to abound;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	24	under such leadership the whole country, at this time much distressed by famine, went over to Bacchides.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	25	Good care he took to choose out godless men, that should have the governance of his territory;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	26	and these raised a hue and cry after Judas’ partisans, haling them before Bacchides to be punished and used despitefully;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	27	never, since prophecy died out among them, had the men of Israel known such distress.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	28	And now all that had loved Judas rallied to Jonathan instead;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	29	Since thy brother’s death, they told him, none is left to take the field against our enemies as he did, this Bacchides and all else that bear a grudge against our race.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	30	There is but one way of it; this day we have chosen thee to be our ruler, our chieftain, to fight our battles for us.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	31	So, from that day forward, Jonathan took command, in succession to his brother Judas.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	32	Bacchides no sooner heard of it than he marked him down for death;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	33	but of this Jonathan had warning, and took refuge, with his brother Simon and all his company, in the desert of Thecue. It was there, by Asphar pool, they halted;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	34	and it was there that Bacchides, well informed of their movements, crossed Jordan at the head of his army and came upon them, one sabbath day.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	35	This was the manner of it. Jonathan had sent his brother John, that was in command of the camp followers, on an errand to his good friends the Nabuthaeans. They had brought a deal of their household stuff with them; would the Nabuthaeans take it into safe keeping?
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	36	But, as they went, some of Jambri’s folk came out from Madaba, seized John and all that he had with him, and went off with them.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	37	Afterwards, Jonathan and Simon heard that the men of Jambri had a great wedding toward; they must bring home the bride from Nadabatha, and with much pomp, because her father was a notable Chanaanite chief.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	38	So, to avenge the death of their brother John, they climbed the hill-side and lay in ambush there.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	39	What a sight was this met their eyes! All manner of rout and display; the bridegroom, his friends and his brethren, passing on their way to the trysting-place, with beating of drums, and making of music, and all manner of warlike array!
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	40	Then rose they up from their ambush and laid about them, till many fell wounded, and the rest fled into the hills, leaving all their spoil behind them.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	41	So turned they wedding mirth into funeral dirge,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	42	to avenge the murder of their brother, and withdrew to the banks of Jordan again.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	43	Hearing of these alarms, Bacchides marched down to Jordan bank one sabbath day, in great force.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	44	Up now! cried Jonathan to his men; engage our enemy we must. Gone is the vantage we had till now;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	45	here is armed force confronting us, and all around us is Jordan stream, Jordan banks full of marshes and thickets; escape is none.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	46	Cry we rather upon heaven, for deliverance out of the enemy’s hand. So the battle was joined;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	47	and here was Jonathan exerting all his strength to deal a blow at Bacchides, who declined the encounter!
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	48	What did Jonathan then? With all his company, he leapt into Jordan. So now, to reach them, the enemy must swim for it across the stream.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	49	A thousand men of his following Bacchides lost that day, and was fain to return to Jerusalem.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	50	After this, they took to fortifying the cities of Judaea with high walls and barred gates, making strongholds at Jericho, Ammaum, Bethoron, Bethel, Thamnata, Phara and Thopo;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	51	here garrisons were set, for the harrying of Israel.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	52	Bethsura, too, Bacchides fortified, and Gazara, and the Citadel itself, keeping all of them well manned and provisioned;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	53	ay, and the great men of all the country round must yield up their children as hostages, to be held in Jerusalem citadel for safe keeping.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	54	Then, in the second month of the hundred and fifty-third year, came an order from Alcimus, the dividing wall of the temple’s inner court should be dismantled. The Prophets’ Building he had already cleared away, and begun the dismantling,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	55	when himself was smitten down, and all his plans interrupted. Dumbstricken and palsied, he never spoke again, even to dispose of his goods,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	56	but died there and then, in great torment.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	57	Alcimus dead, Bacchides was for Judaea no longer; away he went to the king’s court, and for two years the land was at peace.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	58	But ere long there was conspiracy afoot among the godless party; here were Jonathan and his men living secure of their safety; let Bacchides come in again, he might seize them all, and make one night’s work of it.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	59	To Bacchides, then, they went, and imparted their scheme to him;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	60	whereupon he raised a great army for marching on Judaea, but first sent word privately to his partisans there, bidding them seize Jonathan and his company for themselves. Word went abroad, and the plan miscarried;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	61	it was Jonathan seized fifty notables of Judaea, that were the authors of the conspiracy, and put them to death.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	62	Then, with Simon and the rest of his following, he removed to Bethbessen, out in the desert, and set about rebuilding it, to make a stronghold for them.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	63	Bacchides had news of this; mustering his whole force, and sending word to his Jewish supporters,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	64	he marched in and pitched his camp so as to command Bethbessen. Long time he besieged it, and brought up engines against it;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	65	meanwhile, Jonathan had left his brother Simon in command of the city, and was roaming the country-side. When he came back, it was with a band of men at his heels;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	66	smote he Odares and his clan, smote he the men of Phaseron where they lay encamped; everywhere laid about him, and still gained strength.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	67	As for Simon and his company, they made a sally out of the town, and set fire to the engines;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	68	afterwards they engaged Bacchides himself, and worsted him, so that he must pay dearly for plot and tryst of his that came to nothing.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	69	So enraged was he with the malcontents whose counsel had brought him into Judaea, he put many of them to death, and was for marching home again with the rest of his following,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	70	when Jonathan, hearing of it, sent envoys to offer peace, and an exchange of prisoners.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	71	This offer he gladly accepted, and carried out the terms of it, giving his word he would do Jonathan no more injury as long as he lived,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	72	and restoring all the prisoners he had ever taken in the land of Juda. So he took himself back to his own country, and never came that way again.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	9	73	Israel had a respite from fighting at last, and Jonathan took up his dwelling at Machmas, whence he ruled the people thenceforward, ridding the land of godless folk altogether.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	1	And now, in the hundred and sixtieth year, came Alexander, a son of Antiochus the Illustrious, and took possession of Ptolemais, where he was received with royal honours.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	2	A great force king Demetrius levied, when he heard of it, and went out to give him battle;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	3	at the same time, he wrote to Jonathan, in such loving terms as should flatter his dignity.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	4	No time to be lost, thought he, in making friends with this man, before he takes to comforting Alexander against us;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	5	for wrong done to himself, and his brother, and all his race, he bears us a grudge yet.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	6	So he empowered Jonathan to muster an army, and to make weapons of war, as the ally of Syria; the hostages, too, in the citadel were to be given back to him.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	7	When Jonathan came to Jerusalem, and read this letter aloud, not to the townsfolk only, but to the citadel garrison,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	8	great was the fear fell on all who listened; here was Jonathan commissioned to levy troops by the king’s own order!
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	9	The hostages were surrendered without more ado, and given back to their parents;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	10	and he himself took up his quarters in Jerusalem, where he set about building up the city and repairing it.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	11	It was the walls needed rebuilding, so he told his workmen; on every side, the hill of Sion must be defended with hewn stone; and punctually they obeyed him.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	12	As for the alien folk that guarded the strongholds Bacchides had left, they fled incontinently;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	13	what matter if their posts were abandoned? They were for home.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	14	Only Bethsura was garrisoned now, and that by traitors to God’s law and commandment; it was all the refuge they had.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	15	King Alexander heard of these overtures made by Demetrius; heard, too, the story of Jonathan and his brethren, battles fought, and deeds done, and labours endured.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	16	Why, said he, this man has not his match anywhere; time it is we should court his friendship and alliance.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	17	With that, he wrote him a letter, and these were the terms of it:
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	18	King Alexander, to Jonathan his brother-prince, greeting!
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	19	We have heard tell of thee, a man so valiant, and so well worthy of our friendship;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	20	in token whereof, we appoint thee high priest of thy own race henceforward, and to have the title of the King’s Friend. With that, he sent him a purple robe and a gold crown; Take ever our part, said he, and hold fast the bond of friendship.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	21	So, when the seventh month came round, in the hundred and sixtieth year, Jonathan clad himself with the sacred vesture at the feast of Tent-dwelling; an army he levied besides, and made weapons of war in great abundance.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	22	Sick and sorry Demetrius was when he heard of these doings;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	23	Here is an ill day’s work, said he, to let Alexander forestall us in making alliance with the Jews, to his great comfort!
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	24	From me, too, they shall have a message of entreaty, they shall have honours and gifts; the Jews shall be my good friends yet.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	25	And thus he wrote: King Demetrius, to the people of the Jews, greeting!
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	26	Here is welcome news we have of you; right well you have kept troth with us, honouring the treaty when you might have taken part with our enemies.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	27	In that loyal mind continue, and your good offices shall not go unrewarded;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	28	much immunity you shall enjoy, much largesse receive.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	29	By these presents, I exempt both you and all Jews from the poll-tax; salt-tax and coronation dues I remit and forgo, with my right to a third part of your seed-corn,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	30	and half your fruit-crop. From this day forward, now and for ever, I resign all this; from Juda and from the three cantons of Samaria and Galilee lately added to it, there shall be no toll taken.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	31	For Jerusalem, it shall be a place set apart, a free city with its own confines, mistress of its own tithe and tribute;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	32	nor claim I any rights over the citadel there, I make it over to the high priest, to garrison it as he will.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	33	All persons of Jewish blood in all my realm that were taken away as prisoners from Juda shall now be set free gratuitously, and no distraint made on their revenues or cattle.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	34	Feast-day and new moon and sabbath, and all other such solemnities as are appointed to be observed, with the three days before and after the feast itself, shall be days of immunity and respite for all the Jews in my realm;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	35	nor any business done or debate moved to their detriment at such times.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	36	In the king’s army, Jews may be enrolled up to the number of thirty thousand, paid according to the common rate of the royal troops; and the same shall be free to serve in all the fortified towns of our empire.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	37	Jews may be employed besides in all positions of trust, and appointed governors, yet live still by their own laws, that have royal sanction in the land of Juda.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	38	The three cantons taken from Samaria and added to Judaea shall be accounted part of Juda, under a single government, with no allegiance but to the high priest.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	39	Ptolemais, with all the country that lies about it, I hereby convey as a free gift to the temple precincts at Jerusalem, to defray the temple expenses.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	40	To this gift I add a sum of fifteen thousand silver sicles yearly, out of the royal dues that belong to me.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	41	With this sum, arrears shall be made good in payments for the temple building, withheld till now by such as had charge of the matter;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	42	and restitution made, to the priests now in office, for the five thousand sicles that were confiscated year by year from the temple treasury.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	43	Debtor to the king, whatever be the charge against him, that takes sanctuary in the temple or its precincts, shall be left at liberty, and no distraint made upon goods of his within these dominions.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	44	Payment shall be made besides from the royal treasury for the finishing and repairing of the temple fabric;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	45	as also for building up and making strong the walls of Jerusalem, and restoring the fortresses of Judaea.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	46	But in vain were such promises made to Jonathan and the Jewish folk, nor credence found they any nor assent. Could they forget all the mischief Demetrius had done in Israel, all the tyranny they had endured?
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	47	Alexander it was had all their good wishes; his was the first offer of terms that reached them, and all the while it was his cause they cherished.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	48	By this, Alexander had mustered a great force, and marched against Demetrius.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	49	When the two kings met, it was Demetrius’ men took to their heels, and Alexander gave chase, pressing them hard;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	50	fiercely the battle raged till sun-down, and before the day was over, Demetrius fell.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	51	Hereupon Alexander sent an embassy to Ptolemy, king of Egypt, addressing him in these terms following.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	52	Take notice I have returned to my kingdom, and sit now on the throne of my fathers, in full possession of my princely rights. Would I regain Syria, needs must I should overthrow Demetrius;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	53	overthrow him I did, on field of battle, with all his army, and here I sit in his place.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	54	And should we not be upon terms of friendship, thou and I? Let me have thy daughter to wife; a niggardly wooer thou shalt not find me, nor she either.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	55	And what answer made king Ptolemy? An auspicious day, said he, this day of thy return to the land and throne of thy fathers!
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	56	Boon thy letter asks of me thou shalt have; but first meet we together, face to face, yonder at Ptolemais; there will I pledge my word to the articles thou namest.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	57	So here was king Ptolemy come from Egypt, with his daughter Cleopatra, all the way to Ptolemais, in the hundred and sixty-second year;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	58	and there king Alexander met him and took his daughter Cleopatra to wife, and they held the wedding with great magnificence, as kings will.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	59	King Alexander had sent word to Jonathan, he should come and keep tryst with him;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	60	so to Ptolemais Jonathan went with great state, and met the two kings there. Gifts a many he made them, of silver and gold and much else, and was high in favour with them.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	61	It chanced that certain Israelites, pestilent fellows of the traitorous party, came there to bring charges against him. But to these the king would not listen;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	62	he would have Jonathan change his garments, and go clad in purple, and when this was done, a seat he must have beside the king himself.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	63	Take him out into the heart of the city, Alexander said to his vassals, and there make proclamation, none may bring charge against him on any pretext, or in any fashion molest him.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	64	No thought had his accusers, when they heard such proclamation made, and saw Jonathan there dressed in purple, but to escape, one and all, as best they could;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	65	he himself was loaded with honours, enrolled among the king’s chief friends, and made a prince, with a share in the governance of the kingdom.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	66	So Jonathan made his way back to Jerusalem undisturbed, and well content.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	67	Then, in the hundred and sixty-fifth year, came Demetrius, son of that other Demetrius, from the island of Crete, and landed in his native country;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	68	ill hearing indeed for Alexander, who returned at once to Antioch.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	69	Demetrius gave command of his army to Apollonius, that was governor of Coelesyria, and a great array it was he levied. From Jamnia, where he took up his quarters, this Apollonius sent word to the high priest Jonathan:
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	70	What, wilt thou defy us, and all alone? Here am I mocked and flouted by the resistance offered me, up yonder in the hills!
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	71	Nay, if such confidence thou hast in thy own resources, come down and meet us in the plain; try we conclusions there! Trust me, I am master of the field;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	72	what I am, what my troops are, thou shalt learn upon a little enquiry; stand thou canst not, they will tell thee, before onslaught of ours. Twice, on their native soil, thy fathers fled in disorder,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	73	and wilt thou make head against such an array of horse and foot, here in the plain, where rock is none, nor gravel-bed, to aid thy flight?
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	74	Roused by this challenge, Jonathan marched out from Jerusalem with a muster of ten thousand men; his brother Simon joined hands with him;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	75	and together they appeared before the gates of Joppe. Enter they might not, for Apollonius had a garrison there, but must needs attack it;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	76	whereupon the citizens took alarm, and themselves opened the gates. Thus came Joppe into the power of Jonathan;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	77	the news reached Apollonius, and he brought up three thousand horse, with a great array of men besides.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	78	To Azotus he marched, as if he meant to pass them by, but all the while he was luring them on into the plain; in horse lay his strength and his confidence. To Azotus Jonathan followed him, and battle was joined.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	79	Apollonius, by a secret feint, had left a thousand horsemen encamped in their rear;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	80	so all at once Jonathan found himself cut off by an ambush. Round his army they rode, casting javelins into the ranks, from morning till night-fall;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	81	but ever it stood firm, at Jonathan’s bidding, till the horses were tired out at last.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	82	Then, the force of the cavalry once spent, out came Simon with his troops to attack the main body, which thereupon broke and fled.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	83	Scattered over the open country, in vain they rallied at Azotus, and took refuge in the precincts of their god Dagon;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	84	both Azotus and all the neighbouring cities Jonathan burnt and plundered, and Dagon’s temple, with all that took shelter there, was burnt with the rest.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	85	So perished, by sword and fire, some eight thousand men;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	86	as for Jonathan, he had no sooner encamped before Ascalon, than the townsfolk opened the gates to him, and gave him honourable welcome.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	87	So Jonathan came back to Jerusalem, and the army behind him, laden with spoils.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	88	More than ever, when he heard of it, did king Alexander heap honours upon him;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	10	89	a buckle of gold he sent him, ever the gift kings make to men of blood royal, and Accaron, with all the countryside about it, granted him for his domain.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	1	And now Ptolemy, king of Egypt, levied a great army, countless as sand on the beach, and a fleet besides; to win Alexander’s realm his treacherous design was, and add it to his own.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	2	To Syria he came, full of fair speeches, and all the towns opened their gates to welcome him; such welcome Alexander himself had prescribed; was not the king of Egypt his father-in-law?
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	3	And never a town king Ptolemy entered, but he left a guard of soldiers there.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	4	When he reached Azotus, here was Dagon’s temple burnt, here was the town itself and all its neighbourhood in ruins; the dead lay unburied, where they fell in battle, or in heaps by the road-side. All this they shewed him,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	5	and told him, with malicious intent, how it was Jonathan’s doing; but no word said king Ptolemy.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	6	As for Jonathan, he went to meet the king at Joppe, with a deal of pomp; there they greeted one another, and passed the night,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	7	nor would Jonathan return to Jerusalem till he had escorted the king as far as the river called Eleutherus.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	8	All the cities of the sea-coast, as far as maritime Seleucia, king Ptolemy occupied, and with no friendly purpose towards Alexander;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	9	it was to Demetrius he sent envoys instead. Come, said he, a pact between us! My daughter thou shalt have in Alexander’s place, and therewithal the throne of thy fathers;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	10	here is an ill son-in-law I have chosen, that went about but now to kill me!
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	11	Thus, to find pretext for dethroning his rival, king Ptolemy defamed him;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	12	took his daughter away, and gave her to Demetrius. His estrangement from Alexander now come to an open breach,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	13	what must he do next but enter the city of Antioch, and there assume the double crown, as ruler of Egypt and Asia both?
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	14	As for Alexander, that was then in Cilicia, quelling a revolt in those parts,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	15	he came out to do battle when the news reached him; but Ptolemy brought up his army, met him with a superior force, and routed him.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	16	Thus Egypt had the mastery; and when Alexander fled to Arabia for refuge,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	17	Zabdiel, an Arabian, cut off his head and sent it to the conqueror.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	18	Three days later, Ptolemy himself lay dead; whereupon the garrisons he had left in the towns were massacred by the citizens,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	19	and the royal power passed to Demetrius in this, the hundred and sixty-seventh year.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	20	Now it was that Jonathan mustered the men of Judaea to deliver an attack on the Gentile citadel in Jerusalem; engines a many they brought against it.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	21	Nor wanted there Jews of the godless party, traitors to their own race, that went off and told Demetrius it was being attacked;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	22	the news greatly angered him, and he hastened to Ptolemais, bidding Jonathan raise the siege and come to meet him in conference without more ado.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	23	This message notwithstanding, Jonathan would have the siege go forward; certain elders of Israel, and certain of the priests, he chose out to bear him company, and so put his own life in peril,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	24	going off to meet the king at Ptolemais, with gold and silver and garments and other gifts in great number. He was received graciously enough;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	25	let his own traitorous fellow-countrymen bring what accusations they would,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	26	the king would not be behind his predecessors in making much of Jonathan, for all his courtiers to see.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	27	He was confirmed in the high priesthood, and what other high dignities he held aforetime, and declared besides the chief of the king’s friends.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	28	And now Jonathan had a favour to ask; exemption from tribute for Judaea, and the three cantons, and Samaria with its neighbouring townships; he promised in return a payment of three hundred talents.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	29	To this the king agreed, writing thus to Jonathan upon the matter raised:
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	30	King Demetrius, to his brother prince Jonathan, and to the people of the Jews, greeting.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	31	We send you herewith, for your better information, a copy of the instructions we have given to our cousin Lasthenes in your regard.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	32	King Demetrius, to Lasthenes, his good father, greeting.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	33	Whereas the people of the Jews have ever been trusty friends to us, our pleasure it is to reward them for the loyalty they have shewn us.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	34	We therefore confirm them in the possession of all Judaea, the three cities of Ephraim, Lydda and Ramathan, that formerly belonged to Samaria, and all their neighbouring townships … to all those who do sacrifice at Jerusalem; instead of the yearly revenues hitherto set apart for the king from harvest and fruit-gathering.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	35	Tithe and tribute that was ours we also remit to them; nor lay any claim to the salt-pits, or the crowns which from time to time were bestowed upon us.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	36	Of all this we give them a full discharge, that shall be valid in perpetuity.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	37	See to it that a copy of this decree shall be made, and handed over to Jonathan, who shall set it up in a public place on the holy mountain.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	38	Here, then, was the whole realm at peace under Demetrius’ rule, nor any rival had he; what must he do but disband all his soldiers and send them home, except the foreign troops he had levied from the islands out at sea? Bitterly they hated him for it, the men who had served under his fathers;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	39	and there was one Tryphon that took good note of these discontents in the army. This Tryphon was formerly of Alexander’s faction, and now he had recourse to Emalchuel, the Arabian, that had care of Alexander’s son Antiochus.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	40	Much persuasion he used with him, to let Antiochus return to his father’s throne; much told him of Demetrius, and how the soldiers were disaffected against him. Time passed, and Tryphon was in Arabia still.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	41	Meanwhile, Jonathan was urgent with king Demetrius to withdraw the garrisons from Jerusalem citadel and the other strongholds, where they bore arms yet, and against Israel.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	42	Nay answered Demetrius, that I will do and more; great honours I have in store, for thee and for thy people both, when the time is ripe for it.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	43	For this present, it were well done to send troops for my own protection; here is all my army revolted from me!
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	44	Three thousand picked men Jonathan dispatched to Antioch, to the king’s side, and right glad he was at their coming.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	45	What though the citizens, a hundred and twenty thousand strong, were banded together against his royal person,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	46	driving him to take refuge within the court, and occupying the city streets in warlike fashion?
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	47	He had but to call the Jews to his aid, and they rallied at his summons; posted themselves here and there about the streets,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	48	and in one day slew a hundred thousand men, setting fire to the town besides. There was spoil enough for the winning, that day when they saved the king’s life.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	49	The townsfolk, when they saw how easily the Jews got the mastery of them, had no more stomach for fighting; they were loud in their entreaties:
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	50	A truce! A truce! Havoc enough yonder Jews have made of us and of the city!
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	51	And so, flinging away their weapons, they came to terms. Prince and people both had good proof, by now, of the Jews’ valour; back they went to Jerusalem high in repute among the Syrians, and laden with spoils.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	52	Demetrius, now firmly established on the throne, his dominions all at peace,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	53	recked little enough of his promises; from Jonathan he was estranged altogether, left his services unrecompensed, and much mischief did him besides.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	54	It was now that Tryphon came back, and with him the young prince Antiochus, that took the style of king and had himself crowned;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	55	all the disbanded armies of Demetrius rallied to them, and turned upon their former master, who fled routed before them;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	56	Tryphon, meanwhile, got possession of the elephants, and Antioch fell into his hands.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	57	Thereupon came a letter from the young Antiochus to Jonathan, confirming him in the high priesthood, and in possession both of Judaea and of the three cantons; he was acclaimed as the king’s friend,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	58	and a present of golden cups sent for his use, with the right to drink out of gold ware, to dress in purple, and to carry the golden buckle.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	59	His brother Simon, too, was made lord of the sea-coast, from Tyre to the frontiers of Egypt.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	60	And now Jonathan was on the march, across the river, patrolling the cities everywhere, with all the armies of Syria gathered to aid him. … He came to Ascalon, where the townsfolk welcomed him with all honour;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	61	came to Gaza, where they shut the gates on him, and he must needs undertake the siege of it. But when he had spread fire and rapine through the country-side,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	62	the men of Gaza asked for terms, which he gave them, carrying off their sons as hostages to Jerusalem. Then he went on patrolling the country, all the way to Damascus.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	63	News reached him that the chiefs of Demetrius’ faction were making head at Cades, in Galilee, with a whole army to support them, and their design was to remove him from office.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	64	So he went to meet them, leaving his brother Simon in charge of Judaea.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	65	As for Simon, he made an assault upon Bethsura, and kept it for a long while besieged,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	66	till at last it obtained terms of surrender; he rid the place of its defenders and took over the command of it, putting in a garrison of his own.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	67	Meanwhile, Jonathan was encamped by the waters of Genesar; here, on the plain of Asor, they were on the watch before day-break,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	68	when they saw the enemy’s force coming to meet them over the level plain. These had an ambush ready for him on the hill-side, and as he advanced to meet the main body,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	69	the men in ambush sprang up, and engaged him.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	70	At this, all Jonathan’s supporters took to their heels; none stood their ground but Mathathias son of Absalom and Judas son of Calphi, that had the marshalling of his men.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	71	What marvel if Jonathan tore his garments about him, and strewed earth on his head, and betook himself to prayer?
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	72	Afterwards, he offered battle afresh, and routed his enemies; as the fight went on,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	73	his own men that had deserted their ranks rallied to him, and joined in the pursuit all the way to Cades, where they encamped once more.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	11	74	In that day’s fighting, three thousand of the Gentiles fell; and so Jonathan made his way back to Jerusalem.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	12	1	Here was a posture of affairs suited Jonathan well enough; yet would he send delegates to confirm and renew his alliance with the Romans;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	12	2	Lacedaemon, too, and other countries should have letters of the same tenour.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	12	3	To Rome, then, his messengers went, gained audience of the senate, and told how the high priest Jonathan and the Jewish people had sent them to renew their old treaty of friendship;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	12	4	and the Romans gave them such letters of recommendation to this country or that, as should bring them home to Juda under safe conduct.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	12	5	The message Jonathan sent to the men of Sparta was in these terms following.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	12	6	The high priest Jonathan, with the elders and priests and all the people of the Jews, to their brethren the Spartans, greeting.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	12	7	Long since, your king Arius wrote to our own high priest, Onias, claiming kinship between us, as witness the copy here subjoined;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	12	8	an honourable welcome Onias gave to this messenger of yours, and accepted the proposal of friendly alliance.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	12	9	For ourselves, we have little need of such friendship; seek we comfort, it is in the sacred books committed to our charge.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	12	10	Yet we thought it best to treat with you for the renewal of this brotherly compact, before any estrangement should arise between us; your embassy to us is of long ago.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	12	11	Never feast-day passes, nor day apt for remembrance, but you are remembered, as brothers should be, in sacrifice and prayer we offer;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	12	12	renown of yours is pride of ours still.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	12	13	In wars and calamities much involved of late, powerful kings for our neighbours and our enemies,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	12	14	we would not embroil you, nor other allies of ours, in these quarrels.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	12	15	Now, by the grace of heaven, we are delivered; our enemies lie crushed;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	12	16	delegates of ours, Numenius son of Antiochus and Antipater son of Jason, are on their way to Rome, friendship and alliance of former days to confirm afresh;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	12	17	and should we send them with no errand to you, no greeting, no word from us of brotherhood revived?
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	12	18	Pray you, send us fair answer in your turn.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	12	19	And, for Arius’ letter to Onias, thus the copy of it ran,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	12	20	Arius, king of the Spartans, to the high priest Onias, greeting.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	12	21	Spartan and Jew, written record shews it, come of one blood, Abraham’s.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	12	22	Apprised of this, we would fain know how you do; pray tell us.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	12	23	And take this message in return, Cattle and whatever else is ours, is yours, and yours ours; of that, the bearer of this letter brings you assurance.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	12	24	Then came news to Jonathan that the chiefs of Demetrius’ faction were returning to the attack, and in greater force than ever;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	12	25	so out he marched, and met them in the Amathite country; respite he would not give them, to invade his own.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	12	26	Spies of his went out into the enemy’s camp, and reported, all was ready for a night attack;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	12	27	so, when the sun was down, Jonathan would have his men keep watch, ready armed all night for battle, and posted sentries round his lines.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	12	28	The enemy, hearing of such preparedness on their part, took alarm and let cowardly counsels prevail; they were at pains to leave watchfires burning in their camp,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	12	29	so that Jonathan and his men, deceived by the glow of light, knew nothing of their plans till morning;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	12	30	and when he gave chase, it was too late to catch them; already they had crossed the river Eleutherus.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	12	31	Thereupon he turned his attack against the Zabadeans, an Arabian tribe, defeating them and taking spoils from them;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	12	32	and so, harnessing his waggons, pressed on to Damascus, patrolling all the country round about.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	12	33	Meanwhile, Simon had marched out to Ascalon and the neighbouring strongholds; thence he turned aside to Joppe, and took possession of it;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	12	34	rumour had reached him, the townsfolk would yield the citadel to Demetrius’ party, and he must have a garrison there of his own.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	12	35	When Jonathan returned, he summoned the elders of the people, and took counsel with them, how best to raise strongholds in Judaea,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	12	36	and build up walls in Jerusalem itself. Height these must have, above all, between the Citadel and the rest of the town; he would have it cut off from the rest, standing by itself, with no opportunity to buy and sell.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	12	37	A great muster there was for the city’s rebuilding; and where the wall had tumbled down, over the ravine on the east, he made it good; it is the part called Caphetetha.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	12	38	Meanwhile, Simon rebuilt Adiada in the Sephela and fortified it; bolt and bar it should have thenceforward.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	12	39	And what of Tryphon? Lordship of all Asia he coveted, and a royal crown; it should be Antiochus’ turn next.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	12	40	The danger was, Jonathan would refuse his assent, and resort to arms; Jonathan first he must seize and put to death. So he moved his quarters to Bethsan,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	12	41	where Jonathan came out to meet him with forty thousand men, picked warriors all of them, at his back.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	12	42	Here was a great retinue; and Tryphon, daunted by this show of force,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	12	43	was fain to give him an honourable welcome. He would admit Jonathan among his closest friends, and bestow gifts on him; let Jonathan give orders, and Tryphon’s soldiers would obey.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	12	44	Then he asked, What needs it, such a host of men should go campaigning, when threat of war is none?
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	12	45	It were better to disband them, and choose out a few for thy own retinue. That done, bear me company to Ptolemais; city and strongholds and troops and officers I will hand over into thy charge and so get me gone home; it was on that errand I came.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	12	46	What did Jonathan? He fell into the trap, sent his men back to Juda,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	12	47	and kept but three thousand under arms; of these, he left two thousand in Galilee, and took but a thousand in his company.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	12	48	No sooner had he entered Ptolemais than the townsfolk shut the gates behind him, secured his person, and put his retinue to the sword.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	12	49	Horse and foot Tryphon sent out to Galilee, to find the rest of his followers in the Great Plain, and make an end of them;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	12	50	but these, hearing that Jonathan and his men had been caught and murdered, resolved to put a bold front on it, and marched in battle array.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	12	51	Finding them ready to sell their lives dearly, their pursuers abandoned the chase,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	12	52	and all reached Juda safe and sound. For Jonathan and his companions they made great dole, and loudly all Israel echoed their lament.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	12	53	Neighbouring people was none but went about to overthrow them, and no wonder;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	12	54	their chieftain, their champion gone, now was the time to fall upon them, and rid earth of their memory.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	13	1	And what did Simon, when he heard that Tryphon had levied a strong force, for Juda’s invasion and overthrow?
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	13	2	Here was all the people in a great taking of fear; so he made his way to Jerusalem and there gathered them to meet him.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	13	3	And thus, to put heart into them, he spoke: Need is none to tell you what battles we have fought, what dangers endured, I and my brethren and all my father’s kin, law and sanctuary to defend.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	13	4	In that cause, and for the love of Israel, my brothers have died, one and all, till I only am left;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	13	5	never be it said of me, in the hour of peril I held life dear, more precious than theirs!
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	13	6	Nay, come the whole world against us, to glut its malice with our ruin, race and sanctuary, wives and children of ours shall find me their champion yet.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	13	7	At these words, the spirit of the whole people revived;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	13	8	loud came their answer, Brother of Judas and Jonathan, thine to lead us now!
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	13	9	Thine to sustain our cause; and never word of thine shall go unheeded!
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	13	10	Thereupon, he summoned all the fighting men together, and pressed on to have the walls of Jerusalem finished, till it was fortified all about;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	13	11	and he sent Jonathan, son of Absalom, to Joppe, at the head of a force newly raised; the garrison was disbanded, and a new captain held it now.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	13	12	Meanwhile, Tryphon had left Ptolemais, with a great army at his heels, marching on Juda; and with him went Jonathan, his prisoner.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	13	13	He found Simon encamped at Addus, that looks out over the plain;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	13	14	here was Jonathan’s brother Simon taking his place, and offering battle. Envoys were sent out to make his excuses:
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	13	15	Hold we the person of thy brother Jonathan, it is because he is in default to the royal treasury over his dealings with it.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	13	16	Thou hast but to send a hundred talents of silver, and his two sons, to be surety he will not play us false when we release him, and he is a free man.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	13	17	Well Simon knew it was treacherously spoken; yet he gave orders, both money and hostages should be surrendered. A bitter grudge Israel’s people would bear him, if they had cause to say,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	13	18	For want of money paid over and surety given, Jonathan must die!
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	13	19	Sent they were, the boys and the money both, but all was treachery; Jonathan never came back.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	13	20	And now Tryphon invaded Juda, bent on its undoing; his troops must fetch a compass by the road that leads round to Ador, and, march they where they would, Simon and his army were at their heels.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	13	21	Word came to Tryphon from the defenders of Jerusalem citadel, he should make his way across the desert without more ado, and bring them supplies;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	13	22	and that same night he had all his cavalry in readiness for the march, but there was a great fall of snow, and come he might not … into the country of Galaad.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	13	23	When he reached Bascaman, then and there he put Jonathan and his sons to death;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	13	24	and with that, he turned about, and went back to his own country.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	13	25	There lay the bones of Simon’s brother Jonathan, till he sent to fetch them, and gave them burial at Modin, the city of his fathers.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	13	26	Loud lament all Israel made for him, and long they bemoaned him.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	13	27	Over the graves of his father and his brethren Simon raised a towering monument, of dressed stone behind and before;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	13	28	then, with father and mother and his four brethren in mind, he built seven pyramids, in rows;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	13	29	and all about were great columns, carved with armour and ships; an abiding memorial, and a land mark to mariners at sea.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	13	30	Such was the tomb he raised at Modin, and it may be seen to this day.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	13	31	Meanwhile, as they were journeying together, Tryphon murdered the young king Antiochus by artifice,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	13	32	and succeeded to his throne, wearing the crown of all Asia; great mischief it was he did to his country.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	13	33	All the fortresses of Judaea Simon repaired, building them up with high tower and stout wall, with bolt and bar; and never a garrison but had provisions laid up in store.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	13	34	Then he chose out envoys and sent them to king Demetrius, praying that the land might enjoy immunity after the tyrannous actions of Tryphon.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	13	35	When king Demetrius answered the request, he wrote in these terms following.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	13	36	King Demetrius to the high priest Simon, the friend of kings, and to all the elders and people of the Jews, greeting.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	13	37	Crown of gold and robe of scarlet you sent us were faithfully delivered. Great favour we mean to shew you, by sending word to the king’s officers to respect the remissions granted you.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	13	38	The decrees we made concerning you are yet in force; and, for the strongholds you have built, they shall be yours.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	13	39	Fault of yours in the past, witting or unwitting, is condoned; coronation tax you owed, and all other tribute that was due from Jerusalem, is due no longer.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	13	40	Fit be they for such enrolment, Jews shall be enrolled in our armies, and ever between us and you let there be peace!
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	13	41	Thus, in the hundred and seventieth year, Israel was free of the Gentile yoke at last;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	13	42	and this style the people began to use, were it private bond or public instrument they indited, In the first year of Simon’s high priesthood, chief paramount and governor of the Jews.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	13	43	Then it was that Simon marched on Gaza, and beleaguered it with his army; built engines, and forced an entry into one of the towers.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	13	44	Out into the streets they sallied, that manned the engine, and there was a fine commotion in the city;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	13	45	here were the townsfolk, with their wives and children, mounting the walls with their garments rent about them, and crying aloud, Simon should give them quarter;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	13	46	great were their fault, greater still his clemency!
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	13	47	At that, Simon relented; harry them to the death he would not, but he drove them out of the city, and cleansed all the houses where idols had stood; then, with singing of psalms and giving of thanks, he made his entry;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	13	48	and now all defilement must be put away, and such citizens it must have as did what the law commanded. After that, he fortified it, and made his own dwelling there.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	13	49	And what of the Gentiles that were left in Jerusalem citadel? Enter Jewish territory or leave it they might not, buy or sell they might not, so that they were hard put to it for food, and many died of famine.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	13	50	At last they cried out to Simon, he should give them quarter, and give them quarter he did, but drove them out, and cleansed the citadel of its pollution.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	13	51	On the twenty-third day of the second month, in the hundred and seventy-first year, in came the Jewish folk singing praise and bearing palm-branches, with music of harp, and cymbals, and zither, and chanting of psalms; of such ill neighbours Israel was now rid.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	13	52	Every year, Simon proclaimed, holiday should be kept at this time;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	13	53	and he fortified that part of the temple mountain which was close by the citadel; here he dwelt, and his followers with him.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	13	54	And now here was his son John grown into a brave warrior; him Simon put at the head of the whole army, with his quarters at Gazara.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	14	1	The year following, what must Demetrius do but muster his army and betake himself to Media, where he would raise levies for the war against Tryphon?
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	14	2	When Arsaces, king of the Medes and Persians, had news of it, he gave orders to one of his chieftains, the invader must be taken alive and brought into his presence.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	14	3	The order was obeyed; the Syrian king, routed and captured, was brought before Arsaces, who put him safely in prison.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	14	4	Thus, during Simon’s days, the whole land of Juda was at peace. Ever his people’s good sought he, and ever by willing hearts was obeyed and honoured.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	14	5	With great state he took possession of Joppe as a harbour, and so found access to the islands out at sea.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	14	6	How wide spread he the frontiers of Israel, how firmly held its possessions,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	14	7	captured how many of its foes! Gazara and Bethsura he won, ay, and the Citadel itself, ridding it of all defilement; there was no resisting his power.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	14	8	In his day, every man farmed his own lands in security, soil of Juda yielded its crops, and the trees their fruit;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	14	9	sat old men in the market-place, busy over the common weal, and young men wore the livery of their glorious campaigning.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	14	10	Never a city but he furnished it with store of provisions; a bulwark each of them should be of sturdy defence. What wonder if the story of his renown was noised to the world’s end?
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	14	11	Such peaceful times brought he to his country, when all Israel kept high holiday,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	14	12	every man with his own vine and fig-tree for shade, and enemy was none to daunt them;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	14	13	domestic malice undone, foreign tyranny shattered all around!
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	14	14	Among his own folk, what comfort he gave the friendless, how scrutinized the law, what short work made of traitor and malcontent;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	14	15	how adorned the sanctuary, how increased the number of its treasures!
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	14	16	To Rome, to Sparta itself, came tidings of Jonathan’s death, and was heard right sorrowfully.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	14	17	When they learned that his brother Simon had been made high priest instead, master now of the land and all its cities,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	14	18	they wrote to him on tablets made of bronze, to renew the treaty of friendship they had with his brethren, Judas and Jonathan, before him;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	14	19	and their letters were read out before the whole assembly at Jerusalem. The Spartans wrote in these words following:
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	14	20	The rulers and commonalty of Sparta, to the high priest Simon, the elders and priests and all the people of the Jews, greeting.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	14	21	Welcome news your ambassadors have brought us, of fame and credit and prosperity you enjoy.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	14	22	And their errand stands recorded in our public annals; how Numenius son of Antiochus and Antipater son of Jason came on the Jews’ part to renew our old treaty of friendship with you;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	14	23	how the people resolved to give them fair greeting, and to lay up a copy of their report in the public archives, that should preserve the memory of it among the Spartan people; and how an account of all this was sent to the high priest Simon.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	14	24	Numenius was sent on a further mission to Rome, bearing a great target of gold, a thousand minas in weight, to renew the alliance there. And when all this reached the ears of the people …
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	14	25	… Men began to ask, how they could shew their gratitude to Simon, and to his sons?
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	14	26	Here was one that had restored the fortunes of his race, and rid Israel of its foes. So they gave him exemption from public burdens, and inscribed their decree on tablets of bronze, fastened to pillars which were set up on mount Sion.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	14	27	And thus the inscription ran: On this eighteenth day of Elul, in the hundred and seventy-second year of the Greek empire, the third of Simon’s high priesthood,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	14	28	there was a high assembly held at Saramel of priests and people, clan-chiefs and elders of the whole nation, that had before them these considerations following. All through the long wars of our country,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	14	29	Simon and his brethren, sons of Mattathias, of Jarib’s clan, put their lives in peril, and fought for law and sanctuary against the common enemy, much glory winning for their own nation.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	14	30	When Jonathan, that had rallied the people and been their high priest, became a part of his race,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	14	31	enemies thought to invade the country and crush the power of it, violate its holy places;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	14	32	and Simon it was withstood them. Champion of his people’s cause, much he spent to arm its warriors, and furnish them with pay.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	14	33	Juda’s cities he fortified, and others besides; Bethsura on the frontiers, once a stronghold of the enemy, garrisoned now by Jews,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	14	34	Joppe on the sea-coast, and Gazara in the Azotus region; Gazara, too, once hostile, with Jewish troops manned he, and in each town made provision for repairs to be done.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	14	35	The people, seeing him so loyal a lover of his country’s renown, made him their ruler and high priest; no less was due to such exploits, public service so faithfully done, such constant ambition for his people’s honour.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	14	36	In his days it was, and by his means, the land was rid at last of Gentile intruders; not least the garrison of David’s own Keep at Jerusalem, that by their sallying out profaned the sacred precincts, and much defiled their purity;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	14	37	a Jewish garrison he set there, to guard both city and country-side, and built Jerusalem walls yet higher.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	14	38	High priesthood of his, king Demetrius must needs acknowledge,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	14	39	bestowing on him the title of king’s friend, and loading him with honours. What could he do else?
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	14	40	Here was Rome itself greeting the Jewish folk as allies, good friends, and kinsmen, welcoming the envoys of Simon with civic state.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	14	41	Here were the Jews, priests and people both, agreed that he should rule them, granting him the high priesthood by right inalienable, until true prophet they should have once more.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	14	42	Their ruler he should be, and guardian of their temple; appoint officer and magistrate, master of ordnance and captain of garrison,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	14	43	and have charge of the sanctuary besides. Him all must obey, in his name deeds be drawn up, all the country through; of purple and gold should be his vesture.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	14	44	Of the rest, both priests and people, none should retrench these privileges, nor gainsay Simon’s will, nor convoke assembly in the country without him; garment of purple, buckle of gold none should wear;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	14	45	nor any man defy or void this edict, but at his peril.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	14	46	The people’s pleasure it was to ennoble Simon after this sort;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	14	47	and Simon, he would not say them nay; high priest, and of priests and people leader, governor and champion, he would be henceforward.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	14	48	So they had the decree inscribed on tablets of bronze, and set up plain to view in the temple precincts;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	14	49	and a copy of it they put by in the treasury, in the safe keeping of Simon and his heirs.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	15	1	Now turn we to Demetrius’ other son, Antiochus. He it was directed a letter, from the islands over sea, to Simon, high priest and ruler of the Jews, and to the whole nation;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	15	2	and this was the tenour of it. King Antiochus, to the high priest Simon and to the people of the Jews, greeting.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	15	3	Here is the kingdom of my fathers overrun by ill folk; I mean to challenge them, and bring back the old ways. To this end, I have made a great levy of mercenaries, and built ships of war;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	15	4	passage I needs must have through yonder territory, ere I can take vengeance for lands of mine ravaged, cities of mine laid waste.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	15	5	This grant, then, I make thee; exemption, such as thou hadst, in the name of former kings, from public offerings and all other payment due to me;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	15	6	the right of minting money within thy own borders;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	15	7	for Jerusalem, enjoyment of her sacred liberties; of weapons thou hast made, strongholds thou hast built, the undisturbed possession.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	15	8	Never a claim the king has, or shall have hereafter, on his subjects, but to thee it is remitted;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	15	9	and, when the kingdom is ours, such honours we will bestow as shall make thee, and thy race, and its sanctuary, renowned all the world over.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	15	10	So, in the hundred and seventy-fourth year, Antiochus returned to his native country, and the armies rallied to him, until Tryphon had but a small following left;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	15	11	all down the sea-coast he fled, with Antiochus at his heels, till he reached Dora;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	15	12	and ever he saw the toils closing round him, now his troops had played him false.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	15	13	With a hundred and twenty thousand foot, and eight thousand horse, Antiochus came to the gates of Dora
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	15	14	and began the siege of it; his ships, too, blockaded the coast, so that it was cut off by land and sea alike; enter it none might, nor leave it …
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	15	15	And now here were Numenius and his fellow envoys come back from Rome, with a copy of despatches sent out to kings and nations everywhere, and this was the tenour of them.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	15	16	Lucius, the Roman consul, to king Ptolemy, greeting.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	15	17	Envoys we have but now received in audience from a friendly country, to wit, Judaea; the people of the Jews, with their high priest Simon, had sent to renew their old treaty of alliance with us,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	15	18	and had made us a present besides, a golden target of a thousand minas weight.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	15	19	Agreed we then to warn kings and nations everywhere, they should not hurt or assault the Jewish people, its cities and country-side, nor comfort its enemies;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	15	20	and for the target of gold, our pleasure was to accept the gift of it.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	15	21	If then there be malcontents from Judaea sheltering among you, our bidding is you should hand them over to the high priest Simon, for such punishment as the Jewish law prescribes.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	15	22	Copies of this decree have been sent to Demetrius, Attalus, Ariarathes and Arsaces,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	15	23	and to these countries following: Lampsacus, Sparta, Delos, Myndos, Sicyon, Caria, Samos, Pamphylia, Lycia, Halicarnassus, Coös, Side, Arados, Rhodes, Phaselis, Gortyna, Cnidus, Cyprus and Cyrene.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	15	24	A further copy has been sent to the high priest Simon and to the Jewish people …
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	15	25	Once again king Antiochus laid siege to Dora, bringing fresh force to bear, and devising fresh engines; and ever he kept Tryphon hemmed in, so that escape was none.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	15	26	Thereupon Simon despatched two thousand picked men to aid in the siege, with silver and gold and a deal of tackle besides;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	15	27	but accept them the king would not; all his promises were forgot, and Simon a stranger now.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	15	28	Athenobius it was, one of the king’s friends, that came to treat with him, and this was the message he bore: Cities of mine you hold, Joppe, and Gazara, and Jerusalem citadel;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	15	29	lands about them you have laid waste, and done Syria much mischief besides, encroaching everywhere on my domain.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	15	30	Needs must you should hand over cities you have occupied, revenues of Gentile lands you have detained,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	15	31	or else five hundred talents of silver in exchange, and five hundred more to compensate for damage done and revenue lost; if not, we will come and overpower you by force of arms.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	15	32	So came Athenobius, the king’s friend, to Jerusalem, where he saw what state Simon kept, much display of gold and silver, and a great throng of attendants, till he was dazzled at the sight. Yet delivered he his errand;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	15	33	to which Simon made this answer: Other men’s fief seized we never, nor other men’s rights detain; here be lands that were our fathers’ once, by enemies of ours for some while wrongfully held;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	15	34	opportunity given us, should we not claim the patrimony we had lost?
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	15	35	As for thy talk of Joppe and Gazara, these were cities did much mischief to people and land of ours; for the worth of them, thou shalt have a hundred talents if thou wilt. Never a word said Athenobius,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	15	36	but went back to the king very ill pleased, and told him what answer was given; of Simon’s court, too, and of all else he had seen. Antiochus was in a great taking of anger;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	15	37	here was Tryphon newly escaped by ship to Orthosias!
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	15	38	He must needs leave the sea-coast in charge of Cendebaeus, with a strong command both of horse and foot,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	15	39	while himself gave Tryphon chase. This Cendebaeus had orders to advance and threaten Judaea; Gedor he should fortify, and there make himself fast, the better to levy war on Juda.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	15	40	So he marched away to Jamnia, and set about harassing the Jews; now it was an inroad, with prisoners carried away, now a massacre; and all the while he was fortifying Gedor.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	15	41	Cavalry he quartered there, and other troops besides, to sally out and patrol the roads into Judaea; the king would have it so.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	16	1	It was not long before John came up from Gazara, to tell his father Simon how ill Cendebaeus was using their fellow-countrymen.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	16	2	And at that, Simon must have his two elder sons present, Judas and John both, and made the command over to them. Still young we were, he said, I and my brothers and my father’s kin, when we began that war on Israel’s enemies which is being fought yet; under our banners once and again came victory, and the day was saved for Israel.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	16	3	I am an old man now, and it is yours to do what I and brother of mine did; march out, fight in our people’s cause, and heaven’s aid be with you!
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	16	4	Twenty thousand warriors John chose out from the rest, and cavalry to support them, and away they went to fight Cendebaeus. That night they spent at Modin,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	16	5	and on the morrow, when they left it for the valley, what a huge array was this, both of horse and foot, encountering them! And a mountain torrent flowed in between.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	16	6	When John brought his army to the opposite bank, and found his men had little stomach for the crossing, he made the passage first, leaving the rest to follow at his heels;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	16	7	then drew them up by companies, with the cavalry in between, so greatly did the enemy’s cavalry outnumber them.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	16	8	And now the sacred trumpets sounded the charge; fled Cendebaeus, fled his army at their onslaught, and many were left dead on the field; for the rest, they were fain to take refuge behind their walls again.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	16	9	John went in pursuit, for all his brother Judas had been wounded in the battle, and chased them as far as the walls of Cedron … which he had fortified.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	16	10	Nor might they find shelter in the strongholds of the Azotus territory; he burnt these to the ground; a toll of two thousand men he had taken before he returned victorious to Judaea.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	16	11	Turn we now to Ptolemy, son of Abobus, that was in charge of all Jericho plain, and had a purse well lined with silver and gold;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	16	12	was he not the son-in-law of a high priest?
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	16	13	But higher still his ambition ran; he would make himself master of the whole country; murder he plotted for Simon and his sons together.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	16	14	It was in Sabath, the eleventh month, of the hundred and seventy-seventh year, that Simon came down to Jericho, as ever he visited all the cities of Judaea in his great care for them; and his sons Mattathias and Judas went with him.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	16	15	And there, in a castle he had built for himself, Doch is the name of it, the son of Abobus gave them treacherous welcome. A great feast he made, but he had men waiting in readiness,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	16	16	and with these, when Simon and his sons had drunk deep, he took arms, broke into the banqueting-chamber, and slew both father and sons, with certain of their retinue.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	16	17	Never saw Israel so treacherous a deed, or good service so ill rewarded.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	16	18	News of all this was sent by Ptolemy to the king, and in writing; his plea was, an army should be sent out in support of him, and the country, with all its cities and all the tribute that came from them, given into his charge.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	16	19	Others of his men he despatched to Gazara; John must be put to death, he wrote, and for the captains, they should have silver and gold and good recompense, would they but rally to his side;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	16	20	others again were to take possession of Jerusalem, and of the temple hill.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	16	21	But too late; a messenger had reached John at Gazara, telling him his father and brothers were dead, and himself too marked down for slaughter;
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	16	22	whereupon he took alarm in good earnest; their murderous errand known, he seized his executioners and made an end of them.
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	16	23	What else John did, and how fought he, brave deeds done, and strong walls built, and all his history,
 1 Machabees	1Mac	45	16	24	you may read in the annals of his time, that were kept faithfully since the day when he succeeded his father as high priest.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	1	1	To their brethren, the Jews of Egypt, those of Jerusalem and Judaea send brotherly greeting and good health.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	1	2	God speed you well, the covenant he made with his true worshippers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, never forgetting;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	1	3	reverent hearts may he give to all of you, brave and generous to perform his will;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	1	4	with law and precept of his enlarge your thoughts, and send you happiness;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	1	5	may he listen to your prayer, and be gracious, and in the hour of peril never forsake you!
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	1	6	Take courage, then; we in this land are praying for you.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	1	7	Time was, in the hundred and sixty-ninth year, when Demetrius was a-reigning, we ourselves were writing to you in the midst of suffering and alarms. Much had we to undergo, when Jason would betray his own country, his own people;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	1	8	here was the gateway burnt to the ground, here were innocent lives forfeited. Cried we upon the Lord, and all our prayers were answered; burnt-sacrifice and bloodless offering were made, lamps lighted, and loaves set forth in the temple as of old!
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	1	9	Look to it, then, you make bowers and keep holiday in this month of Casleu.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	1	10	Written in the hundred and eighty-eighth year. The common folk of Jerusalem and Judaea, their council of elders, and I, Judas, to Aristobulus, of the anointed priestly race, that was master of king Ptolemy, and to the Jews of Egypt, greeting and health.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	1	11	Great thanks we owe to God, that from the extreme of peril has delivered us; ay, though we had such a king for our adversary,
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	1	12	as could bring in hordes of men from Persia, both us and our holy city to subdue.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	1	13	What became of him, think you, the general that marched away into Persia with a countless army at his heels? He met his end in the temple of Nanea, through guile of the priests that served it.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	1	14	Thither Antiochus had come with his friends, putting it about that he would wed the goddess, and laying claim to a great part of her treasures under the title of dowry.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	1	15	The priests, then, had the money laid out in readiness; into the precincts he came, with a meagre retinue, and they, now that Antiochus was within, shut the temple gates.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	1	16	Thereupon, letting themselves in by their secret door, they killed the general and his company with throwing of stones, cut them limb from limb, and threw them down headless to the populace without.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	1	17	Blessed, upon every account, be this God of ours, that denies protection to the sinner!
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	1	18	We, then, on this twenty-fifth day of Casleu, mean to solemnize the purification of the temple, and hold ourselves bound to notify you of it, so that you too may keep holiday, with making of bowers. …… And of the fire imparted to us, when Nehemias offered sacrifice at the re-building of temple and altar.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	1	19	Long ago, when our fathers were being carried off into the Persian country, such priests of the true God as held office in those days took away the fire from the altar, and hid it down in the valley, in a pit both deep and dry, so well guarding their secret that none might know where it was to be found.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	1	20	Years passed, and God’s will was that Nehemias should come back, holding the Persian king’s warrant. Nehemias it was that had search made for the fire, and by the grandsons of those very priests that hid it; but they made report, fire they could find none, only a puddle of water.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	1	21	And what did Nehemias? He would have some of the water drawn and fetched to him; with this water, once the sacrifice was laid on the altar, both the wood and the offerings themselves must be sprinkled.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	1	22	Sprinkled they were, and when the sun shone out, that till now was hidden by a cloud, all at once a great fire blazed up, astonishing the beholders.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	1	23	To prayer fell the priests all around, while sacrifice was done, Jonathan to lead them, and the rest answering;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	1	24	to prayer fell Nehemias, and this was the manner of his praying: Lord God, that all things madest, the terrible, the strong, the just, the merciful, King gracious as none else;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	1	25	none else so kindly, none else so just, as thou, the almighty, the eternal! Israel from all peril thou deliverest, thou didst make choice of our fathers, and set them apart for thyself.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	1	26	For the whole nation of Israel receive our sacrifice; all are thine; thy own domain keep inviolate.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	1	27	Bring home the exiles; captives of the heathen conquer or set free; to the despised, the outcast grant redress; let the world know what a God is ours!
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	1	28	Crush the oppressor, the tyrant that so mishandles us,
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	1	29	and to thy own sanctuary, as Moses foretold, thy own people restore!
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	1	30	Then, till the sacrifice was consumed, the priests went on with their singing of hymns;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	1	31	and when all was finished, Nehemias would have them drench great stones with the water that was left.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	1	32	Thereupon, a flame broke out from them, but died away when the altar fires blazed up again over yonder.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	1	33	The news travelled, till the Persian king himself was told how water appeared where exiled priests had hidden the fire, how, with this water, Nehemias and his company had bathed the sacrifice.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	1	34	Good heed he gave to the matter, and after due examination fenced the ground in with a shrine, in witness of what befell there.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	1	35	Largesse the priests had, and many were the gifts passed from hand to hand, when the truth of the matter was proved.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	1	36	As for the place, Nehemias himself called it Nephthar, which means Purification; but the vulgar call it Nephi.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	2	1	You shall also find it set down in the dispositions made by the prophet Jeremias, that he bade the exiles rescue the sacred fire, in the manner aforesaid.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	2	2	Strict charge he gave them, the Lord’s commandments they should keep ever in mind, nor let false gods, all gold and silver and fine array, steal away their hearts;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	2	3	with much else to confirm them in their regard for the law.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	2	4	And here, in this same document, the story was told, how a divine oracle came to Jeremias, and he must needs go out, with tabernacle and ark to bear him company, to the very mountain Moses climbed long ago, when he had sight of God’s domain.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	2	5	A cave Jeremias found there, in which he set down tabernacle and ark and incense-altar, and stopped up the entrance behind him.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	2	6	There were some that followed; no time they lost in coming up to mark the spot, but find it they could not.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	2	7	He, when they told him of it, rebuked their eagerness; Nay, said he, the place must remain ever unknown, till the day when God brings his people together once more, and is reconciled;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	2	8	then, divinely, the secret shall be made manifest. Then once again the Lord’s majesty shall be seen, and the cloud that enshrines it; the same vision that was granted to Moses, and to Solomon when he prayed that the great God would have his temple on earth;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	2	9	Solomon, the master of wisdom, that in his wisdom offered sacrifice to hallow the temple he had made.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	2	10	Prayed Moses, prayed Solomon, and fire came down from heaven to consume the burnt-sacrifice. …
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	2	11	… Uneaten, Moses said, the victim for fault, and so the fire must consume it. …
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	2	12	… No other mind had king Solomon, that for eight days would continue his dedication feast.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	2	13	With all this, dispositions Nehemias made, records Nehemias kept, are in full agreement. He it was founded a library, and there collected histories of king and prophet, and of David himself; dispatches, too, the kings had sent, and inventories of gifts made.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	2	14	And now Judas in his turn has recovered all such records as were lost to us through the late wars, and they are here in our keeping;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	2	15	would you be in possession of these, you have but to send and fetch them.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	2	16	Meanwhile, we notify you by these presents of that cleansing ceremony we mean to perform; do us the courtesy to keep holiday on your part.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	2	17	See what deliverance God has sent to his people, restoring to us our common domain, our sovereignty, our priesthood, our temple’s sanctity!
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	2	18	Think you not he will fulfil, ere long, the promise made in his law; take pity on us, that are scattered wide as heaven, and on this hallowed soil reunite us?
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	2	19	What meant they else, those great perils overcome, that sanctuary purified at last?…
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	2	20	Speak we of Judas Machabaeus and his brethren, and how the great temple was purified, and the altar hallowed anew;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	2	21	of the battles they fought against Antiochus, called the Illustrious, and Eupator, that was his son.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	2	22	Speak we of heavenly manifestations, sent to encourage the champions of Jewry, till at last, though so few, they won back their country, and put the hordes of heathendom to flight.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	2	23	Speak we of that temple, the most famous in all the world, by their means recovered, of a city set free, of forgotten laws re-established, and how the Lord, in his great complaisance, shewed them mercy.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	2	24	All this, the argument of five books Jason of Cyrene wrote, we have been at pains to abridge within the compass of a single volume.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	2	25	What would you? There be books a many, and they are hard put to it that would trace the course of history, for the abundance of the matter therein comprised.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	2	26	And my aim was, if a man would read, read he should and with relish; would a man study, without great ado he should be able to commit all to memory; and so I would serve every man’s turn.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	2	27	But for me, that undertook the business of abridgement, think you it was light labour? Nay, here was a task all watching and sweat;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	2	28	yet shoulder the burden I would; host that prepares a banquet must work for other men’s pleasure, and earn nothing but their thanks.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	2	29	Full information would you have about this or that, I remit you to my author; for myself, I will be true to my own pattern of shortness.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	2	30	When a house is first in building, the architect must needs bestow pains on every part of it; not such the painter’s care, he will pick out the surfaces that are most apt for adornment. And so, methinks, it is here;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	2	31	to expatiate, to digress, to indulge curiosity on every point, is for the arch-historian;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	2	32	your epitomist will ask leave to study brevity, and let long disquisitions be.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	2	33	And now, to our matter! Here is preface enough; it were ill done to draw out the preamble, and leave our story cramped for room.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	3	1	Time was, the holy city was a home of content; ever the laws of it were well kept; such a high priest they had, Onias, a devout man, and one that hated evil.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	3	2	In those days, king and chieftain held the place much in reverence, and with rich gifts endowed the temple;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	3	3	did not Seleucus, king of Asia, defray all the cost of maintaining its sacrifices?
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	3	4	Yet one citizen there was, Simon the Benjamite, the temple governor, that had lawless schemes afoot, do the high priest what he would to gainsay him.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	3	5	And at last, when overcome Onias he might not, what did he? To Apollonius he betook himself, the son of Tharseas, that was then in charge of Coelesyria and Phoenice,
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	3	6	and gave him great news indeed; here was the treasury at Jerusalem stocked with treasures innumerable, here was vast public wealth, unclaimed by the needs of the altar, and nothing prevented but it should fall into the king’s hands.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	3	7	No sooner did Apollonius find himself in the royal presence than he told the story of the rumoured treasure; and at that, the king sent for Heliodorus, that had charge of his affairs, and despatched him with orders to fetch the said money away.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	3	8	This Heliodorus set out on his journey without more ado, under colour of making a progress through the towns of Coelesyria and Phoenice, but with the king’s business still in mind.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	3	9	And when he reached Jerusalem, and there received a gracious welcome from the high priest, he made no secret of the information he possessed, or of his errand, and he would know the truth about these moneys.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	3	10	A plain account the high priest gave him; some were moneys deposited on trust, for the maintenance of widows and orphans;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	3	11	there were some, too, belonging to Hyrcanus son of Tobias, a man of repute. The information was maliciously laid, nor did the whole sum amount to more than four hundred talents of silver, and two hundred of gold.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	3	12	Men had reposed their confidence in a city and a temple renowned throughout the world, for the high opinion they had of its sanctity; and should he play them false? It was not to be thought of.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	3	13	But Heliodorus stood upon the terms of his commission; delivered to the king the money must be, there was no other way of it.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	3	14	So the appointed day came, when he would visit the temple and take order in the matter; what a stir there was then in the city!
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	3	15	Priests, in their sacred vesture, cast themselves down before the altar, and cried out upon heaven; would not he, whose law enjoined safe-keeping, keep property safe for its rightful owners?
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	3	16	And for the high priest himself, the very aspect of him was heart-rending; such a change of look and colour betrayed his inward feelings;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	3	17	grief and horror were stamped on his features, and to all that saw him he seemed a broken man.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	3	18	Folk streamed out of their houses in droves, to make public intercession over the affront that should be put on the holy place;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	3	19	sackcloth about their waists, the women thronged the streets, and maids that might not go abroad must yet run to the housetops, or peer out at windows, to see Onias pass.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	3	20	Heavenward they raised their hands, each one of them, in prayer;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	3	21	and pity it was to see how common folk about him were sharing the high priest’s agony of suspense.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	3	22	Here, then, was a whole city praying Almighty God, no loss might befall the men who had trusted them;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	3	23	and here was Heliodorus carrying out his design, already arrived at the treasury with his body-guard in attendance.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	3	24	All at once the spirit of God, the omnipotent, gave signal proof of its presence; daunted by the divine power they trembled and stood irresolute, these ministers of wrong.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	3	25	What saw they? A horse, royally caparisoned, that charged upon Heliodorus and struck him down with its fore-feet; terrible of aspect its rider was, and his armour seemed all of gold.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	3	26	Two other warriors they saw, how strong of limb, how dazzling of mien, how bravely clad! These stood about Heliodorus and fell to scourging him, this side and that, blow after blow, without respite.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	3	27	With the suddenness of his fall to the ground, darkness had closed about him; hastily they caught him up and carried him out in his litter;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	3	28	a helpless burden now, that entered yonder treasury with such a rabble of tipstaves and halberdiers! Here was proof of God’s power most manifest.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	3	29	There he lay, by heaven’s decree speechless and beyond hope of recovery;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	3	30	and all around men were praising the Lord, for thus vindicating the honour of his sanctuary. In the temple, where all had been anxiety and turmoil until heaven showed its almighty power, all was rejoicing and contentment now.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	3	31	It was not long before friends of Heliodorus were entreating Onias to call down mercy from the most High, on one that was now at death’s door.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	3	32	This was anxious news for the high priest; what if the king should suspect the Jews of foul play? Offer sacrifice he did for the man’s recovery, and with good effect.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	3	33	He was yet at his prayers, when those two warriors, in the same brave attire, stood by Heliodorus again; Thanks thou owest, they said, to the high priest Onias; at his instance, the Lord grants thee life;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	3	34	God’s scourge thou hast felt, God’s wondrous power be ever on thy lips. And with that, they were seen no more.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	3	35	Be sure this Heliodorus offered God sacrifice; ay, and made vows a many for his preservation, and thanked Onias besides; then he marched his army back to the king.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	3	36	Everywhere he testified how great a God was this, what strange things his own eyes had witnessed;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	3	37	and when the king himself asked what manner of emissary he should next send to Jerusalem,
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	3	38	Why, said he, some enemy of thine, some rebel that plots against the kingdom. Escape he with his life, I warrant he will come back to thee soundly beaten. Past doubt, there is some divine influence haunts yonder place;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	3	39	watch and ward he keeps over it, that has his dwelling in heaven, to be the plague and the undoing of all who come that way upon an errand of mischief.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	3	40	Such is the tale of Heliodorus, and of the treasury’s preserving.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	4	1	And now, what must Simon do, the same that had drawn men’s eyes to his country with stories of treasure, but fall to slandering Onias? Onias it was, by his way of it, had egged Heliodorus on, and been the author of the mischief.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	4	2	So true a patriot, that well loved his race, well guarded the divine law, and he must be branded with the name of traitor!
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	4	3	The feud grew worse, till at last there were murders done, and Simon’s faction answerable for it.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	4	4	Here was the public peace much endangered; here was Apollonius, the governor of Coelesyria and Phoenice, adding fuel to the flame of Simon’s malice; what marvel if Onias had recourse to the king?
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	4	5	Little enough it liked him to bring an ill name on his fellow-citizens; yet common good of the Jewish folk he must needs have in mind;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	4	6	how should quiet times return, or Simon’s madness be cooled, unless the king took order in the matter?
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	4	7	But king Seleucus was done with life now, and the throne passed to Antiochus, called the Illustrious. And here was a brother Onias had, called Jason, that coveted the office of high priest.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	4	8	This Jason went to the new king, and made him an offer of three hundred and sixty talents of silver out of its revenue, besides eighty from other incomings.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	4	9	Let leave be granted him to set up a game-place for the training of youth, and enrol the men of Jerusalem as citizens of Antioch, he would give his bond for a hundred and fifty more.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	4	10	To this the king assented; high priest he became, and straightway set about perverting his fellow-countrymen to the Gentile way of living.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	4	11	Till now, the Jews had followed their own customs, by grace of a royal privilege; it was John that won it for them, father of that Eupolemus, who afterwards went in embassage to Rome, to make a treaty of alliance. But Jason would abrogate these customs; common right should be none, and great wrong should find acceptance instead.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	4	12	This game-place of his he did not scruple to set up in the very shadow of the Citadel, and debauch all that was noblest of Judaea’s youth.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	4	13	Mischief in the bud, think you, when such alien Gentile ways came in? Nay, here was flower and fruit of it; and all through the unexampled villainy of one man, this Jason, that high priest was none, but rather an arch-traitor.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	4	14	Why, the priests themselves had no more stomach for serving the altar; temple scorned, and sacrifice unheeded, off they went to the wrestling-ground, there to enter their names and win unhallowed prizes, soon as ever the first quoit was thrown!
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	4	15	What glory their fathers had handed down to them! And fame such as the Greeks covet was all their ambition now.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	4	16	Alas, here was a perilous contest awaiting them; Greek fashions they would follow, and Greeks would be, that ere long should have Greeks for their enemies, ay, and conquerors.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	4	17	There is no breaking God’s laws without paying the price; time will show that.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	4	18	When the quinquennial games were being held at Tyre, in the king’s presence,
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	4	19	this vile Jason it was sent some of his wretches with a gift of three hundred silver pieces to do honour to Hercules. True it is, the bearers of them asked they should not be spent on sacrifice, but on some other need that was more befitting;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	4	20	yet Jason’s meaning was, Hercules should have them, and if they went to the building of the fleet, it was thanks to Jason’s envoys.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	4	21	Afterwards, Apollonius the son of Menestheus was despatched to Egypt, for the enthroning of king Ptolemy Philometor. Well Antiochus knew that he was disaffected towards the royal policy, and there was his own safety to be considered … He passed on to Joppe, and so to Jerusalem,
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	4	22	where Jason and the whole city welcomed him in state, with carrying of torches and great huzza’ing. And so he led his army back to Phoenice.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	4	23	Three years later, Jason would send to the king certain moneys, together with a report on affairs of moment; and for this errand he chose Menelaus, brother to that Simon we have before mentioned.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	4	24	Access thus gained to the king’s person, Menelaus was careful to flatter his self-conceit; then, outbidding Jason by three hundred talents of silver, diverted the high-priestly succession to himself.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	4	25	Back he came to Jerusalem, with the royal warrant to maintain him, yet all unworthy, with a tyrant’s cruel heart, more wild beast than high priest.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	4	26	Thus was Jason supplanted, that had supplanted his own brother, and was driven to take refuge in the Ammonite country;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	4	27	as for Menelaus, he got the office he coveted, but never a penny paid the king of all he had promised, however urgent Sostratus might be, that was in command of the citadel.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	4	28	For all exaction of tribute this fellow was answerable; and so it fell out that both of them were summoned to court,
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	4	29	Menelaus leaving his high priesthood to his own brother, Lysimachus, and for Sostratus … he became governor of Cyprus.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	4	30	It befell at this very time that the men of Tharsus and Mallus made an insurrection; so little it liked them that a gift should be made of their cities to Antiochis, the king’s paramour.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	4	31	Post-haste the king went off to appease them, leaving one of his courtiers, Andronicus, to be viceroy.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	4	32	Here was Menelaus’ opportunity; he had gold ornaments with him, that he had stolen out of the temple, and now, giving some of these as a present to Andronicus, he sold the rest at Tyre and other cities in the neighbourhood.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	4	33	Of these doings, one man had clear proof, and thereupon denounced him: Onias, that had now taken refuge in Daphne sanctuary, close by Antioch.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	4	34	What did Menelaus? He gained the ear of Andronicus and demanded that Onias should pay for it with his life. So the viceroy himself paid Onias a visit, swore friendship and overcame his suspicions; then, when he had left sanctuary, without scruple of conscience put him to death.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	4	35	Here was great matter of indignation, and not among the Jews only; the very heathen took it amiss, so great a man should meet so unworthy an end.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	4	36	No sooner was the king back from Cilicia than the citizens of Antioch, Jew and Gentile both, assailed him with complaints about the murder of an innocent man;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	4	37	whereat Antiochus himself was heartily grieved, ay, and moved to tears of pity, such memories he had of Onias’ well-ordered, honourable life.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	4	38	Anon he fell into a rage, stripped Andronicus of his purple, and would have him led away all through the streets, till he reached the very spot where he had lifted his impious hand against Onias. There the sacrilegious wretch perished, by the divine vengeance worthily requited.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	4	39	Meanwhile, word had gone abroad at Jerusalem, how Lysimachus was ever robbing the temple, by Menelaus’ contrivance. Great store of gold was lost already; but now there was a rising of the common folk against Lysimachus,
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	4	40	whose numbers and their rage increasing, he was fain to put some three thousand men under arms, with one Tyrannus at their head, that was far gone in years, and no less in folly. Lysimachus it was that first resorted to violence;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	4	41	but the rabble, when they saw what he would be at, caught up stones or stout clubs for the attack, and some of them pelted him with cinders.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	4	42	When they had wounded some of his retinue, and felled others to earth, the rest took to their heels; and there, close beside the treasury, this robber of the temple was done to death.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	4	43	And next, they must implead Menelaus himself on the same charge.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	4	44	Three envoys from the council of elders brought the whole matter before the king, when he visited Tyre,
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	4	45	and Menelaus was as good as lost. What did he? With the promise of a great bribe he secured the good word of Ptolemy, son of Dorymenes;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	4	46	Ptolemy it was waylaid the king, as he rested from the heat in a covered walk of his, and put him from his purpose.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	4	47	So now Menelaus, that was at the root of all the mischief, must go scot free, and his unhappy accusers, that might have cleared themselves easily enough before a court of bloodthirsty Scythians, with their lives must pay for it.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	4	48	Here were men come to plead for their own city, their own people, their own temple treasures, and must they be hurried off to undeserved punishment?
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	4	49	Even the Tyrians thought shame of it, and in princely fashion gave them burial.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	4	50	So, through the avarice of the great, throve Menelaus still, and his wickedness went from bad to worse, to his countrymen’s undoing.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	5	1	At this time Antiochus was preparing once more for a campaign against Egypt.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	5	2	And all about the city of Jerusalem, by the space of forty days together, there were strange sights appearing. High up in air, horsemen were seen riding this way and that, in vesture of gold, and spears they carried as if they went to battle;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	5	3	now riding in ordered ranks, now engaged in close combat. In long array they moved past, shields and helmeted heads and drawn swords; flew javelin and flashed golden harness, a whole armoury of shining mail.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	5	4	No wonder if the prayer was on all men’s lips, good not ill such high visions might portend.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	5	5	And now a false rumour went abroad, Antiochus had come by his death. Jason’s ears it reached, and all at once, with full a thousand men at his back, he delivered an assault upon the city. Let the townsfolk man the walls as they would, at last it fell, and Menelaus must take refuge within the citadel.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	5	6	As for Jason, he fell upon his own fellow-countrymen, and that without mercy. His own flesh and blood to vanquish, what was this but shameful defeat? Ay, but to him friend was foe, were there spoil for the winning!
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	5	7	Yet high priesthood he got none; disappointed of his scheming, back he must go to the Ammonite country,
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	5	8	and there, marked down for death by king Aretas of the Arabians, fled from city to city. An outlaw, hated and shunned by his kind, of a whole land, of a whole race, the common foe, he was driven out into Egypt;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	5	9	and so making his way to Lacedaemon, as if to find refuge there by right of kinship, died miserably. In exile he died, that had brought exile on so many;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	5	10	cast away without dole or tomb, that left so many tombless; in a strange land unburied, that might have rested in his fathers’ grave.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	5	11	Here was news to make the king doubt whether the Jews were loyal to him, and back he came from Egypt in a great taking of rage. He occupied the city, and that by force of arms;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	5	12	then he bade his troops go about killing, with no quarter for any they met; let a man but shew his face on the house-top, he must be slaughtered with the rest.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	5	13	Fell young and old alike; children with their mothers must die, nor maidenhood was spared, nor helpless infancy.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	5	14	By the end of three days, eighty thousand had been massacred, forty thousand held as prisoners, and as many more sold into slavery.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	5	15	Nor might all this content him; with Menelaus for his guide, that was traitor to faith and folk, what must he do but make his way into God’s temple, holier in all the world is none?
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	5	16	What, should those sacred ornaments, dedicated by kings and peoples for the more splendour and worthiness of it, be caught up in his impious hands, pawed and defiled by his touch?
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	5	17	Surely he had taken leave of his wits, this Antiochus; how should he know that this sanctuary, for once, would lack the divine protection? And only because, for a little, God’s anger was provoked by sins of the men that dwelt there!
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	5	18	Free had they been from the meshes of such guilt, Antiochus, too, should have been greeted with a drubbing, as Heliodorus was, the man king Seleucus sent to rob the treasury, and should have learned to leave his rash purpose.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	5	19	But what would you? People it was God chose, and city for people’s sake;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	5	20	chastisement that fell on the people, city must rue, and anon share its good fortune. He, the omnipotent, the ruler of all, would leave Jerusalem forlorn in his anger, would raise her to heights of glory, his anger once appeased.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	5	21	Antiochus, then, came away from the temple a thousand and eight hundred talents the richer; and back he went to Antioch, all at reckless speed; he had a mind to sail his fleet over the plain, march his troops across the sea, his heart so swelled with pride in his doings.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	5	22	As for the Jewish folk, he left viceroys of his own to harry them; in Jerusalem Philip, that was a Phrygian born, and outdid his own master in cruelty;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	5	23	at Garizim Andronicus and Menelaus, heaviest burden of all for the folk to bear.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	5	24	But he would do worse by the Jews yet; or why did he send out Apollonius, the arch-enemy, and a force of twenty-two thousand, to cut off manhood in its flower, women and children to sell for slaves?
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	5	25	This Apollonius, when he reached Jerusalem, was all professions of friendship, and nothing did until the sabbath came round, when the Jews kept holiday. Then he put his men under arms,
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	5	26	and butchered all that went out to keep festival; to and fro he went about the streets, with armed fellows at his heels, and made a great massacre.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	5	27	Meanwhile Judas Machabaeus, and nine others with him, went out into the desert, where they lived like wild beasts on the mountain-side; better lodge there with herbs for food, than be party to the general defilement.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	6	1	Not long after, the king despatched one of the senators at Antioch, with orders he should compel the Jewish people, custom of their fathers and law of their God to forsake.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	6	2	The temple at Jerusalem must be profaned, and dedicated now to Jupiter Olympius; as for the temple on Garizim, the Samaritans were to call it, as well they might, after Jupiter the god of strangers.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	6	3	What a storm of troubles broke then upon the commonwealth, most grievous to be borne!
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	6	4	All riot and revelry the temple became, once the Gentiles had it; here was dallying with harlots, and women making their way into the sacred precincts, and bringing in of things abominable;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	6	5	with forbidden meats, to the law’s injury, the very altar groaned.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	6	6	Sabbath none would observe, nor keep holiday his fathers kept; even the name of Jew was disclaimed.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	6	7	Instead, they went to sacrifice on the king’s birthday, though it were ruefully and under duress; and when the feast of Liber came round, make procession they must in Liber’s honour, garlanded with ivy each one.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	6	8	And now, among all the neighbouring cities, a decree went out, wherein the Ptolemies were the prime movers; all alike should constrain the Jews to do sacrifice,
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	6	9	and those that would not fall in with Gentile ways, with their lives must pay for it. Here were sights to be seen most pitiable.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	6	10	Two mothers there were, denounced for the circumcision of their own sons; what, think you, befell them? Both must be driven through the streets, with the children hung about their breasts, and cast headlong from the battlements!
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	6	11	At another time, Philip had information that certain Jews were meeting in caves near at hand, to keep the sabbath there without remark. Not one of these would lift a hand to help himself, so great care they had of the day’s observance, and all were burned to death.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	6	12	Reader, by these tales of ill fortune be not too much dismayed; bethink thee, all this came about for the punishment of our race, not for its undoing.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	6	13	A mark of signal favour it is, when the Lord is quick to chastise, nor lets the sinner sin on unreproved.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	6	14	See how he deals with other nations, waiting patiently to take full toll when the hour comes for judgement!
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	6	15	Not so with us; for our guilt he will not delay reckoning, and claim strict vengeance at last.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	6	16	Towards us, his mercy is inalienable; chastise us he will with adversity, but forsake us never.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	6	17	So much, reader, for thy warning; and now go we back to our history.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	6	18	Here was Eleazar, one of the chief scribes, a man of great age and of noble features, being required to eat swine’s flesh; but though they held his mouth open they could not force him to eat.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	6	19	He would rather die gloriously than live defiled; on he went, of his own accord, to the place of torture,
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	6	20	scanning every step of the path that lay before him. He must endure all in patience, rather than taste, for love of life, the forbidden meat.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	6	21	Old friends among the bystanders, out of misplaced kindness, took him aside and urged him to let meat of some other kind be brought, which he could taste without scruple; he could pretend to have obeyed the king’s will by eating the sacrilegious food,
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	6	22	and his life should no longer be forfeit. Such kind offices old friendship claimed;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	6	23	but he thought rather of the reverence that was due to his great age, of his venerable grey hairs, of a life blamelessly lived from childhood onwards. True to the precepts of God’s holy law, he answered that they would do better to send him to his grave and have done with it.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	6	24	It does not suit my time of life, said he, to play a part. What of many that stand here, younger than myself, who would think that Eleazar, at the age of ninety, had turned Gentile?
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	6	25	To gain a brief hour of this perishable life, shall I play a trick on them, shall I disgrace this hoary head of mine and bring down a curse on it?
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	6	26	Man’s sentence here I may avoid if I will, but God’s almighty hand, living or dead, escape I may not.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	6	27	Let me take leave of life with a good grace, as best suits my years,
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	6	28	bequeathing to men younger than myself an example of courage; meeting, with ready resolve, an honourable death, for the sake of laws holy and august as ours are. And so without more ado he was led away to his torturing;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	6	29	his executioners were in a rage, that but now had been gentle with him; pride, they would have it, spoke here.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	6	30	And this was the last sigh he uttered, as he lay there dying under the lash, Lord, in thy holy wisdom this thou well knowest; I might have had life if I would, yet never a cruel pang my body endures, but my soul suffers it gladly for thy reverence.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	6	31	Thus he died, not only to those younger men he spoke of, but to our whole race, leaving the pattern of a brave and honourable death.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	7	1	Seven brothers there were, that lay under arrest, and their mother with them; these too were tortured at the king’s command, to see if whip and thong would not make them eat swine’s flesh, for all their scruples.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	7	2	And thus spoke out one of them in the name of the rest: Why dost thou put us to the question? What secret wouldst thou learn? Of this be sure, we had rather die than break the divine law given to our fathers.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	7	3	The king, in a rage, would have fire-pan heated, and caldron of bronze; heated they were,
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	7	4	and then he passed judgement upon this same spokesman. Tongue of him should be cut out, scalp torn off, hands and feet mutilated, while mother and brethren stood by to see it;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	7	5	then, so maimed, he was for the fire; they should roast him alive in a caldron. Long time he suffered, and there stood the rest with their mother, each heartening other to die bravely;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	7	6	God sees true, said they, and will not allow us to go uncomforted. Did not Moses prophesy as much, even in his song of remonstrance, He will comfort his servants?
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	7	7	So died the first, and now the second must make sport for them. When the hair was torn from his head and the skin with it, they asked, Would he eat, or must his whole body pay for it, limb by limb?
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	7	8	And he answered in good round Hebrew, eat he would not; whereupon he, in his turn, suffered like the first.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	7	9	Ay, miscreant, he said with his last breath, of this present life it lies in thy power to rob us; but he, who is ruler of the whole world, he, for whose laws we perish, will raise us up again, and to life everlasting.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	7	10	And now they had their will with the third, who was no sooner bidden than he put forth tongue and hands very courageously;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	7	11	Heaven’s gift these be, he said, and for God’s law I make light account of them, well assured he will give them back to me.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	7	12	Well might they marvel, king and courtiers both, at one so young that recked so little of his sufferings.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	7	13	Such was the manner of his passing; the fourth, too, when with like tortures they assailed him,
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	7	14	died with these words on his lips: Man’s sentence of death, what matters it, so there be hope in God, that shall raise up the dead? For thee, resurrection to new life shall be none.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	7	15	And when the fifth was put to the question, he looked Antiochus in the face, thus warning him:
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	7	16	Mortal, at thy own whim free to govern thy fellow men, think not God has abandoned this race of ours!
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	7	17	Wait but a little, and good proof thou shalt have of his sovereign power, such torment thee and thine awaits.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	7	18	So they came to the sixth, and this was his dying utterance: Never flatter thyself with vain hope; speed we amiss, it was our own doing, that sinned against our God. Strange be his dealings with us,
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	7	19	yet think not thou to defy God unpunished.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	7	20	And here was the greatest marvel of all, by honest folk ever to be kept in mind, that the mother of seven children should be content to lose them all in one day, for the hope she had in God’s mercy.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	7	21	What generosity of mind was this, that could temper her womanly feelings with a man’s thoughts! One by one, in the speech of her own country, she put heart into them;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	7	22	Into this womb you came, she told them, who knows how? Not I quickened, not I the breath of life gave you, nor fashioned the bodies of you one by one!
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	7	23	Man’s birth, and the origin of all things, he devised who is the whole world’s Maker; and shall he not mercifully give the breath of life back to you, that for his law’s sake hold your lives so cheap?
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	7	24	What should Antiochus do? Here was defiance of his authority, here were tones of remonstrance that liked him little. The youngest son lived yet; for him, what encouragement, what royal assurances of wealth and happiness! Would he but leave the law of his fathers, he should be the king’s friend, and have weighty matters entrusted to him.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	7	25	But yield the boy would not; till at last the king beckoned the mother apart; mother of son should be the saviour yet.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	7	26	Much ado he had to win her, but she agreed at last, counsel her son she would.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	7	27	And a fine trick she played on the bloodthirsty tyrant, leaning over her son and counselling him in her own native speech, to this effect: Nine months in the womb I bore thee, three years at the breast fed thee, reared thee to be what thou art;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	7	28	and now, my son, this boon grant me. Look round at heaven and earth and all they contain; bethink thee that of all this, and mankind too, God made out of nothing.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	7	29	Of this butcher have thou no fear; claim rightful share among thy brethren in yonder inheritance of death; so shall the divine mercy give me back all my sons at once.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	7	30	Before ever she had finished speaking, the boy cried out, What dallying is this? To the king’s law I own no allegiance; rule I live by is the law we had through Moses.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	7	31	Arch-enemy of the Jewish race, thinkest thou to escape from God’s hand?
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	7	32	Grievously if we suffer, grievously we have sinned;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	7	33	chides he for a little, the Lord our God, he does but school, does but correct us; to us, his worshippers, he will be reconciled again.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	7	34	But thou, miserable wretch, viler on earth is none, wouldst thou vent thy rage on those worshippers of his, and flatter thyself with vain hopes none the less?
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	7	35	Trust me, thou shalt yet abide his judgement, who is God almighty and all-seeing.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	7	36	Brief pains, that under his warrant have seised my brethren of eternal life! And shalt not thou, by his sentence, pay the deserved penalty of thy pride?
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	7	37	As my brethren, so I for our country’s laws both soul and body forfeit; my prayer is, God will early relent towards this nation, while thou dost learn, under the lash of his torments, that he alone is God.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	7	38	And may the divine anger, that has justly fallen on our race, with me and these others be laid to rest!
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	7	39	No wonder if this last, that so baffled the king’s rage, was more barbarously used than all the others;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	7	40	yet kept he ever his confidence in the Lord, and made a clean end of it.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	7	41	And at length, when all her sons were gone, it was the mother’s turn to die.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	7	42	Enough! Of idolatrous sacrifice and inhuman cruelty you shall hear no more.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	8	1	Now turn we to Judas Machabaeus and his company. Secretly they made entry into the villages, whence they summoned both kinsman and friend of theirs; ay, and rallied many more, that were yet true to the Jewish faith, till they had mustered an army of six thousand men.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	8	2	And ever they besought the Lord, he would look with favour on a race down-trodden, have pity on a temple defiled by the heathen.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	8	3	Their city was like to be razed to the ground; would he watch the ruin of it unmoved? Would he be deaf, while bloodshed cried out for vengeance?
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	8	4	Cruel murders of innocent childhood, his own honour dragged in the dust, would he not mark all this, and be roused to indignation?
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	8	5	By this, the divine anger had given place to clemency; and to all the heathen round about Machabaeus and his company were an infliction past bearing.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	8	6	On village or town of theirs he would fall suddenly, and burn it to the ground; by seizing some point of vantage, once and again he put their forces to the rout;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	8	7	going about these forays at night-time for the most part, till the fame of his valour spread far and wide.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	8	8	What was to be done? Here was a man that grew ever in strength, and still his enterprises throve. At last Philip was fain to send dispatches, calling on Ptolemy, the governor of Coelesyria and Phoenice, to further the king’s business.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	8	9	And he, without more ado, chose one of his best friends, Nicanor son of Patroclus, and sent him out to exterminate the Jewish race altogether. For which purpose, he armed full twenty thousand men, a rabble of all nations; and Gorgias should be at Nicanor’s side, a soldier that had much experience in the wars.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	8	10	Nicanor’s purpose it was, to sell the Jewish people for slaves, and thereby reimburse the king for a tribute of two thousand talents he must needs pay to Rome.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	8	11	So, before aught else was done, he sent word to the towns on the sea-coast, crying a sale of Jewish captives, and offering them at ninety for the talent; so little did he guess what divine vengeance was to overtake him.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	8	12	No sooner did Judas hear of Nicanor’s coming, than he gave warning of it to the Jews who bore him company.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	8	13	Some of these, cowardly souls that put no trust in God’s awarding, took refuge in flight;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	8	14	the rest made shift to sell all the goods they yet had, crying out upon the Lord to deliver them from such an impious wretch as would sell them first, and conquer them after.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	8	15	Themselves if he nothing regarded, let him remember at least the covenant made with their fathers; the renown, too, of that holy name they bore!
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	8	16	As for Machabaeus, he called together the seven thousand that followed him, and warned them they should make no terms with the enemy, nor be affrighted by a great rabble of men coming against them in so ill a cause. Courage! he said;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	8	17	bethink you of the sanctuary their insults have outraged, of a city wronged and mocked, of immemorial traditions overthrown!
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	8	18	What gives them confidence? Weapons of war, and their own daring. Ours to trust in his omnipotence, who with a single nod both these our adversaries and the whole world besides can undo.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	8	19	He put them in mind, moreover, of God’s signal mercy shewed to their forefathers; how Sennacherib’s army perished, a hundred and eighty-five thousand strong;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	8	20	how they fought the Galatians at Babylon, with Macedonian allies whose heart failed them at the encounter, and six thousand Jews, alone but for heaven’s aid, made havoc of a hundred and twenty thousand men, much to the common advantage.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	8	21	With such words as these he put heart into them, till they were ready to die for law and country’s sake.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	8	22	And now he put the several commands of his army in charge of his brethren, Simon, Joseph and Jonathan, entrusting one thousand five hundred men to each;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	8	23	Esdras was bidden read aloud from the sacred writings, and the watchword was given, God’s Aid. And with that, out went Judas at the head of his army, and engaged the enemy.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	8	24	Such help the Almighty gave them, they cut down more than nine thousand men; and the rest of Nicanor’s disabled forces must needs take to their heels.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	8	25	All the money that had been paid for their enslaving fell into Jewish hands, and they gave the enemy chase far and wide,
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	8	26	only time hindering them; the sabbath was coming on, and pursue further they might not.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	8	27	Arms and spoils of the fallen they gathered in, and so fell to keeping the sabbath, blessing the Lord for the deliverance he had sent that day, the first refreshing dew of his mercy.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	8	28	The sabbath day over, they gave a share of the spoils to crippled folk, orphans and widows; they and theirs should have the rest.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	8	29	And when this was done, they made public intercession, beseeching the Lord, that was so merciful, to be reconciled with his servants for good and all.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	8	30	Other invaders they slew, twenty thousand of them and more, under Bacchides and Timotheus; and when they seized their high fortresses, and had spoil to divide in plenty, once more cripples and orphans and widows, and the aged folk too, must have a share to match their own.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	8	31	Weapons of war they gathered with all care, and bestowed where they were most needed; it was the rest of the spoil they carried back to Jerusalem.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	8	32	At this time they slew Philarches, that had been of Timotheus’ company, a man stained with crime, and many ways a persecutor of the Jewish people.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	8	33	There was Callisthenes, too, that had burnt down the gates of the sanctuary; when all Jerusalem was rejoicing over the victory, he took refuge within doors, and they burnt the place down about his ears; he too was served right for his godless doings.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	8	34	As for Nicanor, that was the arch-villain of all, and would have sold the Jews to a thousand slave-dealers,
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	8	35	the very men whose lives he held so cheap had now, by divine aid, humbled him to the dust. Robe of office he must lay by, and slink by country ways all unattended to Antioch. A fine homecoming, this, with the loss of a whole army!
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	8	36	Where were the Jewish captives that should have paid off the tribute to Rome? He was fain to confess, now, that the Jews had God himself for their protector, and, would they but keep his laws, there was no conquering them!
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	9	1	Antiochus himself, at this time, had a sorry home-coming from Persia.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	9	2	He had made his way into the city they call Persepolis, thinking to plunder its temple and of itself have the mastery; but the common folk ran to arms and routed him. So he was a man defeated and disgraced
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	9	3	when he reached Ecbatana, and there news came to him of how Nicanor had fared, and Timotheus.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	9	4	And now, in a great taking of rage, he would make the Jews suffer for the ignominy of his own defeat; on, on his chariot must be driven, and never a halt in the journey, with the divine vengeance ever at his heels. Had he not boasted, Jerusalem was his goal, and he would bury the Jewish race under the ruins of it?
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	9	5	The Lord, Israel’s God, how should aught escape his scrutiny? The words were barely uttered, when he smote Antiochus with such a hurt, there was neither remedying nor discovering it. A deadly griping it was that took him, with cruel torment of the bowels;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	9	6	fitting reward for one that had often tortured his fellows, and to the marrow, in unexampled fashion. Even so, he would not leave his wicked purpose;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	9	7	with pride undiminished, still breathing out fiery threats against the Jewish folk, he pressed forward on his errand, till of a sudden, in full career, down fell he from his chariot, and never a limb but was racked grievously by the fall.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	9	8	What a living proof was this of God’s power, when he was struck to earth, and must finish his journey by litter, one that boasted, till now, he could rise beyond man’s measure, the sea’s waves govern, and weigh mountains in the balance!
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	9	9	Bred worms at last in that sinful body, and he lived yet, though miserably enough, to see his own flesh rot away, till his own men could not bear the foul stench of him;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	9	10	it was but yesterday the very stars seemed within his reach, and never a man now would carry so foul a burden.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	9	11	What marvel, if the swelling pride of him ebbed away, and heaven’s judgements brought him to himself? With every moment his anguish grew,
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	9	12	and the foul breath of his disease was past his own bearing. Alas, said he, to God all must bow; mortals we are, and god ourselves we may not.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	9	13	Nay, he made suit to the Lord, vile wretch though he were, hoping all in vain to win mercy.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	9	14	Forgotten, his haste to lay Jerusalem in ruins, and make a cemetery of it; a free city it should be thenceforward.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	9	15	Grudge the Jewish folk burial, give their carrion to bird and beast, make an end of them, children and all? Nay, such high privileges they should have as the townsfolk of Athens itself.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	9	16	And for that sacred temple he had stripped bare, with choice gifts he would enrich it, furnishing it as never before, and defraying, from his own purse, all the cost of its sacrifices.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	9	17	Stay, he would become a Jew himself, would go the rounds of earth, proclaiming everywhere the divine power!
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	9	18	But all to no avail; the vengeance of God, well earned, had overtaken him, and find relief he might not. So now, despairing of that, he wrote to the Jews in very humble fashion, as here follows.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	9	19	To his loyal Jewish subjects Antiochus, their king and general, sends greeting, health, and happiness!
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	9	20	Thrive you and yours, and fare prosperously, I am well content.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	9	21	For myself, I am in ill case, yet think ever kindly of you. On my way home from Persia, so grievous a distemper has fallen upon me, needs must I should take order for the public safety.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	9	22	Despair I will not; there is good hope yet of my recovery.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	9	23	But this thought weighs with me; when he went a-campaigning in the high countries, my father gave out who was to succeed him;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	9	24	should aught go amiss, and ill tidings come, every governor in his own province must know his duty without fear of confusion.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	9	25	And here be princes all about, I know it well, waiting upon events and ready to go with the times. Heir to the throne, then, I needs must designate. Again and again, when I set out for the high countries, I entrusted my son Antiochus to the general care. And now this written commission I have sent him …
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	9	26	As you love me, then, bethink you of those benefits you have received, both publicly and in private; keep faith, each and all of you, with me and with my son.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	9	27	I doubt not he will shew himself his father’s true heir, ever courteous, and kindly, and easy of approach.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	9	28	So died he, wretchedly enough, the murderer, the blasphemer, out in the hill-country far away from home. Cruel the blow that struck him down, as he had ever been cruel in his dealings.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	9	29	His body was brought home again; Philip, his foster-brother, came back with it, and then took refuge in Egypt with Ptolemy Philometor, so little he trusted the young prince Antiochus.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	10	1	Meanwhile, God aiding, Machabaeus and his followers had recovered both temple and city.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	10	2	Down came the altars Gentile folk had set up in the open streets, down came the shrines,
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	10	3	and the temple was purged of its defilement. They made a fresh altar, struck fire from flint, and offered sacrifice again after two years’ intermission; rose incense, burned lamp, loaves were set out on the sacred table once more.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	10	4	Then, bowing down to earth, they made petition to the Lord, never again such calamity might overtake them; sin if they did, himself in his great mercy should chastise them, not hand them over into the cruel power of blasphemous enemies.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	10	5	It so fell out, that the temple was purified on the twenty-fifth day of Casleu, the very time of its profanation by the Gentiles.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	10	6	Eight days of rejoicing they kept, with such ceremonies as belong to the feast of Tent-dwelling; it was a feast of tent-dwelling indeed they had kept a while back, when they lodged like beasts among the hill-side caverns!
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	10	7	Now that God had made the way clear for his temple’s cleansing, what wonder if they set up in his honour branches, and green boughs, and arbours of palm?
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	10	8	What wonder if a decree was passed, by common consent, all Jewry should keep the festival year by year?
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	10	9	Now the story is told, how Antiochus called the Illustrious came by his end,
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	10	10	turn we to his son, Antiochus Eupator, that was born of a very ill father; record we in brief the history of his reign, and the hazards of war that went with it.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	10	11	Upon his accession, this king entrusted all the business of the realm to one Lysias, commander of the forces in Phoenice and Coelesyria.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	10	12	With Ptolemy, that was called Macer, we are concerned no more; fain would he have made amends to the Jews for the wrong done them, and kept their friendship,
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	10	13	but for that very reason he was denounced to Eupator by his courtiers. He was a traitor, they said, twice over, false to his trust, when Philometor left him in charge of Cyprus, and now weary of his new allegiance to Antiochus the Illustrious! Whereupon he put an end to his own life by poison.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	10	14	When Gorgias was given command of the district, he was for ever making war on the Jews, with mercenaries to aid him;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	10	15	and there were natives of the country besides, well entrenched in their strongholds, that gave welcome to deserters from Jerusalem, and so fanned the flames of enmity.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	10	16	And now the followers of Machabaeus, after prayer made for the divine assistance, delivered an attack upon the Edomite strongholds.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	10	17	These, by a very courageous assault, they occupied, and cut down all they met, putting not less than twenty thousand men to the sword;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	10	18	but there were two fortresses yet remaining, into which the survivors threw themselves, well provided with means of defence.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	10	19	Machabaeus himself went off to fight other battles of greater moment, leaving Simon, Joseph and Zacchaeus, with a strong force under their command, to carry on the siege.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	10	20	And here the avarice of Simon’s men was their undoing; for a bribe of seventy thousand silver pieces, they allowed some of the defenders to escape.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	10	21	Machabaeus no sooner heard of it, than he summoned the leaders of the people, and arraigned the guilty men in their presence; what, would they sell their brethren’s lives, by letting the enemies of their race go free?
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	10	22	So he put these traitors to death; and for the strongholds, he conquered both of them at a blow,
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	10	23	so carrying all before him by force of arms, that more than twenty thousand of the defenders perished.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	10	24	But Timotheus could not be content with one defeat at the hands of the Jews; he would bring in hordes of foreign soldiery, and cavalry from Asia, threatening Judaea with slavery.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	10	25	At his coming, the party of Machabaeus fell to prayer; earth on their heads, sackcloth about their loins,
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	10	26	they lay prostrate at the altar’s foot, entreating the Lord he would espouse their quarrel, and their foes should be his; the law had promised it.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	10	27	Then, this supplication made, they took up arms and marched out, leaving the city far away in their rear, nor ever halted till they were close to the enemy’s lines.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	10	28	Soon as the dawn broke, they engaged; on the one side, all trust in the Lord, valour’s best pledge of victory and fairer times; on the other, naught but human eagerness to inspire courage.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	10	29	Hard went the day, and, so it seemed to the enemy, heaven itself took part. Five horsemen came riding, with splendid trappings of gold, to lead the Jews onward;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	10	30	and two of these served Machabaeus for escort, covering him with their shields to keep all hurt away from him. With shaft of theirs, lightning of theirs, dazzled and dismayed, the enemy fell to earth;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	10	31	twenty thousand and five hundred of them perished that day, besides six hundred of the cavalry.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	10	32	As for Timotheus, he took refuge in Gazara, a strong fortress that was under the command of Chaereas.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	10	33	Four days together, Machabaeus and his men eagerly pressed on the siege of it;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	10	34	but the defenders were confident in its strength; loud their defiance was, and very blasphemous the words they uttered.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	10	35	Stung by these taunts, twenty warriors of Machabaeus’ company made a bold attack on the wall as the fifth day was dawning, and, by the fierceness of their onslaught, made shift to climb it;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	10	36	others, following at their heels, fell to burning tower and gateway alike, and made a bonfire of the blasphemers.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	10	37	For two whole days they ransacked the fort, and at last came upon Timotheus in his hiding-place; so they made an end of him, his brother Chaereas and Apollophanes perishing with him.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	10	38	When all was over, they sang hymns of praise and gave thanks to the Lord, that had done marvellous things for Israel, and granted them victory.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	11	1	It was but a short respite they had; Lysias, a kinsman of Antiochus that was regent and managed his affairs for him, was not a little concerned over these happenings,
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	11	2	and he marched on Judaea at the head of eighty thousand men, with all the cavalry he could muster. Here was a city worth the capture, for Gentile folk to dwell in;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	11	3	here was a temple that would yield a fine spoil, as temples did everywhere; a priesthood, too, that might be put up for sale year after year.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	11	4	Of all this he bethought him, never of God’s avenging power; blindly he trusted in his foot-soldiers by the ten thousand, his horsemen by the thousand, in his elephants that numbered four score.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	11	5	Upon marching into Judaea he first reached Bethsura, that stood in a narrow pass five furlongs away from Jerusalem, and laid siege to the citadel of it.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	11	6	What did Machabaeus and his fellows, when they learned that the siege of the fortress was already begun? Most piteously they besought the Lord, amid the tears of a whole populace, a gracious angel he would send out for Israel’s deliverance.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	11	7	Then they armed for battle, Machabaeus himself the first of all, as he summoned the rest to share with him the hour of danger, for the relief of their brethren.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	11	8	So, in good heart, they set out together, and before they left Jerusalem a vision came to them; of a rider that went before them in white array, with armour of gold, brandishing his spear.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	11	9	How they blessed God’s mercy, all of them, at the sight! How their courage rose, a match for all it should encounter, men or wild beast or walls of iron!
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	11	10	They marched on, ready for battle, sure now of a heavenly champion, and of the Lord’s favour;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	11	11	and when they charged the enemy, they were very lions for valour. At their onslaught, fell eleven thousand of the foot, fell a thousand and six hundred of the horse;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	11	12	and the whole army took to its heels, for the most part wounded and disarmed; Lysias himself, ingloriously enough, turned and fled.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	11	13	Yet good sense he lacked not; great loss he had sustained, and, let the Hebrews continue to rely for aid upon divine Omnipotence, he saw there was no conquering them. So he wrote,
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	11	14	offering to conclude honourable terms with them, and secure them the king’s friendship.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	11	15	As for Machabaeus, he consented to what Lysias asked, having no thought but for the common good; and the written terms he proposed to Lysias in the Jewish people’s name received the royal assent.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	11	16	The letter sent to the Jews by Lysias was after this manner: Lysias, to the people of the Jews, all health!
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	11	17	Your envoys, John and Abesalom, handed me a written petition, and desired that I would give effect to the terms of it.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	11	18	All that needed to be known, I have made clear to the king’s grace, and he has granted what grant he could.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	11	19	Doubt not I will be a good suitor in your cause hereafter, so you abide loyal to the king’s interest.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	11	20	Meanwhile I have given a verbal message to your envoys and mine, which they will impart to you.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	11	21	Farewell. Given on this twenty-fourth day of Dioscorus, in the hundred and forty-eighth year.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	11	22	And of the king’s own letter, the tenour was this: King Antiochus, to his good cousin Lysias, all health!
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	11	23	Now that our father has found his place among the gods, it is for us to see that our subjects live at peace, and go quietly about their business.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	11	24	But of one nation, the Jews, we hear that they resisted our father’s will, who would have had them conform to the Greek way of living; to their own tradition they hold fast, and their plea is, we should grant them the enjoyment of their rights in the matter.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	11	25	And whereas we would have this nation live peaceably like the rest, we enact and decree that their temple should be restored to them, and that they should follow the custom of their forefathers.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	11	26	Do us the kindness, then, to send word and give them assurance of this; our will made known, let them take heart, and order their own affairs contentedly.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	11	27	To the Jews themselves the king wrote as follows: King Antiochus, to the elders and people of the Jews, all health!
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	11	28	Thrive you as well as ourselves, we are well content.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	11	29	Menelaus has brought us word, you would fain have free intercourse with the men of your race who dwell in these parts;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	11	30	and we hereby grant safe conduct to all of you that would travel here, up to the thirtieth day of Xanthicus …
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	11	31	That the Jewish folk may eat what food they will, use what laws they will, according to their ancient custom; and if aught has been done amiss through inadvertence, none of them, for that cause, shall be molested.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	11	32	We are sending Menelaus besides, to give a charge to you.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	11	33	Farewell. Given on the fifteenth day of Xanthicus, in the hundred and forty-eighth year.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	11	34	The Romans, too, wrote to them after the manner following; Quintus Memmius and Titus Manlius, envoys of Rome, to the Jewish people, all health!
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	11	35	The privileges Lysias has granted you in the name of his royal cousin, we hereby ratify.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	11	36	Other matters he has remitted to the king’s decision; take counsel among yourselves, and let us know at once what your mind is, if you would have us order all to your liking. Even now we are on the road to Antioch;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	11	37	write speedily, to let us know how you are minded.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	11	38	Farewell. Given on the twenty-fifth day of Xanthicus, in the hundred and forty-eighth year.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	12	1	So all was agreed upon; Lysias was for the court again, and the Jewish folk went back to their farms.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	12	2	But neither rest nor respite might they have while Timotheus and Apollonius, son of Gennaeus, were left at their posts; Hieronymus, too, and Demophon, and Nicanor that ruled in Cyprus.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	12	3	This was a very foul deed done by the men of Joppe; they fitted out certain vessels of theirs, and would have the neighbouring Jews go aboard, with their wives and children, for all the world as if there were no grudge between them.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	12	4	It was the common wish of their fellow-citizens; how should the Jews gainsay it? They were lovers of peace, and cause for suspicion had none. Yet once they were on the high seas, they were cast overboard and drowned, a full two hundred of them.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	12	5	Such tidings of cruel murder done upon men of his own race, Judas could not hear unmoved; mustering his followers, and calling upon God, that judges aright, to speed him,
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	12	6	he marched out against the slayers of his brethren; at dead of night he burned down their wharves, and set all the ships ablaze, nor any man that escaped the fire but was put to the sword.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	12	7	This done, he left them, but threatening he would return, and leave none alive in Joppe.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	12	8	He had word, too, that the men of Jamnia meant to do the same by the Jews in their part;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	12	9	so he fell on Jamnia, too, by night, and burnt both wharves and ships there; the light of that blaze was seen at Jerusalem, thirty miles off. …
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	12	10	Nine furlongs they had marched, on their way to meet Timotheus, when an Arab force engaged them, of five thousand foot and five hundred horse.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	12	11	Stern was the encounter, but with God’s help they won the day; and the defeated remnant of the Arabs asked Judas for quarter, promising a grant of pasture-lands, with other advantages.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	12	12	And, beyond doubt, they could be many ways serviceable to him; so he made terms with them. They swore friendship, and the Arabs went back to their tents.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	12	13	A city there was called Casphin, moated and walled about for its defence, and held by a rabble of many races; this, too, Judas attacked.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	12	14	Such trust the defenders had in the strength of their ramparts, and their plentiful supplies of food, they carried themselves recklessly, hurling taunts at Judas, with blasphemies and other talk little fit to be uttered.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	12	15	But Machabaeus to that King made appeal, who needed neither engine nor battering-ram, in Josue’s day, to bring Jericho down in ruins; a fierce attack he delivered upon the walls,
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	12	16	and, so God willed, became master of the city. The slaughter in it was past reckoning; there was a pool hard by, of two furlongs’ breadth, that seemed as if it ran in full tide with the blood of slain men.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	12	17	It needed a march of ninety-five miles to bring them to Charax, where the Jews were whom they call Tubianaeans.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	12	18	Yet could they not come up with Timotheus; he had retired, with nothing achieved, leaving a strong garrison in one of the forts there;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	12	19	which garrison of his, ten thousand strong, was destroyed by two of Machabaeus’ captains, Dositheus and Sosipater.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	12	20	Machabaeus himself, with six thousand men at his heels, divided into companies, pressed on against Timotheus, that had a hundred and twenty thousand foot, and two thousand five hundred horse, under his command.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	12	21	At the news of Judas’ coming, Timotheus was fain to send on women, children, and stores, to Carnion, an impregnable fortress and one difficult of approach, so narrow the pass was.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	12	22	And now the first of Judas’ companies came in sight, and with it the presence of the all-seeing God. What fear fell upon the enemy, how they scattered in flight, stumbling over their own fellows, wounded by the point of their own swords!
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	12	23	And all the while Judas pressed them hard, the scourge of ill-doers; thirty thousand of them that day he slaughtered.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	12	24	As for Timotheus, he fell into the hands of another force, under Dositheus and Sosipater; of these he begged earnestly for his life, telling them of Jewish hostages in his keeping, their own fathers and brothers, that would get no quarter if he came by his death.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	12	25	Many were the pledges he gave, covenanting for the restoration of these hostages, and at last, for love of their brethren, they let him go free.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	12	26	Judas went on to Carnion, where the enemy lost twenty-five thousand men,
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	12	27	routed and slain; thence to Ephron, a fortified city, where stout warriors of many different breeds manned the walls most valiantly, well provided with engines and weapons.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	12	28	Yet strength is none can hold its own against the Omnipotent; to him the Jews made appeal, and so took the city, killing twenty-five thousand of the defenders.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	12	29	And thence to Scythopolis, at seventy-five miles’ distance from Jerusalem;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	12	30	but here the Jews themselves bore witness, how kindly their neighbours used them, and how honourably they carried themselves even in troublous times.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	12	31	Thanking all such, and desiring them they would continue their good offices towards the Jewish folk, the army returned to Jerusalem, to keep the festival of the Weeks.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	12	32	Then, after Pentecost, they marched away to meet Gorgias, that was in command of Idumaea;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	12	33	it was but a muster of three thousand foot and four hundred horse.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	12	34	Battle was joined, and some few Jews fell.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	12	35	As for Gorgias, one Dositheus, a great warrior that was in Bacenor’s company of horse, kept close on his heels and would have taken him alive; but one of the Thracian horsemen fell upon him and cut off his arm at the shoulder, so Gorgias escaped safe to Maresa.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	12	36	A long fight Esdrin’s company had of it, and were full weary, when Judas called upon the Lord to succour them and lead them onwards,
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	12	37	battle-hymn and battle-cry raising in his own language; and so he put Gorgias’ army to the rout.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	12	38	And now, recalling his men from the pursuit, he made his way to the city of Adollam; the week had gone round, and here, duly cleansed from defilement, they kept the sabbath.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	12	39	Next day, with Judas at their head, they went back to recover the bodies of the slain, for burial among their own folk in their fathers’ graves;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	12	40	and what found they? Each of the fallen was wearing, under his shirt, some token carried away from the false gods of Jamnia. Here was defiance of the Jewish law, and none doubted it was the cause of their undoing;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	12	41	none but praised the Lord for his just retribution, that had brought hidden things to light;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	12	42	and so they fell to prayer, pleading that the sin might go unremembered. Judas himself, their gallant commander, gave public warning to his men, of fault they should evermore keep clear, with the fate of these transgressors under their eyes.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	12	43	Then he would have contribution made; a sum of twelve thousand silver pieces he levied, and sent it to Jerusalem, to have sacrifice made there for the guilt of their dead companions. Was not this well done and piously? Here was a man kept the resurrection ever in mind;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	12	44	he had done fondly and foolishly indeed, to pray for the dead, if these might rise no more, that once were fallen!
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	12	45	And these had made a godly end; could he doubt, a rich recompense awaited them?
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	12	46	A holy and wholesome thought it is to pray for the dead, for their guilt’s undoing.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	13	1	It was in the hundred and forty-ninth year news came to Judas that Antiochus Eupator was marching on Judaea in great force.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	13	2	Lysias was at his side, that was lord protector and managed the affairs of the realm, and with him were a hundred and ten thousand foot, five thousand horse, twenty-two elephants, and three hundred scythed chariots.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	13	3	Menelaus, too, must be of their company, and ever it was treacherous advice he gave to Antiochus; not that he cared for his country’s safety, but he had designs upon the high priesthood still.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	13	4	And hereupon the King of all kings brought this guilty wretch into ill favour with his master Antiochus, who (upon Lysias’ averring, here was the true source of all their misadventures) would have him apprehended and put to death according to the custom of the place where they were quartered.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	13	5	There is here a tower fifty cubits in height, rising sheer above a heap of ashes that surrounds it;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	13	6	from its walls the author of sacrilege is thrust forward to his death by the common impulse of the bystanders.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	13	7	This, then, was the doom of Menelaus; by this law the law-breaker met his end, and lay there unburied.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	13	8	A fitting reward, this, for one that had done so many outrages upon God’s altar; fire of it and ashes of it are sacred, and it was by ashes Menelaus went to his death.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	13	9	Yet still the king pressed forward on his mad career, as if he would prove himself a worse enemy of Jewry than his father;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	13	10	and Judas, when the news came to him, bade the people entreat God night and day he would come to their rescue, as ever he was wont hitherto.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	13	11	Here was great peril, they should be deprived at one blow of law, of country, and of sanctuary; would he allow blaspheming Gentiles to lord it again over his people, that had but now won a little breathing-space?
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	13	12	Entreat the Lord they did, and with one accord, for his mercy; wept they and fasted, and kept on their knees for three days together. Then Judas gave them the word to arm,
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	13	13	and himself called the elders to a council; his plan was, he told them, to march out and engage the king before he could reach Judaea and overpower the city, and the issue of it he would leave to the Lord’s good pleasure.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	13	14	So, committing all to God, the world’s creator, and bidding his men fight bravely, even to the death, for law, temple, city, country and kinsmen, he pitched his camp at Modin.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	13	15	The watchword he gave them was, Victory lies with God; and now, choosing out the best of his fighting men, he made a night attack upon the royal quarters. Four thousand men they slew in the camp, and the greatest of all the elephants, with the crew that rode him,
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	13	16	and so went back in triumph, leaving the camp all confusion and dismay.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	13	17	After this daybreak victory, won under God’s protection,
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	13	18	the king had taste enough of Jewish valour, and set about to reduce the strongholds by policy.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	13	19	And first he would deliver an attack upon Bethsura, a fortress of the Jews, but ever he was thrown back and repulsed with great loss,
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	13	20	so well did Judas supply the garrison with all they needed.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	13	21	There was one Rhodocus in the Jewish army that betrayed secrets to the enemy, but, upon enquiry made, he was apprehended and put under arrest;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	13	22	so the king was fain to parley with the defenders of Bethsura, and, upon agreed terms, the siege of it was raised.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	13	23	Thus did he try conclusions with Judas, and had the worst of it; news came to him besides that Philip, whom he had left in charge at Antioch, was levying revolt against him. So, in great consternation of mind, he must needs throw himself on the mercy of the Jews, submitting under oath to the just terms they imposed on him. In token of this reconciliation, he offered sacrifice, paying the temple much reverence and offering gifts there;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	13	24	as for Machabaeus, the king made a friend of him, and appointed him both governor and commander of all the territory from Ptolemais to the Gerrenes.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	13	25	When he reached Ptolemais, he found the citizens much incensed over this treaty made, and angrily averring the terms of it would never be kept;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	13	26	until at last Lysias must go up to an open stage, and give his reasons; whereby he calmed the indignation of the people, and so returned to Antioch. Such was the king’s march upon Judaea, and such his homecoming.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	14	1	Three years later, came tidings to Judas and his company that Demetrius, son of Seleucus, was on the throne. This Demetrius, with a body of resolute followers and with ships to support him, had landed at Tripolis, in a part of the country well suited to his purpose,
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	14	2	and had wrested the whole kingdom from Antiochus, and from Lysias his general.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	14	3	Now turn we to one Alcimus, that had been high priest formerly, but had wilfully incurred defilement in the days when folk began consorting with the Gentiles. Little hope was left him, he should live to present himself at the altar again;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	14	4	and now he had recourse to king Demetrius, in the hundred and fiftieth year. He came with gifts, a gold crown and a palm branch, and wreaths that had been better employed in the service of the temple. No word said he on the first day of his arriving;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	14	5	but ere long opportunity was given him of carrying out his impious design. He was called into counsel by Demetrius himself, and asked what resources the Jews had, or what purposes in view, that gave them such confidence.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	14	6	And this was his answer: It is the faction of the Assideans, with Judas Machabaeus at their head, that will ever be fanning the flames of war, and moving revolt, and destroying the peace of the realm.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	14	7	Thou seest here a man robbed of the high priesthood, his rightful inheritance. And the cause of my coming is,
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	14	8	first, the loyalty I have to the king’s own interest, but not less, the love of my own fellow-countrymen; by the false aims of a faction the whole of our race is brought into utter misery.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	14	9	Do but satisfy thyself, my lord king, that all is as I have said, and then, with that kindliness the world knows so well, take order concerning the country and its inhabitants.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	14	10	No peace the commonwealth may have, while Judas lives.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	14	11	Such was the opinion he gave, and the courtiers, that had little love for Judas, fell to egging Demetrius on;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	14	12	he, with all haste, despatched one of his generals to Judaea, Nicanor, that was in command of the elephants.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	14	13	His orders were, to take Judas alive, to disperse his company, and of our glorious temple to make Alcimus high priest.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	14	14	The Gentiles whom Judas had chased out of the country flocked, now, to Nicanor’s side, confident that the miserable ruin of the Jews would be the foundation of their own prosperity.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	14	15	As for the Jews, when they heard Nicanor was on the march, with all this rabble of alien folk, they cast earth on their heads and betook themselves to prayer. Was it not God’s appointment, his people he should evermore preserve? Was he not wont to protect them with signal marks of his favour?
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	14	16	And now orders came to them from their leader; they must be on the march. Their mustering-place was a fortress called Dessau,
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	14	17	to which Simon, Judas’ brother, had withdrawn after a brush with the enemy, who daunted him by the suddenness of their advance.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	14	18	But Nicanor had heard much about the valour of Judas’ men, and how nobly they fought in their country’s quarrel; no wonder if he shrank from the arbitrament of the sword,
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	14	19	and sent envoys to meet them, Posidonius, Theodotius and Matthias, with an offer of terms.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	14	20	After a deal of negotiation, Judas referred the matter to the general voice, and all were agreed upon accepting the offer of friendship.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	14	21	So the day was fixed for a secret conference to be held between them; thrones of honour were brought out and set ready,
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	14	22	and you may be sure Judas had armed men posted in waiting, to forestall any sudden treachery on the enemy’s part; but their parleys ended happily enough.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	14	23	Nicanor was now lodged in Jerusalem, and did there no manner of hurt; all the rabble he had brought with him were dispersed to their homes.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	14	24	Towards Judas he shewed unaffected friendship, such a liking he had taken for the man;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	14	25	ay, and encouraged him to take a wife and beget children; so Judas married, and took his ease, and ever he lived on close terms with Nicanor.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	14	26	And what of Alcimus? Little it liked him to see all this good-will between the two of them, and their treaty-making; to Demetrius he betook him, and charged Nicanor with disaffection; was he not purposing to hand over his command to Judas, a traitor against the realm?
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	14	27	Vile accusations, that threw Demetrius into a great taking of fury; he wrote to Nicanor, he was very ill content with the peace made, and would have Machabaeus sent to Antioch in chains without more ado.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	14	28	Here was Nicanor left in great confusion of mind; it went against the grain with him to cancel the treaty with Judas, that had nothing wronged him,
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	14	29	yet run counter to the king’s will he might not. So he began looking for an opportunity of carrying out his orders;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	14	30	and Machabaeus, remarking that a coolness had sprung up, and their meetings were less courteous than hitherto, made sure this behaviour of his boded no good. Whereupon he gathered some of his company, and went into concealment.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	14	31	So Nicanor found himself quite outwitted; and he must needs make his way into the high and holy precincts of the temple, where even then the priests were offering their accustomed sacrifice. Judas, he said, must be handed over to him;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	14	32	and when they, upon oath, denied all knowledge of his hiding-place, what did Nicanor? He pointed to the temple,
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	14	33	and swore that if Judas were not handed over to him in chains he would raze yonder sanctuary to the ground, demolish the altar, and consecrate its precincts anew to Bacchus.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	14	34	With that, he left them; and the priests, lifting up their hands to heaven, called upon the God that was ever the champion of their race, with such prayer as this:
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	14	35	Lord of all, that need of thy creatures hast none, thy will it was to have thy dwelling-place among us!
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	14	36	Holy thou art, and of all holy things the master; this house, that was so lately cleansed of its defilement, keep thou for ever undefiled.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	14	37	It was this Nicanor that received information against one of the elders at Jerusalem, named Razias, a true patriot and a man of good repute; for the love he bore it, men called him the father of the Jewish people.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	14	38	Long time this man had held to his resolve of keeping aloof from the Gentiles, ready to put life and limb in jeopardy, so he might persevere.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	14	39	And now, as if to give public proof of hatred towards the Jews, Nicanor sent five hundred men to take him alive;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	14	40	shrewder blow was none he could deal them, than to beguile such a man as this.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	14	41	And when this great company set about to force an entry into his dwelling, breaking down the door and calling out for firebrands, cut off from all escape, what did Razias? He thrust a sword into his own body,
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	14	42	counting it better to die honourably than to fall into the hands of sinners, and suffer outrage unworthy of a free-born man.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	14	43	The hasty blow missed its aim; and now, with a rabble of men pouring in through the doors he made gallantly for the outer wall, and never hesitated to cast himself down, there in the heart of the crowd.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	14	44	You may be sure they made room for his coming, and he fell on the very joints of his neck;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	14	45	yet, breathing still, he rose to his feet undaunted; blood streaming from his mortal wounds, he made his way through the press of men,
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	14	46	till he stood on a sheer rock above them. And there, for now he had no blood left in him, he laid hold of his own entrails, and with both hands cast them into the crowd beneath, calling upon the Lord, giver of life and breath, to restore these same to his body; and so died.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	15	1	When Nicanor was told, Judas was in the Samaritan country, he would have pressed home the attack against him, there and then, on the sabbath day.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	15	2	But the Jews gainsaid him; for there were Jews that fought, unwillingly enough, under his orders. What, said they, wouldst thou fight beast-fashion, without mercy? This holy day respect thou needs must, in his honour that is God all-seeing.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	15	3	Why, where is he then, said the impious wretch, this God who would have sabbath kept? In the heavens?
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	15	4	In heaven he is, sure enough, they answered, the living Lord our master, that gave orders the seventh day should be observed.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	15	5	So be it, said he, and I am your master on earth, and my orders are, To arms, and despatch the king’s business! Yet carry out his design they would not.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	15	6	Such an empty braggart was this Nicanor, he thought to make a single victory of it, over all the Jews at once;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	15	7	Machabaeus on his side kept ever his confidence, yet with the sure hope, God would bring him aid.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	15	8	And for his men he had the same encouragement; let them never be daunted by the onslaught of the heathen, but rather bethink them of heaven’s mercies in time past, and look to God Omnipotent for victory.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	15	9	Of the law and the prophets he spoke to them, and reminded them of their old battles, till all were eager for the fight;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	15	10	nor was it enough to arouse their ardour; he shewed them, too, how treacherous the heathen had proved, and how forsworn.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	15	11	Thus it was his care to arm them, not with shield or spear for their defence, but with excellent words of good cheer. A dream of his he told them, most worthy of credence, that brought comfort to one and all.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	15	12	And what saw he? Onias, that had once been high priest, appeared to him; an excellent good man this, modest of mien, courteous, well-spoken, and from his boyhood schooled in all the virtues. With hands outstretched, he stood there praying for the Jewish folk.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	15	13	Then he was ware of another, a man of great age and reverence, nothing about him but was most worshipful;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	15	14	who this might be, Onias told him forthwith: Here is one that loves our brethren, the people of Israel, well; one that for Israel and for every stone of the holy city prays much; God’s prophet Jeremias.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	15	15	And with that, Jeremias reached forward to Judas, and gave him a golden sword;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	15	16	This holy sword take thou, he said, God’s gift; this wielding, all the enemies of my people Israel thou shalt lay low.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	15	17	A most noble harangue, and one very apt to rouse the emulation of his followers, and to stiffen their courage. No wonder if they resolved they would put it to the touch, and manfully engage the enemy; valour should decide all. Was not the holy city, was not the temple itself in jeopardy?
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	15	18	For wives and children, for brethren and kindred, their concern was less; of the perils they dreaded, profanation of the temple was first and foremost.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	15	19	And what of those who were left in the city? No common anxiety they felt for these others that were going into battle.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	15	20	Now was the hour of decision; the enemy was at the gates, drawn up in full array; here were the elephants, here was the cavalry, posted at points of vantage.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	15	21	Judas, when he saw the number of his assailants, how manifold were their appointments, how fierce the temper of the beasts, was fain to lift hands heavenward, and to the Lord make his appeal; the Lord, that is wondrous in his doings, and at his own pleasure crowns right, not might, with victory.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	15	22	And this was the manner of his praying: Lord, in the days of Ezechias thou didst send thy angel, and take toll of a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the camp of Sennacherib!
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	15	23	Ruler of heaven, some friendly angel of thine this day escort us; dread and dismay let thy outstretched hand inspire,
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	15	24	to the confusion of yonder blasphemers that levy war on thy holy people! And so he brought his prayer to an end.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	15	25	By this, Nicanor’s army was coming forward to the attack, with blowing of trumpets and with songs of battle.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	15	26	But Judas and his company went to meet them calling still upon God for his succour;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	15	27	and ever while hand fought, heart prayed. Such joy had they of God’s present assistance, they cut down a full thirty-five thousand of the enemy;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	15	28	when they let be, and returned in triumph from the pursuit, news greeted them Nicanor himself had armed for the fight, and lay there dead.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	15	29	What a cry was then raised, what a stir, what hymns they sang, in the speech of their own country, to God Omnipotent!
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	15	30	And Judas? Not for nothing had he devoted body and soul, this long while, to the service of his fellow countrymen! Nicanor’s head, and one of his arms cut off from the shoulder downwards, he bade them carry to Jerusalem;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	15	31	and there he called the tribesmen together, ranged the priests about the altar, and sent his summons to the heathen that garrisoned the citadel.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	15	32	Head and hand he shewed them of the godless Nicanor, the hand that was stretched out so boastfully against the holy temple of the Almighty,
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	15	33	bidding them cut the blaspheming tongue in pieces and cast it to the birds, nail the rash hand to the temple’s face.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	15	34	None but praised the Lord of heaven at the sight; Blessed be the Lord, they cried, that has kept his house undefiled still!
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	15	35	As for Nicanor’s head, Judas hung it at the top of the citadel, to be a clear and evident token, how God gives aid.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	15	36	And all with one consent made a decree, never should that day pass unobserved;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	15	37	they would keep holiday on the thirteenth of the Syrian month Adar, which is the eve of Mardochaeus’ feast.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	15	38	Such was the history of Nicanor; and since that time the city has been in Jewish possession. Here, then, I will make an end of writing;
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	15	39	if it has been done workmanly, and in historian’s fashion, none better pleased than I; if it is of little merit, I must be humoured none the less.
 2 Machabees	2Mac	46	15	40	Nothing but wine to take, nothing but water, thy health forbids; vary thy drinking, and thou shalt find content. So it is with reading; if the book be too nicely polished at every point, it grows wearisome. So here we will have done with it.
 Matthew	Mat	46	1	1	A record of the ancestry from which Jesus Christ, the son of David, son of Abraham, was born.
 Matthew	Mat	46	1	2	Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac of Jacob, Jacob of Juda and his brethren;
 Matthew	Mat	46	1	3	Juda of Phares and Zara, by Thamar; Phares of Esron, Esron of Aram,
 Matthew	Mat	46	1	4	Aram of Aminadab, Aminadab of Naasson, Naasson of Salmon;
 Matthew	Mat	46	1	5	Salmon of Booz, by Rahab; Booz of Obed, by Ruth; Obed of Jesse;
 Matthew	Mat	46	1	6	and Jesse was the father of king David. And king David was the father of Solomon, by her that had been the wife of Urias.
 Matthew	Mat	46	1	7	Solomon was the father of Roboam, Roboam of Abias, Abias of Asa,
 Matthew	Mat	46	1	8	Asa of Josaphat, Josaphat of Joram, Joram of Ozias,
 Matthew	Mat	46	1	9	Ozias of Joatham, Joatham of Achaz, Achaz of Ezechias,
 Matthew	Mat	46	1	10	Ezechias of Manasses, Manasses of Amon, Amon of Josias;
 Matthew	Mat	46	1	11	and Josias was the father of Jechonias and his brethren, at the time of the removal to Babylon.
 Matthew	Mat	46	1	12	And after the removal to Babylon, Jechonias was the father of Salathiel, Salathiel of Zorobabel,
 Matthew	Mat	46	1	13	Zorobabel of Abiud, Abiud of Eliacim, Eliacim of Azor,
 Matthew	Mat	46	1	14	Azor of Sadoc, Sadoc of Achim, Achim of Eliud,
 Matthew	Mat	46	1	15	Eliud of Eleazar, Eleazar of Mathan, Mathan of Jacob,
 Matthew	Mat	46	1	16	and Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary; it was of her that Jesus was born, who is called Christ.
 Matthew	Mat	46	1	17	Thus there are fourteen generations in all from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the captivity in Babylon, and fourteen from the captivity in Babylon to Christ.
 Matthew	Mat	46	1	18	And this was the manner of Christ’s birth. His mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, but they had not yet come together, when she was found to be with child, by the power of the Holy Ghost.
 Matthew	Mat	46	1	19	Whereupon her husband Joseph (for he was a right-minded man, and would not have her put to open shame) was for sending her away in secret.
 Matthew	Mat	46	1	20	But hardly had this thought come to his mind, when an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, and said, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take thy wife Mary to thyself, for it is by the power of the Holy Ghost that she has conceived this child;
 Matthew	Mat	46	1	21	and she will bear a son, whom thou shalt call Jesus, for he is to save his people from their sins.
 Matthew	Mat	46	1	22	All this was so ordained to fulfil the word which the Lord spoke by his prophet:
 Matthew	Mat	46	1	23	Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bear a son, and they shall call him Emmanuel (which means, God with us).
 Matthew	Mat	46	1	24	And Joseph awoke from sleep, and did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, taking his wife to himself;
 Matthew	Mat	46	1	25	and he had not known her when she bore a son, her first-born, to whom he gave the name Jesus.
 Matthew	Mat	46	2	1	Jesus was born at Bethlehem, in Juda, in the days of king Herod. And thereupon certain wise men came out of the east to Jerusalem,
 Matthew	Mat	46	2	2	who asked, Where is he that has been born, the king of the Jews? We have seen his star out in the east, and we have come to worship him.
 Matthew	Mat	46	2	3	King Herod was troubled when he heard it, and all Jerusalem with him;
 Matthew	Mat	46	2	4	so that he assembled all the chief priests and learned men among the people, and enquired of them where it was that Christ would be born.
 Matthew	Mat	46	2	5	And they told him, At Bethlehem in Juda; so it has been written by the prophet:
 Matthew	Mat	46	2	6	And thou, Bethlehem, of the land of Juda, art far from the least among the princes of Juda, for out of thee will arise a leader who is to be the shepherd of my people Israel.
 Matthew	Mat	46	2	7	Then, summoning the wise men in secret, Herod questioned them closely upon the time of the star’s appearing.
 Matthew	Mat	46	2	8	And he sent them on their way to Bethlehem, saying to them, Go and enquire carefully for the child, and when you have found him, bring me back word, so that I too may come and worship him.
 Matthew	Mat	46	2	9	They obeyed the king, and went on their journey; and all at once the star which they had seen in the east was there going before them, till at last it stood still over the place where the child was.
 Matthew	Mat	46	2	10	They, when they saw the star, were glad beyond measure;
 Matthew	Mat	46	2	11	and so, going into the dwelling, they found the child there, with his mother Mary, and fell down to worship him; and, opening their store of treasures, they offered him gifts, of gold and frankincense and myrrh.
 Matthew	Mat	46	2	12	Afterwards, because they had received a warning in a dream forbidding them to go back to Herod, they returned to their own country by a different way.
 Matthew	Mat	46	2	13	As soon as they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, and said, Rise up, take with thee the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt; there remain, until I give thee word. For Herod will soon be making search for the child, to destroy him.
 Matthew	Mat	46	2	14	He rose up, therefore, while it was still night, and took the child and his mother with him, and withdrew into Egypt, where he remained until the death of Herod,
 Matthew	Mat	46	2	15	in fulfilment of the word which the Lord spoke by his prophet, I called my son out of Egypt.
 Matthew	Mat	46	2	16	Meanwhile, when he found that the wise men had played him false, Herod was angry beyond measure; he sent and made away with all the male children in Bethlehem and in all its neighbourhood, of two years old and less, reckoning the time by the careful enquiry which he had made of the wise men.
 Matthew	Mat	46	2	17	It was then that the word spoken by the prophet Jeremy was fulfilled:
 Matthew	Mat	46	2	18	A voice was heard in Rama, lamentation and great mourning; it was Rachel weeping for her children, and she would not be comforted, because none is left.
 Matthew	Mat	46	2	19	But as soon as Herod was dead, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in Egypt in a dream,
 Matthew	Mat	46	2	20	and said: Rise up, take with thee the child and his mother, and return to the land of Israel; for those who sought the child’s life are dead.
 Matthew	Mat	46	2	21	So he arose, and took the child and his mother with him, and came into the land of Israel.
 Matthew	Mat	46	2	22	But, when he heard that Archelaus was king in Judaea in the place of his father Herod, he was afraid to return there; and so, receiving a warning in a dream, he withdrew into the region of Galilee;
 Matthew	Mat	46	2	23	where he came to live in a town called Nazareth, in fulfilment of what was said by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene.
 Matthew	Mat	46	3	1	In those days John the Baptist appeared, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea;
 Matthew	Mat	46	3	2	Repent, he said, the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
 Matthew	Mat	46	3	3	It was of him that the prophet Isaias spoke, when he said, There is a voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord, straighten out his paths.
 Matthew	Mat	46	3	4	And he, John, wore a garment of camel’s hair, and a leather girdle about his loins, and locusts and wild honey were his food.
 Matthew	Mat	46	3	5	Thereupon Jerusalem and all Judaea, and all those who dwelt round Jordan, went out to see him,
 Matthew	Mat	46	3	6	and he baptized them in the Jordan, while they confessed their sins.
 Matthew	Mat	46	3	7	Many of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees came to his baptizing; and when he saw these, he asked them, Who was it that taught you, brood of vipers, to flee from the vengeance that draws near?
 Matthew	Mat	46	3	8	Come, then, yield the acceptable fruit of repentance;
 Matthew	Mat	46	3	9	do not presume to say in your hearts, We have Abraham for our father; I tell you, God has power to raise up children to Abraham out of these very stones.
 Matthew	Mat	46	3	10	Already the axe has been put to the root of the trees, so that every tree which does not shew good fruit will be hewn down and cast into the fire.
 Matthew	Mat	46	3	11	As for me, I am baptizing you with water, for your repentance; but one is to come after me who is mightier than I, so that I am not worthy even to carry his shoes for him; he will baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire.
 Matthew	Mat	46	3	12	He holds his winnowing-fan ready, to sweep his threshing-floor clean; he will gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will consume with fire that can never be quenched.
 Matthew	Mat	46	3	13	Then Jesus came from Galilee and stood before John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him.
 Matthew	Mat	46	3	14	John would have restrained him; It is I, he said, that ought to be baptized by thee, and dost thou come to me instead?
 Matthew	Mat	46	3	15	But Jesus answered, Let it be so for the present; it is well that we should thus fulfil all due observance. Then John gave way to him.
 Matthew	Mat	46	3	16	So Jesus was baptized, and as he came straight up out of the water, suddenly heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God coming down like a dove and resting upon him.
 Matthew	Mat	46	3	17	And with that, a voice came from heaven, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
 Matthew	Mat	46	4	1	And now Jesus was led by the Spirit away into the wilderness, to be tempted there by the devil.
 Matthew	Mat	46	4	2	Forty days and forty nights he spent fasting, and at the end of them was hungry.
 Matthew	Mat	46	4	3	Then the tempter approached, and said to him, If thou art the Son of God, bid these stones turn into loaves of bread.
 Matthew	Mat	46	4	4	He answered, It is written, Man cannot live by bread only; there is life for him in all the words which proceed from the mouth of God.
 Matthew	Mat	46	4	5	Next, the devil took him into the holy city, and there set him down on the pinnacle of the temple,
 Matthew	Mat	46	4	6	saying to him, If thou art the Son of God, cast thyself down to earth; for it is written, He has given charge to his angels concerning thee, and they will hold thee up with their hands, lest thou shouldst chance to trip on a stone.
 Matthew	Mat	46	4	7	Jesus said to him, But it is further written, Thou shalt not put the Lord thy God to the proof.
 Matthew	Mat	46	4	8	Once more, the devil took him to the top of an exceedingly high mountain, from which he shewed him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them,
 Matthew	Mat	46	4	9	and said, I will give thee all these if thou wilt fall down and worship me.
 Matthew	Mat	46	4	10	Then Jesus said to him, Away with thee, Satan; it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and serve none but him.
 Matthew	Mat	46	4	11	Then the devil left him alone; and thereupon angels came and ministered to him.
 Matthew	Mat	46	4	12	After this, hearing of John’s imprisonment, he withdrew into Galilee.
 Matthew	Mat	46	4	13	And now, forsaking the city of Nazareth, he came and settled down in Capharnaum, which is by the sea-shore, in the country of Zabulon and Nephthalim,
 Matthew	Mat	46	4	14	in fulfilment of what was said by the prophet Isaias:
 Matthew	Mat	46	4	15	The land of Zabulon and Nephthalim, on the sea road, beyond Jordan, the Galilee of the Gentiles!
 Matthew	Mat	46	4	16	The people that abode in darkness has seen a great light; for men abiding in a land where death overshadowed them, light has dawned.
 Matthew	Mat	46	4	17	From that time onwards, Jesus began to preach; Repent, he said, the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
 Matthew	Mat	46	4	18	And as he walked by the sea of Galilee, Jesus saw two brethren, Simon, who is called Peter, and his brother Andrew, casting a net into the sea (for they were fishermen);
 Matthew	Mat	46	4	19	and he said to them, Come and follow me; I will make you into fishers of men.
 Matthew	Mat	46	4	20	And they dropped their nets immediately, and followed him.
 Matthew	Mat	46	4	21	Then he went further on, and saw two others that were brethren, James the son of Zebedee and his brother John; they were in the boat with their father Zebedee, repairing their nets, and he called them to him;
 Matthew	Mat	46	4	22	whereupon they dropped the nets and left their father immediately, and followed him.
 Matthew	Mat	46	4	23	So Jesus went about the whole of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and curing every kind of disease and infirmity among the people;
 Matthew	Mat	46	4	24	so that his fame spread throughout the whole of Syria, and they brought to him all those who were in affliction, distressed with pain and sickness of every sort, the possessed, the lunatics, the palsied; and he healed them.
 Matthew	Mat	46	4	25	And a great multitude followed him, from Galilee and Decapolis, Jerusalem and Judaea, and the country beyond Jordan.
 Matthew	Mat	46	5	1	Jesus, when he saw how great was their number, went up on to the mountain-side; there he sat down, and his disciples came about him.
 Matthew	Mat	46	5	2	And he began speaking to them; this was the teaching he gave.
 Matthew	Mat	46	5	3	Blessed are the poor in spirit; the kingdom of heaven is theirs.
 Matthew	Mat	46	5	4	Blessed are the patient; they shall inherit the land.
 Matthew	Mat	46	5	5	Blessed are those who mourn; they shall be comforted.
 Matthew	Mat	46	5	6	Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for holiness; they shall have their fill.
 Matthew	Mat	46	5	7	Blessed are the merciful; they shall obtain mercy.
 Matthew	Mat	46	5	8	Blessed are the clean of heart; they shall see God.
 Matthew	Mat	46	5	9	Blessed are the peace-makers; they shall be counted the children of God.
 Matthew	Mat	46	5	10	Blessed are those who suffer persecution in the cause of right; the kingdom of heaven is theirs.
 Matthew	Mat	46	5	11	Blessed are you, when men revile you, and persecute you, and speak all manner of evil against you falsely, because of me.
 Matthew	Mat	46	5	12	Be glad and light-hearted, for a rich reward awaits you in heaven; so it was they persecuted the prophets who went before you.
 Matthew	Mat	46	5	13	You are the salt of the earth; if salt loses its taste, what is there left to give taste to it? There is no more to be done with it, but throw it out of doors for men to tread it under foot.
 Matthew	Mat	46	5	14	You are the light of the world; a city cannot be hidden if it is built on a mountain-top.
 Matthew	Mat	46	5	15	A lamp is not lighted to be put away under a bushel measure; it is put on the lamp-stand, to give light to all the people of the house;
 Matthew	Mat	46	5	16	and your light must shine so brightly before men that they can see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.
 Matthew	Mat	46	5	17	Do not think that I have come to set aside the law and the prophets; I have not come to set them aside, but to bring them to perfection.
 Matthew	Mat	46	5	18	Believe me, heaven and earth must disappear sooner than one jot, one flourish should disappear from the law; it must all be accomplished.
 Matthew	Mat	46	5	19	Whoever, then, sets aside one of these commandments, though it were the least, and teaches men to do the like, will be of least account in the kingdom of heaven; but the man who keeps them and teaches others to keep them will be accounted in the kingdom of heaven as the greatest.
 Matthew	Mat	46	5	20	And I tell you that if your justice does not give fuller measure than the justice of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
 Matthew	Mat	46	5	21	You have heard that it was said to the men of old, Thou shalt do no murder; if a man commits murder, he must answer for it before the court of justice.
 Matthew	Mat	46	5	22	But I tell you that any man who is angry with his brother must answer for it before the court of justice, and any man who says Raca to his brother must answer for it before the Council; and any man who says to his brother, Thou fool, must answer for it in hell fire.
 Matthew	Mat	46	5	23	If thou art bringing thy gift, then, before the altar, and rememberest there that thy brother has some ground of complaint against thee,
 Matthew	Mat	46	5	24	leave thy gift lying there before the altar, and go home; be reconciled with thy brother first, and then come back to offer thy gift.
 Matthew	Mat	46	5	25	If any man has a claim against thee, come to terms there and then, while thou art walking in the road with him; or else it may be that the claimant will hand thee over to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and so thou wilt be cast into prison.
 Matthew	Mat	46	5	26	Believe me, thou shalt not be set at liberty until thou hast paid the last farthing.
 Matthew	Mat	46	5	27	You have heard that it was said, Thou shalt not commit adultery.
 Matthew	Mat	46	5	28	But I tell you that he who casts his eyes on a woman so as to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
 Matthew	Mat	46	5	29	If thy right eye is the occasion of thy falling into sin, pluck it out and cast it away from thee; better to lose one part of thy body than to have the whole cast into hell.
 Matthew	Mat	46	5	30	And if thy right hand is an occasion of falling, cut it off and cast it away from thee; better to lose one of thy limbs than to have thy whole body cast into hell.
 Matthew	Mat	46	5	31	It was said, too, Whoever will put away his wife must first give her a writ of separation.
 Matthew	Mat	46	5	32	But I tell you that the man who puts away his wife (setting aside the matter of unfaithfulness) makes an adulteress of her, and whoever marries her after she has been put away, commits adultery.
 Matthew	Mat	46	5	33	Again, you have heard that it was said to the men of old, Thou shalt not perjure thyself; thou shalt perform what thou hast sworn in the sight of the Lord.
 Matthew	Mat	46	5	34	But I tell you that you should not bind yourselves by any oath at all: not by heaven, for heaven is God’s throne;
 Matthew	Mat	46	5	35	nor by earth, for earth is the footstool under his feet; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king.
 Matthew	Mat	46	5	36	And thou shalt not swear by thy own head, for thou hast no power to turn a single hair of it white or black.
 Matthew	Mat	46	5	37	Let your word be Yes for Yes, and No for No; whatever goes beyond this, comes of evil.
 Matthew	Mat	46	5	38	You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.
 Matthew	Mat	46	5	39	But I tell you that you should not offer resistance to injury; if a man strikes thee on thy right cheek, turn the other cheek also towards him;
 Matthew	Mat	46	5	40	if he is ready to go to law with thee over thy coat, let him have it and thy cloak with it;
 Matthew	Mat	46	5	41	if he compels thee to attend him on a mile’s journey, go two miles with him of thy own accord.
 Matthew	Mat	46	5	42	Give to him who asks, and if a man would borrow from thee, do not turn away.
 Matthew	Mat	46	5	43	You have heard that it was said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour and hate thy enemy.
 Matthew	Mat	46	5	44	But I tell you, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, pray for those who persecute and insult you,
 Matthew	Mat	46	5	45	that so you may be true sons of your Father in heaven, who makes his sun rise on the evil and equally on the good, his rain fall on the just and equally on the unjust.
 Matthew	Mat	46	5	46	If you love those who love you, what title have you to a reward? Will not the publicans do as much?
 Matthew	Mat	46	5	47	If you greet none but your brethren, what are you doing more than others? Will not the very heathen do as much?
 Matthew	Mat	46	5	48	But you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
 Matthew	Mat	46	6	1	Be sure you do not perform your acts of piety before men, for them to watch; if you do that, you have no title to a reward from your Father who is in heaven.
 Matthew	Mat	46	6	2	Thus, when thou givest alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in synagogues and in streets, to win the esteem of men. Believe me, they have their reward already.
 Matthew	Mat	46	6	3	But when thou givest alms, thou shalt not so much as let thy left hand know what thy right hand is doing,
 Matthew	Mat	46	6	4	so secret is thy almsgiving to be; and then thy Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward thee.
 Matthew	Mat	46	6	5	And when you pray, you are not to be like hypocrites, who love to stand praying in synagogues or at street-corners, to be a mark for men’s eyes; believe me, they have their reward already.
 Matthew	Mat	46	6	6	But when thou art praying, go into thy inner room and shut the door upon thyself, and so pray to thy Father in secret; and then thy Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward thee.
 Matthew	Mat	46	6	7	Moreover, when you are at prayer, do not use many phrases, like the heathens, who think to make themselves heard by their eloquence.
 Matthew	Mat	46	6	8	You are not to be like them; your heavenly Father knows well what your needs are before you ask him.
 Matthew	Mat	46	6	9	This, then, is to be your prayer, Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name;
 Matthew	Mat	46	6	10	thy kingdom come; thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven;
 Matthew	Mat	46	6	11	give us this day our daily bread;
 Matthew	Mat	46	6	12	and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us;
 Matthew	Mat	46	6	13	and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.
 Matthew	Mat	46	6	14	Your heavenly Father will forgive you your transgressions, if you forgive your fellow men theirs;
 Matthew	Mat	46	6	15	if you do not forgive them, your heavenly Father will not forgive your transgressions either.
 Matthew	Mat	46	6	16	Again, when you fast, do not shew it by gloomy looks, as the hypocrites do. They make their faces unsightly, so that men can see they are fasting; believe me, they have their reward already.
 Matthew	Mat	46	6	17	But do thou, at thy times of fasting, anoint thy head and wash thy face,
 Matthew	Mat	46	6	18	so that thy fast may not be known to men, but to thy Father who dwells in secret; and then thy Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward thee.
 Matthew	Mat	46	6	19	Do not lay up treasure for yourselves on earth, where there is moth and rust to consume it, where there are thieves to break in and steal it;
 Matthew	Mat	46	6	20	lay up treasure for yourselves in heaven, where there is no moth or rust to consume it, no thieves to break in and steal.
 Matthew	Mat	46	6	21	Where your treasure-house is, there your heart is too.
 Matthew	Mat	46	6	22	The eye is the light of the whole body, so that if thy eye is clear, the whole of thy body will be lit up;
 Matthew	Mat	46	6	23	whereas if thy eye is diseased, the whole of thy body will be in darkness. And if the light which thou hast in thee is itself darkness, what of thy darkness? How deep will that be!
 Matthew	Mat	46	6	24	A man cannot be the slave of two masters at once; either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will devote himself to the one and despise the other. You must serve God or money; you cannot serve both.
 Matthew	Mat	46	6	25	I say to you, then, do not fret over your life, how to support it with food and drink; over your body, how to keep it clothed. Is not life itself a greater gift than food, the body than clothing?
 Matthew	Mat	46	6	26	See how the birds of the air never sow, or reap, or gather grain into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them; have you not an excellence beyond theirs?
 Matthew	Mat	46	6	27	Can any one of you, for all his anxiety, add a cubit’s growth to his height?
 Matthew	Mat	46	6	28	And why should you be anxious over clothing? See how the wild lilies grow; they do not toil or spin;
 Matthew	Mat	46	6	29	and yet I tell you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
 Matthew	Mat	46	6	30	If God, then, so clothes the grasses of the field, which to-day live and will feed the oven to-morrow, will he not be much more ready to clothe you, men of little faith?
 Matthew	Mat	46	6	31	Do not fret, then, asking, What are we to eat? or What are we to drink? or How shall we find clothing?
 Matthew	Mat	46	6	32	It is for the heathen to busy themselves over such things; you have a Father in heaven who knows that you need them all.
 Matthew	Mat	46	6	33	Make it your first care to find the kingdom of God, and his approval, and all these things shall be yours without the asking.
 Matthew	Mat	46	6	34	Do not fret, then, over to-morrow; leave to-morrow to fret over its own needs; for to-day, to-day’s troubles are enough.
 Matthew	Mat	46	7	1	Do not judge others, or you yourselves will be judged.
 Matthew	Mat	46	7	2	As you have judged, so you will be judged, by the same rule; award shall be made you as you have made award, in the same measure.
 Matthew	Mat	46	7	3	How is it that thou canst see the speck of dust which is in thy brother’s eye, and art not aware of the beam which is in thy own?
 Matthew	Mat	46	7	4	By what right wilt thou say to thy brother, Wait, let me rid thy eye of that speck, when there is a beam all the while in thy own?
 Matthew	Mat	46	7	5	Thou hypocrite, take the beam out of thy own eye first, and so thou shalt have clear sight to rid thy brother’s of the speck.
 Matthew	Mat	46	7	6	You must not give that which is holy to dogs. Do not cast your pearls before swine, or the swine may trample them under foot, and then turn on you and tear you to pieces.
 Matthew	Mat	46	7	7	Ask, and the gift will come; seek, and you shall find; knock, and the door shall be opened to you.
 Matthew	Mat	46	7	8	Everyone that asks, will receive; that seeks, will find; that knocks, will have the door opened to him.
 Matthew	Mat	46	7	9	If any one of yourselves is asked by his son for bread, will he give him a stone?
 Matthew	Mat	46	7	10	If he is asked for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead?
 Matthew	Mat	46	7	11	Why then, if you, evil as you are, know well enough how to give your children what is good for them, is not your Father in heaven much more ready to give wholesome gifts to those who ask him?
 Matthew	Mat	46	7	12	Do to other men all that you would have them do to you; that is the law and the prophets.
 Matthew	Mat	46	7	13	Make your way in by the narrow gate. It is a broad gate and a wide road that leads on to perdition, and those who go in that way are many indeed;
 Matthew	Mat	46	7	14	but how small is the gate, how narrow the road that leads on to life, and how few there are that find it!
 Matthew	Mat	46	7	15	Be on your guard against false prophets, men who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but are ravenous wolves within.
 Matthew	Mat	46	7	16	You will know them by the fruit they yield. Can grapes be plucked from briers, or figs from thistles?
 Matthew	Mat	46	7	17	So, indeed, any sound tree will bear good fruit, while any tree that is withered will bear fruit that is worthless;
 Matthew	Mat	46	7	18	that worthless fruit should come from a sound tree, or good fruit from a withered tree, is impossible.
 Matthew	Mat	46	7	19	Any tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down, and thrown into the fire.
 Matthew	Mat	46	7	20	I say therefore, it is by their fruit that you will know them.
 Matthew	Mat	46	7	21	The kingdom of heaven will not give entrance to every man who calls me Master, Master; only to the man that does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
 Matthew	Mat	46	7	22	There are many who will say to me, when that day comes, Master, Master, was it not in thy name we prophesied? Was it not in thy name that we performed many miracles?
 Matthew	Mat	46	7	23	Whereupon I will tell them openly, You were never friends of mine; depart from me, you that traffic in wrong-doing.
 Matthew	Mat	46	7	24	Whoever, then, hears these commandments of mine and carries them out, is like a wise man who built his house upon rock;
 Matthew	Mat	46	7	25	and the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat upon that house, but it did not fall; it was founded upon rock.
 Matthew	Mat	46	7	26	But whoever hears these commandments of mine and does not carry them out is like a fool, who built his house upon sand;
 Matthew	Mat	46	7	27	and the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat upon that house, and it fell; and great was the fall of it.
 Matthew	Mat	46	7	28	Afterwards, when Jesus had finished these sayings, the multitudes found themselves amazed at his teaching.
 Matthew	Mat	46	7	29	For he taught them, not like their scribes and Pharisees, but like one who had authority.
 Matthew	Mat	46	8	1	A great multitude followed him when he had come down from the mountain;
 Matthew	Mat	46	8	2	and now, a leper came and knelt before him, and said, Lord, if it be thy will, thou hast power to make me clean.
 Matthew	Mat	46	8	3	Jesus held out his hand and touched him, and said, It is my will; be thou made clean. Whereupon his leprosy was immediately cleansed.
 Matthew	Mat	46	8	4	Then Jesus said, Be sure thou dost not tell any man of it; rather go and shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift which Moses ordained, to make the truth known to them.
 Matthew	Mat	46	8	5	As he entered Capharnaum, a centurion came to him, asking for his aid;
 Matthew	Mat	46	8	6	Lord, he said, I have a servant lying sick at my house, cruelly tormented with the palsy.
 Matthew	Mat	46	8	7	Jesus said to him, I will come and heal him.
 Matthew	Mat	46	8	8	But the centurion answered, Lord, I am not worthy to receive thee under my roof; my servant will be healed if thou wilt only speak a word of command.
 Matthew	Mat	46	8	9	I too know what it is to obey authority; I have soldiers under me, and I say, Go, to one man, and he goes, or, Come, to another, and he comes, or, Do this, to my servant, and he does it.
 Matthew	Mat	46	8	10	When he heard that, Jesus said to his followers in amazement, Believe me, I have not found faith like this, even in Israel.
 Matthew	Mat	46	8	11	And this I tell you, that there are many who will come from the east and from the west, and will take their places in the kingdom of God with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob,
 Matthew	Mat	46	8	12	while that kingdom’s own sons are cast into the darkness without, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
 Matthew	Mat	46	8	13	And to the centurion Jesus said, Go then; let it be done to thee as thy faith foretold. And at that hour his servant was healed.
 Matthew	Mat	46	8	14	And Jesus went into Peter’s house, and found his wife’s mother lying sick there with a fever.
 Matthew	Mat	46	8	15	He touched her hand, and the fever left her, so that she rose up and ministered to them.
 Matthew	Mat	46	8	16	And when evening came, they brought to him many persons who were possessed; and he cast out the evil spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick,
 Matthew	Mat	46	8	17	in fulfilment of the word spoken by Isaias the prophet, He took our infirmities upon himself, and bore our sicknesses.
 Matthew	Mat	46	8	18	And now, seeing how great were the multitudes about him, he gave the word for crossing to the other side.
 Matthew	Mat	46	8	19	Whereupon one of the scribes came to him, and said, Master, I will follow thee wherever thou art going.
 Matthew	Mat	46	8	20	But Jesus told him, Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air their resting-places; the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.
 Matthew	Mat	46	8	21	And another of his disciples said to him, Lord, give me leave to go home and bury my father before I come.
 Matthew	Mat	46	8	22	But to him Jesus said, Do thou follow me, and leave the dead to bury their dead.
 Matthew	Mat	46	8	23	So he took ship, and his disciples followed him.
 Matthew	Mat	46	8	24	And suddenly a great storm arose on the sea, so that the waves rose high over the ship; but he lay asleep.
 Matthew	Mat	46	8	25	And his disciples came and roused him, crying, Lord, save us, we are sinking.
 Matthew	Mat	46	8	26	But Jesus said to them, Why are you faint-hearted, men of little faith? Then he rose up, and checked the winds, and the sea, and there was deep calm.
 Matthew	Mat	46	8	27	So that all asked in amazement, What kind of man is this, who is obeyed even by the winds and the sea?
 Matthew	Mat	46	8	28	So he reached the other shore, in the country of the Gerasenes; and here he was met by two possessed creatures who came out of the rock tombs, so exceedingly fierce that none could pass along that road.
 Matthew	Mat	46	8	29	And at once they cried aloud, Why dost thou meddle with us, Jesus, Son of God? Hast thou come here to torment us before the appointed time?
 Matthew	Mat	46	8	30	Some distance away, a great herd of swine was feeding;
 Matthew	Mat	46	8	31	and the devils asked a favour of him; If thou hast a mind to cast us out, they said, send us into the herd of swine.
 Matthew	Mat	46	8	32	He said to them, Away with you; and they came out and went into the herd of swine; and with that, all the herd rushed down the cliff into the sea, and perished in its waters.
 Matthew	Mat	46	8	33	The swineherds fled to the city, and there told all that had happened and the story of those who had been possessed.
 Matthew	Mat	46	8	34	And thereupon all the townspeople went out to meet Jesus; and when they found him, they entreated him to leave their country.
 Matthew	Mat	46	9	1	So he took ship across the sea, and came to his own city.
 Matthew	Mat	46	9	2	And now they brought before him a man who was palsied and bed-ridden; whereupon Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the palsied man, Son, take courage, thy sins are forgiven.
 Matthew	Mat	46	9	3	And at this, some of the scribes said to themselves, He is talking blasphemously.
 Matthew	Mat	46	9	4	Jesus read their minds, and said, Why do you cherish wicked thoughts in your hearts?
 Matthew	Mat	46	9	5	Tell me, which command is more lightly given, to say to a man, Thy sins are forgiven, or to say, Rise up, and walk?
 Matthew	Mat	46	9	6	And now, to convince you that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins while he is on earth (here he spoke to the palsied man), Rise up, take thy bed with thee, and go home.
 Matthew	Mat	46	9	7	And he rose up, and went back to his house,
 Matthew	Mat	46	9	8	so that the multitudes were filled with awe at seeing it, and praised God for giving such powers to men.
 Matthew	Mat	46	9	9	As he passed further on his way, Jesus saw a man called Matthew sitting at work in the customs-house, and said to him, Follow me; and Matthew rose from his place and followed him.
 Matthew	Mat	46	9	10	And afterwards, when he was taking a meal in the house, many publicans and sinners were to be found at table with him and his disciples.
 Matthew	Mat	46	9	11	The Pharisees saw this, and asked his disciples, How comes it that your master eats with publicans and sinners?
 Matthew	Mat	46	9	12	Jesus heard it, and said, It is not those who are in health that have need of the physician, it is those who are sick.
 Matthew	Mat	46	9	13	Go home and find out what the words mean, It is mercy that wins favour with me, not sacrifice. I have come to call sinners, not the just.
 Matthew	Mat	46	9	14	Then John’s disciples came to him, and asked, How is it that thy disciples do not fast, when we and the Pharisees fast so often?
 Matthew	Mat	46	9	15	To them Jesus said, Can you expect the men of the bridegroom’s company to go mourning, while the bridegroom is still with them? No, the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them; then they will fast.
 Matthew	Mat	46	9	16	Nobody uses a piece of new cloth to patch an old cloak; that would take away from the cloak all its pattern, and make the rent in it worse than before.
 Matthew	Mat	46	9	17	Nor is new wine put into old wine-skins; if that is done, the skins burst, and there is the wine spilt and the skins spoiled. If the wine is new, it is put into fresh wine-skins, and so both are kept safe.
 Matthew	Mat	46	9	18	While he thus spoke to them, it chanced that one of the rulers came and knelt before him, and said, Lord, my daughter is this moment dead; come now and lay thy hand on her, and she will live.
 Matthew	Mat	46	9	19	So Jesus rose up and went after him, and so did his disciples.
 Matthew	Mat	46	9	20	And now a woman who for twelve years had been troubled with an issue of blood, came up behind him and touched the hem of his cloak;
 Matthew	Mat	46	9	21	she said to herself, If I can even touch the hem of his cloak, I shall be healed.
 Matthew	Mat	46	9	22	Jesus turned and caught sight of her; and he said, Have no fear, my daughter, thy faith has brought thee healing. And the woman recovered her health from that hour.
 Matthew	Mat	46	9	23	So Jesus came into the ruler’s house, where he found mourners playing the flute, and the multitude thronging noisily;
 Matthew	Mat	46	9	24	and he said, Make room there; the child is not dead, she is asleep; and they laughed aloud at him.
 Matthew	Mat	46	9	25	But when the multitude had been turned away, he went in and took the girl by the hand, and she rose up.
 Matthew	Mat	46	9	26	And the story of these doings spread abroad through all the country round.
 Matthew	Mat	46	9	27	As Jesus was passing further on his way, he was followed by two blind men, who cried aloud, Son of David, have pity on us.
 Matthew	Mat	46	9	28	These blind men came to him when he had gone into his lodging, and Jesus said to them, Have you the faith to believe that I can do this? And they said to him, Yes, Lord.
 Matthew	Mat	46	9	29	Thereupon, he touched their eyes, and said, Your faith shall not be disappointed.
 Matthew	Mat	46	9	30	Then their eyes were opened; and Jesus laid a strict charge on them, telling them, Be sure nobody hears of this.
 Matthew	Mat	46	9	31	But they had no sooner gone out than they talked of him in all the country round.
 Matthew	Mat	46	9	32	And it chanced that, as they were going, a dumb man was brought to him, possessed with a devil.
 Matthew	Mat	46	9	33	The devil was cast out, and the dumb man found speech; at which the multitudes were filled with amazement; Nothing like this, they said, was ever seen in Israel.
 Matthew	Mat	46	9	34	But the Pharisees said, It is the prince of the devils that enables him to cast the devils out.
 Matthew	Mat	46	9	35	So Jesus went about all their cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and curing every kind of disease and infirmity.
 Matthew	Mat	46	9	36	Yet still, when he looked at the multitudes, he was moved with pity for them, seeing them harried and abject, like sheep that have no shepherd.
 Matthew	Mat	46	9	37	Thereupon he said to his disciples, The harvest is plentiful enough, but the labourers are few;
 Matthew	Mat	46	9	38	you must ask the Lord to whom the harvest belongs to send labourers out for the harvesting.
 Matthew	Mat	46	10	1	So he called his twelve disciples to him, and gave them authority to cast out unclean spirits, and to heal every kind of disease and infirmity.
 Matthew	Mat	46	10	2	These are the names of the twelve apostles; first, Simon, also called Peter, then his brother Andrew,
 Matthew	Mat	46	10	3	James the son of Zebedee and his brother John, Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew the publican, James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus,
 Matthew	Mat	46	10	4	Simon the Cananean, and Judas Iscariot, the traitor.
 Matthew	Mat	46	10	5	These twelve Jesus sent out; but first gave them their instructions; Do not go, he said, into the walks of the Gentiles, or enter any city of Samaria;
 Matthew	Mat	46	10	6	go rather to the lost sheep that belong to the house of Israel.
 Matthew	Mat	46	10	7	And preach as you go, telling them, The kingdom of heaven is at hand.
 Matthew	Mat	46	10	8	Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out devils: give as you have received the gift, without payment.
 Matthew	Mat	46	10	9	Do not provide gold or silver or copper to fill your purses,
 Matthew	Mat	46	10	10	nor a wallet for the journey, no second coat, no spare shoes or staff; the labourer has a right to his maintenance.
 Matthew	Mat	46	10	11	Whenever you enter a city or a village, find out who is worthy to be your host, and make your lodging there until you go away.
 Matthew	Mat	46	10	12	When you enter this house, you are to wish it well;
 Matthew	Mat	46	10	13	and so, if the house is worthy, your good wishes shall come down upon it; if unworthy, let them come back to you the way they went.
 Matthew	Mat	46	10	14	And wherever they will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that city or that house;
 Matthew	Mat	46	10	15	I promise you, it shall go less hard with the land of Sodom and Gomorrha at the day of judgement, than with that city.
 Matthew	Mat	46	10	16	Remember, I am sending you out to be like sheep among wolves; you must be wary, then, as serpents, and yet innocent as doves.
 Matthew	Mat	46	10	17	Do not put your trust in men; they will hand you over to courts of judgement, and scourge you in their synagogues;
 Matthew	Mat	46	10	18	yes, and you will be brought before governors and kings on my account, so that you can bear witness before them, and before the Gentiles.
 Matthew	Mat	46	10	19	Only, when they hand you over thus, do not consider anxiously what you are to say or how you are to say it; words will be given you when the time comes;
 Matthew	Mat	46	10	20	it is not you who speak, it is the Spirit of your Father that speaks in you.
 Matthew	Mat	46	10	21	Brothers will be given up to execution by their brothers, and children by their fathers; children will rise up against their parents and will compass their deaths,
 Matthew	Mat	46	10	22	and you will be hated by all men because you bear my name; that man will be saved, who endures to the last.
 Matthew	Mat	46	10	23	Only, if they persecute you in one city, take refuge in another; I promise you, the Son of Man will come, before your task with the cities of Israel is ended.
 Matthew	Mat	46	10	24	A disciple is no better than his master, a servant than his lord;
 Matthew	Mat	46	10	25	enough that the disciple should fare like his master, the servant like his lord. If they have cried Beelzebub at the master of the house, they will do it much more readily to the men of his household.
 Matthew	Mat	46	10	26	Do not, then, be afraid of them. What is veiled will all be revealed, what is hidden will all be known;
 Matthew	Mat	46	10	27	what I have said to you under cover of darkness, you are to utter in the light of day; what has been whispered in your ears, you are to proclaim on the house-tops.
 Matthew	Mat	46	10	28	And there is no need to fear those who kill the body, but have no means of killing the soul; fear him more, who has the power to ruin body and soul in hell.
 Matthew	Mat	46	10	29	Are not sparrows sold two for a penny? And yet it is impossible for one of them to fall to the ground without your heavenly Father’s will.
 Matthew	Mat	46	10	30	And as for you, he takes every hair of your head into his reckoning.
 Matthew	Mat	46	10	31	Do not be afraid, then; you count for more than a host of sparrows.
 Matthew	Mat	46	10	32	And now, whoever acknowledges me before men, I too will acknowledge him before my Father who is in heaven;
 Matthew	Mat	46	10	33	and whoever disowns me before men, before my Father in heaven I too will disown him.
 Matthew	Mat	46	10	34	Do not imagine that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have come to bring a sword, not peace.
 Matthew	Mat	46	10	35	I have come to set a man at variance with his father, and the daughter with her mother, and the daughter-in-law with her mother-in-law;
 Matthew	Mat	46	10	36	a man’s enemies will be the people of his own house.
 Matthew	Mat	46	10	37	He is not worthy of me, that loves father or mother more; he is not worthy of me, that loves son or daughter more;
 Matthew	Mat	46	10	38	he is not worthy of me, that does not take up his cross and follow me.
 Matthew	Mat	46	10	39	He who secures his own life will lose it; it is the man who loses his life for my sake that will secure it.
 Matthew	Mat	46	10	40	He who gives you welcome, gives me welcome too; and he who gives me welcome gives welcome to him that sent me.
 Matthew	Mat	46	10	41	He who gives a prophet the welcome due to a prophet shall receive the reward given to prophets; and he who gives a just man the welcome due to a just man shall receive the reward given to just men.
 Matthew	Mat	46	10	42	And if a man gives so much as a draught of cold water to one of the least of these here, because he is a disciple of mine, I promise you, he shall not miss his reward.
 Matthew	Mat	46	11	1	When Jesus had done giving instructions to his twelve disciples, he left the place where he was, to teach and preach in their cities.
 Matthew	Mat	46	11	2	Now John had heard in his prison of Christ’s doings, and he sent two of his disciples to him;
 Matthew	Mat	46	11	3	Is it thy coming that was foretold, he asked, or are we yet waiting for some other?
 Matthew	Mat	46	11	4	Jesus answered them, Go and tell John what your own ears and eyes have witnessed;
 Matthew	Mat	46	11	5	how the blind see, and the lame walk, how the lepers are made clean, and the deaf hear, how the dead are raised to life, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.
 Matthew	Mat	46	11	6	Blessed is the man who does not lose confidence in me.
 Matthew	Mat	46	11	7	As they went out, Jesus took occasion to speak of John to the multitudes; What was it, he asked, that you expected to see when you went out into the wilderness? Was it a reed trembling in the wind?
 Matthew	Mat	46	11	8	No, not that; what was it you went out to see? Was it a man clad in silk? You must look in kings’ palaces for men that go clad in silk.
 Matthew	Mat	46	11	9	What was it, then, that you went out to see? A prophet? Yes, and something more, I tell you, than a prophet.
 Matthew	Mat	46	11	10	This is the man of whom it was written, Behold, I am sending before thee that angel of mine, who is to prepare the way for thy coming.
 Matthew	Mat	46	11	11	Believe me, God has raised up no greater son of woman than John the Baptist; and yet to be least in the kingdom of heaven is to be greater than he.
 Matthew	Mat	46	11	12	Ever since John the Baptist’s time, the kingdom of heaven has opened to force; and the forceful are even now making it their prize;
 Matthew	Mat	46	11	13	whereas all the prophets and the law, before John’s time, could only speak of things that were to come.
 Matthew	Mat	46	11	14	And this I tell you, if you will make room for it in your minds, that he is that Elias whose coming was prophesied.
 Matthew	Mat	46	11	15	Listen, you that have ears to hear with.
 Matthew	Mat	46	11	16	As for this generation, to what shall I compare it? It reminds me of those children who call out to their companions as they sit in the market-place,
 Matthew	Mat	46	11	17	and say, You would not dance when we piped to you, or beat the breast when we wept to you.
 Matthew	Mat	46	11	18	When John came, he would neither eat nor drink, and they say of him that he is possessed.
 Matthew	Mat	46	11	19	When the Son of Man came, he ate and drank with them, and of him they say, Here is a glutton; he loves wine; he is a friend of publicans and sinners. It is by her own children that wisdom is vindicated.
 Matthew	Mat	46	11	20	Thereupon he took occasion to reproach for their impenitence the cities in which he had done most of his miracles:
 Matthew	Mat	46	11	21	Woe to thee, Corozain, woe to thee, Bethsaida: Tyre and Sidon would have repented in sackcloth and ashes long ago, if the miracles done in you had been done there instead.
 Matthew	Mat	46	11	22	And I say this, that it shall go less hard with Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgement than with you.
 Matthew	Mat	46	11	23	And thou, Capharnaum, dost thou hope to be lifted up high as heaven? Thou shalt fall low as hell. Sodom itself, if the miracles done in thee had been done there, might have stood to this day.
 Matthew	Mat	46	11	24	And I say this, that it shall go less hard with the country of Sodom at the day of judgement than with thee.
 Matthew	Mat	46	11	25	At that time Jesus said openly, Father, who art Lord of heaven and earth, I give thee praise that thou hast hidden all this from the wise and the prudent, and revealed it to little children.
 Matthew	Mat	46	11	26	Be it so, Father, since this finds favour in thy sight.
 Matthew	Mat	46	11	27	My Father has entrusted everything into my hands; none knows the Son truly except the Father, and none knows the Father truly except the Son, and those to whom it is the Son’s good pleasure to reveal him.
 Matthew	Mat	46	11	28	Come to me, all you that labour and are burdened; I will give you rest.
 Matthew	Mat	46	11	29	Take my yoke upon yourselves, and learn from me; I am gentle and humble of heart; and you shall find rest for your souls.
 Matthew	Mat	46	11	30	For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
 Matthew	Mat	46	12	1	At this time, Jesus was walking through the corn-fields on the sabbath day. And his disciples, who were hungry, fell to plucking the ears of corn and eating them.
 Matthew	Mat	46	12	2	The Pharisees saw this, and said to him, Look, thy disciples are doing a thing which it is not lawful to do on the sabbath.
 Matthew	Mat	46	12	3	Whereupon he said to them, Have you never read of what David did, when he and his followers were hungry?
 Matthew	Mat	46	12	4	How he went into the tabernacle, and ate the loaves set out there before God, although neither he nor his followers, nor anyone else except the priests had a right to eat them?
 Matthew	Mat	46	12	5	Or again, have you not read in the law that the priests violate the sabbath rest in the temple, and none blames them?
 Matthew	Mat	46	12	6	And I tell you there is one standing here who is greater than the temple.
 Matthew	Mat	46	12	7	If you had found out what the words mean, It is mercy, not sacrifice, that wins favour with me, you would not have passed judgement on the guiltless.
 Matthew	Mat	46	12	8	The Son of Man has even the sabbath at his disposal.
 Matthew	Mat	46	12	9	So he went on his way, and afterwards came into their synagogue.
 Matthew	Mat	46	12	10	And here there was a man who had one of his hands withered; and they asked Jesus whether it was lawful to do a work of healing on the sabbath, so that they might have a charge to bring against him.
 Matthew	Mat	46	12	11	But he answered, Is there a man among you that has a sheep, who would not take hold of it and pull it out, if it should fall into a pit on the sabbath?
 Matthew	Mat	46	12	12	And of what value is a sheep compared to a man? There is nothing unlawful, then, in doing a work of mercy on the sabbath day.
 Matthew	Mat	46	12	13	And with that he said to the man, Stretch out thy hand; and when he stretched it out, it was restored to him as sound as the other.
 Matthew	Mat	46	12	14	Thereupon the Pharisees left the synagogue, and plotted together to make away with him.
 Matthew	Mat	46	12	15	Jesus was aware of this, and withdrew from the place; great multitudes followed him, and he healed all their diseases;
 Matthew	Mat	46	12	16	but he laid a strict charge on them that they should not make him known.
 Matthew	Mat	46	12	17	This he did to fulfil the word spoken by the prophet Isaias,
 Matthew	Mat	46	12	18	Behold, my servant, whom I have chosen, my elect, with whom my soul is well pleased. I will lay my spirit upon him, and he shall proclaim judgement among the Gentiles.
 Matthew	Mat	46	12	19	He will not protest and cry out; none shall hear his voice in the streets.
 Matthew	Mat	46	12	20	He will not snap the staff that is already crushed, or put out the wick that still smoulders, until the time comes when he crowns his judgement with victory.
 Matthew	Mat	46	12	21	And the Gentiles will put their trust in his name.
 Matthew	Mat	46	12	22	Then they brought to him a man possessed, who was both blind and dumb; whom he cured, giving him both speech and sight.
 Matthew	Mat	46	12	23	The multitudes were filled with amazement; Can this, they asked, be no other than the Son of David?
 Matthew	Mat	46	12	24	But the Pharisees said, when they heard of it, It is only through the power of Beelzebub, the prince of the devils, that he casts the devils out.
 Matthew	Mat	46	12	25	Whereupon Jesus, who knew what was in their thoughts, said to them, No kingdom can be at war with itself without being laid waste; no city or household that is at war with itself can stand firm.
 Matthew	Mat	46	12	26	If it is Satan who casts Satan out, then Satan is at war with himself, and how is his kingdom to stand firm?
 Matthew	Mat	46	12	27	Again, if it is through Beelzebub that I cast out devils, by what means do your own sons cast them out? It is for these, then, to pronounce judgement on you.
 Matthew	Mat	46	12	28	But if, when I cast out devils, I do it through the Spirit of God, then it must be that the kingdom of God has already appeared among you.
 Matthew	Mat	46	12	29	How is anyone to gain entrance into the house of a strong man and plunder his goods without first making the strong man his prisoner? Then he can plunder his house at will.
 Matthew	Mat	46	12	30	He who is not with me, is against me; he who does not gather his store with me, scatters it abroad.
 Matthew	Mat	46	12	31	And now I tell you this; there is pardon for all the other sins and blasphemies of men, but not for blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.
 Matthew	Mat	46	12	32	There is no one who blasphemes against the Son of Man but may find forgiveness; but for him who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit there is no forgiveness, either in this world or in the world to come.
 Matthew	Mat	46	12	33	Either tell us that the tree is sound and its fruit sound, or that the tree is withered and its fruit withered; the test of the tree is in its fruit.
 Matthew	Mat	46	12	34	Brood of vipers, how could you speak to good effect, wicked as you are? It is from the heart’s overflow that the mouth speaks;
 Matthew	Mat	46	12	35	a good man utters good words from his store of goodness, the wicked man, from his store of wickedness, can utter nothing but what is evil.
 Matthew	Mat	46	12	36	And I say this, that in the day of judgement men will be brought to account for every thoughtless word they have spoken.
 Matthew	Mat	46	12	37	Thy words will be matter to acquit, or matter to condemn thee.
 Matthew	Mat	46	12	38	Hereupon some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, Master, may we see a sign from thee?
 Matthew	Mat	46	12	39	He answered them, The generation that asks for a sign is a wicked and unfaithful generation; the only sign that will be given it is the sign of the prophet Jonas.
 Matthew	Mat	46	12	40	Jonas was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea-beast, and the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
 Matthew	Mat	46	12	41	The men of Nineve will rise up with this generation at the day of judgement, and will leave it without excuse; for they did penance when Jonas preached to them, and behold, a greater than Jonas is here.
 Matthew	Mat	46	12	42	The queen of the south will rise up with this generation at the day of judgement, and will leave it without excuse; for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, a greater than Solomon is here.
 Matthew	Mat	46	12	43	The unclean spirit, which has possessed a man and then goes out of him, walks about the desert looking for a resting-place, and finds none;
 Matthew	Mat	46	12	44	and it says, I will go back to my own dwelling, from which I came out. And it comes back, to find that dwelling empty, and swept out, and neatly set in order.
 Matthew	Mat	46	12	45	Thereupon, it goes away, and brings in seven other spirits more wicked than itself to bear it company, and together they enter in and settle down there; so that the last state of that man is worse than the first. So it shall fare with this wicked generation.
 Matthew	Mat	46	12	46	While he was still speaking to the multitude, it chanced that his mother and his brethren were standing without, desiring speech with him.
 Matthew	Mat	46	12	47	And someone told him, Here are thy mother and thy brethren standing without, looking for thee.
 Matthew	Mat	46	12	48	But he made answer to the man that brought him the news, Who is a mother, who are brethren, to me?
 Matthew	Mat	46	12	49	Then he stretched out his hand towards his disciples, and said, Here are my mother and my brethren!
 Matthew	Mat	46	12	50	If anyone does the will of my Father who is in heaven, he is my brother, and sister, and mother.
 Matthew	Mat	46	13	1	That day, leaving the house, Jesus had sat down by the sea-shore,
 Matthew	Mat	46	13	2	and great multitudes gathered about him, so that he went on board a ship and sat there instead, while the whole multitude remained standing on the beach.
 Matthew	Mat	46	13	3	And he spoke to them long, in parables; Here, he began, is the sower gone out to sow.
 Matthew	Mat	46	13	4	And as he sowed, there were grains that fell beside the path, so that all the birds came and ate them up.
 Matthew	Mat	46	13	5	And others fell on rocky land, where the soil was shallow; they sprang up all at once, because they had not sunk deep in the ground;
 Matthew	Mat	46	13	6	but as soon as the sun rose they were parched; they had taken no root, and so they withered away.
 Matthew	Mat	46	13	7	Some fell among briers, so that the briers grew up, and smothered them.
 Matthew	Mat	46	13	8	But others fell where the soil was good, and these yielded a harvest, some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold.
 Matthew	Mat	46	13	9	Listen, you that have ears to hear with.
 Matthew	Mat	46	13	10	And his disciples came to him, and said, Why dost thou speak to them in parables?
 Matthew	Mat	46	13	11	Because, he answered, it is granted to you to understand the secrets of God’s kingdom, but not to these others.
 Matthew	Mat	46	13	12	If a man is rich, gifts will be made to him, and his riches will abound; if he is poor, even the little he has will be taken from him.
 Matthew	Mat	46	13	13	And if I talk to them in parables, it is because, though they have eyes, they cannot see, and though they have ears, they cannot hear or understand.
 Matthew	Mat	46	13	14	Indeed, in them the prophecy of Isaias is fulfilled, You will listen and listen, but for you there is no understanding; you will watch and watch, but for you there is no perceiving.
 Matthew	Mat	46	13	15	The heart of this people has become dull, their ears are slow to listen, and they keep their eyes shut, so that they may never see with those eyes, or hear with those ears, or understand with that heart, and turn back to me, and win healing from me.
 Matthew	Mat	46	13	16	But blessed are your eyes, for they have sight; blessed are your ears, for they have hearing.
 Matthew	Mat	46	13	17	And, believe me, there have been many prophets and just men who have longed to see what you see, and never saw it, to hear what you hear, and never heard it.
 Matthew	Mat	46	13	18	The parable of the sower, then, is for your hearing.
 Matthew	Mat	46	13	19	Wherever a man hears the word by which the kingdom is preached, but does not grasp it, the evil one comes and carries off what was sown in his heart; his was the wayside sowing.
 Matthew	Mat	46	13	20	The man who took in the seed in rocky ground is the man who hears the word and at once entertains it gladly;
 Matthew	Mat	46	13	21	but there is no root in him, and he does not last long; no sooner does tribulation or persecution arise over the word, than his faith is shaken.
 Matthew	Mat	46	13	22	And the man who took in the seed in the midst of briers is the man who hears the word, but allows the cares of this world and the false charms of riches to stifle it, so that it remains fruitless.
 Matthew	Mat	46	13	23	Whereas the man who took in the seed in good soil is the man who both hears and grasps it; such men are fruitful, one grain yielding a hundredfold, one sixtyfold, one thirtyfold.
 Matthew	Mat	46	13	24	And he put before them another parable; Here is an image, he said, of the kingdom of heaven. There was a man who sowed his field with clean seed;
 Matthew	Mat	46	13	25	but while all the world was asleep, an enemy of his came and scattered tares among the wheat, and was gone.
 Matthew	Mat	46	13	26	So, when the blade had sprung up and come into ear, the tares, too, came to light;
 Matthew	Mat	46	13	27	and the farmer’s men went to him and said, Sir, was it not clean seed thou didst sow in thy field? How comes it, then, that there are tares in it?
 Matthew	Mat	46	13	28	He said, An enemy has done it. And his men asked him, Wouldst thou then have us go and gather them up?
 Matthew	Mat	46	13	29	But he said, No; or perhaps while you are gathering the tares you will root up the wheat with them.
 Matthew	Mat	46	13	30	Leave them to grow side by side till harvest, and when harvest-time comes I will give the word to the reapers, Gather up the tares first, and tie them in bundles to be burned, and store the wheat in my barn.
 Matthew	Mat	46	13	31	Then he put before them another parable. The kingdom of heaven, he said, is like a grain of mustard seed, that a man has taken and sowed in his ground;
 Matthew	Mat	46	13	32	of all seeds, none is so little, but when it grows up it is greater than any garden herb; it grows into a tree, so that all the birds come and settle in its branches.
 Matthew	Mat	46	13	33	And he told them still another parable, The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, that a woman has taken and buried away in three measures of meal, enough to leaven the whole batch.
 Matthew	Mat	46	13	34	All this Jesus said to the multitude in parables, and would say it in parables only,
 Matthew	Mat	46	13	35	so fulfilling the words which were spoken by the prophet, I will speak my mind in parables, I will give utterance to things which have been kept secret from the beginning of the world.
 Matthew	Mat	46	13	36	Then he sent the multitude away, and went back into the house. There his disciples came to him, and said, Explain to us the parable of the tares in the field.
 Matthew	Mat	46	13	37	He answered, It is the Son of Man that sows the good seed.
 Matthew	Mat	46	13	38	The field is the world, and the sons of the kingdom are the good seed; the sons of the wicked one are the tares.
 Matthew	Mat	46	13	39	The enemy that sowed them is the devil, and the end of the world is the harvest; it is reaped by the angels.
 Matthew	Mat	46	13	40	The tares were gathered together and burned in the fire, and so it will be when the world is brought to an end;
 Matthew	Mat	46	13	41	the Son of Man will give charge to his angels, and they will gather up all that gives offence in his kingdom, all those who do wickedly in it,
 Matthew	Mat	46	13	42	and will cast them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping, and gnashing of teeth.
 Matthew	Mat	46	13	43	Then, at last, the just will shine out, clear as the sun, in their Father’s kingdom. Listen, you that have ears to hear with.
 Matthew	Mat	46	13	44	The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field; a man has found it and hidden it again, and now, for the joy it gives him, is going home to sell all that he has and buy that field.
 Matthew	Mat	46	13	45	Again, the kingdom of heaven is as if a trader were looking for rare pearls:
 Matthew	Mat	46	13	46	and now he has found one pearl of great cost, and has sold all that he had and bought it.
 Matthew	Mat	46	13	47	Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was cast into the sea, and enclosed fish of every kind at once;
 Matthew	Mat	46	13	48	when it was full, the fishermen drew it up, and sat down on the beach, where they stored all that was worth keeping in their buckets, and threw the useless kind away.
 Matthew	Mat	46	13	49	So it will be when the world is brought to an end; the angels will go out and separate the wicked from the just,
 Matthew	Mat	46	13	50	and will cast them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping, and gnashing of teeth.
 Matthew	Mat	46	13	51	Have you grasped all this? Yes, Lord, they said to him.
 Matthew	Mat	46	13	52	And he said to them, Every scholar, then, whose learning is of the kingdom of heaven must be like a rich man, who knows how to bring both new and old things out of his treasure-house.
 Matthew	Mat	46	13	53	Afterwards, when he had finished these parables, Jesus journeyed on,
 Matthew	Mat	46	13	54	and came to his own country-side, where he taught them in their synagogue; so that they said in astonishment, How did he come by this wisdom, and these strange powers?
 Matthew	Mat	46	13	55	Is not this the carpenter’s son, whose mother is called Mary, and his brethren James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?
 Matthew	Mat	46	13	56	And do not his sisters, all of them, live near us? How is it that all this has come to him?
 Matthew	Mat	46	13	57	And they had no confidence in him. But Jesus told them, It is only in his own country, in his own home, that a prophet goes unhonoured.
 Matthew	Mat	46	13	58	Nor did he do many miracles there, because of their unbelief.
 Matthew	Mat	46	14	1	At this time Herod, who ruled in that quarter, heard what was told of Jesus.
 Matthew	Mat	46	14	2	And he said to his men, This is no other than John the Baptist; he has risen from the dead, and that is why these powers are active in him.
 Matthew	Mat	46	14	3	For Herod himself had arrested John and put him in chains and thrown him into prison, for love of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife,
 Matthew	Mat	46	14	4	because John told him, It is wrong for thee to take her.
 Matthew	Mat	46	14	5	And he would willingly have put him to death, but was prevented by fear of the multitude, who looked upon John as a prophet.
 Matthew	Mat	46	14	6	Then, at the celebration of Herod’s birthday, the daughter of Herodias danced before them all, and Herod was so well pleased with her
 Matthew	Mat	46	14	7	that he promised, on oath, to grant her whatever request she made.
 Matthew	Mat	46	14	8	She had been prompted beforehand by her mother; Give me, she said, the head of John the Baptist; give it me here on a dish.
 Matthew	Mat	46	14	9	And the king was stricken with remorse; but, out of respect for his oath and for those who sat with him at table, he granted her request,
 Matthew	Mat	46	14	10	and so had John beheaded in his prison.
 Matthew	Mat	46	14	11	His head was brought in on a dish, and given to the girl, and she carried it off to her mother.
 Matthew	Mat	46	14	12	But his disciples gained access to the body, which they took away and buried, and came to tell the news to Jesus.
 Matthew	Mat	46	14	13	Jesus, when he had heard it, took ship from the place where he was, and withdrew into desert country, to be alone; but the multitudes from the towns heard of it, and followed him there by land.
 Matthew	Mat	46	14	14	So, when he disembarked, he found a great multitude there, and he took pity on them, and healed those who were sick.
 Matthew	Mat	46	14	15	And now it was evening, and his disciples came to him and said, This is a lonely place, and it is past the accustomed hour; give the multitudes leave to go into the villages and buy themselves food there.
 Matthew	Mat	46	14	16	But Jesus told them, There is no need for them to go away; it is for you to give them food to eat.
 Matthew	Mat	46	14	17	They answered, We have nothing with us, except five loaves and two fishes.
 Matthew	Mat	46	14	18	Bring them to me here, he said;
 Matthew	Mat	46	14	19	then he told the multitudes to sit down on the grass, and when the five loaves and the two fishes were brought to him he looked up to heaven, blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to his disciples; and the disciples gave them to the multitude.
 Matthew	Mat	46	14	20	All ate and had enough, and when they picked up what was left of the broken pieces they filled twelve baskets with them;
 Matthew	Mat	46	14	21	about five thousand men had eaten, not reckoning women and children.
 Matthew	Mat	46	14	22	As soon as this was done, he prevailed upon his disciples to take ship and cross to the other side before him, leaving him to send the multitudes home.
 Matthew	Mat	46	14	23	When he had finished sending them home, he went up by himself on to the hill-side, to pray there; twilight had come, and he remained there alone.
 Matthew	Mat	46	14	24	Meanwhile the ship was already half-way across the sea, hard put to it by the waves, for the wind was against them.
 Matthew	Mat	46	14	25	And then, when the night had reached its fourth quarter, Jesus came to them, walking on the sea.
 Matthew	Mat	46	14	26	When they saw him walking on the sea, the disciples were terrified; they said, It is an apparition, and cried out for fear.
 Matthew	Mat	46	14	27	But all at once Jesus spoke to them; Take courage, he said, it is myself; do not be afraid.
 Matthew	Mat	46	14	28	And Peter answered him, Lord, if it is thyself, bid me come to thee over the water.
 Matthew	Mat	46	14	29	He said, Come; and Peter let himself down out of the ship and walked over the water to reach Jesus.
 Matthew	Mat	46	14	30	Then, seeing how strong the wind was, he lost courage and began to sink; whereupon he cried aloud, Lord, save me.
 Matthew	Mat	46	14	31	And Jesus at once stretched out his hand and caught hold of him, saying to him, Why didst thou hesitate, man of little faith?
 Matthew	Mat	46	14	32	So they went on board the ship, and thereupon the wind dropped.
 Matthew	Mat	46	14	33	And the ship’s crew came and said, falling at his feet, Thou art indeed the Son of God.
 Matthew	Mat	46	14	34	When they had crossed, they reached the country of Genesar;
 Matthew	Mat	46	14	35	and the inhabitants of that place, recognizing him, sent into all the country round, and brought to him all those who were in affliction;
 Matthew	Mat	46	14	36	and they entreated him that they might be allowed to touch even the hem of his garments. And everyone who touched him was restored to health.
 Matthew	Mat	46	15	1	After this, Jesus was approached by the scribes and Pharisees from Jerusalem, who asked:
 Matthew	Mat	46	15	2	Why is it that thy disciples violate the traditions of our ancestors? They do not wash their hands when they eat.
 Matthew	Mat	46	15	3	He answered them, Why is it that you yourselves violate the commandment of God with your traditions?
 Matthew	Mat	46	15	4	God has said, Honour thy father and thy mother; and again, He who curses his father or mother dies without hope of reprieve.
 Matthew	Mat	46	15	5	Whereas you say, If a man says to his father or mother, The offering which I make to God is all the advantage you will have from me,
 Matthew	Mat	46	15	6	then father or mother can get no service from him. So by these traditions of yours you have made God’s law ineffectual.
 Matthew	Mat	46	15	7	You hypocrites, it was a true prophecy Isaias made of you, when he said,
 Matthew	Mat	46	15	8	This people does me honour with its lips, but its heart is far from me.
 Matthew	Mat	46	15	9	Their worship of me is vain, for the doctrines they teach are the commandments of men.
 Matthew	Mat	46	15	10	Then he gathered the multitude about him, and said to them, Listen to this, and grasp what it means.
 Matthew	Mat	46	15	11	It is not what goes into a man’s mouth that makes him unclean; what makes a man unclean is what comes out of his mouth.
 Matthew	Mat	46	15	12	Thereupon his disciples came and said to him, Dost thou know that the Pharisees, when they heard thy saying, took it amiss?
 Matthew	Mat	46	15	13	He answered, No plant but must be rooted up, if my heavenly Father has not planted it.
 Matthew	Mat	46	15	14	Let them say what they will; they are blind men leading the blind, and when one blind man leads another, they will fall into the ditch together.
 Matthew	Mat	46	15	15	Peter answered him, Explain this parable to us.
 Matthew	Mat	46	15	16	What, he said, are you still without wits?
 Matthew	Mat	46	15	17	Do you not observe that any uncleanness which finds its way into a man’s mouth travels down into his belly, and so is cast into the sewer;
 Matthew	Mat	46	15	18	whereas all that comes out of his mouth comes from the heart, and it is that which makes a man unclean?
 Matthew	Mat	46	15	19	It is from the heart that his wicked designs come, his sins of murder, adultery, fornication, theft, perjury and blasphemy.
 Matthew	Mat	46	15	20	It is these make a man unclean; he is not made unclean by eating without washing his hands.
 Matthew	Mat	46	15	21	After this, Jesus left those parts and withdrew into the neighbourhood of Tyre and Sidon.
 Matthew	Mat	46	15	22	And here a woman, a Chanaanite by birth, who came from that country, cried aloud, Have pity on me, Lord, thou son of David. My daughter is cruelly troubled by an evil spirit.
 Matthew	Mat	46	15	23	He gave her no word in answer; but his disciples came to him and pleaded with him; Rid us of her, they said, she is following us with her cries.
 Matthew	Mat	46	15	24	And he answered, My errand is only to the lost sheep that are of the house of Israel.
 Matthew	Mat	46	15	25	Then the woman came up and said, falling at his feet, Lord, help me.
 Matthew	Mat	46	15	26	He answered, It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.
 Matthew	Mat	46	15	27	Ah yes, Lord, she said; the dogs feed on the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.
 Matthew	Mat	46	15	28	And at that Jesus answered her, Woman, for this great faith of thine, let thy will be granted. And from that hour her daughter was cured.
 Matthew	Mat	46	15	29	Then Jesus left that country, and passed along the sea of Galilee, and went up into the mountain and sat down there.
 Matthew	Mat	46	15	30	Great multitudes came to him, bringing with them the lame, the blind, the deaf, the crippled, and many besides, whom they laid at his feet; and he healed them:
 Matthew	Mat	46	15	31	so that the multitudes were amazed to find the dumb speaking, the lame walking, and the blind recovering their sight; and they praised the God of Israel for it.
 Matthew	Mat	46	15	32	But now Jesus called his disciples, and said, I am moved with pity for the multitude; it is three days now since they have been in attendance on me, and they have nothing to eat. I must not send them away fasting, or perhaps they will grow faint on their journey.
 Matthew	Mat	46	15	33	His disciples said to him, Where could we find loaves enough in a desert to feed such a multitude?
 Matthew	Mat	46	15	34	And Jesus asked them, How many loaves have you? Seven, they said, and a few small fishes.
 Matthew	Mat	46	15	35	Thereupon he bade the multitude sit down on the ground,
 Matthew	Mat	46	15	36	and he took the seven loaves and the fishes with them, and when he had blessed and broken he gave these to his disciples, and his disciples to the multitude.
 Matthew	Mat	46	15	37	And they all ate and had enough; and they took up what was left of the broken pieces, seven hampers full.
 Matthew	Mat	46	15	38	Four thousand men had eaten, not reckoning women and children.
 Matthew	Mat	46	15	39	And so, taking leave of the multitude, he went on board the ship, and crossed to the region of Magedan.
 Matthew	Mat	46	16	1	And the Pharisees and Sadducees came and put him to the test, asking him to shew them a sign from heaven.
 Matthew	Mat	46	16	2	But he answered them, When evening comes, you say, It is fair weather, the sky is red;
 Matthew	Mat	46	16	3	or at sunrise, There will be a storm to-day, the sky is red and lowering. You know, then, how to read the face of heaven; can you not read the signs of appointed times?
 Matthew	Mat	46	16	4	It is a wicked and unfaithful generation that asks for a sign; the only sign that will be given to it is the sign of the prophet Jonas. And so he went on his way and left them.
 Matthew	Mat	46	16	5	And they crossed the sea, and his disciples found that they had forgotten to take bread with them.
 Matthew	Mat	46	16	6	So, when Jesus said to them, See that you have nothing to do with the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees,
 Matthew	Mat	46	16	7	they were anxious in their minds; We have brought no bread, they said.
 Matthew	Mat	46	16	8	Jesus knew it, and said to them, Men of little faith, what is this anxiety in your minds, that you have brought no bread with you?
 Matthew	Mat	46	16	9	Have you no wits even now, or have you forgotten the five thousand and their five loaves, and the number of baskets you filled?
 Matthew	Mat	46	16	10	Or the four thousand and their seven loaves, and the number of hampers you filled then?
 Matthew	Mat	46	16	11	How could you suppose that I was thinking of bread, when I said, Have nothing to do with the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees?
 Matthew	Mat	46	16	12	Then they understood that his warning was against the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees, not against leavened bread.
 Matthew	Mat	46	16	13	Then Jesus came into the neighbourhood of Caesarea Philippi; and there he asked his disciples, What do men say of the Son of Man? Who do they think he is?
 Matthew	Mat	46	16	14	Some say John the Baptist, they told him, others Elias, others again, Jeremy or one of the prophets.
 Matthew	Mat	46	16	15	Jesus said to them, And what of you? Who do you say that I am?
 Matthew	Mat	46	16	16	Then Simon Peter answered, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
 Matthew	Mat	46	16	17	And Jesus answered him, Blessed art thou, Simon son of Jona; it is not flesh and blood, it is my Father in heaven that has revealed this to thee.
 Matthew	Mat	46	16	18	And I tell thee this in my turn, that thou art Peter, and it is upon this rock that I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it;
 Matthew	Mat	46	16	19	and I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
 Matthew	Mat	46	16	20	Then he strictly forbade them to tell any man that he, Jesus, was the Christ.
 Matthew	Mat	46	16	21	From that time onwards Jesus began to make it known to his disciples that he must go up to Jerusalem, and there, with much ill usage from the chief priests and elders and scribes, must be put to death, and rise again on the third day.
 Matthew	Mat	46	16	22	Whereupon Peter, drawing him to his side, began remonstrating with him; Never, Lord, he said; no such thing shall befall thee.
 Matthew	Mat	46	16	23	At which he turned round and said to Peter, Back, Satan; thou art a stone in my path; for these thoughts of thine are man’s, not God’s.
 Matthew	Mat	46	16	24	Jesus also said to his disciples, If any man has a mind to come my way, let him renounce self, and take up his cross, and follow me.
 Matthew	Mat	46	16	25	The man who tries to save his life shall lose it; it is the man who loses his life for my sake that will secure it.
 Matthew	Mat	46	16	26	How is a man the better for it, if he gains the whole world at the cost of losing his own soul? For a man’s soul, what price can be high enough?
 Matthew	Mat	46	16	27	The Son of Man will come hereafter in his Father’s glory with his angels about him, and he will recompense everyone, then, according to his works.
 Matthew	Mat	46	16	28	Believe me, there are those standing here who will not taste of death before they have seen the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.
 Matthew	Mat	46	17	1	Six days afterwards Jesus took Peter and James and his brother John with him, and led them up on to a high mountain where they were alone.
 Matthew	Mat	46	17	2	And he was transfigured in their presence, his face shining like the sun, and his garments becoming white as snow;
 Matthew	Mat	46	17	3	and all at once they had sight of Moses and Elias conversing with him.
 Matthew	Mat	46	17	4	Then Peter said aloud to Jesus, Lord, it is well that we should be here; if it pleases thee, let us make three arbours in this place, one for thee, one for Moses and one for Elias.
 Matthew	Mat	46	17	5	Even before he had finished speaking, a shining cloud overshadowed them. And now, there was a voice which said to them out of the cloud, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; to him, then, listen.
 Matthew	Mat	46	17	6	The disciples, when they heard it, fell on their faces, overcome with fear;
 Matthew	Mat	46	17	7	but Jesus came near and roused them with his touch; Arise, he said, do not be afraid.
 Matthew	Mat	46	17	8	And they lifted up their eyes, and saw no man there but Jesus only.
 Matthew	Mat	46	17	9	And as they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus warned them, Do not tell anybody of what you have seen, until the Son of Man has risen from the dead.
 Matthew	Mat	46	17	10	And his disciples asked him, Tell us, why is it that the scribes say Elias must come before Christ?
 Matthew	Mat	46	17	11	He answered, Elias must needs come and restore all things as they were;
 Matthew	Mat	46	17	12	but I tell you this, that Elias has come already, and they did not recognize him, but misused him at their pleasure, just as the Son of Man is to suffer at their hands.
 Matthew	Mat	46	17	13	Then the disciples understood that he had been speaking to them of John the Baptist.
 Matthew	Mat	46	17	14	When they reached the multitude, a man came up and knelt before him: Lord, he said, have pity on my son, who is a lunatic, and in great affliction; he will often throw himself into the fire, and often into water.
 Matthew	Mat	46	17	15	I brought him here to thy disciples, but they have not been able to cure him.
 Matthew	Mat	46	17	16	Jesus answered, Ah, faithless and misguided generation, how long must I be with you, how long must I bear with you? Bring him here before me.
 Matthew	Mat	46	17	17	And Jesus checked him with a word, and the devil came out of him; and from that hour the boy was cured.
 Matthew	Mat	46	17	18	Afterwards, when they were alone, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, Why was it that we could not cast it out?
 Matthew	Mat	46	17	19	Jesus said to them, Because you had no faith. I promise you, if you have faith, though it be but like a grain of mustard seed, you have only to say to this mountain, Remove from this place to that, and it will remove; nothing will be impossible to you.
 Matthew	Mat	46	17	20	But there is no way of casting out such spirits as this except by prayer and fasting.
 Matthew	Mat	46	17	21	While they were still together in Galilee, Jesus told them, The Son of Man is to be given up into the hands of men.
 Matthew	Mat	46	17	22	They will put him to death, and he will rise again on the third day. And they were overcome with sorrow.
 Matthew	Mat	46	17	23	And when they reached Capharnaum, the collectors of the Temple pence approached Peter, and asked, Does not your master pay the Temple pence?
 Matthew	Mat	46	17	24	Yes, he said. Soon afterwards he came into the house, and Jesus forestalled him; Simon, he said, tell us what thou thinkest; on whom do earthly kings impose customs and taxes, on their own sons, or on strangers?
 Matthew	Mat	46	17	25	On strangers, Peter told him; and Jesus said to him, Why then, the children go free.
 Matthew	Mat	46	17	26	But we will not hurt their consciences; go down to the sea, and cast thy hook; take out the first fish thou drawest up, and when thou hast opened its mouth thou wilt find a silver coin there; with this make payment to them for me and for thyself.
 Matthew	Mat	46	18	1	The disciples came to Jesus at this time and said, Tell us, who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
 Matthew	Mat	46	18	2	Whereupon Jesus called to his side a little child, to whom he gave a place in the midst of them,
 Matthew	Mat	46	18	3	and said, Believe me, unless you become like little children again, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven.
 Matthew	Mat	46	18	4	He is greatest in the kingdom of heaven who will abase himself like this little child.
 Matthew	Mat	46	18	5	He who gives welcome to such a child as this in my name, gives welcome to me.
 Matthew	Mat	46	18	6	And if anyone hurts the conscience of one of these little ones, that believe in me, he had better have been drowned in the depths of the sea, with a mill-stone hung about his neck.
 Matthew	Mat	46	18	7	Woe to the world, for the hurt done to consciences! It must needs be that such hurt should come, but woe to the man through whom it comes!
 Matthew	Mat	46	18	8	If thy hand or thy foot is an occasion of falling to thee, cut it off and cast it away from thee; better for thee to enter into life crippled or lame, than to have two hands or two feet when thou art cast into eternal fire.
 Matthew	Mat	46	18	9	And if thy eye is an occasion of falling to thee, pluck it out and cast it away from thee; better for thee to enter into life with one eye, than to have two eyes when thou art cast into the fires of hell.
 Matthew	Mat	46	18	10	See to it that you do not treat one of these little ones with contempt; I tell you, they have angels of their own in heaven, that behold the face of my heavenly Father continually.
 Matthew	Mat	46	18	11	The Son of Man has come to save that which was lost.
 Matthew	Mat	46	18	12	Tell me this, if a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave those ninety-nine others on the mountain-side, and go out to look for the one that is straying?
 Matthew	Mat	46	18	13	And if, by good fortune, he finds it, he rejoices more, believe me, over that one, than over the ninety-nine which never strayed from him.
 Matthew	Mat	46	18	14	So too it is not your heavenly Father’s pleasure that one of these little ones should be lost.
 Matthew	Mat	46	18	15	If thy brother does thee wrong, go at once and tax him with it, as a private matter between thee and him; and so, if he will listen to thee, thou hast won thy brother.
 Matthew	Mat	46	18	16	If he will not listen to thee, take with thee one or two more, that the whole matter may be certified by the voice of two or three witnesses.
 Matthew	Mat	46	18	17	If he will not listen to them, then speak of it to the church; and if he will not even listen to the church, then count him all one with the heathen and the publican.
 Matthew	Mat	46	18	18	I promise you, all that you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and all that you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
 Matthew	Mat	46	18	19	And moreover I tell you, that if two of you agree over any request that you make on earth, it will be granted them by my Father who is in heaven.
 Matthew	Mat	46	18	20	Where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there in the midst of them.
 Matthew	Mat	46	18	21	Then Peter came to him and asked, Lord, how often must I see my brother do me wrong, and still forgive him; as much as seven times?
 Matthew	Mat	46	18	22	Jesus said to him, I tell thee to forgive, not seven wrongs, but seventy times seven.
 Matthew	Mat	46	18	23	Here is an image of the kingdom of heaven; there was a king who resolved to enter into a reckoning with his servants,
 Matthew	Mat	46	18	24	and had scarcely begun the reckoning, when one was brought before him who was ten thousand talents in his debt.
 Matthew	Mat	46	18	25	He had no means of making payment; whereupon his master gave orders that he should be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and so the debt should be paid.
 Matthew	Mat	46	18	26	With that the servant fell at his feet and said, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee in full.
 Matthew	Mat	46	18	27	And his master, moved with pity for him, let the servant go and discharged him of his debt.
 Matthew	Mat	46	18	28	So the servant went out, and met with a fellow servant of his, who owed him a hundred pieces of silver; whereupon he caught hold of him and took him by the throat, and said, Pay me all thou owest me.
 Matthew	Mat	46	18	29	His fellow servant went down on his knees in entreaty; Have patience with me, he said, and I will pay thee in full.
 Matthew	Mat	46	18	30	But the other refused; he went away and committed him to prison for such time as the debt was unpaid.
 Matthew	Mat	46	18	31	The rest of the servants were full of indignation when they saw this done, and went in to tell their master what had happened.
 Matthew	Mat	46	18	32	And so he was summoned by his master, who said to him, I remitted all that debt of thine, thou wicked servant, at thy entreaty;
 Matthew	Mat	46	18	33	was it not thy duty to have mercy on thy fellow servant, as I had mercy on thee?
 Matthew	Mat	46	18	34	And his master, in anger, gave him over to be tortured until the debt was paid.
 Matthew	Mat	46	18	35	It is thus that my heavenly Father will deal with you, if brother does not forgive brother with all his heart.
 Matthew	Mat	46	19	1	Afterwards, when he had finished saying all this, Jesus removed from Galilee and came into that part of Judaea which lies beyond the Jordan.
 Matthew	Mat	46	19	2	Great multitudes went with him, and he healed them there.
 Matthew	Mat	46	19	3	Then the Pharisees came to him, and put him to the test by asking, Is it right for a man to put away his wife, for whatever cause?
 Matthew	Mat	46	19	4	He answered, Have you never read, how he who created them, when they first came to be, created them male and female; and how he said,
 Matthew	Mat	46	19	5	A man, therefore, will leave his father and mother and will cling to his wife, and the two will become one flesh?
 Matthew	Mat	46	19	6	And so they are no longer two, they are one flesh; what God, then, has joined, let not man put asunder.
 Matthew	Mat	46	19	7	Why then, they said, did Moses enjoin that a man might give his wife a writ of separation, and then he might put her away?
 Matthew	Mat	46	19	8	He told them, It was to suit your hard hearts that Moses allowed you to put your wives away; it was not so at the beginning of things.
 Matthew	Mat	46	19	9	And I tell you that he who puts away his wife, not for any unfaithfulness of hers, and so marries another, commits adultery; and he too commits adultery, who marries her after she has been put away.
 Matthew	Mat	46	19	10	At this, his disciples said to him, If the case stands so between man and wife, it is better not to marry at all.
 Matthew	Mat	46	19	11	That conclusion, he said, cannot be taken in by everybody, but only by those who have the gift.
 Matthew	Mat	46	19	12	There are some eunuchs, who were so born from the mother’s womb, some were made so by men, and some have made themselves so for love of the kingdom of heaven; take this in, you whose hearts are large enough for it.
 Matthew	Mat	46	19	13	Then they brought children to him, so that he might lay his hands on them in prayer; and his disciples rebuked them for it.
 Matthew	Mat	46	19	14	But Jesus said, Let the children be, do not keep them back from me; the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.
 Matthew	Mat	46	19	15	And so he laid his hands on them, and went on his way.
 Matthew	Mat	46	19	16	And now a man came to him, and said, Master, who art so good, what good must I do to win eternal life?
 Matthew	Mat	46	19	17	He said to him, Why dost thou come to me to ask of goodness? God is good, and he only. If thou hast a mind to enter into life, keep the commandments.
 Matthew	Mat	46	19	18	Which commandments? he asked. Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness,
 Matthew	Mat	46	19	19	Honour thy father and thy mother, and Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
 Matthew	Mat	46	19	20	I have kept all these, the young man told him, ever since I grew up; where is it that I am still wanting?
 Matthew	Mat	46	19	21	Jesus said to him, If thou hast a mind to be perfect, go home and sell all that belongs to thee; give it to the poor, and so the treasure thou hast shall be in heaven; then come back and follow me.
 Matthew	Mat	46	19	22	When he heard this, the young man went away sad at heart, for he had great possessions.
 Matthew	Mat	46	19	23	And Jesus said to his disciples, Believe me, a rich man will not enter God’s kingdom easily.
 Matthew	Mat	46	19	24	And once again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to pass through a needle’s eye, than for a man to enter the kingdom of heaven when he is rich.
 Matthew	Mat	46	19	25	At hearing this, the disciples were thrown into great bewilderment; Why then, they asked, who can be saved?
 Matthew	Mat	46	19	26	Jesus fastened his eyes on them, and said to them, Such a thing is impossible to man’s powers, but to God all things are possible.
 Matthew	Mat	46	19	27	Hereupon Peter took occasion to say, And what of us who have forsaken all, and followed thee; what is left for us?
 Matthew	Mat	46	19	28	Jesus said to them, I promise you, in the new birth, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of his glory, you also shall sit there on twelve thrones, you who have followed me, and shall be judges over the twelve tribes of Israel.
 Matthew	Mat	46	19	29	And every man that has forsaken home, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for my name’s sake, shall receive his reward a hundredfold, and obtain everlasting life.
 Matthew	Mat	46	19	30	But many will be first that were last, and last that were first.
 Matthew	Mat	46	20	1	Here is an image of the kingdom of heaven; a rich man went out at day-break to hire labourers for work in his vineyard;
 Matthew	Mat	46	20	2	and when he sent them out into his vineyard he agreed with the labourers on a silver piece for the day’s wages.
 Matthew	Mat	46	20	3	About the third hour he came out again, and found others standing idle in the market-place;
 Matthew	Mat	46	20	4	and to these also he said, Away with you to the vineyard like the others; you shall have whatever payment is fair.
 Matthew	Mat	46	20	5	Away they went; and at noon, and once more at the ninth hour, he came out and did the like.
 Matthew	Mat	46	20	6	Yet he found others standing there when he came out at the eleventh hour; How is it, he said to them, that you are standing here, and have done nothing all the day?
 Matthew	Mat	46	20	7	They told him, It is because nobody has hired us; and he said, Away with you to the vineyard like the rest.
 Matthew	Mat	46	20	8	And now it was evening, and the owner of the vineyard said to his bailiff, Send for the workmen and pay them their wages, beginning with the last comers and going back to the first.
 Matthew	Mat	46	20	9	And so the men who were hired about the eleventh hour came forward, and each was paid a silver piece.
 Matthew	Mat	46	20	10	So that when the others came, who were hired first, they hoped to receive more. But they were paid a silver piece each, like their fellows.
 Matthew	Mat	46	20	11	And they were indignant with the rich man over their pay.
 Matthew	Mat	46	20	12	Here are these late-comers, they said, who have worked but one hour, and thou hast made no difference between them and us, who have borne the day’s burden and the heat.
 Matthew	Mat	46	20	13	But he answered one of them thus; My friend, I am not doing thee a wrong; did we not agree on a silver piece for thy wages?
 Matthew	Mat	46	20	14	Take what is thy due, and away with thee; it is my pleasure to give as much to this late-comer as thee.
 Matthew	Mat	46	20	15	Am I not free to use my money as I will? Must thou give me sour looks, because I am generous?
 Matthew	Mat	46	20	16	So it is that they shall be first who were last, and they shall be last who were first. Many are called, but few are chosen.
 Matthew	Mat	46	20	17	And now Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, and he took his twelve disciples aside on the way, and warned them,
 Matthew	Mat	46	20	18	Now we are going up to Jerusalem; and there the Son of Man will be given up into the hands of the chief priests and scribes, who will condemn him to death.
 Matthew	Mat	46	20	19	And these will give him up into the hands of the Gentiles, to be mocked and scourged and crucified; but on the third day he will rise again.
 Matthew	Mat	46	20	20	Thereupon the mother of the sons of Zebedee brought them to him, falling on her knees to make a request of him.
 Matthew	Mat	46	20	21	And when he asked her, What is thy will? she said to him, Here are my two sons; grant that in thy kingdom one may take his place on thy right and the other on thy left.
 Matthew	Mat	46	20	22	But Jesus answered, You do not know what it is you ask. Have you strength to drink of the cup I am to drink of? They said, We have.
 Matthew	Mat	46	20	23	And he told them, You shall indeed drink of my cup; but a place on my right hand or my left is not mine to give; it is for those for whom my Father has destined it.
 Matthew	Mat	46	20	24	The ten others were angry with the two brethren when they heard it;
 Matthew	Mat	46	20	25	but Jesus called them to him, and said, You know that, among the Gentiles, those who bear rule lord it over them, and great men vaunt their power over them;
 Matthew	Mat	46	20	26	with you it must be otherwise; whoever would be a great man among you, must be your servant,
 Matthew	Mat	46	20	27	and whoever has a mind to be first among you, must be your slave.
 Matthew	Mat	46	20	28	So it is that the Son of Man did not come to have service done him; he came to serve others, and to give his life as a ransom for the lives of many.
 Matthew	Mat	46	20	29	When they were leaving Jericho, there was a great multitude that followed him.
 Matthew	Mat	46	20	30	And there, by the road-side, sat two blind folk, who heard of Jesus’ passing by, and cried aloud, Lord, son of David, have pity on us.
 Matthew	Mat	46	20	31	The multitude rebuked them, bidding them be silent; but they cried out all the more, Son of David, Lord, have pity on us.
 Matthew	Mat	46	20	32	Then Jesus stopped, and called them to him; What would you have me do for you? he asked.
 Matthew	Mat	46	20	33	Lord, they said to him, we would have our eyes opened.
 Matthew	Mat	46	20	34	And Jesus, moved with compassion, touched their eyes, and immediately they recovered their sight, and followed after him.
 Matthew	Mat	46	21	1	When they were near Jerusalem, and had reached Bethphage, which is close to mount Olivet, Jesus sent two of his disciples on an errand;
 Matthew	Mat	46	21	2	Go into the village that faces you, he told them, and the first thing you will find there will be a she-ass tethered, and a foal at her side; untie them and bring them to me.
 Matthew	Mat	46	21	3	And if anyone speaks to you about it, tell him, The Lord has need of them, and he will let you have them without more ado.
 Matthew	Mat	46	21	4	All this was so ordained, to fulfil the word spoken by the prophet:
 Matthew	Mat	46	21	5	Tell the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy king is coming to thee, humbly, riding on an ass, on a colt whose mother has borne the yoke.
 Matthew	Mat	46	21	6	The disciples went and did as Jesus told them;
 Matthew	Mat	46	21	7	they brought the she-ass and its colt, and saddled them with their garments, and bade Jesus mount.
 Matthew	Mat	46	21	8	Most of the multitude spread their garments along the way, while others strewed the way with branches cut down from the trees.
 Matthew	Mat	46	21	9	And the multitudes that went before him and that followed after him cried aloud, Hosanna for the son of David, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in heaven above.
 Matthew	Mat	46	21	10	When he reached Jerusalem, the whole city was in a stir; Who is this? they asked.
 Matthew	Mat	46	21	11	And the multitude answered, This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth, in Galilee.
 Matthew	Mat	46	21	12	Then Jesus went into the temple of God, and drove out from it all those who sold and bought there, and overthrew the tables of the bankers, and the chairs of the pigeon-sellers;
 Matthew	Mat	46	21	13	It is written, he told them, My house shall be known for a house of prayer, and you have made it into a den of thieves.
 Matthew	Mat	46	21	14	And there were blind and lame men who came up to him in the temple, and he healed them there.
 Matthew	Mat	46	21	15	The chief priests and scribes saw the miracles which he did, and the boys that cried aloud in the temple, Hosanna for the son of David, and they were greatly angered at it.
 Matthew	Mat	46	21	16	Dost thou hear what these are saying? they asked. Yes, Jesus said to them, but have you never read the words, Thou hast made the lips of children, of infants at the breast, vocal with praise?
 Matthew	Mat	46	21	17	So he left them, and went out of the city to Bethany, where he made his lodging. As he was returning to the city at daybreak, he was hungry:
 Matthew	Mat	46	21	18	and, seeing a fig-tree by the road-side, he went up to it, and found nothing but leaves on it.
 Matthew	Mat	46	21	19	And he said to it, Let no fruit ever grow on thee hereafter; whereupon the fig-tree withered away.
 Matthew	Mat	46	21	20	His disciples were amazed when they saw it; How suddenly it has withered away! they said.
 Matthew	Mat	46	21	21	Jesus answered them, I promise you, if you have faith, and do not hesitate, you will be able to do more than I have done over the fig-tree; if you say to this mountain, Remove, and be cast into the sea, it will come about.
 Matthew	Mat	46	21	22	If you will only believe, every gift you ask for in your prayer will be granted.
 Matthew	Mat	46	21	23	Afterwards he came into the temple; and while he was teaching there, the chief priests and elders approached him, asking, What is the authority by which thou doest these things, and who gave thee this authority?
 Matthew	Mat	46	21	24	Jesus answered them, I too have a question to ask; if you can tell me the answer, I will tell you in return what is the authority by which I do these things.
 Matthew	Mat	46	21	25	Whence did John’s baptism come, from heaven or from men? Whereupon they cast about in their minds;
 Matthew	Mat	46	21	26	If we tell him it was from heaven, they said, he will ask us, Then why did you not believe him? And if we say it was from men, we have reason to be afraid of the people; they all look upon John as a prophet.
 Matthew	Mat	46	21	27	And they answered Jesus, We cannot tell. He, in his turn, said, And you will not learn from me what is the authority by which I do these things.
 Matthew	Mat	46	21	28	But tell me what you think; there was a man who had two sons, and when he went up to the first, and said, Away with thee, my son, and work in my vineyard to-day,
 Matthew	Mat	46	21	29	he answered; Not I, but he relented afterwards and went.
 Matthew	Mat	46	21	30	Then he went up to the other, and said the like to him; and his answer was, I will, sir; but he did not go.
 Matthew	Mat	46	21	31	Which of the two carried out his father’s will? The first, they said. And Jesus said to them, Believe me, the publicans and the harlots are further on the road to God’s kingdom than you.
 Matthew	Mat	46	21	32	John came among you following all due observance, but could win no belief from you; the publicans believed him, and the harlots, but even when you saw that, you would not relent, and believe him.
 Matthew	Mat	46	21	33	Listen to another parable. There was a rich man who planted a vineyard; he walled it in, and dug a wine-press and built a tower in it, and then let it out to some vine-dressers, while he went on his travels.
 Matthew	Mat	46	21	34	When vintage-time drew near, he sent his own servants on an errand to the vine-dressers, to claim its revenues.
 Matthew	Mat	46	21	35	Whereupon the vine-dressers laid hands upon his servants; one they beat, one they killed outright, one they stoned.
 Matthew	Mat	46	21	36	And he sent other servants on a second errand, more than he had sent at first, but they were used no better.
 Matthew	Mat	46	21	37	After that, he sent his own son to them; They will have reverence, he said, for my son.
 Matthew	Mat	46	21	38	But when the vine-dressers found his son coming to them, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and seize upon the inheritance.
 Matthew	Mat	46	21	39	And they laid hands on him, thrust him out from the vineyard, and killed him.
 Matthew	Mat	46	21	40	And now, what will the owner of the vineyard do to those vine-dressers when he returns?
 Matthew	Mat	46	21	41	They said, He will bring those wretches to a wretched end, and will let out the vineyard to other vine-dressers, who will pay him his due when the season comes.
 Matthew	Mat	46	21	42	And Jesus said to them, Have you never read those words in the scriptures, The very stone which the builders rejected has become the chief stone at the corner; this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?
 Matthew	Mat	46	21	43	I tell you, then, that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you, and given to a people which yields the revenues that belong to it.
 Matthew	Mat	46	21	44	As for the stone, when a man falls against it, he will break his bones; when it falls upon him, it will scatter him like chaff.
 Matthew	Mat	46	21	45	The chief priests and the Pharisees saw clearly, when they heard his parables, that it was of themselves he was speaking,
 Matthew	Mat	46	21	46	and would gladly have laid hands on him, but they were afraid of the people, who looked upon him as a prophet.
 Matthew	Mat	46	22	1	And Jesus once more spoke to them in parables;
 Matthew	Mat	46	22	2	Here is an image, he said, of the kingdom of heaven; there was once a king, who held a marriage-feast for his son,
 Matthew	Mat	46	22	3	and sent out his servants with a summons to all those whom he had invited to the wedding; but they would not come.
 Matthew	Mat	46	22	4	Then he sent other servants with a fresh summons, bidding them tell those who had been invited, By this, I have prepared my feast, the oxen have been killed, and the fatlings, all is ready now; come to the wedding.
 Matthew	Mat	46	22	5	But still they paid no heed, and went off on other errands, one to his farm in the country, and another to his trading;
 Matthew	Mat	46	22	6	and the rest laid hands upon his servants, and insulted and killed them.
 Matthew	Mat	46	22	7	The king fell into a rage when he heard of it, and sent out his troops to put those murderers to death, and burn their city.
 Matthew	Mat	46	22	8	After this, he said to his servants, Here is the marriage-feast all ready, and those who had been invited have proved unworthy of it.
 Matthew	Mat	46	22	9	You must go out to the street-corners, and invite all whom you find there to the wedding.
 Matthew	Mat	46	22	10	And his servants went out into the streets, where they mustered all they could find, rogues and honest men together; and so the wedding had its full tale of guests.
 Matthew	Mat	46	22	11	But when the king came in to look at the company, he saw a man there who had no wedding-garment on;
 Matthew	Mat	46	22	12	My friend, he said, how didst thou come to be here without a wedding-garment? And he made no reply.
 Matthew	Mat	46	22	13	Whereupon the king said to his servants, Bind him hand and foot, and cast him out into the darkness, where there shall be weeping, and gnashing of teeth.
 Matthew	Mat	46	22	14	Many are called, but few are chosen.
 Matthew	Mat	46	22	15	After this the Pharisees withdrew, and plotted together, to make him betray himself in his talk.
 Matthew	Mat	46	22	16	And they sent their own disciples to him, with those who were of Herod’s party, and said, Master, we know well that thou art sincere, and teachest in all sincerity the way of God; that thou holdest no one in awe, making no distinction between man and man;
 Matthew	Mat	46	22	17	tell us, then, is it right to pay tribute to Caesar, or not?
 Matthew	Mat	46	22	18	Jesus saw their malice; Hypocrites, he said, why do you thus put me to the test?
 Matthew	Mat	46	22	19	Shew me the coinage in which the tribute is paid. So they brought him a silver piece,
 Matthew	Mat	46	22	20	and he asked them, Whose is this likeness? Whose name is inscribed on it?
 Matthew	Mat	46	22	21	Caesar’s, they said; whereupon he answered, Why then, give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.
 Matthew	Mat	46	22	22	And they went away and left him in peace, full of admiration at his words.
 Matthew	Mat	46	22	23	On that day, too, he was approached with a question by the Sadducees, men who say that there is no resurrection;
 Matthew	Mat	46	22	24	Master, they said, Moses told us, If a man leaves no children when he dies, his brother shall marry the widow by right of kinship, and beget children in the dead brother’s name.
 Matthew	Mat	46	22	25	We had seven brothers once in our country, of whom the first died, a married man without issue, bequeathing his wife to the second.
 Matthew	Mat	46	22	26	And the same befell the second brother, and then the third, and in the end all seven,
 Matthew	Mat	46	22	27	the woman dying last of all.
 Matthew	Mat	46	22	28	And now, when the dead rise again, which of the seven will be her husband, since she was wife to them all?
 Matthew	Mat	46	22	29	Jesus answered them, You are wrong; you do not understand the scriptures, or what is the power of God.
 Matthew	Mat	46	22	30	When the dead rise again, there is no marrying and giving in marriage; they are as the angels in heaven are.
 Matthew	Mat	46	22	31	But now, in the matter of the resurrection, did you never read what God himself said:
 Matthew	Mat	46	22	32	I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? Yet it is of living men, not of dead men, that he is God.
 Matthew	Mat	46	22	33	This the multitude heard, and were amazed by his teaching.
 Matthew	Mat	46	22	34	And now the Pharisees, hearing how he had put the Sadducees to silence, met together;
 Matthew	Mat	46	22	35	and one of them, a lawyer, put a question to try him:
 Matthew	Mat	46	22	36	Master, which commandment in the law is the greatest?
 Matthew	Mat	46	22	37	Jesus said to him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart and thy whole soul and thy whole mind.
 Matthew	Mat	46	22	38	This is the greatest of the commandments, and the first.
 Matthew	Mat	46	22	39	And the second, its like, is this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
 Matthew	Mat	46	22	40	On these two commandments, all the law and the prophets depend.
 Matthew	Mat	46	22	41	Then, while the Pharisees were still gathered about him, Jesus asked them:
 Matthew	Mat	46	22	42	What is your opinion concerning Christ? Whose son is he to be? They told him, David’s.
 Matthew	Mat	46	22	43	How is it then, said he, that David is moved by the Spirit to call him Master, when he says:
 Matthew	Mat	46	22	44	The Lord said to my Master, Sit on my right hand while I make thy enemies a footstool under thy feet?
 Matthew	Mat	46	22	45	David calls Christ his Master; how can he be also his son?
 Matthew	Mat	46	22	46	None could find a word to say in answer to him, nor did anyone dare, after that day, to try him with further questions.
 Matthew	Mat	46	23	1	After this, Jesus addressed himself to the multitudes, and to his disciples;
 Matthew	Mat	46	23	2	The scribes and Pharisees, he said, have established themselves in the place from which Moses used to teach;
 Matthew	Mat	46	23	3	do what they tell you, then, continue to observe what they tell you, but do not imitate their actions, for they tell you one thing and do another.
 Matthew	Mat	46	23	4	They fasten up packs too heavy to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; they themselves will not stir a finger to lift them.
 Matthew	Mat	46	23	5	They act, always, so as to be a mark for men’s eyes. Boldly written are the texts they carry, and deep is the hem of their garments;
 Matthew	Mat	46	23	6	their heart is set on taking the chief places at table and the first seats in the synagogue,
 Matthew	Mat	46	23	7	and having their hands kissed in the market-place, and being called Rabbi among their fellow men.
 Matthew	Mat	46	23	8	You are not to claim the title of Rabbi; you have but one Master, and you are all brethren alike.
 Matthew	Mat	46	23	9	Nor are you to call any man on earth your father; you have but one Father, and he is in heaven.
 Matthew	Mat	46	23	10	Nor are you to be called teachers; you have one teacher, Christ.
 Matthew	Mat	46	23	11	Among you, the greatest of all is to be the servant of all;
 Matthew	Mat	46	23	12	the man who exalts himself will be humbled, and the man who humbles himself will be exalted.
 Matthew	Mat	46	23	13	Woe upon you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites that shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces; you will neither enter yourselves, nor let others enter when they would.
 Matthew	Mat	46	23	14	Woe upon you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites that swallow up the property of widows, under cover of your long prayers; your sentence will be all the heavier for that.
 Matthew	Mat	46	23	15	Woe upon you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites that encompass sea and land to gain a single proselyte, and then make the proselyte twice as worthy of damnation as yourselves.
 Matthew	Mat	46	23	16	Woe upon you, blind leaders, who say, If a man swears by the temple, it goes for nothing; if he swears by the gold in the temple, his oath stands.
 Matthew	Mat	46	23	17	Blind fools, which is greater, the gold, or the temple that consecrates the gold?
 Matthew	Mat	46	23	18	And again, If a man swears by the altar it goes for nothing; if he swears by the gift on the altar, his oath stands.
 Matthew	Mat	46	23	19	Blind fools, which is greater, the gift, or the altar that consecrates the gift?
 Matthew	Mat	46	23	20	The man who swears by the altar swears at the same time by all that is on it.
 Matthew	Mat	46	23	21	The man who swears by the temple swears at the same time by him who has made it his dwelling-place.
 Matthew	Mat	46	23	22	And the man who swears by heaven swears not only by God’s throne, but by him who sits upon it.
 Matthew	Mat	46	23	23	Woe upon you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites that will award to God his tithe, though it be of mint or dill or cummin, and have forgotten the weightier commandments of the law, justice, mercy, and honour; you did ill to forget one duty while you performed the other;
 Matthew	Mat	46	23	24	you blind leaders, that have a strainer for the gnat, and then swallow the camel!
 Matthew	Mat	46	23	25	Woe upon you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites that scour the outward part of cup and dish, while all within is running with avarice and incontinence.
 Matthew	Mat	46	23	26	Scour the inside of cup and dish first, thou blind Pharisee, that so the outside, too, may become clean.
 Matthew	Mat	46	23	27	Woe upon you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites that are like whitened sepulchres, fair in outward show, when they are full of dead men’s bones and all manner of corruption within;
 Matthew	Mat	46	23	28	you too seem exact over your duties, outwardly, to men’s eyes, while there is nothing within but hypocrisy and iniquity.
 Matthew	Mat	46	23	29	Woe upon you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites that build up the tombs of the prophets and engrave the monuments of the just;
 Matthew	Mat	46	23	30	If we had lived in our fathers’ times, you say, we would not have taken part in murdering the prophets.
 Matthew	Mat	46	23	31	Why then, you bear witness of your own ancestry; it was your fathers who slaughtered the prophets;
 Matthew	Mat	46	23	32	it is for you to complete your fathers’ reckoning.
 Matthew	Mat	46	23	33	Serpents that you are, brood of vipers, how should you escape from the award of hell?
 Matthew	Mat	46	23	34	And now, behold, I am sending prophets and wise men and men of learning to preach to you; some of them you will put to death and crucify, some you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city;
 Matthew	Mat	46	23	35	so that you will make yourselves answerable for all the blood of just men that is shed on the earth, from the blood of the just Abel to the blood of Zacharias the son of Barachias, whom you slew between the temple and the altar.
 Matthew	Mat	46	23	36	Believe me, this generation shall be held answerable for all of it.
 Matthew	Mat	46	23	37	Jerusalem, Jerusalem, still murdering the prophets, and stoning the messengers that are sent to thee, how often have I been ready to gather thy children together, as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings; and thou didst refuse it!
 Matthew	Mat	46	23	38	Behold, your house is left to you, a house uninhabited.
 Matthew	Mat	46	23	39	Believe me, you shall see nothing of me henceforward, until the time when you will be saying, Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord.
 Matthew	Mat	46	24	1	Then Jesus left the temple, and was going on his way, when his disciples came up to shew him the view of the temple building.
 Matthew	Mat	46	24	2	Do you see all this? he said to them. Believe me, there will not be a stone left on another in this place, it will all be thrown down.
 Matthew	Mat	46	24	3	Afterwards, while he was sitting down on mount Olivet, the disciples came to him privately, and said, Tell us, when will this be? And what sign will be given of thy coming, and of the world being brought to an end?
 Matthew	Mat	46	24	4	Jesus answered them, Take care that you do not allow anyone to deceive you.
 Matthew	Mat	46	24	5	Many will come making use of my name; they will say, I am Christ, and many will be deceived by it.
 Matthew	Mat	46	24	6	And you will hear tell of wars, and rumours of war; see to it that you are not disturbed in mind; such things must happen, but the end will not come yet.
 Matthew	Mat	46	24	7	Nation will rise in arms against nation, kingdom against kingdom, and there will be plagues and famines and earthquakes in this region or that;
 Matthew	Mat	46	24	8	but all this is but the beginning of travail.
 Matthew	Mat	46	24	9	In those days, men will give you up to persecution, and will put you to death; all the world will be hating you because you bear my name;
 Matthew	Mat	46	24	10	whereupon many will lose heart, will betray and hate one another.
 Matthew	Mat	46	24	11	Many false prophets will arise, and many will be deceived by them;
 Matthew	Mat	46	24	12	and the charity of most men will grow cold, as they see wickedness abound everywhere;
 Matthew	Mat	46	24	13	but that man will be saved who endures to the last.
 Matthew	Mat	46	24	14	This gospel of the kingdom must first be preached all over the world, so that all nations may hear the truth; only after that will the end come.
 Matthew	Mat	46	24	15	And now, when you see that which the prophet Daniel called the abomination of desolation, set up in the holy place (let him who reads this, recognize what it means),
 Matthew	Mat	46	24	16	then those who are in Judaea must take refuge in the mountains;
 Matthew	Mat	46	24	17	not going down to carry away anything from the house, if they are on the house-top;
 Matthew	Mat	46	24	18	not going back to pick up a cloak, if they are in the fields.
 Matthew	Mat	46	24	19	It will go hard with women who are with child, or have children at the breast, in those days;
 Matthew	Mat	46	24	20	and you must pray that your flight may not be in the winter, or on the sabbath day,
 Matthew	Mat	46	24	21	for there will be distress then such as has not been since the beginning of the world, and can never be again.
 Matthew	Mat	46	24	22	There would have been no hope left for any human creature, if the number of those days had not been cut short; but those days will be cut short, for the sake of the elect.
 Matthew	Mat	46	24	23	At such a time, if a man tells you, See, here is Christ, or, See, he is there, do not believe him.
 Matthew	Mat	46	24	24	There will be false Christs and false prophets, who will rise up and shew great signs and wonders, so that if it were possible, even the elect would be deceived.
 Matthew	Mat	46	24	25	Mark well, I have given you warning of it.
 Matthew	Mat	46	24	26	If they tell you, then, See, he is here, in the desert, do not stir abroad; if they tell you, See, he is there, in hidden places, do not believe them;
 Matthew	Mat	46	24	27	when the Son of Man comes, it will be like the lightning that springs up from the east and flashes across to the west.
 Matthew	Mat	46	24	28	It is where the body lies that the eagles will gather.
 Matthew	Mat	46	24	29	Immediately after the distress of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will refuse her light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven will rock;
 Matthew	Mat	46	24	30	and then the sign of the Son of Man will be seen in heaven; then it is that all the tribes of the land will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming upon the clouds of heaven, with great power and glory;
 Matthew	Mat	46	24	31	and he will send out his angels with a loud blast of the trumpet, to gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
 Matthew	Mat	46	24	32	The fig-tree will teach you a parable; when its branch grows supple, and begins to put out leaves, you know that summer is near;
 Matthew	Mat	46	24	33	so you, when you see all this come about, are to know that it is near, at your very doors.
 Matthew	Mat	46	24	34	Believe me, this generation will not have passed, before all this is accomplished.
 Matthew	Mat	46	24	35	Though heaven and earth should pass away, my words will stand.
 Matthew	Mat	46	24	36	But as for that day and that hour you speak of, they are known to none, not even to the angels in heaven; only the Father knows them.
 Matthew	Mat	46	24	37	When the Son of Man comes, all will be as it was in the days of Noe;
 Matthew	Mat	46	24	38	in those days before the flood, they went on eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the time when Noe entered the ark,
 Matthew	Mat	46	24	39	and they were taken unawares, when the flood came and drowned them all; so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.
 Matthew	Mat	46	24	40	One man taken, one left, as they work together in the fields;
 Matthew	Mat	46	24	41	one woman taken, one left, as they grind together at the mill.
 Matthew	Mat	46	24	42	You must be on the watch, then, since you do not know the hour of your Lord’s coming.
 Matthew	Mat	46	24	43	Be sure of this; if the master of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch, and not allowed his house to be broken open.
 Matthew	Mat	46	24	44	And you too must stand ready; the Son of Man will come at an hour when you are not expecting him.
 Matthew	Mat	46	24	45	Which of you, then, is a faithful and wise servant, one whom his master will entrust with the care of the household, to give them their food at the appointed time?
 Matthew	Mat	46	24	46	Blessed is that servant who is found doing this when his lord comes;
 Matthew	Mat	46	24	47	I promise you, he will give him charge of all his goods.
 Matthew	Mat	46	24	48	But if that servant plays him false, and says in his heart, My lord is long in coming,
 Matthew	Mat	46	24	49	and so falls to beating his fellow servants, to eating and drinking with the drunkards,
 Matthew	Mat	46	24	50	then on some day when he expects nothing, at an hour when he is all unaware, his lord will come,
 Matthew	Mat	46	24	51	and will cut him off, and assign him his portion with the hypocrites; where there will be weeping, and gnashing of teeth.
 Matthew	Mat	46	25	1	When that day comes, the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins, who went to bring the bridegroom and his bride home, taking their lamps with them.
 Matthew	Mat	46	25	2	Five of these were foolish, and five were wise;
 Matthew	Mat	46	25	3	the five foolish, when they took their lamps, did not provide themselves with oil,
 Matthew	Mat	46	25	4	but those who were wise took oil in the vessels they carried, as well as the lamps.
 Matthew	Mat	46	25	5	The bridegroom was long in coming, so that they all grew drowsy, and fell asleep.
 Matthew	Mat	46	25	6	And at midnight the cry was raised, Behold, the bridegroom is on his way; go out to meet him.
 Matthew	Mat	46	25	7	Thereupon all these virgins awoke, and fell to trimming their lamps;
 Matthew	Mat	46	25	8	and now the foolish ones said to the wise, Share your oil with us, our lamps are burning low.
 Matthew	Mat	46	25	9	But the wise ones answered, How if there is not enough for us and for you? Better that you should find your way to the merchants, and buy for yourselves.
 Matthew	Mat	46	25	10	And so, while they were away buying it, the bridegroom came; those who stood ready escorted him to the wedding, and the door was shut.
 Matthew	Mat	46	25	11	Afterwards those other virgins came, with the cry, Lord, Lord, open to us.
 Matthew	Mat	46	25	12	And he answered, Believe me, I do not recognize you.
 Matthew	Mat	46	25	13	Be on the watch, then; the day of it and the hour of it are unknown to you.
 Matthew	Mat	46	25	14	So it was with a man who went on his travels; he called his trusted servants to him and committed his money to their charge.
 Matthew	Mat	46	25	15	He gave five talents to one, two to another, and one to another, according to their several abilities, and with that he set out on his journey.
 Matthew	Mat	46	25	16	The man who had received five talents went and traded with them, until he had made a profit of five talents more;
 Matthew	Mat	46	25	17	and in the same way he who had received two made a profit of two.
 Matthew	Mat	46	25	18	Whereas he who had received but one went off and made a hole in the ground, and there hid his master’s money.
 Matthew	Mat	46	25	19	Long afterwards, the master of those servants came back, and entered into a reckoning with them.
 Matthew	Mat	46	25	20	And so the man who had received five talents came forward and brought him five talents more; Lord, he said, it was five talents thou gavest me, see how I have made a profit of five talents besides.
 Matthew	Mat	46	25	21	And his master said to him, Well done, my good and faithful servant; since thou hast been faithful over little things, I have great things to commit to thy charge; come and share the joy of thy Lord.
 Matthew	Mat	46	25	22	Then came the man who had received two talents; Lord, he said, it was two talents thou gavest me; see how I have made a profit of two talents besides.
 Matthew	Mat	46	25	23	And his master said to him, Well done, my good and faithful servant; since thou hast been faithful over little things, I have great things to commit to thy charge; come and share the joy of thy Lord.
 Matthew	Mat	46	25	24	But when he who had received but one talent came forward in his turn, he said, Lord, knowing thee for a hard man, that reaps where he did not sow, and gathers in from fields he never planted,
 Matthew	Mat	46	25	25	I took fright, and so went off and hid thy talent in the earth; see now, thou hast received what is thine.
 Matthew	Mat	46	25	26	And his lord answered him, Base and slothful servant, thou knewest well that I reap where I did not sow, and gather in from fields I never planted;
 Matthew	Mat	46	25	27	all the more was it thy part to lodge my money with the bankers, so that I might have recovered it with interest when I came.
 Matthew	Mat	46	25	28	Take the talent away from him, and give it to him who has ten talents already.
 Matthew	Mat	46	25	29	Whenever a man is rich, gifts will be made to him, and his riches will abound; if he is poor, even what he accounts his own will be taken from him.
 Matthew	Mat	46	25	30	And now, cast the unprofitable servant into the darkness without; where there shall be weeping, and gnashing of teeth.
 Matthew	Mat	46	25	31	When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit down upon the throne of his glory,
 Matthew	Mat	46	25	32	and all nations will be gathered in his presence, where he will divide men one from the other, as the shepherd divides the sheep from the goats;
 Matthew	Mat	46	25	33	he will set the sheep on his right, and the goats on his left.
 Matthew	Mat	46	25	34	Then the King will say to those who are on his right hand, Come, you that have received a blessing from my Father, take possession of the kingdom which has been prepared for you since the foundation of the world.
 Matthew	Mat	46	25	35	For I was hungry, and you gave me food, thirsty, and you gave me drink; I was a stranger, and you brought me home,
 Matthew	Mat	46	25	36	naked, and you clothed me, sick, and you cared for me, a prisoner, and you came to me.
 Matthew	Mat	46	25	37	Whereupon the just will answer, Lord, when was it that we saw thee hungry, and fed thee, or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
 Matthew	Mat	46	25	38	When was it that we saw thee a stranger, and brought thee home, or naked, and clothed thee?
 Matthew	Mat	46	25	39	When was it that we saw thee sick or in prison and came to thee?
 Matthew	Mat	46	25	40	And the King will answer them, Believe me, when you did it to one of the least of my brethren here, you did it to me.
 Matthew	Mat	46	25	41	Then he will say to those who are on his left hand, in their turn, Go far from me, you that are accursed, into that eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels.
 Matthew	Mat	46	25	42	For I was hungry, and you never gave me food, I was thirsty, and you never gave me drink;
 Matthew	Mat	46	25	43	I was a stranger, and you did not bring me home, I was naked, and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison, and you did not care for me.
 Matthew	Mat	46	25	44	Whereupon they, in their turn, will answer, Lord, when was it that we saw thee hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister to thee?
 Matthew	Mat	46	25	45	And he will answer them, Believe me, when you refused it to one of the least of my brethren here, you refused it to me.
 Matthew	Mat	46	25	46	And these shall pass on to eternal punishment, and the just to eternal life.
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	1	Afterwards, when he had made an end of saying all this, Jesus told his disciples:
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	2	You know that after two days the paschal feast is coming; it is then that the Son of Man must be given up to be crucified.
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	3	At this very time, the chief priests and the elders of the people gathered in the court of the high priest, whose name was Caiphas;
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	4	and there they plotted to bring Jesus into their power by cunning, and put him to death.
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	5	Yet they still said, Not on the day of the feast, or perhaps there will be an uproar among the people.
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	6	But then, while Jesus was in the house of Simon the leper, at Bethany,
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	7	a woman came to him, with a pot of very precious ointment, and poured it over his head as he sat at table.
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	8	The disciples were indignant when they saw it: What is the meaning of this waste? they asked.
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	9	It would have been possible to sell this at a great price, and give alms to the poor.
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	10	This Jesus knew, and said to them, Why do you vex the woman? She did well to treat me so.
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	11	You have the poor among you always; I am not always among you.
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	12	When she poured this ointment over my body, she did it to prepare me for my burial;
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	13	and I promise you, in whatever part of the world this gospel is preached, the story of what she has done shall be told in its place, to preserve her memory.
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	14	And at that, one of the twelve, Judas who was called Iscariot, went to the chief priests
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	15	and asked them, What will you pay me for handing him over to you? Whereupon they laid down thirty pieces of silver.
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	16	And he, from that time onwards, looked about for an opportunity to betray him.
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	17	 On the first of the days of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus and asked, Where wilt thou have us make ready for thee to eat the paschal meal?
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	18	And Jesus said, Go into the city, find such a man, and tell him, The Master says, My time is near; I and my disciples must keep the paschal feast at thy house.
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	19	The disciples did as Jesus bade them, and made all ready for the paschal meal there.
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	20	When evening came, he sat down with his twelve disciples,
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	21	and, while they were at table, he said, Believe me, one of you is to betray me.
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	22	They were full of sorrow, and began to say, one after another, Lord, is it I?
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	23	He answered, The man who has put his hand into the dish with me will betray me.
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	24	The Son of Man goes on his way, as the scripture foretells of him; but woe upon that man by whom the Son of Man is to be betrayed; better for that man if he had never been born.
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	25	Then Judas, he who was betraying him, said openly, Master, is it I? Jesus answered, Thy own lips have said it.
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	26	And while they were still at table, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, Take, eat, this is my body.
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	27	Then he took a cup, and offered thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink, all of you, of this;
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	28	for this is my blood, of the new testament, shed for many, to the remission of sins.
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	29	And I tell you this, I shall not drink of this fruit of the vine again, until I drink it with you, new wine, in the kingdom of my Father.
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	30	And so they sang a hymn, and went out to mount Olivet.
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	31	After this, Jesus said to them, To-night you will all lose courage over me; for so it has been written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of his flock will be scattered.
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	32	But I will go on before you into Galilee, when I have risen from the dead.
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	33	Peter answered him, Though all else should lose courage over thee, I will never lose mine.
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	34	Jesus said to him, Believe me, this night, before the cock crows, thou wilt thrice disown me.
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	35	Peter said to him, I will never disown thee, though I must lay down my life with thee. And all the rest of his disciples said the like.
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	36	So Jesus came, and they with him, to a plot of land called Gethsemani; and he said to his disciples, Sit down here, while I go in there and pray.
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	37	But he took Peter and the sons of Zebedee with him. And now he grew sorrowful and dismayed;
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	38	My soul, he said, is ready to die with sorrow; do you abide here, and watch with me.
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	39	When he had gone a little further, he fell upon his face in prayer, and said, My Father, if it is possible, let this chalice pass me by; only as thy will is, not as mine is.
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	40	Then he went back to his disciples, to find them asleep; and he said to Peter, Had you no strength, then, to watch with me even for an hour?
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	41	Watch and pray, that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing enough, but the flesh is weak.
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	42	Then he went back again, and prayed a second time; and his prayer was, My Father, if this chalice may not pass me by, but I must drink it, then thy will be done.
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	43	And once more he found his disciples asleep when he came to them, so heavy their eyelids were;
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	44	this time he went away without disturbing them, and made his third prayer, using the same words.
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	45	After that he returned to his disciples, and said to them, Sleep and take your rest hereafter; as I speak, the time draws near when the Son of Man is to be betrayed into the hands of sinners.
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	46	Rise up, let us go on our way; already, he that is to betray me is close at hand.
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	47	And all at once, while he was speaking, Judas, who was one of the twelve, came near; with him was a great multitude carrying swords and clubs, who had been sent by the chief priests and the elders of the people.
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	48	The traitor had appointed them a signal; It is none other, he told them, than the man whom I shall greet with a kiss; hold him fast.
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	49	No sooner, then, had he come near to Jesus than he said, Hail, Master, and kissed him.
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	50	Jesus said to him, My friend, on what errand hast thou come? Then they came forward and laid their hands on Jesus, and held him fast.
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	51	And at that, one of those who were with Jesus lifted a hand to draw his sword, and smote one of the high priest’s servants with it, cutting off his ear.
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	52	Whereupon Jesus said to him, Put thy sword back into its place; all those who take up the sword will perish by the sword.
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	53	Dost thou doubt that if I call upon my Father, even now, he will send more than twelve legions of angels to my side?
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	54	But how, were it so, should the scriptures be fulfilled, which have prophesied that all must be as it is?
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	55	And Jesus said to the multitude at that hour, You have come out to my arrest with swords and clubs, as if I were a robber; and yet I used to sit teaching in the temple close to you, day after day, and you never laid hands on me.
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	56	All this was so ordained, to fulfil what was written by the prophets. And now all his disciples abandoned him, and fled.
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	57	And those who had arrested Jesus led him away into the presence of the high priest, Caiphas, where the scribes and the elders had assembled.
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	58	Yet Peter followed him at a long distance, as far as the high priest’s palace; where he went in and sat among the servants, to see the end.
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	59	The chief priests and elders and all the Council tried to find false testimony against Jesus, such as would compass his death.
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	60	But they could find none, although many came forward falsely accusing him; until at last two false accusers came forward
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	61	who declared, This man said, I have power to destroy the temple of God and raise it again in three days.
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	62	Then the high priest stood up, and asked him, Hast thou no answer to make to the accusations these men bring against thee?
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	63	Jesus was silent; and the high priest said to him openly, I adjure thee by the living God to tell us whether thou art the Christ, the Son of God?
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	64	Jesus answered, Thy own lips have said it. And moreover I tell you this; you will see the Son of Man again, when he is seated at the right hand of God’s power, and comes on the clouds of heaven.
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	65	At this, the high priest tore his garments, and said, He has blasphemed; what further need have we of witnesses? Mark well, you have heard his blasphemy for yourselves.
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	66	What is your finding? And they answered, The penalty is death.
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	67	Then they fell to spitting upon his face and buffeting him and smiting him on the cheek,
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	68	saying as they did so, Shew thyself a prophet, Christ; tell us who it is that smote thee.
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	69	Meanwhile, Peter sat in the court without; and there a maid-servant came up to him, and said, Thou too wast with Jesus the Galilean.
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	70	Whereupon he denied it before all the company; I do not know what thou meanest.
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	71	And he went out into the porch, where a second maid-servant saw him, and said, to the bystanders, This man, too, was with Jesus the Nazarene.
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	72	And he made denial again with an oath, I know nothing of the man.
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	73	But those who stood there came up to Peter soon afterwards, and said, It is certain that thou art one of them; even thy speech betrays thee.
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	74	And with that he fell to calling down curses on himself and swearing, I know nothing of the man; and thereupon the cock crew.
 Matthew	Mat	46	26	75	Then Peter remembered the word of Jesus, how he had said, Before the cock crows, thou wilt thrice disown me; and he went out, and wept bitterly.
 Matthew	Mat	46	27	1	At day-break, all the chief priests and elders of the people laid their plans for putting Jesus to death,
 Matthew	Mat	46	27	2	and they led him away in bonds, and gave him up to the governor, Pontius Pilate.
 Matthew	Mat	46	27	3	And now Judas, his betrayer, was full of remorse at seeing him condemned, so that he brought back to the chief priests and elders their thirty pieces of silver;
 Matthew	Mat	46	27	4	I have sinned, he told them, in betraying the blood of an innocent man. What is that to us? they said. It concerns thee only.
 Matthew	Mat	46	27	5	Whereupon he left them, throwing down the pieces of silver there in the temple, and went and hanged himself.
 Matthew	Mat	46	27	6	The chief priests, thus recovering the money, said, It must not be put in the treasury, since it is the price of blood;
 Matthew	Mat	46	27	7	and after consultation, they used it to buy the potter’s field, as a burial place for strangers;
 Matthew	Mat	46	27	8	it is upon that account that the field has been called Haceldama, the field of blood, to this day.
 Matthew	Mat	46	27	9	And so the word was fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet Jeremy, when he said, And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of one who was appraised, for men of the race of Israel appraised him,
 Matthew	Mat	46	27	10	and bestowed them upon the potter’s field, as the Lord had bidden me.
 Matthew	Mat	46	27	11	But Jesus stood before the governor. And the governor asked him, Art thou the king of the Jews? Jesus told him, Thy own lips have said it.
 Matthew	Mat	46	27	12	And when the chief priests and elders brought their accusation against him, he made no answer.
 Matthew	Mat	46	27	13	Then Pilate said to him, Dost thou not hear all the testimony they bring against thee?
 Matthew	Mat	46	27	14	But Jesus would not answer any of their charges, so that the governor was full of astonishment.
 Matthew	Mat	46	27	15	At the festival, the governor used to grant to the multitude the liberty of any one prisoner they should choose;
 Matthew	Mat	46	27	16	and there was one notable prisoner then in custody, whose name was Barabbas;
 Matthew	Mat	46	27	17	so, when they gathered about him, Pilate asked them, Whom shall I release? Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?
 Matthew	Mat	46	27	18	He knew well that they had only given him up out of malice;
 Matthew	Mat	46	27	19	and even as he sat on the judgement-seat, his wife had sent him a message, Do not meddle with this innocent man; I dreamed to-day that I suffered much on his account.
 Matthew	Mat	46	27	20	But the chief priests and elders had persuaded the multitude to ask for Barabbas and have Jesus put to death;
 Matthew	Mat	46	27	21	and so, when the governor openly asked them, Which of the two would you have me release? they said, Barabbas.
 Matthew	Mat	46	27	22	Pilate said to them, What am I to do, then, with Jesus, who is called Christ? They said, Let him be crucified.
 Matthew	Mat	46	27	23	And when the governor said, Why, what wrong has he done? they cried louder than ever, Let him be crucified.
 Matthew	Mat	46	27	24	And so, finding that his good offices went for nothing, and the uproar only became worse, Pilate sent for water and washed his hands in full sight of the multitude, saying as he did so, I have no part in the death of this innocent man; it concerns you only.
 Matthew	Mat	46	27	25	And the whole people answered, His blood be upon us, and upon our children.
 Matthew	Mat	46	27	26	And with that he released Barabbas as they asked; Jesus he scourged, and gave him up to be crucified.
 Matthew	Mat	46	27	27	After this, the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the palace, and gathered the whole of their company about him.
 Matthew	Mat	46	27	28	First they stripped him, and arrayed him in a scarlet cloak;
 Matthew	Mat	46	27	29	then they put on his head a crown which they had woven out of thorns, and a rod in his right hand, and mocked him by kneeling down before him, and saying, Hail, king of the Jews.
 Matthew	Mat	46	27	30	And they spat upon him, and took the rod from him and beat him over the head with it.
 Matthew	Mat	46	27	31	At last they had done with mockery; stripping him of the scarlet cloak, they put his own garments on him, and led him away to be crucified.
 Matthew	Mat	46	27	32	As for his cross, they forced a man of Cyrene, Simon by name, whom they met on their way out, to carry it;
 Matthew	Mat	46	27	33	and so they reached a place called Golgotha, that is, the place named after a skull.
 Matthew	Mat	46	27	34	Here they offered him a draught of wine, mixed with gall, which he tasted, but would not drink,
 Matthew	Mat	46	27	35	and then crucified him, dividing his garments among them by casting lots. The prophecy must be fulfilled, They divide my spoils among them, cast lots for my garments.
 Matthew	Mat	46	27	36	There, then, they sat, keeping guard over him.
 Matthew	Mat	46	27	37	Over his head they set a written proclamation of his offence, This is Jesus, the king of the Jews;
 Matthew	Mat	46	27	38	and with him they crucified two thieves, one on his right and one on his left.
 Matthew	Mat	46	27	39	The passers-by blasphemed against him, tossing their heads;
 Matthew	Mat	46	27	40	Come now, they said, thou who wouldst destroy the temple and build it up in three days, rescue thyself; come down from that cross, if thou art the Son of God.
 Matthew	Mat	46	27	41	The chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him in the same way.
 Matthew	Mat	46	27	42	He saved others, they said, he cannot save himself. If he is the king of Israel, he has but to come down from the cross, here and now, and we will believe in him.
 Matthew	Mat	46	27	43	He trusted in God; let God, if he favours him, succour him now; he told us, I am the Son of God.
 Matthew	Mat	46	27	44	Even the thieves who were crucified with him uttered the same taunts.
 Matthew	Mat	46	27	45	From the sixth hour onwards there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour;
 Matthew	Mat	46	27	46	and about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, Eli, Eli, lamma sabachthani? that is, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
 Matthew	Mat	46	27	47	Hearing this, some of those who stood by said, He is calling upon Elias:
 Matthew	Mat	46	27	48	and thereupon one of them ran to fetch a sponge, which he filled with vinegar and fixed upon a rod, and offered to let him drink;
 Matthew	Mat	46	27	49	the rest said, Wait, let us see whether Elias is to come and save him.
 Matthew	Mat	46	27	50	Then Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up his spirit.
 Matthew	Mat	46	27	51	And all at once, the veil of the temple was torn this way and that from the top to the bottom, and the earth shook, and the rocks parted asunder;
 Matthew	Mat	46	27	52	and the graves were opened, and many bodies arose out of them, bodies of holy men gone to their rest:
 Matthew	Mat	46	27	53	who, after his rising again, left their graves and went into the holy city, where they were seen by many.
 Matthew	Mat	46	27	54	So that the centurion and those who kept guard over Jesus with him, when they perceived the earthquake and all that befell, were overcome with fear; No doubt, they said, but this was the Son of God.
 Matthew	Mat	46	27	55	Many women stood watching from far off; they had followed Jesus from Galilee, to minister to him;
 Matthew	Mat	46	27	56	among them were Mary Magdalen, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.
 Matthew	Mat	46	27	57	And now it was evening, and a man came forward, by name Joseph, a rich man from Arimathea, who followed Jesus as a disciple like the rest;
 Matthew	Mat	46	27	58	he it was who approached Pilate, and asked to have the body of Jesus; whereupon Pilate ordered that the body should be given up.
 Matthew	Mat	46	27	59	Joseph took possession of the body, and wrapped it in a clean winding-sheet;
 Matthew	Mat	46	27	60	then he buried it in a new grave, which he had fashioned for himself out of the rock, and left it there, rolling a great stone against the grave-door.
 Matthew	Mat	46	27	61	When he had gone, there were two who sat on there opposite the tomb, Mary Magdalen and the other Mary with her.
 Matthew	Mat	46	27	62	Next day, the next after the day of preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered in Pilate’s presence,
 Matthew	Mat	46	27	63	and said, Sir, we have recalled it to memory that this deceiver, while he yet lived, said, I am to rise again after three days.
 Matthew	Mat	46	27	64	Give orders, then, that his tomb shall be securely guarded until the third day; or perhaps his disciples will come and steal him away. If they should then say to the people, He has risen from the dead, this last deceit will be more dangerous than the old.
 Matthew	Mat	46	27	65	Pilate said to them, You have guards; away with you, make it secure as you best know how.
 Matthew	Mat	46	27	66	And they went and made the tomb secure, putting a seal on the stone and setting a guard over it.
 Matthew	Mat	46	28	1	On the night after the sabbath, at the hour when dawn broke on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalen and the other Mary came near to contemplate the tomb.
 Matthew	Mat	46	28	2	And suddenly there was a great trembling of the earth, because an angel of the Lord came to the place, descending from heaven, and rolled away the stone and sat over it;
 Matthew	Mat	46	28	3	his face shone like lightning, and his garments were white as snow;
 Matthew	Mat	46	28	4	so that the guards trembled for fear of him, and were like dead men.
 Matthew	Mat	46	28	5	But the angel said openly to the women, You need not be afraid; I know well that you have come to look for Jesus of Nazareth, the man who was crucified.
 Matthew	Mat	46	28	6	He is not here; he has risen, as he told you. Come and see the place where the Lord was buried.
 Matthew	Mat	46	28	7	You must go in haste, and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead; and now he is going on before you into Galilee, where you shall have sight of him. That is my message to you.
 Matthew	Mat	46	28	8	Whereupon they left the tomb, in fear and in great rejoicing, and ran to tell the news to his disciples.
 Matthew	Mat	46	28	9	And while they were on their way, all at once Jesus met them and said, All hail. With that, they came near to him, and clung to his feet, and worshipped him.
 Matthew	Mat	46	28	10	Then Jesus said to them, Do not be afraid; go and give word to my brethren to remove into Galilee; they shall see me there.
 Matthew	Mat	46	28	11	They had not finished their journey, when some of the guards reached the city, and told the chief priests of all that befell.
 Matthew	Mat	46	28	12	These gathered with the elders to take counsel, and offered a rich bribe to the soldiers;
 Matthew	Mat	46	28	13	Let this, they said, be your tale, His disciples came by night and stole him away, while we were asleep.
 Matthew	Mat	46	28	14	If this should come to the ears of the governor, we will satisfy him, and see that no harm comes to you.
 Matthew	Mat	46	28	15	The soldiers took the bribe, and did as they were instructed; and this is the tale which has gone abroad among the Jews, to this day.
 Matthew	Mat	46	28	16	And now the eleven disciples took their journey into Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had bidden them meet him.
 Matthew	Mat	46	28	17	When they saw him there, they fell down to worship; though some were still doubtful.
 Matthew	Mat	46	28	18	But Jesus came near and spoke to them; All authority in heaven and on earth, he said, has been given to me;
 Matthew	Mat	46	28	19	you, therefore, must go out, making disciples of all nations, and baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,
 Matthew	Mat	46	28	20	teaching them to observe all the commandments which I have given you. And behold I am with you all through the days that are coming, until the consummation of the world.
 Mark	Mk	47	1	1	The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
 Mark	Mk	47	1	2	It is written in the prophecy of Isaias, Behold, I am sending before thee that angel of mine who is to prepare thy way for thy coming;
 Mark	Mk	47	1	3	there is a voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord, straighten out his paths.
 Mark	Mk	47	1	4	And so it was that John appeared in the wilderness baptizing, announcing a baptism whereby men repented, to have their sins forgiven.
 Mark	Mk	47	1	5	And all the country of Judaea and all those who dwelt in Jerusalem went out to see him, and he baptized them in the river Jordan, while they confessed their sins.
 Mark	Mk	47	1	6	John was clothed with a garment of camel’s hair, and had a leather girdle about his loins, and he ate locusts and wild honey.
 Mark	Mk	47	1	7	And thus he preached, One is to come after me who is mightier than I, so that I am not worthy to bend down and untie the strap of his shoes.
 Mark	Mk	47	1	8	I have baptized you with water; he will baptize you with the Holy Ghost.
 Mark	Mk	47	1	9	At this time, Jesus came from Nazareth, and was baptized by John in the Jordan.
 Mark	Mk	47	1	10	And even as he came up out of the water he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit, like a dove, coming down and resting upon him.
 Mark	Mk	47	1	11	There was a voice, too, out of heaven, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.
 Mark	Mk	47	1	12	Thereupon, the Spirit sent him out into the desert:
 Mark	Mk	47	1	13	and in the desert he spent forty days and forty nights, tempted by the devil; there he lodged with the beasts, and there the angels ministered to him.
 Mark	Mk	47	1	14	But when John had been put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God’s kingdom:
 Mark	Mk	47	1	15	The appointed time has come, he said, and the kingdom of God is near at hand; repent, and believe the gospel.
 Mark	Mk	47	1	16	And as he passed along the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Simon’s brother Andrew casting a net into the sea (for they were fishermen);
 Mark	Mk	47	1	17	Jesus said to them, Come and follow me; I will make you into fishers of men.
 Mark	Mk	47	1	18	And they dropped their nets immediately, and followed him.
 Mark	Mk	47	1	19	Then he went a little further, and saw James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John; these too were in their boat, repairing their nets;
 Mark	Mk	47	1	20	all at once he called them, and they, leaving their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, turned aside after him.
 Mark	Mk	47	1	21	So they made their way to Capharnaum; here, as soon as the sabbath came, he went into the synagogue and taught;
 Mark	Mk	47	1	22	and they were amazed by his teaching, for he sat there teaching them like one who had authority, not like the scribes.
 Mark	Mk	47	1	23	And there, in the synagogue, was a man possessed by an unclean spirit, who cried aloud:
 Mark	Mk	47	1	24	Why dost thou meddle with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Hast thou come to make an end of us? I recognize thee for what thou art, the Holy One of God.
 Mark	Mk	47	1	25	Jesus spoke to him threateningly; Silence! he said; come out of him.
 Mark	Mk	47	1	26	Then the unclean spirit threw him into a convulsion, and cried with a loud voice, and so came out of him.
 Mark	Mk	47	1	27	All were full of astonishment; What can this be? they asked one another. What is this new teaching? See how he has authority to lay his commands even on the unclean spirits, and they obey him!
 Mark	Mk	47	1	28	And the story of his doings at once spread through the whole region of Galilee.
 Mark	Mk	47	1	29	As soon as they had left the synagogue, they came into Simon and Andrew’s house; James and John were with them.
 Mark	Mk	47	1	30	The mother of Simon’s wife was lying sick there, with a fever, and they made haste to tell him of her;
 Mark	Mk	47	1	31	whereupon he went close and took her by the hand, and lifted her up. And all at once the fever left her, and she began ministering to them.
 Mark	Mk	47	1	32	And when it was evening and the sun went down, they brought to him all those who were afflicted, and those who were possessed by devils;
 Mark	Mk	47	1	33	so that the whole city stood crowding there at the door.
 Mark	Mk	47	1	34	And he healed many that were afflicted with diseases of every sort, and cast out many devils; to the devils he would give no leave to speak, because they recognized him.
 Mark	Mk	47	1	35	Then, at very early dawn, he left them, and went away to a lonely place, and began praying there.
 Mark	Mk	47	1	36	Simon and his companions went in search of him:
 Mark	Mk	47	1	37	and when they found him, they told him, All men are looking for thee.
 Mark	Mk	47	1	38	And he said to them, Let us go to the next country-towns, so that I can preach there too; it is for this I have come.
 Mark	Mk	47	1	39	So he continued to preach in their synagogues, all through Galilee, and cast the devils out.
 Mark	Mk	47	1	40	Then a leper came up to him, asking for his aid; he knelt at his feet and said, If it be thy will, thou hast power to make me clean.
 Mark	Mk	47	1	41	Jesus was moved with pity; he held out his hand and touched him, and said, It is my will; be thou made clean.
 Mark	Mk	47	1	42	And at the word, the leprosy all at once left him, and he was cleansed.
 Mark	Mk	47	1	43	And he spoke to him threateningly, and sent him away there and then:
 Mark	Mk	47	1	44	Be sure thou dost not speak of this at all, he said, to anyone; away with thee, shew thyself to the priest, and offer the gift for thy cleansing which Moses ordained, to make the truth known to them.
 Mark	Mk	47	1	45	But he, as soon as he had gone away, began to talk publicly and spread the story round; so that Jesus could no longer go into any of the cities openly, but dwelt in lonely places apart; and still from every side they came to him.
 Mark	Mk	47	2	1	Then, after some days, he went into Capharnaum again.
 Mark	Mk	47	2	2	And as soon as word went round that he was in a house there, such a crowd gathered that there was no room left even in front of the door; and he preached the word to them.
 Mark	Mk	47	2	3	And now they came to bring a palsied man to him, four of them carrying him at once;
 Mark	Mk	47	2	4	and found they could not bring him close to, because of the multitude. So they stripped the tiles from the roof over the place where Jesus was, and made an opening; then they let down the bed on which the palsied man lay.
 Mark	Mk	47	2	5	And Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the palsied man, Son, thy sins are forgiven.
 Mark	Mk	47	2	6	But there were some of the scribes sitting there, who reasoned in their minds,
 Mark	Mk	47	2	7	Why does he speak so? He is talking blasphemously. Who can forgive sins but God, and God only?
 Mark	Mk	47	2	8	Jesus knew at once, in his spirit, of these secret thoughts of theirs, and said to them, Why do you reason thus in your minds?
 Mark	Mk	47	2	9	Which command is more lightly given, to say to the palsied man, Thy sins are forgiven, or to say, Rise up, take thy bed with thee, and walk?
 Mark	Mk	47	2	10	And now, to convince you that the Son of Man has authority to forgive sins while he is on earth (here he spoke to the palsied man):
 Mark	Mk	47	2	11	I tell thee, rise up, take thy bed with thee, and go home.
 Mark	Mk	47	2	12	And he rose up at once, and took his bed, and went out in full sight of them; so that all were astonished and gave praise to God; they said, We never saw the like.
 Mark	Mk	47	2	13	Then he went out by the sea again; and all the multitude came to him, and he taught them there.
 Mark	Mk	47	2	14	And as he passed further on, he saw Levi, the son of Alphaeus, sitting at work in the customs-house, and said to him, Follow me; and he rose up and followed him.
 Mark	Mk	47	2	15	And afterwards, when he was taking a meal in his house, many publicans and sinners were at table with Jesus and his disciples; for there were many of these who followed him.
 Mark	Mk	47	2	16	Thereupon the scribes and Pharisees, seeing him eat with publicans and sinners in his company, asked his disciples, How comes it that your master eats and drinks with publicans and sinners?
 Mark	Mk	47	2	17	Jesus heard it, and said to them, It is not those who are in health that have need of the physician, it is those who are sick. I have come to call sinners, not the just.
 Mark	Mk	47	2	18	John’s disciples and the Pharisees used to fast at that time. And they came and said to him, How is it that thy disciples do not fast, when John’s disciples and the Pharisees fast?
 Mark	Mk	47	2	19	To them Jesus said, Can you expect the men of the bridegroom’s company to go fasting, while the bridegroom is still with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot be expected to fast;
 Mark	Mk	47	2	20	but the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them; then they will fast, when that day comes.
 Mark	Mk	47	2	21	Nobody sews on a piece of new cloth to patch an old cloak; if that is done, the new piecing takes away threads from the old cloth, and makes the rent in it worse.
 Mark	Mk	47	2	22	Nor does anybody put new wine into old wine-skins; if that is done, the wine bursts the skins, and there is the wine spilt and the skins spoiled. New wine must be put into fresh wine-skins.
 Mark	Mk	47	2	23	It happened that he was walking through the corn-fields on the sabbath day; and his disciples fell to plucking the ears of corn as they went.
 Mark	Mk	47	2	24	And the Pharisees said to him, Look, why are they doing what it is not lawful to do on the sabbath?
 Mark	Mk	47	2	25	Whereupon he said to them, Have you never read of what David did, when he and his followers were hard put to it for hunger?
 Mark	Mk	47	2	26	How he went into the tabernacle, when Abiathar was high priest, and ate the loaves set forth there before God, which only the priests may eat, and gave them, besides, to those who were with him?
 Mark	Mk	47	2	27	And he told them, The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath.
 Mark	Mk	47	2	28	So that the Son of Man has even the sabbath at his disposal.
 Mark	Mk	47	3	1	And once more he went into a synagogue; and there was a man there who had one of his hands withered;
 Mark	Mk	47	3	2	and they were watching him, to see whether he would do a work of healing on the sabbath, so that they might have a charge to bring against him.
 Mark	Mk	47	3	3	So he said to the man who had his hand withered, Rise up, and come forward.
 Mark	Mk	47	3	4	Then he said to them, Which is right, to do good on the sabbath day, or to do harm? To save life, or to make away with it? And they sat there in silence.
 Mark	Mk	47	3	5	And he looked round on them in anger, grieved at the hardness of their hearts, and said to the man, Stretch out thy hand. He stretched it out, and his hand was restored to him.
 Mark	Mk	47	3	6	Then the Pharisees went out, and at once began plotting with those who were of Herod’s party to make away with him.
 Mark	Mk	47	3	7	But Jesus withdrew, with his disciples, towards the sea; and great crowds followed him from Galilee, and from Judaea,
 Mark	Mk	47	3	8	and from Jerusalem, and from Idumaea, and from beyond Jordan; and those who lived about Tyre and Sidon, hearing of all that he did, came in great numbers to him.
 Mark	Mk	47	3	9	So he told his disciples to keep a boat ready at need because of the multitude, for fear they should press on him too close;
 Mark	Mk	47	3	10	for he did many works of healing, so that all those who were visited with suffering thrust themselves upon him, to touch him.
 Mark	Mk	47	3	11	The unclean spirits, too, whenever they saw him, used to fall at his feet and cry out,
 Mark	Mk	47	3	12	Thou art the Son of God; and he would give them a strict charge not to make him known.
 Mark	Mk	47	3	13	Then he went up on to the mountain-side, and called to him those whom it pleased him to call; so these came to him,
 Mark	Mk	47	3	14	and he appointed twelve to be his companions, and to go out preaching at his command,
 Mark	Mk	47	3	15	with power to cure diseases and to cast out devils.
 Mark	Mk	47	3	16	To Simon he gave the fresh name of Peter;
 Mark	Mk	47	3	17	to James the son of Zebedee and his brother John, he gave the fresh name of Boanerges, that is, Sons of thunder.
 Mark	Mk	47	3	18	The others were Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Cananean;
 Mark	Mk	47	3	19	and Judas Iscariot, the traitor.
 Mark	Mk	47	3	20	And now they came into a house, and once more the multitude gathered so that they had no room even to sit and eat.
 Mark	Mk	47	3	21	When word came to those who were nearest him, they went out to restrain him; they said, He must be mad.
 Mark	Mk	47	3	22	And the scribes who had come down from Jerusalem said, He is possessed by Beelzebub; it is through the prince of the devils that he casts the devils out.
 Mark	Mk	47	3	23	So he called them to him, and spoke to them in parables; How can it be Satan who casts Satan out?
 Mark	Mk	47	3	24	Why, if a kingdom is at war with itself, that kingdom cannot stand firm,
 Mark	Mk	47	3	25	and if a household is at war with itself, that household cannot stand firm;
 Mark	Mk	47	3	26	if Satan, then, has risen up in arms against Satan, he is at war with himself; he cannot stand firm; his end has come.
 Mark	Mk	47	3	27	No one can enter into a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, without first making the strong man his prisoner; then he can plunder his house at will.
 Mark	Mk	47	3	28	Believe me, there is pardon for all the other sins of mankind and the blasphemies they utter;
 Mark	Mk	47	3	29	but if a man blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, there is no pardon for him in all eternity; he is guilty of a sin which is eternal.
 Mark	Mk	47	3	30	This was because they were saying, He has an unclean spirit.
 Mark	Mk	47	3	31	Then his mother and his brethren came and sent a message to him, calling him to them, while they stood without.
 Mark	Mk	47	3	32	There was a multitude sitting round him when they told him, Here are thy mother and thy brethren without, looking for thee.
 Mark	Mk	47	3	33	And he answered them, Who is a mother, who are brethren, to me?
 Mark	Mk	47	3	34	Then he looked about at those who were sitting around him, and said, Here are my mother and my brethren!
 Mark	Mk	47	3	35	If anyone does the will of God, he is my brother, and sister, and mother.
 Mark	Mk	47	4	1	Then he began to teach by the sea-side again; and a great multitude gathered before him, so that he went into a boat, and sat there on the sea, while all the multitude was on the land, at the sea’s edge.
 Mark	Mk	47	4	2	And he taught them for a long time, but in parables; Listen, his teaching began,
 Mark	Mk	47	4	3	here is the sower gone out to sow.
 Mark	Mk	47	4	4	And as he sowed, some grains chanced to fall beside the path, so that the birds came and ate them up.
 Mark	Mk	47	4	5	And others fell on rocky land, where the soil was shallow; these sprang up all at once, because they had not sunk deep in the ground:
 Mark	Mk	47	4	6	and when the sun rose they were parched; they had taken no root, and so they withered away.
 Mark	Mk	47	4	7	Some fell among briers, so that the briers grew up and smothered them, and they gave no crop.
 Mark	Mk	47	4	8	And others fell where the soil was good, and these sprouted and grew, and yielded a harvest; some of them thirtyfold, some sixtyfold, some a hundredfold.
 Mark	Mk	47	4	9	Listen, he said, you that have ears to hear with.
 Mark	Mk	47	4	10	When they could speak with him alone, the twelve who were with him asked the meaning of the parable.
 Mark	Mk	47	4	11	And he said to them, It is granted to you to understand the secret of God’s kingdom; for those others, who stand without, all is parable:
 Mark	Mk	47	4	12	so they must watch and watch, yet never see, must listen and listen, yet never understand, nor ever turn back, and have their sins forgiven them.
 Mark	Mk	47	4	13	Then he said to them, You do not understand this parable? And are these the men who are to understand all parables?
 Mark	Mk	47	4	14	What the sower sows is the word.
 Mark	Mk	47	4	15	Those by the way-side are those who have the word sown in them, but no sooner have they heard it than Satan comes, and takes away this word that was sown in their hearts.
 Mark	Mk	47	4	16	In the same way, those who take in the seed in rocky ground are those who entertain the word with joy as soon as they hear it,
 Mark	Mk	47	4	17	and yet have no root in themselves; they last for a time, but afterwards, when tribulation or persecution arises over the word, their faith is soon shaken.
 Mark	Mk	47	4	18	And there are others who take in the seed in the midst of briers; they are those who hear the word,
 Mark	Mk	47	4	19	but allow the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches and their other appetites to smother the word, so that it remains fruitless.
 Mark	Mk	47	4	20	And those who take in the seed in good soil are those who hear the word and welcome it and yield a harvest, one grain thirtyfold, one sixtyfold, one a hundredfold.
 Mark	Mk	47	4	21	And he said to them, Is a lamp brought in to be put under a bushel measure, or under a bed, not in the lamp-stand?
 Mark	Mk	47	4	22	What is hidden, is hidden only so that it may be revealed; what is kept secret, is kept secret only that it may come to light.
 Mark	Mk	47	4	23	Listen, all you that have ears to hear with.
 Mark	Mk	47	4	24	And he said to them, Look well what it is that you hear. The measure in which you give is the measure in which you will be repaid, and more will be given you besides.
 Mark	Mk	47	4	25	If a man is rich, gifts will be made to him; if he is poor, even the little he has will be taken away from him.
 Mark	Mk	47	4	26	And he said to them, The kingdom of heaven is like this; it is as if a man should sow a crop in his land,
 Mark	Mk	47	4	27	and then go to sleep and wake again, night after night, day after day, while the crop sprouts and grows, without any knowledge of his.
 Mark	Mk	47	4	28	So, of its own accord, the ground yields increase, first the blade, then the ear, then the perfect grain in the ear;
 Mark	Mk	47	4	29	and when the fruit appears, then it is time for him to put in the sickle, because now the harvest is ripe.
 Mark	Mk	47	4	30	And he said, What likeness can we find for the kingdom of God? To what image are we to compare it?
 Mark	Mk	47	4	31	To a grain of mustard seed; when this is sown in the earth, no seed on earth is so little;
 Mark	Mk	47	4	32	but, once sown, it shoots up and grows taller than any garden herb, putting out great branches, so that all the birds can come and settle under its shade.
 Mark	Mk	47	4	33	And he used many parables of this kind, such as they could listen to easily, in preaching the word to them;
 Mark	Mk	47	4	34	to them he spoke only in parables, and made all plain to his disciples when they were alone.
 Mark	Mk	47	4	35	That day, when evening came on, he said to them, Let us go across to the other side.
 Mark	Mk	47	4	36	So they let the multitude go, and took him with them, just as he was, on the boat; there were other boats too with him.
 Mark	Mk	47	4	37	And a great storm of wind arose, and drove the waves into the boat, so that the boat could hold no more.
 Mark	Mk	47	4	38	Meanwhile, he was in the stern, asleep on the pillow there; and they roused him, crying, Master, art thou unconcerned? We are sinking.
 Mark	Mk	47	4	39	So he rose up, and checked the wind, and said to the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind dropped, and there was deep calm.
 Mark	Mk	47	4	40	Then he said to them, Why are you faint-hearted? Have you still no faith? And they were overcome with awe; Why, who is this, they said to one another, who is obeyed even by the winds and the sea?
 Mark	Mk	47	5	1	So they came to the further shore of the sea, in the country of the Gerasenes.
 Mark	Mk	47	5	2	And as soon as he had disembarked, a man possessed by an unclean spirit came out of the rock tombs to meet him.
 Mark	Mk	47	5	3	This man made his dwelling among the tombs, and nobody could keep him bound any longer, even with chains.
 Mark	Mk	47	5	4	He had been bound with fetters and chains often before, but had torn the chains apart and broken the fetters, and nobody had the strength to control him.
 Mark	Mk	47	5	5	Thus he spent all his time, night and day, among the tombs and the hills, crying aloud and cutting himself with stones.
 Mark	Mk	47	5	6	When he saw Jesus from far off, he ran up and fell at his feet,
 Mark	Mk	47	5	7	and cried with a loud voice, Why dost thou meddle with me, Jesus, Son of the most high God? I adjure thee in God’s name, do not torment me
 Mark	Mk	47	5	8	(for he was saying, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit).
 Mark	Mk	47	5	9	Then he asked him, What is thy name? The spirit told him, My name is Legion; there are many of us,
 Mark	Mk	47	5	10	and it was full of entreaties that he would not send them away out of the country.
 Mark	Mk	47	5	11	There, at the foot of the mountain, was a great herd of swine feeding;
 Mark	Mk	47	5	12	and the devils entreated him, Send us into the swine, let us make our lodging there.
 Mark	Mk	47	5	13	With that, Jesus gave them leave; and the unclean spirits came out, and went into the swine; whereupon the herd rushed down at full speed into the sea, some two thousand in number, and the sea drowned them.
 Mark	Mk	47	5	14	The swineherds fled, and told their news in the city and in the country-side; so that they came out to see what had befallen;
 Mark	Mk	47	5	15	and when they reached Jesus, they found the possessed man sitting there, clothed and restored to his wits, and they were overcome with fear.
 Mark	Mk	47	5	16	Then those who had seen it told them the story of the possessed man, and what had happened to the swine.
 Mark	Mk	47	5	17	Whereupon they began entreating him to leave their country.
 Mark	Mk	47	5	18	So he embarked on the boat; and as he did so the man who had been possessed was eager to go with him,
 Mark	Mk	47	5	19	but Jesus would not give him leave; Go home to thy friends, he said, and tell them all that the Lord has done for thee, and what great mercy he shewed thee.
 Mark	Mk	47	5	20	So he went back and began to spread word in Decapolis of what Jesus had done for him; and all wondered at it.
 Mark	Mk	47	5	21	So Jesus went back by boat across the sea, and a great multitude gathered about him; and while he was still by the sea,
 Mark	Mk	47	5	22	one of the rulers of the synagogue came up, Jairus by name, and fell down at his feet when he saw him,
 Mark	Mk	47	5	23	pleading for his aid. My daughter, he said, is at the point of death; come and lay thy hand on her, that so she may recover, and live.
 Mark	Mk	47	5	24	So he turned aside with him, and a great multitude followed him, and pressed close upon him.
 Mark	Mk	47	5	25	And now a woman who for twelve years had had an issue of blood,
 Mark	Mk	47	5	26	and had undergone much from many physicians, spending all she had on them, and no better for it, but rather grown worse,
 Mark	Mk	47	5	27	came up behind Jesus in the crowd (for she had been told of him), and touched his cloak;
 Mark	Mk	47	5	28	If I can even touch his cloak, she said to herself, I shall be healed.
 Mark	Mk	47	5	29	And immediately the source of the bleeding dried up, and she felt in her body that she had been cured of her affliction.
 Mark	Mk	47	5	30	Jesus thereupon, inwardly aware of the power that had proceeded from him, turned back towards the multitude and asked, Who touched my garments?
 Mark	Mk	47	5	31	His disciples said to him, Canst thou see the multitude pressing so close about thee, and ask, Who touched me?
 Mark	Mk	47	5	32	But he looked round him to catch sight of the woman who had done this.
 Mark	Mk	47	5	33	And now the woman, trembling with fear, since she recognized what had befallen her, came and fell at his feet, and told him the whole truth.
 Mark	Mk	47	5	34	Whereupon Jesus said to her, My daughter, thy faith has brought thee recovery; go in peace, and be rid of thy affliction.
 Mark	Mk	47	5	35	While he was yet speaking, messengers came from the ruler’s house to say, Thy daughter is dead; why dost thou trouble the Master any longer?
 Mark	Mk	47	5	36	Jesus heard the word said, and told the ruler of the synagogue, No need to fear; thou hast only to believe.
 Mark	Mk	47	5	37	And now he would not let anyone follow him, except Peter and James and James’ brother John;
 Mark	Mk	47	5	38	and so they came to the ruler’s house, where he found a great stir, and much weeping and lamentation.
 Mark	Mk	47	5	39	And he went in and said to them, What is this stir, this weeping? The child is not dead, she is asleep.
 Mark	Mk	47	5	40	They laughed aloud at him; but he sent them all out, and, taking the child’s father and mother and his own companions with him, went in to where the child lay.
 Mark	Mk	47	5	41	Then he took hold of the child’s hand, and said to her, Talitha, cumi, which means, Maiden, I say to thee, rise up.
 Mark	Mk	47	5	42	And the girl stood up immediately, and began to walk; she was twelve years old. And they were beside themselves with wonder.
 Mark	Mk	47	5	43	Then he laid a strict charge on them to let nobody hear of this, and ordered that she should be given something to eat.
 Mark	Mk	47	6	1	Then he left the place, and withdrew to his own country-side, his disciples following him.
 Mark	Mk	47	6	2	Here, when the sabbath came, he began teaching in the synagogue, and many were astonished when they heard him; How did he come by all this? they asked. What is the meaning of this wisdom that has been given him, of all these wonderful works that are done by his hands?
 Mark	Mk	47	6	3	Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James and Joseph and Judas and Simon? Do not his sisters live here near us? And they had no confidence in him.
 Mark	Mk	47	6	4	Then Jesus said to them, It is only in his own country, in his own home, and among his own kindred, that a prophet goes unhonoured.
 Mark	Mk	47	6	5	Nor could he do any wonderful works there, except that he laid his hands on a few who were sick, and cured them;
 Mark	Mk	47	6	6	he was astonished at their unbelief. And so he went on round about the villages preaching.
 Mark	Mk	47	6	7	And now he called the twelve to him, and began sending them out, two and two, giving them authority over the unclean spirits.
 Mark	Mk	47	6	8	And he gave them instructions to take a staff for their journey and nothing more; no wallet, no bread, no money for their purses;
 Mark	Mk	47	6	9	to be shod with sandals, and not to wear a second coat.
 Mark	Mk	47	6	10	You are to lodge, he told them, in the house you first enter, until you leave the place.
 Mark	Mk	47	6	11	And wherever they give you no welcome and no hearing, shake off the dust from beneath your feet in witness against them.
 Mark	Mk	47	6	12	So they went out and preached, bidding men repent;
 Mark	Mk	47	6	13	they cast out many devils, and many who were sick they anointed with oil, and healed them.
 Mark	Mk	47	6	14	Then, as his name grew better known, king Herod came to hear of it. It is John the Baptist, he said, risen from the dead, and that is why these powers are active in him.
 Mark	Mk	47	6	15	Others were saying, It is Elias, and others, It is a prophet like one of the old prophets;
 Mark	Mk	47	6	16	but when Herod was told it, he declared, He has risen from the dead, John the Baptist, whom I beheaded.
 Mark	Mk	47	6	17	Herod himself had sent and arrested John and put him in prison, in chains, for love of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, whom he had married;
 Mark	Mk	47	6	18	because John had told Herod, It is wrong for thee to take thy brother’s wife.
 Mark	Mk	47	6	19	Herodias was always plotting against him, and would willingly have murdered him, but could not,
 Mark	Mk	47	6	20	because Herod was afraid of John, recognizing him for an upright and holy man; so that he kept him carefully, and followed his advice in many things, and was glad to listen to him.
 Mark	Mk	47	6	21	And now came a fitting occasion, upon which Herod gave a birthday feast to his lords and officers, and to the chief men of Galilee.
 Mark	Mk	47	6	22	Herodias’ own daughter came in and danced, and gave such pleasure to Herod and his guests that the king said to the girl, Ask me for whatever thou wilt, and thou shalt have it;
 Mark	Mk	47	6	23	he even bound himself by an oath, I will grant whatever request thou makest, though it were a half of my kingdom.
 Mark	Mk	47	6	24	Thereupon she went out and said to her mother, What shall I ask for? And she answered, The head of John the Baptist.
 Mark	Mk	47	6	25	With that, she hastened into the king’s presence and made her request; My will is, she said, that thou shouldst give me the head of John the Baptist; give it me now, on a dish.
 Mark	Mk	47	6	26	And the king was full of remorse, but out of respect to his oath and to those who sat with him at table, he would not disappoint her.
 Mark	Mk	47	6	27	So he sent one of his guard with orders that the head should be brought on a dish.
 Mark	Mk	47	6	28	This soldier cut off his head in the prison, and brought it on a dish, and gave it to the girl; and the girl gave it to her mother.
 Mark	Mk	47	6	29	When John’s disciples heard of it, they came and carried off his body, and laid it in a tomb.
 Mark	Mk	47	6	30	And now the apostles came together again in the presence of Jesus, and told him of all they had done, and all the teaching they had given.
 Mark	Mk	47	6	31	And he said to them, Come away into a quiet place by yourselves, and rest a little. For there were many coming and going, and they scarcely had leisure even to eat.
 Mark	Mk	47	6	32	So they took ship, and went to a lonely place by themselves.
 Mark	Mk	47	6	33	But many saw them going, or came to know of it; gathering from all the cities, they hurried to the place by land, and were there before them.
 Mark	Mk	47	6	34	So, when he disembarked, Jesus saw a great multitude there, and took pity on them, since they were like sheep that have no shepherd, and began to give them long instruction.
 Mark	Mk	47	6	35	And when it was already late, his disciples came to him and said, This is a lonely place, and it is late already;
 Mark	Mk	47	6	36	give them leave to go to the farms and villages round about, and buy themselves food there; they have nothing to eat.
 Mark	Mk	47	6	37	But he answered them, It is for you to give them food to eat. Why then, they said to him, we must go and spend two hundred silver pieces buying bread to feed them.
 Mark	Mk	47	6	38	He asked, How many loaves have you? Go and see. When they had found out, they told him, Five, and two fishes.
 Mark	Mk	47	6	39	Then he told them all to sit down in companies on the green grass;
 Mark	Mk	47	6	40	and they took their places in rows, by hundreds and fifties.
 Mark	Mk	47	6	41	And he took the five loaves and the two fishes, and looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave these to his disciples to set before them, dividing the fishes, too, among them all.
 Mark	Mk	47	6	42	All ate and had enough:
 Mark	Mk	47	6	43	and when they took up the broken pieces, and what was left of the fishes, they filled twelve baskets with them.
 Mark	Mk	47	6	44	The loaves had fed five thousand men.
 Mark	Mk	47	6	45	As soon as this was done, he prevailed upon his disciples to take ship and cross to Bethsaida, on the other side, before him, leaving him to send the multitude home.
 Mark	Mk	47	6	46	And when he had taken leave of them, he went up on to the hill-side, to pray there.
 Mark	Mk	47	6	47	Twilight had already come, and the boat was half way across the sea, while he was on the shore alone.
 Mark	Mk	47	6	48	And when the night had reached its fourth quarter, seeing them hard put to it with rowing (for the wind was against them), he came to them, walking on the sea, and made as if to pass them by.
 Mark	Mk	47	6	49	When they saw him walking on the sea, they thought it was an apparition, and cried aloud,
 Mark	Mk	47	6	50	for all had seen him, and were full of dismay. But now he spoke to them; Take courage, he said, it is myself; do not be afraid.
 Mark	Mk	47	6	51	So he came to them on board the boat, and thereupon the wind dropped. And they were astonished out of all measure;
 Mark	Mk	47	6	52	they had not grasped the lesson of the loaves, so dulled were their hearts.
 Mark	Mk	47	6	53	When they had crossed, they came to shore at Genesareth and moored there.
 Mark	Mk	47	6	54	As soon as they had disembarked, he was recognized,
 Mark	Mk	47	6	55	and they ran off into all the country round, and began bringing the sick after him, beds and all, wherever they heard he was.
 Mark	Mk	47	6	56	And wherever he entered villages, or farmsteads, or towns, they used to lay the sick down in the open streets, and beg him to let them touch even the hem of his cloak; and all those who touched him recovered.
 Mark	Mk	47	7	1	Then the Pharisees and some of the scribes, who had come from Jerusalem, gathered round him;
 Mark	Mk	47	7	2	and these found fault, because they saw that some of his disciples sat down to eat with their hands defiled, that is, unwashed.
 Mark	Mk	47	7	3	For the Pharisees, and indeed all the Jews, holding to the tradition of their ancestors, never eat without washing their hands again and again;
 Mark	Mk	47	7	4	they will not sit down to meat, coming from the market, without thorough cleansing; and there are many other customs which they hold to by tradition, purifying of cups and pitchers and pans and beds.
 Mark	Mk	47	7	5	So the Pharisees and scribes asked him, Why do thy disciples eat with defiled hands, instead of following the tradition of our ancestors?
 Mark	Mk	47	7	6	But he answered, You hypocrites, it was a true prophecy Isaias made of you, writing as he did, This people does me honour with its lips, but its heart is far from me;
 Mark	Mk	47	7	7	their worship of me is vain, for the doctrines they teach are the commandments of men.
 Mark	Mk	47	7	8	You leave God’s commandment on one side, and hold to the tradition of man, the purifying of pitchers and cups, and many other like observances.
 Mark	Mk	47	7	9	And he told them, You have quite defeated God’s commandment, to establish your own tradition instead.
 Mark	Mk	47	7	10	Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother, and, He who curses father or mother dies without hope of reprieve.
 Mark	Mk	47	7	11	But you say, Let a man tell his father or his mother, All the money out of which you might get help from me is now Corban (that is, an offering to God),
 Mark	Mk	47	7	12	and then you will not let him do any more for father or mother.
 Mark	Mk	47	7	13	With this and many like observances, you are making God’s law ineffectual through the tradition you have handed down.
 Mark	Mk	47	7	14	And he called the multitude to him, and said to them, Listen to me, all of you, and grasp this;
 Mark	Mk	47	7	15	Nothing that finds its way into a man from outside can make him unclean; what makes a man unclean is what comes out of a man.
 Mark	Mk	47	7	16	Listen, you that have ears to hear with.
 Mark	Mk	47	7	17	When he had gone into the house, away from the multitude, his disciples asked him the meaning of the parable.
 Mark	Mk	47	7	18	And he said to them, Are you still so slow of wit? Do you not observe that all the uncleanness which goes into a man has no means of defiling him,
 Mark	Mk	47	7	19	because it travels, not into his heart, but into the belly, and so finds its way into the sewer? Thus he declared all meat to be clean,
 Mark	Mk	47	7	20	and told them that what defiles a man is that which comes out of him.
 Mark	Mk	47	7	21	For it is from within, from the hearts of men, that their wicked designs come, their sins of adultery, fornication, murder,
 Mark	Mk	47	7	22	theft, covetousness, malice, deceit, lasciviousness, envy, blasphemy, pride and folly.
 Mark	Mk	47	7	23	All these evils come from within, and it is these which make a man unclean.
 Mark	Mk	47	7	24	After this, Jesus left those parts, and withdrew into the neighbourhood of Tyre and Sidon. There he went into a house, and did not wish anyone to know of it; but he could not go unrecognized,
 Mark	Mk	47	7	25	for a woman came to hear of it, whose daughter was possessed by an unclean spirit, and she came in and fell at his feet.
 Mark	Mk	47	7	26	This woman was a Gentile, a Syrophenician by race, and she begged him to cast the devil out of her daughter.
 Mark	Mk	47	7	27	But he said to her, Let the children have their fill first; it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.
 Mark	Mk	47	7	28	She answered him, Ah, yes, Lord; the dogs eat of the crumbs the children leave, underneath the table.
 Mark	Mk	47	7	29	And he said to her, In reward for this word of thine, back home with thee; the devil has left thy daughter.
 Mark	Mk	47	7	30	And when she came back to her house, she found her daughter lying on the bed, and the devil gone.
 Mark	Mk	47	7	31	Then he set out again from the region of Tyre, and came by way of Sidon to the sea of Galilee, right into the region of Decapolis.
 Mark	Mk	47	7	32	And they brought to him a man who was deaf and dumb, with the prayer that he would lay his hand upon him.
 Mark	Mk	47	7	33	And he took him aside out of the multitude; he put his fingers into his ears, and spat, and touched his tongue;
 Mark	Mk	47	7	34	then he looked up to heaven, and sighed; Ephpheta, he said, (that is, Be opened).
 Mark	Mk	47	7	35	Whereupon his ears were opened, and the bond which tied his tongue was loosed, and he talked plainly.
 Mark	Mk	47	7	36	And he laid a strict charge on them, not to speak of it to anyone; but the more he charged them, the more widely they published it,
 Mark	Mk	47	7	37	and were more than ever astonished; He has done well, they said, in all his doings; he has made the deaf hear, and the dumb speak.
 Mark	Mk	47	8	1	Once more, at this time, the multitude had grown in numbers, and had nothing to eat. And he called his disciples to him, and said to them,
 Mark	Mk	47	8	2	I am moved with pity for the multitude; it is three days now since they have been in attendance on me, and they have nothing to eat.
 Mark	Mk	47	8	3	If I send them back to their homes fasting, they will grow faint on their journey; some of them have come from far off.
 Mark	Mk	47	8	4	His disciples answered him, How could anyone find bread to feed them, here in the desert?
 Mark	Mk	47	8	5	And he asked them, How many loaves have you? Seven, they said.
 Mark	Mk	47	8	6	And he gave word to the multitude to sit down on the ground. Then he took the seven loaves, and when he had blessed and broken he gave these to his disciples to set before them; so they set them before the multitude.
 Mark	Mk	47	8	7	And they had a few small fishes; these he blessed, and ordered that these, too, should be set before them;
 Mark	Mk	47	8	8	and they ate, and had enough. When they picked up what was left of the broken pieces, it filled seven hampers;
 Mark	Mk	47	8	9	about four thousand had eaten. And so he sent them home.
 Mark	Mk	47	8	10	Thereupon he embarked, with his disciples, and went into the part round Dalmanutha.
 Mark	Mk	47	8	11	Here the Pharisees came out and entered upon a dispute with him; to put him to the test, they asked him to shew them a sign from heaven.
 Mark	Mk	47	8	12	And he sighed deeply in his spirit, and said, Why does this generation ask for a sign? Believe me, this generation shall have no sign given it.
 Mark	Mk	47	8	13	And so he left them, and took ship again, and crossed to the further side.
 Mark	Mk	47	8	14	They had forgotten to take bread with them, and had no more than one loaf in the boat;
 Mark	Mk	47	8	15	and when he warned them, Look well, and avoid the leaven of the Pharisees, and the leaven of Herod,
 Mark	Mk	47	8	16	they said anxiously to one another, We have brought no bread.
 Mark	Mk	47	8	17	Jesus knew it, and said, What is this anxiety, that you have brought no bread with you? Have you no sense, no wits, even now? Is your heart still dull?
 Mark	Mk	47	8	18	Have you eyes that cannot see, and ears that cannot hear; do you remember nothing?
 Mark	Mk	47	8	19	When I broke the five loaves among the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up? They told him, Twelve.
 Mark	Mk	47	8	20	And when I broke the seven loaves among the four thousand, how many hampers full of broken pieces did you take up then? And they told him, Seven.
 Mark	Mk	47	8	21	Then he said to them, How is it that you still do not understand?
 Mark	Mk	47	8	22	So they came to Bethsaida. And they brought to him a blind man, whom they entreated him to touch.
 Mark	Mk	47	8	23	He took the blind man by the hand, and led him outside the village; then he spat into his eyes, and laid his hands on him, and asked him if he could see anything?
 Mark	Mk	47	8	24	He looked up and said, I can see men as if they were trees, but walking.
 Mark	Mk	47	8	25	Once more Jesus laid his hands upon his eyes, and he began to see right; and soon he recovered, so that he could see everything clearly.
 Mark	Mk	47	8	26	Then he sent him back to his house; Go home, he said, and if thou shouldst enter the village, do not tell anyone of it.
 Mark	Mk	47	8	27	Then Jesus went with his disciples into the villages round Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, Who do men say that I am?
 Mark	Mk	47	8	28	They answered, John the Baptist, and others say Elias; others that thou art like one of the prophets.
 Mark	Mk	47	8	29	Then he said to them, And what of you? Who do you say that I am? Peter answered him, Thou art the Christ.
 Mark	Mk	47	8	30	And he strictly charged them not to tell anyone about him.
 Mark	Mk	47	8	31	And now he began to make it known to them that the Son of Man must be much ill-used, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be put to death, and rise again after three days.
 Mark	Mk	47	8	32	This he told them openly; whereupon Peter, drawing him to his side, fell to reproaching him.
 Mark	Mk	47	8	33	But he turned about, and, seeing his disciples there, rebuked Peter; Back, Satan, he said, these thoughts of thine are man’s, not God’s.
 Mark	Mk	47	8	34	And he called his disciples to him, and the multitude with them, and said to them, If any man has a mind to come my way, let him renounce self, and take up his cross, and follow me.
 Mark	Mk	47	8	35	The man who tries to save his life will lose it; it is the man who loses his life for my sake and for the gospel’s sake, that will save it.
 Mark	Mk	47	8	36	How is a man the better for it, if he gains the whole world at the expense of losing his own soul?
 Mark	Mk	47	8	37	For a man’s soul, what price can be high enough?
 Mark	Mk	47	8	38	If anyone is ashamed of acknowledging me and my words before this unfaithful and wicked generation, the Son of Man, when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels, will be ashamed to acknowledge him.
 Mark	Mk	47	8	39	Believe me, there are those standing here who will not taste of death before they have seen the kingdom of God present in all its power.
 Mark	Mk	47	9	1	Six days afterwards, Jesus took Peter and James and John with him, and led them up to a high mountain where they were alone by themselves; and he was transfigured in their presence.
 Mark	Mk	47	9	2	His garments became bright, dazzling white like snow, white as no fuller here on earth could have made them.
 Mark	Mk	47	9	3	And they had sight of Elias, with Moses; these two were conversing with Jesus.
 Mark	Mk	47	9	4	Then Peter said aloud to Jesus, Master, it is well that we should be here; let us make three arbours, one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias;
 Mark	Mk	47	9	5	he did not know what to say, for they were overcome with fear.
 Mark	Mk	47	9	6	And a cloud formed, overshadowing them; and from the cloud came a voice, which said, This is my beloved Son; to him, then, listen.
 Mark	Mk	47	9	7	Then, on a sudden, they looked round them, and saw no one any more, but Jesus only with them.
 Mark	Mk	47	9	8	And as they were coming down from the mountain, he warned them not to tell anyone what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead;
 Mark	Mk	47	9	9	so they kept the matter to themselves, wondering what the words could mean, When he has risen from the dead.
 Mark	Mk	47	9	10	And they asked him, Tell us, why do the Pharisees and scribes say Elias must come before Christ?
 Mark	Mk	47	9	11	He answered them, Elias must needs come and restore all things as they were; and now, what is written of the Son of Man? That he must be much ill-used, and despised.
 Mark	Mk	47	9	12	Elias too, I tell you, has already come, and they have misused him at their pleasure, as the scriptures tell of him.
 Mark	Mk	47	9	13	When he reached his disciples, he found a great multitude gathered around them, and some of the scribes disputing with them.
 Mark	Mk	47	9	14	The multitude, as soon as they saw him, were overcome with awe, and ran up to welcome him.
 Mark	Mk	47	9	15	He asked them, What is the dispute you are holding among you?
 Mark	Mk	47	9	16	And one of the multitude answered, Master, I have brought my son to thee; he is possessed by a dumb spirit,
 Mark	Mk	47	9	17	and wherever it seizes on him, it tears him, and he foams at the mouth, and gnashes his teeth, and his strength is drained from him. And I bade thy disciples cast it out, but they were powerless.
 Mark	Mk	47	9	18	And he answered them, Ah, faithless generation, how long must I be with you, how long must I bear with you? Bring him to me.
 Mark	Mk	47	9	19	So they brought the boy to him; and the evil spirit, as soon as it saw him, threw the boy into a convulsion, so that he fell on the ground, writhing and foaming at the mouth.
 Mark	Mk	47	9	20	And now Jesus asked the father, How long has this been happening to him? From childhood, he said;
 Mark	Mk	47	9	21	and often it has thrown him into the fire, and into water, to make an end of him. Come, have pity on us, and help us if thou canst.
 Mark	Mk	47	9	22	But Jesus said to him, If thou canst believe, to him who believes, everything is possible.
 Mark	Mk	47	9	23	Whereupon the father of the boy cried aloud, in tears, Lord, I do believe; succour my unbelief.
 Mark	Mk	47	9	24	And Jesus, seeing how the multitude was gathering round them, rebuked the unclean spirit; Thou dumb and deaf spirit, he said, it is I that command thee; come out of him, and never enter into him again.
 Mark	Mk	47	9	25	With that, crying aloud and throwing him into a violent convulsion, it came out of him, and he lay there like a corpse, so that many declared, He is dead.
 Mark	Mk	47	9	26	But Jesus took hold of his hand, and raised him, and he stood up.
 Mark	Mk	47	9	27	When he had gone into a house, and they were alone, the disciples asked him, Why was it that we could not cast it out?
 Mark	Mk	47	9	28	And he told them, There is no way of casting out such spirits as this except by prayer and fasting.
 Mark	Mk	47	9	29	Then they left those parts, and passed straight through Galilee, and he would not let anyone know of his passage;
 Mark	Mk	47	9	30	he spent the time teaching his disciples. The Son of Man, he said, is to be given up into the hands of men. They will put him to death, and he will rise again on the third day.
 Mark	Mk	47	9	31	But they could not understand his meaning, and were afraid to ask him.
 Mark	Mk	47	9	32	So they came to Capharnaum; and there, when they were in the house, he asked them, What was the dispute you were holding on the way?
 Mark	Mk	47	9	33	They said nothing, for they had been disputing among themselves which should be the greatest of them.
 Mark	Mk	47	9	34	Then he sat down, and called the twelve to him, and said, If anyone has a mind to be the greatest, he must be the last of all, and the servant of all.
 Mark	Mk	47	9	35	And he took a little child, and gave it a place in the midst of them; and he took it in his arms, and said to them:
 Mark	Mk	47	9	36	Whoever welcomes such a child as this in my name, welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me, welcomes, not me, but him that sent me.
 Mark	Mk	47	9	37	And John answered him, Master, we saw a man who does not follow in our company casting out devils in thy name, and we forbade him to do it.
 Mark	Mk	47	9	38	But Jesus said, Forbid him no more; no one who does a miracle in my name will lightly speak evil of me.
 Mark	Mk	47	9	39	The man who is not against you is on your side.
 Mark	Mk	47	9	40	Why, if anyone gives you a cup of water to drink in my name, because you are Christ’s, I promise you, he shall not miss his reward.
 Mark	Mk	47	9	41	And if anyone hurts the conscience of one of these little ones, that believe in me, he had better have been cast into the sea, with a millstone about his neck.
 Mark	Mk	47	9	42	If thy hand is an occasion of falling to thee, cut it off; better for thee to enter into life maimed, than to have two hands when thou goest into hell, into unquenchable fire;
 Mark	Mk	47	9	43	the worm which eats them there never dies, the fire is never quenched.
 Mark	Mk	47	9	44	And if thy foot is an occasion of falling to thee, cut it off; better for thee to enter into eternal life lame, than to have both feet when thou art cast into the unquenchable fire of hell;
 Mark	Mk	47	9	45	the worm which eats them there never dies, the fire is never quenched.
 Mark	Mk	47	9	46	And if thy eye is an occasion of falling, pluck it out; better for thee to enter blind into the kingdom of God, than to have two eyes when thou art cast into the fire of hell;
 Mark	Mk	47	9	47	the worm which eats them there never dies, the fire is never quenched.
 Mark	Mk	47	9	48	Fire will be every man’s seasoning; every victim must be seasoned with salt.
 Mark	Mk	47	9	49	Salt is a good thing, but if the salt becomes tasteless, what will you use to season it with? You must have salt in yourselves, and keep peace among you.
 Mark	Mk	47	10	1	Removing thence, he entered the territory of Judaea which lies beyond the Jordan. Multitudes gathered round him once more; and once more he began to teach them, as his custom was.
 Mark	Mk	47	10	2	Then the Pharisees came and put him to the test by asking him, whether it is right for a man to put away his wife.
 Mark	Mk	47	10	3	He answered them, What command did Moses give you?
 Mark	Mk	47	10	4	And they said, Moses left a man free to put his wife away, if he gave her a writ of separation.
 Mark	Mk	47	10	5	Jesus answered them, It was to suit your hard hearts that Moses wrote such a command as that;
 Mark	Mk	47	10	6	God, from the first days of creation, made them man and woman.
 Mark	Mk	47	10	7	A man, therefore, will leave his father and mother and will cling to his wife,
 Mark	Mk	47	10	8	and the two will become one flesh. Why then, since they are no longer two, but one flesh,
 Mark	Mk	47	10	9	what God has joined, let not man put asunder.
 Mark	Mk	47	10	10	And when they were in the house, his disciples asked him further about the same question.
 Mark	Mk	47	10	11	Whereupon he told them, If a man puts away his wife and marries another, he behaves adulterously towards her,
 Mark	Mk	47	10	12	and if a woman puts away her husband and marries another, she is an adulteress.
 Mark	Mk	47	10	13	Then they brought children to him, asking him to touch them; and his disciples rebuked those who brought them.
 Mark	Mk	47	10	14	But Jesus was indignant at seeing this; Let the children come to me, he said, do not keep them back; the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
 Mark	Mk	47	10	15	I tell you truthfully, the man who does not welcome the kingdom of God like a child, will never enter into it.
 Mark	Mk	47	10	16	And so he embraced them, laid his hands upon them, and blessed them.
 Mark	Mk	47	10	17	Then he went out to continue his journey; and a man ran up and knelt down before him, asking him, Master, who art so good, what must I do to achieve eternal life?
 Mark	Mk	47	10	18	Jesus said to him, Why dost thou call me good? None is good, except God only.
 Mark	Mk	47	10	19	Thou knowest the commandments, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not wrong any man, Honour thy father and thy mother.
 Mark	Mk	47	10	20	Master, he answered, I have kept all these ever since I grew up.
 Mark	Mk	47	10	21	Then Jesus fastened his eyes on him, and conceived a love for him; In one thing, he said, thou art still wanting. Go home and sell all that belongs to thee; give it to the poor, and so the treasure thou hast shall be in heaven; then come back and follow me.
 Mark	Mk	47	10	22	At this, his face fell, and he went away sorrowing, for he had great possessions.
 Mark	Mk	47	10	23	And Jesus looked round, and said to his disciples, With what difficulty will those who have riches enter God’s kingdom!
 Mark	Mk	47	10	24	The disciples were amazed at his words; but Jesus gave them a second answer, My children, how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter God’s kingdom!
 Mark	Mk	47	10	25	It is easier for a camel to pass through a needle’s eye, than for a man to enter the kingdom of God when he is rich.
 Mark	Mk	47	10	26	They were still more astonished; Why then, they said to themselves, who can be saved?
 Mark	Mk	47	10	27	Jesus fastened his eyes on them, and said, Such things are impossible to man’s powers, but not to God’s; to God, all things are possible.
 Mark	Mk	47	10	28	Hereupon Peter took occasion to say, What of us, who have forsaken all, and followed thee?
 Mark	Mk	47	10	29	Jesus answered, I promise you, everyone who has forsaken home, or brothers, or sisters, or mother, or children, or lands for my sake and for the sake of the gospel,
 Mark	Mk	47	10	30	will receive, now in this world, a hundred times their worth, houses, sisters, brothers, mothers, children and lands, but with persecution; and in the world to come he will receive everlasting life.
 Mark	Mk	47	10	31	But many will be first that were last, and last that were first.
 Mark	Mk	47	10	32	And now they were on the way going up to Jerusalem; and still Jesus led them on, while they were bewildered and followed him with faint hearts. Then once more he brought the twelve apostles to his side, and began to tell them what was to befall him:
 Mark	Mk	47	10	33	Now, we are going up to Jerusalem; and there the Son of Man will be given up into the hands of the chief priests and scribes, who will condemn him to death; and these will give him up into the hands of the Gentiles,
 Mark	Mk	47	10	34	who will mock him, and spit upon him, and scourge him, and kill him; but on the third day he will rise again.
 Mark	Mk	47	10	35	Thereupon James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him and said, Master, we would have thee grant the request we are to make.
 Mark	Mk	47	10	36	And he asked them, What would you have me do for you?
 Mark	Mk	47	10	37	They said to him, Grant that one of us may take his place on thy right and the other on thy left, when thou art glorified.
 Mark	Mk	47	10	38	But Jesus said to them, You do not know what it is you ask. Have you strength to drink of the cup I am to drink of, to be baptized with the baptism I am to be baptized with?
 Mark	Mk	47	10	39	They said to him, We have. And Jesus told them, You shall indeed drink of the cup I am to drink of, and be baptized with the baptism I am to be baptized with;
 Mark	Mk	47	10	40	but a place on my right hand or my left is not mine to give you; it is for those for whom it has been destined.
 Mark	Mk	47	10	41	The ten others grew indignant with James and John when they heard of it.
 Mark	Mk	47	10	42	But Jesus called them to him, and said to them, You know that, among the Gentiles, those who claim to bear rule lord it over them, and those who are great among them make the most of the power they have.
 Mark	Mk	47	10	43	With you it must be otherwise; whoever has a mind to be great among you, must be your servant,
 Mark	Mk	47	10	44	and whoever has a mind to be first among you, must be your slave.
 Mark	Mk	47	10	45	So it is that the Son of Man did not come to have service done him; he came to serve others, and to give his life as a ransom for the lives of many.
 Mark	Mk	47	10	46	And now they reached Jericho. As he was leaving Jericho, with his disciples and with a great multitude, Bartimaeus, the blind man, Timaeus’ son, was sitting there by the way-side, begging.
 Mark	Mk	47	10	47	And, hearing that this was Jesus of Nazareth, he fell to crying out, Jesus, son of David, have pity on me.
 Mark	Mk	47	10	48	Many of them rebuked him and told him to be silent, but he cried out all the more, Son of David, have pity on me.
 Mark	Mk	47	10	49	Jesus stopped, and bade them summon him; so they summoned the blind man; Take heart, they said, and rise up; he is summoning thee.
 Mark	Mk	47	10	50	Whereupon he threw away his cloak and leapt to his feet, and so came to Jesus.
 Mark	Mk	47	10	51	Then Jesus answered him, What wouldst thou have me do for thee? And the blind man said to him, Lord, give me back my sight.
 Mark	Mk	47	10	52	Jesus said to him, Away home with thee; thy faith has brought thee recovery. And all at once he recovered his sight, and followed Jesus on his way.
 Mark	Mk	47	11	1	When they were approaching Jerusalem, and Bethany, which is close to mount Olivet, he sent two of his disciples on an errand:
 Mark	Mk	47	11	2	Go into the village that faces you, he told them, and the first thing you will find there upon entering will be a colt tethered, one on which no man has ever ridden; untie it, and bring it to me.
 Mark	Mk	47	11	3	And if anyone asks you, Why are you doing that? tell him, the Lord has need of it, and he will let you have it without more ado.
 Mark	Mk	47	11	4	So they went, and found the colt tethered before a door at the entrance; and they untied it.
 Mark	Mk	47	11	5	Some of the bystanders asked them, What are you doing, untying the colt?
 Mark	Mk	47	11	6	And they answered them as Jesus had bidden, and were allowed to take it.
 Mark	Mk	47	11	7	So they brought the colt to Jesus, and saddled it with their garments, and he mounted it.
 Mark	Mk	47	11	8	Many of them spread their garments in the way, and others strewed the way with leaves they had cut down from the trees.
 Mark	Mk	47	11	9	And those who went before him and followed after him cried aloud, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord;
 Mark	Mk	47	11	10	blessed is the kingdom of our father David which is coming to us; Hosanna in heaven above.
 Mark	Mk	47	11	11	So he came to Jerusalem, and went into the temple, where he surveyed all that was about him, and then, for the hour was already late, went out, with the twelve, to Bethany.
 Mark	Mk	47	11	12	When they had left Bethany next day, he was hungry;
 Mark	Mk	47	11	13	and, observing a fig-tree some way off with its leaves out, he went up to see if he could find anything on it. But when he reached it, he found leaves and nothing else; it was not the right season for figs.
 Mark	Mk	47	11	14	And he said to it aloud, in the hearing of his disciples; Let no man ever eat fruit of thine hereafter.
 Mark	Mk	47	11	15	So they came to Jerusalem. And there Jesus went into the temple, and began driving out those who sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the bankers, and the chairs of the pigeon-sellers;
 Mark	Mk	47	11	16	nor would he allow anyone to carry his wares through the temple.
 Mark	Mk	47	11	17	And this was the admonition he gave them, Is it not written, My house shall be known among all the nations for a house of prayer? Whereas you have made it into a den of thieves.
 Mark	Mk	47	11	18	The chief priests and scribes heard of this, and looked for some means of making away with him; they were afraid of him, because all the multitude was so full of admiration at his teaching.
 Mark	Mk	47	11	19	He left the city at evening,
 Mark	Mk	47	11	20	and next morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig-tree withered from its roots.
 Mark	Mk	47	11	21	Peter had not forgotten; Master, he said, look at the fig-tree which thou didst curse; it has withered away.
 Mark	Mk	47	11	22	And Jesus answered them, Have faith in God.
 Mark	Mk	47	11	23	I promise you, if anyone says to this mountain, Remove, and be cast into the sea, and has no hesitation in his heart, but is sure that what he says is to come about, his wish will be granted him.
 Mark	Mk	47	11	24	I tell you, then, when you ask for anything in prayer, you have only to believe that it is yours, and it will be granted you.
 Mark	Mk	47	11	25	When you stand praying, forgive whatever wrong any man has done you; so that your Father who is in heaven may forgive you your transgressions;
 Mark	Mk	47	11	26	if you do not forgive, your Father who is in heaven will not forgive your transgressions either.
 Mark	Mk	47	11	27	So they came back to Jerusalem. And as he was walking about in the temple, the chief priests and scribes and elders came to him
 Mark	Mk	47	11	28	and asked him, What is the authority by which thou doest these things, and who gave thee this authority to do them?
 Mark	Mk	47	11	29	Jesus answered them, I too have a question to ask; if you can tell me the answer, I will tell you in return what is the authority by which I do these things.
 Mark	Mk	47	11	30	Whence did John’s baptism come, from heaven or from men?
 Mark	Mk	47	11	31	Whereupon they cast about in their minds; If we tell him it was from heaven, they said, he will ask us, Then why did you not believe him?
 Mark	Mk	47	11	32	And if we say it was from men, we have reason to be afraid of the people; for the people all looked upon John as a prophet indeed.
 Mark	Mk	47	11	33	And they answered Jesus, We cannot tell. Jesus answered them, And you will not learn from me what is the authority by which I do these things.
 Mark	Mk	47	12	1	Then he began to speak to them in parables; There was a man who planted a vineyard, and put a wall round it, and dug a wine-press and built a tower in it, and then let it out to some vine-dressers, while he went on his travels.
 Mark	Mk	47	12	2	And when the season came, he sent one of his servants on an errand to the vine-dressers, to claim from the vine-dressers the revenue of his vineyard.
 Mark	Mk	47	12	3	Whereupon they took him and beat him, and sent him away empty-handed.
 Mark	Mk	47	12	4	Then he sent another servant on a second errand to them, and him too they beat over the head and used him outrageously.
 Mark	Mk	47	12	5	He sent another, whom they killed; and many others, whom they beat or killed at their pleasure.
 Mark	Mk	47	12	6	He had still one messenger left, his own well-beloved son; him he sent to them last of all; They will have reverence, he said, for my son.
 Mark	Mk	47	12	7	But the vine-dressers said among themselves, This is the heir, come, let us kill him, and then his inheritance will be ours.
 Mark	Mk	47	12	8	So they took him and killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard.
 Mark	Mk	47	12	9	And now, what will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come, and make an end of those vine-dressers, and give his vineyard to others.
 Mark	Mk	47	12	10	Why, have you not read this passage in the scriptures, The very stone which the builders rejected has become the chief stone at the corner;
 Mark	Mk	47	12	11	this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?
 Mark	Mk	47	12	12	This parable, they saw, was aimed at themselves, and they would gladly have laid hands on him, but they were afraid of the multitude; so they went away and left him alone.
 Mark	Mk	47	12	13	Then they sent some of the Pharisees to him, with those who were of Herod’s party, to make him betray himself in his talk.
 Mark	Mk	47	12	14	These came and said to him, Master, we know that thou art sincere; that thou holdest no one in awe, making no distinction between man and man, but teachest in all sincerity the way of God. Is it right that tribute should be paid to Caesar? Or should we refuse to pay it?
 Mark	Mk	47	12	15	But he saw their treachery, and said to them, Why do you thus put me to the test? Bring me a silver piece, and let me look at it.
 Mark	Mk	47	12	16	When they brought it, he asked them, Whose is this likeness? Whose name is inscribed on it? Caesar’s, they said.
 Mark	Mk	47	12	17	Whereupon Jesus answered them, Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s. And they were lost in admiration of him.
 Mark	Mk	47	12	18	Then he was approached with a question by the Sadducees, men who say that there is no resurrection:
 Mark	Mk	47	12	19	Master, they said, Moses prescribed for us that if a man’s brother dies, leaving a widow behind him but no children, he, the brother, should marry the widow, and beget children in the dead brother’s name.
 Mark	Mk	47	12	20	There were seven brethren; the first married a wife, and died childless;
 Mark	Mk	47	12	21	the second married her, and he too left no children, and so with the third;
 Mark	Mk	47	12	22	all seven married her, without having children, and the woman died last of all.
 Mark	Mk	47	12	23	And now, when the dead rise again, which of these will be her husband, since she was wife to all seven?
 Mark	Mk	47	12	24	Jesus answered them, Is not this where you are wrong, that you do not understand the scriptures, or what is the power of God?
 Mark	Mk	47	12	25	When the dead rise, there is no marrying or giving in marriage, they are as the angels in heaven are.
 Mark	Mk	47	12	26	But as for the dead rising again, have you never read in the book of Moses how God spoke to him at the burning bush, and said, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?
 Mark	Mk	47	12	27	Yet it is of living men, not of dead men, that he is the God; you are wrong, then, altogether.
 Mark	Mk	47	12	28	One of the scribes heard their dispute, and, finding that he answered to the purpose, came up and asked him, Which is the first commandment of all?
 Mark	Mk	47	12	29	Jesus answered him, The first commandment of all is, Listen, Israel; there is no God but the Lord thy God;
 Mark	Mk	47	12	30	and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with the love of thy whole heart, and thy whole soul, and thy whole mind, and thy whole strength. This is the first commandment,
 Mark	Mk	47	12	31	and the second, its like, is this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is no other commandment greater than these.
 Mark	Mk	47	12	32	And the scribe said to him, Truly, Master, thou hast answered well; there is but one God, and no other beside him;
 Mark	Mk	47	12	33	and if a man loves God with all his heart and all his soul and all his understanding and all his strength, and his neighbour as himself, that is a greater thing than all burnt-offerings and sacrifices.
 Mark	Mk	47	12	34	Then Jesus, seeing how wisely he had answered, said to him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And after this, no one dared to try him with further questions.
 Mark	Mk	47	12	35	Then Jesus said openly, still teaching in the temple, What do the scribes mean by saying that Christ is to be the son of David?
 Mark	Mk	47	12	36	David himself was moved by the Holy Spirit to say, The Lord said to my Master, Sit on my right hand while I make thy enemies a footstool under thy feet.
 Mark	Mk	47	12	37	Thus David himself calls Christ his Master; how can he be also his son? And the multitude at large listened to him readily.
 Mark	Mk	47	12	38	This was part of the teaching he gave them, Beware of the scribes, who enjoy walking in long robes, and having their hands kissed in the market-place,
 Mark	Mk	47	12	39	and the first seats in the synagogues, and the chief places at feasts;
 Mark	Mk	47	12	40	who swallow up the property of widows, under cover of their long prayers; their sentence will be all the heavier for that.
 Mark	Mk	47	12	41	As he was sitting opposite the treasury of the temple, Jesus watched the multitude throwing coins into the treasury, the many rich with their many offerings;
 Mark	Mk	47	12	42	and there was one poor widow, who came and put in two mites, which make a farthing.
 Mark	Mk	47	12	43	Thereupon he called his disciples to him, and said to them, Believe me, this poor widow has put in more than all those others who have put offerings into the treasury.
 Mark	Mk	47	12	44	The others all gave out of what they had to spare; she, with so little to give, put in all that she had, her whole livelihood.
 Mark	Mk	47	13	1	As he was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, Look, Master, what stones! What a fabric!
 Mark	Mk	47	13	2	Jesus answered him, Do you see all this huge fabric? There will not be a stone of it left on another; it will all be thrown down.
 Mark	Mk	47	13	3	So, when he was sitting down on mount Olivet, opposite the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him, now that they were alone:
 Mark	Mk	47	13	4	Tell us, when will this be? And what sign will be given, when all this is soon to be accomplished?
 Mark	Mk	47	13	5	Take care, Jesus began in answer, that you do not allow anyone to deceive you.
 Mark	Mk	47	13	6	Many will come making use of my name; they will say, Here I am, and many will be deceived by it.
 Mark	Mk	47	13	7	When you hear tell of wars, and rumours of war, do not be disturbed in mind; such things must happen, but the end will not come yet.
 Mark	Mk	47	13	8	Nation will rise in arms against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, there will be earthquakes in this region or that, there will be famines: all this is but the beginning of travail.
 Mark	Mk	47	13	9	But you will have to think of yourselves; men will be giving you up to courts of justice, and scourging you in the synagogues, yes, and you will be brought before governors and kings on my account, so that you can bear witness to them;
 Mark	Mk	47	13	10	the gospel must be preached to all nations before the end.
 Mark	Mk	47	13	11	When they take you and hand you over thus, do not consider anxiously beforehand what you are to say; use what words are given you when the time comes; it is not you that speak, it is the Holy Spirit.
 Mark	Mk	47	13	12	Brother will be given up to death by brother, and the son by his father; children will rise up against their parents, and will compass their deaths;
 Mark	Mk	47	13	13	all the world will be hating you because you bear my name; but that man will be saved, who endures to the last.
 Mark	Mk	47	13	14	And now, when you see the abomination of desolation standing where it should never stand (let him who reads this, recognize what it means), then those who are in Judaea must take refuge in the mountains;
 Mark	Mk	47	13	15	not going down into the house, if they are on the house-top, or entering the house to carry anything away from it;
 Mark	Mk	47	13	16	not turning back, if they are in the fields, to pick up a cloak.
 Mark	Mk	47	13	17	It will go hard with women who are with child, or have children at the breast, in those days.
 Mark	Mk	47	13	18	And you must pray that your flight may not be in the winter;
 Mark	Mk	47	13	19	for those days will be days of distress, such as has not been since the beginning of creation till now, and can never be again.
 Mark	Mk	47	13	20	There would have been no hope left for any human creature, if the Lord had not cut those days short; but he has cut the days short for the sake of the elect, whom he has chosen.
 Mark	Mk	47	13	21	At such a time, if a man tells you, See, here is Christ, or, See, he is there, do not believe him.
 Mark	Mk	47	13	22	There will be false Christs and false prophets who will rise up and shew signs and wonders, so that, if it were possible, even the elect would be deceived.
 Mark	Mk	47	13	23	But you must be on your guard; hereby, I have given you warning of it all.
 Mark	Mk	47	13	24	In those days, after this distress, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will refuse her light;
 Mark	Mk	47	13	25	and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers that are in heaven will rock;
 Mark	Mk	47	13	26	and then they will see the Son of Man coming upon the clouds, with great power and glory.
 Mark	Mk	47	13	27	And then he will send out his angels, to gather his elect from the four winds, from earth’s end to heaven’s.
 Mark	Mk	47	13	28	The fig-tree will teach you a parable; when its branch grows supple, and begins to put out leaves, you know that summer is near;
 Mark	Mk	47	13	29	so you, when you see all this come about, are to know that it is near, at your very doors.
 Mark	Mk	47	13	30	Believe me, this generation will not have passed, before all this is accomplished.
 Mark	Mk	47	13	31	Though heaven and earth should pass away, my words will stand.
 Mark	Mk	47	13	32	But as for that day and that hour you speak of, they are known to nobody, not even to the angels in heaven, not even to the Son; only the Father knows them.
 Mark	Mk	47	13	33	Look well to it; watch and pray; you do not know when the time is to come.
 Mark	Mk	47	13	34	It is as if a man going on his travels had left his house, entrusting authority to his servants, each of them to do his own work, and enjoining the door-keeper to watch.
 Mark	Mk	47	13	35	Be on the watch, then, since you do not know when the master of the house is coming, at twilight, or midnight, or cock-crow, or dawn;
 Mark	Mk	47	13	36	if not, he may come suddenly, and find you asleep.
 Mark	Mk	47	13	37	And what I say to you, I say to all, Watch.
 Mark	Mk	47	14	1	It was now two days to the paschal feast and the time of unleavened bread; and the chief priests and scribes were trying to bring Jesus into their power by cunning, and put him to death;
 Mark	Mk	47	14	2	But not on the day of the feast, they said, or there may be an uproar among the people.
 Mark	Mk	47	14	3	And then, while he was in the house of Simon the leper, at Bethany, sitting at table, a woman came in with a pot of very precious spikenard ointment, which, first breaking the pot, she poured over his head.
 Mark	Mk	47	14	4	There were some present who were indignant when they saw it, and said among themselves, What did she mean by wasting the ointment so?
 Mark	Mk	47	14	5	This ointment might have been sold for three hundred pieces of silver, and alms might have been given to the poor. And they rebuked her angrily.
 Mark	Mk	47	14	6	But Jesus said, Let her alone; why should you vex her? She did well to treat me so.
 Mark	Mk	47	14	7	You have the poor among you always, so that you can do good to them when you will; I am not always among you.
 Mark	Mk	47	14	8	She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand to prepare it for burial.
 Mark	Mk	47	14	9	I promise you, in whatever part of the world this gospel is preached, the story of what she has done shall be told in its place, to preserve her memory.
 Mark	Mk	47	14	10	Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went to the chief priests and offered to betray him into their hands.
 Mark	Mk	47	14	11	And they, listening to him eagerly, promised him money; whereupon he looked about for an opportunity to betray him.
 Mark	Mk	47	14	12	On the first of the days of unleavened bread, when they killed the paschal victim, his disciples asked him, Where wilt thou have us go and make ready for thee to eat the paschal meal?
 Mark	Mk	47	14	13	And he sent two of his disciples on this errand, Go into the city, and there a man will meet you, carrying a jar of water; you are to follow him,
 Mark	Mk	47	14	14	and say to the owner of the house into which he enters, The master says, Where is my room, in which I am to eat the paschal meal with my disciples?
 Mark	Mk	47	14	15	And he will shew you a large upper room, furnished and prepared; it is there that you are to make ready for us.
 Mark	Mk	47	14	16	So the disciples left him and went into the city, where they found all as he had told them, and so made ready for the paschal meal.
 Mark	Mk	47	14	17	When it was evening, he came there with the twelve.
 Mark	Mk	47	14	18	And as they sat at table and were eating, Jesus said, Believe me, one of you, one who is eating with me, is to betray me.
 Mark	Mk	47	14	19	They began to ask him sorrowfully, each in turn, Is it I? and then another, Is it I?
 Mark	Mk	47	14	20	He told them, It is one of the twelve, the man who puts his hand into the dish with me.
 Mark	Mk	47	14	21	The Son of Man goes on his way, as the scripture foretells of him; but woe upon that man by whom the Son of Man is to be betrayed; better for that man if he had never been born.
 Mark	Mk	47	14	22	And while they were still at table, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, Take this; this is my body.
 Mark	Mk	47	14	23	Then he took a cup, and offered thanks, and gave it to them, and they all drank of it. And he said,
 Mark	Mk	47	14	24	This is my blood of the new testament, shed for many.
 Mark	Mk	47	14	25	I tell you truthfully, I shall not drink of this fruit of the vine again, until the day when I drink it with you, new wine, in the kingdom of God.
 Mark	Mk	47	14	26	And so they sang a hymn, and went out to mount Olivet.
 Mark	Mk	47	14	27	And Jesus said to them, Tonight you will all lose courage over me; for so it has been written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.
 Mark	Mk	47	14	28	But I will go on before you into Galilee, when I have risen from the dead.
 Mark	Mk	47	14	29	Peter said to him, Though all else should lose courage over thee, I will never lose mine.
 Mark	Mk	47	14	30	And Jesus said to him, Believe me, this night, before the second cock-crow, thou wilt thrice disown me.
 Mark	Mk	47	14	31	But Peter insisted more than ever, I will not disown thee, though I must lay down my life with thee. And all of them said the like.
 Mark	Mk	47	14	32	So they came to a plot of land called Gethsemani; and he said to his disciples, Sit down here, while I go and pray.
 Mark	Mk	47	14	33	But he took Peter and James and John with him. And now he grew dismayed and distressed:
 Mark	Mk	47	14	34	My soul, he said to them, is ready to die with sorrow; do you abide here, and keep watch.
 Mark	Mk	47	14	35	So he went forward a little, and fell on the ground, and prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass him by:
 Mark	Mk	47	14	36	Abba, Father, he said, all things are possible to thee; take away this chalice from before me; only as thy will is, not as mine is.
 Mark	Mk	47	14	37	Then he went back, and found them asleep; and he said to Peter, Simon, art thou sleeping? Hadst thou not strength to watch even for an hour?
 Mark	Mk	47	14	38	Watch and pray, that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing enough, but the flesh is weak.
 Mark	Mk	47	14	39	Then he went away and prayed again, using the same words.
 Mark	Mk	47	14	40	And when he returned, once more he found them asleep, so heavy their eyelids were; and they did not know what answer to make to him.
 Mark	Mk	47	14	41	When he came the third time, he said to them, Sleep and take your rest hereafter. Enough; the time has come; behold, the Son of Man is to be betrayed into the hands of sinners.
 Mark	Mk	47	14	42	Rise up, let us go on our way; already, he that is to betray me is close at hand.
 Mark	Mk	47	14	43	And thereupon, while he was yet speaking, Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, came near; with him was a great multitude carrying swords and clubs, who had been sent by the chief priests and the scribes and the elders.
 Mark	Mk	47	14	44	The traitor had appointed them a signal; It is none other, he said, than the man whom I shall greet with a kiss; hold him fast, and take him away under guard.
 Mark	Mk	47	14	45	No sooner, then, had he come up than he went close to Jesus, saying, Hail, Master, and kissed him;
 Mark	Mk	47	14	46	and with that they laid their hands on him, and held him fast.
 Mark	Mk	47	14	47	And one of those who stood by drew his sword, and smote one of the high priest’s servants with it, cutting off his ear.
 Mark	Mk	47	14	48	Then Jesus said to them aloud, You have come out to my arrest with swords and clubs, as if I were a robber;
 Mark	Mk	47	14	49	and yet I used to teach in the temple close to you, day after day, and you never laid hands on me. But the scriptures must be fulfilled.
 Mark	Mk	47	14	50	And now all his disciples abandoned him, and fled.
 Mark	Mk	47	14	51	There was a young man there following him, who was wearing only a linen shirt on his bare body; and he, when they laid hold of him,
 Mark	Mk	47	14	52	left the shirt in their hands, and ran away from them naked.
 Mark	Mk	47	14	53	So they took Jesus into the presence of the high priest, and all the chief priests and elders and scribes were assembled about him.
 Mark	Mk	47	14	54	Yet Peter followed at a long distance, right into the high priest’s palace, and there sat down with the servants by the fire, to warm himself.
 Mark	Mk	47	14	55	The high priest and all the council tried to find an accusation against Jesus, such as would compass his death, but they could find none;
 Mark	Mk	47	14	56	many accused him falsely, but their accusations did not agree.
 Mark	Mk	47	14	57	There were some who stood up and falsely accused him thus:
 Mark	Mk	47	14	58	We heard him say, I will destroy this temple that is made by men’s hands, and in three days I will build another, with no hand of man to help me.
 Mark	Mk	47	14	59	But even so their accusations did not agree.
 Mark	Mk	47	14	60	Then the high priest stood up, and asked Jesus, Hast thou no answer to the accusations these men bring against thee?
 Mark	Mk	47	14	61	He was still silent, still did not answer; and the high priest questioned him again, Art thou the Christ, the Son of the blessed God?
 Mark	Mk	47	14	62	Jesus said to him, I am. And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of God’s power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.
 Mark	Mk	47	14	63	At this, the high priest tore his garments, and said, What further need have we of witnesses?
 Mark	Mk	47	14	64	You have heard his blasphemy for yourselves; what is your finding? And they all pronounced against him a sentence of death.
 Mark	Mk	47	14	65	Then some of them fell to spitting upon him, and covering his face while they buffeted him and bade him prophesy; the servants, too, caught him blows on the cheek.
 Mark	Mk	47	14	66	Meanwhile, Peter was in the court without, and one of the maid-servants of the high priest came by;
 Mark	Mk	47	14	67	she saw Peter warming himself, and said, looking closely at him, Thou too wast with Jesus the Nazarene.
 Mark	Mk	47	14	68	Whereupon he denied it; I know nothing of it, I do not understand what thou meanest. Then he went out into the porch; and the cock crew.
 Mark	Mk	47	14	69	Again the maid looked at him, and said to the bystanders, This is one of them.
 Mark	Mk	47	14	70	And again he denied it. Then, a little while afterwards, the bystanders said to Peter, It is certain that thou art one of them; why, thou art a Galilean.
 Mark	Mk	47	14	71	And he fell to calling down curses on himself and swearing, I do not know the man you speak of.
 Mark	Mk	47	14	72	Then came the second cock-crow; and Peter remembered the word Jesus had said to him, Before the second cock-crow thou wilt thrice deny me. And all at once he burst out weeping.
 Mark	Mk	47	15	1	No sooner had day broken, than the chief priests made their plans, with the elders and scribes and the whole Council; they took Jesus away in bonds and gave him up to Pilate.
 Mark	Mk	47	15	2	And Pilate asked him, Art thou the King of the Jews? He answered him, Thy own lips have said it.
 Mark	Mk	47	15	3	And now the chief priests brought many accusations against him,
 Mark	Mk	47	15	4	and Pilate questioned him again, Dost thou make no answer? See what a weight of accusation they bring against thee.
 Mark	Mk	47	15	5	But Jesus still would not answer him, so that Pilate was full of astonishment.
 Mark	Mk	47	15	6	At the festival, he used to grant them the liberty of any one prisoner they chose;
 Mark	Mk	47	15	7	and the man they called Barabbas was then in custody, with the rebels who had been guilty of murder during the rebellion.
 Mark	Mk	47	15	8	So, when the multitude came up towards him, and began to ask for the customary favour,
 Mark	Mk	47	15	9	Pilate answered them, Would you have me release the king of the Jews?
 Mark	Mk	47	15	10	He knew well that the chief priests had only given him up out of malice.
 Mark	Mk	47	15	11	But the chief priests incited the multitude to ask for the release of Barabbas instead.
 Mark	Mk	47	15	12	Once more Pilate answered them, What would you have me do, then, with the king of the Jews?
 Mark	Mk	47	15	13	And they made a fresh cry of, Crucify him.
 Mark	Mk	47	15	14	Why, Pilate said to them, what wrong has he done? But they cried all the more, Crucify him.
 Mark	Mk	47	15	15	And so Pilate, determined to humour the multitude, released Barabbas as they asked; Jesus he scourged, and gave him up to be crucified.
 Mark	Mk	47	15	16	Then the soldiers led him away into the court of the palace, and gathered there the whole of their company.
 Mark	Mk	47	15	17	They arrayed him in a scarlet cloak, and put round his head a crown which they had woven out of thorns,
 Mark	Mk	47	15	18	and fell to greeting him with, Hail, king of the Jews.
 Mark	Mk	47	15	19	And they beat him over the head with a rod, and spat upon him, and bowed their knees in worship of him.
 Mark	Mk	47	15	20	At last they had done with mockery; stripping him of the scarlet cloak, they put his own garments on him, and led him away to be crucified.
 Mark	Mk	47	15	21	As for his cross, they forced a passer-by who was coming in from the country to carry it, one Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus.
 Mark	Mk	47	15	22	And so they took him to a place called Golgotha, which means, The place of a skull.
 Mark	Mk	47	15	23	Here they offered him a draught of wine mixed with myrrh, which he would not take;
 Mark	Mk	47	15	24	and then crucified him, dividing his garments among them by casting lots, to decide which should fall to each.
 Mark	Mk	47	15	25	It was the third hour when they crucified him.
 Mark	Mk	47	15	26	A proclamation of his offence was written up over him, The king of the Jews;
 Mark	Mk	47	15	27	and with him they crucified two thieves, one on the right and the other on his left,
 Mark	Mk	47	15	28	so fulfilling the words of scripture, And he was counted among the wrong-doers.
 Mark	Mk	47	15	29	The passers-by blasphemed against him, shaking their heads; Come now, they said, thou who wouldst destroy the temple and build it up in three days,
 Mark	Mk	47	15	30	come down from that cross, and rescue thyself.
 Mark	Mk	47	15	31	In the same way, the chief priests and scribes said mockingly to one another, He saved others, he cannot save himself.
 Mark	Mk	47	15	32	Let Christ, the king of Israel, come down from the cross, here and now, so that we can see it and believe in him. And the men who were crucified with him uttered taunts against him.
 Mark	Mk	47	15	33	When the sixth hour came, there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour;
 Mark	Mk	47	15	34	and at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, Eloi, Eloi, lamma sabachthani? which means, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
 Mark	Mk	47	15	35	Hearing this, some of those who stood by said, Why, he is calling upon Elias.
 Mark	Mk	47	15	36	And thereupon one of them ran off to fill a sponge with vinegar, and fixed it on a rod, and offered to let him drink; Wait, he said, Let us see whether Elias is to come and save him.
 Mark	Mk	47	15	37	Then Jesus gave a loud cry, and yielded up his spirit.
 Mark	Mk	47	15	38	And the veil of the temple was torn this way and that, from the top to the bottom.
 Mark	Mk	47	15	39	The centurion who stood in front of him, perceiving that he so yielded up his spirit with a cry, said, No doubt but this was the Son of God.
 Mark	Mk	47	15	40	There were women there, who stood watching from far off; among them were Mary Magdalen, and Mary the mother of James the less and of Joseph, and Salome.
 Mark	Mk	47	15	41	These used to follow him and minister to him when he was in Galilee, and there were many others who had come up with him to Jerusalem.
 Mark	Mk	47	15	42	And now it was already evening; and because it was the day of preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath,
 Mark	Mk	47	15	43	a rich councillor, named Joseph of Arimathea, one of those who waited for God’s kingdom, boldly went to Pilate, and asked to have the body of Jesus.
 Mark	Mk	47	15	44	Pilate, astonished that he should have died so soon, called the centurion to him, to ask if he was dead already,
 Mark	Mk	47	15	45	and when he heard the centurion’s report, gave Joseph the body.
 Mark	Mk	47	15	46	Joseph took him down, and wrapped him in a winding-sheet which he had bought, and laid him in a tomb cut out of the rock, rolling a stone against the door of the tomb.
 Mark	Mk	47	15	47	Mary Magdalen, and Mary the mother of Joseph, saw where he had been laid.
 Mark	Mk	47	16	1	And when the sabbath was over, Mary Magdalen, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome had bought spices, to come and anoint Jesus.
 Mark	Mk	47	16	2	So they came to the tomb very early on the day after the sabbath, at sunrise.
 Mark	Mk	47	16	3	And they began to question among themselves, Who is to roll the stone away for us from the door of the tomb?
 Mark	Mk	47	16	4	Then they looked up, and saw that the stone, great as it was, had been rolled away already.
 Mark	Mk	47	16	5	And they went into the tomb, and saw there, on the right, a young man seated, wearing a white robe; and they were dismayed.
 Mark	Mk	47	16	6	But he said to them, No need to be dismayed; you have come to look for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified; he has risen again, he is not here. Here is the place where they laid him.
 Mark	Mk	47	16	7	Go and tell Peter and the rest of his disciples that he is going before you into Galilee. There you shall have sight of him, as he promised you.
 Mark	Mk	47	16	8	So they came out and ran away from the tomb, trembling and awe-struck, and said nothing to anyone, out of fear.
 Mark	Mk	47	16	9	But he had risen again, at dawn on the first day of the week, and shewed himself first of all to Mary Magdalen, the woman out of whom he had cast seven devils.
 Mark	Mk	47	16	10	She went and gave the news to those who had been of his company, where they mourned and wept;
 Mark	Mk	47	16	11	and they, when they were told that he was alive and that she had seen him, could not believe it.
 Mark	Mk	47	16	12	After that, he appeared in the form of a stranger to two of them as they were walking together, going out into the country;
 Mark	Mk	47	16	13	these went back and gave the news to the rest, but they did not believe them either.
 Mark	Mk	47	16	14	Then at last he appeared to all eleven of them as they sat at table, and reproached them with their unbelief and their obstinacy of heart, in giving no credit to those who had seen him after he had risen.
 Mark	Mk	47	16	15	And he said to them, Go out all over the world and preach the gospel to the whole of creation;
 Mark	Mk	47	16	16	he who believes and is baptized will be saved; he who refuses belief will be condemned.
 Mark	Mk	47	16	17	Where believers go, these signs shall go with them; they will cast out devils in my name, they will speak in tongues that are strange to them;
 Mark	Mk	47	16	18	they will take up serpents in their hands, and drink poisonous draughts without harm; they will lay their hands upon the sick and make them recover.
 Mark	Mk	47	16	19	And so the Lord Jesus, when he had finished speaking to them, was taken up to heaven, and is seated now at the right hand of God;
 Mark	Mk	47	16	20	and they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord aiding them, and attesting his word by the miracles that went with them.
 Luke	Lk	48	1	1	Many have been at pains to set forth the history of what time has brought to fulfilment among us,
 Luke	Lk	48	1	2	following the tradition of those first eye-witnesses who gave themselves up to the service of the word.
 Luke	Lk	48	1	3	And I too, most noble Theophilus, have resolved to put the story in writing for thee as it befell, having first traced it carefully from its beginnings,
 Luke	Lk	48	1	4	that thou mayst understand the instruction thou hast already received, in all its certainty.
 Luke	Lk	48	1	5	In the days when Herod was king of Judaea, there was a priest called Zachary, of Abia’s turn of office, who had married a wife of Aaron’s family, by name Elizabeth;
 Luke	Lk	48	1	6	they were both well approved in God’s sight, following all the commandments and observances of the Lord without reproach.
 Luke	Lk	48	1	7	They had no child; Elizabeth was barren, and both were now well advanced in years.
 Luke	Lk	48	1	8	He, then, as it happened, was doing a priest’s duty before God in the order of his turn of office;
 Luke	Lk	48	1	9	and had been chosen by lot, as was the custom among the priests, to go into the sanctuary of the Lord and burn incense there,
 Luke	Lk	48	1	10	while the whole multitude of the people stood praying without, at the hour of sacrifice.
 Luke	Lk	48	1	11	Suddenly he saw an angel of the Lord, standing at the right of the altar where incense was burnt.
 Luke	Lk	48	1	12	Zachary was bewildered at the sight, and overcome with fear;
 Luke	Lk	48	1	13	but the angel said, Zachary, do not be afraid; thy prayer has been heard, and thy wife Elizabeth is to bear thee a son, to whom thou shalt give the name of John.
 Luke	Lk	48	1	14	Joy and gladness shall be thine, and many hearts shall rejoice over his birth,
 Luke	Lk	48	1	15	for he is to be high in the Lord’s favour; he is to drink neither wine nor strong drink; and from the time when he is yet a child in his mother’s womb he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost.
 Luke	Lk	48	1	16	He shall bring back many of the sons of Israel to the Lord their God,
 Luke	Lk	48	1	17	ushering in his advent in the spirit and power of an Elias. He shall unite the hearts of all, the fathers with the children, and teach the disobedient the wisdom that makes men just, preparing for the Lord a people fit to receive him.
 Luke	Lk	48	1	18	And Zachary said to the angel, By what sign am I to be assured of this? I am an old man now, and my wife is far advanced in age.
 Luke	Lk	48	1	19	The angel answered, My name is Gabriel, and my place is in God’s presence; I have been sent to speak with thee, and to bring thee this good news.
 Luke	Lk	48	1	20	Behold, thou shalt be dumb, and have no power of speech, until the day when this is accomplished; and that, because thou hast not believed my promise, which shall in due time be fulfilled.
 Luke	Lk	48	1	21	And now all the people were waiting for Zachary, and wondering that he delayed in the temple so long;
 Luke	Lk	48	1	22	but he, when he came out, could speak no word to them; whereupon they made sure that he had seen some vision in the sanctuary. He could but stand there making signs to them, for he remained dumb.
 Luke	Lk	48	1	23	And so, when the days of his ministry were at an end, he went back to his house.
 Luke	Lk	48	1	24	It was after those days that his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she dwelt retired; she said,
 Luke	Lk	48	1	25	It is the Lord who has done this for me, visiting me at his own time, to take away my reproach among men.
 Luke	Lk	48	1	26	When the sixth month came, God sent the angel Gabriel to a city of Galilee called Nazareth,
 Luke	Lk	48	1	27	where a virgin dwelt, betrothed to a man of David’s lineage; his name was Joseph, and the virgin’s name was Mary.
 Luke	Lk	48	1	28	Into her presence the angel came, and said, Hail, thou who art full of grace; the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women.
 Luke	Lk	48	1	29	She was much perplexed at hearing him speak so, and cast about in her mind, what she was to make of such a greeting.
 Luke	Lk	48	1	30	Then the angel said to her, Mary, do not be afraid; thou hast found favour in the sight of God.
 Luke	Lk	48	1	31	And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call him Jesus.
 Luke	Lk	48	1	32	He shall be great, and men will know him for the Son of the most High; the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he shall reign over the house of Jacob eternally;
 Luke	Lk	48	1	33	his kingdom shall never have an end.
 Luke	Lk	48	1	34	But Mary said to the angel, How can that be, since I have no knowledge of man?
 Luke	Lk	48	1	35	And the angel answered her, The Holy Spirit will come upon thee, and the power of the most High will overshadow thee. Thus this holy offspring of thine shall be known for the Son of God.
 Luke	Lk	48	1	36	See, moreover, how it fares with thy cousin Elizabeth; she is old, yet she too has conceived a son; she who was reproached with barrenness is now in her sixth month,
 Luke	Lk	48	1	37	to prove that nothing can be impossible with God.
 Luke	Lk	48	1	38	And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; let it be unto me according to thy word. And with that the angel left her.
 Luke	Lk	48	1	39	In the days that followed, Mary rose up and went with all haste to a town of Juda, in the hill country
 Luke	Lk	48	1	40	where Zachary dwelt; and there entering in she gave Elizabeth greeting.
 Luke	Lk	48	1	41	No sooner had Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, than the child leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth herself was filled with the Holy Ghost;
 Luke	Lk	48	1	42	so that she cried out with a loud voice, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.
 Luke	Lk	48	1	43	How have I deserved to be thus visited by the mother of my Lord?
 Luke	Lk	48	1	44	Why, as soon as ever the voice of thy greeting sounded in my ears, the child in my womb leaped for joy.
 Luke	Lk	48	1	45	Blessed art thou for thy believing; the message that was brought to thee from the Lord shall have fulfilment.
 Luke	Lk	48	1	46	And Mary said, My soul magnifies the Lord;
 Luke	Lk	48	1	47	my spirit has found joy in God, who is my Saviour,
 Luke	Lk	48	1	48	because he has looked graciously upon the lowliness of his handmaid. Behold, from this day forward all generations will count me blessed;
 Luke	Lk	48	1	49	because he who is mighty, he whose name is holy, has wrought for me his wonders.
 Luke	Lk	48	1	50	He has mercy upon those who fear him, from generation to generation;
 Luke	Lk	48	1	51	he has done valiantly with the strength of his arm, driving the proud astray in the conceit of their hearts;
 Luke	Lk	48	1	52	he has put down the mighty from their seat, and exalted the lowly;
 Luke	Lk	48	1	53	he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty-handed.
 Luke	Lk	48	1	54	He has protected his servant Israel, keeping his merciful design in remembrance,
 Luke	Lk	48	1	55	according to the promise which he made to our forefathers, Abraham and his posterity for evermore.
 Luke	Lk	48	1	56	Mary returned home when she had been with her about three months;
 Luke	Lk	48	1	57	meanwhile, Elizabeth’s time had come for her child-bearing, and she bore a son.
 Luke	Lk	48	1	58	Her neighbours and her kinsfolk, hearing how wonderfully God had shewed his mercy to her, came to rejoice with her;
 Luke	Lk	48	1	59	and now, when they assembled on the eighth day for the circumcision of the child, they were for calling him Zachary, because it was his father’s name;
 Luke	Lk	48	1	60	but his mother answered, No, he is to be called John.
 Luke	Lk	48	1	61	And they said, There is none of thy kindred that is called by this name,
 Luke	Lk	48	1	62	and began asking his father by signs, what name he would have him called by.
 Luke	Lk	48	1	63	So he asked for a tablet, and wrote on it the words, His name is John; and they were all astonished.
 Luke	Lk	48	1	64	Then, of a sudden, his lips and his tongue were unloosed, and he broke into speech, giving praise to God;
 Luke	Lk	48	1	65	so that fear came upon all their neighbourhood, and there was none of these happenings but was noised abroad throughout all the hill country of Judaea.
 Luke	Lk	48	1	66	All those who heard it laid it to heart; Why then, they asked, what will this boy grow to be? And indeed the hand of the Lord was with him.
 Luke	Lk	48	1	67	Then his father Zachary was filled with the Holy Ghost, and spoke in prophecy:
 Luke	Lk	48	1	68	Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel; he has visited his people, and wrought their redemption.
 Luke	Lk	48	1	69	He has raised up a sceptre of salvation for us among the posterity of his servant David,
 Luke	Lk	48	1	70	according to the promise which he made by the lips of holy men that have been his prophets from the beginning;
 Luke	Lk	48	1	71	salvation from our enemies, and from the hand of all those who hate us.
 Luke	Lk	48	1	72	So he would carry out his merciful design towards our fathers, by remembering his holy covenant.
 Luke	Lk	48	1	73	He had sworn an oath to our father Abraham, that he would enable us
 Luke	Lk	48	1	74	to live without fear in his service, delivered from the hand of our enemies,
 Luke	Lk	48	1	75	passing all our days in holiness, and approved in his sight.
 Luke	Lk	48	1	76	And thou, my child, wilt be known for a prophet of the most High, going before the Lord, to clear his way for him;
 Luke	Lk	48	1	77	thou wilt make known to his people the salvation that is to release them from their sins.
 Luke	Lk	48	1	78	Such is the merciful kindness of our God, which has bidden him come to us, like a dawning from on high,
 Luke	Lk	48	1	79	to give light to those who live in darkness, in the shadow of death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace.
 Luke	Lk	48	1	80	And as the child grew, his spirit achieved strength, and he dwelt in the wilderness until the day when he was made manifest to Israel.
 Luke	Lk	48	2	1	It happened that a decree went out at this time from the emperor Augustus, enjoining that the whole world should be registered;
 Luke	Lk	48	2	2	this register was the first one made during the time when Cyrinus was governor of Syria.
 Luke	Lk	48	2	3	All must go and give in their names, each in his own city;
 Luke	Lk	48	2	4	and Joseph, being of David’s clan and family, came up from the town of Nazareth, in Galilee, to David’s city in Judaea, the city called Bethlehem,
 Luke	Lk	48	2	5	to give in his name there. With him was his espoused wife Mary, who was then in her pregnancy;
 Luke	Lk	48	2	6	and it was while they were still there that the time came for her delivery.
 Luke	Lk	48	2	7	She brought forth a son, her first-born, whom she wrapped in his swaddling-clothes, and laid in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
 Luke	Lk	48	2	8	In the same country there were shepherds awake in the fields, keeping night-watches over their flocks.
 Luke	Lk	48	2	9	And all at once an angel of the Lord came and stood by them, and the glory of the Lord shone about them, so that they were overcome with fear.
 Luke	Lk	48	2	10	But the angel said to them, Do not be afraid; behold, I bring you good news of a great rejoicing for the whole people.
 Luke	Lk	48	2	11	This day, in the city of David, a Saviour has been born for you, the Lord Christ himself.
 Luke	Lk	48	2	12	This is the sign by which you are to know him; you will find a child still in swaddling-clothes, lying in a manger.
 Luke	Lk	48	2	13	Then, on a sudden, a multitude of the heavenly army appeared to them at the angel’s side, giving praise to God, and saying,
 Luke	Lk	48	2	14	Glory to God in high heaven, and peace on earth to men that are God’s friends.
 Luke	Lk	48	2	15	When the angels had left them, and gone back into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, Come, let us make our way to Bethlehem, and see for ourselves this happening which God has made known to us.
 Luke	Lk	48	2	16	And so they went with all haste, and found Mary and Joseph there, with the child lying in the manger.
 Luke	Lk	48	2	17	On seeing him, they discovered the truth of what had been told them about this child.
 Luke	Lk	48	2	18	All those who heard it were full of amazement at the story which the shepherds told them;
 Luke	Lk	48	2	19	but Mary treasured up all these sayings, and reflected on them in her heart.
 Luke	Lk	48	2	20	And the shepherds went home giving praise and glory to God, at seeing and hearing that all was as it had been told them.
 Luke	Lk	48	2	21	When eight days had passed, and the boy must be circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name which the angel had given him before ever he was conceived in the womb.
 Luke	Lk	48	2	22	And when the time had come for purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem, to present him before the Lord there.
 Luke	Lk	48	2	23	It is written in God’s law, that whatever male offspring opens the womb is to be reckoned sacred to the Lord;
 Luke	Lk	48	2	24	and so they must offer in sacrifice for him, as God’s law commanded, a pair of turtle-doves, or two young pigeons.
 Luke	Lk	48	2	25	At this time there was a man named Simeon living in Jerusalem, an upright man of careful observance, who waited patiently for comfort to be brought to Israel. The Holy Spirit was upon him;
 Luke	Lk	48	2	26	and by the Holy Spirit it had been revealed to him that he was not to meet death, until he had seen that Christ whom the Lord had anointed.
 Luke	Lk	48	2	27	He now came, led by the Spirit, into the temple; and when the child Jesus was brought in by his parents, to perform the custom which the law enjoined concerning him,
 Luke	Lk	48	2	28	Simeon too was able to take him in his arms. And he said, blessing God:
 Luke	Lk	48	2	29	Ruler of all, now dost thou let thy servant go in peace, according to thy word;
 Luke	Lk	48	2	30	for my own eyes have seen that saving power of thine
 Luke	Lk	48	2	31	which thou hast prepared in the sight of all nations.
 Luke	Lk	48	2	32	This is the light which shall give revelation to the Gentiles, this is the glory of thy people Israel.
 Luke	Lk	48	2	33	The father and mother of the child were still wondering over all that was said of him,
 Luke	Lk	48	2	34	when Simeon blessed them, and said to his mother Mary, Behold, this child is destined to bring about the fall of many and the rise of many in Israel; to be a sign which men will refuse to acknowledge;
 Luke	Lk	48	2	35	and so the thoughts of many hearts shall be made manifest; as for thy own soul, it shall have a sword to pierce it.
 Luke	Lk	48	2	36	There was besides a prophetess named Anna, daughter to one Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser (a woman greatly advanced in age, since she had lived with a husband for seven years after her maidenhood,
 Luke	Lk	48	2	37	and had now been eighty-four years a widow) who abode continually in the temple night and day, serving God with fasting and prayer.
 Luke	Lk	48	2	38	She too, at that very hour, came near to give God thanks, and spoke of the child to all that patiently waited for the deliverance of Israel.
 Luke	Lk	48	2	39	And now, when all had been done that the law of the Lord required, they returned to Galilee, and to their own town of Nazareth.
 Luke	Lk	48	2	40	And so the child grew and came to his strength, full of wisdom; and the grace of God rested upon him.
 Luke	Lk	48	2	41	Every year, his parents used to go up to Jerusalem at the paschal feast.
 Luke	Lk	48	2	42	And when he was twelve years old, after going up to Jerusalem, as the custom was at the time of the feast,
 Luke	Lk	48	2	43	and completing the days of its observance, they set about their return home. But the boy Jesus, unknown to his parents, continued his stay in Jerusalem.
 Luke	Lk	48	2	44	And they, thinking that he was among their travelling companions, had gone a whole day’s journey before they made enquiry for him among their kinsfolk and acquaintances.
 Luke	Lk	48	2	45	When they could not find him, they made their way back to Jerusalem in search of him,
 Luke	Lk	48	2	46	and it was only after three days that they found him. He was sitting in the temple, in the midst of those who taught there, listening to them and asking them questions;
 Luke	Lk	48	2	47	and all those who heard him were in amazement at his quick understanding and at the answers he gave.
 Luke	Lk	48	2	48	Seeing him there, they were full of wonder, and his mother said to him, My Son, why hast thou treated us so? Think, what anguish of mind thy father and I have endured, searching for thee.
 Luke	Lk	48	2	49	But he asked them, What reason had you to search for me? Could you not tell that I must needs be in the place which belongs to my Father?
 Luke	Lk	48	2	50	These words which he spoke to them were beyond their understanding;
 Luke	Lk	48	2	51	but he went down with them on their journey to Nazareth, and lived there in subjection to them, while his mother kept in her heart the memory of all this.
 Luke	Lk	48	2	52	And so Jesus advanced in wisdom with the years, and in favour both with God and with men.
 Luke	Lk	48	3	1	It was in the fifteenth year of the emperor Tiberius’ reign, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judaea, when Herod was prince in Galilee, his brother Philip in the Ituraean and Trachonitid region, and Lysanias in Abilina,
 Luke	Lk	48	3	2	in the high priesthood of Annas and Caiphas, that the word of God came upon John, the son of Zachary, in the desert.
 Luke	Lk	48	3	3	And he went all over the country round Jordan, announcing a baptism whereby men repented, to have their sins forgiven:
 Luke	Lk	48	3	4	as it is written in the book of the sayings of the prophet Isaias, There is a voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord, straighten out his paths.
 Luke	Lk	48	3	5	Every valley is to be bridged, and every mountain and hill levelled, and the windings are to be cut straight, and the rough paths made into smooth roads,
 Luke	Lk	48	3	6	and all mankind is to see the saving power of God.
 Luke	Lk	48	3	7	He said to the multitudes who came out to be baptized by him, Who was it that taught you, brood of vipers, to flee from the vengeance that draws near?
 Luke	Lk	48	3	8	Come then, yield the acceptable fruit of repentance; do not think to say, We have Abraham for our father; I tell you, God has power to raise up children to Abraham out of these very stones.
 Luke	Lk	48	3	9	Already the axe has been put to the root of the trees, so that every tree which does not shew good fruit will be hewn down and cast into the fire.
 Luke	Lk	48	3	10	And the multitudes asked him, What is it, then, we are to do?
 Luke	Lk	48	3	11	He answered them, The man who has two coats must share with the man who has none; and the man who has food to eat, must do the like.
 Luke	Lk	48	3	12	The publicans, too, came to be baptized; Master, they said to him, what are we to do?
 Luke	Lk	48	3	13	He told them, Do not go beyond the scale appointed you.
 Luke	Lk	48	3	14	Even the soldiers on guard asked him, What of us? What are we to do? He said to them, Do not use men roughly, do not lay false information against them; be content with your pay.
 Luke	Lk	48	3	15	And now the people was full of expectation; all had the same surmise in their hearts, whether John might not be the Christ.
 Luke	Lk	48	3	16	But John gave them their answer by saying publicly, As for me, I am baptizing you with water; but one is yet to come who is mightier than I, so that I am not worthy to untie the strap of his shoes. He will baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire.
 Luke	Lk	48	3	17	He holds his winnowing-fan ready, to purge his threshing-floor clean; he will gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will consume with fire that can never be quenched.
 Luke	Lk	48	3	18	With these and many other warnings he gave his message to the people:
 Luke	Lk	48	3	19	but when he rebuked prince Herod over his brother Philip’s wife, and his shameful deeds,
 Luke	Lk	48	3	20	Herod, to crown all, shut John up in prison.
 Luke	Lk	48	3	21	It was while all the people were being baptized that Jesus was baptized too, and stood there praying. Suddenly heaven was opened,
 Luke	Lk	48	3	22	and the Holy Spirit came down upon him in bodily form, like a dove, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I am well pleased.
 Luke	Lk	48	3	23	Jesus himself had now reached the age of about thirty. He was, by repute, the son of Joseph, son of Heli, son of Mathat,
 Luke	Lk	48	3	24	son of Levi, son of Melchi, son of Janne, son of Joseph,
 Luke	Lk	48	3	25	son of Matthathias, son of Amos, son of Nahum, son of Hesli, son of Nagge,
 Luke	Lk	48	3	26	son of Mahath, son of Matthathias, son of Semei, son of Joseph, son of Juda,
 Luke	Lk	48	3	27	son of Joanna, son of Resa, son of Zorobabel, son of Salathiel, son of Neri,
 Luke	Lk	48	3	28	son of Melchi, son of Addi, son of Cosan, son of Elmadan, son of Her,
 Luke	Lk	48	3	29	son of Jesu, son of Eliezer, son of Jorim, son of Mathat, son of Levi,
 Luke	Lk	48	3	30	son of Simeon, son of Juda, son of Joseph, son of Jona, son of Eliacim,
 Luke	Lk	48	3	31	son of Melea, son of Menna, son of Mathatha, son of Nathan, son of David,
 Luke	Lk	48	3	32	son of Jesse, son of Obed, son of Booz, son of Salmon, son of Naasson,
 Luke	Lk	48	3	33	son of Aminadab, son of Aram, son of Esron, son of Phares, son of Juda,
 Luke	Lk	48	3	34	son of Jacob, son of Isaac, son of Abraham, son of Thare, son of Nachor,
 Luke	Lk	48	3	35	son of Sarug, son of Ragau, son of Phaleg, son of Heber, son of Sale,
 Luke	Lk	48	3	36	son of Cainan, son of Arphaxad, son of Sem, son of Noe, son of Lamech,
 Luke	Lk	48	3	37	son of Methusale, son of Henoch, son of Jared, son of Malaleel, son of Cainan,
 Luke	Lk	48	3	38	son of Henos, son of Seth, son of Adam, who was the son of God.
 Luke	Lk	48	4	1	Jesus returned from the Jordan full of the Holy Spirit, and by the Spirit he was led on into the wilderness,
 Luke	Lk	48	4	2	where he remained forty days, tempted by the devil. During those days he ate nothing, and when they were over, he was hungry.
 Luke	Lk	48	4	3	Then the devil said to him, If thou art the Son of God, bid this stone turn into a loaf of bread.
 Luke	Lk	48	4	4	Jesus answered him, It is written, Man cannot live by bread only; there is life for him in all the words that come from God.
 Luke	Lk	48	4	5	And the devil led him up on to a high mountain, and shewed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time;
 Luke	Lk	48	4	6	I will give thee command, the devil said to him, over all these, and the glory that belongs to them; they have been made over to me, and I may give them to whomsoever I please;
 Luke	Lk	48	4	7	come then, all shall be thine, if thou wilt fall down before me and worship.
 Luke	Lk	48	4	8	Jesus answered him, It is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God; to him only shalt thou do service.
 Luke	Lk	48	4	9	And he led him to Jerusalem, and there set him down on the pinnacle of the temple; If thou art the Son of God, he said to him, cast thyself down from this to the earth;
 Luke	Lk	48	4	10	for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee, to keep thee safe,
 Luke	Lk	48	4	11	and they will hold thee up with their hands, lest thou shouldst chance to trip on a stone.
 Luke	Lk	48	4	12	And Jesus answered him, We are told, Thou shalt not put the Lord thy God to the proof.
 Luke	Lk	48	4	13	So the devil, when he had finished tempting him every way, left him in peace until the time should come.
 Luke	Lk	48	4	14	And Jesus came back to Galilee with the power of the Spirit upon him; word of him went round through all the neighbouring country,
 Luke	Lk	48	4	15	and he began to preach in their synagogues, so that his praise was on all men’s lips.
 Luke	Lk	48	4	16	Then he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up; and he went into the synagogue there, as his custom was, on the sabbath day, and stood up to read.
 Luke	Lk	48	4	17	The book given to him was the book of the prophet Isaias; so he opened it, and found the place where the words ran:
 Luke	Lk	48	4	18	The Spirit of the Lord is upon me; he has anointed me, and sent me out to preach the gospel to the poor, to restore the broken-hearted;
 Luke	Lk	48	4	19	to bid the prisoners go free, and the blind have sight; to set the oppressed at liberty, to proclaim a year when men may find acceptance with the Lord, a day of retribution.
 Luke	Lk	48	4	20	Then he shut the book, and gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. All those who were in the synagogue fixed their eyes on him,
 Luke	Lk	48	4	21	and thus he began speaking to them, This scripture which I have read in your hearing is to-day fulfilled.
 Luke	Lk	48	4	22	All bore testimony to him, and were astonished at the gracious words which came from his mouth; Why, they said, is not this the son of Joseph?
 Luke	Lk	48	4	23	Then he said to them, No doubt you will tell me, as the proverb says, Physician, heal thyself; do here in thy own country all that we have heard of thy doing at Capharnaum.
 Luke	Lk	48	4	24	And he said, Believe me, no prophet finds acceptance in his own country.
 Luke	Lk	48	4	25	Why, you may be sure of this, there were many widows among the people of Israel in the days of Elias, when a great famine came over all the land, after the heavens had remained shut for three years and six months,
 Luke	Lk	48	4	26	but Elias was not sent to any of these. He was sent to a widow woman in Sarepta, which belongs to Sidon.
 Luke	Lk	48	4	27	And there were many lepers among the people of Israel in the days of the prophet Eliseus; but it was none of them, it was Naaman the Syrian, who was made clean.
 Luke	Lk	48	4	28	All those who were in the synagogue were full of indignation at hearing this;
 Luke	Lk	48	4	29	they rose up and thrust him out of the city, and took him up to the brow of the hill on which their city was built, to throw him over it.
 Luke	Lk	48	4	30	But he passed through the midst of them, and so went on his way.
 Luke	Lk	48	4	31	Then he went down to Capharnaum, which is a city in Galilee, and began teaching them there on the sabbath;
 Luke	Lk	48	4	32	and they were amazed by his teaching, such was the authority with which he spoke.
 Luke	Lk	48	4	33	In the synagogue was a man who was possessed by an unclean spirit, that cried out with a loud voice:
 Luke	Lk	48	4	34	Nay, why dost thou meddle with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Hast thou come to make an end of us? I recognize thee for what thou art, the Holy One of God.
 Luke	Lk	48	4	35	Jesus rebuked it; Silence! he said; come out of him. Then the unclean spirit threw him into a convulsion before them all, and went out of him without doing him any injury.
 Luke	Lk	48	4	36	Wonder fell upon them all, as they said to one another, What is this word of his? See how he has authority and power to lay his command on the unclean spirits, so that they come out!
 Luke	Lk	48	4	37	And the story of his doings spread into every part of the country-side.
 Luke	Lk	48	4	38	So he rose up and left the synagogue, and went into Simon’s house. The mother of Simon’s wife was in the grip of a violent fever, and they entreated his aid for her.
 Luke	Lk	48	4	39	He stood over her, and checked the fever, so that it left her; all at once she rose, and ministered to them.
 Luke	Lk	48	4	40	And when the sun was going down, all those who had friends afflicted with diseases of any kind brought them to him: and he laid his hands upon each one of them, and healed them.
 Luke	Lk	48	4	41	Many, too, had devils cast out of them, which cried aloud, Thou art the Son of God; but he rebuked them and would not have them speak, because they knew that he was the Christ.
 Luke	Lk	48	4	42	Then, when day came, he went out and retired to a desert place. The multitude, who had set out in search of him and caught him up, would have kept him there, and not let him leave them.
 Luke	Lk	48	4	43	But he told them, I must preach the gospel of God’s kingdom to the other cities too; it is for this that I was sent.
 Luke	Lk	48	4	44	And so he went on preaching in the synagogues of Galilee.
 Luke	Lk	48	5	1	It happened that he was standing by the lake of Genesareth, at a time when the multitude was pressing close about him to hear the word of God;
 Luke	Lk	48	5	2	and he saw two boats moored at the edge of the lake; the fishermen had gone ashore, and were washing their nets.
 Luke	Lk	48	5	3	And he went on board one of the boats, which belonged to Simon, and asked him to stand off a little from the land; and so, sitting down, he began to teach the multitudes from the boat.
 Luke	Lk	48	5	4	When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, Stand out into the deep water, and let down your nets for a catch.
 Luke	Lk	48	5	5	Simon answered him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and caught nothing; but at thy word I will let down the net.
 Luke	Lk	48	5	6	And when they had done this, they took a great quantity of fish, so that the net was near breaking,
 Luke	Lk	48	5	7	and they must needs beckon to their partners who were in the other boat to come and help them. When these came, they filled both boats, so that they were ready to sink.
 Luke	Lk	48	5	8	At seeing this, Simon Peter fell down and caught Jesus by the knees; Leave me to myself, Lord, he said; I am a sinner.
 Luke	Lk	48	5	9	Such amazement had overcome both him and all his crew, at the catch of fish they had made;
 Luke	Lk	48	5	10	so it was, too, with James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were Simon’s partners. But Jesus said to Simon, Do not be afraid; henceforth thou shalt be a fisher of men.
 Luke	Lk	48	5	11	So, when they had brought their boats to land, they left all and followed him.
 Luke	Lk	48	5	12	Afterwards, while he was in one of the cities, he came upon a man who was far gone in leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he fell on his face in entreaty; Lord, he said, if it be thy will, thou hast power to make me clean.
 Luke	Lk	48	5	13	And he stretched out his hand, and touched him, and said, It is my will; be thou made clean. Whereupon all at once his leprosy passed from him.
 Luke	Lk	48	5	14	And Jesus warned him not to tell anyone of it; Go and shew thyself to the priest, he said, and bring an offering for thy cleansing, as Moses commanded, to make the truth known to them.
 Luke	Lk	48	5	15	But still the talk of him spread more and more, and great multitudes came together to listen to him, and be healed of their infirmities.
 Luke	Lk	48	5	16	And he would steal away from them into the desert and pray there.
 Luke	Lk	48	5	17	It chanced one day that he was teaching, and that some Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting by, who had come from every village in Galilee, and Judaea, and Jerusalem; and the power of the Lord was there, to grant healing.
 Luke	Lk	48	5	18	Just then, some men brought there on a bed one who was palsied, whom they tried to carry in and set down in Jesus’ presence.
 Luke	Lk	48	5	19	But, finding no way of carrying him in, because of the multitude, they went up on to the house-top, and let him down between the tiles, bed and all, into the clear space in front of Jesus.
 Luke	Lk	48	5	20	And he, seeing their faith, said, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee.
 Luke	Lk	48	5	21	Whereupon the Pharisees and scribes fell to reasoning thus, Who can this be, that he talks so blasphemously? Who can forgive sins but God and God only?
 Luke	Lk	48	5	22	Jesus knew of these secret thoughts of theirs, and said to them openly, Why do you reason thus in your hearts?
 Luke	Lk	48	5	23	Which command is more lightly given, to say, Thy sins are forgiven thee, or to say, Rise up and walk?
 Luke	Lk	48	5	24	And now, to convince you that the Son of Man has power to forgive sins while he is on earth (here he spoke to the palsied man), I tell thee, rise up, take thy bed with thee and go home.
 Luke	Lk	48	5	25	And he rose up at once in full sight of them, took up his bedding, and went home, giving praise to God.
 Luke	Lk	48	5	26	Astonishment came over them all, and they praised God, full of awe; We have seen strange things, they said, to-day.
 Luke	Lk	48	5	27	Then he went out, and caught sight of a publican, called Levi, sitting at work in the customs house, and said to him, Follow me.
 Luke	Lk	48	5	28	And he rose up, and left all behind, and followed him.
 Luke	Lk	48	5	29	Then Levi made a great feast for him in his house, and there was a crowded company of publicans and others who were their fellow guests.
 Luke	Lk	48	5	30	Whereupon the Pharisees and scribes complained to his disciples, How comes it that you eat and drink with publicans and sinners?
 Luke	Lk	48	5	31	But Jesus answered them, It is those who are sick, not those who are in health, that have need of the physician.
 Luke	Lk	48	5	32	I have not come to call the just; I have come to call sinners to repentance.
 Luke	Lk	48	5	33	Then they said to him, How is it that thy disciples eat and drink, when John’s disciples are always fasting and praying, and the Pharisees’ disciples too?
 Luke	Lk	48	5	34	And he said to them, Can you persuade the men of the bridegroom’s company to fast, while the bridegroom is still with them?
 Luke	Lk	48	5	35	No, the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them; then they will fast, when that day comes.
 Luke	Lk	48	5	36	And he told them this parable; Nobody uses a piece taken from a new cloak to patch an old one; if that is done, he will have torn the new cloak, and the piece taken from the new will not match the old.
 Luke	Lk	48	5	37	Nor does anybody put new wine into old wine-skins; if that is done, the new wine bursts the skins, and there is the wine spilt and the skins spoiled.
 Luke	Lk	48	5	38	If the wine is new, it must be put into fresh wine-skins, and so both are kept safe.
 Luke	Lk	48	5	39	Nobody who has been drinking old wine calls all at once for new; he will tell you, The old is better.
 Luke	Lk	48	6	1	It happened that on the next sabbath but one he was walking through the corn-fields; and his disciples were plucking the ears of corn and eating them, rubbing them between their hands.
 Luke	Lk	48	6	2	And some of the Pharisees said to them, Why are you doing what it is not lawful to do on the sabbath?
 Luke	Lk	48	6	3	Whereupon Jesus answered them, Why, have you never read of what David did, when he and his followers were hungry?
 Luke	Lk	48	6	4	How he went into the tabernacle, and ate the loaves set forth there before God, and gave them to his followers, although it is not lawful for anyone except the priests to eat them?
 Luke	Lk	48	6	5	And he told them, The Son of Man has even the sabbath at his disposal.
 Luke	Lk	48	6	6	And on another sabbath day it happened that he went into the synagogue to teach, when there was a man there who had his right hand withered.
 Luke	Lk	48	6	7	The scribes and Pharisees were watching him, to see whether he would restore health on the sabbath, so that they might have a charge to bring against him.
 Luke	Lk	48	6	8	He knew their secret thoughts, and said to the man who had his hand withered, Rise up, and come forward; whereupon he rose to his feet.
 Luke	Lk	48	6	9	Then Jesus said to them, I have a question to ask you; which is right, to do good on the sabbath day, or to do harm? To save life, or to make away with it?
 Luke	Lk	48	6	10	And he looked round on them all, and said to him, Stretch out thy hand. And he did so, and his hand was restored to him.
 Luke	Lk	48	6	11	And they were overcome with fury, debating with one another what they could do to Jesus.
 Luke	Lk	48	6	12	It was at this time that he went out on to the mountain-side, and passed the whole night offering prayer to God,
 Luke	Lk	48	6	13	and when day dawned, he called his disciples to him, choosing out twelve of them; these he called his apostles.
 Luke	Lk	48	6	14	Their names were, Simon, whom he also called Peter, his brother Andrew, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew,
 Luke	Lk	48	6	15	Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who is called the Zealot,
 Luke	Lk	48	6	16	Jude the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, the man who turned traitor.
 Luke	Lk	48	6	17	With them he went down and stood on a level place; a multitude of his disciples was there, and a great gathering of the people from all Judaea, and Jerusalem, and the sea-coast of Tyre and Sidon.
 Luke	Lk	48	6	18	These had come there to listen to him, and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled by unclean spirits were also cured;
 Luke	Lk	48	6	19	so that all the multitude was eager to touch him, because power went out from him, and healed them all.
 Luke	Lk	48	6	20	Then he lifted up his eyes towards his disciples, and said; Blessed are you who are poor; the kingdom of God is yours.
 Luke	Lk	48	6	21	Blessed are you who are hungry now; you will have your fill. Blessed are you who weep now; you will laugh for joy.
 Luke	Lk	48	6	22	Blessed are you, when men hate you and cast you off and revile you, when they reject your name as something evil, for the Son of Man’s sake.
 Luke	Lk	48	6	23	When that day comes, rejoice and exult over it; for behold, a rich reward awaits you in heaven; their fathers treated the prophets no better.
 Luke	Lk	48	6	24	But woe upon you who are rich; you have your comfort already.
 Luke	Lk	48	6	25	Woe upon you who are filled full; you shall be hungry. Woe upon you who laugh now; you shall mourn and weep.
 Luke	Lk	48	6	26	Woe upon you, when all men speak well of you; their fathers treated the false prophets no worse.
 Luke	Lk	48	6	27	And now I say to you who are listening to me, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you;
 Luke	Lk	48	6	28	bless those who curse you, and pray for those who treat you insultingly.
 Luke	Lk	48	6	29	If a man strikes thee on the cheek, offer him the other cheek too; if a man would take away thy cloak, do not grudge him thy coat along with it.
 Luke	Lk	48	6	30	Give to every man who asks, and if a man takes what is thine, do not ask him to restore it.
 Luke	Lk	48	6	31	As you would have men treat you, you are to treat them; no otherwise.
 Luke	Lk	48	6	32	Why, what credit is it to you, if you love those who love you? Even sinners love those who love them.
 Luke	Lk	48	6	33	What credit is it to you, if you do good to those who do good to you? Even sinners do as much.
 Luke	Lk	48	6	34	What credit is it to you, if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much in exchange.
 Luke	Lk	48	6	35	No, it is your enemies you must love, and do them good, and lend to them, without any hope of return; then your reward will be a rich one, and you will be true sons of the most High, generous like him towards the thankless and unjust.
 Luke	Lk	48	6	36	Be merciful, then, as your Father is merciful.
 Luke	Lk	48	6	37	Judge nobody, and you will not be judged; condemn nobody, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven.
 Luke	Lk	48	6	38	Give, and gifts will be yours; good measure, pressed down and shaken up and running over, will be poured into your lap; the measure you award to others is the measure that will be awarded to you.
 Luke	Lk	48	6	39	And he told them this parable, Can one blind man lead another? Will not both fall into the ditch together?
 Luke	Lk	48	6	40	A disciple is no better than his master; he will be fully perfect if he is as his master is.
 Luke	Lk	48	6	41	How is it that thou canst see the speck of dust which is in thy brother’s eye, and art not aware of the beam which is in thy own?
 Luke	Lk	48	6	42	By what right wilt thou say to thy brother, Brother, let me rid thy eye of that speck, when thou canst not see the beam that is in thy own? Thou hypocrite, take the beam out of thy own eye first, and so thou shalt have clear sight to rid thy brother’s of the speck.
 Luke	Lk	48	6	43	There is no sound tree that will yield withered fruit, no withered tree that will yield sound fruit.
 Luke	Lk	48	6	44	Each tree is known by its proper fruit; figs are not plucked from thorns, nor grapes gathered from brier bushes.
 Luke	Lk	48	6	45	A good man utters what is good from his heart’s store of goodness; the wicked man, from his heart’s store of wickedness, can utter nothing but what is evil; it is from the heart’s overflow that the mouth speaks.
 Luke	Lk	48	6	46	How is it that you call me, Master, Master, and will not do what I bid you?
 Luke	Lk	48	6	47	If anyone comes to me and listens to my commandments and carries them out, I will tell you what he is like;
 Luke	Lk	48	6	48	he is like a man that would build a house, who dug, dug deep, and laid his foundation on rock. Then a flood came, and the river broke upon that house, but could not stir it; it was founded upon rock.
 Luke	Lk	48	6	49	But the man who listens to what I say and does not carry it out is like a man who built his house in the earth without foundation; when the river broke upon it, it fell at once, and great was that house’s ruin.
 Luke	Lk	48	7	1	When he had said his say in the hearing of the people, he went to Capharnaum.
 Luke	Lk	48	7	2	There was a centurion that had a servant, very dear to him, who was then at the point of death;
 Luke	Lk	48	7	3	and he, when he was told about Jesus, sent some of the elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant.
 Luke	Lk	48	7	4	And these, presenting themselves before Jesus, began to make earnest appeal to him; He deserves, they said, to have this done for him;
 Luke	Lk	48	7	5	he is a good friend to our race, and has built our synagogue for us at his own cost.
 Luke	Lk	48	7	6	So Jesus set out in their company; and when he was already near the house, the centurion sent some friends to him; Do not put thyself to any trouble, Lord, he said; I am not worthy to receive thee under my roof.
 Luke	Lk	48	7	7	That is why I did not presume to come to thee myself. My servant will be healed if thou wilt only speak a word of command.
 Luke	Lk	48	7	8	I too know what it is to obey authority; I have soldiers under me, and I say, Go, to one man, and he goes, or, Come, to another, and he comes, or, Do this, to my servant, and he does it.
 Luke	Lk	48	7	9	When he heard that, Jesus turned in amazement to the multitude which followed him, and said, Believe me, I have not found faith like this, even in Israel.
 Luke	Lk	48	7	10	And the messengers, when they came back to the house, found the servant who had been sick fully recovered.
 Luke	Lk	48	7	11	And now it happened that he was going into a city called Naim, attended by his disciples and by a great multitude of people.
 Luke	Lk	48	7	12	And just as he drew near the gate of the city, a dead man was being carried out to his burial; the only son of his mother, and she was a widow; and a crowd of folk from the city went with her.
 Luke	Lk	48	7	13	When the Lord saw her, he had pity on her, and said, Do not weep.
 Luke	Lk	48	7	14	Then he went up and put his hand on the bier; and those who were carrying it stood still. And he said, Young man, I say to thee, rise up.
 Luke	Lk	48	7	15	And the dead man sat up, and spoke; and Jesus gave him back to his mother.
 Luke	Lk	48	7	16	They were all overcome with awe, and said, praising God, A great prophet has risen up among us; God has visited his people.
 Luke	Lk	48	7	17	And this story of him was noised abroad throughout the whole of Judaea and all the country round.
 Luke	Lk	48	7	18	John was told of all this by his disciples.
 Luke	Lk	48	7	19	And he summoned two of his disciples, and sent them to Jesus to ask, Is it thy coming that was foretold, or are we yet waiting for some other?
 Luke	Lk	48	7	20	So they presented themselves before him, and said, John the Baptist has sent us to ask, Is it thy coming that was foretold, or are we yet waiting for some other?
 Luke	Lk	48	7	21	At the very time of their visit, Jesus rid many of their diseases and afflictions and of evil spirits, and gave many that were blind the gift of sight.
 Luke	Lk	48	7	22	Then he answered, Go and tell John what your own eyes and ears have witnessed; how the blind see, and the lame walk, and the lepers are made clean, and the deaf hear; how the dead are raised to life, and the poor have the gospel preached to them.
 Luke	Lk	48	7	23	Blessed is he who does not lose confidence in me.
 Luke	Lk	48	7	24	Then, when John’s messengers had gone away, he took occasion to speak of John to the multitudes; What was it, he asked, that you expected to see when you went out into the wilderness? Was it a reed trembling in the wind?
 Luke	Lk	48	7	25	No, not that; what was it you went out to see? Was it a man clad in silk? You must look in kings’ palaces for men that go proudly dressed, and live in luxury.
 Luke	Lk	48	7	26	What was it, then, that you went out to see? A prophet? Yes, and something more, I tell you, than a prophet.
 Luke	Lk	48	7	27	This is the man of whom it is written, Behold, I am sending before thee that angel of mine who is to prepare the way for thy coming.
 Luke	Lk	48	7	28	I tell you, there is no greater than John the Baptist among all the sons of women; and yet to be least in the kingdom of heaven is to be greater than he.
 Luke	Lk	48	7	29	It was the common folk who listened to him, and the publicans, that had given God his due, by receiving John’s baptism,
 Luke	Lk	48	7	30	whereas the Pharisees and lawyers, by refusing it, had frustrated God’s plan for them.
 Luke	Lk	48	7	31	And the Lord said, To what, then, shall I compare the men of this generation? What are they like?
 Luke	Lk	48	7	32	They put me in mind of those children who call out to their companions as they sit in the market-place and say, You would not dance when we piped to you, you would not mourn when we wept to you.
 Luke	Lk	48	7	33	When John came, he would neither eat nor drink, and you say, He is possessed.
 Luke	Lk	48	7	34	When the Son of Man came, he ate and drank with you, and of him you say, Here is a glutton; he loves wine; he is a friend of publicans and sinners.
 Luke	Lk	48	7	35	But wisdom is vindicated by all her children.
 Luke	Lk	48	7	36	One of the Pharisees invited him to a meal; so he went into the Pharisee’s house and took his place at table.
 Luke	Lk	48	7	37	And there was then a sinful woman in the city, who, hearing that he was at table in the Pharisee’s house, brought a pot of ointment with her,
 Luke	Lk	48	7	38	and took her place behind him at his feet, weeping; then she began washing his feet with her tears, and drying them with her hair, kissing his feet, and anointing them with the ointment.
 Luke	Lk	48	7	39	His host, the Pharisee, saw it, and thought to himself, If this man were a prophet, he would know who this woman is that is touching him, and what kind of woman, a sinner.
 Luke	Lk	48	7	40	But Jesus answered him thus, Simon, I have a word for thy hearing. Tell it me, Master, he said.
 Luke	Lk	48	7	41	There was a creditor who had two debtors; one owed him five hundred pieces of silver, the other fifty;
 Luke	Lk	48	7	42	they had no means of paying him, and he gave them both their discharge. And now tell me, which of them loves him the more?
 Luke	Lk	48	7	43	I suppose, Simon answered, that it is the one who had the greater debt discharged. And he said, Thou hast judged rightly.
 Luke	Lk	48	7	44	Then he turned towards the woman, and said to Simon, Dost thou see this woman? I came into thy house, and thou gavest me no water for my feet; she has washed my feet with her tears, and wiped them with her hair.
 Luke	Lk	48	7	45	Thou gavest me no kiss of greeting; she has never ceased to kiss my feet since I entered;
 Luke	Lk	48	7	46	thou didst not pour oil on my head; she has anointed my feet, and with ointment.
 Luke	Lk	48	7	47	And so, I tell thee, if great sins have been forgiven her, she has also greatly loved. He loves little, who has little forgiven him.
 Luke	Lk	48	7	48	Then he said to her, Thy sins are forgiven.
 Luke	Lk	48	7	49	And his fellow guests thereupon thought to themselves, Who is this, that he even forgives sins?
 Luke	Lk	48	7	50	But he told the woman, Thy faith has saved thee; go in peace.
 Luke	Lk	48	8	1	Then followed a time in which he went on journeying from one city or village to another, preaching and spreading the good news of God’s kingdom. With him were the twelve apostles,
 Luke	Lk	48	8	2	and certain women, whom he had freed from evil spirits and from sicknesses, Mary who is called Magdalen, who had had seven devils cast out of her,
 Luke	Lk	48	8	3	and Joanna, the wife of Chusa, Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others, who ministered to him with the means they had.
 Luke	Lk	48	8	4	When a great multitude had gathered, and more came flocking to him out of the cities, he spoke to them in a parable.
 Luke	Lk	48	8	5	Here is the sower gone out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, there were some grains that fell beside the path, so that they were trodden under foot, and the birds flew down and ate them.
 Luke	Lk	48	8	6	And others fell on the rocks, where they withered as soon as they were up, because they had no moisture.
 Luke	Lk	48	8	7	And some fell among briers, and the briers grew up with them and smothered them.
 Luke	Lk	48	8	8	But others fell where the soil was good, and when these grew up they yielded a hundredfold. So saying, he cried aloud, Listen, you that have ears to hear with.
 Luke	Lk	48	8	9	Then his disciples asked him what this parable meant.
 Luke	Lk	48	8	10	And he told them, It is granted to you to understand the secret of God’s kingdom; the rest must learn of it by parables, so that they can watch without seeing, and listen without understanding.
 Luke	Lk	48	8	11	The parable means this; the seed is God’s word.
 Luke	Lk	48	8	12	Those by the way-side hear the word, and then the devil comes and takes it away from their hearts, so that they cannot find faith and be saved.
 Luke	Lk	48	8	13	Those on the rock, are those who entertain the word with joy as soon as they hear it, and yet have no roots; they last for a while, but in time of temptation they fall away.
 Luke	Lk	48	8	14	And the grain that fell among the briers stands for those who hear it, and then, going on their way, are stifled by the cares, the riches, and the pleasures of life, and never reach maturity.
 Luke	Lk	48	8	15	And the grain that fell in good soil stands for those who hear the word, and hold by it with a noble and generous heart, and endure, and yield a harvest.
 Luke	Lk	48	8	16	Nobody lights a lamp, to hide it away in a jar or under a bed; it is put on a lamp-stand, so that all who come into the house can see its light.
 Luke	Lk	48	8	17	What is covered up will all be revealed; what is hidden will all be made known, and come to light.
 Luke	Lk	48	8	18	Look well, then, how you listen. If a man is rich, gifts will be made to him; if he is poor, he will lose even what he thinks his own.
 Luke	Lk	48	8	19	And his mother and brethren came to visit him, but could not reach him because of the multitude.
 Luke	Lk	48	8	20	So word was given him, Thy mother and thy brethren are standing without, asking to see thee.
 Luke	Lk	48	8	21	But he answered them, My mother and my brethren are those who hear the word of God, and keep it.
 Luke	Lk	48	8	22	A day came when he and his disciples embarked on a boat; Let us cross to the other side of the lake, he said to them; and they began their voyage.
 Luke	Lk	48	8	23	While they were sailing, he fell asleep. And now a storm of wind came down upon the lake, and they began to ship water perilously.
 Luke	Lk	48	8	24	So they came and roused him, crying, Master, master, we are sinking. And he rose up, and checked both wind and wave, and there was calm.
 Luke	Lk	48	8	25	Then he said to them, Where is your faith? And they were full of awe and astonishment, saying to one another, Why, who is this, who gives his command to wind and water, and is obeyed?
 Luke	Lk	48	8	26	So they came to land in the country of the Gerasenes, which is on the coast opposite Galilee;
 Luke	Lk	48	8	27	and as he went ashore, he was met by a possessed man who for a long time had gone naked, and lived homeless among the tombs.
 Luke	Lk	48	8	28	When he saw Jesus, he fell down before him, and cried with a loud voice, Why dost thou meddle with me, Jesus, Son of the most High God? I pray thee, do not torment me.
 Luke	Lk	48	8	29	(For he was bidding the unclean spirit come out of the man.) Often, at times when it had seized upon him, the man had been bound, under guard, with chains and fetters, but still he would break his bonds, and the devil would drive him out into the wilderness.
 Luke	Lk	48	8	30	Then Jesus asked him, What is thy name? And he said, Legion; for there were many devils that had entered into him.
 Luke	Lk	48	8	31	And they entreated him not to bid them go back to the abyss.
 Luke	Lk	48	8	32	There was a great herd of swine feeding on the mountain-side, and the devils besought his leave to go into these instead; this leave he granted them.
 Luke	Lk	48	8	33	So the devils left the man and entered into the swine; whereupon the herd rushed down the cliff into the lake, and were drowned.
 Luke	Lk	48	8	34	The herdsmen fled when they saw it happen, and spread the news of it in the city and about the country-side;
 Luke	Lk	48	8	35	so that they came out to see what had happened for themselves. When they reached Jesus, they found the man from whom the devils had been driven out sitting there, clothed and restored to his wits, at Jesus’ feet; and they were terrified.
 Luke	Lk	48	8	36	Those who had witnessed it told them how the possessed man had been delivered.
 Luke	Lk	48	8	37	Then all the common folk of the country round Gerasa asked Jesus to leave them, such fear had gripped them; and he embarked on the boat and returned.
 Luke	Lk	48	8	38	The man from whom the devils had been driven out asked leave to accompany him; but Jesus sent him away;
 Luke	Lk	48	8	39	Go back home, he said, and make known all God’s dealings with thee. So he went back, and published all over the city the news of the great things Jesus had done for him.
 Luke	Lk	48	8	40	When Jesus returned, he found the multitude there to greet him; they had all been awaiting him.
 Luke	Lk	48	8	41	And now a man named Jairus, who was a ruler of the synagogue, came and fell at Jesus’ feet, imploring him to come to his house,
 Luke	Lk	48	8	42	for he had an only daughter about twelve years old, who was dying. It happened that, as he went, the multitude pressed about him closely.
 Luke	Lk	48	8	43	And a woman who for twelve years had had an issue of blood, and had spent all her money on doctors without finding one who could cure her,
 Luke	Lk	48	8	44	came up behind and touched the hem of his cloak; and suddenly her issue of blood was stanched.
 Luke	Lk	48	8	45	Then Jesus said, Who touched me? All disclaimed it; Master, said Peter and his companions, the multitudes are hemming thee in and crowding upon thee, and canst thou ask, Who touched me?
 Luke	Lk	48	8	46	But Jesus said, Somebody touched me; I can tell that power has gone out from me.
 Luke	Lk	48	8	47	And the woman, finding that there was no concealment, came forward trembling and fell at his feet, and so told him before all the people of her reason for touching him, and of her sudden cure.
 Luke	Lk	48	8	48	And he said to her, My daughter, thy faith has brought thee recovery; go in peace.
 Luke	Lk	48	8	49	While he was yet speaking, a messenger came to the ruler of the synagogue, to say, Thy daughter is dead; do not trouble the Master.
 Luke	Lk	48	8	50	Jesus heard it, and said to him openly, Do not be afraid; thou hast only to believe, and she will recover.
 Luke	Lk	48	8	51	When he reached the house, he would not let anyone come in with him, except Peter and James and John, and the child’s father and mother.
 Luke	Lk	48	8	52	All were weeping and bewailing her; There is no need to weep, he told them; she is not dead, she is asleep.
 Luke	Lk	48	8	53	And they laughed aloud at him, well knowing that she was dead.
 Luke	Lk	48	8	54	But he took her by the hand, and called aloud, Rise up, maiden;
 Luke	Lk	48	8	55	and she rose up there and then with life restored to her. He ordered that she should be given something to eat,
 Luke	Lk	48	8	56	and warned her parents, who were beside themselves with wonder, to let no one hear of what had befallen.
 Luke	Lk	48	9	1	And he called the twelve apostles to him, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases,
 Luke	Lk	48	9	2	sending them out to proclaim the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick.
 Luke	Lk	48	9	3	He told them, Take nothing with you to use on your journey, staff or wallet or bread or money; you are not to have more than one coat apiece.
 Luke	Lk	48	9	4	You are to lodge in the house you first enter, and not change your abode.
 Luke	Lk	48	9	5	And wherever they deny you a welcome, as you leave the city, shake off the dust from your feet, in witness against them.
 Luke	Lk	48	9	6	So they set out and passed through the villages, preaching the gospel and healing the sick wherever they went.
 Luke	Lk	48	9	7	And Herod, who was prince in that quarter, heard of all his doings, and did not know what to think,
 Luke	Lk	48	9	8	some telling him that John had risen from the dead, and some that Elias had appeared, and some that one of the old prophets had returned to life.
 Luke	Lk	48	9	9	John, said Herod, I beheaded; who can this be, of whom I hear such reports? And he was eager to see him.
 Luke	Lk	48	9	10	And now the apostles came back and told Jesus of all they had done. And he retired, taking them with him, to a desert place in the Bethsaida country, where they could be alone.
 Luke	Lk	48	9	11	But the multitudes heard of it, and followed him; so he gave them welcome, and spoke to them of the kingdom of God, and cured those who were in need of healing.
 Luke	Lk	48	9	12	And now the day began to wear on; and the twelve came and said to him, Give the multitudes leave to go to the villages and farms round about, so that they can find lodging and food; we are in desert country here.
 Luke	Lk	48	9	13	But he told them, It is for you to give them food to eat. We have no more, they said, than five loaves and two fishes, unless thou wouldst have us go ourselves and buy food for all this assembly.
 Luke	Lk	48	9	14	About five thousand men were gathered there. So he said to his disciples, Make them sit down by companies of fifty;
 Luke	Lk	48	9	15	and they did this, bidding all of them sit down.
 Luke	Lk	48	9	16	Then he took the five loaves and the two fishes, and looked up to heaven, and blessed them, and broke, and gave them to his disciples, to set before the multitude.
 Luke	Lk	48	9	17	All ate and had their fill, and when what they left over was picked up, it filled twelve baskets.
 Luke	Lk	48	9	18	There was a time when he had gone apart to pray, and his disciples were with him; and he asked them, Who do the multitude say that I am?
 Luke	Lk	48	9	19	They answered, John the Baptist; others say Elias; others, that one of the old prophets has returned to life.
 Luke	Lk	48	9	20	Then he said to them, But who do you say that I am? And Peter answered, Thou art the Christ whom God has anointed.
 Luke	Lk	48	9	21	And he laid a strict charge upon them, bidding them tell no one of it;
 Luke	Lk	48	9	22	The Son of Man, he said, is to be much ill-used, and rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be put to death, and rise again on the third day.
 Luke	Lk	48	9	23	And he said to all alike, If any man has a mind to come my way, let him renounce self, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.
 Luke	Lk	48	9	24	He who tries to save his life will lose it; it is the man who loses his life for my sake, that will save it.
 Luke	Lk	48	9	25	How is a man the better for gaining the whole world, if he loses himself, if he pays the forfeit of himself?
 Luke	Lk	48	9	26	If anyone is ashamed of acknowledging me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed to acknowledge him, when he comes in his glory, with his Father and the holy angels to glorify him.
 Luke	Lk	48	9	27	Believe me, there are those standing here who will not taste of death before they have seen the kingdom of God.
 Luke	Lk	48	9	28	It was about a week after all this was said, that he took Peter and John and James with him, and went up on to the mountain-side to pray.
 Luke	Lk	48	9	29	And even as he prayed, the fashion of his face was altered, and his garments became white and dazzling;
 Luke	Lk	48	9	30	and two men appeared conversing with him, Moses and Elias,
 Luke	Lk	48	9	31	seen now in glory; and they spoke of the death which he was to achieve at Jerusalem.
 Luke	Lk	48	9	32	Meanwhile, Peter and his companions were sunk in sleep; and they awoke to see him in his glory, and the two men standing with him.
 Luke	Lk	48	9	33	And, just as these were parting from him, Peter said to Jesus, Master, it is well that we should be here; let us make three arbours in this place, one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. But he spoke at random:
 Luke	Lk	48	9	34	and even as he said it, a cloud formed, overshadowing them; they saw those others disappear into the cloud, and were terrified.
 Luke	Lk	48	9	35	And a voice came from the cloud, This is my beloved Son; to him, then, listen.
 Luke	Lk	48	9	36	And as the voice sounded, Jesus was discovered alone. They kept silence, and at the time said nothing of what they had seen to anybody.
 Luke	Lk	48	9	37	It was on the next day that they came down from the mountain, and were met by a great multitude;
 Luke	Lk	48	9	38	and now, from the midst of this multitude, a man cried out, I entreat thee, Master, look with favour upon my son; he is my only child.
 Luke	Lk	48	9	39	There are times when a spirit seizes upon him, making him cry out suddenly, and throws him into a convulsion, foaming at the mouth; then it goes away, but only with a pang which lacerates him.
 Luke	Lk	48	9	40	And I entreated thy disciples to cast it out, but they could not.
 Luke	Lk	48	9	41	Jesus answered, Ah, faithless and misguided generation, how long must I be with you, how long must I bear with you? Bring thy son here.
 Luke	Lk	48	9	42	And even as the boy was on his way, the devil threw him down in a convulsion.
 Luke	Lk	48	9	43	But Jesus checked the unclean spirit, and cured the boy, and gave him back to his father;
 Luke	Lk	48	9	44	so that all were amazed at this great evidence of God’s power. And while men were yet wondering at all that Jesus did, he said to his disciples, Remember this well. The Son of Man is soon to be betrayed into the hands of men.
 Luke	Lk	48	9	45	But they could not understand what he said; it was hidden from them, so that they could not perceive the meaning of it; and they were afraid to ask him about this saying of his.
 Luke	Lk	48	9	46	And a question arose among them, which of them was the greatest.
 Luke	Lk	48	9	47	Jesus, who saw what was occupying their thoughts, took hold of a little child and gave it a place beside him,
 Luke	Lk	48	9	48	and said to them, He who welcomes this child in my name, welcomes me; and he who welcomes me welcomes him that sent me. He who is least in all your company is the greatest.
 Luke	Lk	48	9	49	And John answered, Master, we saw a man who does not follow in our company casting out devils in thy name, and we forbade him to do it.
 Luke	Lk	48	9	50	But Jesus said, Forbid him no more; the man who is not against you is on your side.
 Luke	Lk	48	9	51	And now the time was drawing near for his taking away from the earth, and he turned his eyes steadfastly towards the way that led to Jerusalem.
 Luke	Lk	48	9	52	And he sent messengers before him, who came into a Samaritan village, to make all in readiness.
 Luke	Lk	48	9	53	But the Samaritans refused to receive him, because his journey was in the direction of Jerusalem.
 Luke	Lk	48	9	54	When they found this, two of his disciples, James and John, asked him, Lord, wouldst thou have us bid fire come down from heaven, and consume them?
 Luke	Lk	48	9	55	But he turned and rebuked them, You do not understand, he said, what spirit it is you share.
 Luke	Lk	48	9	56	The Son of Man has come to save men’s lives, not to destroy them. And so they passed on to another village.
 Luke	Lk	48	9	57	As they went on their journey, a man said to him, I will follow thee wherever thou art going.
 Luke	Lk	48	9	58	But Jesus told him, Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air their resting-places; the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.
 Luke	Lk	48	9	59	To another he said, Follow me, and he answered, Lord, give me leave to go home and bury my father first.
 Luke	Lk	48	9	60	But Jesus said to him, Leave the dead to bury their dead; it is for thee to go out and proclaim God’s kingdom.
 Luke	Lk	48	9	61	And there was yet another who said, Lord, I will follow thee, but first let me take leave of my friends.
 Luke	Lk	48	9	62	To him Jesus said, No one who looks behind him, when he has once put his hand to the plough, is fitted for the kingdom of God.
 Luke	Lk	48	10	1	After this, the Lord appointed seventy-two others, and sent them before him, two and two, into all the cities and villages he himself was to visit.
 Luke	Lk	48	10	2	The harvest, he told them, is plentiful enough, but the labourers are few; you must ask the Lord to whom the harvest belongs to send labourers out for the harvesting.
 Luke	Lk	48	10	3	Go then, and remember, I am sending you out to be like lambs among wolves.
 Luke	Lk	48	10	4	You are not to carry purse, or wallet, or shoes; you are to give no one greeting on your way.
 Luke	Lk	48	10	5	When you enter a house, say first of all, Peace be to this house;
 Luke	Lk	48	10	6	and if those who dwell there are men of good will, your good wishes shall come down upon it; if not, they will come back to you the way they went.
 Luke	Lk	48	10	7	Remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they have to give you; the labourer has a right to his maintenance; do not move from one house to another.
 Luke	Lk	48	10	8	When you enter a city, and they make you welcome, be content to eat the fare they offer you:
 Luke	Lk	48	10	9	and heal those who are sick there; and tell them, The kingdom of God is close upon you.
 Luke	Lk	48	10	10	But if you enter a city where they will not make you welcome, go out into their streets, and say,
 Luke	Lk	48	10	11	We brush off in your faces the very dust from your city that has clung to our feet; and be sure of this, the kingdom of God is close at hand.
 Luke	Lk	48	10	12	I tell you, it shall go less hard with Sodom at the day of judgement, than with that city.
 Luke	Lk	48	10	13	Woe to thee, Corozain, woe to thee, Bethsaida! Tyre and Sidon would have repented long ago, humbling themselves with sackcloth and ashes, if the miracles done in you had been done there instead.
 Luke	Lk	48	10	14	And indeed, it shall go less hard with Tyre and Sidon at the judgement, than with you.
 Luke	Lk	48	10	15	And thou, Capharnaum, dost thou hope to be lifted up high as heaven? Thou shalt be brought low as hell.
 Luke	Lk	48	10	16	He who listens to you, listens to me; he who despises you, despises me; and he who despises me, despises him that sent me.
 Luke	Lk	48	10	17	And the seventy-two disciples came back full of rejoicing; Lord, they said, even the devils are made subject to us through thy name.
 Luke	Lk	48	10	18	He said to them, I watched, while Satan was cast down like a lightning-flash from heaven.
 Luke	Lk	48	10	19	Behold, I have given you the right to trample on snakes and scorpions, and all the power of the enemy, and take no hurt from it.
 Luke	Lk	48	10	20	But you, instead of rejoicing that the devils are made subject to you, should be rejoicing that your names are enrolled in heaven.
 Luke	Lk	48	10	21	At this time, Jesus was filled with gladness by the Holy Spirit, and said, O Father, who art Lord of heaven and earth, I give thee praise that thou hast hidden all this from the wise and the prudent, and revealed it to little children. Be it so, Lord, since this finds favour in thy sight.
 Luke	Lk	48	10	22	My Father has entrusted everything into my hands; none knows what the Son is, except the Father, and none knows what the Father is, except the Son, and those to whom it is the Son’s good pleasure to reveal him.
 Luke	Lk	48	10	23	Then, turning to his own disciples, he said, Blessed are the eyes that see what you see;
 Luke	Lk	48	10	24	I tell you, there have been many prophets and kings who have longed to see what you see, and never saw it, to hear what you hear, and never heard it.
 Luke	Lk	48	10	25	It happened once that a lawyer rose up, trying to put him to the test; Master, he said, what must I do to inherit eternal life?
 Luke	Lk	48	10	26	Jesus asked him, What is it that is written in the law? What is thy reading of it?
 Luke	Lk	48	10	27	And he answered, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with the love of thy whole heart, and thy whole soul, and thy whole strength, and thy whole mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.
 Luke	Lk	48	10	28	Thou hast answered right, he told him; do this, and thou shalt find life.
 Luke	Lk	48	10	29	But he, to prove himself blameless, asked, And who is my neighbour?
 Luke	Lk	48	10	30	Jesus gave him his answer; A man who was on his way down from Jerusalem to Jericho fell in with robbers, who stripped him and beat him, and went off leaving him half dead.
 Luke	Lk	48	10	31	And a priest, who chanced to be going down by the same road, saw him there and passed by on the other side.
 Luke	Lk	48	10	32	And a Levite who came there saw him, and passed by on the other side.
 Luke	Lk	48	10	33	But a certain Samaritan, who was on his travels, saw him and took pity at the sight;
 Luke	Lk	48	10	34	he went up to him and bound up his wounds, pouring oil and wine into them, and so mounted him upon his own beast and brought him to an inn, where he took care of him.
 Luke	Lk	48	10	35	And next day he took out two silver pieces, which he gave to the inn-keeper, and said, Take care of him, and on my way home I will give thee whatever else is owing to thee for thy pains.
 Luke	Lk	48	10	36	Which of these, thinkest thou, proved himself a neighbour to the man who had fallen in with robbers?
 Luke	Lk	48	10	37	And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then Jesus said, Go thy way, and do thou likewise.
 Luke	Lk	48	10	38	In one of the villages he entered during his journey, a woman called Martha entertained him in her house.
 Luke	Lk	48	10	39	She had a sister called Mary; and Mary took her place at the Lord’s feet, and listened to his words.
 Luke	Lk	48	10	40	Martha was distracted by waiting on many needs; so she came to his side, and asked, Lord, art thou content that my sister should leave me to do the serving alone? Come, bid her help me.
 Luke	Lk	48	10	41	Jesus answered her, Martha, Martha, how many cares and troubles thou hast!
 Luke	Lk	48	10	42	But only one thing is necessary; and Mary has chosen for herself the best part of all, that which shall never be taken away from her.
 Luke	Lk	48	11	1	Once, when he had found a place to pray in, one of his disciples said to him, after his prayer was over, Lord, teach us how to pray, as John did for his disciples.
 Luke	Lk	48	11	2	And he told them, When you pray, you are to say, Father, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come;
 Luke	Lk	48	11	3	give us this day our daily bread;
 Luke	Lk	48	11	4	and forgive us our sins; we too forgive all those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation.
 Luke	Lk	48	11	5	Let us suppose that one of you has a friend, to whom he goes at dead of night, and asks him, Lend me three loaves of bread, neighbour;
 Luke	Lk	48	11	6	a friend of mine has turned in to me after a journey, and I have nothing to offer him.
 Luke	Lk	48	11	7	And suppose the other answers, from within doors, Do not put me to such trouble; the door is locked, my children and I are in bed; I cannot bestir myself to grant thy request.
 Luke	Lk	48	11	8	I tell you, even if he will not bestir himself to grant it out of friendship, shameless asking will make him rise and give his friend all that he needs.
 Luke	Lk	48	11	9	And I say the same to you; ask, and the gift will come, seek, and you shall find; knock, and the door shall be opened to you.
 Luke	Lk	48	11	10	Everyone that asks, will receive, that seeks, will find, that knocks, will have the door opened to him.
 Luke	Lk	48	11	11	Among yourselves, if a father is asked by his son for bread, will he give him a stone? Or for a fish, will he give him a snake instead of a fish?
 Luke	Lk	48	11	12	Or if he is asked for an egg, will he give him a scorpion?
 Luke	Lk	48	11	13	Why then, if you, evil as you are, know well enough how to give your children what is good for them, is not your Father much more ready to give, from heaven, his gracious Spirit to those who ask him?
 Luke	Lk	48	11	14	 He had just cast out a devil, which was dumb; and no sooner had the devil gone out than the dumb man found speech. The multitudes were filled with amazement;
 Luke	Lk	48	11	15	but some of them said, It is through Beelzebub, the prince of the devils, that he casts the devils out,
 Luke	Lk	48	11	16	while others, to put him to the test, would have him shew a sign out of heaven.
 Luke	Lk	48	11	17	But he could read their thoughts, and said to them, No kingdom can be at war with itself without being brought to desolation, one house falling upon another.
 Luke	Lk	48	11	18	And how do you suppose that Satan’s kingdom can stand firm if he is at war with himself, that you should accuse me of casting out devils through Beelzebub?
 Luke	Lk	48	11	19	Again, if it is through Beelzebub that I cast out devils, by what means do your own sons cast them out? It is for these, then, to pronounce judgement on you.
 Luke	Lk	48	11	20	But if, when I cast out devils, I do it through God’s power, then it must be that the kingdom of God has suddenly appeared among you.
 Luke	Lk	48	11	21	When a strong man, fully armed, mounts guard over his own palace, his goods are left in peace;
 Luke	Lk	48	11	22	but when a man comes who is stronger still, he will take away all the armour that bred such confidence, and divide among others the spoils of victory.
 Luke	Lk	48	11	23	He who is not with me, is against me; he who does not gather his store with me, scatters it abroad.
 Luke	Lk	48	11	24	The unclean spirit which has possessed a man, and then goes out of him, walks about the desert looking for a resting-place, and finds none; and it says, I will go back to my own dwelling, from which I came out.
 Luke	Lk	48	11	25	And it comes back, to find that dwelling swept out, and neatly set in order.
 Luke	Lk	48	11	26	Thereupon, it goes away and brings in seven other spirits more wicked than itself to bear it company, and together they enter in and settle down there; till the last state of that man is worse than the first.
 Luke	Lk	48	11	27	When he spoke thus, a woman in the multitude said to him aloud, Blessed is the womb that bore thee, the breast which thou hast sucked.
 Luke	Lk	48	11	28	And he answered, Shall we not say, Blessed are those who hear the word of God, and keep it?
 Luke	Lk	48	11	29	The multitudes gathered round him, and he began speaking to them thus; This is a wicked generation; it asks for a sign, and the only sign that will be given to it is the sign of the prophet Jonas.
 Luke	Lk	48	11	30	Jonas was the sign given to the men of Nineve; the sign given to this generation will be the Son of Man.
 Luke	Lk	48	11	31	The queen of the south will rise up with the men of this generation at the judgement, and will leave them without excuse; for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, a greater than Solomon is here.
 Luke	Lk	48	11	32	The men of Nineve will rise up with this generation at the judgement, and will leave it without excuse; for they did penance when Jonas preached to them, and behold, a greater than Jonas is here.
 Luke	Lk	48	11	33	Nobody lights a lamp, and then puts it away in a cellar or under a bushel measure; it is put on the lamp-stand, so that its light may be seen by all who come in.
 Luke	Lk	48	11	34	Thy body has the eye for its lamp; and if thy eye is clear, the whole of thy body will be lit up; when it is diseased, the whole of thy body will be in darkness.
 Luke	Lk	48	11	35	Take good care then, that this principle of light which is in thee is light, not darkness;
 Luke	Lk	48	11	36	then, if thy whole body is in the light, with no part of it in darkness, it will all be lit up as if by a bright lamp enlightening thee.
 Luke	Lk	48	11	37	At the time when he said this, one of the Pharisees invited him to his house for the mid-day meal; so he went in and sat down at table;
 Luke	Lk	48	11	38	the Pharisee meanwhile was inwardly surmising, why he had not washed before his meal.
 Luke	Lk	48	11	39	And the Lord said to him, You Pharisees are content to cleanse the outward part of cup and dish, while all within is running with avarice and wickedness.
 Luke	Lk	48	11	40	Fools, did not he who made the outward part make the inward too?
 Luke	Lk	48	11	41	Nay, you should give alms out of the store you have, and at once all that is yours becomes clean.
 Luke	Lk	48	11	42	Woe upon you, you Pharisees, that will award God his tithe, though it be of mint or rue or whatever herb you will, and leave on one side justice and the love of God; you do ill to forget one duty while you perform the other.
 Luke	Lk	48	11	43	Woe upon you, you Pharisees, for loving the first seats in the synagogues, and to have your hands kissed in the market-place;
 Luke	Lk	48	11	44	woe upon you, that are like hidden tombs which men walk over without knowing it.
 Luke	Lk	48	11	45	And here one of the lawyers answered him; Master, he said, in speaking thus thou art bringing us too into contempt.
 Luke	Lk	48	11	46	And he said, Woe upon you too, you lawyers, for loading men with packs too heavy to be borne, packs that you yourselves will not touch with one finger.
 Luke	Lk	48	11	47	Woe upon you, for building up the tombs of the prophets, the same prophets who were murdered by your fathers;
 Luke	Lk	48	11	48	sure witness that you approve what your fathers did, since you build tombs for the men they murdered.
 Luke	Lk	48	11	49	Whereupon the wisdom of God warns you, I will send my prophets and my apostles to them, and there will be some they will kill and persecute;
 Luke	Lk	48	11	50	so they will be answerable for all the blood of prophets that has been shed since the beginning of the world,
 Luke	Lk	48	11	51	from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zacharias, who was killed between the altar and the temple; yes, I tell you, this generation will be held answerable for it.
 Luke	Lk	48	11	52	Woe upon you, you lawyers, for taking away with you the key of knowledge; you have neither entered yourselves, nor let others enter when they would.
 Luke	Lk	48	11	53	As he said all this to them, the scribes and Pharisees resolved to hunt him down mercilessly and to browbeat him with a multitude of questions.
 Luke	Lk	48	11	54	Thus they lay in wait for him, hoping to catch some word from his lips which would give them ground of accusation against him.
 Luke	Lk	48	12	1	And now great multitudes had gathered round him, so that they trod one another down; and he addressed himself first to his disciples; Have nothing to do with the leaven of the Pharisees, he said, it is all hypocrisy.
 Luke	Lk	48	12	2	What is veiled will all be revealed, what is hidden will all be known;
 Luke	Lk	48	12	3	what you have said in darkness, will be repeated in the light of day, what you have whispered in secret chambers, will be proclaimed on the house-tops.
 Luke	Lk	48	12	4	And I say this to you who are my friends, Do not be afraid of those who can kill the body, and after that can do no more.
 Luke	Lk	48	12	5	I will tell you who it is you must fear; fear him who has power not only to kill but to cast a man into hell; him you must fear indeed.
 Luke	Lk	48	12	6	Are not sparrows sold five for two pence? And yet not one of them is forgotten in God’s sight.
 Luke	Lk	48	12	7	As for you, he takes every hair of your head into his reckoning; do not be afraid, then; you count for more than a host of sparrows.
 Luke	Lk	48	12	8	And I tell you this; whoever acknowledges me before men, will be acknowledged by the Son of Man in the presence of God’s angels;
 Luke	Lk	48	12	9	he who disowns me before men, will be disowned before God’s angels.
 Luke	Lk	48	12	10	There is no one who speaks a word against the Son of Man but may find forgiveness; there will be no forgiveness for the man who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit.
 Luke	Lk	48	12	11	When they bring you to trial before synagogues, and magistrates, and officers, do not consider anxiously what you are to say, what defence to make or how to make it;
 Luke	Lk	48	12	12	the Holy Spirit will instruct you when the time comes, what words to use.
 Luke	Lk	48	12	13	One of the multitude said to him, Master, bid my brother give me a share of our inheritance.
 Luke	Lk	48	12	14	And he answered, Why, man, who has appointed me a judge to make awards between you?
 Luke	Lk	48	12	15	Then he said to them, Look well and keep yourselves clear of all covetousness. A man’s life does not consist in having more possessions than he needs.
 Luke	Lk	48	12	16	And he told them a parable, There was a rich man whose lands yielded a heavy crop:
 Luke	Lk	48	12	17	and he debated in his mind, What am I to do, with no room to store my crops in?
 Luke	Lk	48	12	18	Then he said, This is what I will do; I will pull down my barns, and build greater ones, and there I shall be able to store all my harvest and all the goods that are mine;
 Luke	Lk	48	12	19	and then I will say to my soul, Come, soul, thou hast goods in plenty laid up for many years to come; take thy rest now, eat, drink, and make merry.
 Luke	Lk	48	12	20	And God said, Thou fool, this night thou must render up thy soul; and who will be master now of all thou hast laid by?
 Luke	Lk	48	12	21	Thus it is with the man who lays up treasure for himself, and has no credit with God.
 Luke	Lk	48	12	22	Then he said to his disciples, I say to you, then, do not fret over your life, how to support it with food, over your body, how to keep it clothed.
 Luke	Lk	48	12	23	Life is a greater gift than food, the body than clothing;
 Luke	Lk	48	12	24	see how the ravens never sow or reap, have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them; have you not an excellence far beyond theirs?
 Luke	Lk	48	12	25	Can any of you, for all his fretting, add a cubit’s growth to his height?
 Luke	Lk	48	12	26	And if you are powerless to do so small a thing, why do you fret about your other needs?
 Luke	Lk	48	12	27	See how the lilies grow; they do not toil, or spin, and yet I tell you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
 Luke	Lk	48	12	28	If God, then, so clothes the grasses which live to-day in the fields and will feed the oven to-morrow, will he not be much more ready to clothe you, men of little faith?
 Luke	Lk	48	12	29	You should not be asking, then, what you are to eat or drink, and living in suspense of mind;
 Luke	Lk	48	12	30	it is for the heathen world to busy itself over such things; your Father knows well that you need them.
 Luke	Lk	48	12	31	No, make it your first care to find the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be yours without the asking.
 Luke	Lk	48	12	32	Do not be afraid, you, my little flock. Your Father has determined to give you his kingdom.
 Luke	Lk	48	12	33	Sell what you have, and give alms, so providing yourselves with a purse that time cannot wear holes in, an inexhaustible treasure laid up in heaven, where no thief comes near, no moth consumes.
 Luke	Lk	48	12	34	Where your treasure-house is, there your heart is too.
 Luke	Lk	48	12	35	Your loins must be girt, and your lamps burning,
 Luke	Lk	48	12	36	and you yourselves like men awaiting their master’s return from a wedding feast, so that they may open to him at once when he comes and knocks at the door.
 Luke	Lk	48	12	37	Blessed are those servants, whom their master will find watching when he comes; I promise you, he will gird himself, and make them sit down to meat, and minister to them.
 Luke	Lk	48	12	38	Whether he comes in the second quarter of the night or in the third, blessed are those servants if he finds them alert.
 Luke	Lk	48	12	39	Be sure of this; if the master of the house had known at what time the thief was coming, he would have kept watch, and not allowed his house to be broken open.
 Luke	Lk	48	12	40	You too, then, must stand ready; the Son of Man will come at an hour when you are not expecting him.
 Luke	Lk	48	12	41	Hereupon Peter said to him, Lord, dost thou address this parable to us, or to all men?
 Luke	Lk	48	12	42	And the Lord answered, Who, then, is a faithful and wise steward, one whom his master will entrust with the care of the household, to give them their allowance of food at the appointed time?
 Luke	Lk	48	12	43	Blessed is that servant who is found doing this when his lord comes;
 Luke	Lk	48	12	44	I promise you, he will give him charge of all his goods.
 Luke	Lk	48	12	45	But if that servant says in his heart, My lord is long in coming, and falls to beating the men and the maids, eating and drinking himself drunk;
 Luke	Lk	48	12	46	then on some day when he expects nothing, at an hour when he is all unaware, his lord will come, and will cut him off, and assign him his portion with the unfaithful.
 Luke	Lk	48	12	47	Yet it is the servant who knew his Lord’s will, and did not make ready for him, or do his will, that will have many strokes of the lash;
 Luke	Lk	48	12	48	he who did not know of it, yet earned a beating, will have only a few. Much will be asked of the man to whom much has been given; more will be expected of him, because he was entrusted with more.
 Luke	Lk	48	12	49	It is fire that I have come to spread over the earth, and what better wish can I have than that it should be kindled?
 Luke	Lk	48	12	50	There is a baptism I must needs be baptized with, and how impatient am I for its accomplishment!
 Luke	Lk	48	12	51	Do you think that I have come to bring peace on the earth? No, believe me, I have come to bring dissension.
 Luke	Lk	48	12	52	Henceforward five in the same house will be found at variance, three against two and two against three;
 Luke	Lk	48	12	53	the father will be at variance with his son, and the son with his father, the mother against her daughter, and the daughter against her mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.
 Luke	Lk	48	12	54	And he said to the multitudes, When you find a cloud rising out of the west, you say at once, There is rain coming, and so it does;
 Luke	Lk	48	12	55	when you find the south-west wind blowing, you say, It will be hot, and so it is.
 Luke	Lk	48	12	56	Poor fools, you know well enough how to interpret the face of land and sky; can you not interpret the times you live in?
 Luke	Lk	48	12	57	Does not your own experience teach you to make the right decision?
 Luke	Lk	48	12	58	If one has a claim against thee, and thou art going with him to the magistrate, then do thy utmost, while thou art still on the road, to be quit of his claim; or it may be he will drag thee into the presence of the judge, and the judge will hand thee over to his officer, and the officer will cast thee into prison.
 Luke	Lk	48	12	59	Be sure of this, thou wilt find no discharge from it until thou hast paid the last farthing.
 Luke	Lk	48	13	1	At this very time there were some present that told him the story of those Gali-leans, whose blood Pilate had shed in the midst of their sacrifices.
 Luke	Lk	48	13	2	And Jesus said in answer, Do you suppose, because this befell them, that these men were worse sinners than all else in Galilee?
 Luke	Lk	48	13	3	I tell you it is not so; you will all perish as they did, if you do not repent.
 Luke	Lk	48	13	4	What of those eighteen men on whom the tower fell in Siloe, and killed them; do you suppose that there was a heavier account against them, than against any others who then dwelt at Jerusalem?
 Luke	Lk	48	13	5	I tell you it was not so; you will all perish as they did, if you do not repent.
 Luke	Lk	48	13	6	And this was a parable he told them; There was a man that had a fig-tree planted in his vineyard, but when he came and looked for fruit on it, he could find none;
 Luke	Lk	48	13	7	whereupon he said to his vine-dresser, See now, I have been coming to look for fruit on this fig-tree for three years, and cannot find any. Cut it down; why should it be a useless charge upon the land?
 Luke	Lk	48	13	8	But he answered thus, Sir, let it stand this year too, so that I may have time to dig and put dung round it;
 Luke	Lk	48	13	9	perhaps it will bear fruit; if not, it will be time to cut it down then.
 Luke	Lk	48	13	10	There was a sabbath day on which he was preaching in one of their synagogues.
 Luke	Lk	48	13	11	Here there was a woman who for eighteen years had suffered under some influence that disabled her; she was bent down, and could not lift her head straight.
 Luke	Lk	48	13	12	Jesus saw her and called her to him; Woman, he said, thou art rid of thy infirmity.
 Luke	Lk	48	13	13	Then he laid his hands on her, and immediately she was raised upright, and gave praise to God.
 Luke	Lk	48	13	14	But the ruler of the synagogue, indignant that Jesus should heal them on the sabbath day, turned and said to the multitude, You have six days on which work is allowed; you should come and be healed on those days, not on the sabbath.
 Luke	Lk	48	13	15	And the Lord gave him this answer, What, you hypocrites, is there any one of you that will not untie his ox or his ass from the stall and take them down to water, when it is the sabbath?
 Luke	Lk	48	13	16	And here is this daughter of Abraham, whom Satan had kept bound these eighteen years past; was it wrong that she should be delivered on the sabbath day from bonds like these?
 Luke	Lk	48	13	17	All his adversaries were put to shame by this saying of his, and the whole multitude rejoiced over the marvellous works he did.
 Luke	Lk	48	13	18	He said, What is there that bears a likeness to the kingdom of heaven; what comparison shall I find for it?
 Luke	Lk	48	13	19	It is like a grain of mustard seed, that a man has taken and planted in his garden, where it has thriven and grown into a great tree, and all the birds have come and settled in its branches.
 Luke	Lk	48	13	20	And again, he said, What comparison shall I find for the kingdom of heaven?
 Luke	Lk	48	13	21	It is like leaven, that a woman has taken and buried away in three measures of meal, enough to leaven the whole batch.
 Luke	Lk	48	13	22	And so he went through the cities and villages teaching, and making his journey towards Jerusalem.
 Luke	Lk	48	13	23	There was a man that said to him, Lord, is it only a few that are to be saved? Whereupon he said to them:
 Luke	Lk	48	13	24	Fight your way in at the narrow door; I tell you, there are many who will try and will not be able to enter.
 Luke	Lk	48	13	25	When the master of the house has gone in and has shut the door, you will fall to beating on the door as you stand without, and saying, Lord, open to us. But this will be his answer, I know nothing of you, nor whence you come.
 Luke	Lk	48	13	26	Thereupon you will fall to protesting, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence; thou hast taught in our streets.
 Luke	Lk	48	13	27	But he will say, I tell you, I know nothing of you, nor whence you come; depart from me, you that traffic in iniquity.
 Luke	Lk	48	13	28	Weeping shall be there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets within God’s kingdom, while you yourselves are cast out.
 Luke	Lk	48	13	29	Others will come from the east and the west, the north and the south, to take their ease in the kingdom of God.
 Luke	Lk	48	13	30	And indeed, there are some who are last, and shall then be first, some who are first, and shall then be last.
 Luke	Lk	48	13	31	It was on that day that some of the Pharisees came to him and said, Go elsewhere, and leave this place; Herod has a mind to kill thee.
 Luke	Lk	48	13	32	And he said to them, Go and tell that fox, Behold, to-day and to-morrow I am to continue casting out devils, and doing works of healing; it is on the third day that I am to reach my consummation.
 Luke	Lk	48	13	33	But to-day and to-morrow and the next day I must go on my journeys; there is no room for a prophet to meet his death, except at Jerusalem.
 Luke	Lk	48	13	34	Jerusalem, Jerusalem, still murdering the prophets, and stoning the messengers that are sent to thee, how often have I been ready to gather thy children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and thou didst refuse it!
 Luke	Lk	48	13	35	Behold, your house is left to you, a house uninhabited. I tell you, you shall see nothing of me until the time comes, when you will be saying, Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord.
 Luke	Lk	48	14	1	There was a sabbath day on which he was asked to take a meal with one of the chief Pharisees, and as he went into the house, they were watching him.
 Luke	Lk	48	14	2	Here his eye was met by the sight of a man who had the dropsy.
 Luke	Lk	48	14	3	Jesus asked the lawyers and Pharisees openly, Is healing allowed on the sabbath day?
 Luke	Lk	48	14	4	Then, as they did not answer, he took the man by the hand, and sent him away healed.
 Luke	Lk	48	14	5	And he turned on them, and said, Is there any one of you who will not pull out his ass or his ox immediately, if it falls into a pit on the sabbath?
 Luke	Lk	48	14	6	To this they could make no answer.
 Luke	Lk	48	14	7	He also had a parable for the guests who were invited, as he observed how they chose the chief places for themselves; he said to them:
 Luke	Lk	48	14	8	When any man invites thee to a wedding, do not sit down in the chief place; he may have invited some guest whose rank is greater than thine.
 Luke	Lk	48	14	9	If so, his host and thine will come and say to thee, Make room for this man; and so thou wilt find thyself taking, with a blush, the lowest place of all.
 Luke	Lk	48	14	10	Rather, when thou art summoned, go straight to the lowest place and sit down there; so, when he who invited thee comes in, he will say, My friend, go higher than this; and then honour shall be thine before all that sit down in thy company.
 Luke	Lk	48	14	11	Everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, and he that humbles himself shall be exalted.
 Luke	Lk	48	14	12	He said, moreover, to his host, When thou givest a dinner or a supper, do not ask thy neighbours to come, or thy brethren, or thy kindred, or thy friends who are rich; it may be they will send thee invitations in return, and so thou wilt be recompensed for thy pains.
 Luke	Lk	48	14	13	Rather, when thou givest hospitality, invite poor men to come, the cripples, the lame, the blind:
 Luke	Lk	48	14	14	so thou shalt win a blessing, for these cannot make thee any return; thy reward will come when the just rise again.
 Luke	Lk	48	14	15	Hearing this, one of his fellow guests said to him, Blessed is the man who shall feast in the kingdom of God.
 Luke	Lk	48	14	16	He answered him thus, There was a man that gave a great supper, and sent out many invitations.
 Luke	Lk	48	14	17	And when the time came for his supper, he sent one of his own servants telling the invited guests to come, for all was now ready.
 Luke	Lk	48	14	18	And all of them, with one accord, began making excuses. I have bought a farm, the first said to him, and I must needs go and look over it; I pray thee, count me excused.
 Luke	Lk	48	14	19	And another said, I have bought five pair of oxen, and I am on my way to make trial of them; I pray thee, count me excused.
 Luke	Lk	48	14	20	And another said, I have married a wife, and so I am unable to come.
 Luke	Lk	48	14	21	The servant came back and told his master all this, whereupon the host fell into a rage, and said to his servant, Quick, go out into the streets and lanes of the city; bring in the poor, the cripples, the blind and the lame.
 Luke	Lk	48	14	22	And when the servant told him, Sir, all has been done according to thy command, but there is room left still,
 Luke	Lk	48	14	23	the master said to the servant, Go out into the highways and the hedge-rows, and give them no choice but to come in, that so my house may be filled.
 Luke	Lk	48	14	24	I tell you, none of those who were first invited shall taste of my supper.
 Luke	Lk	48	14	25	Great multitudes bore him company on his way; to these he turned, and said:
 Luke	Lk	48	14	26	If any man comes to me, without hating his father and mother and wife and children and brethren and sisters, yes, and his own life too, he can be no disciple of mine.
 Luke	Lk	48	14	27	A man cannot be my disciple unless he takes up his own cross, and follows after me.
 Luke	Lk	48	14	28	Consider, if one of you has a mind to build a tower, does he not first sit down and count the cost that must be paid, if he is to have enough to finish it?
 Luke	Lk	48	14	29	Is he to lay the foundation, and then find himself unable to complete the work, so that all who see it will fall to mocking him
 Luke	Lk	48	14	30	and saying, Here is a man who began to build, and could not finish his building?
 Luke	Lk	48	14	31	Or if a king is setting out to join battle with another king, does he not first sit down and deliberate, whether with his army of ten thousand he can meet the onset of one who has twenty thousand?
 Luke	Lk	48	14	32	If he cannot, then, while the other is still at a distance, he despatches envoys to ask for conditions of peace.
 Luke	Lk	48	14	33	And so it is with you; none of you can be my disciple if he does not take leave of all that he possesses.
 Luke	Lk	48	14	34	Salt is a good thing; but if the salt itself becomes tasteless, what is there left to give taste to it?
 Luke	Lk	48	14	35	It is of no use either to the soil or to the dung-heap; it will be thrown away altogether. Listen, you that have ears to hear with.
 Luke	Lk	48	15	1	When they found all the publicans and sinners coming to listen to him,
 Luke	Lk	48	15	2	the Pharisees and scribes were indignant; Here is a man, they said, that entertains sinners, and eats with them.
 Luke	Lk	48	15	3	Whereupon he told them this parable:
 Luke	Lk	48	15	4	If any of you owns a hundred sheep, and has lost one of them, does he not leave the other ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?
 Luke	Lk	48	15	5	And when he does find it, he sets it on his shoulders, rejoicing,
 Luke	Lk	48	15	6	and so goes home, and calls his friends and his neighbours together; Rejoice with me, he says to them, I have found my sheep that was lost.
 Luke	Lk	48	15	7	So it is, I tell you, in heaven; there will be more rejoicing over one sinner who repents, than over ninety-nine souls that are justified, and have no need of repentance.
 Luke	Lk	48	15	8	Or if some woman has ten silver pieces by her, and has lost one of them, does she not light a lamp, and sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it?
 Luke	Lk	48	15	9	And when she does find it, she calls her friends and her neighbours together; Rejoice with me, she says, I have found the silver piece which I lost.
 Luke	Lk	48	15	10	So it is, I tell you, with the angels of God; there is joy among them over one sinner that repents.
 Luke	Lk	48	15	11	Then he said, There was a certain man who had two sons.
 Luke	Lk	48	15	12	And the younger of these said to his father, Father, give me that portion of the estate which falls to me. So he divided his property between them.
 Luke	Lk	48	15	13	Not many days afterwards, the younger son put together all that he had, and went on his travels to a far country, where he wasted his fortune in riotous living.
 Luke	Lk	48	15	14	Then, when all was spent, a great famine arose in that country, and he found himself in want;
 Luke	Lk	48	15	15	whereupon he went and attached himself to a citizen of that country, who put him on his farm, to feed swine.
 Luke	Lk	48	15	16	He would have been glad to fill his belly with husks, such as the swine used to eat; but none was ready to give them to him.
 Luke	Lk	48	15	17	Then he came to himself, and said, How many hired servants there are in my father’s house, who have more bread than they can eat, and here am I perishing with hunger!
 Luke	Lk	48	15	18	I will arise and go to my father, and say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee;
 Luke	Lk	48	15	19	I am not worthy, now, to be called thy son; treat me as one of thy hired servants.
 Luke	Lk	48	15	20	And he arose, and went on his way to his father. But, while he was still a long way off, his father saw him, and took pity on him; running up, he threw his arms round his neck and kissed him.
 Luke	Lk	48	15	21	And when the son said, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee; I am not worthy, now, to be called thy son,
 Luke	Lk	48	15	22	the father gave orders to his servants, Bring out the best robe, and clothe him in it; put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet.
 Luke	Lk	48	15	23	Then bring out the calf that has been fattened, and kill it; let us eat, and make merry;
 Luke	Lk	48	15	24	for my son here was dead, and has come to life again, was lost, and is found. And so they began their merry-making.
 Luke	Lk	48	15	25	The elder son, meanwhile, was away on the farm; and on his way home, as he drew near the house, he heard music and dancing;
 Luke	Lk	48	15	26	whereupon he called one of the servants and asked what all this meant.
 Luke	Lk	48	15	27	He told him, Thy brother has come back, and thy father has killed the fattened calf, glad to have him restored safe and sound.
 Luke	Lk	48	15	28	At this he fell into a rage, and would not go in. When his father came out and tried to win him over,
 Luke	Lk	48	15	29	he answered his father thus, Think how many years I have lived as thy servant, never transgressing thy commands, and thou hast never made me a present of a kid, to make merry with my friends;
 Luke	Lk	48	15	30	and now, when this son of thine has come home, one that has swallowed up his patrimony in the company of harlots, thou hast killed the fattened calf in his honour.
 Luke	Lk	48	15	31	He said to him, My son, thou art always at my side, and everything that I have is already thine;
 Luke	Lk	48	15	32	but for this merry-making and rejoicing there was good reason; thy brother here was dead, and has come to life again; was lost, and is found.
 Luke	Lk	48	16	1	And he said to his disciples, There was a rich man that had a steward, and a report came to him that this steward had wasted his goods.
 Luke	Lk	48	16	2	Whereupon he sent for him, and said to him, What is this that I hear of thee? Give an account of thy stewardship, for thou canst not be my steward any longer.
 Luke	Lk	48	16	3	At this, the steward said to himself, What am I to do, now that my master is taking my stewardship away from me? I have no strength to dig; I would be ashamed to beg for alms.
 Luke	Lk	48	16	4	I see what I must do, so as to be welcomed into men’s houses when I am dismissed from my stewardship.
 Luke	Lk	48	16	5	Then he summoned his master’s debtors one by one; and he said to the first, How much is it that thou owest my master?
 Luke	Lk	48	16	6	A hundred firkins of oil, he said; and he told him, Here is thy bill; quick, sit down and write it as fifty.
 Luke	Lk	48	16	7	Then he said to a second, And thou, how much dost thou owe? A hundred quarters of wheat, he said; and he told him, Here is thy bill, write it as eighty.
 Luke	Lk	48	16	8	And this knavish steward was commended by his master for his prudence in what he had done; for indeed, the children of this world are more prudent after their own fashion than the children of the light.
 Luke	Lk	48	16	9	And my counsel to you is, make use of your base wealth to win yourselves friends, who, when you leave it behind, will welcome you into eternal habitations.
 Luke	Lk	48	16	10	He who is trustworthy over a little sum is trustworthy over a greater; he who plays false over a little sum, plays false over a greater;
 Luke	Lk	48	16	11	if you, then, could not be trusted to use the base riches you had, who will put the true riches in your keeping?
 Luke	Lk	48	16	12	Who will give you property of your own, if you could not be trusted with what was only lent you?
 Luke	Lk	48	16	13	No servant can be in the employment of two masters at once; either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will devote himself to the one and despise the other. You must serve God or money; you cannot serve both.
 Luke	Lk	48	16	14	The Pharisees, who were fond of riches, heard all this, and poured scorn on him.
 Luke	Lk	48	16	15	And he said to them, You are always courting the approval of men, but God sees your hearts; what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in God’s sight.
 Luke	Lk	48	16	16	The law and the prophets lasted until John’s time; since that time, it is the kingdom of heaven that has its preachers, and all who will, press their way into it.
 Luke	Lk	48	16	17	And yet it is easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for one line of the law to perish.
 Luke	Lk	48	16	18	Every man who puts away his wife and marries another is an adulterer, and he too is an adulterer, that marries a woman who has been put away.
 Luke	Lk	48	16	19	There was a rich man once, that was clothed in purple and lawn, and feasted sumptuously every day.
 Luke	Lk	48	16	20	And there was a beggar, called Lazarus, who lay at his gate, covered with sores,
 Luke	Lk	48	16	21	wishing that he could be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table, but none was ready to give them to him; the very dogs came and licked his sores.
 Luke	Lk	48	16	22	Time went on; the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom; the rich man died too, and found his grave in hell.
 Luke	Lk	48	16	23	And there, in his suffering, he lifted up his eyes, and saw Abraham far off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
 Luke	Lk	48	16	24	And he said, with a loud cry, Father Abraham, take pity on me; send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; I am tormented in this flame.
 Luke	Lk	48	16	25	But Abraham said, My son, remember that thou didst receive thy good fortune in thy life-time, and Lazarus, no less, his ill fortune; now he is in comfort, thou in torment.
 Luke	Lk	48	16	26	And, besides all this, there is a great gulf fixed between us and you, so that there is no passing from our side of it to you, no crossing over to us from yours.
 Luke	Lk	48	16	27	Whereupon he said, Then, father, I pray thee send him to my own father’s house; for I have five brethren;
 Luke	Lk	48	16	28	let him give these a warning, so that they may not come, in their turn, into this place of suffering.
 Luke	Lk	48	16	29	Abraham said to him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them listen to these.
 Luke	Lk	48	16	30	They will not do that, father Abraham, said he; but if a messenger comes to them from the dead, they will repent.
 Luke	Lk	48	16	31	But he answered him, If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will be unbelieving still, though one should rise from the dead.
 Luke	Lk	48	17	1	And he said to his disciples, It is impossible that hurt should never be done to men’s consciences; but woe betide the man who is the cause of it.
 Luke	Lk	48	17	2	Better for him to have had a mill-stone tied about his neck, and to be cast into the sea, than to have hurt the conscience of one of these little ones.
 Luke	Lk	48	17	3	Keep good watch over yourselves. As for thy brother, if he is in fault, tax him with it, and if he is sorry for it, forgive him;
 Luke	Lk	48	17	4	nay, if he does thee wrong seven times in the day, and seven times in the day comes back to thee and says, I am sorry, thou shalt forgive him.
 Luke	Lk	48	17	5	The apostles said to the Lord, Give us more faith.
 Luke	Lk	48	17	6	And the Lord said, If you had faith, though it were like a grain of mustard seed, you might say to this mulberry tree, Uproot thyself and plant thyself in the sea, and it would obey you.
 Luke	Lk	48	17	7	If any one of you had a servant following the plough, or herding the sheep, would he say to him, when he came back from the farm, Go and fall to at once?
 Luke	Lk	48	17	8	Would he not say to him, Prepare my supper, and then gird thyself and wait upon me while I eat and drink; thou shalt eat and drink thyself afterwards?
 Luke	Lk	48	17	9	Does he hold himself bound in gratitude to such a servant, for obeying his commands?
 Luke	Lk	48	17	10	I do not think it of him; and you, in the same way, when you have done all that was commanded you, are to say, We are servants, and worthless; it was our duty to do what we have done.
 Luke	Lk	48	17	11	A time came when he was on his way to Jerusalem, and was passing between Samaria and Galilee;
 Luke	Lk	48	17	12	and as he was going into a village, ten men that were lepers came towards him; they stood far off,
 Luke	Lk	48	17	13	crying aloud, Jesus, Master, have pity on us.
 Luke	Lk	48	17	14	He met them with the words, Go and shew yourselves to the priests; and thereupon, as they went, they were made clean.
 Luke	Lk	48	17	15	One of them, finding that he was cured, came back, praising God aloud,
 Luke	Lk	48	17	16	and threw himself at Jesus’ feet with his face to the ground, to thank him; and this was a Samaritan.
 Luke	Lk	48	17	17	Jesus answered, Were not all ten made clean? And the other nine, where are they?
 Luke	Lk	48	17	18	Not one has come back to give God the praise, except this stranger.
 Luke	Lk	48	17	19	And he said to him, Arise and go on thy way, thy faith has brought thee recovery.
 Luke	Lk	48	17	20	Upon being asked by the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God was to come, he answered, The kingdom of God comes unwatched by men’s eyes;
 Luke	Lk	48	17	21	there will be no saying, See, it is here, or See, it is there; the kingdom of God is here, within you.
 Luke	Lk	48	17	22	And to his own disciples he said, The time will come when you will long to enjoy, but for a day, the Son of Man’s presence, and it will not be granted you.
 Luke	Lk	48	17	23	Men will be saying to you, See, he is here, or See, he is there; do not turn aside and follow them;
 Luke	Lk	48	17	24	the Son of Man, when his time comes, will be like the lightning which lightens from one border of heaven to the other.
 Luke	Lk	48	17	25	But before that, he must undergo many sufferings, and be rejected by this generation.
 Luke	Lk	48	17	26	In the days when the Son of Man comes, all will be as it was in the days of Noe;
 Luke	Lk	48	17	27	they ate, they drank, they married and were given in marriage, until the day when Noe went into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.
 Luke	Lk	48	17	28	So it was, too, in the days of Lot; they ate, they drank, they bought and sold, they planted and built;
 Luke	Lk	48	17	29	but on the day when Lot went out of Sodom, a rain of fire and brimstone came from heaven and destroyed them all.
 Luke	Lk	48	17	30	And so it will be, in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.
 Luke	Lk	48	17	31	In that day, if a man is on the house-top and his goods are in the house, let him not come down to take them with him; and if a man is in the fields, he too must beware of turning back.
 Luke	Lk	48	17	32	Remember Lot’s wife.
 Luke	Lk	48	17	33	The man who tries to save his own life will lose it; it is the man who loses it that will keep it safe.
 Luke	Lk	48	17	34	I tell you, on that night, where two men are sleeping in one bed, one will be taken and the other left;
 Luke	Lk	48	17	35	one woman taken, one left, as they grind together at the mill, one man taken, one left, as they work together in the fields.
 Luke	Lk	48	17	36	Then they answered him, Where, Lord?
 Luke	Lk	48	17	37	And he told them, It is where the body lies that the eagles will gather.
 Luke	Lk	48	18	1	And he told them a parable, shewing them that they ought to pray continually, and never be discouraged.
 Luke	Lk	48	18	2	There was a city once, he said, in which lived a judge who had no fear of God, no regard for man;
 Luke	Lk	48	18	3	and there was a widow in this city who used to come before him and say, Give me redress against one who wrongs me.
 Luke	Lk	48	18	4	For a time he refused; but then he said to himself, Fear of God I have none, nor regard for man,
 Luke	Lk	48	18	5	but this widow wearies me; I will give her redress, or she will wear me down at last with her visits.
 Luke	Lk	48	18	6	Listen, the Lord said, to the words of the unjust judge,
 Luke	Lk	48	18	7	and tell me, will not God give redress to his elect, when they are crying out to him, day and night? Will he not be impatient with their wrongs?
 Luke	Lk	48	18	8	I tell you, he will give them redress with all speed. But ah, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith left on the earth?
 Luke	Lk	48	18	9	There were some who had confidence in themselves, thinking they had won acceptance with God, and despised the rest of the world; to them he addressed this other parable:
 Luke	Lk	48	18	10	Two men went up into the temple to pray; one was a Pharisee, the other a publican.
 Luke	Lk	48	18	11	The Pharisee stood upright, and made this prayer in his heart, I thank thee, God, that I am not like the rest of men, who steal and cheat and commit adultery, or like this publican here;
 Luke	Lk	48	18	12	for myself, I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.
 Luke	Lk	48	18	13	And the publican stood far off; he would not even lift up his eyes towards heaven; he only beat his breast, and said, God, be merciful to me; I am a sinner.
 Luke	Lk	48	18	14	I tell you, this man went back home higher in God’s favour than the other; everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, and the man who humbles himself shall be exalted.
 Luke	Lk	48	18	15	Then they brought little children to him, asking him to touch them. The disciples saw them and rebuked them for it:
 Luke	Lk	48	18	16	but Jesus called the children to him, and said, Let them be, do not keep them back from me; the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
 Luke	Lk	48	18	17	Believe me, the man who does not accept the kingdom of God like a little child, will never enter into it.
 Luke	Lk	48	18	18	And one of the rulers asked him, Master, who art so good, what must I do to win eternal life?
 Luke	Lk	48	18	19	Jesus said to him, Why dost thou call me good? None is good, except God only.
 Luke	Lk	48	18	20	Thou knowest the commandments, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother.
 Luke	Lk	48	18	21	I have kept all these, he said, ever since I grew up.
 Luke	Lk	48	18	22	When he heard that, Jesus said, In one thing thou art still wanting; sell all that belongs to thee, and give to the poor; so the treasure thou hast shall be in heaven; then come back and follow me.
 Luke	Lk	48	18	23	The answer filled him with sadness, for he was very rich;
 Luke	Lk	48	18	24	and Jesus, seeing his mournful look, said, With what difficulty will those who have riches enter God’s kingdom!
 Luke	Lk	48	18	25	It is easier for a camel to pass through a needle’s eye, than for a man to enter the kingdom of God when he is rich.
 Luke	Lk	48	18	26	But when he was asked by those who were listening to him, Why then, who can be saved?
 Luke	Lk	48	18	27	he told them, What is impossible to man’s powers is possible to God.
 Luke	Lk	48	18	28	Hereupon Peter said, And what of us? we have forsaken all that was ours, and followed thee.
 Luke	Lk	48	18	29	Jesus said to them, I promise you, everyone who has forsaken home, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children for the sake of the kingdom of God,
 Luke	Lk	48	18	30	will receive, in this present world, many times their worth, and in the world to come, everlasting life.
 Luke	Lk	48	18	31	Then he took the twelve apostles aside, and warned them, Now we are going up to Jerusalem, and all that has been written by the prophets about the Son of Man is to be accomplished.
 Luke	Lk	48	18	32	He will be given up to the Gentiles, and mocked, and beaten, and spat upon;
 Luke	Lk	48	18	33	they will scourge him, and then they will kill him; but on the third day he will rise again.
 Luke	Lk	48	18	34	They could make nothing of all this; his meaning was hidden from them, so that they could not understand what he said.
 Luke	Lk	48	18	35	When he came near Jericho, there was a blind man sitting there by the way-side begging.
 Luke	Lk	48	18	36	And he, hearing a multitude passing by, asked what it meant;
 Luke	Lk	48	18	37	so they told him, that Jesus of Nazareth was going past.
 Luke	Lk	48	18	38	Whereupon he cried out, Jesus, son of David, have pity on me.
 Luke	Lk	48	18	39	Those who were in front rebuked him, and told him to be silent, but he cried out all the more, Son of David, have pity on me.
 Luke	Lk	48	18	40	Then Jesus stopped, and gave orders that the man should be brought to him; and when he came close, he asked him,
 Luke	Lk	48	18	41	What wouldst thou have me do for thee? Lord, he said, give me back my sight.
 Luke	Lk	48	18	42	Jesus said to him, Receive thy sight; thy faith has brought thee recovery.
 Luke	Lk	48	18	43	And at once the man recovered his sight, and followed him, glorifying God; all the people, too, gave praise to God at seeing it.
 Luke	Lk	48	19	1	He had entered Jericho, and was passing through it;
 Luke	Lk	48	19	2	and here a rich man named Zacchaeus, the chief publican,
 Luke	Lk	48	19	3	was trying to distinguish which was Jesus, but could not do so because of the multitude, being a man of small stature.
 Luke	Lk	48	19	4	So he ran on in front, and climbed up into a sycamore tree, to catch sight of him, since he must needs pass that way.
 Luke	Lk	48	19	5	Jesus, when he reached the place, looked up and saw him; Zacchaeus, he said, make haste and come down; I am to lodge to-day at thy house.
 Luke	Lk	48	19	6	And he came down with all haste, and gladly made him welcome.
 Luke	Lk	48	19	7	When they saw it, all took it amiss; He has gone in to lodge, they said, with one who is a sinner.
 Luke	Lk	48	19	8	But Zacchaeus stood upright and said to the Lord, Here and now, Lord, I give half of what I have to the poor; and if I have wronged anyone in any way, I make restitution of it fourfold.
 Luke	Lk	48	19	9	Jesus turned to him and said, To-day, salvation has been brought to this house; he too is a son of Abraham.
 Luke	Lk	48	19	10	That is what the Son of Man has come for, to search out and to save what was lost.
 Luke	Lk	48	19	11	While they stood listening, he went on and told them a parable; this was because he had now nearly reached Jerusalem, and they supposed that the kingdom of God was to appear immediately.
 Luke	Lk	48	19	12	He told them, then, There was a man of noble birth, who went away to a distant country, to have the royal title bestowed on him, and so return.
 Luke	Lk	48	19	13	And he summoned ten of his servants, to whom he gave ten pounds, and said to them, Trade with this while I am away.
 Luke	Lk	48	19	14	But his fellow citizens hated him, and sent ambassadors after him to say, We will not have this man for our king.
 Luke	Lk	48	19	15	Afterwards, when he came back as king, he sent for the servants to whom he had entrusted the money, to find out how much each of them had gained by his use of it.
 Luke	Lk	48	19	16	The first came before him and said, Lord, thy pound has made ten pounds.
 Luke	Lk	48	19	17	And he said to him, Well done, my true servant: since thou hast been faithful over a very little, thou shalt have authority over ten cities.
 Luke	Lk	48	19	18	The second came and said, Lord, thy pound has made five pounds;
 Luke	Lk	48	19	19	and to him he said, Thou too shalt have authority, over five cities.
 Luke	Lk	48	19	20	Then another came and said, Lord, here is thy pound; I have kept it laid up in a handkerchief.
 Luke	Lk	48	19	21	I was afraid of thee, knowing how exacting a man thou art; thou dost claim what thou didst never venture, dost reap what thou didst never sow.
 Luke	Lk	48	19	22	Then he said to him, Thou false servant, I take thy judgement from thy own lips. Thou knewest that I was an exacting man, claiming what I never ventured and reaping what I never sowed;
 Luke	Lk	48	19	23	then why didst thou not put my money into the bank, so that I might have recovered it with interest when I came?
 Luke	Lk	48	19	24	Then he gave orders to those who stood by, Take the pound away from him, and give it to the man who has ten pounds.
 Luke	Lk	48	19	25	(They said to him, Lord, he has ten pounds already.)
 Luke	Lk	48	19	26	Nay, but I tell you, if ever a man is rich, gifts will be made to him, and his riches will abound; if he is poor, even the little he has will be taken from him.
 Luke	Lk	48	19	27	But as for those enemies of mine, who refused to have me for their king, bring them here and kill them in my presence.
 Luke	Lk	48	19	28	And when he had spoken thus, he went on his way, going up to Jerusalem.
 Luke	Lk	48	19	29	After this, when he was approaching Bethphage and Bethany, close to the mountain which is called Olivet, he sent two of his disciples on an errand;
 Luke	Lk	48	19	30	Go into the village that faces you, he told them, and as you enter it you will find a colt tethered there, one on which no man has yet ridden; untie it and bring it here.
 Luke	Lk	48	19	31	And if anybody asks you, Why are you untying it? this must be your answer, The Lord has need of it.
 Luke	Lk	48	19	32	So the two he had appointed went on their way, and found the colt standing there, just as he had told them.
 Luke	Lk	48	19	33	As they were untying it, its owners asked them, Why are you untying the colt?
 Luke	Lk	48	19	34	And they said, Because the Lord has need of it.
 Luke	Lk	48	19	35	So they brought the colt to Jesus, and spread out their garments on it, and bade Jesus mount.
 Luke	Lk	48	19	36	As he went, they strewed the road with their garments;
 Luke	Lk	48	19	37	and when he drew near the descent of mount Olivet, the whole company of his disciples began rejoicing and praising God for all the miracles they had seen.
 Luke	Lk	48	19	38	Blessed is the king, they said, who comes in the name of the Lord; peace in heaven, glory above.
 Luke	Lk	48	19	39	Some of the Pharisees who were among the multitude said to him, Master, rebuke thy disciples;
 Luke	Lk	48	19	40	but he answered, I tell you, if they should keep silence, the stones will cry out instead.
 Luke	Lk	48	19	41	And as he drew near, and caught sight of the city, he wept over it, and said:
 Luke	Lk	48	19	42	Ah, if thou too couldst understand, above all in this day that is granted thee, the ways that can bring thee peace! As it is, they are hidden from thy sight.
 Luke	Lk	48	19	43	The days will come upon thee when thy enemies will fence thee round about, and encircle thee, and press thee hard on every side,
 Luke	Lk	48	19	44	and bring down in ruin both thee and thy children that are in thee, not leaving one stone of thee upon another; and all because thou didst not recognize the time of my visiting thee.
 Luke	Lk	48	19	45	Then he went into the temple, and began driving out those who sold and bought there;
 Luke	Lk	48	19	46	It is written, he told them, My house is a house of prayer; and you have made it into a den of thieves.
 Luke	Lk	48	19	47	And he taught in the temple daily. The chief priests and scribes and the leading men among the people were eager to make away with him,
 Luke	Lk	48	19	48	but they could not find any means to do it, because all the people hung upon his words.
 Luke	Lk	48	20	1	One day, as he taught the people and preached to them in the temple, the chief priests and scribes, with the elders, came up
 Luke	Lk	48	20	2	and said to him, Tell us, What is the authority by which thou doest these things, and who gave thee this authority?
 Luke	Lk	48	20	3	Jesus answered them, I too have a question to ask; you must tell me this,
 Luke	Lk	48	20	4	Whence did John’s baptism come, from heaven or from men?
 Luke	Lk	48	20	5	Whereupon they cast about in their minds; If we tell him it was from heaven, they said, he will ask, Then why did you not believe him?
 Luke	Lk	48	20	6	And if we say it was from men, all the people will be ready to stone us; they will have it that John was a prophet.
 Luke	Lk	48	20	7	So they answered that they could not tell whence it came.
 Luke	Lk	48	20	8	Jesus said to them, And you will not learn from me what is the authority by which I do these things.
 Luke	Lk	48	20	9	And now he took occasion to tell the people this parable; There was a man who planted a vineyard, and let it out to some vine-dressers, while he went away to spend a long time abroad.
 Luke	Lk	48	20	10	And when the season came, he sent one of his servants on an errand to the vine-dressers, bidding them pay him his share of the vineyard’s revenues. Whereupon the vine-dressers beat him, and sent him away empty-handed.
 Luke	Lk	48	20	11	Then he sent another servant; and him too they sent away empty-handed, beating him first, and insulting him.
 Luke	Lk	48	20	12	Then he sent a third; and they drove him away wounded, like the others.
 Luke	Lk	48	20	13	So the owner of the vineyard said, What am I to do? I will send my well-beloved son, perhaps they will have reverence for him.
 Luke	Lk	48	20	14	But the vine-dressers, on seeing him, debated thus among themselves; This is the heir, let us kill him, so that his inheritance may pass into our hands.
 Luke	Lk	48	20	15	And they thrust him out of the vineyard and killed him. And now, what will the owner of the vineyard do to them?
 Luke	Lk	48	20	16	He will come and make an end of those vine-dressers, and give his vineyard to others. God forbid, they said, when they heard that.
 Luke	Lk	48	20	17	But he fastened his eyes on them, and said, Why then, what is the meaning of those words which have been written, The very stone which the builders rejected has become the chief stone at the corner?
 Luke	Lk	48	20	18	If ever a man falls against that stone, he will break his bones; if it falls upon him, it will grind him to powder.
 Luke	Lk	48	20	19	At this, the chief priests and scribes would gladly have laid hands on him there and then, but they were afraid of the people. They saw clearly that this parable of his was aimed at them.
 Luke	Lk	48	20	20	And so, watching for their opportunity, they sent agents of their own, who pretended to be men of honest purpose, to fasten on his words; then they would hand him over to the supreme authority of the governor.
 Luke	Lk	48	20	21	These put a question to him; Master, they said, we know that thou art direct in thy talk and thy teaching; thou makest no distinction between man and man, but teachest the way of God in all sincerity.
 Luke	Lk	48	20	22	Is it right that we should pay tribute to Caesar, or not?
 Luke	Lk	48	20	23	And he, aware of their malice, said to them, Why do you thus put me to the test?
 Luke	Lk	48	20	24	Shew me a silver piece. Whose likeness, whose name does it bear inscribed on it? When they answered, Caesar’s,
 Luke	Lk	48	20	25	he told them, Why then, give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.
 Luke	Lk	48	20	26	And they said no more; they were full of admiration at his answer, finding no means of discrediting his words in the eyes of the people.
 Luke	Lk	48	20	27	Then he was approached with a question by some of the Sadducees, men who deny the resurrection;
 Luke	Lk	48	20	28	Master, they said, Moses prescribed for us, If a man has a married brother who dies without issue, the surviving brother must marry the widow, and beget children in the dead brother’s name.
 Luke	Lk	48	20	29	There were seven brethren, the first of whom married a wife, and died without issue.
 Luke	Lk	48	20	30	So the next took her, and also died without issue,
 Luke	Lk	48	20	31	then the third, and so with all the seven; they left no children when they died,
 Luke	Lk	48	20	32	and the woman herself died last of all.
 Luke	Lk	48	20	33	And now, when the dead rise again, which of these will be her husband, since she was wife to all seven?
 Luke	Lk	48	20	34	Jesus told them, The children of this world marry and are given in marriage;
 Luke	Lk	48	20	35	but those who are found worthy to attain that other world, and resurrection from the dead, take neither wife nor husband;
 Luke	Lk	48	20	36	mortal no longer, they will be as the angels in heaven are, children of God, now that the resurrection has given them birth.
 Luke	Lk	48	20	37	But as for the dead rising again, Moses himself has told you of it in the passage about the burning bush, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.
 Luke	Lk	48	20	38	It is of living men, not of dead men, that he is the God; for him, all men are alive.
 Luke	Lk	48	20	39	At this, some of the scribes answered, Master, thou hast spoken well;
 Luke	Lk	48	20	40	no one dared to try him with further questions.
 Luke	Lk	48	20	41	Then he said to them, What do they mean by saying that Christ is the son of David?
 Luke	Lk	48	20	42	Why, David himself says in the book of Psalms, The Lord said to my Master, sit on my right hand
 Luke	Lk	48	20	43	while I make thy enemies a footstool under thy feet.
 Luke	Lk	48	20	44	Thus David calls Christ his Master; how can he also be his son?
 Luke	Lk	48	20	45	And he said to his disciples, in the hearing of all the people:
 Luke	Lk	48	20	46	Beware of the scribes, who enjoy walking in long robes, and love to have their hands kissed in the market-place, and to take the first seats in the synagogues, and the chief places at feasts;
 Luke	Lk	48	20	47	who swallow up the property of widows, under cover of their long prayers; their sentence will be all the heavier for that.
 Luke	Lk	48	21	1	And he looked up, and saw the rich folk putting their gifts into the treasury;
 Luke	Lk	48	21	2	he also saw one poor widow, who put in two mites.
 Luke	Lk	48	21	3	Thereupon he said, Believe me, this poor widow has put in more than all the others.
 Luke	Lk	48	21	4	The others all made an offering to God out of what they had to spare; she, with so little to give, put in her whole livelihood.
 Luke	Lk	48	21	5	There were some who spoke to him of the temple, of the noble masonry and the offerings which adorned it; to these he said,
 Luke	Lk	48	21	6	The days will come when, of all this fabric you contemplate, not one stone will be left on another; it will all be thrown down.
 Luke	Lk	48	21	7	And they asked him, Master, when will this be? What sign will be given, when it is soon to be accomplished?
 Luke	Lk	48	21	8	Take care, he said, that you do not allow anyone to deceive you. Many will come making use of my name; they will say, Here I am, the time is close at hand; do not turn aside after them.
 Luke	Lk	48	21	9	And when you hear of wars and revolts, do not be alarmed by it; such things must happen first, but the end will not come all at once.
 Luke	Lk	48	21	10	Then he told them, Nation will rise in arms against nation, and kingdom against kingdom;
 Luke	Lk	48	21	11	there will be great earthquakes in this region or that, and plagues and famines; and sights of terror and great portents from heaven.
 Luke	Lk	48	21	12	Before all this, men will be laying hands on you and persecuting you; they will give you up to the synagogues, and to prison, and drag you into the presence of kings and governors on my account;
 Luke	Lk	48	21	13	that will be your opportunity for making the truth known.
 Luke	Lk	48	21	14	Resolve, then, not to prepare your manner of answering beforehand;
 Luke	Lk	48	21	15	I will give you such eloquence and such wisdom as all your adversaries shall not be able to withstand, or to confute.
 Luke	Lk	48	21	16	You will be given up by parents and brethren and kinsmen and friends, and some of you will be put to death;
 Luke	Lk	48	21	17	all the world will be hating you because you bear my name;
 Luke	Lk	48	21	18	and yet no hair of your head shall perish.
 Luke	Lk	48	21	19	It is by endurance that you will secure possession of your souls.
 Luke	Lk	48	21	20	But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, be sure that the time has come when she will be laid waste.
 Luke	Lk	48	21	21	Then those who are in Judaea must take refuge in the mountains, those who are in the city itself withdrawing from it, and those who are in the country-side not making their way into it;
 Luke	Lk	48	21	22	these will be days of vengeance, bringing fulfilment of all that has been written.
 Luke	Lk	48	21	23	It will go hard with women who are with child, or have children at the breast, in those days; it will be a time of bitter distress over all the land, and retribution against this people.
 Luke	Lk	48	21	24	They will be put to the sword, and led away into captivity all over the world; and Jerusalem will be trodden under the feet of the Gentiles, until the time granted to the Gentile nations has run out.
 Luke	Lk	48	21	25	The sun and the moon and the stars will give portents, and on earth the nations will be in distress, bewildered by the roaring of the sea and of its waves;
 Luke	Lk	48	21	26	men’s hearts will be dried up with fear, as they await the troubles that are overtaking the whole world; the very powers of heaven will rock.
 Luke	Lk	48	21	27	And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud, with his full power and majesty.
 Luke	Lk	48	21	28	When all this begins, look up, and lift up your heads; it means that the time draws near for your deliverance.
 Luke	Lk	48	21	29	And he told them a parable; Look at the fig-tree, or any of the trees;
 Luke	Lk	48	21	30	when they put out their fruit, you know by your own experience that summer is near.
 Luke	Lk	48	21	31	Just so, when you see this happen, be sure that the kingdom of God is close at hand.
 Luke	Lk	48	21	32	Believe me, this generation will not have passed, before all this is accomplished.
 Luke	Lk	48	21	33	Though heaven and earth should pass away, my words will stand.
 Luke	Lk	48	21	34	Only look well to yourselves; do not let your hearts grow dull with revelry and drunkenness and the affairs of this life, so that that day overtakes you unawares;
 Luke	Lk	48	21	35	it will come like the springing of a trap on all those who dwell upon the face of the earth.
 Luke	Lk	48	21	36	Keep watch, then, praying at all times, so that you may be found worthy to come safe through all that lies before you, and stand erect to meet the presence of the Son of Man.
 Luke	Lk	48	21	37	Each day he went on teaching in the temple, and at night he lodged on the mountain which is called Olivet;
 Luke	Lk	48	21	38	and all the people waited for him at early morning in the temple, to listen to him.
 Luke	Lk	48	22	1	And now the feast of unleavened bread, the paschal feast, as it is called, was draw-ing near.
 Luke	Lk	48	22	2	The chief priests and scribes were still at a loss for some means of making away with him, frightened as they were of the people.
 Luke	Lk	48	22	3	But now Satan found his way into the heart of Judas, who was also called Iscariot, one of the twelve,
 Luke	Lk	48	22	4	and he went off and conferred with the chief priests and magistrates about the means to betray Jesus.
 Luke	Lk	48	22	5	These gladly consented to pay him a sum of money;
 Luke	Lk	48	22	6	so he promised to do it, and looked about for an opportunity to hand him over without any commotion.
 Luke	Lk	48	22	7	Then the day of unleavened bread came; on this day, the paschal victim must be killed;
 Luke	Lk	48	22	8	and Jesus sent Peter and John on an errand; Go and make ready for us, he said, to eat the paschal meal.
 Luke	Lk	48	22	9	When they asked him, Where wouldst thou have us make ready?
 Luke	Lk	48	22	10	he said to them, Just as you are entering the city, you will be met by a man carrying a jar of water; follow him into the house to which he is going;
 Luke	Lk	48	22	11	and there you will say to the owner of the house, The master sends word, Where is the room in which I am to eat the paschal meal with my disciples?
 Luke	Lk	48	22	12	And he will shew you a large upper room, furnished; it is there that you are to make ready.
 Luke	Lk	48	22	13	So they went, and found all as he had told them, and so made ready for the paschal meal.
 Luke	Lk	48	22	14	And when the time came, he sat down with his twelve disciples.
 Luke	Lk	48	22	15	And he said to them, I have longed and longed to share this paschal meal with you before my passion;
 Luke	Lk	48	22	16	I tell you, I shall not eat it again, till it finds its fulfilment in the kingdom of God.
 Luke	Lk	48	22	17	And he took a cup, and blessed it, and said, Take this and share it among you;
 Luke	Lk	48	22	18	I tell you, I shall not drink of the fruit of the vine again, till the kingdom of God has come.
 Luke	Lk	48	22	19	Then he took bread, and blessed and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, This is my body, given for you; do this for a commemoration of me.
 Luke	Lk	48	22	20	And so with the cup, when supper was ended, This cup, he said, is the new testament, in my blood which is to be shed for you.
 Luke	Lk	48	22	21	And now, the hand of my betrayer rests on this table, at my side.
 Luke	Lk	48	22	22	The Son of Man goes on his way, for so it has been ordained; but woe upon that man by whom he is to be betrayed.
 Luke	Lk	48	22	23	Thereupon they fell to surmising among themselves, which of them it was that would do this.
 Luke	Lk	48	22	24	And there was rivalry between them over the question, which of them was to be accounted the greatest.
 Luke	Lk	48	22	25	But he told them, The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who bear rule over them win the name of benefactors.
 Luke	Lk	48	22	26	With you it is not to be so; no difference is to be made, among you, between the greatest and the youngest of all, between him who commands and him who serves.
 Luke	Lk	48	22	27	Tell me, which is greater, the man who sits at table, or the man who serves him? Surely the man who sits at table; yet I am here among you as your servant.
 Luke	Lk	48	22	28	You are the men who have kept to my side in my hours of trial:
 Luke	Lk	48	22	29	and, as my Father has allotted a kingdom to me, so I allot to you
 Luke	Lk	48	22	30	a place to eat and drink at my table in my kingdom; you shall sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
 Luke	Lk	48	22	31	And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has claimed power over you all, so that he can sift you like wheat:
 Luke	Lk	48	22	32	but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith may not fail; when, after a while, thou hast come back to me, it is for thee to be the support of thy brethren.
 Luke	Lk	48	22	33	Lord, said he, I am ready to bear thee company, though it were to prison or to death.
 Luke	Lk	48	22	34	But he answered, I tell thee, Peter, by cock-crow this morning thou wilt thrice have denied knowledge of me. Then he said to them,
 Luke	Lk	48	22	35	Did you go in want of anything, when I sent you out without purse, or wallet, or shoes?
 Luke	Lk	48	22	36	They told him, Nothing; and he said, But now it is time for a man to take his purse with him, if he has one, and his wallet too; and to sell his cloak and buy a sword, if he has none.
 Luke	Lk	48	22	37	Believe me, one word has been written that has yet to find its fulfilment in me, And he was counted among the malefactors. Sure enough, all that has been written of me must be fulfilled.
 Luke	Lk	48	22	38	See, Lord, they told him, here are two swords. And he said to them, That is enough.
 Luke	Lk	48	22	39	And now he went out, as his custom was, to mount Olivet, his disciples following him.
 Luke	Lk	48	22	40	When he reached the place, he said to them, Pray that you may not enter into temptation.
 Luke	Lk	48	22	41	Then he parted from them, going a stone’s throw off, and knelt down to pray;
 Luke	Lk	48	22	42	Father, he said, if it pleases thee, take away this chalice from before me; only as thy will is, not as mine is.
 Luke	Lk	48	22	43	And he had sight of an angel from heaven, encouraging him. And now he was in an agony, and prayed still more earnestly;
 Luke	Lk	48	22	44	his sweat fell to the ground like thick drops of blood.
 Luke	Lk	48	22	45	When he rose from his prayer, he went back to his disciples, and found that they were sleeping, overwrought with sorrow.
 Luke	Lk	48	22	46	How can you sleep? he asked. Rise up and pray, so that you may not enter into temptation.
 Luke	Lk	48	22	47	Even as he spoke, a multitude came near; their guide was the man called Judas, one of the twelve, who came close to Jesus, to kiss him.
 Luke	Lk	48	22	48	Jesus said to him, Judas, wouldst thou betray the Son of Man with a kiss?
 Luke	Lk	48	22	49	Then those who were about him, seeing what would come of it, asked, Lord, shall we strike out with our swords?
 Luke	Lk	48	22	50	And one of them struck a servant of the high priest, and cut off his right ear.
 Luke	Lk	48	22	51	Jesus answered, Let them have their way in this. And he touched his ear, and healed him.
 Luke	Lk	48	22	52	Then Jesus said to the chief priests and temple officers and elders who had come to find him, Have you come out with swords and clubs, as if I were a robber?
 Luke	Lk	48	22	53	I was close to you in the temple, day after day, and you never laid hands on me. But your time has come now, and darkness has its will.
 Luke	Lk	48	22	54	So they apprehended him, and led him away to the house of the high priest; and Peter followed at a long distance.
 Luke	Lk	48	22	55	They had lit a fire in the midst of the court, and were sitting round it; and there Peter sat among them.
 Luke	Lk	48	22	56	One of the maidservants, as she saw him sitting there in the firelight, looked closely at him and said, This is one of those who were with him.
 Luke	Lk	48	22	57	And he disowned him; Woman, he said, I have no knowledge of him.
 Luke	Lk	48	22	58	After a short while, another of the company said, when he caught sight of him, Thou too art one of them; and Peter said, Man, I am not.
 Luke	Lk	48	22	59	Then there was an interval of about an hour, before another man insisted, It is the truth that this fellow was in his company; why, he is a Galilean.
 Luke	Lk	48	22	60	Man, said Peter, I do not understand what thou meanest; and all at once, while the words were on his lips, the cock crew.
 Luke	Lk	48	22	61	And the Lord turned, and looked at Peter; and Peter remembered what the Lord had said to him, Before cock-crow, thou wilt thrice disown me.
 Luke	Lk	48	22	62	And Peter went out, and wept bitterly.
 Luke	Lk	48	22	63	The men who held Jesus prisoner beat him and mocked him;
 Luke	Lk	48	22	64	they blindfolded him and struck him on the face, and then questioned him, Come, prophesy; tell us who it is that smote thee.
 Luke	Lk	48	22	65	And they used many other blasphemous words against him.
 Luke	Lk	48	22	66	When day came, all the elders of the people, chief priests and scribes, brought him before their council; If thou art the Christ, they said, tell us.
 Luke	Lk	48	22	67	Why, he said, if I tell you, you will never believe me:
 Luke	Lk	48	22	68	and if I ask you questions, I know you will not answer them, nor acquit me.
 Luke	Lk	48	22	69	I will only tell you that a time is coming when the Son of Man will be seated in power at God’s right hand.
 Luke	Lk	48	22	70	And they all said, Thou art, then, the Son of God? He told them, Your lips have said that I am.
 Luke	Lk	48	22	71	And they said, What further need have we of witnesses? We have heard the words from his own mouth.
 Luke	Lk	48	23	1	Then the whole assembly of them rose up and brought him before Pilate,
 Luke	Lk	48	23	2	and there fell to accusing him; We have discovered, they said, that this man is subverting the loyalty of our people, forbids the payment of tribute to Caesar, and calls himself Christ the king.
 Luke	Lk	48	23	3	And Pilate asked him, Art thou the king of the Jews? He answered him, Thy own lips have said it.
 Luke	Lk	48	23	4	Pilate said to the chief priests and the multitudes, I cannot discover any fault in this man.
 Luke	Lk	48	23	5	But they insisted, He rouses sedition among the people; he has gone round the whole of Judaea preaching, beginning in Galilee and ending here.
 Luke	Lk	48	23	6	Pilate, upon the mention of Galilee, asked whether the man was a Galilean;
 Luke	Lk	48	23	7	and learning that he belonged to Herod’s jurisdiction, remitted his cause to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at this time.
 Luke	Lk	48	23	8	Herod was overjoyed at seeing Jesus; for a long time he had been eager to have sight of him, because he had heard so much of him, and now he hoped to witness some miracle of his.
 Luke	Lk	48	23	9	He asked him many questions, but could get no answer from him,
 Luke	Lk	48	23	10	although the chief priests and scribes stood there, loudly accusing him.
 Luke	Lk	48	23	11	So Herod and his attendants made a jest of him, arraying him in festal attire out of mockery, and sent him back to Pilate.
 Luke	Lk	48	23	12	That day Herod and Pilate, who had hitherto been at enmity with one another, became friends.
 Luke	Lk	48	23	13	And now Pilate summoned the chief priests, and the rulers, and the people,
 Luke	Lk	48	23	14	and said to them, You have brought this man before me as one who seduces the people from their allegiance; I examined him in your presence, and could find no substance in any of the charges you bring against him;
 Luke	Lk	48	23	15	nor could Herod, when I referred you to him. It is plain that he has done nothing which deserves death.
 Luke	Lk	48	23	16	I will scourge him, and then he shall go free.
 Luke	Lk	48	23	17	At the festival, he was obliged to grant them the liberty of one prisoner:
 Luke	Lk	48	23	18	but the whole concourse raised the cry, Away with this man; we must have Barabbas released.
 Luke	Lk	48	23	19	(Barabbas was a man who had been thrown into prison for raising a revolt in the city, and for murder.)
 Luke	Lk	48	23	20	Once more Pilate spoke to them, offering to set Jesus at liberty;
 Luke	Lk	48	23	21	but they continued to answer with shouts of, Crucify him, crucify him.
 Luke	Lk	48	23	22	Then for the third time he said to them, Why, what wrong has he done? I can find no fault in him that deserves death; I will scourge him, and then he shall go free.
 Luke	Lk	48	23	23	But they, with loud cries, insisted on their demand that he should be crucified; and their voices carried the day;
 Luke	Lk	48	23	24	Pilate gave his assent that their request should be granted,
 Luke	Lk	48	23	25	releasing the man of their choice who had been imprisoned for revolt and murder, while he handed Jesus over to their will.
 Luke	Lk	48	23	26	As they led him off, they caught hold of a man called Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, and loaded him with the cross, so that he should carry it after Jesus.
 Luke	Lk	48	23	27	Jesus was followed by a great multitude of the people, and also of women, who beat their breasts and mourned over him;
 Luke	Lk	48	23	28	but he turned to them, and said, It is not for me that you should weep, daughters of Jerusalem; you should weep for yourselves and your children.
 Luke	Lk	48	23	29	Behold, a time is coming when men will say, It is well for the barren, for the wombs that never bore children, and the breasts that never suckled them.
 Luke	Lk	48	23	30	It is then that they will begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us, and to the hills, Cover us.
 Luke	Lk	48	23	31	If it goes so hard with the tree that is still green, what will become of the tree that is already dried up?
 Luke	Lk	48	23	32	Two others, who were criminals, were led off with him to be put to death.
 Luke	Lk	48	23	33	And when they reached the place which is named after a skull, they crucified him there; and also the two criminals, one on his right and the other on his left.
 Luke	Lk	48	23	34	Jesus meanwhile was saying, Father, forgive them; they do not know what it is they are doing. And they divided his garments among themselves by lot.
 Luke	Lk	48	23	35	The people stood by, watching; and the rulers joined them in pouring scorn on him; He saved others, they said; if he is the Christ, God’s chosen, let him save himself.
 Luke	Lk	48	23	36	The soldiers, too, mocked him, when they came and offered him vinegar,
 Luke	Lk	48	23	37	by saying, If thou art the king of the Jews, save thyself.
 Luke	Lk	48	23	38	(A proclamation had been written up over him in Greek, Latin and Hebrew, This is the king of the Jews.)
 Luke	Lk	48	23	39	And one of the two thieves who hung there fell to blaspheming against him; Save thyself, he said, and us too, if thou art the Christ.
 Luke	Lk	48	23	40	But the other rebuked him; What, he said, hast thou no fear of God, when thou art undergoing the same sentence?
 Luke	Lk	48	23	41	And we justly enough; we receive no more than the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing amiss.
 Luke	Lk	48	23	42	Then he said to Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.
 Luke	Lk	48	23	43	And Jesus said to him, I promise thee, this day thou shalt be with me in Paradise.
 Luke	Lk	48	23	44	It was about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour.
 Luke	Lk	48	23	45	The sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn in the midst:
 Luke	Lk	48	23	46	and Jesus said, crying with a loud voice, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit; and yielded up his spirit as he said it.
 Luke	Lk	48	23	47	And the centurion, when he saw what befell, gave glory to God; This, he said, was indeed a just man.
 Luke	Lk	48	23	48	And the whole multitude of those who stood there watching it, when they saw the issue, went home beating their breasts.
 Luke	Lk	48	23	49	All his acquaintances, with the women who had followed him from Galilee, watched while this happened, standing at a distance.
 Luke	Lk	48	23	50	And now a man called Joseph came forward, one of the councillors, a good and upright man,
 Luke	Lk	48	23	51	who had not taken part with the council and its doings; he was from Arimathea, a Jewish city, and was one of those who waited for the kingdom of God.
 Luke	Lk	48	23	52	He it was who approached Pilate, and asked to have the body of Jesus.
 Luke	Lk	48	23	53	This he took, and wrapped it in a winding-sheet, and laid it in a tomb fashioned out of the rock, in which no man had ever been buried.
 Luke	Lk	48	23	54	It was the day of preparation; the next day was the sabbath.
 Luke	Lk	48	23	55	And the women who had come with him from Galilee followed, and saw the tomb, and how his body was buried;
 Luke	Lk	48	23	56	so they went back, and prepared spices and ointments, and while it was the sabbath they kept still, as the law commanded.
 Luke	Lk	48	24	1	And at very early dawn on the first day of the week they came to the tomb, bringing the spices they had prepared:
 Luke	Lk	48	24	2	and found the stone already rolled away from the door of the tomb.
 Luke	Lk	48	24	3	They went into it, and could not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
 Luke	Lk	48	24	4	They were still puzzling over this, when two men came and stood by them, in shining garments.
 Luke	Lk	48	24	5	These said to them, as they bowed their faces to the earth in fear, Why are you seeking one who is alive, here among the dead?
 Luke	Lk	48	24	6	He is not here, he has risen again; remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee,
 Luke	Lk	48	24	7	The Son of Man is to be given up into the hands of sinners, and to be crucified, and to rise again the third day.
 Luke	Lk	48	24	8	Then they remembered what he had said,
 Luke	Lk	48	24	9	and returned from the tomb bringing news of all this to the eleven apostles and to all the rest.
 Luke	Lk	48	24	10	It was Mary Magdalen, and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, who told the apostles this;
 Luke	Lk	48	24	11	but to their minds the story seemed madness, and they could not believe it.
 Luke	Lk	48	24	12	Only Peter rose up and ran to the tomb, where he looked in, and saw the grave-clothes lying by themselves, and went away full of surmise over what had befallen.
 Luke	Lk	48	24	13	It was on the same day that two of them were walking to a village called Emmaus, sixty furlongs away from Jerusalem,
 Luke	Lk	48	24	14	discussing all that had happened.
 Luke	Lk	48	24	15	They were still conversing and debating together, when Jesus himself drew near, and began to walk beside them;
 Luke	Lk	48	24	16	but their eyes were held fast, so that they could not recognize him.
 Luke	Lk	48	24	17	And he said to them, What talk is this you exchange between you as you go along, sad-faced?
 Luke	Lk	48	24	18	And one of them, who was called Cleophas, answered him, What, art thou the only pilgrim in Jerusalem who has not heard of what has happened there in the last few days?
 Luke	Lk	48	24	19	What happenings? he asked; and they said, About Jesus of Nazareth, a prophet whose words and acts had power with God, and with all the people;
 Luke	Lk	48	24	20	how the chief priests, and our rulers, handed him over to be sentenced to death, and so crucified him.
 Luke	Lk	48	24	21	For ourselves, we had hoped that it was he who was to deliver Israel; but now, to crown it all, to-day is the third day since it befell.
 Luke	Lk	48	24	22	Some women, indeed, who belonged to our company, alarmed us; they had been at the tomb early in the morning
 Luke	Lk	48	24	23	and could not find his body; whereupon they came back and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive.
 Luke	Lk	48	24	24	Some of those who were with us went to the tomb, and found that all was as the women had said, but of him they saw nothing.
 Luke	Lk	48	24	25	Then he said to them, Too slow of wit, too dull of heart, to believe all those sayings of the prophets!
 Luke	Lk	48	24	26	Was it not to be expected that the Christ should undergo these sufferings, and enter so into his glory?
 Luke	Lk	48	24	27	Then, going back to Moses and the whole line of the prophets, he began to interpret the words used of himself by all the scriptures.
 Luke	Lk	48	24	28	And now they were drawing near the village to which they were walking, and he made as if to go on further;
 Luke	Lk	48	24	29	but they pressed him, Stay with us, they said; it is towards evening, and it is far on in the day. So he went in to stay with them.
 Luke	Lk	48	24	30	And then, when he sat down at table with them, he took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and offered it to them;
 Luke	Lk	48	24	31	whereupon their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and with that, he disappeared from their sight.
 Luke	Lk	48	24	32	And they said to one another, Were not our hearts burning within us when he spoke to us on the road, and when he made the scriptures plain to us?
 Luke	Lk	48	24	33	Rising up there and then, they went back to Jerusalem, where they found the eleven apostles and their companions gathered together,
 Luke	Lk	48	24	34	now saying, The Lord has indeed risen, and has appeared to Simon.
 Luke	Lk	48	24	35	And they told the story of their encounter in the road, and how they recognized him when he broke bread.
 Luke	Lk	48	24	36	While they were speaking of this, he himself stood in the midst of them, and said, Peace be upon you; it is myself, do not be afraid.
 Luke	Lk	48	24	37	They cowered down, full of terror, thinking that they were seeing an apparition.
 Luke	Lk	48	24	38	What, he said to them, are you dismayed? Whence come these surmises in your hearts?
 Luke	Lk	48	24	39	Look at my hands and my feet, to be assured that it is myself; touch me, and look; a spirit has not flesh and bones, as you see that I have.
 Luke	Lk	48	24	40	And as he spoke thus, he shewed them his hands and his feet.
 Luke	Lk	48	24	41	Then, while they were still doubtful, and bewildered with joy, he asked them, Have you anything here to eat?
 Luke	Lk	48	24	42	So they put before him a piece of roast fish, and a honeycomb;
 Luke	Lk	48	24	43	and he took these and ate in their presence and shared his meal with them.
 Luke	Lk	48	24	44	This is what I told you, he said, while I still walked in your company; how all that was written of me in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, must be fulfilled.
 Luke	Lk	48	24	45	Then he enlightened their minds, to make them understand the scriptures;
 Luke	Lk	48	24	46	So it was written, he told them, and so it was fitting that Christ should suffer, and should rise again from the dead on the third day;
 Luke	Lk	48	24	47	and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
 Luke	Lk	48	24	48	Of this, you are the witnesses.
 Luke	Lk	48	24	49	And behold, I am sending down upon you the gift which was promised by my Father; you must wait in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.
 Luke	Lk	48	24	50	When he had led them out as far as Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them;
 Luke	Lk	48	24	51	and even as he blessed them he parted from them, and was carried up into heaven.
 Luke	Lk	48	24	52	So they bowed down to worship him, and went back full of joy to Jerusalem,
 Luke	Lk	48	24	53	where they spent their time continually in the temple, praising and blessing God.
 John	Jn	49	1	1	At the beginning of time the Word already was; and God had the Word abiding with him, and the Word was God.
 John	Jn	49	1	2	He abode, at the beginning of time, with God.
 John	Jn	49	1	3	It was through him that all things came into being, and without him came nothing that has come to be.
 John	Jn	49	1	4	In him there was life, and that life was the light of men.
 John	Jn	49	1	5	And the light shines in darkness, a darkness which was not able to master it.
 John	Jn	49	1	6	A man appeared, sent from God, whose name was John.
 John	Jn	49	1	7	He came for a witness, to bear witness of the light, so that through him all men might learn to believe.
 John	Jn	49	1	8	He was not the Light; he was sent to bear witness to the light.
 John	Jn	49	1	9	There is one who enlightens every soul born into the world; he was the true Light.
 John	Jn	49	1	10	He, through whom the world was made, was in the world, and the world treated him as a stranger.
 John	Jn	49	1	11	He came to what was his own, and they who were his own gave him no welcome.
 John	Jn	49	1	12	But all those who did welcome him, he empowered to become the children of God, all those who believe in his name;
 John	Jn	49	1	13	their birth came, not from human stock, not from nature’s will or man’s, but from God.
 John	Jn	49	1	14	And the Word was made flesh, and came to dwell among us; and we had sight of his glory, glory such as belongs to the Father’s only-begotten Son, full of grace and truth.
 John	Jn	49	1	15	We have John’s witness to him; I told you, cried John, there was one coming after me who takes rank before me; he was when I was not.
 John	Jn	49	1	16	We have all received something out of his abundance, grace answering to grace.
 John	Jn	49	1	17	Through Moses the law was given to us; through Jesus Christ grace came to us, and truth.
 John	Jn	49	1	18	No man has ever seen God; but now his only-begotten Son, who abides in the bosom of the Father, has himself become our interpreter.
 John	Jn	49	1	19	This, then, was the testimony which John bore, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem, to ask him, Who art thou?
 John	Jn	49	1	20	He admitted the truth, without concealment, admitted that he was not the Christ.
 John	Jn	49	1	21	What then, they asked him, art thou Elias? Not Elias, he said. Art thou the prophet? And he answered, No.
 John	Jn	49	1	22	So they said, Tell us who thou art, that we may give an answer to those who sent us; what account dost thou give of thyself?
 John	Jn	49	1	23	And he told them, I am what the prophet Isaias spoke of, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Straighten out the way of the Lord.
 John	Jn	49	1	24	The Pharisees (for they were Pharisees who had come on this errand)
 John	Jn	49	1	25	asked him, Why dost thou baptize, then, if thou thyself art not the Christ, nor Elias, nor the prophet?
 John	Jn	49	1	26	John answered them, I am baptizing you with water; but there is one standing in your midst of whom you know nothing;
 John	Jn	49	1	27	he it is, who, though he comes after me, takes rank before me. I am not worthy to untie the strap of his shoes.
 John	Jn	49	1	28	All this happened in Bethany that is beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing.
 John	Jn	49	1	29	Next day, John saw Jesus coming towards him; and he said, Look, this is the Lamb of God; look, this is he who takes away the sin of the world.
 John	Jn	49	1	30	It is of him that I said, One is coming after me who takes rank before me; he was when I was not.
 John	Jn	49	1	31	I myself did not know who he was, although the very reason why I have come, with my baptism of water, is to make him known to Israel.
 John	Jn	49	1	32	John also bore witness thus, I saw the Spirit coming down from heaven like a dove, and resting upon him.
 John	Jn	49	1	33	Till then, I did not know him; but then I remembered what I had been told by the God who sent me to baptize with water. He told me, The man who will baptize with the Holy Spirit is the man on whom thou wilt see the Spirit come down and rest.
 John	Jn	49	1	34	Now I have seen him, and have borne my witness that this is the Son of God.
 John	Jn	49	1	35	The next day after this, John was standing there again, with two of his disciples;
 John	Jn	49	1	36	and, watching Jesus as he walked by, he said, Look, this is the Lamb of God.
 John	Jn	49	1	37	The two disciples heard him say it, and they followed Jesus.
 John	Jn	49	1	38	Turning, and seeing them follow him, Jesus asked, What would you have of me? Rabbi, they said (a word which means Master), where dost thou live?
 John	Jn	49	1	39	He said to them, Come and see; so they went and saw where he lived, and they stayed with him all the rest of the day, from about the tenth hour onwards.
 John	Jn	49	1	40	One of the two who had heard what John said, and followed him, was Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter.
 John	Jn	49	1	41	He, first of all, found his own brother Simon, and told him, We have discovered the Messias (which means, the Christ),
 John	Jn	49	1	42	and brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him closely, and said, Thou art Simon the son of Jona; thou shalt be called Cephas (which means the same as Peter).
 John	Jn	49	1	43	He was to remove into Galilee next day; and now he found Philip; to him Jesus said, Follow me.
 John	Jn	49	1	44	This Philip came from Bethsaida, a fellow townsman of Andrew and Peter.
 John	Jn	49	1	45	And Philip found Nathanael, and told him, We have discovered who it was Moses wrote of in his law, and the prophets too; it is Jesus the son of Joseph, from Nazareth.
 John	Jn	49	1	46	When Nathanael asked him, Can anything that is good come from Nazareth? Philip said, Come and see.
 John	Jn	49	1	47	Jesus saw Nathanael coming towards him, and said of him, Here comes one who belongs to the true Israel; there is no falsehood in him.
 John	Jn	49	1	48	How dost thou know me? Nathanael asked; and Jesus answered him, I saw thee when thou wast under the fig-tree, before Philip called thee.
 John	Jn	49	1	49	Then Nathanael answered him, Thou, Master, art the Son of God, thou art the King of Israel.
 John	Jn	49	1	50	Jesus answered, What, believe because I told thee that I saw thee under the fig-tree? Thou shalt see greater things than that.
 John	Jn	49	1	51	And he said to him, Believe me when I tell you this; you will see heaven opening, and the angels of God going up and coming down upon the Son of Man.
 John	Jn	49	2	1	Two days afterwards, there was a wedding-feast at Cana, in Galilee; and Jesus’ mother was there.
 John	Jn	49	2	2	Jesus himself, and his disciples, had also been invited to the wedding.
 John	Jn	49	2	3	Here the supply of wine failed; whereupon Jesus’ mother said to him, They have no wine left.
 John	Jn	49	2	4	Jesus answered her, Nay, woman, why dost thou trouble me with that? My time has not come yet.
 John	Jn	49	2	5	And his mother said to the servants, Do whatever he tells you.
 John	Jn	49	2	6	There were six water-pots standing there, as the Jewish custom of ceremonial washing demanded; they were of stone, and held two or three firkins apiece.
 John	Jn	49	2	7	And when Jesus said, Fill the water-pots with water, they filled these up to the brim.
 John	Jn	49	2	8	Then he said to them, Now draw, and give a draught to the master of the feast. So they gave it to him;
 John	Jn	49	2	9	and the master of the feast tasted this water, which had now been turned into wine. He did not know whence it came; only the servants who had drawn the water knew that. The master of the feast, then, called to the bridegroom,
 John	Jn	49	2	10	and said to him, It is ever the good wine that men set out first, and the worse kind only when all have drunk deep; thou hast kept the good wine till now.
 John	Jn	49	2	11	So, in Cana of Galilee, Jesus began his miracles, and made known the glory that was his, so that his disciples learned to believe in him.
 John	Jn	49	2	12	After this he went down to Capharnaum with his mother, his brethren, and his disciples, not staying there many days.
 John	Jn	49	2	13	And now the paschal feast which the Jews keep was drawing near, so Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
 John	Jn	49	2	14	And in the temple there he found the merchants selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting at their trade.
 John	Jn	49	2	15	So he made a kind of whip out of cords, and drove them all, with their sheep and oxen, out of the temple, spilling the bankers’ coins and overthrowing their tables;
 John	Jn	49	2	16	and he said to the pigeon-sellers, Take these away, do not turn my Father’s house into a place of barter.
 John	Jn	49	2	17	And his disciples remembered how it is written, I am consumed with jealousy for the honour of thy house.
 John	Jn	49	2	18	Then the Jews answered him, What sign canst thou shew us as thy warrant for doing this?
 John	Jn	49	2	19	Jesus answered them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up again.
 John	Jn	49	2	20	At which the Jews said, This temple took forty-six years to build; wilt thou raise it up in three days?
 John	Jn	49	2	21	But the temple he was speaking of was his own body;
 John	Jn	49	2	22	and when he had risen from the dead his disciples remembered his saying this, and learned to believe in the scriptures, and in the words Jesus had spoken.
 John	Jn	49	2	23	At this paschal season, while he was in Jerusalem for the feast, there were many who came to believe in his name, upon seeing the miracles which he did.
 John	Jn	49	2	24	But Jesus would not give them his confidence; he had knowledge of them all,
 John	Jn	49	2	25	and did not need assurances about any man, because he could read men’s hearts.
 John	Jn	49	3	1	There was a man called Nicodemus, a Pharisee, and one of the rulers of the Jews,
 John	Jn	49	3	2	who came to see Jesus by night; Master, he said to him, we know that thou hast come from God to teach us; no one, unless God were with him, could do the miracles which thou doest.
 John	Jn	49	3	3	Jesus answered him, Believe me when I tell thee this; a man cannot see the kingdom of God without being born anew.
 John	Jn	49	3	4	Why, Nicodemus asked him, how is it possible that a man should be born when he is already old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb, and so come to birth?
 John	Jn	49	3	5	Jesus answered, Believe me, no man can enter into the kingdom of God unless birth comes to him from water, and from the Holy Spirit.
 John	Jn	49	3	6	What is born by natural birth is a thing of nature, what is born by spiritual birth is a thing of spirit.
 John	Jn	49	3	7	Do not be surprised, then, at my telling thee, You must be born anew.
 John	Jn	49	3	8	The wind breathes where it will, and thou canst hear the sound of it, but knowest nothing of the way it came or the way it goes; so it is, when a man is born by the breath of the Spirit.
 John	Jn	49	3	9	Nicodemus answered him, How can such things come to be?
 John	Jn	49	3	10	What, answered Jesus, can such things be strange to thee, who art one of the teachers of Israel?
 John	Jn	49	3	11	Believe me, we speak of what is known to us, and testify of what our eyes have seen, and still you will not accept our testimony.
 John	Jn	49	3	12	You cannot trust me when I tell you of what passes on earth; how will you be able to trust me when I tell you of what passes in heaven?
 John	Jn	49	3	13	No man has ever gone up into heaven; but there is one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man, who dwells in heaven.
 John	Jn	49	3	14	And this Son of Man must be lifted up, as the serpent was lifted up by Moses in the wilderness;
 John	Jn	49	3	15	so that those who believe in him may not perish, but have eternal life.
 John	Jn	49	3	16	God so loved the world, that he gave up his only-begotten Son, so that those who believe in him may not perish, but have eternal life.
 John	Jn	49	3	17	When God sent his Son into the world, it was not to reject the world, but so that the world might find salvation through him.
 John	Jn	49	3	18	For the man who believes in him, there is no rejection; the man who does not believe is already rejected; he has not found faith in the name of God’s only-begotten Son.
 John	Jn	49	3	19	Rejection lies in this, that when the light came into the world men preferred darkness to light; preferred it, because their doings were evil.
 John	Jn	49	3	20	Anyone who acts shamefully hates the light, will not come into the light, for fear that his doings will be found out.
 John	Jn	49	3	21	Whereas the man whose life is true comes to the light, so that his deeds may be seen for what they are, deeds done in God.
 John	Jn	49	3	22	After this, Jesus and his disciples came into the land of Judaea, and there he remained with them, baptizing.
 John	Jn	49	3	23	John was still baptizing, too, in Aenon, near Salim, where there was abundance of water; men went to him there to be baptized.
 John	Jn	49	3	24	(It was only later that John was thrown into prison.)
 John	Jn	49	3	25	John’s disciples had had a dispute with the Jews, about purification,
 John	Jn	49	3	26	and now they came to John, and told him, Master, there was one with thee on the other side of Jordan, to whom thou didst then bear testimony. We find that he is baptizing now, and all are flocking to him.
 John	Jn	49	3	27	John answered, A man must be content to receive the gift which is given him from heaven, and nothing more.
 John	Jn	49	3	28	You yourselves are my witnesses that I told you, I am not the Christ; I have been sent to go before him.
 John	Jn	49	3	29	The bride is for the bridegroom; but the bridegroom’s friend, who stands by and listens to him, rejoices too, rejoices at hearing the bridegroom’s voice; and this joy is mine now in full measure.
 John	Jn	49	3	30	He must become more and more, I must become less and less.
 John	Jn	49	3	31	He who comes from above is above all men’s reach; the man who belongs to earth talks the language of earth, but one who comes from heaven must needs be beyond the reach of all;
 John	Jn	49	3	32	he bears witness of things he has seen and heard, and nobody accepts his witness.
 John	Jn	49	3	33	The man who does accept his witness has declared, once for all, that God cannot lie,
 John	Jn	49	3	34	since the words spoken by him whom God has sent are God’s own words; so boundless is the gift God makes of his Spirit.
 John	Jn	49	3	35	The Father loves his Son, and so has given everything into his hands;
 John	Jn	49	3	36	and he who believes in the Son possesses eternal life, whereas he who refuses to believe in the Son will never see life; God’s displeasure hangs over him continually.
 John	Jn	49	4	1	And now it became known to Jesus that the Pharisees had been told, Jesus is making more disciples and baptizing a greater number than John;
 John	Jn	49	4	2	although it was his disciples who baptized, not Jesus himself.
 John	Jn	49	4	3	So he left Judaea, and once more withdrew into Galilee.
 John	Jn	49	4	4	And he was obliged to go by way of Samaria.
 John	Jn	49	4	5	Thus he came to a Samaritan city called Sichar, close by the plot of ground which Jacob gave to his son Joseph;
 John	Jn	49	4	6	and there was a well there called Jacob’s well. There, then, Jesus sat down, tired after his journey, by the well; it was about noon.
 John	Jn	49	4	7	And when a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, Give me some to drink.
 John	Jn	49	4	8	(His disciples were away in the city at this time, buying food.)
 John	Jn	49	4	9	Whereupon the Samaritan woman said to him, How is it that thou, who art a Jew, dost ask me, a Samaritan, to give thee drink? (The Jews, you must know, have no dealings with the Samaritans.)
 John	Jn	49	4	10	Jesus answered her, If thou knewest what it is God gives, and who this is that is saying to thee, Give me drink, it would have been for thee to ask him instead, and he would have given thee living water.
 John	Jn	49	4	11	Sir, the woman said to him, thou hast no bucket, and the well is deep; how then canst thou provide living water?
 John	Jn	49	4	12	Art thou a greater man than our father Jacob? It was he who gave us this well; he himself and his sons and his cattle have drunk out of it.
 John	Jn	49	4	13	Jesus answered her, Anyone who drinks such water as this will be thirsty again afterwards, the man who drinks the water I give him will not know thirst any more.
 John	Jn	49	4	14	The water I give him will be a spring of water within him, that flows continually to bring him everlasting life.
 John	Jn	49	4	15	Then, Sir, said the woman, give me water such as that, so that I may never be thirsty and have to come here for water again.
 John	Jn	49	4	16	At this, Jesus said to her, Go home, fetch thy husband, and come back here.
 John	Jn	49	4	17	I have no husband, answered the woman; and Jesus told her, True enough, thou hast no husband.
 John	Jn	49	4	18	Thou hast had five husbands, but the man who is with thee now is no husband of thine; thou hast told the truth over this.
 John	Jn	49	4	19	The woman said to him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.
 John	Jn	49	4	20	Well, it was our fathers’ way to worship on this mountain, although you tell us that the place where men ought to worship is in Jerusalem.
 John	Jn	49	4	21	Believe me, woman, Jesus said to her, the time is coming when you will not go to this mountain, nor yet to Jerusalem, to worship the Father.
 John	Jn	49	4	22	You worship you cannot tell what, we worship knowing what it is we worship; salvation, after all, is to come from the Jews;
 John	Jn	49	4	23	but the time is coming, nay, has already come, when true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth; such men as these the Father claims for his worshippers.
 John	Jn	49	4	24	God is a spirit, and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
 John	Jn	49	4	25	Yes, said the woman, I know that Messias (that is, the Christ) is to come; and when he comes, he will tell us everything.
 John	Jn	49	4	26	Jesus said to her, I, who speak to thee, am the Christ.
 John	Jn	49	4	27	With that, his disciples came up, and were surprised to find him talking to a woman; but none of them asked, What meanest thou? or Why art thou talking to her?
 John	Jn	49	4	28	And so the woman put down her water-pot, and went back to the city, to tell the folk there,
 John	Jn	49	4	29	Come and have sight of a man who has told me all the story of my life; can this be the Christ?
 John	Jn	49	4	30	So they left the city, and came out to find him.
 John	Jn	49	4	31	Meanwhile, his disciples were urging him, Master, take some food.
 John	Jn	49	4	32	But he told them, I have food to eat of which you know nothing.
 John	Jn	49	4	33	Whereupon his disciples said to one another, Can somebody have brought him food?
 John	Jn	49	4	34	But Jesus said to them, My meat is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish the task he gave me.
 John	Jn	49	4	35	Is it not a saying of yours, It is four whole months before harvest comes? Why, lift up your eyes, I tell you, and look at the fields, they are white with the promise of harvest already.
 John	Jn	49	4	36	The wages paid to him who reaps this harvest, the crop he gathers in, is eternal life, in which sower and reaper are to rejoice together.
 John	Jn	49	4	37	And here the proverb fits, which is true enough, One man sows, and another reaps.
 John	Jn	49	4	38	The harvest I have sent you out to reap is one on which you bestowed no labour; others have laboured, and it is their labours you have inherited.
 John	Jn	49	4	39	Many of the Samaritans from that city came to believe in him through the woman’s testimony, He told me all the story of my life.
 John	Jn	49	4	40	And when they came out to him, the Samaritans urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days there.
 John	Jn	49	4	41	Many more of them came to believe through his preaching;
 John	Jn	49	4	42	It is not through thy report, they told the woman, that we believe now; we have heard him for ourselves, and we recognize that he is indeed the Saviour of the world.
 John	Jn	49	4	43	Then, after two days, he passed on and returned to Galilee.
 John	Jn	49	4	44	Jesus himself bore witness that it is in his own country a prophet goes unhonoured.
 John	Jn	49	4	45	And now, when he came into Galilee, the Galileans too made him welcome, because they had seen what he did in Jerusalem at the time of the feast; they had gone up to the feast like himself.
 John	Jn	49	4	46	And so he came once more to Cana of Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. And a nobleman, whose son was lying sick at Capharnaum,
 John	Jn	49	4	47	hearing that Jesus had come from Judaea to Galilee, went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, who was at the point of death.
 John	Jn	49	4	48	Jesus said to him, You must see signs and miracles happen, or you will not believe.
 John	Jn	49	4	49	Sir, the nobleman said to him, come down before my child dies.
 John	Jn	49	4	50	Go back home, Jesus told him; thy son is to live. And the man began his journey home, putting his trust in the words Jesus had spoken to him;
 John	Jn	49	4	51	and while he was still on his way down, his servants met him with the message that his son was still alive.
 John	Jn	49	4	52	So he asked what time it had been when he felt easier; and they told him, He recovered from his fever yesterday, at the seventh hour.
 John	Jn	49	4	53	The father recognized that it had happened at the very time when Jesus said to him, Thy son is to live; and he and all his household found faith.
 John	Jn	49	4	54	Thus for the second time Jesus did a miracle upon his return from Judaea to Galilee.
 John	Jn	49	5	1	After this came a Jewish feast, for which Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
 John	Jn	49	5	2	There is a pool in Jerusalem at the Sheep Gate, called in Hebrew Bethsaida, with five porches,
 John	Jn	49	5	3	under which a multitude of diseased folk used to lie, the blind, the lame, the disabled, waiting for a disturbance of the water.
 John	Jn	49	5	4	From time to time, an angel of the Lord came down upon the pool, and the water was stirred up; and the first man who stepped into the pool after the stirring of the water, recovered from whatever infirmity it was that oppressed him.
 John	Jn	49	5	5	There was one man there who had been disabled for thirty-eight years.
 John	Jn	49	5	6	Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he had waited a long time; Hast thou a mind, he asked, to recover thy strength?
 John	Jn	49	5	7	Sir, said the cripple, I have no one to let me down into the pool when the water is stirred; and while I am on my way, somebody else steps down before me.
 John	Jn	49	5	8	Jesus said to him, Rise up, take up thy bed, and walk.
 John	Jn	49	5	9	And all at once the man recovered his strength, and took up his bed, and walked. That day it was the sabbath:
 John	Jn	49	5	10	and the Jews said to the man who had been cured, It is the sabbath; it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed.
 John	Jn	49	5	11	He answered them, The man who gave me back my strength told me himself, Take up thy bed, and walk.
 John	Jn	49	5	12	So they asked him, Who is this man who told thee, Take up thy bed, and walk?
 John	Jn	49	5	13	The cripple who had been healed did not know who it was; Jesus had drawn aside from so crowded a place.
 John	Jn	49	5	14	But afterwards when Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, Behold, thou hast recovered thy strength; do not sin any more, for fear that worse should befall thee,
 John	Jn	49	5	15	the man went back and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had restored his strength.
 John	Jn	49	5	16	The Jews took occasion to rouse ill-will against Jesus for doing such things on the sabbath.
 John	Jn	49	5	17	And Jesus answered them, My Father has never ceased working, and I too must be at work.
 John	Jn	49	5	18	This made the Jews more determined than ever to make away with him, that he not only broke the sabbath, but spoke of God as his own Father, thereby treating himself as equal to God.
 John	Jn	49	5	19	And Jesus answered them thus: Believe me when I tell you this, The Son cannot do anything at his own pleasure, he can only do what he sees his Father doing; what the Father does is what the Son does in his turn.
 John	Jn	49	5	20	The Father loves the Son, and discloses to him all that he himself does. And he has greater doings yet to disclose to him, for your astonishment;
 John	Jn	49	5	21	just as the Father bids the dead rise up and gives them life, so the Son gives life to whomsoever he will.
 John	Jn	49	5	22	So it is with judgement; the Father, instead of passing judgement on any man himself, has left all judgement to the Son,
 John	Jn	49	5	23	so that all may reverence the Son just as they reverence the Father; to deny reverence to the Son is to deny reverence to the Father who has sent him.
 John	Jn	49	5	24	Believe me when I tell you this, the man who listens to my words, and puts his trust in him who sent me, enjoys eternal life; he does not meet with rejection, he has passed over already from death to life.
 John	Jn	49	5	25	Believe me, the time is coming, nay, has already come, when the dead will listen to the voice of the Son of God, and those who listen to it will live.
 John	Jn	49	5	26	As the Father has within him the gift of life, so he has granted to the Son that he too should have within him the gift of life,
 John	Jn	49	5	27	and has also granted him power to execute judgement, since he is the Son of Man.
 John	Jn	49	5	28	Do not be surprised at that; the time is coming, when all those who are in their graves will hear his voice
 John	Jn	49	5	29	and will come out of them; those whose actions have been good, rising to new life, and those whose doings have been evil, rising to meet their sentence.
 John	Jn	49	5	30	I cannot do anything on my own authority; I decide as I am bidden to decide, and my decision is never unjust, because I am consulting the will of him who sent me, not my own.
 John	Jn	49	5	31	If I testify in my own behalf, that testimony of mine is worth nothing;
 John	Jn	49	5	32	there is another who testifies to me, and I know well that the testimony he bears me is worthy of trust.
 John	Jn	49	5	33	You yourselves sent a message to John, and he testified to the truth.
 John	Jn	49	5	34	(Not that I depend on human testimony; it is for your own welfare that I say this.)
 John	Jn	49	5	35	He, after all, was the lamp lit to shew you the way, and there was a time when you were willing enough to sun yourselves in his light.
 John	Jn	49	5	36	But the testimony I have is greater than John’s; the actions which my Father has enabled me to achieve, those very actions which I perform, bear me witness that it is the Father who has sent me.
 John	Jn	49	5	37	Nay, the Father who sent me has himself borne witness to me. You have always been deaf to his voice, blind to the vision of him,
 John	Jn	49	5	38	and his word is not continually present in your hearts; that is why you will not trust one whom he has sent.
 John	Jn	49	5	39	You pore over the scriptures, thinking to find eternal life in them (and indeed, it is of these I speak as bearing witness to me):
 John	Jn	49	5	40	but you will not come to me, to find life.
 John	Jn	49	5	41	I do not mean that I look for honour from men,
 John	Jn	49	5	42	but that I can see you have no love of God in your hearts.
 John	Jn	49	5	43	I have come in my Father’s name, and you give me no welcome, although you will welcome some other, if he comes in his own name.
 John	Jn	49	5	44	How should you learn to believe, you who are content to receive honour from one another, and are not ambitious for the honour which comes from him, who alone is God?
 John	Jn	49	5	45	Do not suppose that it will be for me to accuse you before my Father; your accusation will come from Moses, the very man in whom you put your trust.
 John	Jn	49	5	46	If you believed Moses, you would believe me; it was of me that he wrote.
 John	Jn	49	5	47	But if you give no credence to his writings, how should you give credence to my words?
 John	Jn	49	6	1	After this, Jesus retired across the sea of Galilee, or Tiberias,
 John	Jn	49	6	2	and there was a great multitude following him; they had seen the miracles he performed over the sick.
 John	Jn	49	6	3	So Jesus went up on to the hill-side, and there sat down with his disciples.
 John	Jn	49	6	4	It was nearly the time of the Jews’ great feast, the paschal feast.
 John	Jn	49	6	5	And now, lifting up his eyes and seeing that a great multitude had gathered round him, Jesus said to Philip, Whence are we to buy bread for these folk to eat?
 John	Jn	49	6	6	In saying this, he was putting him to the test; he himself knew well enough what he meant to do.
 John	Jn	49	6	7	Philip answered him, Two hundred silver pieces would not buy enough bread for them, even to give each a little.
 John	Jn	49	6	8	One of his disciples (it was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother) said to him,
 John	Jn	49	6	9	There is a boy here, who has five barley loaves and two fishes; but what is that among so many?
 John	Jn	49	6	10	Then Jesus said, Make the men sit down. There was no lack of grass where they were; so the men sat down, about five thousand in number.
 John	Jn	49	6	11	And Jesus took the loaves, and gave thanks, and distributed them to the company, and a share of the fishes too, as much as they had a mind for.
 John	Jn	49	6	12	Then, when they had all had enough, he told his disciples, Gather up the broken pieces that are left over, so that nothing may be wasted.
 John	Jn	49	6	13	And when they gathered them up, they filled twelve baskets with the broken pieces left over by those who had eaten.
 John	Jn	49	6	14	When they saw the miracle Jesus had done, these men began to say, Beyond doubt, this is the prophet who is to come into the world.
 John	Jn	49	6	15	Knowing, then, that they meant to come and carry him off, so as to make a king of him, Jesus once again withdrew on to the hill-side all alone.
 John	Jn	49	6	16	His disciples, when evening came on, went down to the lake,
 John	Jn	49	6	17	and there, embarking on the boat, they began to cross the water to Capharnaum. Darkness had fallen, and Jesus had not yet come back to them.
 John	Jn	49	6	18	Meanwhile there was a strong wind blowing, and the sea was beginning to grow rough.
 John	Jn	49	6	19	And now they had rowed some twenty-five or thirty furlongs, when they saw Jesus walking on the sea, and already drawing near to the boat. They were terrified:
 John	Jn	49	6	20	but he said to them, It is myself; do not be afraid.
 John	Jn	49	6	21	Then they took him on board willingly enough; and all at once their boat reached the land they were making for.
 John	Jn	49	6	22	Next morning, the multitude was still waiting on the opposite shore. They had seen that there was only one boat there, and that Jesus did not embark with his disciples on this boat, but left his disciples to go back alone.
 John	Jn	49	6	23	But now, since other boats from Tiberias had put in near the place where they ate the loaves when the Lord gave thanks over them,
 John	Jn	49	6	24	the multitude, finding neither Jesus nor his disciples there, embarked on these boats in their turn, and went back to Capharnaum to look for Jesus.
 John	Jn	49	6	25	And when they found that he had crossed the lake, they asked him, Master, when didst thou make thy way here?
 John	Jn	49	6	26	Jesus answered them, Believe me, if you are looking for me now, it is not because of the miracles you have seen; it is because you were fed with the loaves, and had your fill.
 John	Jn	49	6	27	You should not work to earn food which perishes in the using. Work to earn food which affords, continually, eternal life, such food as the Son of Man will give you; God, the Father, has authorized him.
 John	Jn	49	6	28	What shall we do, then, they asked him, so as to work in God’s service?
 John	Jn	49	6	29	Jesus answered them, This is the service God asks of you, to believe in the Man whom he has sent.
 John	Jn	49	6	30	So they said to him, Why then, what miracle canst thou do? We must see it before we trust thee; what canst thou effect?
 John	Jn	49	6	31	Our fathers had manna to eat in the desert; as the scripture says, He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.
 John	Jn	49	6	32	Jesus said to them, Believe me when I tell you this; the bread that comes from heaven is not what Moses gave you. The real bread from heaven is given only by my Father.
 John	Jn	49	6	33	God’s gift of bread comes down from heaven and gives life to the whole world.
 John	Jn	49	6	34	Then, Lord, they said, give us this bread all the while.
 John	Jn	49	6	35	But Jesus told them, It is I who am the bread of life; he who comes to me will never be hungry, he who has faith in me will never know thirst.
 John	Jn	49	6	36	(But you, as I have told you, though you have seen me, do not believe in me.)
 John	Jn	49	6	37	All that the Father has entrusted to me will come to me, and him who comes to me I will never cast out.
 John	Jn	49	6	38	It is the will of him who sent me, not my own will, that I have come down from heaven to do;
 John	Jn	49	6	39	and he who sent me would have me keep without loss, and raise up at the last day, all he has entrusted to me.
 John	Jn	49	6	40	Yes, this is the will of him who sent me, that all those who believe in the Son when they see him should enjoy eternal life; I am to raise them up at the last day.
 John	Jn	49	6	41	The Jews were by now complaining of his saying, I am myself the bread which has come down from heaven.
 John	Jn	49	6	42	Is not this Jesus, they said, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother are well known to us? What does he mean by saying, I have come down from heaven?
 John	Jn	49	6	43	Jesus answered them, Do not whisper thus to one another.
 John	Jn	49	6	44	Nobody can come to me without being attracted towards me by the Father who sent me, so that I can raise him up at the last day.
 John	Jn	49	6	45	It is written in the book of the prophets, And they shall all have the Lord for their teacher; everyone who listens to the Father and learns, comes to me.
 John	Jn	49	6	46	(Not that anyone has seen the Father, except him who comes from God; he alone has seen the Father.)
 John	Jn	49	6	47	Believe me when I tell you this; the man who has faith in me enjoys eternal life.
 John	Jn	49	6	48	It is I who am the bread of life.
 John	Jn	49	6	49	Your fathers, who ate manna in the desert, died none the less;
 John	Jn	49	6	50	the bread which comes down from heaven is such that he who eats of it never dies.
 John	Jn	49	6	51	I myself am the living bread that has come down from heaven.
 John	Jn	49	6	52	If anyone eats of this bread, he shall live for ever. And now, what is this bread which I am to give? It is my flesh, given for the life of the world.
 John	Jn	49	6	53	Then the Jews fell to disputing with one another, How can this man give us his flesh to eat?
 John	Jn	49	6	54	Whereupon Jesus said to them, Believe me when I tell you this; you can have no life in yourselves, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood.
 John	Jn	49	6	55	The man who eats my flesh and drinks my blood enjoys eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.
 John	Jn	49	6	56	My flesh is real food, my blood is real drink.
 John	Jn	49	6	57	He who eats my flesh, and drinks my blood, lives continually in me, and I in him.
 John	Jn	49	6	58	As I live because of the Father, the living Father who has sent me, so he who eats me will live, in his turn, because of me.
 John	Jn	49	6	59	Such is the bread which has come down from heaven; it is not as it was with your fathers, who ate manna and died none the less; the man who eats this bread will live eternally.
 John	Jn	49	6	60	He said all this while he was teaching in the synagogue, at Capharnaum.
 John	Jn	49	6	61	And there were many of his disciples who said, when they heard it, This is strange talk, who can be expected to listen to it?
 John	Jn	49	6	62	But Jesus, inwardly aware that his disciples were complaining over it, said to them, Does this try your faith?
 John	Jn	49	6	63	What will you make of it, if you see the Son of Man ascending to the place where he was before?
 John	Jn	49	6	64	Only the spirit gives life; the flesh is of no avail; and the words I have been speaking to you are spirit, and life.
 John	Jn	49	6	65	But there are some, even among you, who do not believe. Jesus knew from the first which were those who did not believe, and which of them was to betray him.
 John	Jn	49	6	66	And he went on to say, That is what I meant when I told you that nobody can come to me unless he has received the gift from my Father.
 John	Jn	49	6	67	After this, many of his disciples went back to their old ways, and walked no more in his company.
 John	Jn	49	6	68	Whereupon Jesus said to the twelve, Would you, too, go away?
 John	Jn	49	6	69	Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom should we go? Thy words are the words of eternal life;
 John	Jn	49	6	70	we have learned to believe, and are assured that thou art the Christ, the Son of God.
 John	Jn	49	6	71	Jesus answered them, Have I not chosen all twelve of you? And one of you is a devil.
 John	Jn	49	6	72	He was speaking of Judas son of Simon, the Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, and was to betray him.
 John	Jn	49	7	1	After this, Jesus went about in Galilee; he would not go about in Judaea, because the Jews had designs on his life.
 John	Jn	49	7	2	And now one of the Jewish feasts, the feast of Tabernacles, was drawing near.
 John	Jn	49	7	3	And his brethren said to him, This is no place for thee; go to Judaea, so that thy disciples also may see thy doings.
 John	Jn	49	7	4	Nobody is content to act in secret, if he wishes to make himself known at large; if thou must needs act thus, shew thyself before the world.
 John	Jn	49	7	5	For even his brethren were without faith in him.
 John	Jn	49	7	6	Whereupon Jesus said to them, My opportunity has not come yet. Your opportunity is always ready to hand;
 John	Jn	49	7	7	the world cannot be expected to hate you, but it does hate me, because I denounce it for its evil doings.
 John	Jn	49	7	8	It is for you to go up for the feast; I am not going up for the feast, because for me the time is not ripe yet.
 John	Jn	49	7	9	And, saying so much to them, he stayed behind in Galilee.
 John	Jn	49	7	10	But afterwards, when his brethren had gone up for the feast, he too went up, not publicly, but as if he would keep himself hidden.
 John	Jn	49	7	11	The Jews were looking for him at the feast, and asked, Where can he be?
 John	Jn	49	7	12	Among the crowd, there was much whispering about him; some said, He is a good man; No, said others, he leads the multitude astray.
 John	Jn	49	7	13	But, for fear of the Jews, nobody dared to speak of him openly.
 John	Jn	49	7	14	And it was not till the feast was half over that Jesus went up into the temple, and began to teach there.
 John	Jn	49	7	15	The Jews were astonished; How does this man know how to read? they asked; he has never studied.
 John	Jn	49	7	16	Jesus answered, The learning which I impart is not my own, it comes from him who sent me.
 John	Jn	49	7	17	Anyone who is prepared to do his will, can tell for himself whether such learning comes from God, or whether I am delivering a message of my own.
 John	Jn	49	7	18	The man who delivers a message of his own seeks to win credit for himself; when a man seeks to win credit for one who sent him, he tells the truth, there is no dishonesty in him.
 John	Jn	49	7	19	Moses, for example; was it not Moses that gave you the law? And yet none of you keeps the law.
 John	Jn	49	7	20	Why do you design to kill me? The multitude answered, Thou art possessed; who has a design to kill thee?
 John	Jn	49	7	21	Jesus answered them, There is one action of mine which has astounded you all.
 John	Jn	49	7	22	Listen to this; because Moses prescribed circumcision for you (not that it comes from Moses, it comes from the patriarchs), you are ready to circumcise a man on the sabbath day;
 John	Jn	49	7	23	and if a man receives circumcision on the sabbath, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, have you any right to be indignant with me, for restoring a man’s whole strength to him on the sabbath?
 John	Jn	49	7	24	Be honest in your judgements, instead of judging by appearances.
 John	Jn	49	7	25	At this, some of those who belonged to Jerusalem began to ask, Is not this the man they design to put to death?
 John	Jn	49	7	26	Yet here he is, speaking publicly, and they have nothing to say to him. Can the rulers have made up their minds in earnest, that this is the Christ?
 John	Jn	49	7	27	But then, we know this man’s origins; when Christ appears, no one is to know whence he comes.
 John	Jn	49	7	28	Whereupon Jesus cried aloud as he taught in the temple, You know me, and you know whence I come; but I have not come on my own errand, I was sent by one who has a right to send; and him you do not know.
 John	Jn	49	7	29	I know him, because I come from him; it was he who sent me.
 John	Jn	49	7	30	And now they were ready to seize him; but none of them laid hands on him; his time had not yet come.
 John	Jn	49	7	31	And indeed, among the multitude there were many who learned to believe in him; they said, Can the Christ be expected to do more miracles at his coming than this man has done?
 John	Jn	49	7	32	The Pharisees were told of these whispers about him among the multitude; and both chief priests and Pharisees sent officers to arrest him.
 John	Jn	49	7	33	Then Jesus said, For a little while I am still with you, and then I am to go back to him who sent me.
 John	Jn	49	7	34	You will look for me, but you will not be able to find me; you cannot reach the place where I am.
 John	Jn	49	7	35	Whereupon the Jews said among themselves, Where can he mean to journey, that we should not be able to find him? Will he go to the Jews who are scattered about the Gentile world, and teach the Gentiles?
 John	Jn	49	7	36	What can it mean, this saying of his, You will look for me, but you will not be able to find me; you cannot reach the place where I am?
 John	Jn	49	7	37	On the last and greatest day of the feast Jesus stood there and cried aloud, If any man is thirsty, let him come to me, and drink;
 John	Jn	49	7	38	yes, if a man believes in me, as the scripture says, Fountains of living water shall flow from his bosom.
 John	Jn	49	7	39	He was speaking here of the Spirit, which was to be received by those who learned to believe in him; the Spirit which had not yet been given to men, because Jesus had not yet been raised to glory.
 John	Jn	49	7	40	Some of the multitude, on hearing these words, said, Beyond doubt, this is the prophet.
 John	Jn	49	7	41	Others said, This is the Christ; and others again, Is the Christ, then, to come from Galilee?
 John	Jn	49	7	42	Has not the scripture told us that Christ is to come from the family of David, and from the village of Bethlehem, where David lived?
 John	Jn	49	7	43	Thus there was a division of opinion about him among the multitude;
 John	Jn	49	7	44	some of them would have seized him by violence, but no one laid hands on him.
 John	Jn	49	7	45	Meanwhile the officers had gone back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, Why have you not brought him here?
 John	Jn	49	7	46	The officers answered, Nobody has ever spoken as this man speaks.
 John	Jn	49	7	47	And the Pharisees answered, Have you, too, let yourselves be deceived?
 John	Jn	49	7	48	Have any of the rulers come to believe in him yet, or of the Pharisees?
 John	Jn	49	7	49	As for these common folk who have no knowledge of the law, a curse is on them.
 John	Jn	49	7	50	Here Nicodemus, the same man who came to Jesus by night, who was one of their number, asked,
 John	Jn	49	7	51	Is it the way of our law to judge a man without giving him a hearing first, and finding out what he is about?
 John	Jn	49	7	52	They answered him, Art thou, too, from Galilee? Look in the scriptures; thou wilt find that Galilee does not breed prophets.
 John	Jn	49	7	53	And they went back, each to his own home.
 John	Jn	49	8	1	Jesus meanwhile went to the mount of Olives.
 John	Jn	49	8	2	And at early morning he appeared again in the temple; all the common folk came to him, and he sat down there and began to teach them.
 John	Jn	49	8	3	And now the scribes and Pharisees brought to him a woman who had been found committing adultery, and made her stand there in full view;
 John	Jn	49	8	4	Master, they said, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery.
 John	Jn	49	8	5	Moses, in his law, prescribed that such persons should be stoned to death; what of thee? What is thy sentence?
 John	Jn	49	8	6	They said this to put him to the test, hoping to find a charge to bring against him. But Jesus bent down, and began writing on the ground with his finger.
 John	Jn	49	8	7	When he found that they continued to question him, he looked up and said to them, Whichever of you is free from sin shall cast the first stone at her.
 John	Jn	49	8	8	Then he bent down again, and went on writing on the ground.
 John	Jn	49	8	9	And they began to go out one by one, beginning with the eldest, till Jesus was left alone with the woman, still standing in full view.
 John	Jn	49	8	10	Then Jesus looked up, and asked her, Woman, where are thy accusers? Has no one condemned thee?
 John	Jn	49	8	11	No one, Lord, she said. And Jesus said to her, I will not condemn thee either. Go, and do not sin again henceforward.
 John	Jn	49	8	12	And now once more Jesus spoke to them, I am the light of the world, he said. He who follows me can never walk in darkness; he will possess the light which is life.
 John	Jn	49	8	13	Whereupon the Pharisees told him, Thou art testifying on thy own behalf, thy testimony is worth nothing.
 John	Jn	49	8	14	Jesus answered them, My testimony is trustworthy, even when I testify on my own behalf; I know whence I have come, and where I am going; you do not know whence I have come, you do not know where I am going.
 John	Jn	49	8	15	You set yourselves up to judge, after your earthly fashion; I do not set myself up to judge anybody.
 John	Jn	49	8	16	And what if I should judge? My judgement is judgement indeed; it is not I alone, my Father who sent me is with me.
 John	Jn	49	8	17	Just so it is prescribed in your law, The testimony of two men is trustworthy;
 John	Jn	49	8	18	well, one is myself, testifying in my own behalf, and my Father who sent me testifies in my behalf too.
 John	Jn	49	8	19	Hereupon they said to him, Where is this Father of thine? And Jesus answered, You have no knowledge, either of me or of my Father; had you knowledge of me, you would have knowledge of my Father as well.
 John	Jn	49	8	20	All this Jesus said at the Treasury, while he was teaching in the temple; and no one seized him, because his time had not yet come.
 John	Jn	49	8	21	And he said to them again, I am going away, and you will look for me, but you will have to die with your sins upon you; where I am going is where you cannot come.
 John	Jn	49	8	22	At this, the Jews began to ask, Will he kill himself? Is that what he means by, Where I am going is where you cannot come?
 John	Jn	49	8	23	But he went on to say, You belong to earth, I to heaven; you to this world, I to another.
 John	Jn	49	8	24	That is why I have been telling you that you will die with your sins upon you; you will die with your sins upon you unless you come to believe that it is myself you look for.
 John	Jn	49	8	25	Who art thou, then? they asked. Jesus said to them, What, that I should be speaking to you at all?
 John	Jn	49	8	26	There is much I could say of you, many judgements I could pass on you; but what I tell the world is only what I have learned from him who sent me, because he cannot deceive.
 John	Jn	49	8	27	And they could not understand that he was calling God his Father.
 John	Jn	49	8	28	Then Jesus said to them, When you have lifted up the Son of Man, you will recognize that it is myself you look for, and that I do not do anything on my own authority, but speak as my Father has instructed me to speak.
 John	Jn	49	8	29	And he who sent me is with me; he has not left me all alone, since what I do is always what pleases him.
 John	Jn	49	8	30	While he spoke thus, many of the Jews learned to believe in him.
 John	Jn	49	8	31	And now Jesus said to those among the Jews who believed in him, If you continue faithful to my word, you are my disciples in earnest;
 John	Jn	49	8	32	so you will come to know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
 John	Jn	49	8	33	They answered him, We are of Abraham’s breed, nobody ever enslaved us yet; what dost thou mean by saying, You shall become free?
 John	Jn	49	8	34	And Jesus answered them, Believe me when I tell you this; everyone who acts sinfully is the slave of sin,
 John	Jn	49	8	35	and the slave cannot make his home in the house for ever. To make his home in the house for ever, is for the Son.
 John	Jn	49	8	36	Why then, if it is the Son who makes you free men, you will have freedom in earnest.
 John	Jn	49	8	37	Yes, I know you are of Abraham’s breed; yet you design to kill me, because my word does not find any place in you.
 John	Jn	49	8	38	My words are what I have learned in the house of my Father, and your actions, it seems, are what you have learned in the school of your father.
 John	Jn	49	8	39	Our father? they answered him; Abraham is our father. Jesus said to them, If you are Abraham’s true children, it is for you to follow Abraham’s example;
 John	Jn	49	8	40	as it is, you are designing to kill me, who tell you the truth as I have heard it from God; this was not Abraham’s way.
 John	Jn	49	8	41	No, it is your father’s example you follow. And now they said to him, We are no bastard children; God, and he only, is the Father we recognize.
 John	Jn	49	8	42	Jesus told them, If you were children of God, you would welcome me gladly; it was from God I took my origin, from him I have come. I did not come on my own errand, it was he who sent me.
 John	Jn	49	8	43	Why is it that you cannot understand the language I talk? It is because you have no ear for the message I bring.
 John	Jn	49	8	44	You belong to your father, that is, the devil, and are eager to gratify the appetites which are your father’s. He, from the first, was a murderer; and as for truth, he has never taken his stand upon that; there is no truth in him. When he utters falsehood, he is only uttering what is natural to him; he is all false, and it was he who gave falsehood its birth.
 John	Jn	49	8	45	And if you do not believe me, it is precisely because I am speaking the truth.
 John	Jn	49	8	46	Can any of you convict me of sin? If not, why is it that you do not believe me when I tell you the truth?
 John	Jn	49	8	47	The man who belongs to God listens to God’s words; it is because you do not belong to God that you will not listen to me.
 John	Jn	49	8	48	Hereupon the Jews answered him, We are right, surely, in saying that thou art a Samaritan, and art possessed?
 John	Jn	49	8	49	I am not possessed, Jesus answered; it is because I reverence my Father that you have no reverence for me.
 John	Jn	49	8	50	Not that I am looking to my own reputation; there is another who will look to it, and be the judge.
 John	Jn	49	8	51	Believe me when I tell you this; if a man is true to my word, to all eternity he will never see death.
 John	Jn	49	8	52	And the Jews said to him, Now we are certain that thou art possessed. What of Abraham and the prophets? They are dead; and thou sayest that a man will never taste death to all eternity, if he is true to thy word.
 John	Jn	49	8	53	Art thou greater than our father Abraham? He is dead, and the prophets are dead. What dost thou claim to be?
 John	Jn	49	8	54	If I should speak in my own honour, Jesus answered, such honour goes for nothing. Honour must come to me from my Father, from him whom you claim as your God;
 John	Jn	49	8	55	although you cannot recognize him. But I have knowledge of him; if I should say I have not, I should be what you are, a liar. Yes, I have knowledge of him, and I am true to his word.
 John	Jn	49	8	56	As for your father Abraham, his heart was proud to see the day of my coming; he saw, and rejoiced to see it.
 John	Jn	49	8	57	Then the Jews asked him, Hast thou seen Abraham, thou, who art not yet fifty years old?
 John	Jn	49	8	58	And Jesus said to them, Believe me, before ever Abraham came to be, I am.
 John	Jn	49	8	59	Whereupon they took up stones to throw at him; but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple.
 John	Jn	49	9	1	And Jesus saw, as he passed on his way, a man who had been blind from his birth.
 John	Jn	49	9	2	Whereupon his disciples asked him, Master, was this man guilty of sin, or was it his parents, that he should have been born blind?
 John	Jn	49	9	3	Neither he nor his parents were guilty, Jesus answered; it was so that God’s action might declare itself in him.
 John	Jn	49	9	4	While daylight lasts, I must work in the service of him who sent me; the night is coming, when there is no working any more.
 John	Jn	49	9	5	As long as I am in the world, I am the world’s light.
 John	Jn	49	9	6	With that, he spat on the ground, and made clay with the spittle; then he spread the clay on the man’s eyes,
 John	Jn	49	9	7	and said to him, Away with thee, and wash in the pool of Siloe (a word which means, Sent out). So he went and washed there, and came back with his sight restored.
 John	Jn	49	9	8	And now the neighbours, and those who had been accustomed to see him begging, began to say, Is not this the man who used to sit here and beg? Some said, This is the man;
 John	Jn	49	9	9	and others, No, but he looks like him. And he told them, Yes, I am the man.
 John	Jn	49	9	10	How is it, then, they asked him, that thy eyes have been opened?
 John	Jn	49	9	11	He answered, A man called Jesus made clay, and anointed my eyes with it, and said to me, Away with thee to the pool of Siloe and wash there. So I went there, and washed, and recovered my sight.
 John	Jn	49	9	12	Where is he? they asked; and he said, I cannot tell.
 John	Jn	49	9	13	And they brought him before the Pharisees, this man who had once been blind.
 John	Jn	49	9	14	It was a sabbath day, you must know, when Jesus made clay and opened his eyes.
 John	Jn	49	9	15	And so the Pharisees in their turn asked him how he had recovered his sight. Why, he said, he put clay on my eyes; and then I washed, and now I can see.
 John	Jn	49	9	16	Whereupon some of the Pharisees said, This man can be no messenger from God; he does not observe the sabbath. Others asked, How can a man do miracles like this, and be a sinner? Thus there was a division of opinion among them.
 John	Jn	49	9	17	And now they questioned the blind man again, What account dost thou give of him, that he should thus have opened thy eyes? Why, he said, he must be a prophet.
 John	Jn	49	9	18	The Jews must send for the parents of the man who had recovered his sight, before they would believe his story that he had been blind, and that he had had his sight restored to him.
 John	Jn	49	9	19	And they questioned them, Is this your son, who, you say, was born blind? How comes it, then, that he is now able to see?
 John	Jn	49	9	20	His parents answered them, We can tell you that this is our son, and that he was blind when he was born;
 John	Jn	49	9	21	we cannot tell how he is able to see now; we have no means of knowing who opened his eyes for him. Ask the man himself; he is of age; let him tell you his own story.
 John	Jn	49	9	22	It was fear of the Jews that made his parents talk in this way; the Jews had by now come to an agreement that anyone who acknowledged Jesus as the Christ should be forbidden the synagogue;
 John	Jn	49	9	23	that was why his parents said, He is of age, ask him himself.
 John	Jn	49	9	24	So once more they summoned the man who had been blind. Give God the praise, they said; this man, to our knowledge, is a sinner.
 John	Jn	49	9	25	Sinner or not, said the other, I cannot tell; all I know is that once I was blind, and now I can see.
 John	Jn	49	9	26	Then they asked him over again, What was it he did to thee? By what means did he open thy eyes?
 John	Jn	49	9	27	And he answered them, I have told you already, and you would not listen to me. Why must you hear it over again? Would you too become his disciples?
 John	Jn	49	9	28	Upon this, they covered him with abuse; Keep his discipleship for thyself, we are disciples of Moses.
 John	Jn	49	9	29	We know for certain that God spoke to Moses; we know nothing of this man, or whence he comes.
 John	Jn	49	9	30	Why, the man answered, here is matter for astonishment; here is a man that comes you cannot tell whence, and he has opened my eyes.
 John	Jn	49	9	31	And yet we know for certain that God does not answer the prayers of sinners, it is only when a man is devout and does his will, that his prayer is answered.
 John	Jn	49	9	32	That a man should open the eyes of one born blind is something unheard of since the world began.
 John	Jn	49	9	33	No, if this man did not come from God, he would have no powers at all.
 John	Jn	49	9	34	What, they answered, are we to have lessons from thee, all steeped in sin from thy birth? And they cast him out from their presence.
 John	Jn	49	9	35	When Jesus heard that they had so cast him out, he went to find him, and asked him, Dost thou believe in the Son of God?
 John	Jn	49	9	36	Tell me who he is, Lord, he answered, so that I can believe in him.
 John	Jn	49	9	37	He is one whom thou hast seen, Jesus told him. It is he who is speaking to thee.
 John	Jn	49	9	38	Then he said, I do believe, Lord, and fell down to worship him.
 John	Jn	49	9	39	Hereupon Jesus said, I have come into this world so that a sentence may fall upon it, that those who are blind should see, and those who see should become blind.
 John	Jn	49	9	40	Some of the Pharisees heard this, such as were in his company, and they asked him, Are we blind too?
 John	Jn	49	9	41	If you were blind, Jesus told them, you would not be guilty. It is because you protest, We can see clearly, that you cannot be rid of your guilt.
 John	Jn	49	10	1	Believe me when I tell you this; the man who climbs into the sheep-fold by some other way, instead of entering by the door, comes to steal and to plunder:
 John	Jn	49	10	2	it is the shepherd, who tends the sheep, that comes in by the door.
 John	Jn	49	10	3	At his coming the keeper of the door throws it open, and the sheep are attentive to his voice; and so he calls by name the sheep which belong to him, and leads them out with him.
 John	Jn	49	10	4	When he has brought out all the sheep which belong to him, he walks in front of them, and the sheep follow him, recognizing his voice.
 John	Jn	49	10	5	If a stranger comes, they run away from him instead of following him; they cannot recognize the voice of a stranger.
 John	Jn	49	10	6	This was a parable which Jesus told them; and they could not understand what he meant to say to them.
 John	Jn	49	10	7	So Jesus spoke to them again; Believe me, he said, it is I who am the door of the sheep-fold.
 John	Jn	49	10	8	Those others who have found their way in are all thieves and robbers; to these, the sheep paid no attention.
 John	Jn	49	10	9	I am the door; a man will find salvation if he makes his way in through me; he will come and go at will, and find pasture.
 John	Jn	49	10	10	The thief only comes to steal, to slaughter, to destroy; I have come so that they may have life, and have it more abundantly.
 John	Jn	49	10	11	I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep,
 John	Jn	49	10	12	whereas the hireling, who is no shepherd, and does not claim the sheep as his own, abandons the sheep and takes to flight as soon as he sees the wolf coming, and so the wolf harries the sheep and scatters them.
 John	Jn	49	10	13	The hireling, then, takes to flight because he is only a hireling, because he has no concern over the sheep.
 John	Jn	49	10	14	I am the good shepherd; my sheep are known to me and know me;
 John	Jn	49	10	15	just as I am known to my Father, and know him. And for these sheep I am laying down my life.
 John	Jn	49	10	16	I have other sheep too, which do not belong to this fold; I must bring them in too; they will listen to my voice; so there will be one fold, and one shepherd.
 John	Jn	49	10	17	This my Father loves in me, that I am laying down my life, to take it up again afterwards.
 John	Jn	49	10	18	Nobody can rob me of it; I lay it down of my own accord. I am free to lay it down, free to take it up again; that is the charge which my Father has given me.
 John	Jn	49	10	19	These words of his led to a fresh division of opinion among the Jews.
 John	Jn	49	10	20	Many of them said, He must be possessed; he is a madman; why do you listen to him?
 John	Jn	49	10	21	While others said, This is not the language of a man who is possessed by a devil. Has a devil power to open blind men’s eyes?
 John	Jn	49	10	22	And now the Dedication feast was taking place at Jerusalem, and it was winter;
 John	Jn	49	10	23	and Jesus was walking about in the temple, in Solomon’s porch.
 John	Jn	49	10	24	So the Jews gathered round him, and said to him, How long wilt thou go on keeping us in suspense? If thou art the Christ, tell us openly.
 John	Jn	49	10	25	Jesus answered them, I have told you, but you will not believe me. All that I do in my Father’s name bears me testimony,
 John	Jn	49	10	26	and still you will not believe me; that is because you are no sheep of mine.
 John	Jn	49	10	27	My sheep listen to my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
 John	Jn	49	10	28	And I give them everlasting life, so that to all eternity they can never be lost; no one can tear them away from my hand.
 John	Jn	49	10	29	This trust which my Father has committed to me is more precious than all else; no one can tear them away from the hand of my Father.
 John	Jn	49	10	30	My Father and I are one.
 John	Jn	49	10	31	At this, the Jews once again took up stones, to stone him with.
 John	Jn	49	10	32	Jesus answered them, My Father has enabled me to do many deeds of mercy in your presence; for which of these are you stoning me?
 John	Jn	49	10	33	It is not for any deed of mercy we are stoning thee, answered the Jews; it is for blasphemy; it is because thou, who art a man, dost pretend to be God.
 John	Jn	49	10	34	Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I have said, You are gods?
 John	Jn	49	10	35	He gave the title of gods to those who had God’s message sent to them; and we know that the words of scripture have binding force.
 John	Jn	49	10	36	Why then, what of him whom God has sanctified and sent into the world? Will you call me a blasphemer, because I have told you I am the Son of God?
 John	Jn	49	10	37	If you find that I do not act like the son of my Father, then put no trust in me;
 John	Jn	49	10	38	but if I do, then let my actions convince you where I cannot; so you will recognize and learn to believe that the Father is in me, and I in him.
 John	Jn	49	10	39	Thereupon once again they had a mind to seize him; but he escaped from their hands,
 John	Jn	49	10	40	and went back to the other side of Jordan, to the place where John was when he first baptized. There he waited,
 John	Jn	49	10	41	while many came out to see him. John, they said, never did a miracle,
 John	Jn	49	10	42	but all John told us about this man has proved true. And many found faith in him there.
 John	Jn	49	11	1	There was a man called Lazarus, of Bethany, who had fallen sick. Bethany was the name of the village where Mary lived, with her sister Martha;
 John	Jn	49	11	2	and this Mary, whose brother Lazarus had now fallen sick, was the woman who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair.
 John	Jn	49	11	3	The sisters sent a message to him, to say, Lord, he whom thou lovest lies here sick.
 John	Jn	49	11	4	And Jesus said, on hearing it, The end of this sickness is not death; it is meant for God’s honour, to bring honour to the Son of God.
 John	Jn	49	11	5	Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus.
 John	Jn	49	11	6	At the time, then, after hearing the news, he waited for two days in the place where he was;
 John	Jn	49	11	7	and then, after that interval, he said to his disciples, Let us go back into Judaea.
 John	Jn	49	11	8	Master, his disciples said to him, the Jews were but now threatening to stone thee; art thou for Judaea again?
 John	Jn	49	11	9	Jesus answered, Are there not just twelve hours of daylight? A man can walk in the day-time without stumbling, with this world’s light to see by;
 John	Jn	49	11	10	he only stumbles if he walks by night, because then the light cannot reach him.
 John	Jn	49	11	11	So much he said, and then he told them, Our friend Lazarus is at rest now; I am going there to awake him.
 John	Jn	49	11	12	But, Lord, the disciples said to him, if he is rested, his life will be saved.
 John	Jn	49	11	13	Jesus had been telling them of his death; but they supposed he meant the rest which comes with sleep.
 John	Jn	49	11	14	So now Jesus told them openly, Lazarus is dead.
 John	Jn	49	11	15	And for your sakes, I am glad I was not there; it will help you to believe. But come, let us make our way to him.
 John	Jn	49	11	16	Thereupon Thomas, who is also called Didymus, said to his fellow-disciples, Let us go too, and be killed along with him.
 John	Jn	49	11	17	When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been four days in the grave.
 John	Jn	49	11	18	Since Bethany was near Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs away,
 John	Jn	49	11	19	many of the Jews had gone out there to comfort Martha and Mary over the loss of their brother.
 John	Jn	49	11	20	Martha, when she heard that Jesus had come, went out to meet him, while Mary sat on in the house.
 John	Jn	49	11	21	Lord, said Martha to Jesus, if thou hadst been here, my brother would not have died;
 John	Jn	49	11	22	and I know well that even now God will grant whatever thou wilt ask of him.
 John	Jn	49	11	23	Thy brother, Jesus said to her, will rise again.
 John	Jn	49	11	24	Martha said to him, I know well enough that he will rise again at the resurrection, when the last day comes.
 John	Jn	49	11	25	Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and life; he who believes in me, though he is dead, will live on,
 John	Jn	49	11	26	and whoever has life, and has faith in me, to all eternity cannot die. Dost thou believe this?
 John	Jn	49	11	27	Yes, Lord, she told him, I have learned to believe that thou art the Christ; thou art the Son of the living God; it is for thy coming the world has waited.
 John	Jn	49	11	28	And with that she went back and called her sister Mary aside; The Master is here, she said, and bids thee come.
 John	Jn	49	11	29	She rose up at once on hearing it, and went to him.
 John	Jn	49	11	30	(Jesus had not yet reached the village; he was still at the place where Martha had gone out to meet him.)
 John	Jn	49	11	31	And so the Jews who were in the house with Mary, comforting her, when they saw how quickly she rose up and went out, followed her; She has gone to the grave, they said, to weep there.
 John	Jn	49	11	32	So Mary reached the place where Jesus was; and when she saw him, she fell at his feet; Lord, she said, if thou hadst been here, my brother would not have died.
 John	Jn	49	11	33	And Jesus, when he saw her in tears, and the tears of the Jews who accompanied her, sighed deeply, and distressed himself over it;
 John	Jn	49	11	34	Where have you buried him? he asked. Lord, they said to him, come and see.
 John	Jn	49	11	35	Then Jesus wept.
 John	Jn	49	11	36	See, said the Jews, how he loved him;
 John	Jn	49	11	37	and some of them asked, Could not he, who opened the blind man’s eyes, have prevented this man’s death?
 John	Jn	49	11	38	So Jesus, once more sighing to himself, came to the tomb; it was a cave, and a stone had been put over the mouth of it.
 John	Jn	49	11	39	Take away the stone, Jesus told them. And Martha, the dead man’s sister, said to him, Lord, the air is foul by now; he has been four days dead.
 John	Jn	49	11	40	Why, Jesus said to her, have I not told thee that if thou hast faith, thou wilt see God glorified?
 John	Jn	49	11	41	So they took the stone away; and Jesus lifted his eyes to heaven, Father, he said, I thank thee for hearing my prayer.
 John	Jn	49	11	42	For myself, I know that thou hearest me at all times, but I say this for the sake of the multitude which is standing round, that they may learn to believe it is thou who hast sent me.
 John	Jn	49	11	43	And with that he cried in a loud voice, Come out, Lazarus, to my side.
 John	Jn	49	11	44	Whereupon the dead man came out, his feet and hands tied with linen strips, and his face muffled in a veil. Loose him, said Jesus, and let him go free.
 John	Jn	49	11	45	Many of these Jews who had visited Martha and Mary, and seen what Jesus did, learned to believe in him,
 John	Jn	49	11	46	but some went off to the Pharisees, and reported to them all Jesus had done.
 John	Jn	49	11	47	So the chief priests and Pharisees summoned a council; What are we about? they said. This man is performing many miracles,
 John	Jn	49	11	48	and if we leave him to his own devices, he will find credit everywhere. Then the Romans will come, and make an end of our city and our race.
 John	Jn	49	11	49	And one of them, Caiphas, who held the high priesthood in that year, said to them, You have no perception at all;
 John	Jn	49	11	50	you do not reflect that it is best for us if one man is put to death for the sake of the people, to save a whole nation from destruction.
 John	Jn	49	11	51	It was not of his own impulse that he said this; holding the high priesthood as he did in that year, he was able to prophesy that Jesus was to die for the sake of the nation;
 John	Jn	49	11	52	and not only for that nation’s sake, but so as to bring together into one all God’s children, scattered far and wide.
 John	Jn	49	11	53	From that day forward, then, they plotted his death;
 John	Jn	49	11	54	and Jesus no longer went about openly among the Jews, but retired to a city called Ephrem, in the country which borders on the desert, and waited there with his disciples.
 John	Jn	49	11	55	The paschal feast which the Jews keep was now close at hand, and there were many from the country who went up to Jerusalem to purify themselves before paschal time began;
 John	Jn	49	11	56	so they looked out for Jesus, and said to one another as they stood there in the temple, What is your way of it? Will he come up to the feast? And the chief priests and Pharisees had given orders that anyone who knew where he was should report it to them, so that they could arrest him.
 John	Jn	49	12	1	Six days before the paschal feast, Jesus went to Bethany. Bethany was the home of Lazarus, the dead man whom Jesus raised to life.
 John	Jn	49	12	2	And a feast was made for him there, at which Martha was waiting at table, while Lazarus was one of his fellow guests.
 John	Jn	49	12	3	And now Mary brought in a pound of pure spikenard ointment, which was very precious, and poured it over Jesus’ feet, wiping his feet with her hair; the whole house was scented with the ointment.
 John	Jn	49	12	4	One of his disciples, the same Judas Iscariot who was to betray him, said when he saw it,
 John	Jn	49	12	5	Why should not this ointment have been sold? It would have fetched three hundred silver pieces, and alms might have been given to the poor.
 John	Jn	49	12	6	He said this, not from any concern for the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse, and took what was put into it.
 John	Jn	49	12	7	And Jesus said, Let her alone; enough that she should keep it for the day when my body is prepared for burial.
 John	Jn	49	12	8	You have the poor among you always; I am not always among you.
 John	Jn	49	12	9	A great number of the Jews heard that he was there and went out there, not only on account of Jesus, but so as to have sight of Lazarus, whom he raised from the dead;
 John	Jn	49	12	10	and the chief priests made a plot against Lazarus’ life too,
 John	Jn	49	12	11	because so many of the Jews, on his account, were beginning to go off and find faith in Jesus.
 John	Jn	49	12	12	Next day, a great multitude of those who had come up for the feast, hearing that Jesus was coming into Jerusalem,
 John	Jn	49	12	13	took palm branches with them and went out to meet him, crying aloud, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, blessed is the king of Israel.
 John	Jn	49	12	14	And Jesus took an ass’s foal, and mounted on it; so it is written,
 John	Jn	49	12	15	Do not be afraid, daughter of Sion; behold, thy king is coming to thee, riding on an ass’s colt.
 John	Jn	49	12	16	The disciples did not understand all this at the time: only after Jesus had attained his glory did they remember what they had done, and how it fulfilled the words written of him.
 John	Jn	49	12	17	There were many who had been with him, when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him to life, and these too bore witness of him.
 John	Jn	49	12	18	Indeed, that was why the multitude went out to meet him, because they had heard of his performing this miracle.
 John	Jn	49	12	19	And the Pharisees said to one another, Do you see how vain are our efforts? Look, the whole world has turned aside to follow him.
 John	Jn	49	12	20	And there were certain Gentiles, among those that had come up to worship at the feast,
 John	Jn	49	12	21	who approached Philip, the man from Bethsaida in Galilee, and made a request of him; Sir, they said, we desire to see Jesus.
 John	Jn	49	12	22	Philip came and told Andrew, and together Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.
 John	Jn	49	12	23	And Jesus answered them thus, The time has come now for the Son of Man to achieve his glory.
 John	Jn	49	12	24	Believe me when I tell you this; a grain of wheat must fall into the ground and die,
 John	Jn	49	12	25	or else it remains nothing more than a grain of wheat; but if it dies, then it yields rich fruit. He who loves his life will lose it; he who is an enemy to his own life in this world will keep it, so as to live eternally.
 John	Jn	49	12	26	If anyone is to be my servant, he must follow my way; so shall my servant too be where I am. If anyone serves me, my Father will do him honour.
 John	Jn	49	12	27	And now my soul is distressed. What am I to say? I will say, Father, save me from undergoing this hour of trial; and yet, I have only reached this hour of trial that I might undergo it.
 John	Jn	49	12	28	Father, make thy name known. And at this, a voice came from heaven, I have made it known, and will yet make it known.
 John	Jn	49	12	29	Thereupon the multitude which stood listening declared that it had thundered; but some of them said, An angel has spoken to him.
 John	Jn	49	12	30	Jesus answered, It was for your sake, not for mine, that this utterance was made.
 John	Jn	49	12	31	Sentence is now being passed on this world; now is the time when the prince of this world is to be cast out.
 John	Jn	49	12	32	Yes, if only I am lifted up from the earth, I will attract all men to myself.
 John	Jn	49	12	33	(In saying this, he prophesied the death he was to die.)
 John	Jn	49	12	34	The multitude answered him, We have been told, out of the law, that Christ is to remain undisturbed for ever; what dost thou mean by saying that the Son of Man must be lifted up? What Son of Man is this?
 John	Jn	49	12	35	And Jesus said to them, The light is among you still, but only for a short time. Finish your journey while you still have the light, for fear darkness should overtake you; he who journeys in darkness cannot tell which way he is going.
 John	Jn	49	12	36	While you still have the light, have faith in the light, that so you may become children of the light. So much Jesus told them, and then went away, and was lost to their view.
 John	Jn	49	12	37	Such great miracles he did in their presence, and still they did not believe in him;
 John	Jn	49	12	38	this was in fulfilment of the words spoken by the prophet Isaias, Lord, is there anyone who has believed our message, to whom the power of God has been made known?
 John	Jn	49	12	39	So it was that they could not believe; and indeed, Isaias has said elsewhere:
 John	Jn	49	12	40	He has blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart, so that they could not see with those eyes, and understand with that heart, and turn back to me, and win healing from me.
 John	Jn	49	12	41	Isaias said this, as one who had seen his glory; it was of him that he spoke.
 John	Jn	49	12	42	There were, for all that, many of the rulers who had learned to believe in him; but they would not profess it because of the Pharisees, afraid of being forbidden the synagogue.
 John	Jn	49	12	43	They valued their credit with men higher than their credit with God.
 John	Jn	49	12	44	And Jesus cried out, If a man believes in me, it is in him who sent me, not in me, that he believes;
 John	Jn	49	12	45	to see me is to see him who sent me.
 John	Jn	49	12	46	I have come into the world as a light, so that all those who believe in me may continue no longer in darkness.
 John	Jn	49	12	47	If a man hears my words, and does not keep true to them, I do not pass sentence on him; I have come to save the world, not to pass sentence on the world.
 John	Jn	49	12	48	The man who makes me of no account, and does not accept my words, has a judge appointed to try him; it is the message I have uttered that will be his judge at the last day.
 John	Jn	49	12	49	And this, because it is not on my own authority that I have spoken; it was my Father, who sent me, that commanded me what words I was to say, what message I was to utter.
 John	Jn	49	12	50	And I know well that what he commands is eternal life; everything then, which I utter, I utter as my Father has bidden me.
 John	Jn	49	13	1	Before the paschal feast began, Jesus already knew that the time had come for his passage from this world to the Father. He still loved those who were his own, whom he was leaving in the world, and he would give them the uttermost proof of his love.
 John	Jn	49	13	2	Supper was over, and the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas, son of Simon, the Iscariot, to betray him.
 John	Jn	49	13	3	Jesus knew well that the Father had left everything in his hands; knew it was from God that he came, and to God that he went.
 John	Jn	49	13	4	And now, rising from supper, he laid his garments aside, took a towel, and put it about him;
 John	Jn	49	13	5	and then he poured water into the basin, and began to wash the feet of his disciples, wiping them with the towel that girded him.
 John	Jn	49	13	6	So, when he came to Simon Peter, Peter asked him, Lord, is it for thee to wash my feet?
 John	Jn	49	13	7	Jesus answered him, It is not for thee to know, now, what I am doing; but thou wilt understand it afterwards.
 John	Jn	49	13	8	Peter said to him, I will never let thee wash my feet; and Jesus answered him, If I do not wash thee, it means thou hast no companionship with me.
 John	Jn	49	13	9	Then, Lord, said Peter, wash my hands and my head too, not only my feet.
 John	Jn	49	13	10	But Jesus told him, A man who has bathed does not need to do more than wash the stains from his feet; he is clean all over. And you are clean now; only, not all of you.
 John	Jn	49	13	11	He knew who his betrayer was; that is why he said, You are not all clean.
 John	Jn	49	13	12	Then, when he had finished washing their feet and put on his garments, he sat down again, and said to them, Do you understand what it is I have done to you?
 John	Jn	49	13	13	You hail me as the Master, and the Lord; and you are right, it is what I am.
 John	Jn	49	13	14	Why then, if I have washed your feet, I who am the Master and the Lord, you in your turn ought to wash each other’s feet;
 John	Jn	49	13	15	I have been setting you an example, which will teach you in your turn to do what I have done for you.
 John	Jn	49	13	16	Believe me, no slave can be greater than his master, no apostle greater than he by whom he was sent.
 John	Jn	49	13	17	Now that you know this, blessed are you if you perform it.
 John	Jn	49	13	18	I am not thinking of all of you when I say this, I know who are the men I have chosen; well, it remains for the passage in scripture to be fulfilled, The man who shared my bread has lifted his heel to trip me up.
 John	Jn	49	13	19	I am telling you this now, before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe it was written of me.
 John	Jn	49	13	20	Believe me when I tell you this; the man who welcomes one whom I send, welcomes me; and the man who welcomes me, welcomes him who sent me.
 John	Jn	49	13	21	After saying so much, Jesus bore witness to the distress he felt in his heart; Believe me, he said, believe me, one of you is to betray me.
 John	Jn	49	13	22	And the disciples looked at one another, at a loss to know which of them he meant.
 John	Jn	49	13	23	Jesus had one disciple, whom he loved, who was now sitting with his head against Jesus’ breast;
 John	Jn	49	13	24	to him, therefore, Simon Peter made a sign, and asked him, Who is it he means?
 John	Jn	49	13	25	And he, leaning his head back upon Jesus’ breast, asked him, Lord, who is it?
 John	Jn	49	13	26	Jesus answered, It is the man to whom I give this piece of bread which I am dipping in the dish. Then he dipped the bread, and gave it to Judas the son of Simon, the Iscariot.
 John	Jn	49	13	27	The morsel once given, Satan entered into him; and Jesus said to him, Be quick on thy errand.
 John	Jn	49	13	28	None of those who sat there could understand the drift of what he said;
 John	Jn	49	13	29	some of them thought, since Judas kept the common purse, that Jesus was saying to him, Go and buy what we need for the feast, or bidding him give some alms to the poor.
 John	Jn	49	13	30	He, as soon as he received the morsel, had gone out; and now it was night.
 John	Jn	49	13	31	When he had gone out, Jesus said, Now the Son of Man has achieved his glory, and in his glory God is exalted.
 John	Jn	49	13	32	Since, in his glory, God is exalted, it is for God to exalt him in his own glory, and exalt him without delay.
 John	Jn	49	13	33	It is only for a short time that I am with you, my children. You will look for me, and now I have to tell you what I once told the Jews, you cannot reach the place where I am.
 John	Jn	49	13	34	I have a new commandment to give you, that you are to love one another; that your love for one another is to be like the love I have borne you.
 John	Jn	49	13	35	The mark by which all men will know you for my disciples will be the love you bear one another.
 John	Jn	49	13	36	Simon Peter said to him, Lord, where art thou going? Jesus answered him, I am going where thou canst not follow me now, but shalt follow me afterwards.
 John	Jn	49	13	37	Lord, Peter said to him, why cannot I follow thee now? I am ready to lay down my life for thy sake.
 John	Jn	49	13	38	Thou art ready, answered Jesus, to lay down thy life for my sake? Believe me, by cock-crow thou wilt thrice disown me.
 John	Jn	49	14	1	Do not let your heart be distressed; as you have faith in God, have faith in me.
 John	Jn	49	14	2	There are many dwelling-places in my Father’s house; otherwise, should I have said to you, I am going away to prepare a home for you?
 John	Jn	49	14	3	And though I do go away, to prepare you a home, I am coming back; and then I will take you to myself, so that you too may be where I am.
 John	Jn	49	14	4	And now you know where it is I am going; and you know the way there.
 John	Jn	49	14	5	Thomas said to him, But, Lord, we do not know where thou art going; how are we to know the way there?
 John	Jn	49	14	6	Jesus said to him, I am the way; I am truth and life; nobody can come to the Father, except through me.
 John	Jn	49	14	7	If you had learned to recognize me, you would have learned to recognize my Father too. From now onwards you are to recognize him; you have seen him.
 John	Jn	49	14	8	At this, Philip said to him, Lord, let us see the Father; that is all we ask.
 John	Jn	49	14	9	What, Philip, Jesus said to him, here am I, who have been all this while in your company; hast thou not learned to recognize me yet? Whoever has seen me, has seen the Father; what dost thou mean by saying, Let us see the Father?
 John	Jn	49	14	10	Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me? The words I speak to you are not my own words; and the Father, who dwells continually in me, achieves in me his own acts of power.
 John	Jn	49	14	11	If you cannot trust my word, when I tell you that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me,
 John	Jn	49	14	12	let these powerful acts themselves be my warrant. Believe me when I tell you this; the man who has learned to believe in me will be able to do what I do; nay, he will be able to do greater things yet.
 John	Jn	49	14	13	It is to my Father I am going: and whatever request you make of the Father in my name, I will grant, so that through the Son the Father may be glorified;
 John	Jn	49	14	14	every request you make of me in my own name, I myself will grant it to you.
 John	Jn	49	14	15	If you have any love for me, you must keep the commandments which I give you;
 John	Jn	49	14	16	and then I will ask the Father, and he will give you another to befriend you, one who is to dwell continually with you for ever.
 John	Jn	49	14	17	It is the truth-giving Spirit, for whom the world can find no room, because it cannot see him, cannot recognize him. But you are to recognize him; he will be continually at your side, nay, he will be in you.
 John	Jn	49	14	18	I will not leave you friendless; I am coming to you.
 John	Jn	49	14	19	It is only a little while now, before the world is to see me no more; but you can see me, because I live on, and you too will have life.
 John	Jn	49	14	20	When that day comes, you will learn for yourselves that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.
 John	Jn	49	14	21	The man who loves me is the man who keeps the commandments he has from me; and he who loves me will win my Father’s love, and I too will love him, and will reveal myself to him.
 John	Jn	49	14	22	Here Judas, not the Iscariot, said to him, Lord, how comes it that thou wilt only reveal thyself to us, and not to the world?
 John	Jn	49	14	23	Jesus answered him, If a man has any love for me, he will be true to my word; and then he will win my Father’s love, and we will both come to him, and make our continual abode with him;
 John	Jn	49	14	24	whereas the man who has no love for me, lets my sayings pass him by. And this word, which you have been hearing from me, comes not from me, but from my Father who sent me.
 John	Jn	49	14	25	So much converse I have held with you, still at your side.
 John	Jn	49	14	26	He who is to befriend you, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send on my account, will in his turn make everything plain, and recall to your minds everything I have said to you.
 John	Jn	49	14	27	Peace is my bequest to you, and the peace which I will give you is mine to give; I do not give peace as the world gives it. Do not let your heart be distressed, or play the coward.
 John	Jn	49	14	28	You have heard me say that I am going away and coming back to you. If you really loved me, you would be glad to hear that I am on my way to my Father; my Father has greater power than I.
 John	Jn	49	14	29	I have told you of this before it happens, so that when it happens you may learn to believe.
 John	Jn	49	14	30	I have no longer much time for converse with you; one is coming, who has power over the world, but no hold over me.
 John	Jn	49	14	31	No, but the world must be convinced that I love the Father, and act only as the Father has commanded me to act. Rise up, we must be going on our way.
 John	Jn	49	15	1	I am the true vine, and it is my Father who tends it.
 John	Jn	49	15	2	The branch that yields no fruit in me, he cuts away; the branch that does yield fruit, he trims clean, so that it may yield more fruit.
 John	Jn	49	15	3	You, through the message I have preached to you, are clean already;
 John	Jn	49	15	4	you have only to live on in me, and I will live on in you. The branch that does not live on in the vine can yield no fruit of itself; no more can you, if you do not live on in me.
 John	Jn	49	15	5	I am the vine, you are its branches; if a man lives on in me, and I in him, then he will yield abundant fruit; separated from me, you have no power to do anything.
 John	Jn	49	15	6	If a man does not live on in me, he can only be like the branch that is cast off and withers away; such a branch is picked up and thrown into the fire, to burn there.
 John	Jn	49	15	7	As long as you live on in me, and my words live on in you, you will be able to make what request you will, and have it granted.
 John	Jn	49	15	8	My Father’s name has been glorified, if you yield abundant fruit, and prove yourselves my disciples.
 John	Jn	49	15	9	I have bestowed my love upon you, just as my Father has bestowed his love upon me; live on, then, in my love.
 John	Jn	49	15	10	You will live on in my love, if you keep my commandments, just as it is by keeping my Father’s commandments that I live on in his love.
 John	Jn	49	15	11	All this I have told you, so that my joy may be yours, and the measure of your joy may be filled up.
 John	Jn	49	15	12	This is my commandment, that you should love one another, as I have loved you.
 John	Jn	49	15	13	This is the greatest love a man can shew, that he should lay down his life for his friends;
 John	Jn	49	15	14	and you, if you do all that I command you, are my friends.
 John	Jn	49	15	15	I do not speak of you any more as my servants; a servant is one who does not understand what his master is about, whereas I have made known to you all that my Father has told me; and so I have called you my friends.
 John	Jn	49	15	16	It was not you that chose me, it was I that chose you. The task I have appointed you is to go out and bear fruit, fruit which will endure; so that every request you make of the Father in my name may be granted you.
 John	Jn	49	15	17	These are the directions I give you, that you should love one another.
 John	Jn	49	15	18	If the world hates you, be sure that it hated me before it learned to hate you.
 John	Jn	49	15	19	If you belonged to the world, the world would know you for its own and love you; it is because you do not belong to the world, because I have singled you out from the midst of the world, that the world hates you.
 John	Jn	49	15	20	Do not forget what I said to you, No servant can be greater than his master. They will persecute you just as they have persecuted me; they will pay the same attention to your words as to mine.
 John	Jn	49	15	21	And they will treat you thus because you bear my name; they have no knowledge of him who sent me.
 John	Jn	49	15	22	If I had not come and given them my message, they would not have been in fault; as it is, their fault can find no excuse.
 John	Jn	49	15	23	To hate me is to hate my Father too.
 John	Jn	49	15	24	If I had not done what no one else ever did in their midst they would not have been in fault; as it is, they have hated, with open eyes, both me and my Father.
 John	Jn	49	15	25	And all this, in fulfilment of the saying which is written in their law, They hated me without cause.
 John	Jn	49	15	26	Well, when the truth-giving Spirit, who proceeds from the Father, has come to befriend you, he whom I will send to you from the Father’s side, he will bear witness of what I was;
 John	Jn	49	15	27	and you too are to be my witnesses, you who from the first have been in my company.
 John	Jn	49	16	1	I have told you this, so that your faith may not be taken unawares.
 John	Jn	49	16	2	They will forbid you the synagogue; nay, the time is coming when anyone who puts you to death will claim that he is performing an act of worship to God;
 John	Jn	49	16	3	such things they will do to you, because they have no knowledge of the Father, or of me.
 John	Jn	49	16	4	And I have told you this, so that when the time comes for it to happen, you may remember that I told you of it.
 John	Jn	49	16	5	If I did not tell you of it from the first, it was because I was to be still in your company. Now, I am going back to him who sent me. None of you is asking me, Where is it thou art going?
 John	Jn	49	16	6	so full are your hearts with sorrow at my telling you this.
 John	Jn	49	16	7	And yet I can say truly that it is better for you I should go away; he who is to befriend you will not come to you unless I do go, but if only I make my way there, I will send him to you.
 John	Jn	49	16	8	He will come, and it will be for him to prove the world wrong, about sin, and about rightness of heart, and about judging.
 John	Jn	49	16	9	About sin; they have not found belief in me.
 John	Jn	49	16	10	About rightness of heart; I am going back to my Father, and you are not to see me any more.
 John	Jn	49	16	11	About judging; he who rules this world has had sentence passed on him already.
 John	Jn	49	16	12	I have still much to say to you, but it is beyond your reach as yet.
 John	Jn	49	16	13	It will be for him, the truth-giving Spirit, when he comes, to guide you into all truth. He will not utter a message of his own; he will utter the message that has been given to him; and he will make plain to you what is still to come.
 John	Jn	49	16	14	And he will bring honour to me, because it is from me that he will derive what he makes plain to you.
 John	Jn	49	16	15	I say that he will derive from me what he makes plain to you, because all that belongs to the Father belongs to me.
 John	Jn	49	16	16	After a little while, you will see me no longer; and again after a little while you will have sight of me, because I am going back to the Father.
 John	Jn	49	16	17	Upon this, some of his disciples said to one another, What does this mean, that he is saying to us, After a little while, you will see me no longer, and again after a little while you will have sight of me? And then, Because I am going back to my Father?
 John	Jn	49	16	18	What is this little while he speaks of? they asked. We cannot understand what he means by it.
 John	Jn	49	16	19	Jesus, knowing that they were eager to question him, said to them, You are wondering among yourselves over what I have been saying, After a little while you will see me no longer, and again after a little while you will have sight of me.
 John	Jn	49	16	20	Believe me when I tell you this, you will weep and lament while the world rejoices; you will be distressed, but your distress shall be turned into joy.
 John	Jn	49	16	21	A woman in childbirth feels distress, because now her time has come; but when she has borne her child, she does not remember the distress any longer, so glad is she that a man has been born into the world.
 John	Jn	49	16	22	So it is with you, you are distressed now; but one day I will see you again, and then your hearts will be glad; and your gladness will be one which nobody can take away from you.
 John	Jn	49	16	23	When that day comes, you will not need to ask anything of me. Believe me, you have only to make any request of the Father in my name, and he will grant it to you.
 John	Jn	49	16	24	Until now, you have not been making any requests in my name; make them, and they will be granted, to bring you gladness in full measure.
 John	Jn	49	16	25	I have been telling you this in parables; now comes the hour when I will talk to you in parables no longer, but tell you openly about the Father.
 John	Jn	49	16	26	At the time I speak of, you will make your requests in my name; and there is no need for me to tell you that I will ask the Father to grant them to you,
 John	Jn	49	16	27	because the Father himself is your friend, since you have become my friends, and have learned to believe that I came from God.
 John	Jn	49	16	28	It was from the Father I came out, when I entered the world, and now I am leaving the world, and going on my way to the Father.
 John	Jn	49	16	29	Hereupon his disciples said to him, Why, now thou art speaking openly enough; this is no parable thou art uttering.
 John	Jn	49	16	30	Now we can be sure that thou knowest all things, not needing to wait till thou art asked; this gives us faith that thou wast sent by God.
 John	Jn	49	16	31	You have faith now? Jesus answered.
 John	Jn	49	16	32	Behold, the time is coming, nay, has already come, when you are to be scattered, each of you taking his own path, and to leave me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.
 John	Jn	49	16	33	I have said this to you, so that in me you may find peace. In the world, you will only find tribulation; but take courage, I have overcome the world.
 John	Jn	49	17	1	Thus Jesus spoke to them, and then, lifting up his eyes to heaven, he said, Father, the time has come; give glory now to thy Son, that thy Son may give the glory to thee.
 John	Jn	49	17	2	Thou hast put him in authority over all mankind, to bring eternal life to all those thou hast entrusted to him.
 John	Jn	49	17	3	Eternal life is knowing thee, who art the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
 John	Jn	49	17	4	I have exalted thy glory on earth, by achieving the task which thou gavest me to do;
 John	Jn	49	17	5	now, Father, do thou exalt me at thy own side, in that glory which I had with thee before the world began.
 John	Jn	49	17	6	I have made thy name known to the men whom thou hast entrusted to me, chosen out of the world. They belonged to thee, and have become mine through thy gift, and they have kept true to thy word.
 John	Jn	49	17	7	Now they have learned to recognize all the gifts thou gavest me as coming from thee;
 John	Jn	49	17	8	I have given them the message which thou gavest to me, and they, receiving it, recognized it for truth that I came from thee, and found faith to believe that it was thou who didst send me.
 John	Jn	49	17	9	It is for these I pray; I am not praying for the world, but for those whom thou hast entrusted to me; they belong to thee;
 John	Jn	49	17	10	as all I have is thine, and all thou hast is mine; and in them my glory is achieved.
 John	Jn	49	17	11	I am remaining in the world no longer, but they remain in the world, while I am on my way to thee. Holy Father, keep them true to thy name, thy gift to me, that they may be one, as we are one.
 John	Jn	49	17	12	As long as I was with them, it was for me to keep them true to thy name, thy gift to me; and I have watched over them, so that only one has been lost, he whom perdition claims for its own, in fulfilment of the scripture.
 John	Jn	49	17	13	But now I am coming to thee; and while I am still in the world I am telling them this, so that my joy may be theirs, and reach its full measure in them.
 John	Jn	49	17	14	I have given them thy message, and the world has nothing but hatred for them, because they do not belong to the world, as I, too, do not belong to the world.
 John	Jn	49	17	15	I am not asking that thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that thou shouldst keep them clear of what is evil.
 John	Jn	49	17	16	They do not belong to the world, as I, too, do not belong to the world;
 John	Jn	49	17	17	keep them holy, then, through the truth; it is thy word that is truth.
 John	Jn	49	17	18	Thou hast sent me into the world on thy errand, and I have sent them into the world on my errand;
 John	Jn	49	17	19	and I dedicate myself for their sakes, that they too may be dedicated through the truth.
 John	Jn	49	17	20	It is not only for them that I pray; I pray for those who are to find faith in me through their word;
 John	Jn	49	17	21	that they may all be one; that they too may be one in us, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee; so that the world may come to believe that it is thou who hast sent me.
 John	Jn	49	17	22	And I have given them the privilege which thou gavest to me, that they should all be one, as we are one;
 John	Jn	49	17	23	that while thou art in me, I may be in them, and so they may be perfectly made one. So let the world know that it is thou who hast sent me, and that thou hast bestowed thy love upon them, as thou hast bestowed it upon me.
 John	Jn	49	17	24	This, Father, is my desire, that all those whom thou hast entrusted to me may be with me where I am, so as to see my glory, thy gift made to me, in that love which thou didst bestow upon me before the foundation of the world.
 John	Jn	49	17	25	Father, thou art just; the world has never acknowledged thee, but I have acknowledged thee, and these men have acknowledged that thou didst send me.
 John	Jn	49	17	26	I have revealed, and will reveal, thy name to them; so that the love thou hast bestowed upon me may dwell in them, and I, too, may dwell in them.
 John	Jn	49	18	1	All this Jesus said, and now, with his disciples, he went out across the Cedron valley. Here there was a garden, into which he and his disciples went.
 John	Jn	49	18	2	Judas, his betrayer, knew the place well; Jesus and his disciples had often forgathered in it.
 John	Jn	49	18	3	There, then, Judas came, accompanied by the guard, and officers sent by the chief priests and Pharisees, with lanterns and torches and weapons.
 John	Jn	49	18	4	So Jesus, knowing well what was to befall him, went out to meet them; Who is it, he asked, you are looking for?
 John	Jn	49	18	5	Jesus of Nazareth, they answered; and he told them, I am Jesus of Nazareth. And there was Judas, his betrayer, standing in their company.
 John	Jn	49	18	6	When he said to them, I am Jesus of Nazareth, they all shrank back, and fell to the ground.
 John	Jn	49	18	7	So, once more, Jesus asked them, Who is it you are looking for? and when they said, Jesus of Nazareth,
 John	Jn	49	18	8	he answered, I have told you already that I am Jesus. If I am the man you are looking for, let these others go free.
 John	Jn	49	18	9	Thus he would make good the words he had spoken to them, I have not lost any of those whom thou hast entrusted to me.
 John	Jn	49	18	10	Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it, and struck the high priest’s servant, cutting off his right ear; Malchus was the name of the servant.
 John	Jn	49	18	11	Whereupon Jesus said to Peter, Put thy sword back into its sheath. Am I not to drink that cup which my Father himself has appointed for me?
 John	Jn	49	18	12	And now the guard, with their captain, and the Jewish officers arrested Jesus and pinioned him.
 John	Jn	49	18	13	They led him off, in the first instance, to Annas, father-in-law of Caiphas, who held the high priesthood in that year.
 John	Jn	49	18	14	(It was this Caiphas who had given it as his advice to the Jews, that it was best to put one man to death for the sake of the people.)
 John	Jn	49	18	15	Simon Peter followed Jesus, with another disciple; this disciple was acquainted with the high priest, and went into the high priest’s court with Jesus,
 John	Jn	49	18	16	while Peter stood at the door without. Afterwards the other disciple, who was the high priest’s acquaintance, went out and spoke to the door-keeper, and so brought Peter in.
 John	Jn	49	18	17	This maid-servant who kept the door asked Peter, Art thou another of this man’s disciples? and he said, Not I.
 John	Jn	49	18	18	It was cold, and the servants and officers had made a charcoal fire, and stood there warming themselves; there Peter stood too, warming himself with the rest.
 John	Jn	49	18	19	And now the high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples, and about his teaching.
 John	Jn	49	18	20	Jesus answered, I have spoken openly before the world; my teaching has been given in the synagogue and in the temple, where all the Jews forgather; nothing that I have said was said in secret.
 John	Jn	49	18	21	Why dost thou question me? Ask those who listened to me what my words were; they know well enough what I said.
 John	Jn	49	18	22	When he spoke thus, one of the officers, who was standing by, struck Jesus on the cheek; Is this, he said, how thou makest answer to the high priest?
 John	Jn	49	18	23	If there was harm in what I said, Jesus answered, tell us what was harmful in it; if not, why dost thou strike me?
 John	Jn	49	18	24	Annas, you must know, had sent him on, still bound, to the high priest Caiphas.
 John	Jn	49	18	25	Meanwhile Simon Peter stood there, and warmed himself. So they asked him, Art thou, too, one of his disciples? And he denied it; Not I, he said.
 John	Jn	49	18	26	Why, said one of the high priest’s servants, a kinsman of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, did I not see thee with him in the garden?
 John	Jn	49	18	27	Whereupon Peter denied again; and immediately the cock crew.
 John	Jn	49	18	28	And now they led Jesus away from the house of Caiphas to the governor’s palace. It was morning, and they would not enter the palace themselves; there was the paschal meal to be eaten, and they must not incur defilement.
 John	Jn	49	18	29	And so Pilate went to meet them without; What charge, he asked, do you bring against this man?
 John	Jn	49	18	30	They answered, We would not have given him up to thee, if he had not been a malefactor.
 John	Jn	49	18	31	Take him yourselves, Pilate said to them, and judge him according to your own law. Whereupon the Jews said to him, We have no power to put any man to death.
 John	Jn	49	18	32	(This was in fulfilment of the words Jesus had spoken when he prophesied what death he was to die.)
 John	Jn	49	18	33	So Pilate went back into the palace, and summoned Jesus; Art thou the king of the Jews? he asked.
 John	Jn	49	18	34	Dost thou say this of thy own accord, Jesus answered, or is it what others have told thee of me?
 John	Jn	49	18	35	And Pilate answered, Am I a Jew? It is thy own nation, and its chief priests, who have given thee up to me. What offence hast thou committed?
 John	Jn	49	18	36	My kingdom, said Jesus, does not belong to this world. If my kingdom were one which belonged to this world, my servants would be fighting, to prevent my falling into the hands of the Jews; but no, my kingdom does not take its origin here.
 John	Jn	49	18	37	Thou art a king, then? Pilate asked. And Jesus answered, It is thy own lips that have called me a king. What I was born for, what I came into the world for, is to bear witness of the truth. Whoever belongs to the truth, listens to my voice.
 John	Jn	49	18	38	Pilate said to him, What is truth? And with that he went back to the Jews again, and told them, I can find no fault in him.
 John	Jn	49	18	39	You have a custom of demanding that I should release one prisoner at paschal time; would you have me release the king of the Jews?
 John	Jn	49	18	40	Whereupon they all made a fresh outcry; Barabbas, they said, not this man. Barabbas was a robber.
 John	Jn	49	19	1	Then Pilate took Jesus and scourged him.
 John	Jn	49	19	2	And the soldiers put on his head a crown which they had woven out of thorns, and dressed him in a scarlet cloak;
 John	Jn	49	19	3	they would come up to him and say, Hail, king of the Jews, and then strike him on the face.
 John	Jn	49	19	4	And now Pilate went out again, and said, See, I am bringing him out to you, to shew that I cannot find any fault in him.
 John	Jn	49	19	5	Then, as Jesus came out, still wearing the crown of thorns and the scarlet cloak, he said to them, See, here is the man.
 John	Jn	49	19	6	When the chief priests and their officers saw him, they cried out, Crucify him, crucify him. Take him yourselves, said Pilate, and crucify him; I cannot find any fault in him.
 John	Jn	49	19	7	The Jews answered, We have our own law, and by our law he ought to die, for pretending to be the Son of God.
 John	Jn	49	19	8	When Pilate heard this said, he was more afraid than ever;
 John	Jn	49	19	9	going back into the palace, he asked Jesus, Whence hast thou come? but Jesus gave him no answer.
 John	Jn	49	19	10	What, said Pilate, hast thou no word for me? Dost thou not know that I have power to crucify thee, and power to release thee?
 John	Jn	49	19	11	Jesus answered, Thou wouldst not have any power over me at all, if it had not been given thee from above. That is why the man who gave me up to thee is more guilty yet.
 John	Jn	49	19	12	After this, Pilate was for releasing him, but the Jews went on crying out, Thou art no friend of Caesar, if thou dost release him; the man who pretends to be a king is Caesar’s rival.
 John	Jn	49	19	13	When Pilate heard them speak thus, he brought Jesus out, and sat down on the judgement seat, in a place which is called Lithostrotos; its Hebrew name is Gabbatha.
 John	Jn	49	19	14	It was now about the sixth hour, on the eve of the paschal feast. See, he said to the Jews, here is your king.
 John	Jn	49	19	15	But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. What, Pilate said to them, shall I crucify your king? We have no king, the chief priests answered, except Caesar.
 John	Jn	49	19	16	Thereupon he gave Jesus up into their hands, to be crucified: and they, once he was in their hands, led him away.
 John	Jn	49	19	17	So Jesus went out, carrying his own cross, to the place named after a skull; its Hebrew name is Golgotha.
 John	Jn	49	19	18	There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on each side with Jesus in the midst.
 John	Jn	49	19	19	And Pilate wrote out a proclamation, which he put on the cross; it ran, Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews.
 John	Jn	49	19	20	This proclamation was read by many of the Jews, since the place where Jesus was crucified was close to the city; it was written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin.
 John	Jn	49	19	21	And the Jewish chief priests said to Pilate, Thou shouldst not write, The king of the Jews; thou shouldst write, This man said, I am the king of the Jews.
 John	Jn	49	19	22	Pilate’s answer was, What I have written, I have written.
 John	Jn	49	19	23	The soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took up his garments, which they divided into four shares, one share for each soldier. They took up his cloak, too, which was without seam, woven from the top throughout;
 John	Jn	49	19	24	so they said to one another, Better not to tear it; let us cast lots to decide whose it shall be. This was in fulfilment of the passage in scripture which says, They divide my spoils among them; cast lots for my clothing. So it was, then, that the soldiers occupied themselves;
 John	Jn	49	19	25	and meanwhile his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalen, had taken their stand beside the cross of Jesus.
 John	Jn	49	19	26	And Jesus, seeing his mother there, and the disciple, too, whom he loved, standing by, said to his mother, Woman, this is thy son.
 John	Jn	49	19	27	Then he said to the disciple, This is thy mother. And from that hour the disciple took her into his own keeping.
 John	Jn	49	19	28	And now Jesus knew well that all was achieved which the scripture demanded for its accomplishment; and he said, I am thirsty.
 John	Jn	49	19	29	There was a jar there full of vinegar; so they filled a sponge with the vinegar and put it on a stick of hyssop, and brought it close to his mouth.
 John	Jn	49	19	30	Jesus drank the vinegar, and said, It is achieved. Then he bowed his head, and yielded up his spirit.
 John	Jn	49	19	31	The Jews would not let the bodies remain crucified on the sabbath, because that sabbath day was a solemn one; and since it was now the eve, they asked Pilate that the bodies might have their legs broken, and be taken away.
 John	Jn	49	19	32	And so the soldiers came and broke the legs both of the one and of the other that were crucified with him;
 John	Jn	49	19	33	but when they came to Jesus, and found him already dead, they did not break his legs,
 John	Jn	49	19	34	but one of the soldiers opened his side with a spear; and immediately blood and water flowed out.
 John	Jn	49	19	35	He who saw it has borne his witness; and his witness is worthy of trust. He tells what he knows to be the truth, that you, like him, may learn to believe.
 John	Jn	49	19	36	This was so ordained to fulfil what is written, You shall not break a single bone of his.
 John	Jn	49	19	37	And again, another passage in scripture says, They will look upon the man whom they have pierced.
 John	Jn	49	19	38	After this Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but in secret, for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate to let him take away the body of Jesus. Pilate gave him leave; so he came and took Jesus’ body away;
 John	Jn	49	19	39	and with him was Nicodemus, the same who made his first visit to Jesus by night; he brought with him a mixture of myrrh and aloes, of about a hundred pounds’ weight.
 John	Jn	49	19	40	They took Jesus’ body, then, and wrapped it in winding-cloths with the spices; that is how the Jews prepare a body for burial.
 John	Jn	49	19	41	In the same quarter where he was crucified there was a garden, with a new tomb in it, one in which no man had ever yet been buried.
 John	Jn	49	19	42	Here, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus, because of the Jewish feast on the morrow.
 John	Jn	49	20	1	Early in the morning on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalen went to the tomb, and found the stone moved away from the tomb door.
 John	Jn	49	20	2	So she came running to Simon Peter, and that other disciple, whom Jesus loved; They have carried the Lord away from the tomb, she said to them, and we cannot tell where they have taken him.
 John	Jn	49	20	3	Upon this, Peter and the other disciple both set out, and made their way to the tomb;
 John	Jn	49	20	4	they began running side by side, but the other disciple outran Peter, and reached the tomb first.
 John	Jn	49	20	5	He looked in and saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in.
 John	Jn	49	20	6	Simon Peter, coming up after him, went into the tomb and saw the linen cloths lying there,
 John	Jn	49	20	7	and also the veil which had been put over Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen cloths, but still wrapped round and round in a place by itself.
 John	Jn	49	20	8	Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and saw this, and learned to believe.
 John	Jn	49	20	9	They had not yet mastered what was written of him, that he was to rise from the dead.
 John	Jn	49	20	10	The disciples went back home;
 John	Jn	49	20	11	but Mary stood without before the tomb, weeping. And she bent down, still weeping, and looked into the tomb;
 John	Jn	49	20	12	and saw two angels clothed in white sitting there, one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.
 John	Jn	49	20	13	They said to her, Woman, why art thou weeping? Because they have carried away my Lord, she said, and I cannot tell where they have taken him.
 John	Jn	49	20	14	Saying this, she turned round, and saw Jesus standing there, without knowing that it was Jesus.
 John	Jn	49	20	15	Woman, Jesus said to her, why art thou weeping? For whom art thou searching? She supposed that it must be the gardener, and said to him, If it is thou, Sir, that hast carried him off, tell me where thou hast put him, and I will take him away.
 John	Jn	49	20	16	Jesus said to her, Mary. And she turned and said to him, Rabboni (which is the Hebrew for Master).
 John	Jn	49	20	17	Then Jesus said, Do not cling to me thus; I have not yet gone up to my Father’s side. Return to my brethren, and tell them this; I am going up to him who is my Father and your Father, who is my God and your God.
 John	Jn	49	20	18	So Mary Magdalen brought news to the disciples, of how she had seen the Lord, and he had spoken thus to her.
 John	Jn	49	20	19	And now it was evening on the same day, the first day of the week; for fear of the Jews, the disciples had locked the doors of the room in which they had assembled; and Jesus came, and stood there in their midst; Peace be upon you, he said.
 John	Jn	49	20	20	And with that, he shewed them his hands and his side. Thus the disciples saw the Lord, and were glad.
 John	Jn	49	20	21	Once more Jesus said to them, Peace be upon you; I came upon an errand from my Father, and now I am sending you out in my turn.
 John	Jn	49	20	22	With that, he breathed on them, and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit;
 John	Jn	49	20	23	when you forgive men’s sins, they are forgiven, when you hold them bound, they are held bound.
 John	Jn	49	20	24	There was one of the twelve, Thomas, who is also called Didymus, who was not with them when Jesus came.
 John	Jn	49	20	25	And when the other disciples told him, We have seen the Lord, he said to them, Until I have seen the mark of the nails on his hands, until I have put my finger into the mark of the nails, and put my hand into his side, you will never make me believe.
 John	Jn	49	20	26	So, eight days afterwards, once more the disciples were within, and Thomas was with them; and the doors were locked. Jesus came and stood there in their midst; Peace be upon you, he said.
 John	Jn	49	20	27	Then he said to Thomas, Let me have thy finger; see, here are my hands. Let me have thy hand; put it into my side. Cease thy doubting, and believe.
 John	Jn	49	20	28	Thomas answered, Thou art my Lord and my God.
 John	Jn	49	20	29	And Jesus said to him, Thou hast learned to believe, Thomas, because thou hast seen me. Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet have learned to believe.
 John	Jn	49	20	30	There are many other miracles Jesus did in the presence of his disciples, which are not written down in this book;
 John	Jn	49	20	31	so much has been written down, that you may learn to believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and so believing find life through his name.
 John	Jn	49	21	1	Jesus appeared to his disciples again afterwards, at the sea of Tiberias, and this is how he appeared to them.
 John	Jn	49	21	2	Simon Peter was there, and with him were Thomas, who is also called Didymus, and Nathanael, from Cana of Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two more of his disciples.
 John	Jn	49	21	3	Simon Peter told them, I am going out fishing; and they said, We, too, will go with thee. So they went out and embarked on the boat, and all that night they caught nothing.
 John	Jn	49	21	4	But when morning came, there was Jesus standing on the shore; only the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.
 John	Jn	49	21	5	Have you caught anything, friends, Jesus asked them, to season your bread with? And when they answered No,
 John	Jn	49	21	6	he said to them, Cast to the right of the boat, and you will have a catch. So they cast the net, and found before long they had no strength to haul it in, such a shoal of fish was in it.
 John	Jn	49	21	7	Whereupon the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, It is the Lord. And Simon Peter, hearing him say that it was the Lord, girded up the fisherman’s coat, which was all he wore, and sprang into the sea.
 John	Jn	49	21	8	The other disciples followed in the boat (they were not far from land, only some hundred yards away), dragging their catch in the net behind them.
 John	Jn	49	21	9	So they went ashore, and found a charcoal fire made there, with fish and bread cooking on it.
 John	Jn	49	21	10	Bring some of the fish you have just caught, Jesus said to them:
 John	Jn	49	21	11	and Simon Peter, going on board, hauled in the net to land. It was loaded with great fish, a hundred and fifty-three of them; and with all that number the net had not broken.
 John	Jn	49	21	12	When Jesus said to them, Come and break your fast, none of the disciples ventured to ask him, Who art thou? knowing well that it was the Lord.
 John	Jn	49	21	13	So Jesus came up and took bread, which he gave to them, and fish as well.
 John	Jn	49	21	14	Thus Jesus appeared to his disciples a third time after his rising from the dead.
 John	Jn	49	21	15	And when they had eaten, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, dost thou care for me more than these others? Yes, Lord, he told him, thou knowest well that I love thee. And he said to him, Feed my lambs.
 John	Jn	49	21	16	And again, a second time, he asked him, Simon, son of John, dost thou care for me? Yes, Lord, he told him, thou knowest well that I love thee. He said to him, Tend my shearlings.
 John	Jn	49	21	17	Then he asked him a third question, Simon, son of John, dost thou love me? Peter was deeply moved when he was asked a third time, Dost thou love me? and said to him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou canst tell that I love thee. Jesus said to him, Feed my sheep.
 John	Jn	49	21	18	Believe me when I tell thee this; as a young man, thou wouldst gird thyself and walk where thou hadst the will to go, but when thou hast grown old, thou wilt stretch out thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee where thou goest, not of thy own will.
 John	Jn	49	21	19	So much he told him, prophesying the death by which he was to glorify God; and with that he said to him, Follow me.
 John	Jn	49	21	20	Peter turned, and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following him; the same who leaned back on his breast at supper, and asked, Who is it that is to betray thee?
 John	Jn	49	21	21	Seeing him, Peter asked Jesus, And what of this man, Lord?
 John	Jn	49	21	22	Jesus said to him, If it is my will that he should wait till I come, what is it to thee? Do thou follow me.
 John	Jn	49	21	23	That was why the story went round among the brethren that this disciple was not to die. But Jesus did not say, He is not to die; he said, If it is my will that he should wait till I come, what is it to thee?
 John	Jn	49	21	24	It is the same disciple that bears witness of all this and has written the story of it; and we know well that his witness is truthful.
 John	Jn	49	21	25	There is much else besides that Jesus did; if all of it were put in writing, I do not think the world itself would contain the books which would have to be written.
 The Acts	Acts	50	1	1	The first book which I wrote, Theophilus, was concerned with all that Jesus set out to do and teach,
 The Acts	Acts	50	1	2	until the day came when he was taken up into heaven. He then laid a charge, by the power of the Holy Spirit, on the apostles whom he had chosen.
 The Acts	Acts	50	1	3	He had shewn them by many proofs that he was still alive, after his passion; throughout the course of forty days he had been appearing to them, and telling them about the kingdom of God;
 The Acts	Acts	50	1	4	and now he gave them orders, as he shared a meal with them, not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait there for the fulfilment of the Father’s promise. You have heard it, he said, from my own lips;
 The Acts	Acts	50	1	5	John’s baptism, I told you, was with water, but there is a baptism with the Holy Spirit which you are to receive, not many days from this.
 The Acts	Acts	50	1	6	And his companions asked him, Lord, dost thou mean to restore the dominion to Israel here and now?
 The Acts	Acts	50	1	7	But he told them, It is not for you to know the times and seasons which the Father has fixed by his own authority.
 The Acts	Acts	50	1	8	Enough for you, that the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and you will receive strength from him; you are to be my witnesses in Jerusalem and throughout Judaea, in Samaria, yes, and to the ends of the earth.
 The Acts	Acts	50	1	9	When he had said this, they saw him lifted up, and a cloud caught him away from their sight.
 The Acts	Acts	50	1	10	And as they strained their eyes towards heaven, to watch his journey, all at once two men in white garments were standing at their side.
 The Acts	Acts	50	1	11	Men of Galilee, they said, why do you stand here looking heavenwards? He who has been taken from you into heaven, this same Jesus, will come back in the same fashion, just as you have watched him going into heaven.
 The Acts	Acts	50	1	12	Then, from the mountain which is called Olivet, they went back to Jerusalem; the distance from Jerusalem is not great, a sabbath day’s journey.
 The Acts	Acts	50	1	13	Coming in, they went up into the upper room where they dwelt, Peter and John, James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas the brother of James.
 The Acts	Acts	50	1	14	All these, with one mind, gave themselves up to prayer, together with Mary the mother of Jesus, and the rest of the women and his brethren.
 The Acts	Acts	50	1	15	At this time, Peter stood up and spoke before all the brethren; a company of about a hundred and twenty were gathered there.
 The Acts	Acts	50	1	16	Brethren, he said, there is a prophecy in scripture that must needs be fulfilled; that which the Holy Spirit made, by the lips of David, about Judas, who shewed the way to the men that arrested Jesus.
 The Acts	Acts	50	1	17	Judas was counted among our number, and had been given a share in this ministry of ours.
 The Acts	Acts	50	1	18	(With the price of his treachery, this man came into possession of a field; and afterwards, when he fell from a height, and his belly burst open, so that he was disembowelled,
 The Acts	Acts	50	1	19	all Jerusalem heard of it, and the field came to be called, in their language, Haceldama, that is, the Field of Blood.)
 The Acts	Acts	50	1	20	Well, in the book of Psalms the words are written, Let their camping-place be deserted, and let no man be found to dwell in it. And again, Let another take over his office.
 The Acts	Acts	50	1	21	There are men who have walked in our company all through the time when the Lord Jesus came and went among us,
 The Acts	Acts	50	1	22	from the time when John used to baptize to the day when he, Jesus, was taken from us. One of these ought to be added to our number as a witness of his resurrection.
 The Acts	Acts	50	1	23	So they named two of them, Joseph called Barsabas, who had been given the fresh name of Justus, and Matthias.
 The Acts	Acts	50	1	24	And they offered this prayer, Lord, who knowest the hearts of all men, shew us which of these two thou hast chosen
 The Acts	Acts	50	1	25	to take his place in this work of apostleship, from which Judas has fallen away, and gone to the place which belonged to him.
 The Acts	Acts	50	1	26	They gave them lots; and the lot fell upon Matthias, and he took rank with the eleven apostles.
 The Acts	Acts	50	2	1	When the day of Pentecost came round, while they were all gathered together in unity of purpose,
 The Acts	Acts	50	2	2	all at once a sound came from heaven like that of a strong wind blowing, and filled the whole house where they were sitting.
 The Acts	Acts	50	2	3	Then appeared to them what seemed to be tongues of fire, which parted and came to rest on each of them;
 The Acts	Acts	50	2	4	and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak in strange languages, as the Spirit gave utterance to each.
 The Acts	Acts	50	2	5	Among those who were dwelling in Jerusalem at this time were devout Jews from every country under heaven;
 The Acts	Acts	50	2	6	so, when the noise of this went abroad, the crowd which gathered was in bewilderment; each man severally heard them speak in his own language.
 The Acts	Acts	50	2	7	And they were all beside themselves with astonishment; Are they not all Galileans speaking? they asked.
 The Acts	Acts	50	2	8	How is it that each of us hears them talking his own native tongue?
 The Acts	Acts	50	2	9	There are Parthians among us, and Medes, and Elamites; our homes are in Mesopotamia, or Judaea, or Cappadocia; in Pontus or Asia,
 The Acts	Acts	50	2	10	Phrygia or Pamphylia, Egypt or the parts of Libya round Cyrene; some of us are visitors from Rome,
 The Acts	Acts	50	2	11	some of us are Jews and others proselytes; there are Cretans among us too, and Arabians; and each has been hearing them tell of God’s wonders in his own language.
 The Acts	Acts	50	2	12	So they were all beside themselves with perplexity, and asked one another, What can this mean?
 The Acts	Acts	50	2	13	There were others who said, mockingly, They have had their fill of new wine.
 The Acts	Acts	50	2	14	But Peter, with the eleven apostles at his side, stood there and raised his voice to speak to them; Men of Judaea, he said, and all you who are dwelling in Jerusalem, I must tell you this; listen to what I have to say.
 The Acts	Acts	50	2	15	These men are not drunk, as you suppose; it is only the third hour of the day.
 The Acts	Acts	50	2	16	This is what was foretold by the prophet Joel:
 The Acts	Acts	50	2	17	In the last times, God says, I will pour out my spirit upon all mankind, and your sons and daughters will be prophets. Your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams;
 The Acts	Acts	50	2	18	and I will pour out my spirit in those days upon my servants and hand-maids, so that they will prophesy.
 The Acts	Acts	50	2	19	I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs on the earth beneath, blood and fire and whirling smoke;
 The Acts	Acts	50	2	20	the sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood, before the day of the Lord comes, great and glorious.
 The Acts	Acts	50	2	21	And then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
 The Acts	Acts	50	2	22	Men of Israel, listen to this. Jesus of Nazareth was a man duly accredited to you from God; such were the miracles and wonders and signs which God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves well know.
 The Acts	Acts	50	2	23	This man you have put to death; by God’s fixed design and foreknowledge, he was betrayed to you, and you, through the hands of sinful men, have cruelly murdered him.
 The Acts	Acts	50	2	24	But God raised him up again, releasing him from the pangs of death; it was impossible that death should have the mastery over him.
 The Acts	Acts	50	2	25	It is in his person that David says, Always I can keep the Lord within sight; always he is at my right hand, to make me stand firm.
 The Acts	Acts	50	2	26	So there is gladness in my heart, and rejoicing on my lips; my body, too, shall rest in confidence
 The Acts	Acts	50	2	27	that thou wilt not leave my soul in the place of death, or allow thy faithful servant to see corruption.
 The Acts	Acts	50	2	28	Thou hast shewn me the way of life; thou wilt make me full of gladness in thy presence.
 The Acts	Acts	50	2	29	My brethren, I can say this to you about the patriarch David without fear of contradiction, that he did die, and was buried, and his tomb is among us to this day.
 The Acts	Acts	50	2	30	But he was a prophet, and he knew God had promised him on oath that he would set the sons of his body upon his throne;
 The Acts	Acts	50	2	31	it was of the Christ he said, foreseeing his resurrection, that he was not left in the place of death, and that his body did not see corruption.
 The Acts	Acts	50	2	32	God, then, has raised up this man, Jesus, from the dead; we are all witnesses of it.
 The Acts	Acts	50	2	33	And now, exalted at God’s right hand, he has claimed from his Father his promise to bestow the Holy Spirit; and he has poured out that Spirit, as you can see and hear for yourselves.
 The Acts	Acts	50	2	34	David never went up to heaven, and yet David has told us, The Lord said to my Master, Sit on my right hand,
 The Acts	Acts	50	2	35	while I make thy enemies a footstool under thy feet.
 The Acts	Acts	50	2	36	Let it be known, then, beyond doubt, to all the house of Israel, that God has made him Master and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.
 The Acts	Acts	50	2	37	When they heard this, their consciences were stung; and they asked Peter and his fellow apostles, Brethren, what must we do?
 The Acts	Acts	50	2	38	Repent, Peter said to them, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, to have your sins forgiven; then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
 The Acts	Acts	50	2	39	This promise is for you and for your children, and for all those, however far away, whom the Lord our God calls to himself.
 The Acts	Acts	50	2	40	And he used many more words besides, urgently appealing to them; Save yourselves, he said, from this false-minded generation.
 The Acts	Acts	50	2	41	So all those who had taken his words to heart were baptized, and about three thousand souls were won for the Lord that day.
 The Acts	Acts	50	2	42	These occupied themselves continually with the apostles’ teaching, their fellowship in the breaking of bread, and the fixed times of prayer,
 The Acts	Acts	50	2	43	and every soul was struck with awe, so many were the wonders and signs performed by the apostles in Jerusalem.
 The Acts	Acts	50	2	44	All the faithful held together, and shared all they had,
 The Acts	Acts	50	2	45	selling their possessions and their means of livelihood, so as to distribute to all, as each had need.
 The Acts	Acts	50	2	46	They persevered with one accord, day by day, in the temple worship, and, as they broke bread in this house or that, took their share of food with gladness and simplicity of heart,
 The Acts	Acts	50	2	47	praising God, and winning favour with all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship others that were to be saved.
 The Acts	Acts	50	3	1	Peter and John were going up to the temple at the ninth hour, which is an hour of prayer,
 The Acts	Acts	50	3	2	when a man was carried by who had been lame from birth. Every day he was put down at what is called the Beautiful Gate of the temple, so that he could beg alms from the temple visitors.
 The Acts	Acts	50	3	3	And he asked Peter and John, as he saw them on their way into the temple, if he might have alms from them.
 The Acts	Acts	50	3	4	Peter fastened his eyes on him, as John did too, and said, Turn towards us;
 The Acts	Acts	50	3	5	and he looked at them attentively, hoping that something would be given him.
 The Acts	Acts	50	3	6	Then Peter said to him, Silver and gold are not mine to give, I give thee what I can. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.
 The Acts	Acts	50	3	7	So, taking him by his right hand, he lifted him up; and with that, strength came to his feet and ankles;
 The Acts	Acts	50	3	8	he sprang up, and began walking, and went into the temple with them, walking, and leaping, and giving praise to God.
 The Acts	Acts	50	3	9	All the people, as they saw him walking and praising God,
 The Acts	Acts	50	3	10	recognized him for the man who used to sit begging at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, and were full of wonder and bewilderment at what had befallen him.
 The Acts	Acts	50	3	11	And he would not let go of Peter and John, so that all the crowd gathered about them in what is called Solomon’s Porch, beside themselves with wonder.
 The Acts	Acts	50	3	12	Peter, when he saw it, addressed himself to the people; Men of Israel, he said, why does this astonish you? Why do you fasten your eyes on us, as if we had enabled him to walk through some power or virtue of our own?
 The Acts	Acts	50	3	13	It is the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, the God of our forefathers, who has thus brought honour to his Son Jesus. You gave him up, and disowned him in the presence of Pilate, when Pilate’s voice was for setting him free.
 The Acts	Acts	50	3	14	You disowned the holy, the just, and asked for the pardon of a murderer,
 The Acts	Acts	50	3	15	while you killed the author of life. But God has raised him up again from the dead, and we are here to bear witness of it.
 The Acts	Acts	50	3	16	Here is a man you all know by sight, who has put his faith in that name, and that name has brought him strength; it is the faith which comes through Jesus that has restored him to full health in the sight of you all.
 The Acts	Acts	50	3	17	Come then, brethren, I know that you, like your rulers, acted in ignorance;
 The Acts	Acts	50	3	18	but God has fulfilled in this way what was foretold by all the prophets about the sufferings of his Christ.
 The Acts	Acts	50	3	19	Repent, then, and turn back to him, to have your sins effaced,
 The Acts	Acts	50	3	20	against the day when the Lord sees fit to refresh our hearts. Then he will send out Jesus Christ, who has now been made known to you,
 The Acts	Acts	50	3	21	but must have his dwelling-place in heaven until the time when all is restored anew, the time which God has spoken of by his holy prophets from the beginning.
 The Acts	Acts	50	3	22	Thus, Moses said, The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like myself, from among your own brethren; to him, to every word of his, you must listen.
 The Acts	Acts	50	3	23	It is ordained that everyone who will not listen to the voice of that prophet shall be lost to his people.
 The Acts	Acts	50	3	24	And all the prophets who spoke to you, from Samuel onwards, have foretold those days.
 The Acts	Acts	50	3	25	You are the heirs of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, when he said to Abraham, Every race on earth shall receive a blessing through thy posterity.
 The Acts	Acts	50	3	26	It is to you first of all that God has sent his Son, whom he raised up from the dead to bring you a blessing, to turn away every one of you from his sins.
 The Acts	Acts	50	4	1	Before they had finished speaking to the crowd, they were interrupted by the chief priests, the temple superintendent, and the Sadducees.
 The Acts	Acts	50	4	2	These, indignant at their teaching the multitude and proclaiming the resurrection of Jesus from the dead,
 The Acts	Acts	50	4	3	laid hands on them, and put them in prison (for it was already evening) until the next day.
 The Acts	Acts	50	4	4	(Meanwhile, many of those who had listened to their preaching had joined the believers, so that their numbers had now risen to five thousand men.)
 The Acts	Acts	50	4	5	On the next day, there was a gathering of the rulers and elders and scribes in Jerusalem;
 The Acts	Acts	50	4	6	the high priest Annas was there, and Caiphas, and John, and Alexander, and all those who belonged to the high-priestly family.
 The Acts	Acts	50	4	7	And they had Peter and John brought into their presence, and asked them, By what power, in whose name, have such men as you done this?
 The Acts	Acts	50	4	8	Then Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit, and said to them, Rulers of the people, elders of Israel, listen to me.
 The Acts	Acts	50	4	9	If it is over kindness done to a cripple, and the means by which he has been restored, that we are called in question,
 The Acts	Acts	50	4	10	here is news for you and for the whole people of Israel. You crucified Jesus Christ, the Nazarene, and God raised him from the dead; it is through his name that this man stands before you restored.
 The Acts	Acts	50	4	11	He is that stone, rejected by you, the builders, that has become the chief stone at the corner.
 The Acts	Acts	50	4	12	Salvation is not to be found elsewhere; this alone of all the names under heaven has been appointed to men as the one by which we must needs be saved.
 The Acts	Acts	50	4	13	Seeing the boldness of Peter and John, and discovering that they were simple men, without learning, they were astonished, and recognized them now as having been in Jesus’ company.
 The Acts	Acts	50	4	14	They could find no answer to make, with the man who had been healed standing there beside them;
 The Acts	Acts	50	4	15	so they ordered them out of the council-chamber, and conferred together.
 The Acts	Acts	50	4	16	What are we to do with these men? they asked. It is commonly known among all the people of Jerusalem that a notable miracle has been done by their means, and we are powerless to deny it.
 The Acts	Acts	50	4	17	But the news must not spread any further; we must deter them by threats from preaching to anybody in this man’s name again.
 The Acts	Acts	50	4	18	So they called them in, and warned them not to utter a word or give any teaching in the name of Jesus.
 The Acts	Acts	50	4	19	At this, Peter and John answered them, Judge for yourselves whether it would be right for us, in the sight of God, to listen to your voice instead of God’s.
 The Acts	Acts	50	4	20	It is impossible for us to refrain from speaking of what we have seen and heard.
 The Acts	Acts	50	4	21	And they, after threatening them further, let them go; they could find no means of punishing them, because all the people were exclaiming at the astonishing circumstances of what had befallen;
 The Acts	Acts	50	4	22	the man in whom this miracle of healing had taken place was more than forty years old.
 The Acts	Acts	50	4	23	Now that they were set free, they went back to their company, and told them all the chief priests and elders had said.
 The Acts	Acts	50	4	24	And they, when they heard it, uttered prayer to God with one accord; Ruler of all, thou art the maker of heaven and earth and the sea, and all that is in them.
 The Acts	Acts	50	4	25	Thou hast said through thy Holy Spirit, by the lips of thy servant David, our father, What means this turmoil among the nations; why do the peoples cherish vain dreams?
 The Acts	Acts	50	4	26	See how the kings of the earth stand in array, how its rulers make common cause, against the Lord and his Christ.
 The Acts	Acts	50	4	27	True enough, in this city of ours, Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel to aid them, made common cause against thy holy servant Jesus,
 The Acts	Acts	50	4	28	so accomplishing all that thy power and wisdom had decreed.
 The Acts	Acts	50	4	29	Look down upon their threats, Lord, now as of old; enable thy servants to preach thy word confidently,
 The Acts	Acts	50	4	30	by stretching out thy hand to heal; and let signs and miracles be performed in the name of Jesus, thy holy Son.
 The Acts	Acts	50	4	31	When they had finished praying, the place in which they had gathered rocked to and fro, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to preach the word of God with confidence.
 The Acts	Acts	50	4	32	There was one heart and soul in all the company of believers; none of them called any of his possessions his own, everything was shared in common.
 The Acts	Acts	50	4	33	Great was the power with which the apostles testified to the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, and great was the grace that rested on them all.
 The Acts	Acts	50	4	34	None of them was destitute; all those who owned farms or houses used to sell them, and bring the price of what they had sold
 The Acts	Acts	50	4	35	to lay it at the apostles’ feet, so that each could have what share of it he needed.
 The Acts	Acts	50	4	36	There was a Levite called Joseph, a Cypriot by birth, to whom the apostles gave the fresh name of Barnabas, which means, the man of encouragement;
 The Acts	Acts	50	4	37	he had an estate, which he sold, and brought the purchase-money to lay it at the apostles’ feet.
 The Acts	Acts	50	5	1	But there was a man called Ananias who, with his wife Sapphira, sold an estate,
 The Acts	Acts	50	5	2	and kept back some of the money, with his wife’s knowledge, only bringing a part of it to lay at the feet of the apostles.
 The Acts	Acts	50	5	3	Whereupon Peter said, Ananias, how is it that Satan has taken possession of thy heart, bidding thee defraud the Holy Spirit by keeping back some of the money that was paid thee for the land?
 The Acts	Acts	50	5	4	Unsold, the property was thine; after the sale, the money was at thy disposal; what has put it into thy heart so to act? It is God, not man, thou hast defrauded.
 The Acts	Acts	50	5	5	At these words, Ananias fell down and died; and a great fear came upon all those who heard it.
 The Acts	Acts	50	5	6	So the young men rose and took him up, and carried him out to burial.
 The Acts	Acts	50	5	7	It was about three hours later that his wife came in, knowing nothing of what had happened;
 The Acts	Acts	50	5	8	and Peter said to her, Tell me, woman, was it for so much that you sold the estate? Yes, she said, for so much.
 The Acts	Acts	50	5	9	Then Peter said to her, What is this conspiracy between you, to put the Spirit of the Lord to the test? Even now I hear at the door the footsteps of those who have been burying thy husband; they will carry thee out too.
 The Acts	Acts	50	5	10	And all at once she fell at his feet and died; so that when the young men came in they found her a corpse, and carried her out to bury her with her husband.
 The Acts	Acts	50	5	11	Great fear came upon the church and upon all who heard the story.
 The Acts	Acts	50	5	12	And there were many signs and miracles done by the apostles before the people. They used to gather with one accord in Solomon’s porch.
 The Acts	Acts	50	5	13	No one else dared to join them, although the people held them in high honour,
 The Acts	Acts	50	5	14	and the number of those who believed in the Lord, both men and women, still increased;
 The Acts	Acts	50	5	15	they even used to bring sick folk into the streets, and lay them down there on beds and pallets, in the hope that even the shadow of Peter, as he passed by, might fall upon one of them here and there, and so they would be healed of their infirmities.
 The Acts	Acts	50	5	16	From neighbouring cities, too, the common people flocked to Jerusalem, bringing with them the sick and those who were troubled by unclean spirits; and all of them were cured.
 The Acts	Acts	50	5	17	This roused the high priest and those who thought with him, that is, the party of the Sadducees.
 The Acts	Acts	50	5	18	Full of indignation, they arrested the apostles and shut them up in the common gaol.
 The Acts	Acts	50	5	19	But, in the night, an angel of the Lord came and opened the prison doors, and led them out;
 The Acts	Acts	50	5	20	Go, he said, and take your stand in the temple; preach fully to the people the message of true life.
 The Acts	Acts	50	5	21	So, at his word, they went into the temple at dawn, and began preaching. Meanwhile the high priest and his followers met, and summoned the Council, with all the elders of the Jewish people; and they sent to the prison-house to have them brought in.
 The Acts	Acts	50	5	22	When they came to look in the prison, the officers could not find them there; so they went back and reported,
 The Acts	Acts	50	5	23	We found the prison-house locked up with all due care, and the guards at their posts before the door; but when we opened it there was no one to be found within.
 The Acts	Acts	50	5	24	At hearing this, the temple superintendent and the chief priests were at a loss to know what had become of them;
 The Acts	Acts	50	5	25	until an eye-witness told them, The men you put in prison are standing in the temple, teaching the people there.
 The Acts	Acts	50	5	26	So the superintendent and his officers went and fetched them, using no violence, because they were afraid of being stoned by the people;
 The Acts	Acts	50	5	27	and they brought them in and bade them stand before the Council, where the high priest questioned them.
 The Acts	Acts	50	5	28	We warned you in set terms, he said, not to preach in this man’s name, and you have filled all Jerusalem with your preaching; you are determined to lay this man’s death at our door.
 The Acts	Acts	50	5	29	Peter and the other apostles answered, God has more right to be obeyed than men.
 The Acts	Acts	50	5	30	It was the God of our fathers that raised up Jesus, the man you hung on a gibbet to die.
 The Acts	Acts	50	5	31	It is God that has raised him up to his own right hand, as the prince and Saviour who is to bring Israel repentance, and remission of sins.
 The Acts	Acts	50	5	32	Of this, we are witnesses; we and the Holy Spirit God gives to all those who obey him.
 The Acts	Acts	50	5	33	On hearing this they were cut to the quick, and designed to kill them.
 The Acts	Acts	50	5	34	But now one of the Pharisees in the Council, a lawyer named Gamaliel, who was held in esteem by all the people, rose and bade them send the apostles out for a little;
 The Acts	Acts	50	5	35	then he said to them, Men of Israel, think well what you mean to do with these men.
 The Acts	Acts	50	5	36	There was Theodas, who appeared in days gone by and claimed to be someone of importance, and was supported by about four hundred men; he was killed, and all his followers were dispersed, and came to nothing.
 The Acts	Acts	50	5	37	And after him Judas the Galilean appeared in the days of the registration; he persuaded the people to rebel under his leadership, but he too perished, and all his followers were scattered.
 The Acts	Acts	50	5	38	And my advice is still the same; have nothing to do with these men, let them be. If this is man’s design or man’s undertaking, it will be overthrown;
 The Acts	Acts	50	5	39	if it is God’s, you will have no power to overthrow it. You would not willingly be found fighting against God. And they fell in with his opinion;
 The Acts	Acts	50	5	40	so they sent for the apostles and, after scourging them, let them go with a warning that they were not on any account to preach in the name of Jesus.
 The Acts	Acts	50	5	41	And they left the presence of the Council, rejoicing that they had been found worthy to suffer indignity for the sake of Jesus’ name.
 The Acts	Acts	50	5	42	And every day, both in the temple and from house to house, their teaching and their preaching was continually of Jesus Christ.
 The Acts	Acts	50	6	1	At this time, as the number of the disciples increased, complaints were brought against those who spoke Hebrew by those who spoke Greek; their widows, they said, were neglected in the daily administration of relief.
 The Acts	Acts	50	6	2	So the twelve called together the general body of the disciples, and said, It is too much that we should have to forgo preaching God’s word, and bestow our care upon tables.
 The Acts	Acts	50	6	3	Come then, brethren, you must find among you seven men who are well spoken of, full of the Holy Spirit and of wisdom, for us to put in charge of this business,
 The Acts	Acts	50	6	4	while we devote ourselves to prayer, and to the ministry of preaching.
 The Acts	Acts	50	6	5	This advice found favour with all the assembly; and they chose Stephen, a man who was full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas, who was a proselyte from Antioch.
 The Acts	Acts	50	6	6	These they presented to the apostles, who laid their hands on them with prayer.
 The Acts	Acts	50	6	7	By now the word of God was gaining influence, and the number of disciples in Jerusalem was greatly increasing; many of the priests had given their allegiance to the faith.
 The Acts	Acts	50	6	8	And Stephen, full of grace and power, performed great miracles and signs among the people.
 The Acts	Acts	50	6	9	There were those who came forward to debate with him, some of the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it is called), and of the Cyreneans and Alexandrians, and of those who came from Cilicia and Asia;
 The Acts	Acts	50	6	10	but they were no match for Stephen’s wisdom, and for the Spirit which then gave utterance.
 The Acts	Acts	50	6	11	Thereupon they employed agents to say they had heard him speaking blasphemously of Moses, and of God.
 The Acts	Acts	50	6	12	Having thus roused the feelings of the people, and of the elders and scribes, they set upon him and carried him off, and so brought him before the Council.
 The Acts	Acts	50	6	13	There they put forward false witnesses, who declared, This man is never tired of uttering insults against the holy place, and the law.
 The Acts	Acts	50	6	14	We have heard him say that the Nazarene, Jesus, will destroy this place, and will alter the traditions which Moses handed down to us.
 The Acts	Acts	50	6	15	And all those who sat there in the Council fastened their eyes on him, and saw his face looking like the face of an angel.
 The Acts	Acts	50	7	1	Then the high priest asked, Are these charges true?
 The Acts	Acts	50	7	2	And he answered, Brethren and fathers, listen to me. When the God of glory appeared to our father Abraham, it was while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he took up his dwelling in Charan.
 The Acts	Acts	50	7	3	Leave thy country, he said, and thy kindred, and come to the land to which I direct thee.
 The Acts	Acts	50	7	4	So it was that he left the country of the Chaldaeans, and lived in Charan; it was only after his father’s death that he was bidden to remove thence into this land where you now dwell.
 The Acts	Acts	50	7	5	There, God gave him no inheritance, not so much as a foot’s space; he only promised the possession of it to him and to his posterity after him, although at this time he had no child.
 The Acts	Acts	50	7	6	And this is what God told him, that his descendants would live as strangers in a foreign land, where they would be enslaved and ill-used for four hundred years.
 The Acts	Acts	50	7	7	But I will pass judgement, the Lord said, on the nation which enslaves them; and at last they will escape, and settle down to worship me here.
 The Acts	Acts	50	7	8	Then he made a covenant with Abraham, the covenant that ordained circumcision. So it was that he became the father of Isaac, whom he circumcised seven days afterwards, and Isaac of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs.
 The Acts	Acts	50	7	9	The patriarchs, out of jealousy, sold Joseph as a slave, to be taken to Egypt. In Egypt, God was with him;
 The Acts	Acts	50	7	10	he rescued him from all his afflictions, and won him favour and a name for wisdom with Pharao, king of Egypt, who made him ruler over Egypt and over all the royal household.
 The Acts	Acts	50	7	11	And now a famine came upon all Egypt and Chanaan, cruelly afflicting them, till our fathers could procure no food.
 The Acts	Acts	50	7	12	So Jacob, hearing that there was corn in Egypt, sent out our fathers on their first journey;
 The Acts	Acts	50	7	13	and on their second journey Joseph made himself known to them, and Pharao learned about Joseph’s kindred.
 The Acts	Acts	50	7	14	Then Joseph sent for his father Jacob, and for his family, seventy-five souls in all;
 The Acts	Acts	50	7	15	and Jacob went down into Egypt, where he and our fathers died.
 The Acts	Acts	50	7	16	They were removed afterwards to Sichem; and it was in the grave which Abraham had bought for a sum of money from the sons of Hemor, the man of Sichem, that they were buried.
 The Acts	Acts	50	7	17	And when the time drew near for the fulfilment of the promise which God had made to Abraham, the people had increased and multiplied in Egypt.
 The Acts	Acts	50	7	18	And now a new king arose in Egypt, one who knew nothing of Joseph;
 The Acts	Acts	50	7	19	this king dealt treacherously with our race, using them so ill that they exposed their children, instead of rearing them.
 The Acts	Acts	50	7	20	It was at this time that Moses was born, and, finding favour with God, was brought up in his father’s house for three months;
 The Acts	Acts	50	7	21	then, when he had been exposed, he was rescued by Pharao’s daughter, who adopted him as her son.
 The Acts	Acts	50	7	22	Thus Moses was well trained in all the learning of the Egyptians; he was vigorous, too, in speech and in act.
 The Acts	Acts	50	7	23	And now, when he had reached forty years of age, it came into his mind to visit his brethren, the children of Israel.
 The Acts	Acts	50	7	24	When he saw one of them being unjustly used, he came to the rescue and avenged the man who was wronged, by killing the Egyptian.
 The Acts	Acts	50	7	25	He expected them to understand, but they could not understand, that he was the means by which God was to bring them deliverance.
 The Acts	Acts	50	7	26	Next day, he came in sight when two of them were quarrelling, and tried to restore peace between them; Sirs, he said, you are brethren; why do you inflict injury on one another?
 The Acts	Acts	50	7	27	Whereupon the man who was doing his neighbour a wrong thrust him aside, asking, Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us?
 The Acts	Acts	50	7	28	Art thou ready to kill me, as thou didst kill the Egyptian yesterday?
 The Acts	Acts	50	7	29	And at that Moses fled, and lived as an exile in the land of Madian; it was there that two sons were born to him.
 The Acts	Acts	50	7	30	Forty years later, a vision came to him in the wilderness of mount Sinai; a bush had caught fire; and an angel was standing among the flames.
 The Acts	Acts	50	7	31	Moses saw it, and was astonished at the sight; and as he drew near to look, the voice of the Lord came to him,
 The Acts	Acts	50	7	32	I am the God of thy fathers, of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob. And Moses did not dare to look close; fear made him tremble.
 The Acts	Acts	50	7	33	Then the Lord said to him, Take the shoes off thy feet; the place on which thou standest is holy ground.
 The Acts	Acts	50	7	34	The affliction of my people in Egypt is before my eyes continually; I have heard their lamenting, and have come down to deliver them. Come now, I have an errand for thee in Egypt.
 The Acts	Acts	50	7	35	It was this same Moses, the man whom they had disowned, and asked him, Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us? that God sent to be their ruler and their deliverer, helped by the angel whom he saw there at the bush.
 The Acts	Acts	50	7	36	He it was who led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt, and at the Red Sea, and in the wilderness, over a space of forty years.
 The Acts	Acts	50	7	37	It was this Moses who said to the children of Israel, The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like myself, from among your own brethren; to him you must listen.
 The Acts	Acts	50	7	38	He it was who took part with the angel that spoke to him on mount Sinai, and with our fathers, at the meeting in the desert. There he received words of life to hand on to us;
 The Acts	Acts	50	7	39	and yet our fathers would not give him obedience. They disowned him; they turned their thoughts towards Egypt,
 The Acts	Acts	50	7	40	and said to Aaron, Make us gods, to lead our march; as for this Moses, who brought us out of the land of Egypt, there is no saying what has become of him.
 The Acts	Acts	50	7	41	So they fashioned a calf at this time, making offerings to an idol, and keeping holiday over the works of their own hands.
 The Acts	Acts	50	7	42	Whereupon God turned away from them, and gave them over to the worship of all the host of heaven; so it is written in the book of the prophets, Is it true that you brought me victims and sacrifices, you sons of Israel, for forty years in the wilderness?
 The Acts	Acts	50	7	43	You carried about the tent of Moloch, and the star of your god Rempham, and worshipped them, images of your own fashioning. And now I will send you into exile on the further side of Babylon.
 The Acts	Acts	50	7	44	In the wilderness, our fathers had the tabernacle with them, to remind them of God’s covenant; he who spoke to Moses bade him fashion it after the model which had been shewn him.
 The Acts	Acts	50	7	45	And when God dispossessed the Gentiles, to make room for our fathers’ coming, our fathers under Josue brought this tabernacle, as an heirloom, into the land which they conquered. So it was until the time of David.
 The Acts	Acts	50	7	46	David, who had won favour in God’s sight, longed to devise a resting-place for the God of Israel,
 The Acts	Acts	50	7	47	but in the end it was Solomon that built the house for him.
 The Acts	Acts	50	7	48	Yet we are not to think that the most High dwells in temples made by men’s hands; the prophet says:
 The Acts	Acts	50	7	49	Heaven is my throne, and earth is the footstool under my feet. What home will you build for me, says the Lord, what place can be my resting-place?
 The Acts	Acts	50	7	50	Was it not my hands that made all this?
 The Acts	Acts	50	7	51	Stiff-necked race, your heart and ears still uncircumcised, you are for ever resisting the Holy Spirit, just as your fathers did.
 The Acts	Acts	50	7	52	There was not one of the prophets they did not persecute; it was death to foretell the coming of that just man, whom you in these times have betrayed and murdered;
 The Acts	Acts	50	7	53	you, who received the law dictated by angels, and did not keep it.
 The Acts	Acts	50	7	54	At hearing this, they were cut to the heart, and began to gnash their teeth at him.
 The Acts	Acts	50	7	55	But he, full of the Holy Spirit, fastened his eyes on heaven, and saw there the glory of God, and Jesus standing at God’s right hand; I see heaven opening, he said, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.
 The Acts	Acts	50	7	56	Then they cried aloud, and put their fingers into their ears; with one accord they fell upon him,
 The Acts	Acts	50	7	57	thrust him out of the city, and stoned him. And the witnesses put down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul.
 The Acts	Acts	50	7	58	Thus they stoned Stephen; he, meanwhile, was praying; Lord Jesus, he said, receive my spirit;
 The Acts	Acts	50	7	59	and then, kneeling down, he cried aloud, Lord, do not count this sin against them. And with that, he fell asleep in the Lord. Saul was one of those who gave their voices for his murder.
 The Acts	Acts	50	8	1	The church in Jerusalem was much persecuted at this time, and all except the apostles were scattered about over the countryside of Judaea and Samaria.
 The Acts	Acts	50	8	2	Stephen was buried by devout men, who mourned greatly over him.
 The Acts	Acts	50	8	3	Saul, meanwhile, was making havoc of the church; he made his way into house after house, carrying men and women off and committing them to prison.
 The Acts	Acts	50	8	4	Those who had been driven away spread the gospel as they went from place to place;
 The Acts	Acts	50	8	5	and Philip, who had gone down to one of the cities of Samaria, preached Christ there.
 The Acts	Acts	50	8	6	The multitude listened with general accord to what Philip said, as their own eyes and ears witnessed the miracles he did.
 The Acts	Acts	50	8	7	There were many possessed by unclean spirits, and these came out, crying aloud;
 The Acts	Acts	50	8	8	many, too, were healed of the palsy, and of lameness,
 The Acts	Acts	50	8	9	and there was great rejoicing in that city. And there was a man called Simon, who had been in the city before Philip came there, misleading the people of Samaria with sorcery, and pretending to have great powers,
 The Acts	Acts	50	8	10	so that high and low hung upon his words; This, they said, is an angel called the great angel of God.
 The Acts	Acts	50	8	11	Long misled by his sorceries, they continued to pay attention to him,
 The Acts	Acts	50	8	12	until Philip came and preached to them about God’s kingdom. Then they found faith and were baptized, men and women alike, in the name of Jesus Christ;
 The Acts	Acts	50	8	13	and Simon, who had found faith and been baptized with the rest, kept close to Philip’s side; he was astonished by the great miracles and signs he saw happening.
 The Acts	Acts	50	8	14	And now the apostles at Jerusalem, hearing that Samaria had received the word of God, sent Peter and John to visit them.
 The Acts	Acts	50	8	15	So these two came down and prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Spirit,
 The Acts	Acts	50	8	16	who had not, as yet, come down on any of them; they had received nothing so far except baptism in the name of the Lord Jesus.
 The Acts	Acts	50	8	17	Then the apostles began to lay their hands on them, so that the Holy Spirit was given them,
 The Acts	Acts	50	8	18	and Simon, seeing that the Holy Spirit was granted through the imposition of the apostles’ hands, offered them money;
 The Acts	Acts	50	8	19	Let me too, he said, have such powers that when I lay my hands on anyone he will receive the Holy Spirit. Whereupon Peter said to him,
 The Acts	Acts	50	8	20	Take thy wealth with thee to perdition, thou who hast told thyself that God’s free gift can be bought with money.
 The Acts	Acts	50	8	21	There is no share, no part for thee in these doings; thy heart is not true in the sight of God.
 The Acts	Acts	50	8	22	Repent of this baseness of thine, and pray to God, in the hope of finding pardon for the thought which thy heart has conceived.
 The Acts	Acts	50	8	23	I see plainly that a bitter poison has taken hold of thee; thou art the bondsman of iniquity.
 The Acts	Acts	50	8	24	And Simon answered, Pray for me to the Lord, that none of this harm you have spoken of may fall upon me.
 The Acts	Acts	50	8	25	So, when they had borne their full witness and preached the word of the Lord, they began their journey back to Jerusalem, carrying the gospel into many Samaritan villages.
 The Acts	Acts	50	8	26	Meanwhile, Philip was commanded by an angel of the Lord, Rise up, and go south to meet the road which leads from Jerusalem to Gaza, out in the desert.
 The Acts	Acts	50	8	27	So he rose up and went; and found there an Ethiopian. This man was a eunuch, a courtier of Candace, queen of Ethiopia, and had charge of all her wealth; he had been up to worship at Jerusalem,
 The Acts	Acts	50	8	28	and was now on his way home, driving along in his chariot and reading the prophet Isaias.
 The Acts	Acts	50	8	29	The Spirit said to Philip, Go up to that chariot and keep close by it.
 The Acts	Acts	50	8	30	And Philip, as he ran up, heard him reading the prophet Isaias, and asked, Canst thou understand what thou art reading?
 The Acts	Acts	50	8	31	How could I, said he, without someone to guide me? And he entreated Philip to come up and sit beside him.
 The Acts	Acts	50	8	32	The passage of scripture which he was reading was this; He was led away like a sheep to be slaughtered; like a lamb that is dumb before its shearer, he would not open his mouth.
 The Acts	Acts	50	8	33	He was brought low, and all his rights taken away; who shall tell the story of his age? His life is being cut off from the earth.
 The Acts	Acts	50	8	34	And the eunuch turned to Philip, and said, Tell me, about whom does the prophet say this? Himself, or some other man?
 The Acts	Acts	50	8	35	Then Philip began speaking, and preached to him about Jesus, taking this passage as his theme.
 The Acts	Acts	50	8	36	As they went on their way, they came to a piece of water, and the eunuch said, See, there is water here; why may I not be baptized?
 The Acts	Acts	50	8	37	Philip said, If thou dost believe with all thy heart, thou mayest. And he answered, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
 The Acts	Acts	50	8	38	So he had the chariot stopped, and both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the water, and Philip baptized him there.
 The Acts	Acts	50	8	39	But when they came up from the water, Philip was carried off by the spirit of the Lord, and the eunuch did not see him any longer; he went on his way rejoicing.
 The Acts	Acts	50	8	40	As for Philip, he was next heard of at Azotus; and from there he went preaching all round the villages, until he reached Caesarea.
 The Acts	Acts	50	9	1	Saul, with every breath he drew, still threatened the disciples of the Lord with massacre; and now he went to the high priest
 The Acts	Acts	50	9	2	and asked him for letters of commendation to the synagogues at Damascus, so that he could arrest all those he found there, men and women, who belonged to the way, and bring them back to Jerusalem.
 The Acts	Acts	50	9	3	Then, on his journey, when he was nearly at Damascus, a light from heaven shone suddenly about him.
 The Acts	Acts	50	9	4	He fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why dost thou persecute me?
 The Acts	Acts	50	9	5	Who art thou, Lord? he asked. And he said, I am Jesus, whom Saul persecutes. This is a thankless task of thine, kicking against the goad.
 The Acts	Acts	50	9	6	And he, dazed and trembling, asked, Lord, what wilt thou have me do?
 The Acts	Acts	50	9	7	Then the Lord said to him, Rise up, and go into the city, and there thou shalt be told what thy work is. His companions stood in bewilderment, hearing the voice speak, but not seeing anyone.
 The Acts	Acts	50	9	8	When he rose from the ground he could see nothing, although his eyes were open, and they had to lead him by the hand, to take him into Damascus.
 The Acts	Acts	50	9	9	Here for three days he remained without sight, and neither ate nor drank.
 The Acts	Acts	50	9	10	There was, in Damascus, a disciple named Ananias; to him the Lord called in a vision, Ananias. Here I am, Lord, he answered.
 The Acts	Acts	50	9	11	And the Lord said to him, Rise up and go to the road called Straight Street; and enquire at the house of Judas for a man of Tarsus, named Saul. Even now he is at his prayers:
 The Acts	Acts	50	9	12	and he has had a vision of a man called Ananias coming in and laying hands on him, to cure him of blindness.
 The Acts	Acts	50	9	13	At this, Ananias answered, Lord, many have told me about this man, and all the hurt he has done to thy saints at Jerusalem;
 The Acts	Acts	50	9	14	and he has come here with authority from the chief priests to imprison all those who call upon thy name.
 The Acts	Acts	50	9	15	But the Lord said to him, Go on thy errand; this is a man I have chosen to be the instrument for bringing my name before the heathen and their rulers, and before the people of Israel too.
 The Acts	Acts	50	9	16	I have yet to tell him, how much suffering he will have to undergo for my name’s sake.
 The Acts	Acts	50	9	17	So Ananias set out; and as soon as he came into the house he laid his hands upon him, and said, Brother Saul, I have been sent by that Lord Jesus who appeared to thee on thy way as thou camest here; thou art to recover thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Spirit.
 The Acts	Acts	50	9	18	And with that, a kind of film fell away from his eyes, and his sight was recovered. He rose up, and was baptized;
 The Acts	Acts	50	9	19	and now, when he had taken food, his strength returned to him. For some days he lived with the disciples at Damascus,
 The Acts	Acts	50	9	20	and from the first, in the synagogues, he preached that Jesus was the Son of God.
 The Acts	Acts	50	9	21	All those who heard it were amazed; Why, they said, is not this the man who brought ruin on all those who invoked this name, when he was in Jerusalem; the man who came here for the very purpose of arresting such people and presenting them to the chief priests?
 The Acts	Acts	50	9	22	But Saul was inspired with ever greater strength, and silenced the Jews who lived at Damascus by shewing them clearly that this was the Christ.
 The Acts	Acts	50	9	23	So many days passed, and then the Jews plotted against his life.
 The Acts	Acts	50	9	24	Saul was aware of the plot; and, since they kept watch over the gates, day and night, to make an end of him,
 The Acts	Acts	50	9	25	the disciples contrived to let him down by night along the face of the wall, lowering him to the ground in a hamper.
 The Acts	Acts	50	9	26	So he reached Jerusalem, where he tried to attach himself to the disciples; but they could not believe he was a true disciple, and all avoided his company.
 The Acts	Acts	50	9	27	Whereupon Barnabas took him by the hand and brought him in to the apostles, telling them how, on his journey, he had seen the Lord and had speech with him, and how at Damascus he had spoken boldly in the name of Jesus.
 The Acts	Acts	50	9	28	So he came and went in their company at Jerusalem, and spoke boldly in the name of the Lord.
 The Acts	Acts	50	9	29	He preached, besides, to the Jews who talked Greek, and disputed with them, till they set about trying to take his life.
 The Acts	Acts	50	9	30	As soon as they heard of this, the brethren took him down to Caesarea, and put him on his way to Tarsus.
 The Acts	Acts	50	9	31	Meanwhile, all through Judaea and Galilee and Samaria, the church enjoyed peace and became firmly established, guided by the fear of God and filled with encouragement by the Holy Spirit.
 The Acts	Acts	50	9	32	And now Peter, as he visited the saints everywhere, came down to see those who dwelt at Lydda.
 The Acts	Acts	50	9	33	There he found a man called Aeneas, who had not left his bed for eight years, being palsied.
 The Acts	Acts	50	9	34	And Peter said to him, Aeneas, Jesus Christ sends thee healing; rise up, and make thy bed; whereupon he rose up at once.
 The Acts	Acts	50	9	35	All those who dwelt at Lydda and Saron came to see him, and their hearts turned to the Lord.
 The Acts	Acts	50	9	36	And there was a disciple at Joppa called Tabitha, which means the same as Dorcas, a gazelle. She abounded in acts of charity and in almsdeeds;
 The Acts	Acts	50	9	37	and it so happened that at this time she fell sick, and died, and they washed the body and laid it in an upper room.
 The Acts	Acts	50	9	38	Since Lydda was close to Joppa, the disciples, hearing that Peter was there, sent two men to find him; Come to us, they urged him, without delay.
 The Acts	Acts	50	9	39	So Peter rose and went with them; and when he came there they took him into the upper room, where all the widows stood round him in tears, shewing him the coats and cloaks which Dorcas used to make while she was among them.
 The Acts	Acts	50	9	40	Peter sent them all out, and went on his knees to pray; then, turning to the body, he said, Tabitha, rise up; and she opened her eyes and looked at Peter, and sat up on the bed.
 The Acts	Acts	50	9	41	So he gave her his hand, and raised her to her feet; and then, calling in the saints and the widows, he shewed her to them alive.
 The Acts	Acts	50	9	42	This became known all over Joppa, and many learned to believe in the Lord.
 The Acts	Acts	50	9	43	He stayed in Joppa a number of days after this, lodging with a tanner whose name was Simon.
 The Acts	Acts	50	10	1	There was, at Caesarea, a centurion named Cornelius, belonging to what is called the Italian cohort,
 The Acts	Acts	50	10	2	a pious man who worshipped the true God, like all his household, gave alms freely to the people, and prayed to God continually.
 The Acts	Acts	50	10	3	He, about the ninth hour of the day, had a vision, in which he clearly saw an angel of God come in and address him by his name.
 The Acts	Acts	50	10	4	What is it, Lord? he asked, gazing at him in terror. And he answered, Thy prayers and alms-deeds are recorded on high in God’s sight.
 The Acts	Acts	50	10	5	And now he would have thee send men to Joppa, to bring here one Simon, who is surnamed Peter;
 The Acts	Acts	50	10	6	he lodges with a tanner, called Simon, whose house is close to the sea; thou wilt learn from him what thou hast to do.
 The Acts	Acts	50	10	7	So the angel visitor left him, and thereupon he summoned two of his servants, and one of the soldiers who were in attendance on him, a man of piety;
 The Acts	Acts	50	10	8	he told them all that had passed, and sent them on their way to Joppa.
 The Acts	Acts	50	10	9	Next day, while these were on their journey and were drawing near the city, Peter went up to the house-top about noon, to pray there.
 The Acts	Acts	50	10	10	He was hungry, and waiting for a meal; and while they were preparing it, he fell into a trance.
 The Acts	Acts	50	10	11	He saw heaven opening, and a bundle, like a great sheet, let down by its four corners on to the earth;
 The Acts	Acts	50	10	12	in it were all kinds of four-footed beasts, and things that creep on the earth, and all the birds of heaven.
 The Acts	Acts	50	10	13	And a voice came to him, Rise up, Peter, lay about thee and eat.
 The Acts	Acts	50	10	14	It cannot be, Lord, answered Peter; never in my life have I eaten anything profane, anything unclean.
 The Acts	Acts	50	10	15	Then the voice came to him a second time, It is not for thee to call anything profane, which God has made clean.
 The Acts	Acts	50	10	16	Three times this happened, and then the bundle was drawn up again into heaven.
 The Acts	Acts	50	10	17	Peter was still puzzling in his mind over the meaning of his vision, when Cornelius’ messengers, who had now found their way to Simon’s house, were seen standing at the gate;
 The Acts	Acts	50	10	18	where they called out and asked if Simon, who was also called Peter, lodged there.
 The Acts	Acts	50	10	19	To Peter, as he was turning over the vision in his mind, the Spirit said, Here are three men asking for thee;
 The Acts	Acts	50	10	20	rise and go down, and accompany them without misgiving; it is I who have sent them.
 The Acts	Acts	50	10	21	So Peter went down to the men; Here I am, he said, the man you are looking for; what is your errand?
 The Acts	Acts	50	10	22	The centurion Cornelius, they said, a man who worships the true God and keeps his law, as all the Jewish people will testify, has received a revelation from one of the holy angels; he was to have thee brought to his house, and listen to what thou wouldst say.
 The Acts	Acts	50	10	23	Thereupon Peter bade them come in, and made them welcome; and next day he set out with them, accompanied by some of the brethren from Joppa.
 The Acts	Acts	50	10	24	The day after that, they reached Caesarea, where Cornelius was awaiting them; he had gathered his kinsmen and his closest friends about him.
 The Acts	Acts	50	10	25	And as soon as Peter had entered, he was met by Cornelius, who fell at his feet and did reverence to him;
 The Acts	Acts	50	10	26	but Peter raised him; Stand up, he said, I am a man like thyself.
 The Acts	Acts	50	10	27	So he went in, still conversing with him, and found a great company assembled.
 The Acts	Acts	50	10	28	You know well enough, he told them, that a Jew is contaminated if he consorts with one of another race, or visits him; but God has been shewing me that we ought not to speak of any man as profane or unclean;
 The Acts	Acts	50	10	29	and so, when I was sent for, I came without demur. Tell me then, why you have sent for me.
 The Acts	Acts	50	10	30	And Cornelius said, Three days ago, at this very time, I was making my afternoon prayer in my house, when suddenly I saw a man standing before me, in white clothes,
 The Acts	Acts	50	10	31	who said to me, Cornelius, thy prayer has been heard, thy almsdeeds have won remembrance in God’s sight.
 The Acts	Acts	50	10	32	Thou art to send to Joppa, and summon thence that Simon who is also called Peter; he is lodging with a tanner called Simon, close to the sea.
 The Acts	Acts	50	10	33	I lost no time, therefore, in sending for thee, and thou hast done me a favour in coming. Now thou seest us assembled in thy presence, ready to listen to whatever charge the Lord has given thee.
 The Acts	Acts	50	10	34	Thereupon Peter began speaking; I see clearly enough, he said, that God makes no distinction between man and man;
 The Acts	Acts	50	10	35	he welcomes anybody, whatever his race, who fears him and does what piety demands.
 The Acts	Acts	50	10	36	God has sent his word to the sons of Israel, giving them news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.
 The Acts	Acts	50	10	37	You have heard the story, a story which ran through the whole of Judaea, though it began in Galilee, after the baptism which John proclaimed;
 The Acts	Acts	50	10	38	about Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power, so that he went about doing good, and curing all those who were under the devil’s tyranny, with God at his side.
 The Acts	Acts	50	10	39	We are witnesses of all he did in the country of the Jews, and in Jerusalem. And they killed him, hanging him on a gibbet;
 The Acts	Acts	50	10	40	but on the third day God raised him up again, and granted the clear sight of him,
 The Acts	Acts	50	10	41	not to the people at large, but to us, the witnesses whom God had appointed beforehand; we ate and drank in his company after his rising from the dead.
 The Acts	Acts	50	10	42	And he gave us a commission to preach to the people, and to bear witness that he, and none other, has been chosen by God to judge the living and the dead.
 The Acts	Acts	50	10	43	All the prophets bear him this testimony, that everyone who has faith in him is to find remission of sins through his name.
 The Acts	Acts	50	10	44	Before Peter had finished speaking to them thus, the Holy Spirit fell on all those who were listening to his message.
 The Acts	Acts	50	10	45	The faithful who had come over with Peter, holding to the tradition of circumcision as they did, were astonished to find that the free gift of the Holy Spirit could be lavished upon the Gentiles,
 The Acts	Acts	50	10	46	whom they heard speaking with tongues, and proclaiming the greatness of God.
 The Acts	Acts	50	10	47	Then Peter said openly, Who will grudge us the water for baptizing these men, that have received the Holy Spirit just as we did?
 The Acts	Acts	50	10	48	And he gave orders that they should be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And after this, they asked him to stay on some days with them.
 The Acts	Acts	50	11	1	And now the apostles and brethren in Judaea were told how the word of God had been given to the Gentiles.
 The Acts	Acts	50	11	2	And when Peter came up to Jerusalem, those who held to the tradition of circumcision found fault with him;
 The Acts	Acts	50	11	3	Why didst thou pay a visit, they asked, to men who are uncircumcised, and eat with them?
 The Acts	Acts	50	11	4	Whereupon Peter told them the story point by point from the beginning;
 The Acts	Acts	50	11	5	I was in the city of Joppa, he said, at my prayers, when I fell into a trance and saw a vision. A bundle, like a great sheet, came down from heaven, lowered by the four corners, till it reached me.
 The Acts	Acts	50	11	6	I looked closely to find out what it was, and there I saw four-footed creatures of earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and the birds that fly in heaven.
 The Acts	Acts	50	11	7	And I heard a voice saying to me, Rise up, Peter, lay about thee and eat.
 The Acts	Acts	50	11	8	So I answered, It cannot be, Lord; nothing profane or unclean has ever crossed my lips.
 The Acts	Acts	50	11	9	And a second utterance came from heaven in answer, It is not for thee to call anything profane, which God has made clean.
 The Acts	Acts	50	11	10	Three times this happened, and then all was drawn up again into heaven.
 The Acts	Acts	50	11	11	And at that very moment three men appeared at the door of the house where I was, with a message to me from Caesarea.
 The Acts	Acts	50	11	12	The Spirit bade me accompany them without misgiving; so these six brethren came with me, and together we entered the man’s home.
 The Acts	Acts	50	11	13	There he told us how he had had a vision of an angel in his house; this angel stood before him, and said, Send to Joppa, and bid Simon, who is also called Peter, come to thee.
 The Acts	Acts	50	11	14	He will have such a message for thee as will bring salvation to thee and to all thy household.
 The Acts	Acts	50	11	15	And then, when I had set about speaking to them, the Holy Spirit fell upon them, just as it was with us at the beginning.
 The Acts	Acts	50	11	16	Then I was reminded of what the Lord said to us, John’s baptism was with water, but there is a baptism with the Holy Spirit which you are to receive.
 The Acts	Acts	50	11	17	And now, if God has made them the same free gift, which he made to us when faith in the Lord Jesus had gone before it, who was I, what power had I, to stay God’s hand?
 The Acts	Acts	50	11	18	At these words, they were content, and gave glory to God; Why then, they said, it seems God has granted life-giving repentance of heart to the Gentiles too.
 The Acts	Acts	50	11	19	Meanwhile, those who had been dispersed owing to the persecution that was raised over Stephen had travelled as far away as Phoenice and Cyprus and Antioch, without preaching the word to anyone except the Jews.
 The Acts	Acts	50	11	20	But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who, when they found their way to Antioch, spoke to the Greeks as well, preaching the Lord Jesus to them.
 The Acts	Acts	50	11	21	And the Lord’s power went with them, so that a great number learned to believe, and turned to the Lord.
 The Acts	Acts	50	11	22	The story of this came to the ears of the Church at Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas on a mission to Antioch.
 The Acts	Acts	50	11	23	When he came there and saw what grace God was bestowing on them, he was full of joy, and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with steady purpose of heart,
 The Acts	Acts	50	11	24	like the good man he was, full of the Holy Spirit, full of faith; a great multitude was thus won over to the Lord.
 The Acts	Acts	50	11	25	He went on to Tarsus, to look for Saul, and when he found him, brought him back to Antioch.
 The Acts	Acts	50	11	26	For a whole year after this they were made welcome in the Church there, teaching a great multitude. And Antioch was the first place in which the disciples were called Christians.
 The Acts	Acts	50	11	27	At this time, some prophets from Jerusalem visited Antioch;
 The Acts	Acts	50	11	28	and one of these, Agabus by name, stood up and prophesied through the Spirit that a great famine was to come upon the whole world, as it did in the reign of the emperor Claudius.
 The Acts	Acts	50	11	29	Thereupon it was decided that each of the disciples should contribute according to his means, to send relief to the brethren who lived in Judaea.
 The Acts	Acts	50	11	30	And so they did; and in sending it to the presbyters they entrusted it to the hands of Barnabas and Saul.
 The Acts	Acts	50	12	1	It was at this same time that Herod exerted his authority to persecute some of those who belonged to the Church.
 The Acts	Acts	50	12	2	James, the brother of John, he beheaded,
 The Acts	Acts	50	12	3	and then, finding that this was acceptable to the Jews, he went further, and laid hands on Peter too. It was the time of unleavened bread;
 The Acts	Acts	50	12	4	and he imprisoned Peter, after arresting him, with a guard of four soldiers, relieved four times a day; when paschal-time was over, he would bring him out in the presence of the people.
 The Acts	Acts	50	12	5	Peter, then, was well guarded in prison, but there was a continual stream of prayer going up to God from the church on his behalf.
 The Acts	Acts	50	12	6	And now the day was coming when Herod was to bring him out; that night, Peter was sleeping with two chains on him, between two soldiers, and there were warders at the door guarding his prison.
 The Acts	Acts	50	12	7	Suddenly an angel of the Lord stood over him, and a light shone in his cell. He smote Peter on the side, to rouse him; Quick, he said, rise up; and thereupon the chains fell from his hands.
 The Acts	Acts	50	12	8	Then the angel said to him, Gird thyself up, and put on thy shoes; and, when he had done this, Throw thy cloak over thee, and follow me.
 The Acts	Acts	50	12	9	So he followed him out, unaware that what the angel had done for him was true; he thought he was seeing a vision.
 The Acts	Acts	50	12	10	Thus they passed one party of guards, then a second, and reached the iron gate which leads out into the city; this opened for them of its own accord. They came out, and as soon as they had passed on up one street, the angel left him.
 The Acts	Acts	50	12	11	At this, Peter came to himself. Now I can tell for certain, he said, that the Lord has sent his angel, to deliver me out of Herod’s hands, and from all that the people of the Jews hoped to see.
 The Acts	Acts	50	12	12	After some thought, he made for the house belonging to Mary the mother of John, also called Mark. Here many had gathered for prayer;
 The Acts	Acts	50	12	13	a girl named Rhoda came to answer, when he knocked at the porch door,
 The Acts	Acts	50	12	14	and she, recognizing Peter’s voice, was too overjoyed to open the gate for him; she ran in, and told them that Peter was, standing at the gate.
 The Acts	Acts	50	12	15	Thou art mad, they told her, but she still insisted that it was so; and then they said, It must be his guardian angel.
 The Acts	Acts	50	12	16	Meanwhile, Peter went on knocking; so they opened, and found him there, and stood astonished.
 The Acts	Acts	50	12	17	Calling for silence by a gesture of his hand, he told them how the Lord had delivered him from prison; Give news of this, he said, to James and the rest of the brethren. And so he left them, and went elsewhere.
 The Acts	Acts	50	12	18	When day broke, there was a great to-do among the soldiers, to know what had become of Peter.
 The Acts	Acts	50	12	19	Herod, after searching for him without avail, questioned the warders and had them punished. Then he went down from Judaea to Caesarea, and spent his time there.
 The Acts	Acts	50	12	20	He was much out of humour with the people of Tyre and Sidon; and these, since their country depended on the king’s country for its supplies, waited upon him by common consent, and tried (by winning over Blastus, the royal chamberlain) to make their peace.
 The Acts	Acts	50	12	21	So, on an appointed day, Herod put on his royal finery and sat down on a raised dais to harangue them;
 The Acts	Acts	50	12	22	whereupon the people cried out in applause, It is no man, it is a god that speaks.
 The Acts	Acts	50	12	23	And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, for not referring the glory to God; and he was eaten up by worms, and so died.
 The Acts	Acts	50	12	24	And still the word of God grew strong and spread wide.
 The Acts	Acts	50	12	25	Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem, their mission of relief fulfilled, and took John, also called Mark, in their company.
 The Acts	Acts	50	13	1	The Church at Antioch had as its prophets and teachers Barnabas, and Simon who was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manahen, foster-brother of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.
 The Acts	Acts	50	13	2	These were offering worship to God and fasting, when the Holy Spirit said, I must have Barnabas and Saul dedicated to the work to which I have called them.
 The Acts	Acts	50	13	3	Thereupon they fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, and so took leave of them.
 The Acts	Acts	50	13	4	And they, sent on their travels by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia, and from there took ship for Cyprus.
 The Acts	Acts	50	13	5	So they reached Salamis, where they preached God’s word in the Jewish synagogues; they had John, too, to help them.
 The Acts	Acts	50	13	6	And when they had been through the whole island up to Paphos, they encountered there a magician who claimed to be a prophet, a Jew named Bar-Jesus.
 The Acts	Acts	50	13	7	He was in the company of the governor, Sergius Paulus, a man of good sense, who had sent for Barnabas and Saul and asked if he might hear the word of God.
 The Acts	Acts	50	13	8	And Elymas, the magician (that is what his name means when translated), opposed them, trying to turn the governor away from the faith.
 The Acts	Acts	50	13	9	Then Saul, whose other name is Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, fastened his eyes on him,
 The Acts	Acts	50	13	10	and said; Child of the devil, versed in all trickery and cunning, enemy of all honest dealing, wilt thou never have done with trying to twist the straight paths of the Lord?
 The Acts	Acts	50	13	11	See, then, if the hand of the Lord does not fall upon thee now. Thou shalt become blind, and see the sun no more for a while. At this, a dark mist fell upon him, and he had to go about looking for someone to lead him by the hand.
 The Acts	Acts	50	13	12	And now the governor, seeing what had happened, and overcome with awe at the Lord’s teaching, learned to believe.
 The Acts	Acts	50	13	13	After this Paul and his companions took ship from Paphos and made for Perge in Pamphylia; here John left them, and went back to Jerusalem.
 The Acts	Acts	50	13	14	They passed on from Perge, and reached Pisidian Antioch, where they went and took their seats in the synagogue on the sabbath day.
 The Acts	Acts	50	13	15	When the reading from the law and the prophets was finished, the rulers of the synagogue sent a message to them to say, Brethren, if you have in your hearts any word of encouragement for the people, let us hear it.
 The Acts	Acts	50	13	16	Then Paul stood up, and made a gesture with his hand to claim audience. Listen, he said, men of Israel, and all you who worship the true God.
 The Acts	Acts	50	13	17	The God of this people of Israel chose out our fathers, and made his people great at the time when they were strangers in the land of Egypt, stretching out his arm to deliver them from it.
 The Acts	Acts	50	13	18	For forty years he bore with their hard hearts in the wilderness;
 The Acts	Acts	50	13	19	then he overthrew seven nations in the land of Chanaan, whose lands he gave them for an inheritance.
 The Acts	Acts	50	13	20	By now, some four hundred and fifty years had passed; and after this he appointed judges over them, up to the time of the prophet Samuel.
 The Acts	Acts	50	13	21	Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul, son of Cis, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, who reigned forty years;
 The Acts	Acts	50	13	22	but afterwards dispossessed him, and raised up David to be their king. To him, he gave this testimony, I have found in David, son of Jesse, a man after my own heart, who will accomplish all that is my will.
 The Acts	Acts	50	13	23	It is out of this man’s posterity, according to the promise made to him, that God has brought us a Saviour, Jesus.
 The Acts	Acts	50	13	24	John had prepared the way for his coming, by proclaiming a baptism in which all the people of Israel was to repent;
 The Acts	Acts	50	13	25	but John himself, when he was coming to the end of his life’s course, told them, I am not what you suspect me to be; look rather for one who comes after me; I am not worthy to untie the shoes on his feet.
 The Acts	Acts	50	13	26	Brethren, you who are sons of Abraham, and you others who fear God, this message of salvation is sent to you.
 The Acts	Acts	50	13	27	The people at Jerusalem, like their rulers, did not recognize Jesus for what he was; unwittingly they fulfilled, by condemning him, those utterances of the prophets which they had heard read, sabbath after sabbath.
 The Acts	Acts	50	13	28	And although they could find no capital charge against him, they petitioned Pilate for his death.
 The Acts	Acts	50	13	29	So, when they had fulfilled all that had been written about him, they took him down from the cross and laid him in a tomb.
 The Acts	Acts	50	13	30	And, on the third day, God raised him from the dead.
 The Acts	Acts	50	13	31	He was seen, over a space of many days, by the men who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem; it is they who now bear witness of him before the people.
 The Acts	Acts	50	13	32	And this is the message we preach to you; there was a promise made to our forefathers,
 The Acts	Acts	50	13	33	and this promise God has redeemed for our posterity, by raising Jesus to life. Thus, it is written in the second Psalm, Thou art my son; I have begotten thee this day.
 The Acts	Acts	50	13	34	And this is how he describes raising him from the dead, never to return to corruption again, I will grant you the privileges I have promised to David;
 The Acts	Acts	50	13	35	to which purpose he says in another psalm, Thou wilt not allow thy faithful servant to see corruption.
 The Acts	Acts	50	13	36	David saw corruption; he served God’s purpose in his own generation, and then fell asleep, and rested with his fathers;
 The Acts	Acts	50	13	37	but he whom God raised to life saw no corruption at all.
 The Acts	Acts	50	13	38	Here is news for you, then, brethren; remission of your sins is offered to you through him. There are claims from which you could not be acquitted by the law of Moses,
 The Acts	Acts	50	13	39	and whoever believes in Jesus is quit of all these.
 The Acts	Acts	50	13	40	Beware, then, of incurring the prophets’ rebuke;
 The Acts	Acts	50	13	41	Look upon this, you scornful souls, and lose yourselves in astonishment. Such wonders I am doing in your days, that if a man told you the story you would not believe him.
 The Acts	Acts	50	13	42	As they left, they were implored to preach the same message there on the next sabbath.
 The Acts	Acts	50	13	43	And when the synagogue broke up, many Jews and many who worshipped the true God as proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas; and they preached to them, urging them to be true to the grace of God.
 The Acts	Acts	50	13	44	On the following sabbath almost all the city had assembled to hear God’s word.
 The Acts	Acts	50	13	45	The Jews, when they saw these crowds, were full of indignation, and began to argue blasphemously against all that Paul said.
 The Acts	Acts	50	13	46	Whereupon Paul and Barnabas told them roundly, We were bound to preach God’s word to you first; but now, since you reject it, since you declare yourselves unfit for eternal life, be it so; we will turn our thoughts to the Gentiles.
 The Acts	Acts	50	13	47	This, after all, is the charge the Lord has given us, I have appointed thee to be a light for the Gentiles, that thou mayst bring salvation to the ends of the earth.
 The Acts	Acts	50	13	48	The Gentiles were rejoiced to hear this, and praised the word of the Lord; and they found faith, all those of them who were destined to eternal life.
 The Acts	Acts	50	13	49	And the word of the Lord spread far and wide all through the country.
 The Acts	Acts	50	13	50	But the Jews used influence with such women of fashion as worshipped the true God, and with the leading men in the city, setting on foot a persecution against Paul and Barnabas and driving them out of their territory;
 The Acts	Acts	50	13	51	so they shook off the dust from their feet as they left them, and went on to Iconium.
 The Acts	Acts	50	13	52	The disciples, meanwhile, were filled with rejoicing, and with the Holy Spirit.
 The Acts	Acts	50	14	1	While they were at Iconium, they went into the Jewish synagogue together, and preached in such a way that a great number both of Jews and of Greeks found faith,
 The Acts	Acts	50	14	2	although the Jews who would not believe stirred up trouble among the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brethren.
 The Acts	Acts	50	14	3	For a long time, then, they remained there, speaking boldly in the Lord’s name, while he attested the preaching of his grace by allowing signs and wonders to be performed by their means;
 The Acts	Acts	50	14	4	the common folk of the city were divided in opinion, some taking part with the Jews, and some with the apostles.
 The Acts	Acts	50	14	5	Then, when both Gentiles and Jews, in concert with their rulers, made a movement to assault and stone them,
 The Acts	Acts	50	14	6	they thought it best to take refuge in the Lycaonian cities, Lystra and Derbe, and the country round them; and they preached the gospel there.
 The Acts	Acts	50	14	7	There was a lame man sitting at Lystra, crippled from birth, so that he had never walked,
 The Acts	Acts	50	14	8	who listened to Paul’s preaching; and Paul, looking closely at him, and seeing that there was saving faith in him,
 The Acts	Acts	50	14	9	said aloud, Stand upright on thy feet; whereupon he sprang up, and began to walk.
 The Acts	Acts	50	14	10	The multitudes, seeing what Paul had done, cried out in the Lycaonian dialect, It is the gods, who have come down to us in human shape.
 The Acts	Acts	50	14	11	They called Barnabas Jupiter, and Paul Mercury, because he was the chief speaker;
 The Acts	Acts	50	14	12	and the priest of Jupiter, Defender of the City, brought out bulls and wreaths to the gates, eager, like the multitude, to do sacrifice.
 The Acts	Acts	50	14	13	The apostles tore their garments when they heard of it; and both Barnabas and Paul ran out among the multitude, crying aloud:
 The Acts	Acts	50	14	14	Sirs, why are you doing all this? We too are mortal men like yourselves; the whole burden of our preaching is that you must turn away from follies like this to the worship of the living God, who made sky and earth and sea and all that is in them.
 The Acts	Acts	50	14	15	In the ages that are past, he has allowed Gentile folk everywhere to follow their own devices;
 The Acts	Acts	50	14	16	yet even so he has not left us without some proof of what he is; it is his bounty that grants us rain from heaven, and the seasons which give birth to our crops, so that we have nourishment and comfort to our heart’s desire.
 The Acts	Acts	50	14	17	With words like this they persuaded the people, not easily, to refrain from offering sacrifice to them.
 The Acts	Acts	50	14	18	But some of the Jews from Antioch and Iconium had followed them; these won over the multitude to their side, and they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, leaving him there for dead.
 The Acts	Acts	50	14	19	But the disciples formed a ring about him, and soon he rose up and went back into the city; next day he left, with Barnabas, for Derbe.
 The Acts	Acts	50	14	20	In that city too they preached, and made many disciples; then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch,
 The Acts	Acts	50	14	21	where they fortified the spirits of the disciples, encouraging them to be true to the faith, and telling them that we cannot enter the kingdom of heaven without many trials.
 The Acts	Acts	50	14	22	Then, with fasting and prayer, they appointed presbyters for them in each of the churches, and commended them to the care of the Lord in whom they had learned to believe.
 The Acts	Acts	50	14	23	So they passed through Pisidia, and reached Pamphylia.
 The Acts	Acts	50	14	24	They preached the word of the Lord in Perge, and went down to Attalia,
 The Acts	Acts	50	14	25	taking ship there for Antioch, where they had been committed to God’s grace for the work they had now achieved.
 The Acts	Acts	50	14	26	On their arrival, they called the Church together, and told the story of all God had done to aid them, and how, through faith, he had left a door open for the Gentiles.
 The Acts	Acts	50	14	27	And they stayed there a considerable time with the disciples.
 The Acts	Acts	50	15	1	But now some visitors came down from Judaea, who began to tell the brethren, You cannot be saved without being circumcised according to the tradition of Moses.
 The Acts	Acts	50	15	2	Paul and Barnabas were drawn into a great controversy with them; and it was decided that Paul and Barnabas and certain of the rest should go up to see the apostles and presbyters in Jerusalem about this question.
 The Acts	Acts	50	15	3	So the church saw them on their way, and they passed through Phoenice and Samaria, relating how the Gentiles were turning to God, and so brought great rejoicing to all the brethren.
 The Acts	Acts	50	15	4	When they reached Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church, and by the apostles and presbyters; and they told them of all that God had done to aid them.
 The Acts	Acts	50	15	5	But some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees came forward and declared, They must be circumcised; we must call upon them to keep the law of Moses.
 The Acts	Acts	50	15	6	When the apostles and presbyters assembled to decide about this matter
 The Acts	Acts	50	15	7	there was much disputing over it, until Peter rose and said to them, Brethren, you know well enough how from early days it has been God’s choice that the Gentiles should hear the message of the gospel from my lips, and so learn to believe.
 The Acts	Acts	50	15	8	God, who can read men’s hearts, has assured them of his favour by giving the Holy Spirit to them as to us.
 The Acts	Acts	50	15	9	He would not make any difference between us and them; he had removed all the uncleanness from their hearts when he gave them faith.
 The Acts	Acts	50	15	10	How is it, then, that you would now call God in question, by putting a yoke on the necks of the disciples, such as we and our fathers have been too weak to bear?
 The Acts	Acts	50	15	11	It is by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that we hope to be saved, and they no less.
 The Acts	Acts	50	15	12	Then the whole company kept silence, and listened to Barnabas and Paul describing all the signs and wonders God had performed among the Gentiles by their means.
 The Acts	Acts	50	15	13	And when they had finished speaking, James answered thus, Listen, brethren, to what I have to say.
 The Acts	Acts	50	15	14	Simon has told us, how for the first time God has looked with favour on the Gentiles, and chosen from among them a people dedicated to his name.
 The Acts	Acts	50	15	15	This is in agreement with the words of the prophets, where it is written:
 The Acts	Acts	50	15	16	Afterwards, I will come back, and build up again David’s tabernacle that has fallen; I will build up its ruins, and raise it afresh;
 The Acts	Acts	50	15	17	so that all the rest of mankind may find the Lord, all those Gentiles among whom my name is named, says the Lord, who is the doer of all this.
 The Acts	Acts	50	15	18	God has known from all eternity what he does to-day.
 The Acts	Acts	50	15	19	And so I give my voice for sparing the consciences of those Gentiles who have found their way to God;
 The Acts	Acts	50	15	20	only writing to bid them abstain from what is contaminated by idolatry, from fornication, and from meat which has been strangled or has the blood in it.
 The Acts	Acts	50	15	21	As for Moses, ever since the earliest times he has been read, sabbath after sabbath, in the synagogues, and has preachers in every city to expound him.
 The Acts	Acts	50	15	22	Thereupon it was resolved by the apostles and presbyters, with the agreement of the whole church, to choose out some of their own number and despatch them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas; namely, Judas who was called Barsabas, and Silas, who were leading men among the brethren.
 The Acts	Acts	50	15	23	And they sent, by their hands, this message in writing; To the Gentile brethren in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia, their brethren the apostles and presbyters send greeting.
 The Acts	Acts	50	15	24	We hear that some of our number who visited you have disquieted you by what they said, unsettling your consciences, although we had given them no such commission;
 The Acts	Acts	50	15	25	and therefore, meeting together with common purpose of heart, we have resolved to send you chosen messengers, in company with our well-beloved Barnabas and Paul,
 The Acts	Acts	50	15	26	men who have staked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
 The Acts	Acts	50	15	27	We have given this commission to Judas and Silas, who will confirm the message by word of mouth.
 The Acts	Acts	50	15	28	It is the Holy Spirit’s pleasure and ours that no burden should be laid upon you beyond these, which cannot be avoided;
 The Acts	Acts	50	15	29	you are to abstain from what is sacrificed to idols, from blood-meat and meat which has been strangled, and from fornication. If you keep away from such things, you will have done your part. Farewell.
 The Acts	Acts	50	15	30	So they took their leave and went down to Antioch, where they called the multitude together and delivered the letter to them;
 The Acts	Acts	50	15	31	and they, upon reading it, were rejoiced at this encouragement.
 The Acts	Acts	50	15	32	Judas and Silas, for they were prophets too, said much to encourage the brethren and establish their faith;
 The Acts	Acts	50	15	33	they stayed there for some time before the brethren let them go home, in peace, to those who had sent them.
 The Acts	Acts	50	15	34	But Silas had a mind to remain there; so Judas went back alone to Jerusalem.
 The Acts	Acts	50	15	35	Paul and Barnabas waited at Antioch, teaching and preaching God’s word, with many others to help them;
 The Acts	Acts	50	15	36	and then, after some days, Paul said to Barnabas, Let us go back and visit the brethren in all the cities where we have preached the word of the Lord, to see how they are doing.
 The Acts	Acts	50	15	37	And Barnabas was for taking John, also called Mark, with them.
 The Acts	Acts	50	15	38	But Paul said, here was a man who left them when they reached Pamphylia, and took no part with them in the work; it was not right to admit such a man to their company.
 The Acts	Acts	50	15	39	So sharp was their disagreement, that they separated from each other; Barnabas took Mark with him, and sailed off to Cyprus,
 The Acts	Acts	50	15	40	while Paul chose Silas for his companion and went on his journey, commended by the brethren to the Lord’s grace.
 The Acts	Acts	50	15	41	And he travelled all through Syria and Cilicia, establishing the churches in the faith, and bidding them observe the commands which the apostles and presbyters had given.
 The Acts	Acts	50	16	1	So he reached Derbe, and Lystra. Here he met a disciple, named Timothy, son of a believer who was a Jewess and a Gentile father.
 The Acts	Acts	50	16	2	He was well spoken of by the brethren at Lystra and Iconium,
 The Acts	Acts	50	16	3	and Paul resolved to take him as a companion on his journey. But he was careful to circumcise him; he was thinking of the Jews living in those parts, who all knew that Timothy’s father was a Gentile.
 The Acts	Acts	50	16	4	As they passed from city to city, they recommended to their observance the decree laid down by the apostles and presbyters at Jerusalem.
 The Acts	Acts	50	16	5	They found the churches firmly established in the faith, and their numbers daily increasing.
 The Acts	Acts	50	16	6	Thus they passed through Phrygia and the Galatian country; the Holy Spirit prevented them from preaching the word in Asia.
 The Acts	Acts	50	16	7	Then, when they had come as far as Mysia on their journey, they planned to enter Bithynia; but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow it.
 The Acts	Acts	50	16	8	So they crossed Mysia, and went down to the sea at Troas.
 The Acts	Acts	50	16	9	Here Paul saw a vision in the night; a certain Macedonian stood by him in entreaty, and said, Come over into Macedonia, and help us.
 The Acts	Acts	50	16	10	That vision once seen, we were eager to sail for Macedonia; we concluded that God had called us there to preach to them.
 The Acts	Acts	50	16	11	So we put out from Troas, made a straight course to Samothrace, and next day to Neapolis.
 The Acts	Acts	50	16	12	Thence we reached Philippi, which is a Roman colony and the chief city in that part of Macedonia; in this city we remained for some days, conferring together.
 The Acts	Acts	50	16	13	On the sabbath day we went out beyond the city gates, by the river side, a meeting-place, we were told, for prayer; and we sat down and preached to the women who had assembled there.
 The Acts	Acts	50	16	14	One of those who were listening was a woman called Lydia, a purple-seller from the city of Thyatira, and a worshipper of the true God; and the Lord opened her heart, so that she was attentive to Paul’s preaching.
 The Acts	Acts	50	16	15	She was baptized, with all her household; and she was urgent with us; Now you have decided that I have faith in the Lord, she said, come to my house and lodge there; and she would take no denial.
 The Acts	Acts	50	16	16	And now, as we were on our way to the place of prayer, we chanced to meet a girl who was possessed by a divining spirit; her predictions brought in large profits to her masters.
 The Acts	Acts	50	16	17	This girl used to follow behind Paul and the rest of us, crying out, These men are the servants of the most high God; they are proclaiming to us the way of salvation.
 The Acts	Acts	50	16	18	And when she had done this for a number of days, Paul was distressed by it; he turned round and said to the spirit, I command thee to come out of her, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; and there and then it came out of her.
 The Acts	Acts	50	16	19	Her masters, who saw that all their hopes of profit had vanished, took hold of Paul and Silas and dragged them off to justice in the market-place.
 The Acts	Acts	50	16	20	When they brought them before the magistrates, they said, These men, Jews by origin, are disturbing the peace of our city;
 The Acts	Acts	50	16	21	they are recommending customs which it is impossible for us, as Roman citizens, to admit or to observe.
 The Acts	Acts	50	16	22	The crowd gathered round, to join in the accusation; and the magistrates, tearing their clothes off them, gave orders that they should be beaten;
 The Acts	Acts	50	16	23	then, when they had inflicted many lashes on them, put them in prison, and bade the gaoler keep them in safe custody.
 The Acts	Acts	50	16	24	Thus instructed, he put them in the inner ward, and secured their feet in the stocks.
 The Acts	Acts	50	16	25	At midnight, Paul and Silas were at their prayers, praising God, while the prisoners listened to them.
 The Acts	Acts	50	16	26	And all at once there was a violent earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison rocked; whereupon every door opened, and every man’s chains were undone.
 The Acts	Acts	50	16	27	The gaoler, who had been awakened, saw the prison doors open, and drew his sword as if to kill himself, thinking the prisoners had escaped;
 The Acts	Acts	50	16	28	but Paul cried with a loud voice, Do no hurt to thyself; we are all here.
 The Acts	Acts	50	16	29	And so, when he had called for a light, he came running in and fell at the feet of Paul and Silas, all trembling;
 The Acts	Acts	50	16	30	Sirs, he asked, as he led them out, what am I to do, to save myself?
 The Acts	Acts	50	16	31	Have faith, they said to him, in the Lord Jesus; there lies salvation for thee, and for thy household.
 The Acts	Acts	50	16	32	Then they preached the word of the Lord to him, and to all that were in his house;
 The Acts	Acts	50	16	33	and he, there and then, at dead of night, took them away to wash their wounds, and without delay he and all his were baptized.
 The Acts	Acts	50	16	34	So he led them to his home, where he put food before them, and he and all his household made rejoicing at having found faith in God.
 The Acts	Acts	50	16	35	When day came, the magistrates sent their officers to say, Those men are to be discharged.
 The Acts	Acts	50	16	36	And the gaoler reported the message to Paul; The magistrates have sent ordering your discharge; it is time you should come out, and go on your way in peace.
 The Acts	Acts	50	16	37	But Paul said to them, What, have they beaten us in public, without trial, Roman citizens as we are, and sent us to prison, and now would they let us out secretly? That will not serve; they must come here themselves,
 The Acts	Acts	50	16	38	and fetch us out in person. When the officers gave this message to the magistrates, they were alarmed by this talk of Roman citizenship;
 The Acts	Acts	50	16	39	so they came and pleaded with them, urging them, as they brought them out, to leave the city.
 The Acts	Acts	50	16	40	On leaving the prison, they went to Lydia’s house, where they saw the brethren and gave them encouragement; then they set out on their travels.
 The Acts	Acts	50	17	1	They continued their journey through Amphipolis and Apollonia, and so reached Thessalonica. Here the Jews had a synagogue,
 The Acts	Acts	50	17	2	and Paul, as his custom was, paid them a visit there. Over a space of three sabbaths he reasoned with them out of the scriptures,
 The Acts	Acts	50	17	3	expounding these and bringing proofs from them that the sufferings of Christ and his rising from the dead were fore-ordained; the Christ, he said, is none other than the Jesus whom I am preaching to you.
 The Acts	Acts	50	17	4	Some of them were convinced, and threw in their lot with Paul and Silas; a great number, too, of those Gentiles who worshipped the true God, and not a few of the leading women.
 The Acts	Acts	50	17	5	The Jews were indignant at this, and they found confederates among the riff-raff of the market-place, to make a disturbance and throw the city into an uproar. Then they made a sudden descent on Jason’s house, in the hope of bringing Paul and Silas out into the presence of the people;
 The Acts	Acts	50	17	6	but, as they could not find them, they dragged Jasonand some of the brethren before the city council, crying out, Here they are, the men who are turning the state upside down; they have come here too;
 The Acts	Acts	50	17	7	and Jason has given them hospitality. All these folk defy the edicts of Caesar; they say there is another king, one Jesus.
 The Acts	Acts	50	17	8	Both the crowd and the city council took alarm at hearing this,
 The Acts	Acts	50	17	9	and they demanded bail from Jason and the others before they would let them go.
 The Acts	Acts	50	17	10	Thereupon the brethren sent Paul and Silas away by night to Beroea; where, as soon as they arrived, they made their way to the Jewish synagogue.
 The Acts	Acts	50	17	11	These were of a better breed than the Thessalonians; they welcomed the word with all eagerness, and examined the scriptures, day after day, to find out whether all this was true;
 The Acts	Acts	50	17	12	so that many of them learned to believe, as certain Greek women of fashion did, and not a few of the men as well.
 The Acts	Acts	50	17	13	But now some of the Thessalonian Jews, hearing that the word of God had been preached by Paul at Beroea too, came on there, to upset and disturb the minds of the multitude;
 The Acts	Acts	50	17	14	whereupon the brethren sent Paul away, to continue his journey up to the coast; Silas and Timothy remained there still.
 The Acts	Acts	50	17	15	Those who were escorting Paul on his journey saw him as far as Athens, and then left him, with instructions for Silas and Timothy to rejoin him as soon as possible.
 The Acts	Acts	50	17	16	And while Paul was waiting for them in Athens, his heart was moved within him to find the city so much given over to idolatry,
 The Acts	Acts	50	17	17	and he reasoned, not only in the synagogue with Jews and worshippers of the true God, but in the market-place, with all he met.
 The Acts	Acts	50	17	18	He encountered philosophers, Stoics and Epicureans, some of whom asked, What can his drift be, this dabbler? while others said, He would appear to be proclaiming strange gods; because he had preached to them about Jesus and Resurrection.
 The Acts	Acts	50	17	19	So they took him by the sleeve and led him up to the Areopagus; May we ask, they said, what this new teaching is thou art delivering?
 The Acts	Acts	50	17	20	Thou dost introduce terms which are strange to our ears; pray let us know what may be the meaning of it.
 The Acts	Acts	50	17	21	(No townsman of Athens, or stranger visiting it, has time for anything else than saying something new, or hearing it said.)
 The Acts	Acts	50	17	22	So Paul stood up in full view of the Areopagus, and said, Men of Athens, wherever I look I find you scrupulously religious.
 The Acts	Acts	50	17	23	Why, in examining your monuments as I passed by them, I found among others an altar which bore the inscription, To the unknown God. And it is this unknown object of your devotion that I am revealing to you.
 The Acts	Acts	50	17	24	The God who made the world and all that is in it, that God who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples that our hands have made;
 The Acts	Acts	50	17	25	no human handicraft can do him service, as if he stood in need of anything, he, who gives to all of us life and breath and all we have.
 The Acts	Acts	50	17	26	It is he who has made, of one single stock, all the nations that were to dwell over the whole face of the earth. And he has given to each the cycles it was to pass through and the fixed limits of its habitation,
 The Acts	Acts	50	17	27	leaving them to search for God; would they somehow grope their way towards him? Would they find him? And yet, after all, he is not far from any one of us;
 The Acts	Acts	50	17	28	it is in him that we live, and move, and have our being; thus, some of your own poets have told us, For indeed, we are his children.
 The Acts	Acts	50	17	29	Why then, if we are the children of God, we must not imagine that the divine nature can be represented in gold, or silver, or stone, carved by man’s art and thought.
 The Acts	Acts	50	17	30	God has shut his eyes to these passing follies of ours; now, he calls upon all men, everywhere, to repent,
 The Acts	Acts	50	17	31	because he has fixed a day when he will pronounce just judgement on the whole world. And the man whom he has appointed for that end he has accredited to all of us, by raising him up from the dead.
 The Acts	Acts	50	17	32	When resurrection from the dead was mentioned, some mocked, while others said, We must hear more from thee about this.
 The Acts	Acts	50	17	33	So Paul went away from among them.
 The Acts	Acts	50	17	34	But there were men who attached themselves to him and learned to believe, among them Dionysius the Areopagite; and so did a woman called Damaris, and others with them.
 The Acts	Acts	50	18	1	Paul left Athens after this, and went to Corinth.
 The Acts	Acts	50	18	2	Here he met a Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, who, with his wife Priscilla, had lately come from Italy, when Claudius decreed that all Jews should leave Rome. He paid them a visit:
 The Acts	Acts	50	18	3	then, since they were brothers of the same craft (both were tent-makers) he stayed and worked with them.
 The Acts	Acts	50	18	4	Every sabbath he held a disputation in the synagogue, trying to convince both Jews and Greeks by confronting them with the name of the Lord Jesus.
 The Acts	Acts	50	18	5	Just at the time when Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was much occupied with preaching, while he bore witness to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.
 The Acts	Acts	50	18	6	But they set their faces against it and talked blasphemy, until he shook the dust out of his garments, and said to them, Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clear of it; I will go to the Gentiles henceforward.
 The Acts	Acts	50	18	7	So he left them, and went to the house of one Titius Justus, a worshipper of the true God, who lived next door to the synagogue.
 The Acts	Acts	50	18	8	But Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, learned to believe in the Lord, and so did all his household; and by now many of the Corinthians listened and found faith, and were baptized.
 The Acts	Acts	50	18	9	And the Lord said to Paul in a vision at night, Do not be afraid, speak out, and refuse to be silenced;
 The Acts	Acts	50	18	10	I am with thee, and none shall come near to do thee harm; I have a great following in this city.
 The Acts	Acts	50	18	11	So he remained there a year and six months, preaching the word of God among them.
 The Acts	Acts	50	18	12	Then, when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a concerted attack on Paul, and dragged him before the judgement-seat.
 The Acts	Acts	50	18	13	This fellow, they said, is persuading men to worship God in a manner the law forbids.
 The Acts	Acts	50	18	14	Paul was just opening his mouth to speak, when Gallio said to the Jews, It would be only right for me to listen to you Jews with patience, if we had here some wrong done, or some malicious contrivance;
 The Acts	Acts	50	18	15	but the questions you raise are a matter of words and names, of the law which holds good among yourselves. You must see to it; I have no mind to try such cases.
 The Acts	Acts	50	18	16	And he drove them away from the judgement-seat.
 The Acts	Acts	50	18	17	Thereupon there was a general onslaught upon Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, who was beaten before the judgement-seat; but all this caused Gallio no concern.
 The Acts	Acts	50	18	18	Paul stayed on many days yet, then took leave of the brethren and sailed off to Syria; before he left Cenchrae he shaved his head, since he was under a vow. He took Priscilla and Aquila with him,
 The Acts	Acts	50	18	19	but left them behind when he reached Ephesus. He himself went to the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews,
 The Acts	Acts	50	18	20	who asked him to make a longer stay. But he would not consent;
 The Acts	Acts	50	18	21	he said, as he took leave of them, I will come back to you again, if it is God’s will, and departed from Ephesus by sea.
 The Acts	Acts	50	18	22	On landing at Caesarea, he went up from there to greet the church, then went down again to Antioch,
 The Acts	Acts	50	18	23	where he spent some time; he left it to make an orderly progress through the Galatian and Phrygian country, where he established all the disciples in the faith.
 The Acts	Acts	50	18	24	Meanwhile a Jewish visitor came to Ephesus, Apollo by name; he was born in Alexandria, and was an eloquent man, well grounded in the scriptures.
 The Acts	Acts	50	18	25	He had had instruction in the way of the Lord; and, with a spirit full of zeal, used to preach and teach about the life of Jesus accurately enough, although he knew of no baptism except that of John.
 The Acts	Acts	50	18	26	So he began to speak out boldly in the synagogue, whereupon Priscilla and Aquila, who had been listening, made friends with him, and explained the way of God to him more particularly.
 The Acts	Acts	50	18	27	He was meaning to continue his journey into Achaia; in this the brethren encouraged him, and wrote asking the disciples there to welcome him. His visit was a welcome reinforcement to the believers;
 The Acts	Acts	50	18	28	he spared no pains to refute the Jews publicly, proving from the scriptures that Jesus was the Christ.
 The Acts	Acts	50	19	1	It was while Apollo was away at Corinth that Paul finished his journey through the inland country, and came to Ephesus. He met some disciples there
 The Acts	Acts	50	19	2	and asked them, Was the Holy Spirit given to you, when you learned to believe? Why, they said, nobody even mentioned to us the existence of a Holy Spirit.
 The Acts	Acts	50	19	3	What baptism, then, did you receive? Paul asked; and they said, John’s baptism.
 The Acts	Acts	50	19	4	So Paul told them, John baptized to bring men to repentance; but he bade the people have faith in one who was to come after him, that is, in Jesus.
 The Acts	Acts	50	19	5	On hearing this, they received baptism in the name of the Lord Jesus;
 The Acts	Acts	50	19	6	and when Paul laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came down on them, and they spoke with tongues, and prophesied.
 The Acts	Acts	50	19	7	In all, these men were about twelve in number.
 The Acts	Acts	50	19	8	And now he went into the synagogue, and for three months spoke boldly there, reasoning with them and trying to convince them about the kingdom of God;
 The Acts	Acts	50	19	9	but since there were some who hardened their hearts and refused belief, discrediting the way of the Lord in the eyes of the multitude, he left them, and withdrew his own disciples, holding disputations daily in the school of a certain Tyrannus.
 The Acts	Acts	50	19	10	This lasted for two years, so that the Lord’s word came to the ears of all those who lived in Asia, both Jews and Greeks.
 The Acts	Acts	50	19	11	And God did miracles through Paul’s hands that were beyond all wont;
 The Acts	Acts	50	19	12	so much so, that when handkerchiefs or aprons which had touched his body were taken to the sick, they got rid of their diseases, and evil spirits were driven out.
 The Acts	Acts	50	19	13	Some of the wandering Jewish exorcists took it upon themselves to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were possessed by evil spirits, with the words, I conjure you in the name of Jesus, the name that is preached by Paul.
 The Acts	Acts	50	19	14	Among these were the seven sons of Sceva, one of the Jewish chief priests.
 The Acts	Acts	50	19	15	And the evil spirit answered, Jesus I recognize, Paul I know well enough; but you, what are you?
 The Acts	Acts	50	19	16	And with that, the man who was possessed by the evil spirit ran at them and got the better of them, defying the power of both; so that they fled from the house naked and wounded.
 The Acts	Acts	50	19	17	This came to the ears of every Jew and Greek living in Ephesus; fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was held in great honour.
 The Acts	Acts	50	19	18	Many believers came forward, confessing their evil practices and giving a full account of them;
 The Acts	Acts	50	19	19	and a number of those who followed magic arts made their books into a heap and burned them in public: the value of these was reckoned up, and proved to be fifty thousand silver pieces.
 The Acts	Acts	50	19	20	So, irresistibly, the word of the Lord spread and prevailed.
 The Acts	Acts	50	19	21	When all this was over, the thought in Paul’s heart was to go to Jerusalem, first travelling through Macedonia and Achaia; When I have been there, he said, I must go on and see Rome.
 The Acts	Acts	50	19	22	And he sent on two of those who ministered to him, Timothy and Erastus, into Macedonia, but waited for a while himself in Asia.
 The Acts	Acts	50	19	23	It was just at this time that the way of the Lord was the cause of a notable disturbance.
 The Acts	Acts	50	19	24	There was a silversmith called Demetrius, who used to make silver models of Diana’s temple, and so gave plentiful employment to the craftsmen.
 The Acts	Acts	50	19	25	And now he called a meeting of these, and of the workmen who were in the same trade, and spoke thus, Friends, you all know that our prosperity depends upon this business of ours.
 The Acts	Acts	50	19	26	And you can see and hear for yourselves that this Paul has persuaded a whole multitude to change their allegiance, not only at Ephesus but over most of Asia, by telling them that gods made by men’s hands are no gods at all.
 The Acts	Acts	50	19	27	It is not only that we are in danger of finding this work of ours discredited. The temple of the great goddess Diana will count for nothing, she will be shorn of her greatness, the goddess whom Asia and all the world reveres.
 The Acts	Acts	50	19	28	At these words, they were all overcome with rage, and began to shout, Great is Diana of Ephesus.
 The Acts	Acts	50	19	29	Their uproar filled the whole city, as they ran by common consent into the theatre, carrying with them Gaius and Aristarchus, who were companions of Paul from Macedonia.
 The Acts	Acts	50	19	30	When Paul had a mind to shew himself before the people, his disciples tried to prevent it:
 The Acts	Acts	50	19	31	and some of the delegates of Asia, who were his friends, sent a message to him, imploring him not to risk his life in the theatre.
 The Acts	Acts	50	19	32	Meanwhile some cried this, some that; the meeting was all in confusion, and most of them could not tell what had brought them together.
 The Acts	Acts	50	19	33	The Jews thrust Alexander forward, and some of the crowd brought him down with them; so Alexander made a gesture with his hand, and tried to give an account of himself before the people;
 The Acts	Acts	50	19	34	but as soon as they found out that he was a Jew, a single cry came from every mouth, and for some two hours they kept on shouting, Great is Diana of Ephesus.
 The Acts	Acts	50	19	35	Then the town clerk restored quiet among the crowd; Ephesians, he said, as if there were anyone who does not know that the city of Ephesus is the acolyte of the great Diana, and of the image which is Jupiter’s offspring!
 The Acts	Acts	50	19	36	Since this is beyond dispute, you had best be quiet, and do nothing rashly.
 The Acts	Acts	50	19	37	These men you have brought here have not robbed the temples; they have not used blasphemous language about your goddess.
 The Acts	Acts	50	19	38	And if Demetrius and his fellow craftsmen have any charge to bring against them, why, we have court-days, we have proconsuls; let the two parties go to law.
 The Acts	Acts	50	19	39	If, on the other hand, you have any further question to raise, it can be settled by lawful assembly.
 The Acts	Acts	50	19	40	We may easily be called to account for to-day’s proceedings, and there is no grievance which will enable us to account for this riot. With these words he broke up the meeting.
 The Acts	Acts	50	20	1	When the tumult was over, Paul summoned his disciples, to rally their spirits and bid them farewell, and set out on his journey into Macedonia.
 The Acts	Acts	50	20	2	He passed through all that region, and gave them much encouragement; then he entered Greece.
 The Acts	Acts	50	20	3	When he had stayed three months there, he was meaning to take ship for Syria; but, finding that the Jews were plotting against him, he resolved to go back again through Macedonia.
 The Acts	Acts	50	20	4	He was accompanied as far as Asia by Sopater, son of Pyrrhus, from Beroea, Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, Gaius from Derbe, Timothy, and two friends from Asia, Tychicus and Trophimus.
 The Acts	Acts	50	20	5	These went on first, and waited for us at Troas.
 The Acts	Acts	50	20	6	As soon as the time of unleavened bread was over, we set sail from Philippi, and took five days to reach them at Troas, where we spent seven days.
 The Acts	Acts	50	20	7	When the new week began, we had met for the breaking of bread, and Paul was preaching to them; he meant to leave them next day, and he continued speaking till midnight.
 The Acts	Acts	50	20	8	There were many lamps burning in the upper room where we had met;
 The Acts	Acts	50	20	9	and a young man called Eutychus, who was sitting in the embrasure of the window, was overcome by deep sleep. As Paul still went on preaching, sleep weighed him down, and he fell from the third storey to the ground, where he was taken up dead.
 The Acts	Acts	50	20	10	Paul went down, bent over him, and embraced him; then he said, Do not disturb yourselves; his life is yet in him.
 The Acts	Acts	50	20	11	And so he went up again and broke bread and ate; afterwards he talked with them for some time until dawn came, when he left.
 The Acts	Acts	50	20	12	And the boy was taken home alive, to their great comfort.
 The Acts	Acts	50	20	13	For ourselves, we took ship and sailed to Assos, where we were to take Paul on board; he had arranged this, because he himself meant to go across by land.
 The Acts	Acts	50	20	14	So at Assos we met him, and took him on board, and journeyed to Mitylene.
 The Acts	Acts	50	20	15	Sailing thence, we reached a point opposite Chios the following day; on the next, we put in at Samos, and arrived on the third at Miletus.
 The Acts	Acts	50	20	16	Paul had made up his mind to sail past Ephesus, for fear of having to waste time in Asia; he was eager, if he found it possible, to keep the day of Pentecost at Jerusalem.
 The Acts	Acts	50	20	17	From Miletus he sent a message to Ephesus, summoning the presbyters of the church there.
 The Acts	Acts	50	20	18	And when they had come out to him and gathered round him, he said to them, You yourselves can testify, how I have lived among you, since the first day when I set foot in Asia,
 The Acts	Acts	50	20	19	serving the Lord in all humility, not without tears over the trials which beset me, through the plots of the Jews;
 The Acts	Acts	50	20	20	and how I have never failed you, when there was any need of preaching to you, or teaching you, whether publicly or house by house.
 The Acts	Acts	50	20	21	I have proclaimed both to Jew and to Greek repentance before God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
 The Acts	Acts	50	20	22	Now, a prisoner in spirit, I am going up to Jerusalem, knowing nothing of what is to befall me there;
 The Acts	Acts	50	20	23	only, as I go on from city to city, the Holy Spirit assures me that at Jerusalem bondage and affliction await me.
 The Acts	Acts	50	20	24	I care nothing for all that; I do not count my life precious compared with my work, which is to finish the course I run, the task of preaching which the Lord Jesus has given me, in proclaiming the good news of God’s grace.
 The Acts	Acts	50	20	25	Here, then, I stand, well knowing that you will not see my face again; you, among whom I came and went, preaching the kingdom of God.
 The Acts	Acts	50	20	26	And I ask you to bear me witness to-day that I have no man’s blood on my hands;
 The Acts	Acts	50	20	27	I have never shrunk from revealing to you the whole of God’s plan.
 The Acts	Acts	50	20	28	Keep watch, then, over yourselves, and over God’s Church, in which the Holy Spirit has made you bishops; you are to be the shepherds of that flock which he won for himself at the price of his own blood.
 The Acts	Acts	50	20	29	I know well that ravening wolves will come among you when I am gone, and will not spare the flock;
 The Acts	Acts	50	20	30	there will be men among your own number who will come forward with a false message, and find disciples to follow them.
 The Acts	Acts	50	20	31	Be on the watch then; do not forget the three years I spent, instructing every one of you continually, and with tears.
 The Acts	Acts	50	20	32	Now, as then, I commend you to God, and to his gracious word, that can build you up and give you your allotted place among the saints everywhere.
 The Acts	Acts	50	20	33	I have never asked for silver or gold or clothing from any man;
 The Acts	Acts	50	20	34	you will bear me out, that these hands of mine have sufficed for all that I and my companions needed.
 The Acts	Acts	50	20	35	Always I have tried to shew you that it is our duty so to work, and be the support of the weak, remembering the words spoken by the Lord Jesus himself, It is more blessed to give than to receive.
 The Acts	Acts	50	20	36	When he had said this, he knelt down and prayed with them all.
 The Acts	Acts	50	20	37	They all wept abundantly, and embraced Paul and kissed him,
 The Acts	Acts	50	20	38	grieving most over what he had said about never seeing his face again. And so they escorted him to the ship.
 The Acts	Acts	50	21	1	When we tore ourselves away from them, and at last put out to sea, we made a straight course, sailing to Cos, and next day to Rhodes, and thence to Patara.
 The Acts	Acts	50	21	2	There, finding a ship crossing to Phoenice, we went on board and set sail.
 The Acts	Acts	50	21	3	We sighted Cyprus, but passed it on our left, and held on for Syria, where we landed at Tyre, the port for which the vessel had shipped her cargo.
 The Acts	Acts	50	21	4	Here we enquired for the brethren, and made a stay of seven days with them; they, by revelation, warned Paul not to go up to Jerusalem,
 The Acts	Acts	50	21	5	but when the time came to an end, we left them and continued our journey. All of them, with their wives and children, escorted us until we were out of the city; and so we knelt down on the beach to pray;
 The Acts	Acts	50	21	6	then, when farewells had been made on either side, we went on board the ship, while they returned home.
 The Acts	Acts	50	21	7	The end of our voyage brought us from Tyre to Ptolemais, where we greeted the brethren and stayed one day with them;
 The Acts	Acts	50	21	8	the day after, we left them and arrived at Caesarea, where we went to the house of Philip the evangelist, one of the seven, and lodged with him.
 The Acts	Acts	50	21	9	He had four daughters, unwedded maids, who possessed the gift of prophecy.
 The Acts	Acts	50	21	10	During our stay of several days there, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judaea.
 The Acts	Acts	50	21	11	When he visited us, he took up Paul’s girdle, and bound his own hands and feet with it; then he said, Thus speaks the Holy Spirit, The man to whom this girdle belongs will be bound, like this, by the Jews at Jerusalem, and given over into the hands of the Gentiles.
 The Acts	Acts	50	21	12	At hearing this, both we and our hosts implored Paul not to go up to Jerusalem.
 The Acts	Acts	50	21	13	To which he answered, What do you mean by lamenting, and crushing my spirits? I am ready to meet prison and death as well in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.
 The Acts	Acts	50	21	14	Finding that he would not take our advice, we composed ourselves, and said, The Lord’s will be done.
 The Acts	Acts	50	21	15	When the time came to an end, we made all ready, and went up to Jerusalem.
 The Acts	Acts	50	21	16	Some of the brethren from Caesarea went with us, to take us to the house of a Cypriot called Mnason, one of the first disciples, with whom we were to lodge.
 The Acts	Acts	50	21	17	When we reached Jerusalem, the brethren received us with joy.
 The Acts	Acts	50	21	18	The next day Paul took us with him to see James; all the presbyters had gathered;
 The Acts	Acts	50	21	19	and he greeted them, and told them point by point of all that God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.
 The Acts	Acts	50	21	20	They praised God for the news he gave, and said, Brother, thou canst see for thyself how many thousands of the Jews have learned to believe, and they are all zealous supporters of the law.
 The Acts	Acts	50	21	21	And this is what has come to their ears about thee; that thou dost teach the Jews in Gentile parts to break away from the law of Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children, and not to follow the tradition.
 The Acts	Acts	50	21	22	What will happen? Why, a multitude of them will assuredly gather round thee, hearing that thou hast come.
 The Acts	Acts	50	21	23	Follow our advice, then, in this; we have four men here who are under a vow;
 The Acts	Acts	50	21	24	if thou wilt take these with thee, and join in their purification and defray the cost for the shaving of their heads, then all will see clearly that the report they have heard about thee has no substance, and that thou dost follow the observances of the law like other men.
 The Acts	Acts	50	21	25	As for the Gentile believers, we have already written to them; we laid it down that they must abstain from what is sacrificed to idols, and from blood-meat and meat which has been strangled, and from fornication.
 The Acts	Acts	50	21	26	So, next day, Paul took the men with him, and began going to the temple, publicly fulfilling the days of purification, until the time came for each to have sacrifice made on his behalf.
 The Acts	Acts	50	21	27	And when the seven days were all but at an end, the Jews from Asia saw him in the temple. Whereupon they threw the whole multitude into an uproar, and laid hands on him, crying out;
 The Acts	Acts	50	21	28	Men of Israel, come to the rescue; here is the man who goes about everywhere, teaching everybody to despise our people, and our law, and this place. He has brought Gentiles into the temple, too, profaning these sacred precincts.
 The Acts	Acts	50	21	29	They had seen Trophimus, who was from Ephesus, in the city with him, and it was he whom they suspected Paul of introducing into the temple.
 The Acts	Acts	50	21	30	The whole city was in a commotion, and the common folk ran up from all sides. They seized Paul and dragged him out of the temple, upon which the gates were shut;
 The Acts	Acts	50	21	31	and they were preparing to kill him, when word came to the captain of the garrison that the whole of Jerusalem was in an uproar.
 The Acts	Acts	50	21	32	He at once summoned his troops, with their officers, and swept down upon them; and at the sight of the captain with his troops they left off beating Paul.
 The Acts	Acts	50	21	33	The captain came up and arrested him, giving orders that he should be bound with a double chain; then he asked who he was, and what he had done.
 The Acts	Acts	50	21	34	But some of the crowd were shouting this and some that, and it was impossible to find out the truth amidst the clamour; so he gave orders that Paul should be taken to the soldiers’ quarters.
 The Acts	Acts	50	21	35	When he reached the steps, he had to be carried by the soldiers because of the crowd’s violence;
 The Acts	Acts	50	21	36	a rabble of the common people kept following behind, with cries of, Put him to death.
 The Acts	Acts	50	21	37	And just as he was being taken into the soldiers’ quarters, Paul asked the captain, May I have a word with thee? At which he said, What, canst thou talk Greek?
 The Acts	Acts	50	21	38	Thou art not, then, that Egyptian, who raised a band of four thousand cut-throats, some time back, and led them out into the wilderness?
 The Acts	Acts	50	21	39	I am a Jew, said Paul, a citizen of Tarsus in Cilicia, no mean city; my request of thee is that thou wouldst let me speak to the people.
 The Acts	Acts	50	21	40	And so, having obtained his leave, Paul stood there on the steps, and made a gesture with his hand to the people. There was deep silence, and he began addressing himself to them in Hebrew.
 The Acts	Acts	50	22	1	Brethren and fathers, listen to the defence I am putting before you.
 The Acts	Acts	50	22	2	(And now they gave him even better audience, finding that he spoke to them in Hebrew.)
 The Acts	Acts	50	22	3	I am a Jew, born at Tarsus in Cilicia and brought up in this city; I was trained, under Gamaliel, in exact knowledge of our ancestral law, as jealous for the honour of the law as you are, all of you, to-day.
 The Acts	Acts	50	22	4	I persecuted this way to the death, putting men and women in chains and handing them over to the prisons.
 The Acts	Acts	50	22	5	The chief priests and all the elders will bear me out in that; it was from them that I was carrying letters to their brethren, when I was on my way to Damascus, to make fresh prisoners there and bring them to Jerusalem for punishment.
 The Acts	Acts	50	22	6	While I was on my journey, not far from Damascus, about midday, this befell me; all at once a great light from heaven shone about me,
 The Acts	Acts	50	22	7	and I fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to me, Saul, Saul, why dost thou persecute me?
 The Acts	Acts	50	22	8	Who art thou, Lord? I answered. And he said to me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom Saul persecutes.
 The Acts	Acts	50	22	9	My companions saw the light, but could not catch the voice of him who spoke to me.
 The Acts	Acts	50	22	10	Then I said, What must I do, Lord? And the Lord said to me, Rise up, and go into Damascus; there thou shalt be told of all the work that is destined for thee.
 The Acts	Acts	50	22	11	The glory of that light had blinded me, and my companions were leading me by the hand when I came into Damascus.
 The Acts	Acts	50	22	12	There a certain Ananias, a man well known among his Jewish neighbours for his pious observance of the law,
 The Acts	Acts	50	22	13	came and stood beside me, and said, Brother Saul, look up and see. And at that instant I looked up into his face.
 The Acts	Acts	50	22	14	Then he said to me, The God of our fathers has made choice of thee to know his will, to have sight of him who is Just, and hear speech from his lips;
 The Acts	Acts	50	22	15	and what thou hast seen and heard, thou shalt testify before all men.
 The Acts	Acts	50	22	16	Come then, why art thou wasting time? Rise up, and receive baptism, washing away thy sins at the invocation of his name.
 The Acts	Acts	50	22	17	Afterwards, when I had gone back to Jerusalem, and was at prayer in the temple, I fell into a trance,
 The Acts	Acts	50	22	18	and saw the Lord there speaking to me; Make haste, he said, leave Jerusalem with all speed; they will not accept thy witness of me here.
 The Acts	Acts	50	22	19	But, Lord, I said, it is within their own knowledge, how I used to imprison those who believed in thee, and scourge them in the synagogues;
 The Acts	Acts	50	22	20	and when the blood of Stephen, thy martyr, was shed, I too stood by and gave my consent, and watched over the garments of those who slew him.
 The Acts	Acts	50	22	21	And he said to me, Go on thy way; I mean to send thee on a distant errand, to the Gentiles.
 The Acts	Acts	50	22	22	Up to this point, they listened to his speech; but then they cried aloud, Away with such a fellow from the earth; it is a disgrace that he should live.
 The Acts	Acts	50	22	23	So, when he saw them raising shouts and throwing down their garments and flinging dust into the air,
 The Acts	Acts	50	22	24	the captain had Paul taken into the soldiers’ quarters, telling them to examine him under the lash; thus he would find out the cause of the outcry against him.
 The Acts	Acts	50	22	25	And they had already tied Paul down with thongs, when he said to the centurion who was in charge, Have you the right to scourge a man, when he is a Roman citizen, and has not been sentenced?
 The Acts	Acts	50	22	26	The centurion, as soon as he heard this, went to the captain and told him of it, What art thou about? he said. This man is a Roman citizen.
 The Acts	Acts	50	22	27	So the captain came and asked him, What is this? Thou art a Roman citizen? Yes, he said.
 The Acts	Acts	50	22	28	Why, answered the captain, it cost me a heavy sum to win this privilege. Ah, said Paul, but I am a citizen by birth.
 The Acts	Acts	50	22	29	Upon this, the men who were to have put him to the question moved away from him; and the captain himself was alarmed, to find out that this was a Roman citizen, and he had put him in bonds.
 The Acts	Acts	50	22	30	So, the next day, determined to discover the truth about the charge the Jews were bringing against him, he released him, summoned a meeting of the chief priests and the whole Council, and brought Paul down to confront them with him.
 The Acts	Acts	50	23	1	Paul fastened his eyes on the Council, and said, Brethren, all my life I have behaved myself with full loyalty of conscience towards God.
 The Acts	Acts	50	23	2	At this, the high priest Ananias bade those who were standing near smite him on the mouth.
 The Acts	Acts	50	23	3	Then Paul said to him, It is God that will smite thee, for the whitened wall thou art; thou art sitting there to judge me according to the law, and wilt thou break the law by ordering them to smite me?
 The Acts	Acts	50	23	4	What, said the bystanders, wouldst thou insult God’s high priest?
 The Acts	Acts	50	23	5	And Paul said, Brethren, I could not tell that it was the high priest; to be sure, it is written, Thou shalt not speak ill of him who rules thy people.
 The Acts	Acts	50	23	6	And now, finding that there were two factions among them, one of the Sadducees and the other of the Pharisees, Paul cried out in the Council, Brethren, I am a Pharisee, and my fathers were Pharisees before me. And I am standing on my trial because I am one who hopes for the resurrection of the dead.
 The Acts	Acts	50	23	7	When he said this, a dissension arose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the assembly was in two minds.
 The Acts	Acts	50	23	8	The Sadducees will have it that there is no resurrection, that there are no angels or spirits, whereas the Pharisees believe in both.
 The Acts	Acts	50	23	9	So that a great clamour followed; and some of the Pharisees came forward to protest; We cannot find any fault in this man, they said. Perhaps he has had a message from a spirit, or an angel.
 The Acts	Acts	50	23	10	Then dissension rose high; and the captain, who was afraid that they would tear Paul in pieces, ordered his troops to come down and rescue Paul from their midst, and bring him safe to the soldiers’ quarters.
 The Acts	Acts	50	23	11	On the next night, the Lord came to his side, and told him, Do not lose heart; thou hast done with bearing me witness in Jerusalem, and now thou must carry the same witness to Rome.
 The Acts	Acts	50	23	12	When day came, the Jews held a conclave, and bound themselves under a solemn curse that they would not eat or drink until they had killed Paul;
 The Acts	Acts	50	23	13	more than forty of them joined in this conspiracy.
 The Acts	Acts	50	23	14	So they went to the chief priests and elders, and told them, We have bound ourselves under a solemn curse not to take food until we have killed Paul.
 The Acts	Acts	50	23	15	Your part, then, is to signify to the captain your wish and the Council’s, that he would bring him down before you, as if you meant to examine his cause more precisely; and we are ready to make away with him before he reaches you.
 The Acts	Acts	50	23	16	Paul’s sister had a son who heard of this ambush being laid; and he went to the soldiers’ quarters and gave news of it to Paul.
 The Acts	Acts	50	23	17	Whereupon Paul had one of the centurions brought to him, and said, Take this young man to the captain; he has news to give him.
 The Acts	Acts	50	23	18	So he bade him follow, and took him to the captain; The prisoner, Paul, he said, had me summoned and asked me to take this young man into thy presence; he has a message for thee.
 The Acts	Acts	50	23	19	And the captain, taking him by the hand and drawing him aside, asked, What is the news thou bringest me?
 The Acts	Acts	50	23	20	The Jews, he said, have formed this design; they will ask thee to bring Paul down before the Council to-morrow, as if they meant to examine his cause more precisely.
 The Acts	Acts	50	23	21	Do not listen to them; some of them will be lying in ambush for him, more than forty in number. They have sworn not to eat or drink until they have made away with him; even now they are in readiness, only waiting for thy consent.
 The Acts	Acts	50	23	22	Thereupon the captain dismissed the young man, warning him not to let anyone know that he had revealed this secret to him.
 The Acts	Acts	50	23	23	Then he summoned two of the centurions, and told them, You are to have two hundred men from the cohort ready to march to Caesarea, with seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen; they will set out at the third hour of the night.
 The Acts	Acts	50	23	24	And you must provide beasts, so that they can mount Paul and take him safely to the governor, Felix.
 The Acts	Acts	50	23	25	(He was afraid that the Jews might seize on Paul and kill him; and that he himself might be falsely accused of taking a bribe from them.) He also wrote a letter, with these contents:
 The Acts	Acts	50	23	26	Claudius Lysias, to his excellency Felix, the governor, sends greeting.
 The Acts	Acts	50	23	27	Here is a man whom the Jews seized, and set about killing him; but I came up with my men and rescued him, learning that he was a Roman citizen.
 The Acts	Acts	50	23	28	Since I had a mind to discover what complaint it was they had against him, I took him down into the presence of their Council;
 The Acts	Acts	50	23	29	but I found that the accusation was concerned with disputes about their own law, and that he was charged with nothing that deserved death or imprisonment.
 The Acts	Acts	50	23	30	And now, since I have information of a plot which they have laid against him, I am sending him to thee, telling his accusers at the same time that they must plead their cause before thee. Farewell.
 The Acts	Acts	50	23	31	The soldiers, obeying their orders, took Paul with them, and conducted him, travelling all night, to Antipatris.
 The Acts	Acts	50	23	32	Next day they left the horsemen to accompany him, and went back to their quarters.
 The Acts	Acts	50	23	33	The horsemen, upon reaching Caesarea, delivered the letter to the governor, and brought Paul, too, into his presence.
 The Acts	Acts	50	23	34	So the governor read the letter, asked from what province he came, and was told, From Cilicia;
 The Acts	Acts	50	23	35	then he said, I will give thee a hearing when thy accusers, too, are present. And he gave orders that he should be kept safe in Herod’s palace.
 The Acts	Acts	50	24	1	Five days later the high priest Ananias came down, accompanied by some of the elders and by an advocate named Tertullus; these appeared before the governor against Paul.
 The Acts	Acts	50	24	2	So, when Paul had been summoned, Tertullus began his indictment thus. Such is the peace thou hast enabled us to enjoy, so many wrongs have been righted for us through thy wisdom,
 The Acts	Acts	50	24	3	that always and everywhere, most noble Felix, we are ready to acknowledge it with grateful hearts.
 The Acts	Acts	50	24	4	But I must not weary thee with more of this; what we ask of thy courtesy is no more than a brief audience.
 The Acts	Acts	50	24	5	Here is a man who is known to us as a pestilent mover of sedition among Jews all over the world, a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes,
 The Acts	Acts	50	24	6	who has not scrupled to attempt a violation of the temple. We arrested him, and had intended to try him according to our own law,
 The Acts	Acts	50	24	7	when the captain, Lysias, came and took him out of our hands, with great violence,
 The Acts	Acts	50	24	8	and insisted that his accusers must appear before thee. Interrogate him thyself, and thou wilt be able to learn the truth about all the accusations we bring against him.
 The Acts	Acts	50	24	9	And the Jews, for their part, supported the indictment, alleging that all this was the truth.
 The Acts	Acts	50	24	10	Then the governor made a sign to bid Paul speak, and he answered, I am the more emboldened to make my defence, because I know well that thou hast been a judge over this nation for many years.
 The Acts	Acts	50	24	11	Thou hast the means of assuring thyself that it is only twelve days since I came up to Jerusalem, to worship there.
 The Acts	Acts	50	24	12	They have never found me raising controversy, or bringing a crowd together, either in the temple, or in the synagogues, or in the open city;
 The Acts	Acts	50	24	13	nor can they produce any proof of the charges they bring against me.
 The Acts	Acts	50	24	14	But this I admit to thee, that in worshipping God, my Father, I follow what we call the way, and they call a sect. I put my trust in all that is written in the law and the prophets,
 The Acts	Acts	50	24	15	sharing before God the hope they have too, that the dead will rise again, both just and unjust.
 The Acts	Acts	50	24	16	To that end I, like them, am at pains to keep my conscience clear of offence towards God or man, at all times.
 The Acts	Acts	50	24	17	After some years’ absence I came up to bring alms to the men of my own race, and certain offerings.
 The Acts	Acts	50	24	18	It was when I had just made these offerings and had been purified in the temple, that I was found there, no crowd about me, no rioting, by whom?
 The Acts	Acts	50	24	19	By some Jews from Asia, who ought to be here, standing in thy presence, if they had any quarrel with me.
 The Acts	Acts	50	24	20	In default of that, it is for those who are here to give their own account of what blame they found in me, when I stood before the Council;
 The Acts	Acts	50	24	21	unless it were over one single utterance, when I cried out, standing there among them, If I am on my trial before you to-day, it is because of the resurrection of the dead.
 The Acts	Acts	50	24	22	Felix, who had full information about this way, reserved judgement; I will give you a hearing, he said, when Lysias, the captain, has come down here.
 The Acts	Acts	50	24	23	And he gave orders to the centurion that Paul was to be kept safely, but left at his ease, and that any of his friends should be given liberty to minister to him.
 The Acts	Acts	50	24	24	And some days afterwards, when Felix was there with his wife Drusilla, who was a Jewess, he sent for Paul, and listened to his message about faith in Jesus Christ.
 The Acts	Acts	50	24	25	When he spoke of justice, and continence, and of the judgement that is to come, Felix was terrified; No more of this for the present, he said, I will send for thee when I can find leisure.
 The Acts	Acts	50	24	26	At the same time, he hoped that Paul would offer him a bribe, and for that reason sent for him often, and courted his company.
 The Acts	Acts	50	24	27	So two years passed; then Porcius Festus came as successor to Felix; and Felix, who wished to ingratiate himself with the Jews, left Paul in prison.
 The Acts	Acts	50	25	1	And Festus, three days after entering his province, went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem.
 The Acts	Acts	50	25	2	Here the high priest and the leaders of the Jews put before him their case against Paul, and were urgent with him,
 The Acts	Acts	50	25	3	asking as a favour, that he would summon Paul to Jerusalem; meanwhile they were preparing an ambush, so as to make away with him on the journey.
 The Acts	Acts	50	25	4	But Festus answered that Paul was in safe keeping at Caesarea; he himself would be removing there as soon as possible;
 The Acts	Acts	50	25	5	Let those of you who are men of influence, he said, travel down with me, and bring your charges against this man, if you have anything against him.
 The Acts	Acts	50	25	6	So, when he had spent a week with them, or ten days at most, he went down to Caesarea; and next day, sitting on the judgement-seat, he gave orders for Paul to be brought in.
 The Acts	Acts	50	25	7	When he appeared, there were the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem, standing round him and bringing many grave accusations against him, which they could not prove;
 The Acts	Acts	50	25	8	while Paul said in his defence, I have committed no crime against the Jewish law, or against the temple, or against Caesar.
 The Acts	Acts	50	25	9	But Festus had a mind to ingratiate himself with the Jews, so he answered Paul thus, Art thou ready to go up to Jerusalem, and meet these charges before me there?
 The Acts	Acts	50	25	10	Upon which Paul said, I am standing at Caesar’s judgement-seat, where I have a right to be tried. As for the Jews, I have done them no wrong, as thou knowest well enough.
 The Acts	Acts	50	25	11	If I am guilty, if I have done something which deserves death, I do not ask for reprieve; if their charges are without substance, no one has a right to make them a present of my life. I appeal to Caesar.
 The Acts	Acts	50	25	12	Then Festus conferred with his council, and answered, Hast thou appealed to Caesar? To Caesar thou shalt go.
 The Acts	Acts	50	25	13	Some days later, king Agrippa and Bernice came to Caesarea, to give Festus their greeting,
 The Acts	Acts	50	25	14	and, since he was spending several days there, Festus put Paul’s case before the king; There is a man here, he said, whom Felix left behind him in prison;
 The Acts	Acts	50	25	15	and when I went to Jerusalem the chief priests and elders of the Jews denounced him to me, asking for his condemnation.
 The Acts	Acts	50	25	16	I replied that it is not the Roman custom to pronounce a condemnation, until the accused man has been confronted with his accusers, and been given the opportunity to clear himself of the charge.
 The Acts	Acts	50	25	17	So they came here with me, and I did not keep them waiting; the next day, sitting on the judgement-seat, I gave orders for the man to be brought in.
 The Acts	Acts	50	25	18	His accusers, as they stood round him, could not tax him with any criminal offence, such as I had expected;
 The Acts	Acts	50	25	19	their controversies with him were concerned with scruples of their own, and with a dead man called Jesus, whom Paul declared to be alive.
 The Acts	Acts	50	25	20	For myself, I hesitated to enter upon the discussion of such matters; so I asked whether he was willing to go to Jerusalem, and meet these charges there.
 The Acts	Acts	50	25	21	Upon which Paul appealed to have his case reserved for the emperor’s cognizance; and I gave orders that he should be kept safe until I can send him to Caesar.
 The Acts	Acts	50	25	22	Then Agrippa said to Festus, I have often wished, myself, to hear this man speak. Thou shalt hear him, said he, to-morrow.
 The Acts	Acts	50	25	23	So, on the next day, Agrippa and Bernice came with great pomp, and made their entry into the hall of judgement, attended by the captains and all the eminent persons of the city; and Paul, at Festus’ command, was brought in.
 The Acts	Acts	50	25	24	Then Festus said, King Agrippa, and all you who are present, you see before you a man over whom the whole Jewish body has been petitioning me, not only here but at Jerusalem, crying out that he must not be allowed to live a day longer.
 The Acts	Acts	50	25	25	For myself, I was satisfied that he had not done anything deserving of death; but, since he has appealed to the emperor, I have thought it best to send him,
 The Acts	Acts	50	25	26	and now, writing to my sovereign lord, I have no clear account to give of him. That is why I have brought him before you, and before thee especially, king Agrippa, so that the examination may afford material for my letter.
 The Acts	Acts	50	25	27	It would be unreasonable, I conceive, to remit a prisoner for trial without putting on record the charges that lie against him.
 The Acts	Acts	50	26	1	Then Agrippa said to Paul, Thou art free to give an account of thyself. And Paul, stretching out his hand, began his defence:
 The Acts	Acts	50	26	2	King Agrippa, I count myself fortunate to-day, to be defending myself against all the accusations of the Jews in thy presence.
 The Acts	Acts	50	26	3	No one is more familiar than thou with the customs of the Jews, and their controversies; and this makes me bold to ask thee for a patient audience.
 The Acts	Acts	50	26	4	What my life was like when boyhood was over, spent from the first among my own people and in Jerusalem, all the Jews know;
 The Acts	Acts	50	26	5	their earliest memory of me, would they but admit it, is of one who lived according to the strictest tradition of observance we have, a Pharisee.
 The Acts	Acts	50	26	6	And if I stand here on my trial, it is for my hope of the promise God made to our fathers.
 The Acts	Acts	50	26	7	Our twelve tribes worship him ceaselessly, night and day, in the hope of attaining that promise; and this is the hope, my lord king, for which the Jews call me to account.
 The Acts	Acts	50	26	8	Why should it be beyond the belief of men such as thou art, that God should raise the dead?
 The Acts	Acts	50	26	9	Well then, I thought it my duty to defy, in many ways, the name of Jesus the Nazarene.
 The Acts	Acts	50	26	10	And that is what I did, at Jerusalem; it was I, under powers granted me by the chief priests, who shut up many of the faithful in prison; and when they were done to death, I raised my voice against them.
 The Acts	Acts	50	26	11	Often have I tried to force them into blaspheming, by inflicting punishment on them in one synagogue after another; nay, so unmeasured was my rage against them that I used to go to foreign cities to persecute them.
 The Acts	Acts	50	26	12	It was on such an errand that I was making my way to Damascus, with powers delegated to me by the chief priests,
 The Acts	Acts	50	26	13	when, journeying at midday, I saw, my lord king, a light from heaven, surpassing the brightness of the sun, which shone about me and my companions.
 The Acts	Acts	50	26	14	We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice which said to me, in Hebrew, Saul, Saul, why dost thou persecute me? This is a thankless task of thine, kicking against the goad.
 The Acts	Acts	50	26	15	Who art thou, Lord? I asked. And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom Saul persecutes.
 The Acts	Acts	50	26	16	Rise up, and stand on thy feet; I have shewn myself to thee, that I may single thee out to serve me, as the witness of this vision thou hast had, and other visions thou wilt have of me.
 The Acts	Acts	50	26	17	I will be thy deliverer from the hands of thy people, and of the Gentiles, to whom I am now sending thee.
 The Acts	Acts	50	26	18	Thou shalt open their eyes, and turn them from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive, through faith in me, remission of their sins and an inheritance among the saints.
 The Acts	Acts	50	26	19	Whereupon, king Agrippa, I did not show myself disobedient to the heavenly vision.
 The Acts	Acts	50	26	20	First to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem, then to all the country of Judaea, then to the heathen, I preached repentance, bidding them turn to God, and so act as befits men who are penitent.
 The Acts	Acts	50	26	21	That is why the Jews, when they caught me in the temple, tried to murder me.
 The Acts	Acts	50	26	22	But, thanks to God’s help, I still stand here to-day, bearing my witness to small and great alike. Yet there is nothing in my message which goes beyond what the prophets spoke of, and Moses spoke of, as things to come;
 The Acts	Acts	50	26	23	a suffering Christ, and one who should shew light to his people and to the Gentiles by being the first to rise from the dead.
 The Acts	Acts	50	26	24	When Paul had proceeded so far with his defence, Festus said in a loud voice, Paul, thou art mad; they are driving thee to madness, these long studies of thine.
 The Acts	Acts	50	26	25	But Paul answered, No, most noble Festus, I am not mad; the message which I utter is sober truth.
 The Acts	Acts	50	26	26	The king knows about all this well enough; that is why I speak with such confidence in his presence. None of this, I am sure, is news to him; it was not in some secret corner that all this happened.
 The Acts	Acts	50	26	27	Dost thou believe the prophets, king Agrippa? I am well assured thou dost believe them.
 The Acts	Acts	50	26	28	At this, Agrippa said to Paul, Thou wouldst have me turn Christian with very little ado.
 The Acts	Acts	50	26	29	Why, said Paul, it would be my prayer to God that, whether it were with much ado or little, both thou and all those who are listening to me to-day should become just such as I am, but for these chains.
 The Acts	Acts	50	26	30	Then the king rose, and so did the governor, and Bernice, and all those who sat there with them.
 The Acts	Acts	50	26	31	When they had retired, they said to one another, This man is guilty of no fault that deserves death or imprisonment.
 The Acts	Acts	50	26	32	And Agrippa said to Festus, If he had not appealed to Caesar, this man might have been set at liberty.
 The Acts	Acts	50	27	1	And now word was given for the voyage to Italy, Paul being handed over, with some other prisoners, to a centurion called Julius, who belonged to the Augustan cohort.
 The Acts	Acts	50	27	2	We embarked on a boat from Adrumetum which was bound for the Asiatic ports, and set sail; the Macedonian, Aristarchus, from Thessalonica, was with us.
 The Acts	Acts	50	27	3	Next day we put in at Sidon; and here Julius shewed Paul courtesy by allowing him to visit his friends and be cared for.
 The Acts	Acts	50	27	4	Then, setting sail, we coasted under the lee of Cyprus, to avoid contrary winds,
 The Acts	Acts	50	27	5	but made a straight course over the open sea that lies off Cilicia and Pamphylia, and so reached Lystra in Lycia.
 The Acts	Acts	50	27	6	There the centurion found a boat from Alexandria which was sailing for Italy, and put us on board.
 The Acts	Acts	50	27	7	We had a slow voyage for many days after this; we made Gnidus with difficulty, and then, with the wind beating us back, had to sail under the lee of Crete by way of Salmone.
 The Acts	Acts	50	27	8	Here we were hard put to it to coast along as far as a place called Fair Havens, near the city of Thalassa.
 The Acts	Acts	50	27	9	Much time had now been wasted, and sailing had become dangerous; the fast was already over; and Paul bade them make the best of it.
 The Acts	Acts	50	27	10	Sirs, he said, I can see plainly that there is no sailing now, without injury and great loss, not only of our freight and of the vessel, but of our own lives too.
 The Acts	Acts	50	27	11	The centurion, however, paid more attention to the helmsman and the master than to Paul’s advice.
 The Acts	Acts	50	27	12	The harbour was not well placed for wintering in; so that more of them gave their voices for sailing further still, in the hope of making Phoenice and wintering there; it is a harbour in Crete, which faces in the direction of the South-west and North-west winds.
 The Acts	Acts	50	27	13	A light breeze was now blowing from the South, so that they thought they had achieved their purpose, and coasted along Crete, leaving their anchorage at Assos.
 The Acts	Acts	50	27	14	But it was not long before a gale of wind struck the ship, the wind called Euraquilo;
 The Acts	Acts	50	27	15	she was carried out of her course, and could make no head against the wind, so we gave up and let her drive.
 The Acts	Acts	50	27	16	We now ran under the lee of an island named Cauda, where we contrived, with difficulty, to secure the ship’s boat.
 The Acts	Acts	50	27	17	When it had been hoisted aboard, they strengthened the ship by passing ropes round her; then, for fear of being driven on to the Syrtis sands, they let down the sea-anchor, and so drifted.
 The Acts	Acts	50	27	18	On the next day, so violently were we tossed about in the gale, they lightened ship,
 The Acts	Acts	50	27	19	and on the third, they deliberately threw the spare tackle overboard.
 The Acts	Acts	50	27	20	For several days we saw nothing of the sun or the stars, and a heavy gale pressed us hard, so that we had lost, by now, all hope of surviving;
 The Acts	Acts	50	27	21	and we were much in want of food. And now Paul stood up in their presence, and said, Sirs, you should have taken my advice; if you had not put out from Crete, you would have saved all this injury and damage.
 The Acts	Acts	50	27	22	But I would not have you lose courage, even now; there is to be no loss of life among you, only of the ship.
 The Acts	Acts	50	27	23	An angel stood before me last night, sent by the God to whom I belong, the God whom I serve,
 The Acts	Acts	50	27	24	and said, Have no fear, Paul, thou art to stand in Caesar’s presence; and behold, God has granted thee the safety of all thy fellow voyagers.
 The Acts	Acts	50	27	25	Have courage, then, sirs; I trust in God, believing that all will fall out as he has told me.
 The Acts	Acts	50	27	26	Only we are to be cast up on an island.
 The Acts	Acts	50	27	27	On the fourteenth night, as we drifted about in the Adriatic sea, the crew began to suspect, about midnight, that we were nearing land;
 The Acts	Acts	50	27	28	so they took soundings, and made it twenty fathom; then they sounded again a short distance away, and made it fifteen fathom.
 The Acts	Acts	50	27	29	Afraid, therefore, that we might be cast ashore on some rocky coast, they let down four anchors from the stern, and fell to wishing it were day.
 The Acts	Acts	50	27	30	And now the sailors had a mind to abandon the ship, and lowered the boat into the sea, pretending that they meant to lay out anchors from the bows.
 The Acts	Acts	50	27	31	But Paul told the centurion and the soldiers, These must stay on board, or there is no hope left for you;
 The Acts	Acts	50	27	32	whereupon the soldiers cut the boat’s ropes away and let it drop.
 The Acts	Acts	50	27	33	As day began to break, Paul entreated them all to take some food; To-day, he said, is the fourteenth day you have been in suspense, and all that time gone hungry, neglecting to eat;
 The Acts	Acts	50	27	34	pray take some food, then; it will make for your preservation; not a hair of anyone’s head is to be lost.
 The Acts	Acts	50	27	35	And with that he took bread, and gave thanks to God before them all, and broke it, and began to eat.
 The Acts	Acts	50	27	36	Thereupon they all found courage, and themselves took a meal.
 The Acts	Acts	50	27	37	The whole number of souls on board was two hundred and seventy six.
 The Acts	Acts	50	27	38	So all ate till they were content; and afterwards they began to lighten the ship, throwing the corn into the sea.
 The Acts	Acts	50	27	39	When day broke, they found that the coast was strange to them. But they sighted a bay with a sloping beach, and made up their minds, if it should be possible, to run the ship ashore there.
 The Acts	Acts	50	27	40	They lifted the anchors and trusted themselves to the mercy of the sea, at the same time unlashing the tiller; then they hoisted the foresail to the breeze, and held on for the shore.
 The Acts	Acts	50	27	41	But now, finding they were running into a cross-sea, they grounded the ship where they were. The bows, which were stuck fast, felt no movement, but the stern began falling to pieces under the violence of the waves;
 The Acts	Acts	50	27	42	whereupon the soldiers would have killed the prisoners, for fear that any of them should dive overboard and escape,
 The Acts	Acts	50	27	43	but the centurion balked them of their will, because he had a mind to keep Paul safe. He gave orders that those who could swim should go overboard first, and make their way to land;
 The Acts	Acts	50	27	44	of the rest, some were ferried across on planks, and some on the ship’s wreckage. So it was that all reached land in safety.
 The Acts	Acts	50	28	1	When we were safe on land, we found that the island was called Melita. The kindness which the natives shewed to us was beyond the ordinary;
 The Acts	Acts	50	28	2	they welcomed us all by making a fire for us, because rain was coming on, and it was cold.
 The Acts	Acts	50	28	3	Paul had collected a bundle of faggots and had just put them on the fire, when a viper, coming out to escape the heat, fastened on his hand;
 The Acts	Acts	50	28	4	and the natives, when they saw the beast coiled round his hand, said to one another, This must be some murderer; he has been rescued from the sea, but divine vengeance would not let him live.
 The Acts	Acts	50	28	5	He, meanwhile, shook the beast into the fire, and was none the worse.
 The Acts	Acts	50	28	6	They still waited to see him swell up, or fall down dead on a sudden; but when they had waited a long time, and found that there was nothing amiss with him, they changed their minds, and declared that he must be a god.
 The Acts	Acts	50	28	7	Among the estates in that part were some which belonged to the leading citizen of the island, a man named Publius, who took us in and for three days entertained us hospitably;
 The Acts	Acts	50	28	8	and it so happened that Publius’ father had taken to his bed, laid up with fever and dysentery. Paul, who had gone to visit him, laid his hands upon him with prayer, and healed him;
 The Acts	Acts	50	28	9	whereupon all the other folk in the island who were suffering from infirmities came to him and found a cure.
 The Acts	Acts	50	28	10	These paid us great honour, and when we embarked they loaded us with all the supplies we needed.
 The Acts	Acts	50	28	11	It was at the end of three months that we sailed, in a ship from Alexandria which had wintered at the island; its sign was Castor and Pollux.
 The Acts	Acts	50	28	12	We put in at Syracuse, where we waited for three days;
 The Acts	Acts	50	28	13	then we coasted round the further shore, and so arrived at Rhegium. When we had spent a day there, a South wind came on, and we made Puteoli on the second day out.
 The Acts	Acts	50	28	14	Here we found some brethren, who prevailed on us to stay with them for a week. And so we ended our journey at Rome.
 The Acts	Acts	50	28	15	The brethren there, who had heard our story, came out as far as Appius’ Forum, and on to the Three Taverns, to meet us; Paul gave thanks to God and took courage when he saw them.
 The Acts	Acts	50	28	16	Once we were in Rome, Paul was allowed to have his own residence, which he shared with the soldier who guarded him.
 The Acts	Acts	50	28	17	It was three days later that he called a meeting of the leading men among the Jews. When they had assembled, he told them, Brethren, I am one who has done nothing to the prejudice of our people, or of our ancestral customs; yet, in Jerusalem, they handed me over to the Romans as a prisoner.
 The Acts	Acts	50	28	18	These, when they had examined me, had a mind to release me, since no capital charge lay against me;
 The Acts	Acts	50	28	19	but the Jews cried out against it, and I was forced to appeal to Caesar, though it is not as if I had any fault to find with my own nation.
 The Acts	Acts	50	28	20	That is why I have asked for the opportunity of seeing you and speaking to you. It is because I hope as Israel hopes, that I wear this chain.
 The Acts	Acts	50	28	21	At this they said to him, We have not received any letter about thee from Judaea, nor has any of the brethren come here with any ill report or hard words about thee.
 The Acts	Acts	50	28	22	We ask nothing better than to hear what thy opinions are; all we know of this sect is, that it is everywhere decried.
 The Acts	Acts	50	28	23	So they made an appointment with him, and met him at his lodging in great numbers. And he bore his testimony and told them about the kingdom of God, trying to convince them from Moses and the prophets of what Jesus was, from dawn till dusk.
 The Acts	Acts	50	28	24	Some were convinced by his words, others refused belief;
 The Acts	Acts	50	28	25	and they took their leave still at variance among themselves, but not till Paul had spoken one last word, It was a true utterance the Holy Spirit made to our fathers through the prophet Isaias:
 The Acts	Acts	50	28	26	Go to this people, and tell them, You will listen and listen, but for you there is no understanding; you will watch and watch, but for you there is no perceiving.
 The Acts	Acts	50	28	27	The heart of this people has become dull, their ears are slow to listen, and they keep their eyes shut, so that they may never see with those eyes, or hear with those ears, or understand with that heart, and turn back to me, and win healing from me.
 The Acts	Acts	50	28	28	Take notice, then, that this message of salvation has been sent by God to the Gentiles, and they, at least, will listen to it.
 The Acts	Acts	50	28	29	So much he told the Jews, and then they left him, with much dissension among themselves.
 The Acts	Acts	50	28	30	And for two whole years he lived in a lodging hired at his own expense, and welcomed all who came to visit him,
 The Acts	Acts	50	28	31	proclaiming God’s kingdom, and teaching them the truths which concern our Lord Jesus Christ, boldly enough, without let or hindrance.
 Romans	Rom	51	1	1	It is Paul who writes; a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be his apostle, and set apart to preach the gospel of God.
 Romans	Rom	51	1	2	That gospel, promised long ago by means of his prophets in the holy scriptures,
 Romans	Rom	51	1	3	tells us of his Son, descended, in respect of his human birth, from the line of David,
 Romans	Rom	51	1	4	but, in respect of the sanctified spirit that was his, marked out miraculously as the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead; our Lord Jesus Christ.
 Romans	Rom	51	1	5	It is through him we have received the grace of apostleship; all over the world, men must be taught to honour his name by paying him the homage of their faith,
 Romans	Rom	51	1	6	and you among them, you, who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.
 Romans	Rom	51	1	7	I wish, to all those at Rome whom God loves and has called to be holy, grace and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
 Romans	Rom	51	1	8	And first, I offer thanks to my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, you whose faith is so renowned throughout the world.
 Romans	Rom	51	1	9	The God to whom I address the inner worship of my heart, while I preach the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I make mention of you,
 Romans	Rom	51	1	10	never failing to ask, when I am at my prayers, that somehow, in God’s Providence, I may be granted at last an opportunity of visiting you.
 Romans	Rom	51	1	11	I long to see you, in the hope that I may have some spiritual gift to share with you, so as to strengthen your resolve;
 Romans	Rom	51	1	12	or rather, so that the faith we find in each other, you and I, may be an encouragement to you and to me as well.
 Romans	Rom	51	1	13	I should be sorry, brethren, if you were left in doubt that (although hitherto I have always been prevented) I have often planned to visit you, and to be able to claim some harvest among you, as I can among the Gentiles elsewhere.
 Romans	Rom	51	1	14	I have the same duty to all, Greek and barbarian, learned and simple;
 Romans	Rom	51	1	15	and for my own part I am eager to preach the gospel to you in Rome as I have to others.
 Romans	Rom	51	1	16	I am not ashamed of this gospel. It is an instrument of God’s power, that brings salvation to all who believe in it, Jew first and then Greek.
 Romans	Rom	51	1	17	It reveals God’s way of justifying us, faith first and last; as the scripture says, It is faith that brings life to the just man.
 Romans	Rom	51	1	18	God’s anger is being revealed from heaven; his anger against the impiety and wrong-doing of the men whose wrong-doing denies his truth its full scope.
 Romans	Rom	51	1	19	The knowledge of God is clear to their minds; God himself has made it clear to them;
 Romans	Rom	51	1	20	from the foundations of the world men have caught sight of his invisible nature, his eternal power and his divineness, as they are known through his creatures. Thus there is no excuse for them;
 Romans	Rom	51	1	21	although they had the knowledge of God, they did not honour him or give thanks to him as God; they became fantastic in their notions, and their senseless hearts grew benighted;
 Romans	Rom	51	1	22	they, who claimed to be so wise, turned fools,
 Romans	Rom	51	1	23	and exchanged the glory of the imperishable God for representations of perishable man, of bird and beast and reptile.
 Romans	Rom	51	1	24	That is why God abandoned their lustful hearts to filthy practices of dishonouring their own bodies among themselves.
 Romans	Rom	51	1	25	They had exchanged God’s truth for a lie, reverencing and worshipping the creature in preference to the Creator (blessed is he for ever, Amen);
 Romans	Rom	51	1	26	and, in return, God abandoned them to passions which brought dishonour to themselves. Their women exchanged natural for unnatural intercourse;
 Romans	Rom	51	1	27	and the men, on their side, giving up natural intercourse with women, were burnt up with desire for each other; men practising vileness with their fellow men. Thus they have received a fitting retribution for their false belief.
 Romans	Rom	51	1	28	And as they scorned to keep God in their view, so God has abandoned them to a frame of mind worthy of all scorn, that prompts them to disgraceful acts.
 Romans	Rom	51	1	29	They are versed in every kind of injustice, knavery, impurity, avarice, and ill-will; spiteful, murderous, contentious, deceitful, depraved, backbiters,
 Romans	Rom	51	1	30	slanderers, God’s enemies; insolent, haughty, vainglorious; inventive in wickedness, disobedient to their parents;
 Romans	Rom	51	1	31	without prudence, without honour, without love, without loyalty, without pity.
 Romans	Rom	51	1	32	Yet, with the just decree of God before their minds, they never grasped the truth that those who so live are deserving of death; not only those who commit such acts, but those who countenance such a manner of living.
 Romans	Rom	51	2	1	So, friend, if thou canst see thy neighbour’s faults, no excuse is left thee, whoever thou art; in blaming him, thou dost own thyself guilty, since thou, for all thy blame, livest the same life as he.
 Romans	Rom	51	2	2	We know that God passes unerring judgement upon such lives;
 Romans	Rom	51	2	3	and dost thou, friend, think to escape God’s judgement, thou who dost blame men for living thus, and art guilty of the same acts thyself?
 Romans	Rom	51	2	4	Or is it that thou art presuming on that abundant kindness of his, which bears with thee and waits for thee? Dost thou not know that God’s kindness is inviting thee to repent?
 Romans	Rom	51	2	5	Whereas thou, by the stubborn impenitence of thy heart, dost continue to store up retribution for thyself against the day of retribution, when God will reveal the justice of his judgements.
 Romans	Rom	51	2	6	He will award to every man what his acts have deserved;
 Romans	Rom	51	2	7	eternal life to those who have striven for glory, and honour, and immortality, by perseverance in doing good;
 Romans	Rom	51	2	8	the retribution of his anger to those who are contumacious, rebelling against truth and paying homage to wickedness.
 Romans	Rom	51	2	9	There will be affliction then and distress for every human soul that has practised wickedness, the Jew in the first instance, but the Gentile too;
 Romans	Rom	51	2	10	there will be glory and honour and peace for everyone who has done good, the Jew in the first instance, but the Gentile too.
 Romans	Rom	51	2	11	There are no human preferences with God.
 Romans	Rom	51	2	12	Those who have been sinners without regard to the law will be doomed without regard to the law; those who have been sinners with the law for their rule will be judged with the law for their rule.
 Romans	Rom	51	2	13	To have heard the law read out is no claim to acceptance with God; it is those who obey the law that will be justified.
 Romans	Rom	51	2	14	As for the Gentiles, though they have no law to guide them, there are times when they carry out the precepts of the law unbidden, finding in their own natures a rule to guide them, in default of any other rule;
 Romans	Rom	51	2	15	and this shews that the obligations of the law are written in their hearts; their conscience utters its own testimony, and when they dispute with one another they find themselves condemning this, approving that.
 Romans	Rom	51	2	16	And there will be a day when God (according to the gospel I preach) will pass judgement, through Jesus Christ, on the hidden thoughts of men.
 Romans	Rom	51	2	17	Thou claimest Jewish blood; thou reliest on the law; God is all thy boast;
 Romans	Rom	51	2	18	thou canst tell what is his will, discern what things are of moment, because the law has taught thee.
 Romans	Rom	51	2	19	Thou hast confidence in thyself as one who leads the blind, a light to their darkness;
 Romans	Rom	51	2	20	admonishing the fool, instructing the simple, because in the law thou hast the incarnation of all knowledge and all truth.
 Romans	Rom	51	2	21	Tell me, then, thou who teachest others, hast thou no lesson for thyself? Is it a thief that preaches against stealing,
 Romans	Rom	51	2	22	an adulterer that forbids adultery? Dost thou rob temples, thou, who shrinkest from the touch of an idol?
 Romans	Rom	51	2	23	Thy boast is in the law; wilt thou break the law, to God’s dishonour?
 Romans	Rom	51	2	24	The name of God, says the scripture, has become a reproach among the Gentiles, because of you.
 Romans	Rom	51	2	25	Circumcision, to be sure, is of value, so long as thou keepest the law; but if thou breakest the law, thy circumcision has lost its effect.
 Romans	Rom	51	2	26	And if one who has never been circumcised observes the conditions of the law, does it not follow that he, though uncircumcised, will be reckoned as one who is circumcised?
 Romans	Rom	51	2	27	That he, who keeps the law, though uncircumcised in body, will be able to pass judgement on thee, who breakest the law, though circumcised according to the letter of it?
 Romans	Rom	51	2	28	To be a Jew is not to be a Jew outwardly; to be circumcised is not to be circumcised outwardly, in the flesh.
 Romans	Rom	51	2	29	He is a Jew indeed who is one inwardly; true circumcision is achieved in the heart, according to the spirit, not the letter of the law, for God’s, not for man’s approval.
 Romans	Rom	51	3	1	Of what use is it, then, to be a Jew? What value was there in circumcision?
 Romans	Rom	51	3	2	Much, I answer, in every respect; chiefly because the Jews had the words of God entrusted to them.
 Romans	Rom	51	3	3	Some, to be sure, shewed unfaithfulness on their side; but can we suppose that unfaithfulness on their part will dispense God from his promise? It is not to be thought of;
 Romans	Rom	51	3	4	God must prove true to his word, though all men should play him false; so it is written, Thy dealings were just, and if thou art called in question, thou hast right on thy side.
 Romans	Rom	51	3	5	Thus our fault only serves to bring God’s integrity to light. (Does that mean that God does wrong in punishing us for it?
 Romans	Rom	51	3	6	Impossible again, even according to our human standards; that would mean that God has no right to judge the world;
 Romans	Rom	51	3	7	it would mean that because my deceitfulness has promoted God’s glory by giving scope to his truthfulness, I on my side do not deserve to be condemned as a sinner.
 Romans	Rom	51	3	8	If so, why should we not do evil so that good may come of it? That is what we are accused of preaching by some of our detractors; and their condemnation of it is just.)
 Romans	Rom	51	3	9	Well then, has either side the advantage? In no way. Jews and Gentiles, as we have before alleged, are alike convicted of sin.
 Romans	Rom	51	3	10	Thus, it is written, There is not an innocent man among them, no, not one.
 Romans	Rom	51	3	11	There is nobody who reflects, and searches for God;
 Romans	Rom	51	3	12	all alike are on the wrong course, all are wasted lives; not one of them acts honourably, no, not one.
 Romans	Rom	51	3	13	Their mouths are gaping tombs, they use their tongues to flatter. Under their lips the venom of asps is hidden.
 Romans	Rom	51	3	14	Their talk overflows with curses and calumny.
 Romans	Rom	51	3	15	They run hot-foot to shed blood;
 Romans	Rom	51	3	16	havoc and ruin follow in their path;
 Romans	Rom	51	3	17	the way of peace is unknown to them.
 Romans	Rom	51	3	18	They do not keep the fear of God before their eyes.
 Romans	Rom	51	3	19	So the law says, and we know that the words of the law are meant for the law’s own subjects; it is determined that no one shall have anything to say for himself, that the whole world shall own itself liable to God’s judgements.
 Romans	Rom	51	3	20	No human creature can become acceptable in his sight by observing the law; what the law does is to give us the full consciousness of sin.
 Romans	Rom	51	3	21	But, in these days, God’s way of justification has at last been brought to light; one which was attested by the law and the prophets, but stands apart from the law;
 Romans	Rom	51	3	22	God’s way of justification through faith in Jesus Christ, meant for everybody and sent down upon everybody without distinction, if he has faith.
 Romans	Rom	51	3	23	All alike have sinned, all alike are unworthy of God’s praise.
 Romans	Rom	51	3	24	And justification comes to us as a free gift from his grace, through our redemption in Christ Jesus.
 Romans	Rom	51	3	25	God has offered him to us as a means of reconciliation, in virtue of faith, ransoming us with his blood. Thus God has vindicated his own holiness, shewing us why he overlooked our former sins
 Romans	Rom	51	3	26	in the days of his forbearance; and he has also vindicated the holiness of Jesus Christ, here and now, as one who is himself holy, and imparts holiness to those who take their stand upon faith in him.
 Romans	Rom	51	3	27	What has become, then, of thy pride? No room has been left for it. On what principle? The principle which depends on observances? No, the principle which depends on faith;
 Romans	Rom	51	3	28	our contention is, that a man is justified by faith apart from the observances of the law.
 Romans	Rom	51	3	29	Is God the God of the Jews only? Is he not the God of the Gentiles too? Of the Gentiles too, assuredly;
 Romans	Rom	51	3	30	there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised man if he learns to believe, and the Gentile because he believes.
 Romans	Rom	51	3	31	Does that mean that we are using faith to rob the law of its force? No, we are setting the law on its right footing.
 Romans	Rom	51	4	1	What, for instance, shall we say of Abraham, our forefather by human descent? What kind of blessing did he win?
 Romans	Rom	51	4	2	If it was by observances that Abraham attained his justification, he, to be sure, has something to be proud of. But it was not so in God’s sight;
 Romans	Rom	51	4	3	what does the scripture tell us? Abraham put his faith in God, and it was reckoned virtue in him.
 Romans	Rom	51	4	4	The reward given to one who works to earn it is not reckoned as a favour, it is reckoned as his due.
 Romans	Rom	51	4	5	When a man’s faith is reckoned virtue in him, according to God’s gracious plan, it is not because of anything he does; it is because he has faith, faith in the God who makes a just man of the sinner.
 Romans	Rom	51	4	6	So, too, David pronounces his blessing on the man whom God accepts, without any mention of observances:
 Romans	Rom	51	4	7	Blessed are those who have all their faults forgiven, all their transgressions buried away;
 Romans	Rom	51	4	8	blessed is the man who is not a sinner in the Lord’s reckoning.
 Romans	Rom	51	4	9	This blessing, then, does it fall only on those who are circumcised, or on the uncircumcised as well? We saw that Abraham’s faith was reckoned virtue in him.
 Romans	Rom	51	4	10	And in what state of things was that reckoning made? Was he circumcised or uncircumcised at the time? Uncircumcised, not circumcised yet.
 Romans	Rom	51	4	11	Circumcision was only given to him as a token; as the seal of that justification which came to him through his faith while he was still uncircumcised. And thus he is the father of all those who, still uncircumcised, have the faith that will be reckoned virtue in them too.
 Romans	Rom	51	4	12	Meanwhile, he is the father of those who are circumcised, as long as they do not merely take their stand on circumcision, but follow in the steps of that faith which he, our father Abraham, had before circumcision began.
 Romans	Rom	51	4	13	It was not through obedience to the law, but through faith justifying them, that Abraham and his posterity were promised the inheritance of the world.
 Romans	Rom	51	4	14	If it is only those who obey the law that receive the inheritance, then his faith was ill founded, and the promise has been annulled.
 Romans	Rom	51	4	15	(The effect of the law is only to bring God’s displeasure upon us; it is only where there is a law that transgression becomes possible.)
 Romans	Rom	51	4	16	The inheritance, then, must come through faith (and so by free gift); thus the promise is made good to all Abraham’s posterity, not only that posterity of his which keeps the law, but that which imitates his faith. We are all Abraham’s children;
 Romans	Rom	51	4	17	and so it was written of him, I have made thee the father of many nations. We are his children in the sight of God, in whom he put his faith, who can raise the dead to life, and send his call to that which has no being, as if it already were.
 Romans	Rom	51	4	18	Abraham, then, believed, hoping against hope; and thus became the father of many nations; Like these, he was told, thy posterity shall be.
 Romans	Rom	51	4	19	There was no wavering in his faith; he gave no thought to the want of life in his own body, though he was nearly a hundred years old at the time, nor to the deadness of Sara’s womb;
 Romans	Rom	51	4	20	he shewed no hesitation or doubt at God’s promise, but drew strength from his faith, confessing God’s power,
 Romans	Rom	51	4	21	fully convinced that God was able to perform what he had promised.
 Romans	Rom	51	4	22	This, then, was reckoned virtue in him;
 Romans	Rom	51	4	23	and the words, It was reckoned virtue in him, were not written of him only;
 Romans	Rom	51	4	24	they were written of us too. It will be reckoned virtue in us, if we believe in God as having raised our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead:
 Romans	Rom	51	4	25	handed over to death for our sins, and raised to life for our justification.
 Romans	Rom	51	5	1	Once justified, then, on the ground of our faith, let us enjoy peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
 Romans	Rom	51	5	2	as it was through him that we have obtained access, by faith, to that grace in which we stand. We are confident in the hope of attaining glory as the sons of God;
 Romans	Rom	51	5	3	nay, we are confident even over our afflictions, knowing well that affliction gives rise to endurance,
 Romans	Rom	51	5	4	and endurance gives proof of our faith, and a proved faith gives ground for hope.
 Romans	Rom	51	5	5	Nor does this hope delude us; the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom we have received.
 Romans	Rom	51	5	6	Were that hope vain, why did Christ, in his own appointed time, undergo death for us sinners, while we were still powerless to help ourselves?
 Romans	Rom	51	5	7	It is hard enough to find anyone who will die on behalf of a just man, although perhaps there may be those who will face death for one so deserving.
 Romans	Rom	51	5	8	But here, as if God meant to prove how well he loves us, it was while we were still sinners
 Romans	Rom	51	5	9	that Christ, in his own appointed time, died for us. All the more surely, then, now that we have found justification through his blood, shall we be saved, through him, from God’s displeasure.
 Romans	Rom	51	5	10	Enemies of God, we were reconciled to him through his Son’s death; reconciled to him, we are surer than ever of finding salvation in his Son’s life.
 Romans	Rom	51	5	11	And, what is more, we can boast of God’s protection; always through our Lord Jesus Christ, since it is through him that we have attained our reconciliation.
 Romans	Rom	51	5	12	It was through one man that guilt came into the world; and, since death came owing to guilt, death was handed on to all mankind by one man. (All alike were guilty men;
 Romans	Rom	51	5	13	there was guilt in the world before ever the law of Moses was given. Now, it is only where there is a law to transgress that guilt is imputed,
 Romans	Rom	51	5	14	and yet we see death reigning in the world from Adam’s time to the time of Moses, over men who were not themselves guilty of transgressing a law, as Adam was.) In this, Adam was the type of him who was to come.
 Romans	Rom	51	5	15	Only, the grace which came to us was out of all proportion to the fault. If this one man’s fault brought death on a whole multitude, all the more lavish was God’s grace, shewn to a whole multitude, that free gift he made us in the grace brought by one man, Jesus Christ.
 Romans	Rom	51	5	16	The extent of the gift is not as if it followed a single guilty act; the sentence which brought us condemnation arose out of one man’s action, whereas the pardon that brings us acquittal arises out of a multitude of faults.
 Romans	Rom	51	5	17	And if death began its reign through one man, owing to one man’s fault, more fruitful still is the grace, the gift of justification, which bids men enjoy a reign of life through one man, Jesus Christ.
 Romans	Rom	51	5	18	Well then, one man commits a fault, and it brings condemnation upon all; one man makes amends, and it brings to all justification, that is, life.
 Romans	Rom	51	5	19	A multitude will become acceptable to God through one man’s obedience, just as a multitude, through one man’s disobedience, became guilty.
 Romans	Rom	51	5	20	The law intervened, only to amplify our fault; but, as our fault was amplified, grace has been more amply bestowed than ever;
 Romans	Rom	51	5	21	that so, where guilt held its reign of death, justifying grace should reign instead, to bring us eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
 Romans	Rom	51	6	1	Does it follow that we ought to go on sinning, to give still more occasion for grace?
 Romans	Rom	51	6	2	God forbid. We have died, once for all, to sin; can we breathe its air again?
 Romans	Rom	51	6	3	You know well enough that we who were taken up into Christ by baptism have been taken up, all of us, into his death.
 Romans	Rom	51	6	4	In our baptism, we have been buried with him, died like him, that so, just as Christ was raised up by his Father’s power from the dead, we too might live and move in a new kind of existence.
 Romans	Rom	51	6	5	We have to be closely fitted into the pattern of his resurrection, as we have been into the pattern of his death;
 Romans	Rom	51	6	6	we have to be sure of this, that our former nature has been crucified with him, and the living power of our guilt annihilated, so that we are the slaves of guilt no longer.
 Romans	Rom	51	6	7	Guilt makes no more claim on a man who is dead.
 Romans	Rom	51	6	8	And if we have died with Christ, we have faith to believe that we shall share his life.
 Romans	Rom	51	6	9	We know that Christ, now he has risen from the dead, cannot die any more; death has no more power over him;
 Romans	Rom	51	6	10	the death he died was a death, once for all, to sin; the life he now lives is a life that looks towards God.
 Romans	Rom	51	6	11	And you, too, must think of yourselves as dead to sin, and alive with a life that looks towards God, through Christ Jesus our Lord.
 Romans	Rom	51	6	12	You must not, then, allow sin to tyrannize over your perishable bodies, to make you subject to its appetites.
 Romans	Rom	51	6	13	You must not make your bodily powers over to sin, to be the instruments of harm; make yourselves over to God, as men who have been dead and come to life again; make your bodily powers over to God, to be the instruments of right-doing.
 Romans	Rom	51	6	14	Sin will not be able to play the master over you any longer; you serve grace now, not the law.
 Romans	Rom	51	6	15	And if it is grace, not the law, we serve, are we therefore to fall into sin? God forbid.
 Romans	Rom	51	6	16	You know well enough that wherever you give a slave’s consent, you prove yourselves the slaves of that master; slaves of sin, marked out for death, or slaves of obedience, marked out for justification.
 Romans	Rom	51	6	17	And you, thanks be to God, although you were the slaves of sin once, accepted obedience with all your hearts, true to the pattern of teaching to which you are now engaged.
 Romans	Rom	51	6	18	Thus you escaped from the bondage of sin, and became the slaves of right-doing instead.
 Romans	Rom	51	6	19	I am speaking in the language of common life, because nature is still strong in you. Just as you once made over your natural powers as slaves to impurity and wickedness, till all was wickedness, you must now make over your natural powers as slaves to right-doing, till all is sanctified.
 Romans	Rom	51	6	20	At the time when you were the slaves of sin, right-doing had no claim upon you.
 Romans	Rom	51	6	21	And what harvest were you then reaping, from acts which now make you blush? Their reward is death.
 Romans	Rom	51	6	22	Now that you are free from the claims of sin, and have become God’s slaves instead, you have a harvest in your sanctification, and your reward is eternal life.
 Romans	Rom	51	6	23	Sin offers death, for wages; God offers us eternal life as a free gift, through Christ Jesus our Lord.
 Romans	Rom	51	7	1	You must surely be aware, brethren (I am speaking to men who have some knowledge of law) that legal claims are only binding on a man so long as he is alive.
 Romans	Rom	51	7	2	A married woman, for instance, is bound by law to her husband while he lives; if she is widowed, she is quit of her husband’s claim on her;
 Romans	Rom	51	7	3	she will be held an adulteress if she gives herself to another man during her husband’s lifetime, but once he is dead she is quit of his claim, and can give herself to another man without adultery.
 Romans	Rom	51	7	4	Well, brethren, you too have undergone death, as far as the law is concerned, in the person of Christ crucified, so that you now belong to another, to him who rose from the dead. We yield increase to God,
 Romans	Rom	51	7	5	whereas, when we were merely our natural selves, the sinful passions to which the law bound us worked on our natural powers, so as to yield increase only to death.
 Romans	Rom	51	7	6	Now we are quit of the claim which death had on us, so that we can do service in a new manner, according to the spirit, not according to the letter as of old.
 Romans	Rom	51	7	7	Does this mean that law and guilt are the same thing? God forbid we should say that. But it was only the law that gave me my knowledge of sin; I should not even have known concupiscence for what it is, if the law had not told me, Thou shalt not covet.
 Romans	Rom	51	7	8	But the sense of sin, with the law’s ban for its foothold, produced in me every sort of concupiscence. Without the law, the sense of sin is a dead thing.
 Romans	Rom	51	7	9	At first, without the law, I was alive; then, when the law came with its ban, the sense of sin found new life,
 Romans	Rom	51	7	10	and with that, I died. The ban, which was meant to bring life, proved death to me;
 Romans	Rom	51	7	11	the sense of sin, with the law’s ban for its foothold, caught me unawares, and by that means killed me.
 Romans	Rom	51	7	12	The law, to be sure, is something holy; the ban is holy, and right, and good.
 Romans	Rom	51	7	13	A good thing, and did it prove death to me? God forbid we should say that. No, it was sin that produced death in me, using this good thing to make itself appear as sin indeed, sin made more sinful than ever by the ban imposed on it.
 Romans	Rom	51	7	14	The law, as we know, is something spiritual; I am a thing of flesh and blood, sold into the slavery of sin.
 Romans	Rom	51	7	15	My own actions bewilder me; what I do is not what I wish to do, but something which I hate.
 Romans	Rom	51	7	16	Why then, if what I do is something I have no wish to do, I thereby admit that the law is worthy of all honour;
 Romans	Rom	51	7	17	meanwhile, my action does not come from me, but from the sinful principle that dwells in me.
 Romans	Rom	51	7	18	Of this I am certain, that no principle of good dwells in me, that is, in my natural self; praiseworthy intentions are always ready to hand, but I cannot find my way to the performance of them;
 Romans	Rom	51	7	19	it is not the good my will prefers, but the evil my will disapproves, that I find myself doing.
 Romans	Rom	51	7	20	And if what I do is something I have not the will to do, it cannot be I that bring it about, it must be the sinful principle that dwells in me.
 Romans	Rom	51	7	21	This, then, is what I find about the law, that evil is close at my side, when my will is to do what is praiseworthy.
 Romans	Rom	51	7	22	Inwardly, I applaud God’s disposition,
 Romans	Rom	51	7	23	but I observe another disposition in my lower self, which raises war against the disposition of my conscience, and so I am handed over as a captive to that disposition towards sin which my lower self contains.
 Romans	Rom	51	7	24	Pitiable creature that I am, who is to set me free from a nature thus doomed to death?
 Romans	Rom	51	7	25	Nothing else than the grace of God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. If I am left to myself, my conscience is at God’s disposition, but my natural powers are at the disposition of sin.
 Romans	Rom	51	8	1	Well then, no judgement stands now against those who live in Christ Jesus, not following the ways of flesh and blood.
 Romans	Rom	51	8	2	The spiritual principle of life has set me free, in Christ Jesus, from the principle of sin and of death.
 Romans	Rom	51	8	3	There was something the law could not do, because flesh and blood could not lend it the power; and this God has done, by sending us his own Son, in the fashion of our guilty nature, to make amends for our guilt. He has signed the death-warrant of sin in our nature,
 Romans	Rom	51	8	4	so that we should be fully quit of the law’s claim, we, who follow the ways of the spirit, not the ways of flesh and blood.
 Romans	Rom	51	8	5	To live the life of nature is to think the thoughts of nature; to live the life of the spirit is to think the thoughts of the spirit;
 Romans	Rom	51	8	6	and natural wisdom brings only death, whereas the wisdom of the spirit brings life and peace.
 Romans	Rom	51	8	7	That is because natural wisdom is at enmity with God, not submitting itself to his law; it is impossible that it should.
 Romans	Rom	51	8	8	Those who live the life of nature cannot be acceptable to God;
 Romans	Rom	51	8	9	but you live the life of the spirit, not the life of nature; that is, if the Spirit of God dwells in you. A man cannot belong to Christ unless he has the Spirit of Christ.
 Romans	Rom	51	8	10	But if Christ lives in you, then although the body be a dead thing in virtue of our guilt, the spirit is a living thing, by virtue of our justification.
 Romans	Rom	51	8	11	And if the Spirit of him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised up Jesus Christ from the dead will give life to your perishable bodies too, for the sake of his Spirit who dwells in you.
 Romans	Rom	51	8	12	Thus, brethren, nature has no longer any claim upon us, that we should live a life of nature.
 Romans	Rom	51	8	13	If you live a life of nature, you are marked out for death; if you mortify the ways of nature through the power of the Spirit, you will have life.
 Romans	Rom	51	8	14	Those who follow the leading of God’s Spirit are all God’s sons;
 Romans	Rom	51	8	15	the spirit you have now received is not, as of old, a spirit of slavery, to govern you by fear; it is the spirit of adoption, which makes us cry out, Abba, Father.
 Romans	Rom	51	8	16	The Spirit himself thus assures our spirit, that we are children of God;
 Romans	Rom	51	8	17	and if we are his children, then we are his heirs too; heirs of God, sharing the inheritance of Christ; only we must share his sufferings, if we are to share his glory.
 Romans	Rom	51	8	18	Not that I count these present sufferings as the measure of that glory which is to be revealed in us.
 Romans	Rom	51	8	19	If creation is full of expectancy, that is because it is waiting for the sons of God to be made known.
 Romans	Rom	51	8	20	Created nature has been condemned to frustration; not for some deliberate fault of its own, but for the sake of him who so condemned it, with a hope to look forward to;
 Romans	Rom	51	8	21	namely, that nature in its turn will be set free from the tyranny of corruption, to share in the glorious freedom of God’s sons.
 Romans	Rom	51	8	22	The whole of nature, as we know, groans in a common travail all the while.
 Romans	Rom	51	8	23	And not only do we see that, but we ourselves do the same; we ourselves, although we have already begun to reap our spiritual harvest, groan in our hearts, waiting for that adoption which is the ransoming of our bodies from their slavery.
 Romans	Rom	51	8	24	It must be so, since our salvation is founded upon the hope of something. Hope would not be hope at all if its object were in view; how could a man still hope for something which he sees?
 Romans	Rom	51	8	25	And if we are hoping for something still unseen, then we need endurance to wait for it.
 Romans	Rom	51	8	26	Only, as before, the Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness; when we do not know what prayer to offer, to pray as we ought, the Spirit himself intercedes for us, with groans beyond all utterance:
 Romans	Rom	51	8	27	and God, who can read our hearts, knows well what the Spirit’s intent is; for indeed it is according to the mind of God that he makes intercession for the saints.
 Romans	Rom	51	8	28	Meanwhile, we are well assured that everything helps to secure the good of those who love God, those whom he has called in fulfilment of his design.
 Romans	Rom	51	8	29	All those who from the first were known to him, he has destined from the first to be moulded into the image of his Son, who is thus to become the eldest-born among many brethren.
 Romans	Rom	51	8	30	So predestined, he called them; so called, he justified them; so justified, he glorified them.
 Romans	Rom	51	8	31	When that is said, what follows? Who can be our adversary, if God is on our side?
 Romans	Rom	51	8	32	He did not even spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all; and must not that gift be accompanied by the gift of all else?
 Romans	Rom	51	8	33	Who will come forward to accuse God’s elect, when God acquits us?
 Romans	Rom	51	8	34	Who will pass sentence against us, when Jesus Christ, who died, nay, has risen again, and sits at the right hand of God, is pleading for us?
 Romans	Rom	51	8	35	Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will affliction, or distress, or persecution, or hunger, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword?
 Romans	Rom	51	8	36	For thy sake, says the scripture, we face death at every moment, reckoned no better than sheep marked down for slaughter.
 Romans	Rom	51	8	37	Yet in all this we are conquerors, through him who has granted us his love.
 Romans	Rom	51	8	38	Of this I am fully persuaded; neither death nor life, no angels or principalities or powers, neither what is present nor what is to come, no force whatever,
 Romans	Rom	51	8	39	neither the height above us nor the depth beneath us, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which comes to us in Christ Jesus our Lord.
 Romans	Rom	51	9	1	I am not deceiving you, I am telling you the truth in Christ’s name, with the full assurance of a conscience enlightened by the Holy Spirit,
 Romans	Rom	51	9	2	when I tell you of the great sorrow, the continual anguish I feel in my heart,
 Romans	Rom	51	9	3	and how it has ever been my wish that I myself might be doomed to separation from Christ, if that would benefit my brethren, my own kinsmen by race.
 Romans	Rom	51	9	4	They are Israelites, adopted as God’s sons; the visible presence, and the covenant, and the giving of the law, and the Temple worship, and the promises, are their inheritance;
 Romans	Rom	51	9	5	the patriarchs belong to them, and theirs is the human stock from which Christ came; Christ, who rules as God over all things, blessed for ever, Amen.
 Romans	Rom	51	9	6	And yet it is not as if God’s promise had failed of its effect. Not all those who are sprung from Israel are truly Israelites;
 Romans	Rom	51	9	7	not all the posterity of Abraham are Abraham’s children; It is through Isaac, he was told, that thy posterity shall be traced.
 Romans	Rom	51	9	8	That is to say, God’s sonship is not for all those who are Abraham’s children by natural descent; it is only the children given to him as the result of God’s promise that are to be counted as his posterity.
 Romans	Rom	51	9	9	It was a promise God made, when he said, When this season comes round again, I will visit thee, and Sara shall have a son.
 Romans	Rom	51	9	10	And not only she, but Rebecca too received a promise, when she bore two sons to the same husband, our father Isaac.
 Romans	Rom	51	9	11	They had not yet been born; they had done nothing, good or evil; and already, so that God’s purpose might stand out clearly as his own choice,
 Romans	Rom	51	9	12	with no action of theirs to account for it, nothing but his will, from whom the call came, she was told, The elder is to be the servant of the younger.
 Romans	Rom	51	9	13	So it is that we read, I have been a friend to Jacob, and an enemy to Esau.
 Romans	Rom	51	9	14	What does this mean? That God acts unjustly? That is not to be thought of.
 Romans	Rom	51	9	15	I will shew pity, he tells Moses, on those whom I pity; I will shew mercy where I am merciful;
 Romans	Rom	51	9	16	the effect comes, then, from God’s mercy, not from man’s will, or man’s alacrity.
 Romans	Rom	51	9	17	Pharao, too, is told in scripture, This is the very reason why I have made thee what thou art, so as to give proof, in thee, of my power, and to let my name be known all over the earth.
 Romans	Rom	51	9	18	Thus he shews mercy where it is his will, and where it is his will he hardens men’s hearts.
 Romans	Rom	51	9	19	Hereupon thou wilt ask, If that is so, how can he find fault with us, since there is no resisting his will?
 Romans	Rom	51	9	20	Nay, but who art thou, friend, to bandy words with God? Is the pot to ask the potter, Why hast thou fashioned me thus?
 Romans	Rom	51	9	21	Is not the potter free to do what he will with the clay, using the same lump to make two objects, one for noble and one for ignoble use?
 Romans	Rom	51	9	22	It may be that God has borne, long and patiently, with those who are the objects of his vengeance, fit only for destruction, meaning to give proof of that vengeance, and display his power at last;
 Romans	Rom	51	9	23	meaning also to display, in those who are the objects of his mercy, how rich is the glory he bestows, that glory for which he has destined them.
 Romans	Rom	51	9	24	We are the objects of his mercy; we, whom he has called, Jews and Gentiles alike.
 Romans	Rom	51	9	25	That is what he says in the book of Osee, Those who were no people of mine, I will call my people; she who was unpitied and unloved shall be loved and pitied.
 Romans	Rom	51	9	26	In places where they used to be told, You are no people of mine, they will be called, now, sons of the living God.
 Romans	Rom	51	9	27	And, where Israel is concerned, Isaias cries out, The number of the sons of Israel may be like the sand of the sea, but it is a remnant that will be left;
 Romans	Rom	51	9	28	the Lord is making up his reckoning and cutting it short in his justice; it is a short reckoning that he will make upon earth.
 Romans	Rom	51	9	29	So Isaias had said earlier on, If the Lord of Hosts had not left us a stock to breed from, we should have been like Sodom, we should have gone the way of Gomorrah.
 Romans	Rom	51	9	30	What do we conclude, then? Why, that the Gentiles, who never aimed at justifying themselves, attained justification, the justification which comes of faith;
 Romans	Rom	51	9	31	whereas the Israelites aimed at a disposition which should justify them, and never reached it.
 Romans	Rom	51	9	32	Why was this? Because they hoped to derive their justification from observance, not from faith. They tripped on the stone which trips men’s feet;
 Romans	Rom	51	9	33	so we read in scripture, Behold, I am setting down in Sion one who is a stone to trip men’s feet, a boulder to catch them unawares; those who believe in him will not be disappointed.
 Romans	Rom	51	10	1	Brethren, they have all the good will of my heart, all my prayers to God, for their salvation.
 Romans	Rom	51	10	2	That they are jealous for God’s honour, I can testify; but it is with imperfect understanding.
 Romans	Rom	51	10	3	They did not recognize God’s way of justification, and so they tried to institute a way of their own, instead of submitting to his.
 Romans	Rom	51	10	4	Christ has superseded the law, bringing justification to anyone who will believe.
 Romans	Rom	51	10	5	The account which Moses gives of that justification which comes from the law, is that a man will find life in its commandments if he observes them.
 Romans	Rom	51	10	6	But the justification which comes from faith makes a different claim; Do not say, Who will scale heaven for us? (as if we had to bring Christ down to earth),
 Romans	Rom	51	10	7	or, Who will go down into the depth for us? (as if we had to bring Christ back from the dead).
 Romans	Rom	51	10	8	No, says the scripture, the message is close to thy hand, it is on thy lips, it is in thy heart; meaning by that the message of faith, which we preach.
 Romans	Rom	51	10	9	Thou canst find salvation, if thou wilt use thy lips to confess that Jesus is the Lord, and thy heart to believe that God has raised him up from the dead.
 Romans	Rom	51	10	10	The heart has only to believe, if we are to be justified; the lips have only to make confession, if we are to be saved.
 Romans	Rom	51	10	11	That is what the scripture says, Anyone who believes in him will not be disappointed.
 Romans	Rom	51	10	12	There is no distinction made here between Jew and Gentile; all alike have one Lord, and he has enough and to spare for all those who call upon him.
 Romans	Rom	51	10	13	Every one who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.
 Romans	Rom	51	10	14	Only, how are they to call upon him until they have learned to believe in him? And how are they to believe in him, until they listen to him? And how can they listen, without a preacher to listen to?
 Romans	Rom	51	10	15	And how can there be preachers, unless preachers are sent on their errand? So we read in scripture, How welcome is the coming of those who tell of peace, who tell of good news.
 Romans	Rom	51	10	16	True, there are some who have not obeyed the call of the gospel; so Isaias says, Lord, who has given us a faithful hearing?
 Romans	Rom	51	10	17	(See how faith comes from hearing; and hearing through Christ’s word.)
 Romans	Rom	51	10	18	But, tell me, did the news never come to them? Why, yes; the utterance fills every land, the message reaches the ends of the world.
 Romans	Rom	51	10	19	And, tell me, was not Israel warned of it? Why, there is a saying that goes back to Moses, I will make them jealous of a nation that is no nation at all; I will put rivalry between them and a nation which has never learnt wisdom.
 Romans	Rom	51	10	20	And Isaias speaks out boldly, Those who never looked for me have found me; I have made myself known to those who never asked for word of me;
 Romans	Rom	51	10	21	and he says of Israel, I have stretched out my hands all day to a people that refuses obedience and cries out against me.
 Romans	Rom	51	11	1	Tell me, then, has God disowned his people? That is not to be thought of. Why, I am an Israelite myself, descended from Abraham; Benjamin is my tribe.
 Romans	Rom	51	11	2	No, God has not disowned the people which, from the first, he recognized as his. Do you not remember what scripture tells us about Elias? The complaint, I mean, which he made before God about Israel:
 Romans	Rom	51	11	3	Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and overthrown thy altars; I am the only one left, and my life, too, is threatened.
 Romans	Rom	51	11	4	And what does the divine revelation tell him? There are seven thousand men I have kept true to myself, with knees that never bowed to Baal.
 Romans	Rom	51	11	5	So it is in our time; a remnant has remained true; grace has chosen it.
 Romans	Rom	51	11	6	And if it is due to grace, then it is not due to observance of the law; if it were, grace would be no grace at all.
 Romans	Rom	51	11	7	What does it mean, then? Why, that Israel has missed its mark; only this chosen remnant has attained it, while the rest were blinded;
 Romans	Rom	51	11	8	so we read in scripture, God has numbed their senses, given them unseeing eyes and deaf ears, to this day.
 Romans	Rom	51	11	9	David, too, says, Let their feasting be turned into a trap, a snare, a spring to recoil upon them;
 Romans	Rom	51	11	10	let their eyes be dim, so that they cannot see, keep their backs bowed down continually.
 Romans	Rom	51	11	11	Tell me, then, have they stumbled so as to fall altogether? God forbid; the result of their false step has been to bring the Gentiles salvation, and the result of that must be to rouse the Jews to emulate them.
 Romans	Rom	51	11	12	Why then, if their false step has enriched the world, if the Gentiles have been enriched by their default, what must we expect, when it is made good?
 Romans	Rom	51	11	13	(I am speaking now to you Gentiles.) As long as my apostolate is to the Gentiles, I mean to make much of my office,
 Romans	Rom	51	11	14	in the hope of stirring up my own flesh and blood to emulation, and saving some of them.
 Romans	Rom	51	11	15	If the losing of them has meant a world reconciled to God, what can the winning of them mean, but life risen from the dead?
 Romans	Rom	51	11	16	When the first loaf is consecrated, the whole batch is consecrated with it; so, when the root is consecrated, the branches are consecrated too.
 Romans	Rom	51	11	17	The branches have been thinned out, and thou, a wild olive, hast been grafted in among them; sharest, with them, the root and the richness of the true olive.
 Romans	Rom	51	11	18	That is no reason why thou shouldst boast thyself better than the branches; remember, in thy mood of boastfulness, that thou owest life to the root, not the root to thee.
 Romans	Rom	51	11	19	Branches were cut away, thou wilt tell me, so that I might be grafted in.
 Romans	Rom	51	11	20	True enough, but it was for want of faith that they were cut away, and it is only faith that keeps thee where thou art; thou hast no reason for pride, rather for fear;
 Romans	Rom	51	11	21	God was unforgiving with the branches that were native to the tree, what if he should find occasion to be unforgiving with thee too?
 Romans	Rom	51	11	22	There is graciousness, then, in God, and there is also severity. His severity is for those who have fallen away, his graciousness is for thee, only so long as thou dost continue in his grace; if not, thou too shalt be pruned away.
 Romans	Rom	51	11	23	Just so they too will be grafted in, if they do not continue in their unbelief; to graft them in afresh is not beyond God’s power.
 Romans	Rom	51	11	24	Indeed, it was against nature when thou wast grafted on to the true olive’s stock, thou, who wert native to the wild olive; it will be all the easier for him to graft these natural branches on to their own parent stock.
 Romans	Rom	51	11	25	I must not fail, brethren, to make this revelation known to you; or else you might have too good a conceit of yourselves. Blindness has fallen upon a part of Israel, but only until the tale of the Gentile nations is complete;
 Romans	Rom	51	11	26	then the whole of Israel will find salvation, as we read in scripture, A deliverer shall come from Sion, to rid Jacob of his unfaithfulness;
 Romans	Rom	51	11	27	and this shall be the fulfilment of my covenant with them, when I take away their sins.
 Romans	Rom	51	11	28	In the preaching of the gospel, God rejects them, to make room for you; but in his elective purpose he still welcomes them, for the sake of their fathers;
 Romans	Rom	51	11	29	God does not repent of the gifts he makes, or of the calls he issues.
 Romans	Rom	51	11	30	You were once rebels, until through their rebellion you obtained pardon;
 Romans	Rom	51	11	31	they are rebels now, obtaining pardon for you, only to be pardoned in their turn.
 Romans	Rom	51	11	32	Thus God has abandoned all men to their rebellion, only to include them all in his pardon.
 Romans	Rom	51	11	33	How deep is the mine of God’s wisdom, of his knowledge; how inscrutable are his judgements, how undiscoverable his ways!
 Romans	Rom	51	11	34	Who has ever understood the Lord’s thoughts, or been his counsellor?
 Romans	Rom	51	11	35	Who ever was the first to give, and so earned his favours?
 Romans	Rom	51	11	36	All things find in him their origin, their impulse, the centre of their being; to him be glory throughout all ages, Amen.
 Romans	Rom	51	12	1	And now, brethren, I appeal to you by God’s mercies to offer up your bodies as a living sacrifice, consecrated to God and worthy of his acceptance; this is the worship due from you as rational creatures.
 Romans	Rom	51	12	2	And you must not fall in with the manners of this world; there must be an inward change, a remaking of your minds, so that you can satisfy yourselves what is God’s will, the good thing, the desirable thing, the perfect thing.
 Romans	Rom	51	12	3	Thus, in virtue of the grace that is given me, I warn every man who is of your company not to think highly of himself, beyond his just estimation, but to have a sober esteem of himself, according to the measure of faith which God has apportioned to each.
 Romans	Rom	51	12	4	Each of us has one body, with many different parts, and not all these parts have the same function;
 Romans	Rom	51	12	5	just so we, though many in number, form one body in Christ, and each acts as the counterpart of another.
 Romans	Rom	51	12	6	The spiritual gifts we have differ, according to the special grace which has been assigned to each. If a man is a prophet, let him prophesy as far as the measure of his faith will let him.
 Romans	Rom	51	12	7	The administrator must be content with his administration, the teacher, with his work of teaching,
 Romans	Rom	51	12	8	the preacher, with his preaching. Each must perform his own task well; giving alms with generosity, exercising authority with anxious care, or doing works of mercy smilingly.
 Romans	Rom	51	12	9	Your love must be a sincere love; you must hold what is evil in abomination, fix all your desire upon what is good.
 Romans	Rom	51	12	10	Be affectionate towards each other, as the love of brothers demands, eager to give one another precedence.
 Romans	Rom	51	12	11	I would see you unwearied in activity, aglow with the Spirit, waiting like slaves upon the Lord;
 Romans	Rom	51	12	12	buoyed up by hope, patient in affliction, persevering in prayer;
 Romans	Rom	51	12	13	providing generously for the needs of the saints, giving the stranger a loving welcome.
 Romans	Rom	51	12	14	Bestow a blessing on those who persecute you; a blessing, not a curse.
 Romans	Rom	51	12	15	Rejoice with those who rejoice, mourn with the mourner.
 Romans	Rom	51	12	16	Live in harmony of mind, falling in with the opinions of common folk, instead of following conceited thoughts; never give yourselves airs of wisdom.
 Romans	Rom	51	12	17	Do not repay injury with injury; study your behaviour in the world’s sight as well as in God’s.
 Romans	Rom	51	12	18	Keep peace with all men, where it is possible, for your part.
 Romans	Rom	51	12	19	Do not avenge yourselves, beloved; allow retribution to run its course; so we read in scripture, Vengeance is for me, I will repay, says the Lord.
 Romans	Rom	51	12	20	Rather, feed thy enemy if he is hungry, give him drink if he is thirsty; by doing this, thou wilt heap coals of fire upon his head.
 Romans	Rom	51	12	21	Do not be disarmed by malice; disarm malice with kindness.
 Romans	Rom	51	13	1	Every soul must be submissive to its lawful superiors; authority comes from God only, and all authorities that hold sway are of his ordinance.
 Romans	Rom	51	13	2	Thus the man who opposes authority is a rebel against the ordinance of God, and rebels secure their own condemnation.
 Romans	Rom	51	13	3	A good conscience has no need to go in fear of the magistrate, as a bad conscience does. If thou wouldst be free from the fear of authority, do right, and thou shalt win its approval;
 Romans	Rom	51	13	4	the magistrate is God’s minister, working for thy good. Only if thou dost wrong, needst thou be afraid; it is not for nothing that he bears the sword; he is God’s minister still, to inflict punishment on the wrong-doer.
 Romans	Rom	51	13	5	Thou must needs, then, be submissive, not only for fear of punishment, but in conscience.
 Romans	Rom	51	13	6	It is for this same reason that you pay taxes; magistrates are in God’s service, and must give all their time to it.
 Romans	Rom	51	13	7	Pay every man, then, his due; taxes, if it be taxes, customs, if it be customs; respect and honour, if it be respect and honour.
 Romans	Rom	51	13	8	Do not let anybody have a claim upon you, except the claim which binds us to love one another. The man who loves his neighbour has done all that the law demands.
 Romans	Rom	51	13	9	(All the commandments, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet, and the rest, are resumed in this one saying, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.)
 Romans	Rom	51	13	10	Love of our neighbour refrains from doing harm of any kind; that is why it fulfils all the demands of the law.
 Romans	Rom	51	13	11	Meanwhile, make no mistake about the age we live in; already it is high time for us to awake out of our sleep; our salvation is closer to us now than when we first learned to believe.
 Romans	Rom	51	13	12	The night is far on its course; day draws near. Let us abandon the ways of darkness, and put on the armour of light.
 Romans	Rom	51	13	13	Let us pass our time honourably, as by the light of day, not in revelling and drunkenness, not in lust and wantonness, not in quarrels and rivalries.
 Romans	Rom	51	13	14	Rather, arm yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ; spend no more thought on nature and nature’s appetites.
 Romans	Rom	51	14	1	Find room among you for a man of over-delicate conscience, without arguing about his scruples.
 Romans	Rom	51	14	2	Another man can, in conscience, eat what he will; one who is scrupulous must be content with vegetable fare.
 Romans	Rom	51	14	3	Let not the first, over his meat, mock at him who does not eat it, or the second, while he abstains, pass judgement on him who eats it. God, after all, has found room for him.
 Romans	Rom	51	14	4	Who art thou, to pass judgement on the servant of another? Whether he keeps his feet or falls, concerns none but his master. And keep his feet he will; God is well able to give him a sure footing.
 Romans	Rom	51	14	5	One man makes a distinction between this day and that; another regards all days alike; let either rest fully content in his own opinion.
 Romans	Rom	51	14	6	He who observes the day, observes it in the Lord’s honour. Just so, he who eats does so in the Lord’s honour; he gives thanks to God for it; and he who abstains from eating abstains in the Lord’s honour, and he too thanks God.
 Romans	Rom	51	14	7	None of us lives as his own master, and none of us dies as his own master.
 Romans	Rom	51	14	8	While we live, we live as the Lord’s servants, when we die, we die as the Lord’s servants; in life and in death, we belong to the Lord.
 Romans	Rom	51	14	9	That was why Christ died and lived again; he would be Lord both of the dead and of the living.
 Romans	Rom	51	14	10	And who art thou, to pass judgement on thy brother? Who art thou, to mock at thy brother? We shall all stand, one day, before the judgement-seat of Christ;
 Romans	Rom	51	14	11	(so we read in scripture, As I live, says the Lord, there is no knee but shall bend before me, no tongue but shall pay homage to God);
 Romans	Rom	51	14	12	and so each of us will have to give an account of himself before God.
 Romans	Rom	51	14	13	Let us cease, then, to lay down rules for one another, and make this rule for ourselves instead, not to trip up or entangle a brother’s conscience.
 Romans	Rom	51	14	14	This is my assurance, this is what my conscience tells me in the name of our Lord Jesus, that there is nothing which is unclean in itself; it is only when a man believes a thing to be unclean that it becomes unclean for him.
 Romans	Rom	51	14	15	And if thy brother’s peace of mind is disturbed over food, it is because thou art neglecting to follow the rule of charity. Here is a soul for which Christ died; it is not for thee to bring it to perdition with the food thou eatest.
 Romans	Rom	51	14	16	We must not allow that which is a good thing for us to be brought into disrepute.
 Romans	Rom	51	14	17	The kingdom of God is not a matter of eating or drinking this or that; it means rightness of heart, finding our peace and our joy in the Holy Spirit.
 Romans	Rom	51	14	18	Such is the badge of Christ’s service which wins acceptance with God, and the good opinion of our fellow men.
 Romans	Rom	51	14	19	Let our aim, then, be peace, and strengthening one another’s faith.
 Romans	Rom	51	14	20	It is not for thee to destroy God’s work for the sake of a mouthful of food. Nothing is unclean; yet it goes ill with the man who eats to the hurt of his own conscience.
 Romans	Rom	51	14	21	Thou dost well if thou refusest to eat meat, or to drink wine, or to do anything in which thy brother can find an occasion of sin, a cause for scandal or scruple.
 Romans	Rom	51	14	22	Thou hast a good conscience? Keep it a matter between thyself and God; he is fortunate, who can make his own choice without self-questioning.
 Romans	Rom	51	14	23	He who hesitates, and eats none the less, is self-condemned; he acts in bad conscience, and wherever there is bad conscience, there is sin.
 Romans	Rom	51	15	1	No, we who are bold in our confidence ought to bear with the scruples of those who are timorous; not to insist on having our own way.
 Romans	Rom	51	15	2	Each of us ought to give way to his neighbour, where it serves a good purpose by building up his faith.
 Romans	Rom	51	15	3	Christ, after all, would not have everything his own way; Was it not uttered against thee, says the scripture, the reproach I bore?
 Romans	Rom	51	15	4	(See how all the words written long ago were written for our instruction; we were to derive hope from that message of endurance and courage which the scriptures bring us.)
 Romans	Rom	51	15	5	May God, the author of all endurance and all encouragement, enable you to be all of one mind according to the mind of Christ Jesus,
 Romans	Rom	51	15	6	so that you may all have but one heart and one mouth, to glorify God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
 Romans	Rom	51	15	7	You must befriend one another, as Christ has befriended you, for God’s honour.
 Romans	Rom	51	15	8	I would remind those who are circumcised, that Christ came to relieve their needs; God’s fidelity demanded it; he must make good his promises to our fathers.
 Romans	Rom	51	15	9	And I would remind the Gentiles to praise God for his mercy. So we read in scripture, I will give thanks to thee for this, and sing of thy praise, in the midst of the Gentiles;
 Romans	Rom	51	15	10	and again it says, You too, Gentiles, rejoice with his own people;
 Romans	Rom	51	15	11	and again, Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles; let all the nations of the world do him honour;
 Romans	Rom	51	15	12	and once more Isaias says, A root shall spring from Jesse, one who shall rise up to rule the Gentiles; the Gentiles, in him, shall find hope.
 Romans	Rom	51	15	13	May God, the author of our hope, fill you with all joy and peace in your believing; so that you may have hope in abundance, through the power of the Holy Spirit.
 Romans	Rom	51	15	14	It is not that I have any doubt of you, my brethren; I know that you are full of good will, knowing all you need to know, so that you can give advice to one another if need be;
 Romans	Rom	51	15	15	and yet I have written to you, here and there, somewhat freely, by way of refreshing your memory. So much I owe to the grace which God has given me,
 Romans	Rom	51	15	16	in making me a priest of Jesus Christ for the Gentiles, with God’s gospel for my priestly charge, to make the Gentiles an offering worthy of acceptance, consecrated by the Holy Spirit.
 Romans	Rom	51	15	17	I have, then, through Christ Jesus, some reason for confidence in God’s sight.
 Romans	Rom	51	15	18	It is not for me to give you any account of what Christ has done through agents other than myself to secure the submission of the Gentiles, by word and action,
 Romans	Rom	51	15	19	in virtue of wonders and signs, done in the power of the Holy Spirit. My own work has been to complete the preaching of Christ’s gospel, in a wide sweep from Jerusalem as far as Illyricum.
 Romans	Rom	51	15	20	It has been a point of honour with me to preach the gospel thus, never in places where Christ’s name was already known; I would not build on the foundation another man had laid,
 Romans	Rom	51	15	21	but follow the rule of scripture, He shall be seen by those who had had no tidings of him, he shall be made known to those who had never heard of him.
 Romans	Rom	51	15	22	This was the chief reason which prevented me from visiting you; it has kept me back until now.
 Romans	Rom	51	15	23	But now I can find no further scope in these countries, and I have been eager, these many years past, to find my way to you;
 Romans	Rom	51	15	24	as soon, then, as I can set out on my journey to Spain, I hope to see you in passing; and you shall put me on my way, when you have done something to gratify this longing of mine.
 Romans	Rom	51	15	25	As I write, I am making a journey to Jerusalem, with an errand of relief to the saints there.
 Romans	Rom	51	15	26	You must know that Macedonia and Achaia have thought fit to give those saints at Jerusalem who are in need some share of their wealth;
 Romans	Rom	51	15	27	they have thought fit to do it, I say, and indeed, they are in their debt. The Gentiles, if they have been allowed to share their spiritual gifts, are bound to contribute to their temporal needs in return.
 Romans	Rom	51	15	28	When that is done, and I have seen this revenue safely in their hands, you shall be a stage on my journey to Spain;
 Romans	Rom	51	15	29	and I am well assured that when I visit you, I shall be able to visit you in the fulness of Christ’s blessing.
 Romans	Rom	51	15	30	Only, brethren, I entreat you by our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the love of the Holy Spirit, to give me the help of your prayers to God on my behalf.
 Romans	Rom	51	15	31	Pray that I may be kept safe from those who reject the faith in Judaea, and that my mission to Jerusalem may be well received by the saints there;
 Romans	Rom	51	15	32	so that I may reach you, God willing, glad at heart, and make holiday with you.
 Romans	Rom	51	15	33	May God, the author of peace, be with you all, Amen.
 Romans	Rom	51	16	1	I commend our sister Phoebe to you; she has devoted her services to the church at Cenchrae.
 Romans	Rom	51	16	2	Make her welcome in the Lord as saints should, and help her in any business where she needs your help; she has been a good friend to many, myself among them.
 Romans	Rom	51	16	3	My greetings to Prisca and Aquila, who have worked at my side in the service of Christ Jesus,
 Romans	Rom	51	16	4	and put their heads on the block to save my life; not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles have reason to be grateful to them.
 Romans	Rom	51	16	5	My greetings, also, to the church in their household; to my dear Epaenetus, the first offering Asia made to Christ,
 Romans	Rom	51	16	6	and to Mary, who has spent so much labour on you.
 Romans	Rom	51	16	7	My greetings to Andronicus and Junias, kinsmen and fellow prisoners of mine, who have won repute among the apostles that were in Christ’s service before me.
 Romans	Rom	51	16	8	My greetings to Amplias, whom I love so well in the Lord;
 Romans	Rom	51	16	9	to Urbanus, who helped our work in Christ’s cause, and to my dear Stachys;
 Romans	Rom	51	16	10	to Apelles, a man tried in Christ’s service;
 Romans	Rom	51	16	11	and those of Aristobulus’ household; to my kinsman Herodion, and to such of Narcissus’ household as belong to the Lord.
 Romans	Rom	51	16	12	My greetings to Tryphæna and Tryphosa, who have worked for the Lord so well; and dear Persis, too; she has been long in the Lord’s service.
 Romans	Rom	51	16	13	My greetings to Rufus, a chosen servant of the Lord, and his mother, who has been a mother to me;
 Romans	Rom	51	16	14	to Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermas, Patrobas, Hermes, and the brethren who are with them;
 Romans	Rom	51	16	15	to Philologus and Julia, Nereus and his sister, Olympias, and all the saints who are of their company.
 Romans	Rom	51	16	16	Greet one another with the kiss of saints; all the churches of Christ send you their greeting.
 Romans	Rom	51	16	17	Brethren, I entreat you to keep a watch on those who are causing dissension and doing hurt to consciences, without regard to the teaching which has been given you; avoid their company.
 Romans	Rom	51	16	18	Such men are no servants of Christ our Lord; their own hungry bellies are their masters; but guileless hearts are deceived by their flattering talk and their pious greetings.
 Romans	Rom	51	16	19	You are renowned all over the world for your loyalty to the gospel, and I am proud of you; but I would wish to see you circumspect where there is a good end to be served, innocent only of harmful intent.
 Romans	Rom	51	16	20	So God, who is the author of peace, will crush Satan under your feet before long. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
 Romans	Rom	51	16	21	Timothy, who works at my side, sends you his greeting; so do my kinsmen, Lucius and Jason and Sosipater.
 Romans	Rom	51	16	22	(I, Tertius, who have committed this letter to paper, greet you in the name of the Lord.)
 Romans	Rom	51	16	23	Greetings to you from my host, Caius, and from all the church; from Erastus, treasurer of the city, and your brother Quartus.
 Romans	Rom	51	16	24	May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all, Amen.
 Romans	Rom	51	16	25	There is one who is able to set your feet firmly in the path of that gospel which I preach, when I herald Jesus Christ; a gospel which reveals the mystery, hidden from us through countless ages,
 Romans	Rom	51	16	26	but now made plain, through what the prophets have written; now published, at the eternal God’s command, to all the nations, so as to win the homage of their faith.
 Romans	Rom	51	16	27	To him, to God who alone is wise, glory be given from age to age, through Jesus Christ, Amen.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	1	1	Paul, whom the will of God has called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ, and Sosthenes, who is their brother,
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	1	2	send greeting to the church of God at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, and called to be holy; with all those who invoke the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, in every dependency of theirs, and so of ours.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	1	3	Grace and peace be yours from God, who is our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	1	4	I give thanks to my God continually in your name for that grace of God which has been bestowed upon you in Jesus Christ;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	1	5	that you have become rich, through him, in every way, in eloquence and in knowledge of every sort;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	1	6	so fully has the message of Christ established itself among you.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	1	7	And now there is no gift in which you are still lacking; you have only to look forward to the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	1	8	He will strengthen your resolution to the last, so that no charge will lie against you on the day when our Lord Jesus Christ comes.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	1	9	The God, who has called you into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful to his promise.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	1	10	Only I entreat you, brethren, as you love the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, use, all of you, the same language. There must be no divisions among you; you must be restored to unity of mind and purpose.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	1	11	The account I have of you, my brethren, from Chloe’s household, is that there are dissensions among you;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	1	12	each of you, I mean, has a cry of his own, I am for Paul, I am for Apollo, I am for Cephas, I am for Christ.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	1	13	What, has Christ been divided up? Was it Paul that was crucified for you? Was it in Paul’s name that you were baptized?
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	1	14	Thank God I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	1	15	so that no one can say it was in my name you were baptized.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	1	16	(Yes, and I did baptize the household of Stephanas; I do not know that I baptized anyone else.)
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	1	17	Christ did not send me to baptize; he sent me to preach the gospel; not with an orator’s cleverness, for so the cross of Christ might be robbed of its force.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	1	18	To those who court their own ruin, the message of the cross is but folly; to us, who are on the way to salvation, it is the evidence of God’s power.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	1	19	So we read in scripture, I will confound the wisdom of wise men, disappoint the calculations of the prudent.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	1	20	What has become of the wise men, the scribes, the philosophers of this age we live in? Must we not say that God has turned our worldly wisdom to folly?
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	1	21	When God shewed us his wisdom, the world, with all its wisdom, could not find its way to God; and now God would use a foolish thing, our preaching, to save those who will believe in it.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	1	22	Here are the Jews asking for signs and wonders, here are the Greeks intent on their philosophy;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	1	23	but what we preach is Christ crucified; to the Jews, a discouragement, to the Gentiles, mere folly;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	1	24	but to us who have been called, Jew and Gentile alike, Christ the power of God, Christ the wisdom of God.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	1	25	So much wiser than men is God’s foolishness; so much stronger than men is God’s weakness.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	1	26	Consider, brethren, the circumstances of your own calling; not many of you are wise, in the world’s fashion, not many powerful, not many well born.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	1	27	No, God has chosen what the world holds foolish, so as to abash the wise, God has chosen what the world holds weak, so as to abash the strong.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	1	28	God has chosen what the world holds base and contemptible, nay, has chosen what is nothing, so as to bring to nothing what is now in being;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	1	29	no human creature was to have any ground for boasting, in the presence of God.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	1	30	It is from him that you take your origin, through Christ Jesus, whom God gave us to be all our wisdom, our justification, our sanctification, and our atonement;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	1	31	so that the scripture might be fulfilled, If anyone boasts, let him make his boast in the Lord.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	2	1	So it was, brethren, that when I came to you and preached Christ’s message to you, I did so without any high pretensions to eloquence, or to philosophy.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	2	2	I had no thought of bringing you any other knowledge than that of Jesus Christ, and of him as crucified.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	2	3	It was with distrust of myself, full of anxious fear, that I approached you;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	2	4	my preaching, my message depended on no persuasive language, devised by human wisdom, but rather on the proof I gave you of spiritual power;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	2	5	God’s power, not man’s wisdom, was to be the foundation of your faith.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	2	6	There is, to be sure, a wisdom which we make known among those who are fully grounded; but it is not the wisdom of this world, or of this world’s rulers, whose power is to be abrogated.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	2	7	What we make known is the wisdom of God, his secret, kept hidden till now; so, before the ages, God had decreed, reserving glory for us.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	2	8	(None of the rulers of this world could read his secret, or they would not have crucified him to whom all glory belongs.)
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	2	9	So we read of, Things no eye has seen, no ear has heard, no human heart conceived, the welcome God has prepared for those who love him.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	2	10	To us, then, God has made a revelation of it through his Spirit; there is no depth in God’s nature so deep that the Spirit cannot find it out.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	2	11	Who else can know a man’s thoughts, except the man’s own spirit that is within him? So no one else can know God’s thoughts, but the Spirit of God.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	2	12	And what we have received is no spirit of worldly wisdom; it is the Spirit that comes from God, to make us understand God’s gifts to us;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	2	13	gifts which we make known, not in such words as human wisdom teaches, but in words taught us by the Spirit, matching what is spiritual with what is spiritual.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	2	14	Mere man with his natural gifts cannot take in the thoughts of God’s Spirit; they seem mere folly to him, and he cannot grasp them, because they demand a scrutiny which is spiritual.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	2	15	Whereas the man who has spiritual gifts can scrutinize everything, without being subject, himself, to any other man’s scrutiny.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	2	16	Who has entered into the mind of the Lord, so as to be able to instruct him? And Christ’s mind is ours.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	3	1	And when I preached to you, I had to approach you as men with natural, not with spiritual thoughts. You were little children in Christ’s nursery,
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	3	2	and I gave you milk, not meat; you were not strong enough for it. You are not strong enough for it even now; nature still lives in you.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	3	3	Do not these rivalries, these dissensions among you shew that nature is still alive, that you are guided by human standards?
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	3	4	When one of you says, I am for Paul, and another, I am for Apollo, are not these human thoughts? Why, what is Apollo, what is Paul?
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	3	5	Only the ministers of the God in whom your faith rests, who have brought that faith to each of you in the measure God granted.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	3	6	It was for me to plant the seed, for Apollo to water it, but it was God who gave the increase.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	3	7	And if so, the man who plants, the man who waters, count for nothing; God is everything, since it is he who gives the increase.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	3	8	This man plants, that man waters; it is all one. And yet either will receive his own wages, in proportion to his own work.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	3	9	You are a field of God’s tilling, a structure of God’s design; and we are only his assistants.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	3	10	With what grace God has bestowed on me, I have laid a foundation as a careful architect should; it is left for someone else to build upon it. Only, whoever builds on it must be careful how he builds.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	3	11	The foundation which has been laid is the only one which anybody can lay; I mean Jesus Christ.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	3	12	But on this foundation different men will build in gold, silver, precious stones, wood, grass, or straw,
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	3	13	and each man’s workmanship will be plainly seen. It is the day of the Lord that will disclose it, since that day is to reveal itself in fire, and fire will test the quality of each man’s workmanship.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	3	14	He will receive a reward, if the building he has added on stands firm;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	3	15	if it is burnt up, he will be the loser; and yet he himself will be saved, though only as men are saved by passing through fire.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	3	16	Do you not understand that you are God’s temple, and that God’s Spirit has his dwelling in you?
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	3	17	If anybody desecrates the temple of God, God will bring him to ruin. It is a holy thing, this temple of God which is nothing other than yourselves.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	3	18	You must not deceive yourselves, any of you, about this. If any of you thinks he is wise, after the fashion of his fellow men, he must turn himself into a fool, so as to be truly wise.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	3	19	This world’s wisdom, with God, is but folly. So we read in scripture, I will entrap the wise with their own cunning.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	3	20	And again, The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, and how empty they are.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	3	21	Nobody, therefore, should repose his confidence in men.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	3	22	Everything is for you, whether it be Paul, or Apollo, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or the present, or the future; it is all for you,
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	3	23	and you for Christ, and Christ for God.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	4	1	That is how we ought to be regarded, as Christ’s servants, and stewards of God’s mysteries.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	4	2	And this is what we look for in choosing a steward; we must find one who is trustworthy.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	4	3	Yet for myself, I make little account of your scrutiny, or of any human audit-day; I am not even at pains to scrutinize my own conduct.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	4	4	My conscience does not, in fact, reproach me; but that is not where my justification lies; it is the Lord’s scrutiny I must undergo.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	4	5	You do ill, therefore, to pass judgement prematurely, before the Lord’s coming; he will bring to light what is hidden in darkness, and reveal the secrets of men’s hearts; then each of us will receive his due award from God.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	4	6	All this, brethren, I have applied to myself and to Apollo, but it is meant for you. The lesson you must learn from our example is, not to go beyond what is laid down for you, one man slighting another out of partiality for someone else.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	4	7	After all, friend, who is it that gives thee this pre-eminence? What powers hast thou, that did not come to thee by gift? And if they came to thee by gift, why dost thou boast of them, as if there were no gift in question?
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	4	8	Well, you are already fully content; already you have grown rich; already you have come into your kingdom, without waiting for help from us. Would that you had come into your kingdom indeed; then we should be sharing it with you.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	4	9	As it is, it seems as if God had destined us, his apostles, to be in the lowest place of all, like men under sentence of death; such a spectacle do we present to the whole creation, men and angels alike.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	4	10	We are fools for Christ’s sake, you are so wise; we are so helpless, you so stout of heart; you are held in honour, while we are despised.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	4	11	Still, as I write, we go hungry and thirsty and naked; we are mishandled, we have no home to settle in,
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	4	12	we are hard put to it, working with our own hands. Men revile us, and we answer with a blessing, persecute us, and we make the best of it,
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	4	13	speak ill of us, and we fall to entreaty. We are still the world’s refuse; everybody thinks himself well rid of us.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	4	14	I am not writing this to shame you; you are my dearly loved children, and I would bring you to a better mind.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	4	15	Yes, you may have ten thousand schoolmasters in Christ, but not more than one father; it was I that begot you in Jesus Christ, when I preached the gospel to you.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	4	16	Follow my example, then, I entreat you, as I follow Christ’s.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	4	17	That is why I have sent Timothy to you, a faithful and dearly loved son of mine in the Lord; he will remind you of the path I tread in Christ Jesus, the lessons I give to all churches alike.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	4	18	Some of you have grown contemptuous, thinking that I would never come to visit you.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	4	19	But I shall be coming to see you soon, if the Lord is willing, and then I will test, not the fine words of those who hold me in contempt, but the powers they can shew.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	4	20	It is power that builds up the kingdom of God, not words.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	4	21	Choose, then; am I to come to you rod in hand, or lovingly, in a spirit of forbearance?
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	5	1	Why, there are reports of incontinence among you, and such incontinence as is not practised even among the heathen; a man taking to himself his father’s wife.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	5	2	And you, it seems, have been contumacious over it, instead of deploring it, and expelling the man who has been guilty of such a deed from your company.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	5	3	For myself, though I am not with you in person, I am with you in spirit; and, so present with you, I have already passed sentence on the man who has acted thus.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	5	4	Call an assembly, at which I will be present in spirit, with all the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, and so, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	5	5	hand over the person named to Satan, for the overthrow of his corrupt nature, so that his spirit may find salvation in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	5	6	This good conceit of yourselves is ill grounded. Have you never been told that a little leaven is enough to leaven the whole batch?
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	5	7	Rid yourselves of the leaven which remains over, so that you may be a new mixture, still uncontaminated as you are. Has not Christ been sacrificed for us, our paschal victim?
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	5	8	Let us keep the feast, then, not with the leaven of yesterday, that was all vice and mischief, but with unleavened bread, with purity and honesty of intent.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	5	9	In the letter I wrote to you, I told you to avoid the company of fornicators;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	5	10	not meaning everyone in the world around you who is debauched, or a miser, or an extortioner, or an idolater; to do that, you would have to cut yourselves off from the world altogether.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	5	11	No, my letter meant that if anyone who is counted among the brethren is debauched, or a miser, or an idolater, or bitter of speech, or a drunkard, or an extortioner, you must avoid his company; you must not even sit at table with him.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	5	12	Why should I claim jurisdiction over those who are without? No, it is for you to pass judgement within your own number,
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	5	13	leaving God to judge those who are without. Banish, then, the offender from your company.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	6	1	Are you prepared to go to law before a profane court, when one of you has a quarrel with another, instead of bringing it before the saints?
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	6	2	You know well enough that it is the saints who will pass judgement on the world; and if a world is to abide your judgement, are you unfit to take cognizance of trifling matters?
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	6	3	You have been told that we shall sit in judgement on angels; how much more, then, over the things of common life?
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	6	4	You would do better to appoint the most insignificant of your own number as judges, when you have these common quarrels to decide.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	6	5	That I say to humble you. What, have you really not a single man among you wise enough to decide a claim brought by his own brother?
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	6	6	Must two brethren go to law over it, and before a profane court?
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	6	7	And indeed, it is a defect in you at the best of times, that you should have quarrels among you at all. How is it that you do not prefer to put up with wrong, prefer to suffer loss?
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	6	8	Instead of that you commit wrong, you inflict loss, and at a brother’s expense.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	6	9	Yet you know well enough that wrong-doers will not inherit God’s kingdom. Make no mistake about it; it is not the debauched, the idolaters, the adulterous,
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	6	10	it is not the effeminate, the sinners against nature, the dishonest, the misers, the drunkards, the bitter of speech, the extortioners that will inherit the kingdom of God.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	6	11	That is what some of you once were; but now you have been washed clean, now you have been sanctified, now you have been justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, by the Spirit of the God we serve.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	6	12	I am free to do what I will; yes, but not everything can be done without harm. I am free to do what I will, but I must not abdicate my own liberty.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	6	13	Food is meant for our animal nature, and our animal nature claims its food; true enough, but then, God will bring both one and the other to an end. But your bodies are not meant for debauchery, they are meant for the Lord, and the Lord claims your bodies.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	6	14	And God, just as he has raised our Lord from the dead, by his great power will raise us up too.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	6	15	Have you never been told that your bodies belong to the body of Christ? And am I to take what belongs to Christ and make it one with a harlot? God forbid.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	6	16	Or did you never hear that the man who unites himself to a harlot becomes one body with her? The two, we are told, will become one flesh.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	6	17	Whereas the man who unites himself to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	6	18	Keep clear, then, of debauchery. Any other sin a man commits, leaves the body untouched, but the fornicator is committing a crime against his own body.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	6	19	Surely you know that your bodies are the shrines of the Holy Spirit, who dwells in you. And he is God’s gift to you, so that you are no longer your own masters.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	6	20	A great price was paid to ransom you; glorify God by making your bodies the shrines of his presence.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	7	1	As for the questions raised in your letter; a man does well to abstain from all commerce with women.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	7	2	But, to avoid the danger of fornication, let every man keep his own wife, and every woman her own husband.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	7	3	Let every man give his wife what is her due, and every woman do the same by her husband;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	7	4	he, not she, claims the right over her body, as she, not he, claims the right over his.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	7	5	Do not starve one another, unless perhaps you do so for a time, by mutual consent, to have more freedom for prayer; come together again, or Satan will tempt you, weak as you are.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	7	6	I say this by way of concession; I am not imposing a rule on you.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	7	7	I wish you were all in the same state as myself; but each of us has his own endowment from God, one to live in this way, another in that.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	7	8	To the unmarried, and to the widows, I would say that they will do well to remain in the same state as myself,
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	7	9	but if they have not the gift of continence, let them marry; better to marry than to feel the heat of passion.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	7	10	For those who have married already, the precept holds which is the Lord’s precept, not mine; the wife is not to leave her husband,
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	7	11	(if she has left him, she must either remain unmarried, or go back to her own husband again), and the husband is not to put away his wife.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	7	12	To those others, I give my own instructions, not the Lord’s. If any of the brethren has a wife, not a believer, who is well content to live with him, there is no reason why he should put her away,
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	7	13	nor is there any reason for a woman to part with her husband, not a believer, if he is content to live with her.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	7	14	The unbelieving husband has shared in his wife’s consecration, and the unbelieving wife has shared in the consecration of one who is a brother. Were it otherwise, their offspring would be born under a stain, whereas in fact it is holy.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	7	15	On the other hand, if the unbelieving partner is for separating, let them separate; in such a case, the brother or the sister is under no compulsion. It is in a spirit of peace that God’s call has come to us.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	7	16	There is no knowing whether thou, the wife, wilt save thy husband, whether thou, the husband, wilt save thy wife.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	7	17	No, the part which God has assigned, the vocation which God has bestowed, is to be the rule in each case. That is the direction which I am giving all through the churches.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	7	18	If a man is already circumcised when he is called, he is not to disguise it; if he is uncircumcised, he is not to undergo circumcision.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	7	19	There is no virtue either in circumcision or in the want of it; it is keeping the commandments of God that signifies.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	7	20	Everyone has his own vocation, in which he has been called; let him keep to it.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	7	21	Hast thou been called as a slave? Do not let it trouble thee; and if thou hast the means to become free, make all the more use of thy opportunity.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	7	22	If a slave is called to enter Christ’s service, he is Christ’s freedman; just as the free man, when he is called, becomes the slave of Christ.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	7	23	A price was paid to redeem you; do not enslave yourselves to human masters.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	7	24	Each of you is to remain, brethren, in the condition in which he was called.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	7	25	About virgins, I have no command from the Lord; but I give you my opinion, as one who is, under the Lord’s mercy, a true counsellor.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	7	26	This, then, I hold to be the best counsel in such times of stress, that this is the best condition for man to be in.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	7	27	Art thou yoked to a wife? Then, do not go about to free thyself. Art thou free of wedlock? Then do not go about to find a wife.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	7	28	Not that thou dost commit sin if thou marriest; nor, if she marries, has the virgin committed sin. It is only that those who do so will meet with outward distress. But I leave you your freedom.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	7	29	Only, brethren, I would say this; the time is drawing to an end; nothing remains, but for those who have wives to behave as though they had none;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	7	30	those who weep must forget their tears, and those who rejoice their rejoicing, and those who buy must renounce possession;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	7	31	and those who take advantage of what the world offers must not take full advantage of it; the fashion of this world is soon to pass away.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	7	32	And I would have you free from concern. He who is unmarried is concerned with God’s claim, asking how he is to please God;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	7	33	whereas the married man is concerned with the world’s claim, asking how he is to please his wife; and thus he is at issue with himself.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	7	34	So a woman who is free of wedlock, or a virgin, is concerned with the Lord’s claim, intent on holiness, bodily and spiritual; whereas the married woman is concerned with the world’s claim, asking how she is to please her husband.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	7	35	I am thinking of your own interest when I say this. It is not that I would hold you in a leash; I am thinking of what is suitable for you, and how you may best attend on the Lord without distraction.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	7	36	And if anyone considers that he is behaving unsuitably towards the girl who is in his charge, on the ground that she is now past her prime, and there is no way of avoiding it, why, let him please himself; there is nothing sinful in it; let her marry.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	7	37	Whereas, if a man remains fixed in his resolution, and makes up his mind to keep the girl who is in his charge unwed, although there is no necessity for it, and he is free to choose for himself, such a man is well advised.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	7	38	Thus, a man is well advised to give his ward in marriage, and still better advised not to give her in marriage.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	7	39	As for a wife, she is yoked to her husband as long as he lives; if her husband is dead, she is free to marry anyone she will, so long as she marries in the Lord.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	7	40	But more blessed is she, if she remains as she is, in my judgement; and I, too, claim to have the Spirit of God.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	8	1	And now about meat that has been used in idolatrous worship. We all know, to be sure, what is the truth about it: but knowledge only breeds self-conceit, it is charity that binds the building together.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	8	2	If anybody claims to have superior knowledge, it means that he has not yet attained the knowledge which is true knowledge;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	8	3	it is only when a man loves God that God acknowledges him.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	8	4	About meat, then, used in idolatrous worship, we can be sure of this, that a false god has no existence in the order of things; there is one God, and there can be no other.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	8	5	Whatever gods may be spoken of as existing in heaven or on earth (and there are many such gods, many such lords),
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	8	6	for us there is only one God, the Father who is the origin of all things, and the end of our being; only one Lord, Jesus Christ, the creator of all things, who is our way to him.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	8	7	But it is not everybody who has this knowledge; there are those who still think of such meat, while they eat it, as something belonging to idolatrous worship, with the thought of the false god in their minds; their conscience is not easy, and so incurs guilt.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	8	8	And it is not what we eat that gives us our standing in God’s sight; we gain nothing by eating, lose nothing by abstaining;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	8	9	it is for you to see that the liberty you allow yourselves does not prove a snare to doubtful consciences.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	8	10	If any of them sees one who is better instructed sitting down to eat in the temple of a false god, will not his conscience, all uneasy as it is, be emboldened to approve of eating idolatrously?
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	8	11	And thus, through thy enlightenment, the doubting soul will be lost; thy brother, for whose sake Christ died.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	8	12	When you thus sin against your brethren, by injuring their doubtful consciences, you sin against Christ.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	8	13	Why then, if a mouthful of food is an occasion of sin to my brother, I will abstain from flesh meat perpetually, rather than be the occasion of my brother’s sin.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	9	1	Am I not free to do as I will? Am I not an apostle, have I not seen our Lord Jesus Christ? Are not you yourselves my achievement in the Lord?
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	9	2	To others I may not be an apostle, but to you at least I am; why, you are the sign-manual of my apostleship in the Lord.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	9	3	This is the answer I make to those who call me in question.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	9	4	Have we not a right to be provided with food and drink;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	9	5	nay, have we not the right to travel about with a woman who is a sister, as the other apostles do, as the Lord’s brethren do, and Cephas?
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	9	6	Must I and Barnabas, alone among them, be forbidden to do as much?
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	9	7	Why, what soldier ever fought at his own expense? Who would plant a vineyard, and not live on its fruits, or tend a flock, and not live on the milk which the flock yields?
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	9	8	This is not a plea of man’s invention; the law declares it.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	9	9	When we read in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treads out the corn, must we suppose that God is making provision for oxen?
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	9	10	Is it not clear that he says it for our sakes? For our sakes it was laid down that the ploughman has a right to plough, and the thrasher to thrash, with the expectation of sharing in the crop.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	9	11	Here are we, who have sown in you a spiritual harvest; is it much to ask, that we should reap from you a temporal harvest in return?
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	9	12	If others claim a share of such rights over you, have not we a better claim still? And yet we have never availed ourselves of those rights; we bear every hardship, sooner than hinder the preaching of Christ’s gospel.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	9	13	You know, surely, that those who do the temple’s work live on the temple’s revenues; that those who preside at the altar share the altar’s offerings.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	9	14	And so it is that the Lord has bidden the heralds of the gospel live by preaching the gospel.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	9	15	Yet I have not availed myself of any such right. I am not writing thus in the hope of being treated otherwise; I would rather die than have this boast taken from me.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	9	16	When I preach the gospel, I take no credit for that; I act under constraint; it would go hard with me indeed if I did not preach the gospel.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	9	17	I can claim a reward for what I do of my own choice; but when I act under constraint, I am only executing a commission.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	9	18	What title have I, then, to a reward? Why, that when I preach the gospel I should preach the gospel free of charge, not making full use of the rights which gospel preaching gives me.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	9	19	Thus nobody has any claim on me, and yet I have made myself everybody’s slave, to win more souls.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	9	20	With the Jews I lived like a Jew, to win the Jews;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	9	21	with those who keep the law, as one who keeps the law (though the law had no claim on me), to win those who kept the law; with those who are free of the law, like one free of the law (not that I disowned all divine law, but it was the law of Christ that bound me), to win those who were free of the law.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	9	22	With the scrupulous, I behaved myself like one who is scrupulous, to win the scrupulous. I have been everything by turns to everybody, to bring everybody salvation.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	9	23	All that I do, I do for the sake of the gospel promises, to win myself a share in them.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	9	24	You know well enough that when men run in a race, the race is for all, but the prize for one; run, then, for victory.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	9	25	Every athlete must keep all his appetites under control; and he does it to win a crown that fades, whereas ours is imperishable.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	9	26	So I do not run my course like a man in doubt of his goal; I do not fight my battle like a man who wastes his blows on the air.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	9	27	I buffet my own body, and make it my slave; or I, who have preached to others, may myself be rejected as worthless.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	10	1	Let me remind you, brethren, of this. Our fathers were hidden, all of them, under the cloud, and found a path, all of them, through the sea;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	10	2	all alike, in the cloud and in the sea, were baptized into Moses’ fellowship.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	10	3	They all ate the same prophetic food,
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	10	4	and all drank the same prophetic drink, watered by the same prophetic rock which bore them company, the rock that was Christ.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	10	5	And for all that, God was ill pleased with most of them; see how they were laid low in the wilderness.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	10	6	It is we that were foreshadowed in these events. We were not to set our hearts, as some of them set their hearts, on forbidden things.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	10	7	You were not to turn idolatrous, as some of them did; so we read, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to take their pleasure.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	10	8	We were not to commit fornication, as some of them committed fornication, when twenty-three thousand of them were killed in one day.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	10	9	We were not to try the patience of Christ, as some of them tried it, the men who were slain by the serpents;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	10	10	nor were you to complain, as some of them complained, till the destroying angel slew them.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	10	11	When all this happened to them, it was a symbol; the record of it was written as a warning to us, in whom history has reached its fulfilment;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	10	12	and it means that he who thinks he stands firmly should beware of a fall.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	10	13	I pray that no temptation may come upon you that is beyond man’s strength. Not that God will play you false; he will not allow you to be tempted beyond your powers. With the temptation itself, he will ordain the issue of it, and enable you to hold your own.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	10	14	Keep far away, then, my well beloved, from idolatry.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	10	15	I am speaking to you as men of good sense; weigh my words for yourselves.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	10	16	We have a cup that we bless; is not this cup we bless a participation in Christ’s blood? Is not the bread we break a participation in Christ’s body?
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	10	17	The one bread makes us one body, though we are many in number; the same bread is shared by all.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	10	18	Or look at Israel, God’s people by nature; do not those who eat their sacrifices associate themselves with the altar of sacrifice?
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	10	19	I am not suggesting that anything can really be sacrificed to a false god, or that a false god has any existence;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	10	20	I mean that when the heathen offer sacrifice they are really offering it to evil spirits and not to a God at all. I have no mind to see you associating yourselves with evil spirits.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	10	21	To drink the Lord’s cup, and yet to drink the cup of evil spirits, to share the Lord’s feast, and to share the feast of evil spirits, is impossible for you.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	10	22	Are we, then, to provoke the Lord to jealousy? Have we powers greater than his?I am free to do what I will; yes, but not everything can be done without harm.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	10	23	I am free to do what I will, but some things disedify.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	10	24	Each of you ought to study the well-being of others, not his own.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	10	25	When things are sold in the open market, then you may eat them, without making any enquiries to satisfy your consciences;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	10	26	this world, as we know, and all that is in it belongs to the Lord.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	10	27	If some unbeliever invites you to his table, and you consent to go, then you need not ask questions to satisfy your consciences, you may eat whatever is put before you.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	10	28	But if someone says to you, This has been used in idolatrous worship, then for the sake of your informant, you must refuse to eat; it is a matter of conscience;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	10	29	his conscience, I mean, not yours. There is no reason why I should let my freedom be called in question by another man’s conscience.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	10	30	I can eat such food and be grateful for it; why should I incur reproach for saying grace over it?
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	10	31	In eating, in drinking, in all that you do, do everything as for God’s glory.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	10	32	Give no offence to Jew, or to Greek, or to God’s church.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	10	33	That is my own rule, to satisfy all alike, studying the general welfare rather than my own, so as to win their salvation.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	11	1	Follow my example, then, as I follow the example of Christ.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	11	2	I must needs praise you for your constant memory of me, for upholding your traditions just as I handed them on to you.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	11	3	And here is something you must know. The head to which a wife is united is her husband, just as the head to which every man is united is Christ; so, too, the head to which Christ is united is God.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	11	4	And whereas any man who keeps his head covered when he prays or utters prophecy brings shame upon his head,
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	11	5	a woman brings shame upon her head if she uncovers it to pray or prophesy; she is no better than the woman who has her head shaved.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	11	6	If a woman would go without a veil, why does she not cut her hair short too? If she admits that a woman is disgraced when her hair is cut short or shaved, then let her go veiled.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	11	7	A man has no need to veil his head; he is God’s image, the pride of his creation, whereas the wife is the pride of her husband.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	11	8	(The woman takes her origin from the man, not the man from the woman;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	11	9	and indeed, it was not man that was created for woman’s sake, but woman for man’s.)
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	11	10	And for that reason the woman ought to have authority over her head, for the angels’ sake.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	11	11	(Not that, in the Lord’s service, man has his place apart from woman, or woman hers apart from man;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	11	12	if woman takes her origin from man, man equally comes to birth through woman. And indeed all things have their origin in God.)
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	11	13	Judge for yourselves; is it fitting that a woman should offer prayer to God unveiled?
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	11	14	Does not nature itself teach you that, whereas it is a disgrace to a man to wear his hair long,
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	11	15	when a woman grows her hair long, it is an added grace to her? That is because her hair has been given her to take the place of a veil.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	11	16	And if anyone is prepared to argue the matter, he must know that no such custom is found among us, or in any of God’s churches.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	11	17	And here is a warning I have for you. I can give you no praise for holding your assemblies in a way that does harm, not good.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	11	18	From the first, when you meet in church, there are divisions among you; so I hear, and in some measure believe it.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	11	19	Parties there must needs be among you, so that those who are true metal may be distinguished from the rest.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	11	20	And when you assemble together, there is no opportunity to eat a supper of the Lord;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	11	21	each comer hastens to eat the supper he has brought for himself, so that one man goes hungry, while another has drunk deep.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	11	22	Have you no homes to eat and drink in, that you should shew contempt to God’s church, and shame the poor? Praise you? There is no room for praise here.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	11	23	The tradition which I received from the Lord, and handed on to you, is that the Lord Jesus, on the night when he was being betrayed, took bread,
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	11	24	and gave thanks, and broke it, and said, Take, eat; this is my body, given up for you. Do this for a commemoration of me.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	11	25	And so with the cup, when supper was ended, This cup, he said, is the new testament, in my blood. Do this, whenever you drink it, for a commemoration of me.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	11	26	So it is the Lord’s death that you are heralding, whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, until he comes.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	11	27	And therefore, if anyone eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord unworthily, he will be held to account for the Lord’s body and blood.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	11	28	A man must examine himself first, and then eat of that bread and drink of that cup;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	11	29	he is eating and drinking damnation to himself if he eats and drinks unworthily, not recognizing the Lord’s body for what it is.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	11	30	That is why many of your number want strength and health, and not a few have died.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	11	31	If we recognized our own fault, we should not incur these judgements;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	11	32	as it is, the Lord judges us and chastises us, so that we may not incur, as this world incurs, damnation.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	11	33	So, brethren, when you assemble to eat together, wait for one another;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	11	34	those who are hungry had best eat at home, for fear that your meeting should bring you condemnation. The other questions I will settle when I come.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	12	1	And now about spiritual gifts; I would not willingly leave you in doubt about these.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	12	2	While you were still heathen, as you can remember well enough, you let yourselves be led away wherever men would lead you, to worship false gods that gave no utterance.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	12	3	That is why I am telling you of this. Just as no one can be speaking through God’s Spirit if he calls Jesus accursed, so it is only through the Holy Spirit that anyone can say, Jesus is the Lord;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	12	4	and yet there are different kinds of gifts, though it is the same Spirit who gives them,
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	12	5	just as there are different kinds of service, though it is the same Lord we serve,
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	12	6	and different manifestations of power, though it is the same God who manifests his power everywhere in all of us.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	12	7	The revelation of the Spirit is imparted to each, to make the best advantage of it.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	12	8	One learns to speak with wisdom, by the power of the Spirit, another to speak with knowledge, with the same Spirit for his rule;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	12	9	one, through the same Spirit, is given faith; another, through the same Spirit, powers of healing;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	12	10	one can perform miracles, one can prophesy, another can test the spirit of the prophets; one can speak in different tongues, another can interpret the tongues;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	12	11	but all this is the work of one and the same Spirit, who distributes his gifts as he will to each severally.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	12	12	A man’s body is all one, though it has a number of different organs; and all this multitude of organs goes to make up one body; so it is with Christ.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	12	13	We too, all of us, have been baptized into a single body by the power of a single Spirit, Jews and Greeks, slaves and free men alike; we have all been given drink at a single source, the one Spirit.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	12	14	The body, after all, consists not of one organ but of many;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	12	15	if the foot should say, I am not the hand, and therefore I do not belong to the body, does it belong to the body any the less for that?
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	12	16	If the ear should say, I am not the eye, and therefore I do not belong to the body, does it belong to the body any the less for that?
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	12	17	Where would the power of hearing be, if the body were all eye? Or the power of smell, if the body were all ear?
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	12	18	As it is, God has given each one of them its own position in the body, as he would.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	12	19	If the whole were one single organ, what would become of the body?
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	12	20	Instead of that, we have a multitude of organs, and one body.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	12	21	The eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of thee, or the head to the feet, I have no need of you.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	12	22	On the contrary, it is those parts of our body which seem most contemptible that are necessary to it;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	12	23	what seems base in our bodies, we surround with special honour, treating with special seemliness that which is unseemly in us,
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	12	24	whereas that which is seemly in us has no need of it. Thus God has established a harmony in the body, giving special honour to that which needed it most.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	12	25	There was to be no want of unity in the body; all the different parts of it were to make each other’s welfare their common care.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	12	26	If one part is suffering, all the rest suffer with it; if one part is treated with honour, all the rest find pleasure in it.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	12	27	And you are Christ’s body, organs of it depending upon each other.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	12	28	God has given us different positions in the church; apostles first, then prophets, and thirdly teachers; then come miraculous powers, then gifts of healing, works of mercy, the management of affairs, speaking with different tongues, and interpreting prophecy.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	12	29	Are all of us apostles, all prophets, all teachers?
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	12	30	Have all miraculous powers, or gifts of healing? Can all speak with tongues, can all interpret?
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	12	31	Prize the best gifts of heaven. Meanwhile, I can shew you a way which is better than any other.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	13	1	I may speak with every tongue that men and angels use; yet, if I lack charity, I am no better than echoing bronze, or the clash of cymbals.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	13	2	I may have powers of prophecy, no secret hidden from me, no knowledge too deep for me; I may have utter faith, so that I can move mountains; yet if I lack charity, I count for nothing.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	13	3	I may give away all that I have, to feed the poor; I may give myself up to be burnt at the stake; if I lack charity, it goes for nothing.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	13	4	Charity is patient, is kind; charity feels no envy; charity is never perverse or proud,
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	13	5	never insolent; does not claim its rights, cannot be provoked, does not brood over an injury;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	13	6	takes no pleasure in wrong-doing, but rejoices at the victory of truth;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	13	7	sustains, believes, hopes, endures, to the last.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	13	8	The time will come when we shall outgrow prophecy, when speaking with tongues will come to an end, when knowledge will be swept away; we shall never have finished with charity.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	13	9	Our knowledge, our prophecy, are only glimpses of the truth;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	13	10	and these glimpses will be swept away when the time of fulfilment comes.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	13	11	(Just so, when I was a child, I talked like a child, I had the intelligence, the thoughts of a child; since I became a man, I have outgrown childish ways.)
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	13	12	At present, we are looking at a confused reflection in a mirror; then, we shall see face to face; now, I have only glimpses of knowledge; then, I shall recognize God as he has recognized me.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	13	13	Meanwhile, faith, hope and charity persist, all three; but the greatest of them all is charity.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	14	1	Make charity your aim, the spiritual gifts your aspiration; and, by preference, the gift of prophecy.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	14	2	The man who talks in a strange tongue is talking to God, not to men; nobody understands him, he is holding mysterious converse with his own spirit;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	14	3	whereas the prophet speaks to edify, to encourage, to comfort his fellow men.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	14	4	By talking in a strange tongue, a man may strengthen his own faith; by prophesying he can strengthen the faith of the church.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	14	5	I would gladly see you all speaking with strange tongues, but I would rather you should prophesy, because the prophet ranks higher than the man who speaks with strange tongues. It would be different if he could translate them, to strengthen the faith of the church;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	14	6	but as things are, brethren, what good can I do you by coming and talking to you in strange languages, instead of addressing you with a revelation, or a manifestation of inner knowledge, or a prophecy, or words of instruction?
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	14	7	Senseless things may be vocal, a flute, for example, or a harp; but even with these, there must be distinctions between the sounds they give, or how can we recognize what melody flute or harp is playing?
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	14	8	If a trumpet, for that matter, gives out an uncertain note, who will arm himself for battle?
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	14	9	So it is with you; how can it be known what your message is, if you speak in a language whose accents cannot be understood? Your words will fall on empty air.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	14	10	No doubt all these different languages exist somewhere in the world, and each of them has its significance;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	14	11	but if I cannot understand what the language means, the effect is that I am a foreigner to the man who is speaking, and he is a foreigner to me.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	14	12	So the case stands with you. Since you have set your hearts on spiritual gifts, ask for them in abundant measure, but only so as to strengthen the faith of the church;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	14	13	the man who can speak in a strange tongue should pray for the power to interpret it.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	14	14	If I use a strange tongue when I offer prayer, my spirit is praying, but my mind reaps no advantage from it.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	14	15	What, then, is my drift? Why, I mean to use mind as well as spirit when I offer prayer, use mind as well as spirit when I sing psalms.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	14	16	If thou dost pronounce a blessing in this spiritual fashion, how can one who takes his place among the uninstructed say Amen to thy thanksgiving? He cannot tell what thou art saying.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	14	17	Thou, true enough, art duly giving thanks, but the other’s faith is not strengthened.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	14	18	Thank God, I can speak any of the tongues you use;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	14	19	but in the church, I would rather speak five words which my mind utters, for your instruction, than ten thousand in a strange tongue.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	14	20	Brethren, do not be content to think childish thoughts; keep the innocence of children, with the thoughts of grown men.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	14	21	We read in the law, I will speak to this people with an unknown tongue, with the lips of strangers, and even so they will not listen to me, says the Lord.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	14	22	Thus talking with a strange tongue is a sign given to unbelievers, not to the faithful; whereas prophecy is meant for the faithful, not for unbelievers.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	14	23	And now, what will happen if the uninstructed or the unbelievers come in when the whole church has met together, and find everyone speaking with strange tongues at once? Will they not say you are mad?
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	14	24	Whereas, if some unbeliever or some uninstructed person comes in when all alike are prophesying, everyone will read his thoughts, everyone will scrutinize him,
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	14	25	all that is kept hidden in his heart will be revealed; and so he will fall on his face and worship God, publicly confessing that God is indeed among you.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	14	26	What am I urging, then, brethren? Why, when you meet together, each of you with a psalm to sing, or some doctrine to impart, or a revelation to give, or ready to speak in strange tongues, or to interpret them, see that all is done to your spiritual advantage.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	14	27	If there is speaking with strange tongues, do not let more than two speak, or three at the most; let each take his turn, with someone to interpret for him,
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	14	28	and if he can find nobody to interpret, let him be silent in the church, conversing with his own spirit and with God.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	14	29	As for the prophets, let two or three of them speak, while the rest sit in judgement on their prophecies.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	14	30	If some revelation comes to another who is sitting by, let him who spoke first keep silence;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	14	31	there is room for you all to prophesy one by one, so that the whole company may receive instruction and comfort;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	14	32	and it is for the prophets to exercise control over their own spiritual gifts.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	14	33	God is the author of peace, not of disorder; such is the teaching I give in all the churches of the saints.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	14	34	And women are to be silent in the churches; utterance is not permitted to them; let them keep their rank, as the law tells them:
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	14	35	if they have any question to raise, let them ask their husbands at home. That a woman should make her voice heard in the church is not seemly.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	14	36	Tell me, was it from you that God’s word was sent out? Are you the only people it has reached?
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	14	37	If anybody claims to be a prophet, or to have spiritual gifts, let him prove it by recognizing that this message of mine to you is God’s commandment.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	14	38	If he does not recognize it, he himself shall receive no recognition.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	14	39	Set your hearts, then, brethren, on prophesying; and as for speaking with strange tongues, do not interfere with it.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	14	40	Only let us have everything done suitably, and with right order.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	15	1	Here, brethren, is an account of the gospel I preached to you. It was this that was handed on to you; upon this your faith rests;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	15	2	through this (if you keep in mind the tenor of its preaching) you are in the way of salvation; unless indeed your belief was ill founded.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	15	3	The chief message I handed on to you, as it was handed on to me, was that Christ, as the scriptures had foretold, died for our sins;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	15	4	that he was buried, and then, as the scriptures had foretold, rose again on the third day.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	15	5	That he was seen by Cephas, then by the eleven apostles,
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	15	6	and afterwards by more than five hundred of the brethren at once, most of whom are alive at this day, though some have gone to their rest.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	15	7	Then he was seen by James, then by all the apostles;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	15	8	and last of all, I too saw him, like the last child, that comes to birth unexpectedly.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	15	9	Of all the apostles, I am the least; nay, I am not fit to be called an apostle, since there was a time when I persecuted the church of God;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	15	10	only, by God’s grace, I am what I am, and the grace he has shewn me has not been without fruit; I have worked harder than all of them, or rather, it was not I, but the grace of God working with me.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	15	11	That is our preaching, mine or theirs as you will; that is the faith which has come to you.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	15	12	If what we preach about Christ, then, is that he rose from the dead, how is it that some of you say the dead do not rise again?
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	15	13	If the dead do not rise, then Christ has not risen either;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	15	14	and if Christ has not risen, then our preaching is groundless, and your faith, too, is groundless.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	15	15	Worse still, we are convicted of giving false testimony about God; we bore God witness that he had raised Christ up from the dead, and he has not raised him up, if it is true that the dead do not rise again.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	15	16	If the dead, I say, do not rise, then Christ has not risen either;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	15	17	and if Christ has not risen, all your faith is a delusion; you are back in your sins.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	15	18	It follows, too, that those who have gone to their rest in Christ have been lost.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	15	19	If the hope we have learned to repose in Christ belongs to this world only, then we are unhappy beyond all other men.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	15	20	But no, Christ has risen from the dead, the first-fruits of all those who have fallen asleep;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	15	21	a man had brought us death, and a man should bring us resurrection from the dead;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	15	22	just as all have died with Adam, so with Christ all will be brought to life.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	15	23	But each must rise in his own rank; Christ is the first-fruits, and after him follow those who belong to him, those who have put their trust in his return.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	15	24	Full completion comes after that, when he places his kingship in the hands of God, his Father, having first dispossessed every other sort of rule, authority, and power;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	15	25	his reign, as we know, must continue until he has put all his enemies under his feet,
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	15	26	and the last of those enemies to be dispossessed is death. God has put all things in subjection under his feet; that is,
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	15	27	all things have been made subject to him, except indeed that power which made them his subjects.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	15	28	And when that subjection is complete, then the Son himself will become subject to the power which made all things his subjects, so that God may be all in all.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	15	29	Tell me, what can be the use of being baptized for the dead, if the dead do not rise again? Why should anyone be baptized for them?
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	15	30	Why do we, for that matter, face peril hour after hour?
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	15	31	I swear to you, brethren, by all the pride I take in you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that death is daily at my side.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	15	32	When I fought against beasts at Ephesus with all my strength, of what use was it, if the dead do not rise again? Let us eat and drink, since we must die to-morrow.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	15	33	Do not be led into such errors; bad company, they say, can corrupt noble minds.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	15	34	Come back to your senses, like right-minded men, and sin no longer; there are some, I say it to your shame, who lack the knowledge of God.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	15	35	But perhaps someone will ask, How can the dead rise up? What kind of body will they be wearing when they appear?
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	15	36	Poor fool, when thou sowest seed in the ground, it must die before it can be brought to life;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	15	37	and what thou sowest is not the full body that is one day to be, it is only bare grain, of wheat, it may be, or some other crop;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	15	38	it is for God to embody it according to his will, each grain in the body that belongs to it.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	15	39	Nature is not all one; men have one nature, the beasts another, the birds another, the fishes another;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	15	40	so, too, there are bodies that belong to earth and bodies that belong to heaven; and heavenly bodies have one kind of beauty, earthly bodies another.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	15	41	The sun has its own beauty, the moon has hers, the stars have theirs, one star even differs from another in its beauty.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	15	42	So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown corruptible, rises incorruptible;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	15	43	what is sown unhonoured, rises in glory; what is sown in weakness, is raised in power;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	15	44	what is sown a natural body, rises a spiritual body. If there is such a thing as a natural body, there must be a spiritual body too.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	15	45	Mankind begins with the Adam who became, as Scripture tells us, a living soul; it is fulfilled in the Adam who has become a life-giving spirit.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	15	46	It was not the principle of spiritual life that came first; natural life came first, then spiritual life;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	15	47	the man who came first came from earth, fashioned of dust, the man who came afterwards came from heaven, and his fashion is heavenly.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	15	48	The nature of that earth-born man is shared by his earthly sons, the nature of the heaven-born man, by his heavenly sons;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	15	49	and it remains for us, who once bore the stamp of earth, to bear the stamp of heaven.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	15	50	What I mean, brethren, is this; the kingdom of God cannot be enjoyed by flesh and blood; the principle of corruption cannot share a life which is incorruptible.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	15	51	Here is a secret I will make known to you; we shall all rise again, but not all of us will undergo the change I speak of.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	15	52	It will happen in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, when the last trumpet sounds; the trumpet will sound, and the dead will rise again, free from corruption, and we shall find ourselves changed;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	15	53	this corruptible nature of ours must be clothed with incorruptible life, this mortal nature with immortality.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	15	54	Then, when this mortal nature wears its immortality, the saying of scripture will come true, Death is swallowed up in victory.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	15	55	Where then, death, is thy victory; where, death, is thy sting?
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	15	56	It is sin that gives death its sting, just as it is the law that gives sin its power;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	15	57	thanks be to God, then, who gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	15	58	Stand firm, then, my beloved brethren, immovable in your resolve, doing your full share continually in the task the Lord has given you, since you know that your labour in the Lord’s service cannot be spent in vain.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	16	1	And now about the collection which is being made for the saints; follow the plan which I have prescribed for the Galatian churches.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	16	2	Each of you should put aside, on the first day of the week, what he can afford to spare, and save it up, so that there may be no need for a collection at the time of my visit;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	16	3	and when I am with you I will despatch your envoys, with letters of recommendation from you, to convey your charity to Jerusalem.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	16	4	If I find it worth while to make the journey myself, they shall travel with me.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	16	5	I shall be coming to you as soon as I have made the round of Macedonia (I mean to go round Macedonia),
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	16	6	and perhaps stay with you or even pass the winter with you; it will be for you to put me on my way to my next stage, whatever it be.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	16	7	This is no occasion for a mere passing visit to you; I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord will let me.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	16	8	Till Pentecost, I shall be staying at Ephesus;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	16	9	a great opportunity lies open to me, plain to view, and strong forces oppose me.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	16	10	If Timothy comes, be sure to make him free of your company; he is doing the Lord’s work as I am.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	16	11	He is not to be treated with disrespect; put him on his way in peace so that he reaches me safely; I am awaiting him here with the brethren.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	16	12	As for our brother Apollo, you may be sure I have urged him strongly to accompany the brethren on their journey to you; but no, he will not consent to visit you yet, he will come when he has leisure.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	16	13	Be on the watch, stand firm in the faith, play the man, be full of courage.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	16	14	And let everything you do be done in a spirit of charity.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	16	15	This appeal, brethren, I must make to you. You know that the household of Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus was the first offering Achaia gave; you know how they have devoted themselves to supplying the needs of the saints;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	16	16	you must shew deference to such persons, to everyone who shares in the labours of our ministry.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	16	17	I am glad that Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus are here; they have made up for your absence,
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	16	18	bringing relief to my mind as well as yours. Such men deserve your recognition.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	16	19	A greeting to you from all the churches of Asia, and many greetings, in the Lord’s name, from Aquila and Priscilla, as well as the church in their household; it is with them I am lodging.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	16	20	All the brethren greet you; greet one another with the kiss of saints.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	16	21	I send you my greetings in my own handwriting, PAUL.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	16	22	If there is anyone who has no love for the Lord, let him be held accursed; the Lord is coming.
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	16	23	The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you;
 1 Corinthians	1Cor	52	16	24	and my love be with you all in Christ Jesus, Amen.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	1	1	From Paul, by God’s will an apostle of Jesus Christ, and Timothy, who is their brother, to the Church of God which is at Corinth and to all the saints in the whole of Achaia;
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	1	2	grace and peace be yours from God, our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	1	3	Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the merciful Father, the God who gives all encouragement.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	1	4	He it is who comforts us in all our trials; and it is this encouragement we ourselves receive from God which enables us to comfort others, whenever they have trials of their own.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	1	5	The sufferings of Christ, it is true, overflow into our lives; but there is overflowing comfort, too, which Christ brings to us.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	1	6	Have we trials to endure? It all makes for your encouragement, for your salvation. Are we comforted? It is so that you may be comforted. Are we encouraged? It is for your encouragement, for your salvation. And the effect of this appears in your willingness to undergo the sufferings we too undergo;
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	1	7	making our hopes of you all the more confident; partners of our sufferings, you will be partners of our encouragement too.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	1	8	Make no mistake, brethren, about the trial which has been befalling us in Asia; it was something that overburdened us beyond our strength, so that we despaired of life itself.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	1	9	Indeed, for ourselves we could find no outcome but death; so God would have us learn to trust, not in ourselves, but in him who raises the dead to life.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	1	10	It is he who has preserved us, and is preserving us, from such deadly peril; and we have learned to have confidence that he will preserve us still.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	1	11	Only you, too, must help us with your prayers. So thanks will be given by many on our behalf, and in the name of many persons, for the favour God has shewn to us.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	1	12	It is our boast, made in all good conscience, that we have behaved in the world, and towards you especially, with singleheartedness and sincerity in God’s sight, not using human wisdom, but the light of God’s grace.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	1	13	And we mean by our letters nothing else than what you read in them, and understand us to mean. I hope that you will come to understand us better,
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	1	14	as you do already in some measure; are we not your chief pride, as you are our chief pride, in the day when our Lord Jesus Christ comes?
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	1	15	It was with this confidence in you that I had made up my mind to give you a double opportunity of spiritual profit, coming to you first,
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	1	16	then passing through Corinth to Macedonia, and so from Macedonia back to you; and you were to put me on my way to Judaea.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	1	17	When I thus made up my mind, do you suppose I did it lightly? Can it be said of me that the plans I form are formed by motives of human prudence, so that it is first Yes, I will, and then, No, I will not, with me?
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	1	18	As God is faithful, the message we delivered to you is not one which hesitates between Yes and No.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	1	19	It was Jesus Christ, the Son of God, that I, that Silvanus and Timothy preached to you; and that preaching did not hesitate between Yes and No; in him all is affirmed with certainty.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	1	20	In him all the promises of God become certain; that is why, when we give glory to God, it is through him that we say our Amen.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	1	21	It is God who gives both us and you our certainty in Christ;
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	1	22	it is he who has anointed us, just as it is he who has put his seal on us, and given us the foretaste of his Spirit in our hearts.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	1	23	With my soul as the forfeit I call this God to witness that if I did not, after all, visit you at Corinth, it was to give you a fresh chance. (Not that we would domineer over your faith; rather, we would help you to achieve happiness. And indeed, in your faith you stand firm enough.)
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	2	1	On this I was resolved in my own mind, that I would not pay you a second visit on a sad errand.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	2	2	Was I to make you sorry? It meant bringing sorrow on those who are my own best source of comfort.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	2	3	And those were the very terms in which I wrote to you: I would not come, if it meant finding fresh cause for sorrow where I might have expected to find cause for happiness. I felt confidence in you all, I knew that what made me happy would make you happy too.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	2	4	When I wrote to you, I wrote in great anguish and distress of mind, with many tears. I did not wish to bring sorrow on you, only to assure you of the love I bear you, so abundantly.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	2	5	Well, if someone has caused distress, it is not myself that he has distressed but, in some measure, all of you, so that I must not be too hard on him.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	2	6	This punishment inflicted on him by so many of you is punishment enough for the man I speak of,
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	2	7	and now you must think rather of shewing him indulgence, and comforting him; you must not let him be overwhelmed by excess of grief.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	2	8	Let me entreat you, then, to give him assurance of your good will.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	2	9	The reason why I wrote to you, after all, was to test your loyalty, by seeing whether you would obey me in full.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	2	10	If you shew indulgence to anybody, so do I too; I myself, wherever I have shewn indulgence, have done so in the person of Christ for your sakes,
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	2	11	for fear that Satan should get the advantage over us; we know well enough how resourceful he is.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	2	12	I went to Troas, then, to preach Christ’s gospel there, and found a great opportunity open to me in the Lord’s service;
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	2	13	but still I had no peace of mind, because I had not yet seen my brother Titus; so I took my leave of them all, and pressed on into Macedonia.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	2	14	I give thanks to God, that he is always exhibiting us as the captives in the triumph of Christ Jesus, and through us spreading abroad everywhere, like a perfume, the knowledge of himself.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	2	15	We are Christ’s incense offered to God, making manifest both those who are achieving salvation and those who are on the road to ruin;
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	2	16	as a deadly fume where it finds death, as a life-giving perfume where it finds life. Who can prove himself worthy of such a calling?
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	2	17	We do not, like so many others, adulterate the word of God, we preach it in all its purity, as God gave it to us, standing before God’s presence in Christ.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	3	1	You will say, perhaps, that we are making a fresh attempt to recommend ourselves to your favour. What, do we need letters of recommendation to you, or from you, as some others do?
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	3	2	Why, you yourselves are the letter we carry about with us, written in our hearts, for all to recognize and to read.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	3	3	You are an open letter from Christ, promulgated through us; a message written not in ink, but in the Spirit of the living God, with human hearts, instead of stone, to carry it.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	3	4	Such, through Christ, is the confidence in which we make our appeal to God.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	3	5	Not that, left to ourselves, we are able to frame any thought as coming from ourselves; all our ability comes from God,
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	3	6	since it is he who has enabled us to promulgate his new law to men. It is a spiritual, not a written law; the written law inflicts death, whereas the spiritual law brings life.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	3	7	We know how that sentence of death, engraved in writing upon stone, was promulgated to men in a dazzling cloud, so that the people of Israel could not look Moses in the face, for the brightness of it, although that brightness soon passed away.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	3	8	How much more dazzling, then, must be the brightness in which the spiritual law is promulgated to them!
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	3	9	If there is a splendour in the proclamation of our guilt, there must be more splendour yet in the proclamation of our acquittal;
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	3	10	and indeed, what once seemed resplendent seems by comparison resplendent no longer, so much does the greater splendour outshine it.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	3	11	What passed away passed in a flash of glory; what remains, remains instead in a blaze of glory.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	3	12	Such is the ground of our confidence, and we speak out boldly enough.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	3	13	It is not for us to use veiled language, as Moses veiled his face. He did it, so that the people of Israel might not go on gazing at the features of the old order, which was passing away.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	3	14	But in spite of that, dullness has crept over their senses, and to this day the reading of the old law is muffled with the same veil; no revelation tells them that it has been abrogated in Christ.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	3	15	To this day, I say, when the law of Moses is read out, a veil hangs over their hearts.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	3	16	There must be a turning to the Lord first, and then the veil will be taken away.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	3	17	The Spirit we have been speaking of is the Lord; and where the Lord’s Spirit is, there is freedom.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	3	18	It is given to us, all alike, to catch the glory of the Lord as in a mirror, with faces unveiled; and so we become transfigured into the same likeness, borrowing glory from that glory, as the Spirit of the Lord enables us.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	4	1	Being entrusted, then, by God’s mercy, with this ministry, we do not play the coward;
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	4	2	we renounce all shame-faced concealment, there must be no crooked ways, no falsifying of God’s word; it is by making the truth publicly known that we recommend ourselves to the honest judgement of mankind, as in God’s sight.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	4	3	Our gospel is a mystery, yes, but it is only a mystery to those who are on the road to perdition;
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	4	4	those whose unbelieving minds have been blinded by the god this world worships, so that the glorious gospel of Christ, God’s image, cannot reach them with the rays of its illumination.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	4	5	After all, it is not ourselves we proclaim; we proclaim Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	4	6	The same God who bade light shine out of darkness has kindled a light in our hearts, whose shining is to make known his glory as he has revealed it in the features of Jesus Christ.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	4	7	We have a treasure, then, in our keeping, but its shell is of perishable earthenware; it must be God, and not anything in ourselves, that gives it its sovereign power.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	4	8	For ourselves, we are being hampered everywhere, yet still have room to breathe, are hard put to it, but never at a loss;
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	4	9	persecution does not leave us unbefriended, nor crushing blows destroy us;
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	4	10	we carry about continually in our bodies the dying state of Jesus, so that the living power of Jesus may be manifested in our bodies too.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	4	11	Always we, alive as we are, are being given up to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the living power of Jesus may be manifested in this mortal nature of ours.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	4	12	So death makes itself felt in us, and life in you.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	4	13	I spoke my mind, says the scripture, with full confidence, and we too speak our minds with full confidence, sharing that same spirit of faith,
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	4	14	and knowing that he who raised Jesus from the dead will raise us too, and summon us, like you, before him.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	4	15	It is all for your sakes, so that grace made manifold in many lives may increase the sum of gratitude which is offered to God’s glory.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	4	16	No, we do not play the coward; though the outward part of our nature is being worn down, our inner life is refreshed from day to day.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	4	17	This light and momentary affliction brings with it a reward multiplied every way, loading us with everlasting glory;
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	4	18	if only we will fix our eyes on what is unseen, not on what we can see. What we can see, lasts but for a moment; what is unseen is eternal.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	5	1	Once this earthly tent-dwelling of ours has come to an end, God, we are sure, has a solid building waiting for us, a dwelling not made with hands, that will last eternally in heaven.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	5	2	And indeed, it is for this that we sigh, longing for the shelter of that home which heaven will give us,
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	5	3	if death, when it comes, is to find us sheltered, not defenceless against the winds.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	5	4	Yes, if we tent-dwellers here go sighing and heavy-hearted, it is not because we would be stripped of something; rather, we would clothe ourselves afresh; our mortal nature must be swallowed up in life.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	5	5	For this, nothing else, God was preparing us, when he gave us the foretaste of his Spirit.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	5	6	We take heart, then, continually, since we recognize that our spirits are exiled from the Lord’s presence so long as they are at home in the body,
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	5	7	with faith, instead of a clear view, to guide our steps.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	5	8	We take heart, I say, and have a mind rather to be exiled from the body, and at home with the Lord;
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	5	9	to that end, at home or in exile, our ambition is to win his favour.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	5	10	All of us have a scrutiny to undergo before Christ’s judgement-seat, for each to reap what his mortal life has earned, good or ill, according to his deeds.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	5	11	It is, then, with the fear of the Lord before our minds that we try to win men over by persuasion; God recognizes us for what we are, and so I hope, does your better judgement.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	5	12	No, we are not trying to recommend ourselves to your favour afresh; we are shewing you how to find material for boasting of us, to those who have so much to boast of outwardly, and nothing inwardly.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	5	13	Are these wild words? Then take them as addressed to God. Or sober sense? Then take them as addressed to yourselves.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	5	14	With us, Christ’s love is a compelling motive, and this is the conviction we have reached; if one man died on behalf of all, then all thereby became dead men;
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	5	15	Christ died for us all, so that being alive should no longer mean living with our own life, but with his life who died for us and has risen again;
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	5	16	and therefore, henceforward, we do not think of anybody in a merely human fashion; even if we used to think of Christ in a human fashion, we do so no longer;
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	5	17	it follows, in fact, that when a man becomes a new creature in Christ, his old life has disappeared, everything has become new about him.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	5	18	This, as always, is God’s doing; it is he who, through Christ, has reconciled us to himself, and allowed us to minister this reconciliation of his to others.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	5	19	Yes, God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, establishing in our hearts his message of reconciliation, instead of holding men to account for their sins.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	5	20	We are Christ’s ambassadors, then, and God appeals to you through us; we entreat you in Christ’s name, make your peace with God.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	5	21	Christ never knew sin, and God made him into sin for us, so that in him we might be turned into the holiness of God.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	6	1	And now, to further that work, we entreat you not to offer God’s grace an inef-fectual welcome.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	6	2	(I have answered thy prayer, he says, in a time of pardon, I have brought thee help in a day of salvation. And here is the time of pardon; the day of salvation has come already.)
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	6	3	We are careful not to give offence to anybody, lest we should bring discredit on our ministry;
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	6	4	as God’s ministers, we must do everything to make ourselves acceptable. We have to shew great patience, in times of affliction, of need, of difficulty;
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	6	5	under the lash, in prison, in the midst of tumult; when we are tired out, sleepless, and fasting.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	6	6	We have to be pure-minded, enlightened, forgiving and gracious to others; we have to rely on the Holy Spirit, on unaffected love,
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	6	7	on the truth of our message, on the power of God. To right and to left we must be armed with innocence;
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	6	8	now honoured, now slighted, now traduced, now flattered. They call us deceivers, and we tell the truth; unknown, and we are fully acknowledged;
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	6	9	dying men, and see, we live; punished, yes, but not doomed to die;
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	6	10	sad men, that rejoice continually; beggars, that bring riches to many; disinherited, and the world is ours.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	6	11	We are speaking freely to you, Corinthians; we throw our hearts wide open to you.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	6	12	It is not our fault, it is the fault of your own affections, that you feel constraint with us.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	6	13	Pay us back in the same coin (I am speaking to you as to my children); open your hearts wide too.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	6	14	You must not consent to be yokefellows with unbelievers. What has innocence to do with lawlessness? What is there in common between light and darkness?
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	6	15	What harmony between Christ and Belial? How can a believer throw in his lot with an infidel?
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	6	16	How can the temple of God have any commerce with idols? And you are the temple of the living God; God has told us so; I will live and move among them, and be their God, and they shall be my people.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	6	17	Come out, then, from among them, the Lord says to us, separate yourselves from them, and do not even touch what is unclean;
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	6	18	then I will make you welcome. I will be your Father, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord, the Almighty.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	7	1	Such are the promises, beloved, that await us. Why then, let us purge ourselves clean from every defilement of flesh and of spirit, achieving the work of our sanctification in the fear of God.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	7	2	Be generous with us; it is not as if any of you could say that we had wronged him, or done him harm, or taken undue advantage of him.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	7	3	I am not finding fault with you when I say this; I have told you before now, we hold you so close in our hearts that nothing in life or in death can part us from you.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	7	4	With what confidence I speak to you, what pride I take in you! I am full of encouragement, nay, I cannot contain myself for happiness, in the midst of all these trials of mine.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	7	5	By the time we had reached Macedonia, our human weakness could find no means of rest; all was conflict without, all was anxiety within.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	7	6	But there is one who never fails to comfort those who are brought low; God gave us comfort, as soon as Titus came.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	7	7	It was not only that he came; he inspired us with that courage he had derived from you. He told us how you longed for my presence, how you grieved over what had happened, how you took my part, till I was more than ever rejoiced.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	7	8	Yes, even if I caused you pain by my letter, I am not sorry for it. Perhaps I was tempted to feel sorry, when I saw how my letter had caused you even momentary pain,
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	7	9	but now I am glad; not glad of the pain, but glad of the repentance the pain brought with it. Yours was a supernatural remorse, so that you were not in any way the losers through what we had done.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	7	10	Supernatural remorse leads to an abiding and salutary change of heart, whereas the world’s remorse leads to death.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	7	11	See what devotion has been bred in you now by this supernatural remorse; how you disowned the guilt; the indignation you felt, the fear that overcame you; how you missed me, how you took my part, how you righted the wrong done. You have done everything to prove yourselves free from guilt in this matter.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	7	12	So, then, I had written you a letter, and it was neither the wrong-doer nor the injured party that was to be the gainer by it; it was to have the effect of shewing you our devotion to your welfare
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	7	13	in God’s sight. It was this that brought us comfort; and besides this comfort, we had still greater cause for rejoicing in the joy which Titus felt, with his heart refreshed by the welcome you all gave him.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	7	14	I had boasted to Titus of the confidence I felt in you, and you did not play me false; no, the boast I had made to Titus proved true, as true as the message which I had delivered to you.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	7	15	He bears a most affectionate memory of you, of the submissiveness you all shewed, of the anxious fear with which you received him.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	7	16	I am rejoiced that I can repose such full confidence in you.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	8	1	And now, brethren, we must tell you about the grace which God has lavished upon the churches of Macedonia:
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	8	2	how well they have stood the test of distress, how abundantly they have rejoiced over it, how abject is their poverty, and how the crown of all this has been a rich measure of generosity in them.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	8	3	I can testify that of their own accord they undertook to do all they could, and more than they could;
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	8	4	they begged us, most urgently, to allow them the privilege of helping to supply the needs of the saints.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	8	5	And their gift went beyond our hopes; they gave their own services to the Lord, which meant, as God willed, to us;
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	8	6	so that we were able to ask Titus to visit you again, and finish this gracious task he had begun, as part of his mission.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	8	7	You excel in so much already, in faith, in power of utterance, in knowledge of the truth, in devotion of every kind, in your loving treatment of us; may this gracious excellence be yours too.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	8	8	I say this, not to lay any injunction on you, but only to make sure that your charity rings true by telling you about the eagerness of others.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	8	9	(You do not need to be reminded how gracious our Lord Jesus Christ was; how he impoverished himself for your sakes, when he was so rich, so that you might become rich through his poverty),
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	8	10	I am only giving you my advice, then, in this matter; you can claim that as your due, since it was you who led the way, not only in acting, but in proposing to act, as early as last year.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	8	11	It remains for you now to complete your action; readiness of the will must be completed by deeds, as far as your means allow.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	8	12	We value a man’s readiness of will according to the means he has, not according to the means he might have, but has not;
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	8	13	and there is no intention that others should be relieved at the price of your distress. No, a balance is to be struck,
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	8	14	and what you can spare now is to make up for what they want; so that what they can spare may, in its turn, make up for your want, and thus the balance will be redressed.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	8	15	So we read in scripture, He who had gathered much had nothing left over, and he who had gathered little, no lack.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	8	16	I thank God for inspiring the heart of Titus, your representative, with the same eagerness.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	8	17	He has accepted our invitation; but indeed, of his own choice he was eager to visit you.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	8	18	And we are sending with him that brother of ours, who has won the praise of all the churches by his proclamation of the gospel;
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	8	19	he, too, is the man whom the churches have appointed to be our companion in this gracious ministry of ours, to further the Lord’s glory and our own resolve.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	8	20	They were anxious that no suspicion should be aroused against us, with these great sums to handle;
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	8	21	it is not only in the Lord’s sight, but in the sight of men, that we have to study our behaviour.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	8	22	And, to accompany these, we are sending a brother of whose eagerness we have had good proof, in many ways and upon many occasions; now he is more eager than ever, such is the confidence he feels in you.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	8	23	As for Titus, he is my partner and has shared my work among you; as for these brethren of ours, they are the envoys of the churches, the glory of Christ:
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	8	24	give them proof, then, of your charity, and of the good reason we have to be proud of you, for all the churches to see.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	9	1	And indeed, to write and tell you about the collection for the saints would be waste of time;
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	9	2	I know well your eagerness, which has made me boast to the Macedonians that Achaia has been ready ever since last year, and this challenge of yours has stirred up others beside yourselves.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	9	3	If I am sending the brethren, it is only for fear that the boast we made of you should prove false in this particular; as I told you, I would have you quite ready;
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	9	4	or else, when some of the Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, we, and you too for that matter, will be put to the blush over this confidence of ours.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	9	5	That is why I have thought it necessary to ask the brethren to visit you first, and see that the free offering you have already promised is prepared beforehand. Only it is to be a free offering, not a grudging tribute.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	9	6	I would remind you of this, He who sows sparingly will reap sparingly; he who sows freely will reap freely too.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	9	7	Each of you should carry out the purpose he has formed in his heart, not with any painful effort; it is the cheerful giver God loves.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	9	8	God has the power to supply you abundantly with every kind of blessing, so that, with all your needs well supplied at all times, you may have something to spare for every work of mercy.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	9	9	So we read, He has spent largely, and given to the poor; his charity lives on for ever.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	9	10	He who puts grain into the sower’s hand, and gives us food to eat, will supply you with seed and multiply it, and enrich the harvest of your charity;
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	9	11	so that you will have abundant means of every kind for all that generosity which gives proof of our gratitude towards God.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	9	12	The administration, remember, of this public service does more than supply the needs of the saints; it yields, besides, a rich harvest of thanksgiving in the name of the Lord.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	9	13	This administration makes men praise God for the spirit of obedience which you shew in confessing the gospel of Christ, and the generosity which you shew in sharing your goods with these and with all men;
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	9	14	and they will intercede, too, on your behalf, as the abundant measure of grace which God bestows on you warms their hearts towards you.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	9	15	Thanks be to God for his unutterable bounty to us.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	10	1	And now, here is Paul, the man who is so diffident when he meets you face to face, and deals so boldly with you at a distance, making an appeal to you by the gentleness and the courtesy of Christ.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	10	2	What I ask is, that you will not force me to deal boldly with you when we meet. I have my own grounds for confidence, and with these I may well be counted a match for those who think we rely on merely human powers.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	10	3	Human indeed we are, but it is in no human strength that we fight our battles.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	10	4	The weapons we fight with are not human weapons; they are divinely powerful, ready to pull down strongholds. Yes, we can pull down the conceits of men,
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	10	5	every barrier of pride which sets itself up against the true knowledge of God; we make every mind surrender to Christ’s service,
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	10	6	and are prepared to punish rebellion from any quarter, once your own submission is complete.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	10	7	Wait and see what happens when we meet. There may be someone who takes credit to himself for being the champion of Christ; if so, let him reflect further that we belong to Christ’s cause no less than himself;
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	10	8	and indeed, I might boast of the powers I have, powers which the Lord has given me so as to build up your faith, not so as to crush your spirits, and I should not be put in the wrong.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	10	9	It must not be thought that I try to overawe you when I write.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	10	10	His letters, some people say, are powerful and carry weight, but his presence in person lacks dignity, he is but a poor orator.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	10	11	I warn those who speak thus that, when we visit you, our actions will not belie the impression which our letters make when we are at a distance.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	10	12	It is not for us to intrude, or challenge comparison with others who claim credit for themselves; we are content to go by our own measure, to compare ourselves with our own standard of achievement.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	10	13	Yes, we may boast, but our boasting will not be disproportionate; it will be in proportion to the province which God has assigned to us, one which reaches as far as you.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	10	14	Nobody can say that we are encroaching, that you lie beyond our orbit; our journeys in preaching Christ’s gospel took us all the way to you.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	10	15	Ours, then, is no disproportionate boasting, founded on other men’s labours; on the contrary, as your faith bears increase, we hope to attain still further vantage-points through you, without going beyond our province,
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	10	16	and preach the gospel further afield, without boasting of ready-made conquests in a province that belongs to another.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	10	17	He who boasts, should make his boast in the Lord;
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	10	18	it is the man whom God accredits, not the man who takes credit to himself, that proves himself to be true metal.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	11	1	If you would only bear with my vanity for a little! Pray be patient with me;
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	11	2	after all, my jealousy on your behalf is the jealousy of God himself; I have betrothed you to Christ, so that no other but he should claim you, his bride without spot,
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	11	3	and now I am anxious about you. The serpent beguiled Eve with his cunning; what if your minds should be corrupted, and lose that innocence which is yours in Christ?
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	11	4	Some newcomer preaches to you a different Christ, not the one we preached to you; he brings you a spirit other than the spirit you had from us, a gospel other than the gospel you received; you would do well, then, to be patient with me.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	11	5	I claim to have done no less than the very greatest of the apostles.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	11	6	I may be unexperienced in speaking, but I am not so in my knowledge of the truth; everybody knows what we have been in every way to you.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	11	7	Unless perhaps you think I did wrong to honour you by abasing myself, since I preached God’s gospel to you at no charge to yourselves?
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	11	8	Why, I impoverished other churches, taking pay from them so as to be at your service.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	11	9	I was penniless when I visited you, but I would not cripple any of you with expenses; the brethren came from Macedonia to relieve my necessities; I would not, and I will not, put any burden on you.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	11	10	As the truth of Christ lives in me, no one in all the country of Achaia shall silence this boast of mine.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	11	11	Why is that? Because I have no love for you? God knows I have.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	11	12	No, I shall continue to do as I have done, so as to cut away the ground from those who would gladly boast that they are no different from myself.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	11	13	Such men are false apostles, dishonest workmen, that pass for apostles of Christ.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	11	14	And no wonder; Satan himself can pass for an angel of light,
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	11	15	and his servants have no difficulty in passing for servants of holiness; but their end will be what their life has deserved.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	11	16	Once more I appeal to you, let none of you think me vain; or, if it must be so, give me a hearing in spite of my vanity, and let me boast a little in my turn.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	11	17	When I boast with such confidence, I am not delivering a message to you from God; it is part of my vanity if you will.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	11	18	If so many others boast of their natural advantages, I must be allowed to boast too.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	11	19	You find it easy to be patient with the vanity of others, you who are so full of good sense.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	11	20	Why, you let other people tyrannize over you, prey upon you, take advantage of you, vaunt their power over you, browbeat you!
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	11	21	I say this without taking credit to myself, I say it as if we had had no power to play such a part; yet in fact—here my vanity speaks—I can claim all that others claim.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	11	22	Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descended from Abraham? So am I.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	11	23	Are they Christ’s servants? These are wild words; I am something more. I have toiled harder, spent longer days in prison, been beaten so cruelly, so often looked death in the face.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	11	24	Five times the Jews scourged me, and spared me but one lash in the forty;
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	11	25	three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned; I have been shipwrecked three times, I have spent a night and a day as a castaway at sea.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	11	26	What journeys I have undertaken, in danger from rivers, in danger from robbers, in danger from my own people, in danger from the Gentiles; danger in cities; danger in the wilderness, danger in the sea, danger among false brethren!
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	11	27	I have met with toil and weariness, so often been sleepless, hungry and thirsty; so often denied myself food, gone cold and naked.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	11	28	And all this, over and above something else which I do not count; I mean the burden I carry every day, my anxious care for all the churches;
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	11	29	does anyone feel a scruple? I share it; is anyone’s conscience hurt? I am ablaze with indignation.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	11	30	If I must needs boast, I will boast of the things which humiliate me;
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	11	31	the God who is Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, blessed be his name for ever, knows that I am telling the truth.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	11	32	When I was at Damascus, the agent of king Aretas was keeping guard over the city of the Damascenes, intent on seizing me,
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	11	33	and to escape from his hands I had to be let down through a window along the wall, in a hamper.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	12	1	If we are to boast (although boasting is out of place), I will go on to the visions and revelations the Lord has granted me.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	12	2	There is a man I know who was carried out of himself in Christ, fourteen years since; was his spirit in his body? I cannot tell. Was it apart from his body? I cannot tell; God knows. This man, at least, was carried up into the third heaven.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	12	3	I can only tell you that this man, with his spirit in his body, or with his spirit apart from his body, God knows which, not I,
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	12	4	was carried up into Paradise, and heard mysteries which man is not allowed to utter.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	12	5	That is the man about whom I will boast; I will not boast about myself, except to tell you of my humiliations.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	12	6	It would not be vanity, if I had a mind to boast about such a man as that; I should only be telling the truth. But I will spare you the telling of it; I have no mind that anybody should think of me except as he sees me, as he hears me talking to him.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	12	7	And indeed, for fear that these surpassing revelations should make me proud, I was given a sting to distress my outward nature, an angel of Satan sent to rebuff me.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	12	8	Three times it made me entreat the Lord to rid me of it;
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	12	9	but he told me, My grace is enough for thee; my strength finds its full scope in thy weakness. More than ever, then, I delight to boast of the weaknesses that humiliate me, so that the strength of Christ may enshrine itself in me.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	12	10	I am well content with these humiliations of mine, with the insults, the hardships, the persecutions, the times of difficulty I undergo for Christ; when I am weakest, then I am strongest of all.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	12	11	I have given way to vanity; it was you that drove me to it; you ought to have given me credentials, instead of asking for them. No, I have done no less than the very greatest of the apostles, worthless as I am;
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	12	12	I have earned the character of apostleship among you, by all the trials I have undergone, by signs and wonders and deeds of miracle.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	12	13	What injustice did I do you, as compared with the other churches, except that to you, of my own choice, I refused to make myself a burden? Forgive me, if I wronged you there.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	12	14	This is the third time I have made preparations for visiting you, and I do not intend to cripple you with expenses: what I claim is yourselves, not anything you can give; it is the parents that should save for their children, not the children for their parents.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	12	15	For my own part, I will gladly spend and be spent on your souls’ behalf, though you should love me too little for loving you too well.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	12	16	Ah, you say, that may be; I did not lay any charge on you myself, but I preyed upon you by roundabout means, like the knave I am.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	12	17	What, those envoys I sent you, did I take advantage of you through any of them?
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	12	18	I asked Titus to visit you, and there was the brother I sent with him; did Titus take any advantage of you? Did we not all follow the same course, and in the same spirit?
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	12	19	You have been telling one another, all this while, that we are defending our conduct to you. Rather, we have been uttering our thoughts as in God’s presence, in Christ; yet always, beloved, so as to build up your faith.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	12	20	I have the fear that perhaps, when I reach you, I shall find in you unwelcome hosts, and you in me an unwelcome visitor; that there will be dissension, rivalry, ill humour, factiousness, backbiting, gossip, self-conceit, disharmony.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	12	21	I have the fear that on this new visit God has humiliation in store for me when we meet; that I shall have tears to shed over many of you, sinners of old and still unrepentant, with a tale of impure, adulterous, and wanton living.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	13	1	This will be the third time I have been on my way to see you. Every question, we read, must be settled by the voice of two or of three witnesses.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	13	2	I give you now, still absent, the warning of my second visit; I have told you before, and tell you now, both those who have sinned already and all the rest of you, that I will shew no leniency next time I come.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	13	3	Must you have proof that it is Christ who speaks through me? In him at least you will find no weakness; he still exerts his power among you.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	13	4	Weakness brought him to the cross, but the power of God brought him life; and though it is in our weakness that we are united to him, you will find us too, as he is, alive with God’s power.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	13	5	It is your own selves you should be testing, to make sure you are still true to your faith; it is your own selves you must put to the proof. Surely your own conscience will tell you that Christ Jesus is alive in you, unless, somehow, you fail at the test;
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	13	6	I think you will recognize that we have not failed at ours.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	13	7	When we pray God to keep you from wrong, it is not that we wish to prove successful; our desire is that you should do what is right, even though we seem to have failed.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	13	8	The powers we have are used in support of the truth, not against it;
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	13	9	and we are best pleased when we have no power against you, and you are powerful yourselves. That is what we pray for, your perfection.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	13	10	I write this in absence, in the hope that, when I come, I may not have to deal severely with you, in the exercise of that authority which the Lord has given me to build up your faith, not to crush your spirits.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	13	11	Finally, brethren, we wish you all joy. Perfect your lives, listen to the appeal we make, think the same thoughts, keep peace among yourselves; and the God of love and peace will be with you.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	13	12	Greet one another with the kiss of saints. All the saints send you their greeting.
 2 Corinthians	2Cor	53	13	13	The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the imparting of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.
 Galatians	Gal	54	1	1	Paul, an apostle not holding his commission from men, not appointed by man’s means, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father who raised him from the dead,
 Galatians	Gal	54	1	2	sends his greeting, and greeting from all the brethren who are with him, to the churches of Galatia.
 Galatians	Gal	54	1	3	Grace and peace be yours from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.
 Galatians	Gal	54	1	4	He it is who has given himself up for our sins, to rescue us from the evil world that surrounds us, according to the will of God, who is our Father;
 Galatians	Gal	54	1	5	to him be glory for ever and ever, Amen.
 Galatians	Gal	54	1	6	I am astounded that you should be so quick to desert one who called you to the grace of Christ, and go over to another gospel;
 Galatians	Gal	54	1	7	this can only mean, that certain people are causing disquiet among you, in their eagerness to pervert the gospel of Christ.
 Galatians	Gal	54	1	8	Friends, though it were we ourselves, though it were an angel from heaven that should preach to you a gospel other than the gospel we preached to you, a curse upon him!
 Galatians	Gal	54	1	9	I repeat now the warning we gave you before it happened, if anyone preaches to you what is contrary to the tradition you received, a curse upon him!
 Galatians	Gal	54	1	10	Do you think it is man’s favour, or God’s, that I am trying to win now? Shall I be told, now, that I am courting the good will of men? If, after all these years, I were still courting the favour of men, I should not be what I am, the slave of Christ.
 Galatians	Gal	54	1	11	Let me tell you this, brethren; the gospel I preached to you is not a thing of man’s dictation;
 Galatians	Gal	54	1	12	it was not from man that I inherited or learned it, it came to me by a revelation from Jesus Christ.
 Galatians	Gal	54	1	13	You have been told how I bore myself in my Jewish days, how I persecuted God’s Church beyond measure and tried to destroy it,
 Galatians	Gal	54	1	14	going further in my zeal as a Jew than many of my own age and race, so fierce a champion was I of the traditions handed down by my forefathers.
 Galatians	Gal	54	1	15	And then, he who had set me apart from the day of my birth, and called me by his grace, saw fit
 Galatians	Gal	54	1	16	to make his Son known in me, so that I could preach his gospel among the Gentiles. My first thought was not to hold any consultations with any human creature;
 Galatians	Gal	54	1	17	I did not go up to Jerusalem to see those who had been apostles longer than myself; no, I went off into Arabia, and when I came back, it was to Damascus.
 Galatians	Gal	54	1	18	Then, when three years had passed, I did go up to Jerusalem, to visit Peter, and I stayed a fortnight there in his company;
 Galatians	Gal	54	1	19	but I did not see any of the other apostles, except James, the Lord’s brother.
 Galatians	Gal	54	1	20	Such is my history; as God sees me, I am telling you the plain truth.
 Galatians	Gal	54	1	21	Afterwards, I travelled into other parts of the world, Syria and Cilicia;
 Galatians	Gal	54	1	22	and all the time I was not even known by sight to the Christian churches of Judaea;
 Galatians	Gal	54	1	23	they only knew by hearsay, The man who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy,
 Galatians	Gal	54	1	24	and they praised God for what he had done in me.
 Galatians	Gal	54	2	1	Then, after an interval of fourteen years, once again I went up to Jerusalem with Barnabas; and Titus also accompanied me.
 Galatians	Gal	54	2	2	I went up in obedience to a revelation, and there I communicated to them (only in private, to men of repute) the gospel I always preach among the Gentiles; was it possible that the course I had taken and was taking was useless?
 Galatians	Gal	54	2	3	And it is not even true to say that they insisted on my companion Titus, who was a Greek, being circumcised;
 Galatians	Gal	54	2	4	we were only thinking of those false brethren who had insinuated themselves into our company so as to spy on the liberty which we enjoy in Christ Jesus, meaning to make slaves of us.
 Galatians	Gal	54	2	5	To these we did not give ground for a moment by way of obedience; we were resolved that the true principles of the gospel should remain undisturbed in your possession.
 Galatians	Gal	54	2	6	But as for what I owe to those who were of some repute—it matters little to me who or what they were, God makes no distinction between man and man—these men of repute, I say, had nothing to communicate to me.
 Galatians	Gal	54	2	7	On the contrary, those who were reputed to be the main support of the Church, James and Cephas and John, saw plainly that I was commissioned to preach to the uncircumcised, as Peter was to the circumcised;
 Galatians	Gal	54	2	8	he whose power had enabled Peter to become the apostle of the circumcised, had enabled me to become the apostle of the Gentiles.
 Galatians	Gal	54	2	9	And so, recognizing the grace God had given me, they joined their right hands in fellowship with Barnabas and myself; the Gentiles were to be our province, the circumcised theirs.
 Galatians	Gal	54	2	10	Only we were to remember the poor; which was the very thing I had set myself to do.
 Galatians	Gal	54	2	11	Afterwards, when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him openly; he stood self-condemned.
 Galatians	Gal	54	2	12	He had been eating with the Gentiles, until we were visited by certain delegates from James; but when these came, he began to draw back and hold himself aloof, overawed by the supporters of circumcision.
 Galatians	Gal	54	2	13	The rest of the Jews were no less false to their principles; Barnabas himself was carried away by their insincerity.
 Galatians	Gal	54	2	14	So, when I found that they were not following the true path of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of them all, Since thou, who art a born Jew, dost follow the Gentile, not the Jewish way of life, by what right dost thou bind the Gentiles to live like Jews?
 Galatians	Gal	54	2	15	We are Jews by right of nature, we do not come from the guilty stock of the Gentiles;
 Galatians	Gal	54	2	16	yet we found out that it is through faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law, that a man is justified. We, like anyone else, had to learn to believe in Jesus Christ, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ, not by observance of the law. Observance of the law cannot win acceptance for a single human creature.
 Galatians	Gal	54	2	17	By putting our hopes of justification in Christ, we took our rank as guilty creatures like the rest. Does that mean that Christ brings us guilt? That is not to be thought of;
 Galatians	Gal	54	2	18	do I put myself in the wrong, when I destroy and then rebuild?
 Galatians	Gal	54	2	19	Through the law, my old self has become dead to the law, so that I may live to God; with Christ I hang upon the cross,
 Galatians	Gal	54	2	20	and yet I am alive; or rather, not I; it is Christ that lives in me. True, I am living, here and now, this mortal life; but my real life is the faith I have in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
 Galatians	Gal	54	2	21	I do not spurn the grace of God. If we can be justified through the law, then Christ’s death was needless.
 Galatians	Gal	54	3	1	Senseless Galatians, who is it that has cast a spell on you, that you should refuse your loyalty to the truth, you, before whom Jesus Christ has been exposed to view on his cross?
 Galatians	Gal	54	3	2	Let me be content with asking you one question, Was it from observance of the law that the Spirit came to you, or from obeying the call of faith?
 Galatians	Gal	54	3	3	Are you so far out of your right senses? You dedicated your first beginnings to the spirit; and can you now find your completion in outward things?
 Galatians	Gal	54	3	4	Was it to no purpose that you went through so much? Since it seems it was to no purpose.
 Galatians	Gal	54	3	5	When God lavishes his Spirit on you and enables you to perform miracles, what is the reason for it? Your observance of the law, or your obedience to the call of faith?
 Galatians	Gal	54	3	6	Remember how Abraham put his faith in God, and it was reckoned virtue in him.
 Galatians	Gal	54	3	7	You must recognize, then, that Abraham’s real children are the children of his faith.
 Galatians	Gal	54	3	8	There is a passage in scripture which, long beforehand, brings to Abraham the good news, Through thee all the nations shall be blessed; and that passage looks forward to God’s justification of the Gentiles by faith.
 Galatians	Gal	54	3	9	It is those, then, who take their stand on faith that share the blessing Abraham’s faithfulness won.
 Galatians	Gal	54	3	10	Those who take their stand on observance of the law are all under a curse; Cursed be everyone (we read) who does not persist in carrying out all that this book of the law prescribes.
 Galatians	Gal	54	3	11	And indeed, that the law cannot make a man acceptable to God is clear enough; It is faith, we are told, that brings life to the just man;
 Galatians	Gal	54	3	12	whereas the law does not depend on faith; no, we are told it is the man who carries out the commandments that will find life in them.
 Galatians	Gal	54	3	13	From this curse invoked by the law Christ has ransomed us, by himself becoming, for our sakes, an accursed thing; we read that, There is a curse on the man who hangs on a gibbet.
 Galatians	Gal	54	3	14	Thus, in Christ Jesus, the blessing of Abraham was to be imparted to the Gentiles, so that we, through faith, might receive the promised gift of the Spirit.
 Galatians	Gal	54	3	15	Brethren, let me take an argument from common life. A valid legal disposition made by an ordinary human being cannot afterwards be set aside; no one can make fresh provisions in it.
 Galatians	Gal	54	3	16	The promises you know of were made to Abraham and his offspring; (it does not, by the way, say, To thy descendants, as if it meant a number of people; it says, To thy offspring, in the singular, meaning Christ).
 Galatians	Gal	54	3	17	And this is my contention; the law, coming into being four hundred and thirty years afterwards, cannot unmake the disposition which God made so long ago, and cancel the promise.
 Galatians	Gal	54	3	18	If our inheritance depends on observing the law, then it is not the inheritance secured to us by promise; that was promised to Abraham as a free gift.
 Galatians	Gal	54	3	19	What, then, is the purpose of the law? It was brought in to make room for transgression, while we waited for the coming of that posterity, to whom the promise had been made. Its terms were dictated by angels, acting through a spokesman;
 Galatians	Gal	54	3	20	(a spokesman represents more than one, and there is only one God).
 Galatians	Gal	54	3	21	Is the law an infringement, then, of God’s promises? That is not to be thought of. Doubtless, if a law had been given that was capable of imparting life to us, it would have been for the law to bring us justification.
 Galatians	Gal	54	3	22	But in fact scripture represents us as all under the bondage of sin; it was faith in Jesus Christ that was to impart the promised blessing to all those who believe in him.
 Galatians	Gal	54	3	23	Until faith came, we were all being kept in bondage to the law, waiting for the faith that was one day to be revealed.
 Galatians	Gal	54	3	24	So that the law was our tutor, bringing us to Christ, to find in faith our justification.
 Galatians	Gal	54	3	25	When faith comes, then we are no longer under the rule of a tutor;
 Galatians	Gal	54	3	26	through faith in Christ Jesus you are all now God’s sons.
 Galatians	Gal	54	3	27	All you who have been baptized in Christ’s name have put on the person of Christ;
 Galatians	Gal	54	3	28	no more Jew or Gentile, no more slave and freeman, no more male and female; you are all one person in Jesus Christ.
 Galatians	Gal	54	3	29	And if you belong to Christ, then you are indeed Abraham’s children; the promised inheritance is yours.
 Galatians	Gal	54	4	1	Consider this; one who comes into his property while he is still a child has no more liberty than one of the servants, though all the estate is his;
 Galatians	Gal	54	4	2	he is under the control of guardians and trustees, until he reaches the age prescribed by his father.
 Galatians	Gal	54	4	3	So it was with us; in those childish days of ours we toiled away at the schoolroom tasks which the world gave us,
 Galatians	Gal	54	4	4	till the appointed time came. Then God sent out his Son on a mission to us. He took birth from a woman, took birth as a subject of the law,
 Galatians	Gal	54	4	5	so as to ransom those who were subject to the law, and make us sons by adoption.
 Galatians	Gal	54	4	6	To prove that you are sons, God has sent out the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying out in us, Abba, Father.
 Galatians	Gal	54	4	7	No longer, then, art thou a slave, thou art a son; and because thou art a son, thou hast, by divine appointment, the son’s right of inheritance.
 Galatians	Gal	54	4	8	Formerly you had no knowledge of God; you lived as the slaves of deities who were in truth no deities at all.
 Galatians	Gal	54	4	9	Now you have recognized the true God, or rather, the true God has recognized you. How is it that you are going back to those old schoolroom tasks of yours, so abject, so ineffectual, eager to begin your drudgery all over again?
 Galatians	Gal	54	4	10	You have begun to observe special days and months, special seasons and years.
 Galatians	Gal	54	4	11	I am anxious over you; has all the labour I have spent on you been useless?
 Galatians	Gal	54	4	12	Stand by me; I have taken my stand with you. I appeal to you, brethren. You have never treated me amiss.
 Galatians	Gal	54	4	13	Why, when I preached the gospel to you in the first instance, it was, you remember, because of outward circumstances which were humiliating to me. Those outward circumstances of mine were a test for you,
 Galatians	Gal	54	4	14	which you did not meet with contempt or dislike; you welcomed me as God’s angel, as Christ Jesus.
 Galatians	Gal	54	4	15	What has become now of the blessing that once was yours? In those days, I assure you, you would have plucked out your eyes, if you had had the chance, and given them to me.
 Galatians	Gal	54	4	16	Have I made enemies of you, then, by telling you the truth?
 Galatians	Gal	54	4	17	Oh, they are jealous over you, but for a dishonourable purpose; their aim is to shut you out from their company, so that you may be jealous of them.
 Galatians	Gal	54	4	18	Your jealousy should be for the honourable gifts you see in a man of honour; always, not only when I am at your side.
 Galatians	Gal	54	4	19	My little children, I am in travail over you afresh, until I can see Christ’s image formed in you!
 Galatians	Gal	54	4	20	I wish I were at your side now, and could speak to you in a different tone; I am bewildered at you.
 Galatians	Gal	54	4	21	Tell me, you who are so eager to have the law for your master, have you never read the law?
 Galatians	Gal	54	4	22	You will find it written there, that Abraham had two sons; one had a slave for his mother, and one a free woman.
 Galatians	Gal	54	4	23	The child of the slave was born in the course of nature; the free woman’s, by the power of God’s promise.
 Galatians	Gal	54	4	24	All that is an allegory; the two women stand for the two dispensations. Agar stands for the old dispensation, which brings up its children to bondage, the dispensation which comes to us from mount Sinai.
 Galatians	Gal	54	4	25	Mount Sinai, in Arabia, has the same meaning in the allegory as Jerusalem, the Jerusalem which exists here and now; an enslaved city, whose children are slaves.
 Galatians	Gal	54	4	26	Whereas our mother is the heavenly Jerusalem, a city of freedom.
 Galatians	Gal	54	4	27	So it is that we read, Rejoice, thou barren woman that hast never borne child, break out into song and cry aloud, thou that hast never known travail; the deserted one has more children than she whose husband is with her.
 Galatians	Gal	54	4	28	It is we, brethren, that are children of the promise, as Isaac was.
 Galatians	Gal	54	4	29	Now, as then, the son who was born in the course of nature persecutes the son whose birth is a spiritual birth.
 Galatians	Gal	54	4	30	But what does our passage in scripture say? Rid thyself of the slave and her son; it cannot be that the son of a slave should divide the inheritance with the son of a free woman.
 Galatians	Gal	54	4	31	You see, then, brethren, that we are sons of the free woman, not of the slave; such is the freedom Christ has won for us.
 Galatians	Gal	54	5	1	Stand fast, and do not let yourselves be caught again in the yoke of slavery.
 Galatians	Gal	54	5	2	The word of Paul is your warrant for this; if you are for being circumcised, Christ is of no value to you at all.
 Galatians	Gal	54	5	3	Once again I would warn anyone who is accepting circumcision that he thereby engages himself to keep all the precepts of the law.
 Galatians	Gal	54	5	4	You who look to the law for your justification have cancelled your bond with Christ, you have forfeited grace.
 Galatians	Gal	54	5	5	All our hope of justification lies in the spirit; it rests on our faith;
 Galatians	Gal	54	5	6	once we are in Christ, circumcision means nothing, and the want of it means nothing; the faith that finds its expression in love is all that matters.
 Galatians	Gal	54	5	7	Till now, you had been shaping your course well; who is it that has come between you and your loyalty to the truth?
 Galatians	Gal	54	5	8	Not he who called you; this pressure comes from elsewhere.
 Galatians	Gal	54	5	9	It takes but a little leaven to leaven the whole batch.
 Galatians	Gal	54	5	10	I am fully confident in the Lord that you will be of the same mind with me, leaving the disturbers of your peace, be they who they may, to answer for it.
 Galatians	Gal	54	5	11	As for myself, brethren, if it is true that I preach the need of circumcision, why am I persecuted? If I did, the preaching of the cross would no longer give offence.
 Galatians	Gal	54	5	12	I would rather they should lose their own manhood, these authors of your unrest.
 Galatians	Gal	54	5	13	Yes, brethren, freedom claimed you when you were called. Only, do not let this freedom give a foothold to corrupt nature; you must be servants still, serving one another in a spirit of charity.
 Galatians	Gal	54	5	14	After all, the whole of the law is summed up in one phrase, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself;
 Galatians	Gal	54	5	15	if you are always backbiting and worrying each other, it is to be feared you will wear each other out in the end.
 Galatians	Gal	54	5	16	Let me say this; learn to live and move in the spirit; then there is no danger of your giving way to the impulses of corrupt nature.
 Galatians	Gal	54	5	17	The impulses of nature and the impulses of the spirit are at war with one another; either is clean contrary to the other, and that is why you cannot do all that your will approves.
 Galatians	Gal	54	5	18	It is by letting the spirit lead you that you free yourselves from the yoke of the law.
 Galatians	Gal	54	5	19	It is easy to see what effects proceed from corrupt nature; they are such things as adultery, impurity, incontinence, luxury,
 Galatians	Gal	54	5	20	idolatry, witchcraft, feuds, quarrels, jealousies, outbursts of anger, rivalries, dissensions, factions,
 Galatians	Gal	54	5	21	spite, murder, drunkenness, and debauchery. I warn you, as I have warned you before, that those who live in such a way will not inherit God’s kingdom.
 Galatians	Gal	54	5	22	Whereas the spirit yields a harvest of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, forbearance,
 Galatians	Gal	54	5	23	gentleness, faith, courtesy, temperateness, purity. No law can touch lives such as these;
 Galatians	Gal	54	5	24	those who belong to Christ have crucified nature, with all its passions, all its impulses.
 Galatians	Gal	54	5	25	Since we live by the spirit, let the spirit be our rule of life;
 Galatians	Gal	54	5	26	we must not indulge vain ambitions, envying one another and provoking one another to envy.
 Galatians	Gal	54	6	1	Brethren, if a man is found guilty of some fault, you, who are spiritually minded, ought to shew a spirit of gentleness in correcting him. Have an eye upon thyself; thou too wilt perhaps encounter temptation.
 Galatians	Gal	54	6	2	Bear the burden of one another’s failings; then you will be fulfilling the law of Christ.
 Galatians	Gal	54	6	3	The man who thinks he is of some worth, when in truth he is worth nothing at all, is merely deluding himself.
 Galatians	Gal	54	6	4	Everyone should examine his own conduct; then he will be able to take the measure of his own worth; no need to compare himself with others.
 Galatians	Gal	54	6	5	Each of us, then, will have his own load to carry.
 Galatians	Gal	54	6	6	Your teachers are to have a share in all that their disciples have to bestow.
 Galatians	Gal	54	6	7	Make no mistake about it; you cannot cheat God.
 Galatians	Gal	54	6	8	A man will reap what he sows; if nature is his seed-ground, nature will give him a perishable harvest, if his seed-ground is the spirit, it will give him a harvest of eternal life.
 Galatians	Gal	54	6	9	Let us not be discouraged, then, over our acts of charity; we shall reap when the time comes, if we persevere in them.
 Galatians	Gal	54	6	10	Let us practise generosity to all, while the opportunity is ours; and above all, to those who are of one family with us in the faith.
 Galatians	Gal	54	6	11	Here is some bold lettering for you, written in my own hand.
 Galatians	Gal	54	6	12	Who are they, these people who insist on your being circumcised? They are men, all of them, who are determined to keep up outward appearances, so that the cross of Christ may not bring persecution on them.
 Galatians	Gal	54	6	13	Why, they do not even observe the law, although they adopt circumcision; they are for having you circumcised, so as to make a display of your outward conformity.
 Galatians	Gal	54	6	14	God forbid that I should make a display of anything, except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world stands crucified to me, and I to the world.
 Galatians	Gal	54	6	15	Circumcision means nothing, the want of it means nothing; when a man is in Christ Jesus, there has been a new creation.
 Galatians	Gal	54	6	16	Peace and pardon to all those who follow this rule, to God’s true Israel.
 Galatians	Gal	54	6	17	Spare me, all of you, any further anxieties; already I bear the scars of the Lord Jesus printed on my body.
 Galatians	Gal	54	6	18	Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	1	1	Paul, by God’s will an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those saints, the faithful in Jesus Christ, who dwell at Ephesus;
 Ephesians	Eph	55	1	2	Grace and peace be yours from God, our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	1	3	Blessed be that God, that Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us, in Christ, with every spiritual blessing, higher than heaven itself.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	1	4	He has chosen us out, in Christ, before the foundation of the world, to be saints, to be blameless in his sight, for love of him;
 Ephesians	Eph	55	1	5	marking us out beforehand (so his will decreed) to be his adopted children through Jesus Christ.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	1	6	Thus he would manifest the splendour of that grace by which he has taken us into his favour in the person of his beloved Son.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	1	7	It is in him and through his blood that we enjoy redemption, the forgiveness of our sins. So rich is God’s grace,
 Ephesians	Eph	55	1	8	that has overflowed upon us in a full stream of wisdom and discernment,
 Ephesians	Eph	55	1	9	to make known to us the hidden purpose of his will. It was his loving design, centred in Christ,
 Ephesians	Eph	55	1	10	to give history its fulfilment by resuming everything in him, all that is in heaven, all that is on earth, summed up in him.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	1	11	In him it was our lot to be called, singled out beforehand to suit his purpose (for it is he who is at work everywhere, carrying out the designs of his will);
 Ephesians	Eph	55	1	12	we were to manifest his glory, we who were the first to set our hope in Christ;
 Ephesians	Eph	55	1	13	in him you too were called, when you listened to the preaching of the truth, that gospel which is your salvation. In him you too learned to believe, and had the seal set on your faith by the promised gift of the Holy Spirit;
 Ephesians	Eph	55	1	14	a pledge of the inheritance which is ours, to redeem it for us and bring us into possession of it, and so manifest God’s glory.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	1	15	Well then, I too play my part; I have been told of your faith in the Lord Jesus, of the love you shew towards all the saints,
 Ephesians	Eph	55	1	16	and I never cease to offer thanks on your behalf, or to remember you in my prayers.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	1	17	So may he who is the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father to whom glory belongs, grant you a spirit of wisdom and insight, to give you fuller knowledge of himself.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	1	18	May your inward eye be enlightened, so that you may understand to what hopes he has called you, how rich in glory is that inheritance of his found among the saints,
 Ephesians	Eph	55	1	19	what surpassing virtue there is in his dealings with us, who believe. Measure it by that mighty exercise of power
 Ephesians	Eph	55	1	20	which he shewed when he raised Christ from the dead, and bade him sit on his right hand above the heavens,
 Ephesians	Eph	55	1	21	high above all princedoms and powers and virtues and dominations, and every name that is known, not in this world only, but in the world to come.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	1	22	He has put everything under his dominion, and made him the head to which the whole Church is joined,
 Ephesians	Eph	55	1	23	so that the Church is his body, the completion of him who everywhere and in all things is complete.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	2	1	He found you dead men; such were your transgressions, such were the sinful ways
 Ephesians	Eph	55	2	2	you lived in. That was when you followed the fashion of this world, when you owned a prince whose domain is in the lower air, that spirit whose influence is still at work among the unbelievers.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	2	3	We too, all of us, were once of their company; our life was bounded by natural appetites, and we did what corrupt nature or our own calculation would have us do, with God’s displeasure for our birthright, like other men.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	2	4	How rich God is in mercy, with what an excess of love he loved us!
 Ephesians	Eph	55	2	5	Our sins had made dead men of us, and he, in giving life to Christ, gave life to us too; it is his grace that has saved you;
 Ephesians	Eph	55	2	6	raised us up too, enthroned us too above the heavens, in Christ Jesus.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	2	7	He would have all future ages see, in that clemency which he shewed us in Christ Jesus, the surpassing richness of his grace.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	2	8	Yes, it was grace that saved you, with faith for its instrument; it did not come from yourselves, it was God’s gift,
 Ephesians	Eph	55	2	9	not from any action of yours, or there would be room for pride.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	2	10	No, we are his design; God has created us in Christ Jesus, pledged to such good actions as he has prepared beforehand, to be the employment of our lives.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	2	11	Remember, then, what you once were, the Gentiles, according to all outward reckoning; those who claim an outward circumcision which is man’s handiwork call you the uncircumcised.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	2	12	In those days there was no Christ for you; you were outlaws from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers to every covenant, with no promise to hope for, with the world about you, and no God.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	2	13	But now you are in Christ Jesus; now, through the blood of Christ, you have been brought close, you who were once so far away.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	2	14	He is our bond of peace; he has made the two nations one, breaking down the wall that was a barrier between us, the enmity there was between us, in his own mortal nature.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	2	15	He has put an end to the law with its decrees, so as to make peace, remaking the two human creatures as one in himself;
 Ephesians	Eph	55	2	16	both sides, united in a single body, he would reconcile to God through his cross, inflicting death, in his own person, upon the feud.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	2	17	So he came, and his message was of peace for you who were far off, peace for those who were near;
 Ephesians	Eph	55	2	18	far off or near, united in the same Spirit, we have access through him to the Father.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	2	19	You are no longer exiles, then, or aliens; the saints are your fellow citizens, you belong to God’s household.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	2	20	Apostles and prophets are the foundation on which you were built, and the chief corner-stone of it is Jesus Christ himself.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	2	21	In him the whole fabric is bound together, as it grows into a temple, dedicated to the Lord;
 Ephesians	Eph	55	2	22	in him you too are being built in with the rest, so that God may find in you a dwelling-place for his Spirit.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	3	1	With this in mind, I fall on my knees; I, Paul, of whom Jesus Christ has made a prisoner for the love of you Gentiles.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	3	2	You will have been told how God planned to give me a special grace for preaching to you;
 Ephesians	Eph	55	3	3	how a revelation taught me the secret I have been setting out briefly here;
 Ephesians	Eph	55	3	4	briefly, yet so as to let you see how well I have mastered this secret of Christ’s.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	3	5	It was never made known to any human being in past ages, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to his holy apostles and prophets, and it is this:
 Ephesians	Eph	55	3	6	that through the gospel preaching the Gentiles are to win the same inheritance, to be made part of the same body, to share the same divine promise, in Christ Jesus.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	3	7	With what grace God gives me (and he gives it in all the effectiveness of his power), I am a minister of that gospel;
 Ephesians	Eph	55	3	8	on me, least as I am of all the saints, he has bestowed this privilege, of making known to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ,
 Ephesians	Eph	55	3	9	of publishing to the world the plan of this mystery, kept hidden from the beginning of time in the all-creating mind of God.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	3	10	The principalities and powers of heaven are to see, now, made manifest in the Church, the subtlety of God’s wisdom;
 Ephesians	Eph	55	3	11	such is his eternal purpose, centred in Christ Jesus our Lord,
 Ephesians	Eph	55	3	12	who gives us all our confidence, bids us come forward, emboldened by our faith in him.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	3	13	Let there be no discouragement, then, over the affliction I undergo on your behalf; it is an honour done to you.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	3	14	With this in mind, then, I fall on my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
 Ephesians	Eph	55	3	15	that Father from whom all fatherhood in heaven and on earth takes its title.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	3	16	May he, out of the rich treasury of his glory, strengthen you through his Spirit with a power that reaches your innermost being.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	3	17	May Christ find a dwelling-place, through faith, in your hearts; may your lives be rooted in love, founded on love.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	3	18	May you and all the saints be enabled to measure, in all its breadth and length and height and depth,
 Ephesians	Eph	55	3	19	the love of Christ, to know what passes knowledge. May you be filled with all the completion God has to give.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	3	20	He whose power is at work in us is powerful enough, and more than powerful enough, to carry out his purpose beyond all our hopes and dreams;
 Ephesians	Eph	55	3	21	may he be glorified in the Church, and in Christ Jesus, to the last generation of eternity. Amen.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	4	1	Here, then, is one who wears chains in the Lord’s service, pleading with you to live as befits men called to such a vocation as yours.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	4	2	You must be always humble, always gentle; patient, too, in bearing with one another’s faults, as charity bids;
 Ephesians	Eph	55	4	3	eager to preserve that unity the Spirit gives you, whose bond is peace.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	4	4	You are one body, with a single Spirit; each of you, when he was called, called in the same hope;
 Ephesians	Eph	55	4	5	with the same Lord, the same faith, the same baptism;
 Ephesians	Eph	55	4	6	with the same God, the same Father, all of us, who is above all beings, pervades all things, and lives in all of us.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	4	7	But each of us has received his own special grace, dealt out to him by Christ’s gift.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	4	8	(That is why we are told, He has mounted up on high; he has captured his spoil; he has brought gifts to men.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	4	9	The words, He has gone up, must mean that he had gone down, first, to the lower regions of earth.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	4	10	And he who so went down is no other than he who has gone up, high above all the heavens, to fill creation with his presence.)
 Ephesians	Eph	55	4	11	Some he has appointed to be apostles, others to be prophets, others to be evangelists, or pastors, or teachers.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	4	12	They are to order the lives of the faithful, minister to their needs, build up the frame of Christ’s body,
 Ephesians	Eph	55	4	13	until we all realize our common unity through faith in the Son of God, and fuller knowledge of him. So we shall reach perfect manhood, that maturity which is proportioned to the completed growth of Christ;
 Ephesians	Eph	55	4	14	we are no longer to be children, no longer to be like storm-tossed sailors, driven before the wind of each new doctrine that human subtlety, human skill in fabricating lies, may propound.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	4	15	We are to follow the truth, in a spirit of charity, and so grow up, in everything, into a due proportion with Christ, who is our head.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	4	16	On him all the body depends; it is organized and unified by each contact with the source which supplies it; and thus, each limb receiving the active power it needs, it achieves its natural growth, building itself up through charity.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	4	17	This, then, is my message to you; I call upon you in the Lord’s name not to live like the Gentiles, who make vain fancies their rule of life.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	4	18	Their minds are clouded with darkness; the hardness of their hearts breeds in them an ignorance, which estranges them from the divine life;
 Ephesians	Eph	55	4	19	and so, in despair, they have given themselves up to incontinence, to selfish habits of impurity.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	4	20	This is not the lesson you have learned in making Christ your study,
 Ephesians	Eph	55	4	21	if you have really listened to him. If true knowledge is to be found in Jesus, you will have learned in his school
 Ephesians	Eph	55	4	22	that you must be quit, now, of the old self whose way of life you remember, the self that wasted its aim on false dreams.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	4	23	There must be a renewal in the inner life of your minds;
 Ephesians	Eph	55	4	24	you must be clothed in the new self, which is created in God’s image, justified and sanctified through the truth.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	4	25	Away with falsehood, then; let everyone speak out the truth to his neighbour; membership of the body binds us to one another.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	4	26	Do not let resentment lead you into sin; the sunset must not find you still angry.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	4	27	Do not give the devil his opportunity.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	4	28	The man who was a thief must be a thief no longer; let him work instead, and earn by his own labour the blessings he will be able to share with those who are in need.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	4	29	No base talk must cross your lips; only what will serve to build up the faith, and bring a grace to those who are listening;
 Ephesians	Eph	55	4	30	do not distress God’s holy Spirit, whose seal you bear until the day of your redemption comes.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	4	31	There must be no trace of bitterness among you, of passion, resentment, quarrelling, insulting talk, or spite of any kind;
 Ephesians	Eph	55	4	32	be kind and tender to one another, each of you generous to all, as God in Christ has been generous to you.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	5	1	As God’s favoured children, you must be like him.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	5	2	Order your lives in charity, upon the model of that charity which Christ shewed to us, when he gave himself up on our behalf, a sacrifice breathing out fragrance as he offered it to God.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	5	3	As for debauchery, and impurity of every kind, and covetousness, there must be no whisper of it among you; it would ill become saints;
 Ephesians	Eph	55	5	4	no indecent behaviour, no ribaldry or smartness in talk; that is not your business, your business is to give thanks to God.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	5	5	This you must know well enough, that nobody can claim a share in Christ’s kingdom, God’s kingdom, if he is debauched, or impure, or has that love of money which makes a man an idolater.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	5	6	Do not allow anyone to cheat you with empty promises; these are the very things which bring down God’s anger on the unbelievers;
 Ephesians	Eph	55	5	7	you do ill to throw in your lot with them.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	5	8	Once you were all darkness; now, in the Lord, you are all daylight. You must live as men native to the light;
 Ephesians	Eph	55	5	9	where the light has its effect, all is goodness, and holiness, and truth;
 Ephesians	Eph	55	5	10	your lives must be the manifestation of God’s will.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	5	11	As for the thankless deeds men do in the dark, you must not take any part in them; rather, your conduct must be a rebuke to them;
 Ephesians	Eph	55	5	12	their secret actions are too shameful even to bear speaking of.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	5	13	It is the light that rebukes such things and shews them up for what they are; only light shews up.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	5	14	That is the meaning of the words, Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	5	15	See then, brethren, how carefully you have to tread, not as fools,
 Ephesians	Eph	55	5	16	but as wise men do, hoarding the opportunity that is given you, in evil times like these.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	5	17	No, you cannot afford to be reckless; you must grasp what the Lord’s will is for you.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	5	18	Do not besot yourselves with wine; that leads to ruin. Let your contentment be in the Holy Spirit;
 Ephesians	Eph	55	5	19	your tongues unloosed in psalms and hymns and spiritual music, as you sing and give praise to the Lord in your hearts.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	5	20	Give thanks continually to God, who is our Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;
 Ephesians	Eph	55	5	21	and, as you stand in awe of Christ, submit to each other’s rights.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	5	22	Wives must obey their husbands as they would obey the Lord.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	5	23	The man is the head to which the woman’s body is united, just as Christ is the head of the Church, he, the Saviour on whom the safety of his body depends;
 Ephesians	Eph	55	5	24	and women must owe obedience at all points to their husbands, as the Church does to Christ.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	5	25	You who are husbands must shew love to your wives, as Christ shewed love to the Church when he gave himself up on its behalf.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	5	26	He would hallow it, purify it by bathing it in the water to which his word gave life;
 Ephesians	Eph	55	5	27	he would summon it into his own presence, the Church in all its beauty, no stain, no wrinkle, no such disfigurement; it was to be holy, it was to be spotless.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	5	28	And that is how husband ought to love wife, as if she were his own body; in loving his wife, a man is but loving himself.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	5	29	It is unheard of, that a man should bear ill-will to his own flesh and blood; no, he keeps it fed and warmed; and so it is with Christ and his Church;
 Ephesians	Eph	55	5	30	we are limbs of his body; flesh and bone, we belong to him.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	5	31	That is why a man will leave his father and mother and will cling to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	5	32	Yes, those words are a high mystery, and I am applying them here to Christ and his Church.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	5	33	Meanwhile, each of you is to love his wife as he would love himself, and the wife is to pay reverence to her husband.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	6	1	You who are children must shew obedience in the Lord to your parents; it is your duty;
 Ephesians	Eph	55	6	2	Honour thy father and thy mother—that is the first commandment which has a promise attached to it,
 Ephesians	Eph	55	6	3	So it shall go well with thee, and thou shalt live long to enjoy the land.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	6	4	You who are fathers, do not rouse your children to resentment; the training, the discipline in which you bring them up must come from the Lord.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	6	5	You who are slaves, give your human masters the obedience you owe to Christ, in anxious fear, single-mindedly;
 Ephesians	Eph	55	6	6	not with that show of service which tries to win human favour, but in the character of Christ’s slaves, who do what is God’s will with all their heart.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	6	7	Yours must be a slavery of love, not to men, but to the Lord;
 Ephesians	Eph	55	6	8	you know well that each of us, slave or free, will be repaid by the Lord for every task well done.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	6	9	And you who are masters, deal with them accordingly; there is no need to threaten them; you know well enough that you and they have a Master in heaven, who makes no distinction between man and man.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	6	10	I have no more to say, brethren, except this; draw your strength from the Lord, from that mastery which his power supplies.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	6	11	You must wear all the weapons in God’s armoury, if you would find strength to resist the cunning of the devil.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	6	12	It is not against flesh and blood that we enter the lists; we have to do with princedoms and powers, with those who have mastery of the world in these dark days, with malign influences in an order higher than ours.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	6	13	Take up all God’s armour, then; so you will be able to stand your ground when the evil time comes, and be found still on your feet, when all the task is over.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	6	14	Stand fast, your loins girt with truth, the breastplate of justice fitted on,
 Ephesians	Eph	55	6	15	and your feet shod in readiness to publish the gospel of peace.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	6	16	With all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the fire-tipped arrows of your wicked enemy;
 Ephesians	Eph	55	6	17	make the helmet of salvation your own, and the sword of the spirit, God’s word.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	6	18	Use every kind of prayer and supplication; pray at all times in the spirit; keep awake to that end with all perseverance; offer your supplication for all the saints.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	6	19	Pray for me too, that I may be given words to speak my mind boldly, in making known the gospel revelation,
 Ephesians	Eph	55	6	20	for which I am an ambassador in chains; that I may have boldness to speak as I ought.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	6	21	If you would know more of my circumstances, my occupations, you may learn all that from Tychicus, my dearly loved brother and faithful servant in the Lord;
 Ephesians	Eph	55	6	22	that is the reason why I have sent him, to let you have news of me, and to bring courage to your hearts.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	6	23	Peace to the brethren, and love joined with faith, from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.
 Ephesians	Eph	55	6	24	Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an immortal love. Amen.
 Philippians	Phi	56	1	1	Paul and Timothy, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus that are at Philippi, with their pastors and deacons;
 Philippians	Phi	56	1	2	Grace and peace be yours from God who is our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
 Philippians	Phi	56	1	3	I give thanks to my God for all my memories of you,
 Philippians	Phi	56	1	4	happy at all times in all the prayer I offer for all of you;
 Philippians	Phi	56	1	5	so full a part have you taken in the work of Christ’s gospel, from the day when it first reached you till now.
 Philippians	Phi	56	1	6	Nor am I less confident, that he who has inspired this generosity in you will bring it to perfection, ready for the day when Jesus Christ comes.
 Philippians	Phi	56	1	7	It is only fitting that I should entertain such hopes for you; you are close to my heart, and I know that you all share my happiness in being a prisoner, and being able to defend and assert the truth of the gospel.
 Philippians	Phi	56	1	8	God knows how I long for you all, with the tenderness of Jesus Christ himself.
 Philippians	Phi	56	1	9	And this is my prayer for you; may your love grow richer and richer yet, in the fulness of its knowledge and the depth of its perception,
 Philippians	Phi	56	1	10	so that you may learn to prize what is of value; may nothing cloud your consciences or hinder your progress till the day when Christ comes;
 Philippians	Phi	56	1	11	may you reap, through Jesus Christ, the full harvest of your justification to God’s glory and praise.
 Philippians	Phi	56	1	12	I hasten to assure you, brethren, that my circumstances here have only had the effect of spreading the gospel further;
 Philippians	Phi	56	1	13	so widely has my imprisonment become known, in Christ’s honour, throughout the praetorium and to all the world beyond.
 Philippians	Phi	56	1	14	And most of the brethren, deriving fresh confidence in the Lord from my imprisonment, are making bold to preach God’s word with more freedom than ever.
 Philippians	Phi	56	1	15	Some of them, it is true, for no better reason than rivalry or jealousy; but there are others who really proclaim Christ out of good will.
 Philippians	Phi	56	1	16	Some, I mean, are moved by charity, because they recognize that I am here to defend the gospel,
 Philippians	Phi	56	1	17	others by party spirit, proclaiming Christ from wrong motives, just because they hope to make my chains gall me worse.
 Philippians	Phi	56	1	18	What matter, so long as either way, for private ends or in all honesty, Christ is proclaimed? Of that I am glad now; yes, and I shall be glad hereafter;
 Philippians	Phi	56	1	19	I am well assured that this will make for my soul’s health, with you to pray for me, and Jesus Christ to supply my needs with his Spirit.
 Philippians	Phi	56	1	20	This is my earnest longing and my hope, that I shall never be put to the blush; that I shall speak with entire freedom, and so this body of mine will do Christ honour, now as always, in life or in death.
 Philippians	Phi	56	1	21	For me, life means Christ; death is a prize to be won.
 Philippians	Phi	56	1	22	But what if living on in this mortal body is the only way to harvest what I have sown? Thus I cannot tell what to choose;
 Philippians	Phi	56	1	23	I am hemmed in on both sides. I long to have done with it, and be with Christ, a better thing, much more than a better thing;
 Philippians	Phi	56	1	24	and yet, for your sakes, that I should wait in the body is more urgent still.
 Philippians	Phi	56	1	25	I am certain of that, and I do not doubt that I shall wait, and wait upon you all, to the happy furtherance of your faith.
 Philippians	Phi	56	1	26	Yes, you shall be prouder of me than ever in Christ Jesus, when I come once again to visit you.
 Philippians	Phi	56	1	27	Only, you must play a part worthy of Christ’s gospel; whether I come to see you, or only hear about you at a distance, this must be my news of you, that you are standing fast in a common unity of spirit, with the faith of the gospel for your common cause.
 Philippians	Phi	56	1	28	Shew a bold front at all points to your adversaries; that is the seal of their perdition, of your salvation, and it comes from God;
 Philippians	Phi	56	1	29	the grace that has been granted you is that of suffering for Christ’s sake, not merely believing in him.
 Philippians	Phi	56	1	30	Your battle is my own battle; you saw how I fought it once, and you have heard how I am fighting it now.
 Philippians	Phi	56	2	1	If anything is meant by encouragement in Christ, by loving sympathy, by common fellowship in the spirit, by feelings of tenderness and pity,
 Philippians	Phi	56	2	2	fill up my cup of happiness by thinking with the same mind, cherishing the same bond of charity, soul knit to soul in a common unity of thought.
 Philippians	Phi	56	2	3	You must never act in a spirit of factiousness, or of ambition; each of you must have the humility to think others better men than himself,
 Philippians	Phi	56	2	4	and study the welfare of others, not his own.
 Philippians	Phi	56	2	5	Yours is to be the same mind which Christ Jesus shewed.
 Philippians	Phi	56	2	6	His nature is, from the first, divine, and yet he did not see, in the rank of Godhead, a prize to be coveted;
 Philippians	Phi	56	2	7	he dispossessed himself, and took the nature of a slave, fashioned in the likeness of men, and presenting himself to us in human form;
 Philippians	Phi	56	2	8	and then he lowered his own dignity, accepted an obedience which brought him to death, death on a cross.
 Philippians	Phi	56	2	9	That is why God has raised him to such a height, given him that name which is greater than any other name;
 Philippians	Phi	56	2	10	so that everything in heaven and on earth and under the earth must bend the knee before the name of Jesus,
 Philippians	Phi	56	2	11	and every tongue must confess Jesus Christ as the Lord, dwelling in the glory of God the Father.
 Philippians	Phi	56	2	12	Beloved, you have always shewn yourselves obedient; and now that I am at a distance, not less but much more than when I am present, you must work to earn your salvation, in anxious fear.
 Philippians	Phi	56	2	13	Both the will to do it and the accomplishment of that will are something which God accomplishes in you, to carry out his loving purpose.
 Philippians	Phi	56	2	14	Do all that lies in you, never complaining, never hesitating,
 Philippians	Phi	56	2	15	to shew yourselves innocent and single-minded, God’s children, bringing no reproach on his name. You live in an age that is twisted out of its true pattern, and among such people you shine out, beacons to the world,
 Philippians	Phi	56	2	16	upholding the message of life. Thus, when the day of Christ comes, I shall be able to boast of a life not spent in vain, of labours not vainly undergone.
 Philippians	Phi	56	2	17	Meanwhile, though your faith should prove to be a sacrifice which cannot be duly made without my blood for its drink-offering, I congratulate myself and all of you over that;
 Philippians	Phi	56	2	18	on your side, you too must congratulate yourselves and me.
 Philippians	Phi	56	2	19	It is my hope in the Lord Jesus that I shall be sending Timothy to visit you before long; then I shall be able to refresh myself with news of you;
 Philippians	Phi	56	2	20	I have no one else here who shares my thoughts as he does, no one who will concern himself so unaffectedly with your affairs;
 Philippians	Phi	56	2	21	one and all have their own interest at heart, not Christ’s;
 Philippians	Phi	56	2	22	his worth is well tried, you must know that he has shared my task of preaching the gospel like a son helping his father.
 Philippians	Phi	56	2	23	Him, then, I hope to send without delay, when I have had time to see how I stand;
 Philippians	Phi	56	2	24	and I am persuaded in the Lord that I myself shall be coming to you before long.
 Philippians	Phi	56	2	25	Meanwhile, here is Epaphroditus, my brother, my companion in so many labours and battles, your own delegate, who has provided for my needs. I felt that I must send him to you,
 Philippians	Phi	56	2	26	so great was his longing to see you, and his distress that you should have heard about his illness.
 Philippians	Phi	56	2	27	Ill he certainly was, and in near danger of death; but God had pity on him, and not only on him but on me too; he would not let me have anxiety added to anxiety.
 Philippians	Phi	56	2	28	So I am hastening to send him back to you; it will be a happiness for you to see him again, and I shall be anxious no longer.
 Philippians	Phi	56	2	29	Welcome him, then, in the Lord gladly, and do honour to such a man as he is;
 Philippians	Phi	56	2	30	one who came close to death’s door on Christ’s errand, risking life itself to do me that kindness, which was all your kindness left to be desired.
 Philippians	Phi	56	3	1	And now, brethren, joy to you in the Lord. I find no difficulty in always writing the same message to you, and it is your safeguard.
 Philippians	Phi	56	3	2	Beware of these prowling dogs, beware of their evil practices, of their disfigurement.
 Philippians	Phi	56	3	3	As for circumcision, it is we who practise it, we who serve God with the spirit, and take pride in Christ Jesus, instead of putting our trust in outward observances.
 Philippians	Phi	56	3	4	Not that I have no outward claims to give me confidence; if others put their trust in outward claims, I can do so with better reason.
 Philippians	Phi	56	3	5	I was circumcised seven days after I was born; I come from the stock of Israel, from the tribe of Benjamin, Hebrew-speaking as my parents were before me. Over the law, I was a Pharisee;
 Philippians	Phi	56	3	6	to prove my loyalty, I persecuted the Church of God; in observing what the law commands, I was beyond reproach.
 Philippians	Phi	56	3	7	And all this, which once stood to my credit, I now write down as loss, for the love of Christ.
 Philippians	Phi	56	3	8	For that matter, there is nothing I do not write down as loss compared with the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord; for love of him I have lost everything, treat everything else as refuse, if I may have Christ to my credit.
 Philippians	Phi	56	3	9	In him I would render my account, not claiming any justification that is my own work, given me by the law, but the justification that comes from believing in Jesus Christ, God’s gift on condition of our faith.
 Philippians	Phi	56	3	10	Him I would learn to know, and the virtue of his resurrection, and what it means to share his sufferings, moulded into the pattern of his death,
 Philippians	Phi	56	3	11	in the hope of achieving resurrection from the dead.
 Philippians	Phi	56	3	12	Not that I have already won the prize, already reached fulfilment. I only press on, in hope of winning the mastery, as Christ Jesus has won the mastery over me.
 Philippians	Phi	56	3	13	No, brethren, I do not claim to have the mastery already, but this at least I do; forgetting what I have left behind, intent on what lies before me,
 Philippians	Phi	56	3	14	I press on with the goal in view, eager for the prize, God’s heavenly summons in Christ Jesus.
 Philippians	Phi	56	3	15	All of us who are fully grounded must be of this mind, and God will make it known to you, if you are of a different mind at present.
 Philippians	Phi	56	3	16	Meanwhile, let us all be of the same mind, all follow the same rule, according to the progress we have made.
 Philippians	Phi	56	3	17	Be content, brethren, to follow my example, and mark well those who live by the pattern we have given them;
 Philippians	Phi	56	3	18	I have told you often, and now tell you again with tears, that there are many whose lives make them the enemies of Christ’s cross.
 Philippians	Phi	56	3	19	Perdition is the end that awaits them, their own hungry bellies are the god they worship, their own shameful doings are their pride; their minds are set on the things of earth;
 Philippians	Phi	56	3	20	whereas we find our true home in heaven. It is to heaven that we look expectantly for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ to save us;
 Philippians	Phi	56	3	21	he will form this humbled body of ours anew, moulding it into the image of his glorified body, so effective is his power to make all things obey him.
 Philippians	Phi	56	4	1	Then, O my brethren, so greatly loved and longed for, all my delight and prize, stand firmly in the Lord, beloved, as I bid you.
 Philippians	Phi	56	4	2	I call upon thee, Evodia, and I call upon thee, Syntyche, to make common cause in the Lord.
 Philippians	Phi	56	4	3	Yes, and I ask thee, who sharest the yoke so loyally, to take part with them; they have worked for the gospel at my side, as much as Clement and those other fellow labourers of mine, whose names are recorded in the book of life.
 Philippians	Phi	56	4	4	Joy to you in the Lord at all times; once again I wish you joy.
 Philippians	Phi	56	4	5	Give proof to all of your courtesy. The Lord is near.
 Philippians	Phi	56	4	6	Nothing must make you anxious; in every need make your requests known to God, praying and beseeching him, and giving him thanks as well.
 Philippians	Phi	56	4	7	So may the peace of God, which surpasses all our thinking, watch over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
 Philippians	Phi	56	4	8	And now, brethren, all that rings true, all that commands reverence, and all that makes for right; all that is pure, all that is lovely, all that is gracious in the telling; virtue and merit, wherever virtue and merit are found—let this be the argument of your thoughts.
 Philippians	Phi	56	4	9	The lessons I taught you, the traditions I handed on to you, all you have heard and seen of my way of living—let this be your rule of conduct. Then the God of peace will be with you.
 Philippians	Phi	56	4	10	It has been a great happiness to me in the Lord that your remembrance of me should have blossomed out afresh. It has flowered late, but then, you had never forgotten me; it was only that you lacked opportunity.
 Philippians	Phi	56	4	11	I am not thinking of my own want; I have learned by now to be content with my circumstances as they are.
 Philippians	Phi	56	4	12	I know what it is to be brought low, and what it is to have abundant means; I have been apprenticed to everything, having my fill and going hungry, living in plenty and living in want;
 Philippians	Phi	56	4	13	nothing is beyond my powers, thanks to the strength God gives me.
 Philippians	Phi	56	4	14	No, but it was kindness in you to share my hardships in this way.
 Philippians	Phi	56	4	15	You remember, Philippians, as well as I do, that when I left Macedonia in those early days of gospel preaching, yours was the only church whose sympathy with me meant alms given and received;
 Philippians	Phi	56	4	16	not once but twice, when I was at Thessalonica, you contributed to my needs.
 Philippians	Phi	56	4	17	It is not that I set store by your alms; I set store by the rich increase that stands to your credit.
 Philippians	Phi	56	4	18	I am content, more than content; I am fully endowed, ever since Epaphroditus brought me your gift, a sacrifice that breathes out fragrance, winning favour with God.
 Philippians	Phi	56	4	19	So may he, the God I serve, supply every need of yours; he has treasures of glory laid up in Christ Jesus.
 Philippians	Phi	56	4	20	Glory to God, who is our Father, for ever and ever, Amen.
 Philippians	Phi	56	4	21	Greet all the saints in Christ Jesus.
 Philippians	Phi	56	4	22	The brethren who are with me send you their greeting; greeting, too, from all the saints, especially those who belong to the Emperor’s household.
 Philippians	Phi	56	4	23	The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, Amen.
 Colossians	Col	57	1	1	From Paul, by God’s purpose an apostle of Jesus Christ, and Timothy who is their brother,
 Colossians	Col	57	1	2	to the saints at Colossae, our brethren who believe in Jesus Christ;
 Colossians	Col	57	1	3	Grace be yours and peace from God, our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, continually in our prayers for you,
 Colossians	Col	57	1	4	when we are told of your faith in Jesus Christ, and the love which you shew to all the saints;
 Colossians	Col	57	1	5	such hope have you of what awaits you in heaven. Hope was the lesson you learned from that truth-giving message of the Gospel
 Colossians	Col	57	1	6	which has reached you, which now bears fruit and thrives in you, as it does all the world over, since the day when you heard of God’s grace and recognized it for what it is.
 Colossians	Col	57	1	7	Your teacher was Epaphras, for us, a well-loved fellow bondsman, and for you a loyal minister of Jesus Christ;
 Colossians	Col	57	1	8	and it is he who has told us of this love which you cherish in the Spirit.
 Colossians	Col	57	1	9	So, ever since the news reached us, we have been praying for you in return, unceasingly. Our prayer is, that you may be filled with that closer knowledge of God’s will which brings all wisdom and all spiritual insight with it.
 Colossians	Col	57	1	10	May you live as befits his servants, waiting continually on his pleasure; may the closer knowledge of God bring you fruitfulness and growth in all good.
 Colossians	Col	57	1	11	May you be inspired, as his glorious power can inspire you, with full strength to be patient and to endure; to endure joyfully,
 Colossians	Col	57	1	12	thanking God our Father for making us fit to share the light which saints inherit,
 Colossians	Col	57	1	13	for rescuing us from the power of darkness, and transferring us to the kingdom of his beloved Son.
 Colossians	Col	57	1	14	In the Son of God, in his blood, we find the redemption that sets us free from our sins.
 Colossians	Col	57	1	15	He is the true likeness of the God we cannot see; his is that first birth which precedes every act of creation.
 Colossians	Col	57	1	16	Yes, in him all created things took their being, heavenly and earthly, visible and invisible; what are thrones and dominions, what are princedoms and powers? They were all created through him and in him;
 Colossians	Col	57	1	17	he takes precedency of all, and in him all subsist.
 Colossians	Col	57	1	18	He too is that head whose body is the Church; it begins with him, since his was the first birth out of death; thus in every way the primacy was to become his.
 Colossians	Col	57	1	19	It was God’s good pleasure to let all completeness dwell in him,
 Colossians	Col	57	1	20	and through him to win back all things, whether on earth or in heaven, into union with himself, making peace with them through his blood, shed on the cross.
 Colossians	Col	57	1	21	You, too, were once estranged from him; your minds were alienated from him by a life of sin;
 Colossians	Col	57	1	22	but now he has used Christ’s natural body to win you back through his death, and so to bring you into his presence, holy, and spotless, and unreproved.
 Colossians	Col	57	1	23	But that means that you must be true to your faith, grounded in it, firmly established in it; nothing must shift you away from the hope you found in the gospel you once listened to. It is a gospel which has been preached to all creation under heaven, and I, Paul, have been brought into its service.
 Colossians	Col	57	1	24	Even as I write, I am glad of my sufferings on your behalf, as, in this mortal frame of mine, I help to pay off the debt which the afflictions of Christ still leave to be paid, for the sake of his body, the Church.
 Colossians	Col	57	1	25	When I entered its service I received a commission from God for the benefit of you Gentiles, to complete the preaching of his word among you.
 Colossians	Col	57	1	26	This was the secret that had been hidden from all the ages and generations of the past; now, he has revealed it to his saints,
 Colossians	Col	57	1	27	wishing to make known the manifold splendour of this secret among the Gentiles—Christ among you, your hope of glory.
 Colossians	Col	57	1	28	Him, then, we proclaim, warning every human being and instructing every human being as wisely as we may, so as to exhibit every human being perfect in Christ Jesus.
 Colossians	Col	57	1	29	It is for this that I labour, for this that I strive so anxiously; and with effect, so effectually does his power manifest itself in me.
 Colossians	Col	57	2	1	And indeed, I must let you know what anxiety I feel over you, and the Laodiceans, and those others who have never seen me in person.
 Colossians	Col	57	2	2	I would bring courage to their hearts; I would see them well ordered in love, enriched in every way with fuller understanding, so as to penetrate the secret revealed to us by God the Father, and by Jesus Christ,
 Colossians	Col	57	2	3	in whom the whole treasury of wisdom and knowledge is stored up.
 Colossians	Col	57	2	4	I tell you this, for fear that somebody may lead you astray with high-flown talk.
 Colossians	Col	57	2	5	In person, I am far away from you, but I am with you in spirit; and I rejoice to see how well disciplined you are, how firm is your faith in Christ.
 Colossians	Col	57	2	6	Go on, then, ordering your lives in Christ Jesus our Lord, according to the tradition you have received of him.
 Colossians	Col	57	2	7	You are to be rooted in him, built up on him, your faith established in the teaching you have received, overflowing with gratitude.
 Colossians	Col	57	2	8	Take care not to let anyone cheat you with his philosophizings, with empty phantasies drawn from human tradition, from worldly principles; they were never Christ’s teaching.
 Colossians	Col	57	2	9	In Christ the whole plenitude of Deity is embodied, and dwells in him,
 Colossians	Col	57	2	10	and it is in him that you find your completion; he is the fountain head from which all dominion and power proceed.
 Colossians	Col	57	2	11	In him you have been circumcised with a circumcision that was not man’s handiwork. It was effected, not by despoiling the natural body, but by Christ’s circumcision;
 Colossians	Col	57	2	12	you, by baptism, have been united with his burial, united, too, with his resurrection, through your faith in that exercise of power by which God raised him from the dead.
 Colossians	Col	57	2	13	And in giving life to him, he gave life to you too, when you lay dead in your sins, with nature all uncircumcised in you. He condoned all your sins;
 Colossians	Col	57	2	14	cancelled the deed which excluded us, the decree made to our prejudice, swept it out of the way, by nailing it to the cross;
 Colossians	Col	57	2	15	and the dominions and powers he robbed of their prey, put them to an open shame, led them away in triumph, through him.
 Colossians	Col	57	2	16	So no one must be allowed to take you to task over what you eat or drink, or in the matter of observing feasts, and new moons, and sabbath days;
 Colossians	Col	57	2	17	all these were but shadows cast by future events, the reality is found in Christ.
 Colossians	Col	57	2	18	You must not allow anyone to cheat you by insisting on a false humility which addresses its worship to angels. Such a man takes his stand upon false visions; his is the ill-founded confidence that comes of human speculation.
 Colossians	Col	57	2	19	He is not united to that head of ours, on whom all the body depends, supplied and unified by joint and ligament, and so growing up with a growth which is divine.
 Colossians	Col	57	2	20	If, by dying with Christ, you have parted company with worldly principles, why do you live by these prescriptions, as if the world were still your element?
 Colossians	Col	57	2	21	Prescriptions against touching or tasting, or handling
 Colossians	Col	57	2	22	those creatures which vanish altogether as we enjoy them, all based on the will and the word of men?
 Colossians	Col	57	2	23	They will win you, no doubt, the name of philosophers, for being so full of scruple, so submissive, so unsparing of your bodies; but they are all forgotten, when nature asks to be gratified.
 Colossians	Col	57	3	1	Risen, then, with Christ, you must lift your thoughts above, where Christ now sits at the right hand of God.
 Colossians	Col	57	3	2	You must be heavenly-minded, not earthly-minded;
 Colossians	Col	57	3	3	you have undergone death, and your life is hidden away now with Christ in God.
 Colossians	Col	57	3	4	Christ is your life, and when he is made manifest, you too will be made manifest in glory with him.
 Colossians	Col	57	3	5	You must deaden, then, those passions in you which belong to earth, fornication and impurity, lust and evil desire, and that love of money which is an idolatry.
 Colossians	Col	57	3	6	These are what bring down God’s vengeance on the unbelievers,
 Colossians	Col	57	3	7	and such was your own behaviour, too, while you lived among them.
 Colossians	Col	57	3	8	Now it is your turn to have done with it all, resentment, anger, spite, insults, foul-mouthed utterance;
 Colossians	Col	57	3	9	and do not tell lies at one another’s expense. You must be quit of the old self, and the habits that went with it;
 Colossians	Col	57	3	10	you must be clothed in the new self, that is being refitted all the time for closer knowledge, so that the image of the God who created it is its pattern.
 Colossians	Col	57	3	11	Here is no more Gentile and Jew, no more circumcised and uncircumcised; no one is barbarian, or Scythian, no one is slave or free man; there is nothing but Christ in any of us.
 Colossians	Col	57	3	12	You are God’s chosen people, holy and well beloved; the livery you wear must be tender compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience;
 Colossians	Col	57	3	13	you must bear with one another’s faults, be generous to each other, where somebody has given grounds for complaint; the Lord’s generosity to you must be the model of yours.
 Colossians	Col	57	3	14	And, to crown all this, charity; that is the bond which makes us perfect.
 Colossians	Col	57	3	15	So may the peace of Christ, the very condition of your calling as members of a single body, reign in your hearts. Learn, too, to be grateful.
 Colossians	Col	57	3	16	May all the wealth of Christ’s inspiration have its shrine among you; now you will have instruction and advice for one another, full of wisdom, now there will be psalms, and hymns, and spiritual music, as you sing with gratitude in your hearts to God.
 Colossians	Col	57	3	17	Whatever you are about, in word and action alike, invoke always the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, offering your thanks to God the Father through him.
 Colossians	Col	57	3	18	Wives must be submissive to their husbands, as the service of the Lord demands;
 Colossians	Col	57	3	19	and you, husbands, treat your wives lovingly, do not grow harsh with them.
 Colossians	Col	57	3	20	Children must be obedient to their parents in every way; it is a gracious sign of serving the Lord;
 Colossians	Col	57	3	21	and you, parents, must not rouse your children to resentment, or you will break their spirits.
 Colossians	Col	57	3	22	You who are slaves, give your human masters full obedience, not with that show of service which tries to win human favour, but single-mindedly, in fear of the Lord.
 Colossians	Col	57	3	23	Work at all your tasks with a will, reminding yourselves that you are doing it for the Lord, not for men;
 Colossians	Col	57	3	24	and you may be sure that the Lord will give the portion he has allotted you in return. Be slaves with Christ for your Master.
 Colossians	Col	57	3	25	Whoever does wrong will be requited for the wrong done; there are no human preferences with God.
 Colossians	Col	57	4	1	And you who are masters, give your slaves just and equitable treatment; you know well enough that you, too, have a Master in heaven.
 Colossians	Col	57	4	2	Persevere in prayer, and keep wakeful over it with thankful hearts.
 Colossians	Col	57	4	3	Pray, too, for us; ask God to afford us an opening for preaching the revelation of Christ, which is the very cause of my imprisonment,
 Colossians	Col	57	4	4	and to give me the right utterance for making it known.
 Colossians	Col	57	4	5	Be prudent in your behaviour towards those who are not of your company; it is an opportunity you must eagerly grasp.
 Colossians	Col	57	4	6	Your manner of speaking must always be gracious, with an edge of liveliness, ready to give each questioner the right answer.
 Colossians	Col	57	4	7	You will hear how things go with me from Tychicus, my dearly loved brother and faithful servant, my fellow bondsman in the Lord;
 Colossians	Col	57	4	8	that is the reason why I have sent him, to give me news of you, and to bring courage to your hearts;
 Colossians	Col	57	4	9	from Onesimus, too, a brother faithful and well beloved, who is of your own number; they will tell you how things stand here.
 Colossians	Col	57	4	10	Greetings to you from my fellow prisoner Aristarchus, and from Mark, the kinsman of Barnabas, about whom you have been given instructions; if he visits you, make him welcome;
 Colossians	Col	57	4	11	from Jesus, too, whom they call Justus. These are the only Jews who have helped me to preach God’s kingdom; they have been a comfort to me.
 Colossians	Col	57	4	12	Your own fellow countryman Epaphras sends you his greeting, a servant of Jesus Christ who ever remembers you anxiously in his prayers, hoping that you will stand firm in the perfect achievement of all that is God’s will for you;
 Colossians	Col	57	4	13	I can vouch for him as one who is greatly concerned over you, and those others at Laodicea and Hierapolis.
 Colossians	Col	57	4	14	Greetings from my beloved Luke, the physician, and from Demas.
 Colossians	Col	57	4	15	Greet the brethren at Laodicea, and Nymphas, with the church that is in his household.
 Colossians	Col	57	4	16	When this letter has been read out to you, see that it is read out to the Laodicean church too, and that you read the letter they have received at Laodicea.
 Colossians	Col	57	4	17	Give this message to Archippus; Be careful to fulfil the duty which has been committed to thee in the Lord’s service.
 Colossians	Col	57	4	18	Here is a greeting for you from Paul in his own hand; do not forget that he is a prisoner. Grace be with you. Amen.
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	1	1	Paul and Silvanus and Timothy, to the church assembled at Thessalonica in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ;
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	1	2	Grace be yours and peace. We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you continually in our prayers;
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	1	3	such memories we have of your active faith, your unwearied love, and that hope in our Lord Jesus Christ which gives you endurance, in the sight of him who is our God and Father.
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	1	4	Brethren, God loves you, and we are sure that he has made choice of you.
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	1	5	Our preaching to you did not depend upon mere argument; power was there, and the influence of the Holy Spirit, and an effect of full conviction; you can testify what we were to you and what we did for you.
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	1	6	And on your side, you followed our example, the Lord’s example. There was great persecution, and yet you welcomed our message, rejoicing in the Holy Spirit;
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	1	7	and now you have become a model to all the believers throughout Macedonia and Achaia.
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	1	8	Yes, the Lord’s message has echoed out from you, and not only in Macedonia and Achaia; your faith in God has overflowed everywhere, so that we do not need to speak a word;
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	1	9	our friends themselves tell the story of our journey, and how we first came among you. They describe how you have turned away from idolatry to the worship of God, so as to serve a living God, a God who really exists,
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	1	10	and to wait for the appearing of his Son from heaven, Jesus, whom he raised from the dead, our Saviour from the vengeance that is to come.
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	2	1	Yes, brethren, you yourselves can testify that when we arrived among you, it proved to be no fruitless visit.
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	2	2	We had been ill treated and insulted, as you know, at Philippi, but our God gave us courage to preach the divine gospel to you with great earnestness.
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	2	3	Our appeal to you was not based on any false or degraded notions, was not backed by cajolery.
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	2	4	We have passed God’s scrutiny, and he has seen fit to entrust us with the work of preaching; when we speak, it is with this in view; we would earn God’s good opinion, not man’s, since it is God who scrutinizes our hearts.
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	2	5	We never used the language of flattery, you will bear us out in that; nor was it, God knows, an excuse for enriching ourselves;
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	2	6	we have never asked for human praise, yours or another’s,
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	2	7	although, as apostles of Christ, we might have made heavy demands on you. No, you found us innocent as babes in your company; no nursing mother ever cherished her children more;
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	2	8	in our great longing for you, we desired nothing better than to offer you our own lives, as well as God’s gospel, so greatly had we learned to love you.
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	2	9	Brethren, you can remember how we toiled and laboured, all the time we were preaching God’s gospel to you, working day and night so as not to burden you with expense.
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	2	10	Both you and God can witness how upright and honest and faultless was our conduct towards you believers;
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	2	11	it is within your knowledge that we treated every one of you as a father treats his children, encouraging you, comforting you,
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	2	12	imploring you to lead a life worthy of the God who now invites you to the glory of his kingdom.
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	2	13	This is why we give thanks to God unceasingly that, when we delivered the divine message to you, you recognized it for what it is, God’s message, not man’s; it is God, after all, who manifests his power in you that have learned to believe.
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	2	14	You took for your model, brethren, the churches of God which are assembled in Judaea in the name of Christ Jesus. You were treated by your own fellow countrymen as those churches were treated by the Jews,
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	2	15	the men who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and persecuted us; the men who displease God and shew themselves the enemies of mankind,
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	2	16	when they try to hinder us from preaching salvation to the Gentiles. They must always be filling up the measure of their sins, and now it is God’s final vengeance that has fallen upon them.
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	2	17	Finding ourselves separated from you, brethren, even for a little while, though only in person, not in spirit, we conceived an overwhelming desire to visit you in person, such was our longing for you;
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	2	18	and we planned a journey to you, I myself, Paul, more than once; but Satan has put obstacles in our way.
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	2	19	What hope or delight have we, what prize to boast of before our Lord Jesus Christ when he comes, if not you?
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	2	20	All our pride, all our delight is in you.
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	3	1	At last we could not bear it any longer, and decided to remain at Athens by ourselves,
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	3	2	while we sent our brother Timothy, who exercises God’s ministry in preaching the gospel of Christ, to confirm your resolution, and give you the encouragement your faith needed.
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	3	3	There must be no wavering amidst these trials; you know well enough that this is our appointed lot.
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	3	4	Indeed, when we visited you we told you that trials were to befall us; now you can see for yourselves that it was true.
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	3	5	That was my reason for sending him, when I could bear it no longer, to make sure of your faith; it might be that the tempter of souls had been tempting you, and that all our labour would go for nothing.
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	3	6	Now that Timothy has come back to us from seeing you, and told us about your faith and love, and the kind remembrance you have of us all the while, longing for our company as we long for yours,
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	3	7	your faith has brought us comfort, brethren, amidst all our difficulties and trials.
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	3	8	If only you stand firm in the Lord, it brings fresh life to us.
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	3	9	What thanks can we return to God for you, to express all the joy we feel in rejoicing over you in the presence of our God,
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	3	10	as we pray more than ever, night and day, for the opportunity of seeing you face to face, and making good whatever your faith still lacks?
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	3	11	May he himself, our God and our Father, may our Lord Jesus Christ speed us on our journey to you;
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	3	12	and as for you, may the Lord give you a rich and an ever richer love for one another and for all men, like ours for you.
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	3	13	So, when our Lord Jesus Christ comes with all his saints, may you stand boldly before the presence of God, our Father, in holiness unreproved. Amen.
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	4	1	And now, brethren, this is what we ask, this is our appeal to you in the name of the Lord Jesus. We gave you a pattern of how you ought to live so as to please God; live by that pattern, and make more of it than ever.
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	4	2	You have not forgotten the warnings we have handed on to you by the command of the Lord Jesus.
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	4	3	What God asks of you is that you should sanctify yourselves, and keep clear of fornication.
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	4	4	Each of you must learn to control his own body, as something holy and held in honour,
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	4	5	not yielding to the promptings of passion, as the heathen do in their ignorance of God.
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	4	6	None of you is to be exorbitant, and take advantage of his brother, in his business dealings. For all such wrong-doing God exacts punishment; we have told you so already, in solemn warning.
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	4	7	The life to which God has called us is not one of incontinence, it is a life of holiness,
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	4	8	and to despise it is to despise, not man, but God, the God who has implanted his Holy Spirit in us.
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	4	9	As for love of the brethren, there is no need to send you any message; you have learned for yourselves God’s lesson about the charity we ought to shew to one another,
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	4	10	or you could not practise it as you do towards all the brethren throughout Macedonia. We would only ask you, brethren, to make more of it than ever.
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	4	11	Let it be a point of honour with you to keep calm and to go on looking after your affairs, working with your hands as we bade you; thus your life will win respect from the world around you, and you will not need to depend on others.
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	4	12	Make no mistake, brethren, about those who have gone to their rest; you are not to lament over them, as the rest of the world does, with no hope to live by.
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	4	13	We believe, after all, that Jesus underwent death and rose again; just so, when Jesus comes back, God will bring back those who have found rest through him.
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	4	14	This we can tell you as a message from the Lord himself; those of us who are still left alive to greet the Lord’s coming will not reach the goal before those who have gone to their rest.
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	4	15	No, the Lord himself will come down from heaven to summon us, with an archangel crying aloud and the trumpet of God sounding; and first of all the dead will rise up, those who died in Christ.
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	4	16	Only after that shall we, who are still left alive, be taken up into the clouds, be swept away to meet Christ in the air, and they will bear us company. And so we shall be with the Lord for ever.
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	4	17	Tell one another this for your consolation.
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	5	1	There is no need, brethren, to write to you about the times and the seasons of all this;
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	5	2	you are keeping it clearly in mind, without being told, that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	5	3	It is just when men are saying, All quiet, all safe, that doom will fall upon them suddenly, like the pangs that come to a woman in travail, and there will be no escape from it.
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	5	4	Whereas you, brethren, are not living in the darkness, for the day to take you by surprise, like a thief;
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	5	5	no, you are all born to the light, born to the day; we do not belong to the night and its darkness.
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	5	6	We must not sleep on, then, like the rest of the world, we must watch and keep sober;
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	5	7	night is the sleeper’s time for sleeping, the drunkard’s time for drinking;
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	5	8	we must keep sober, like men of the daylight. We must put on our breastplate, the breastplate of faith and love, our helmet, which is the hope of salvation.
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	5	9	God has not destined us for vengeance; he means us to win salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	5	10	who has died for our sakes, that we, waking or sleeping, may find life with him.
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	5	11	Go on, then, encouraging one another and building up one another’s faith.
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	5	12	Brethren, we would ask you to pay deference to those who work among you, those who have charge of you in the Lord, and give you directions;
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	5	13	make it a rule of charity to hold them in special esteem, in honour of the duty they perform, and maintain unity with them.
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	5	14	And, brethren, let us make this appeal to you; warn the vagabonds, encourage the faint-hearted, support the waverers, be patient towards all.
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	5	15	See to it that nobody repays injury with injury; you must aim always at what is best, for one another and for all around you.
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	5	16	Joy be with you always.
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	5	17	Never cease praying.
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	5	18	Give thanks upon all occasions; this is what God expects of you all in Christ Jesus.
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	5	19	Do not stifle the utterances of the Spirit,
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	5	20	do not hold prophecy in low esteem;
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	5	21	and yet you must scrutinize it all carefully, retaining only what is good,
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	5	22	and rejecting all that has a look of evil about it.
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	5	23	So may the God of peace sanctify you wholly, keep spirit and soul and body unimpaired, to greet the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ without reproach.
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	5	24	The God who called you is true to his promise; he will not fail you.
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	5	25	Brethren, pray for us.
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	5	26	Greet all the brethren with the kiss of saints.
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	5	27	I adjure you in the Lord’s name to see that this letter is read out to all our holy brethren.
 1 Thessalonians	1Th	58	5	28	The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you, Amen.
 2 Thessalonians	2Th	59	1	1	Paul and Silvanus and Timothy, to the church assembled at Thessalonica in God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ;
 2 Thessalonians	2Th	59	1	2	From God, our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, grace be yours and peace.
 2 Thessalonians	2Th	59	1	3	We owe a constant debt of thanksgiving to God, brethren, on your behalf; we have good reason for it, when your faith thrives so well, and your love for one another exceeds all measure;
 2 Thessalonians	2Th	59	1	4	our own boasting, as we visit the churches of God, is of your perseverance and your faith amidst all the persecutions and trials which you have to endure.
 2 Thessalonians	2Th	59	1	5	It will be a proof of the just award God makes, when he finds you worthy of a place in his kingdom, the kingdom for which you are prepared to suffer.
 2 Thessalonians	2Th	59	1	6	Or do you doubt that there is justice with God, to repay with affliction those who afflict you,
 2 Thessalonians	2Th	59	1	7	and you, the afflicted, with that rest which will be ours too? But that is for the day when the Lord Jesus appears from heaven, with angels to proclaim his power;
 2 Thessalonians	2Th	59	1	8	with fire flaming about him, as he pours out vengeance on those who do not acknowledge God, on those who refuse obedience to the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
 2 Thessalonians	2Th	59	1	9	The presence of the Lord, and the majesty of his power, will condemn them to eternal punishment,
 2 Thessalonians	2Th	59	1	10	when he comes to shew how glorious he is in his saints, how marvellously he has dealt with all the faithful, that our witness should have reached you Gentiles, and found belief! Yes, there will be justice when that day comes.
 2 Thessalonians	2Th	59	1	11	It is with this in view that we are always praying for you, praying that God may find you worthy of your vocation, and ripen by his influence all your love of well-doing, all the activity of your faith.
 2 Thessalonians	2Th	59	1	12	So may the name of our Lord Jesus Christ be glorified in you, and you glorified in him, through the grace given you by our God and by the Lord Jesus Christ.
 2 Thessalonians	2Th	59	2	1	But there is one entreaty we would make of you, brethren, as you look forward to the time when our Lord Jesus Christ will come, and gather us in to himself.
 2 Thessalonians	2Th	59	2	2	Do not be terrified out of your senses all at once, and thrown into confusion, by any spiritual utterance, any message or letter purporting to come from us, which suggests that the day of the Lord is close at hand.
 2 Thessalonians	2Th	59	2	3	Do not let anyone find the means of leading you astray. The apostasy must come first; the champion of wickedness must appear first, destined to inherit perdition.
 2 Thessalonians	2Th	59	2	4	This is the rebel who is to lift up his head above every divine name, above all that men hold in reverence, till at last he enthrones himself in God’s temple, and proclaims himself as God.
 2 Thessalonians	2Th	59	2	5	Do not you remember my telling you of this, before I left your company?
 2 Thessalonians	2Th	59	2	6	At present there is a power (you know what I mean) which holds him in check, so that he may not shew himself before the time appointed to him;
 2 Thessalonians	2Th	59	2	7	meanwhile, the conspiracy of revolt is already at work; only, he who checks it now will be able to check it, until he is removed from the enemy’s path.
 2 Thessalonians	2Th	59	2	8	Then it is that the rebel will shew himself; and the Lord Jesus will destroy him with the breath of his mouth, overwhelming him with the brightness of his presence.
 2 Thessalonians	2Th	59	2	9	He will come, when he comes, with all Satan’s influence to aid him; there will be no lack of power, of counterfeit signs and wonders;
 2 Thessalonians	2Th	59	2	10	and his wickedness will deceive the souls that are doomed, to punish them for refusing that fellowship in the truth which would have saved them. That is why God is letting loose among them a deceiving influence, so that they give credit to falsehood;
 2 Thessalonians	2Th	59	2	11	he will single out for judgement all those who refused credence to the truth, and took their pleasure in wrong-doing.
 2 Thessalonians	2Th	59	2	12	We must always give thanks in your name, brethren whom the Lord has so favoured. God has picked you out as the first-fruits in the harvest of salvation, by sanctifying your spirits and convincing you of his truth;
 2 Thessalonians	2Th	59	2	13	he has called you, through our preaching, to attain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
 2 Thessalonians	2Th	59	2	14	Stand firm, then, brethren, and hold by the traditions you have learned, in word or in writing, from us.
 2 Thessalonians	2Th	59	2	15	So may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, so may God, our Father, who has shewn such love to us, giving us unfailing comfort and welcome hope through his grace,
 2 Thessalonians	2Th	59	2	16	encourage your hearts, and confirm you in every right habit of action and speech.
 2 Thessalonians	2Th	59	3	1	And now, brethren, let us have your prayers, that the word of the Lord may run its course triumphantly with us, as it does with you;
 2 Thessalonians	2Th	59	3	2	and that we may be preserved from malicious interference; the faith does not reach all hearts.
 2 Thessalonians	2Th	59	3	3	But the Lord keeps faith with us; he will strengthen you, and keep you from all harm.
 2 Thessalonians	2Th	59	3	4	We are sure of you in the Lord, sure that you are doing and will do as we bid you;
 2 Thessalonians	2Th	59	3	5	may the Lord direct you where the love of God and the patience of Christ shew you the way.
 2 Thessalonians	2Th	59	3	6	Only, brethren, we charge you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to have nothing to do with any brother who lives a vagabond life, contrary to the tradition which we handed on;
 2 Thessalonians	2Th	59	3	7	you do not need to be reminded how, on our visit, we set you an example to be imitated; we were no vagabonds ourselves.
 2 Thessalonians	2Th	59	3	8	We would not even be indebted to you for our daily bread, we earned it in weariness and toil, working with our hands, night and day, so as not to be a burden to any of you;
 2 Thessalonians	2Th	59	3	9	not that we are obliged to do so, but as a model for your own behaviour; you were to follow our example.
 2 Thessalonians	2Th	59	3	10	The charge we gave you on our visit was that the man who refuses to work must be left to starve.
 2 Thessalonians	2Th	59	3	11	And now we are told that there are those among you who live in idleness, neglecting their own business to mind other people’s.
 2 Thessalonians	2Th	59	3	12	We charge all such, we appeal to them in the Lord Jesus Christ, to earn their bread by going on calmly with their work.
 2 Thessalonians	2Th	59	3	13	For yourselves, brethren, never weary of doing good.
 2 Thessalonians	2Th	59	3	14	If anybody refuses to listen to what we have said in our letter, he is to be a marked man; avoid his company till he is ashamed of himself,
 2 Thessalonians	2Th	59	3	15	correcting him like a brother, not treating him as an enemy.
 2 Thessalonians	2Th	59	3	16	And may the Lord of peace grant you peace everywhere and at all times; the Lord be with you all.
 2 Thessalonians	2Th	59	3	17	Here is Paul’s greeting in his own hand; the signature which is to be found in all my letters; this is my handwriting.
 2 Thessalonians	2Th	59	3	18	The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all, Amen.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	1	1	Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the appointment of God our Saviour, and of Jesus Christ who is our hope,
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	1	2	to Timothy, my own son in the faith; Grace be thine, and mercy, and peace, from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ,
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	1	3	as thou fulfillest the charge I gave thee, when I passed on into Macedonia, to stay behind at Ephesus. There were some who needed to be warned against teaching strange doctrines,
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	1	4	against occupying their minds with legends and interminable pedigrees, which breed controversy, instead of building up God’s house, as the faith does.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	1	5	The end at which our warning aims is charity, based on purity of heart, on a good conscience and a sincere faith.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	1	6	There are some who have missed this mark, branching off into vain speculations;
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	1	7	who now claim to be expounding the law, without understanding the meaning of their own words, or the subject on which they pronounce so positively.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	1	8	The law? It is an excellent thing, where it is applied legitimately;
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	1	9	but it must be remembered that the law is not meant for those who live innocent lives. It is meant for the lawless and the refractory; for the godless and the sinner, the unholy and the profane; for those who lay violent hands on father or mother, for murderers,
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	1	10	for those who commit fornication or sin against nature, the slave-dealer, the liar, the perjurer. All this and much else is the very opposite of the sound doctrine
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	1	11	contained in the gospel I have been entrusted with, that tells us of the blessed God and his glory.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	1	12	How I thank our Lord Christ Jesus, the source of all my strength, for shewing confidence in me by appointing me his minister,
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	1	13	me, a blasphemer till then, a persecutor, a man of violence, author of outrage, and yet he had mercy on me, because I was acting in the ignorance of unbelief.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	1	14	The grace of the Lord came upon me in a full tide of faith and love, the love that is in Christ Jesus.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	1	15	How true is that saying, and what a welcome it deserves, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. I was the worst of all,
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	1	16	and yet I was pardoned, so that in me first of all Christ Jesus might give the extreme example of his patience; I was to be the pattern of all those who will ever believe in him, to win eternal life.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	1	17	Honour and glory through endless ages to the king of all the ages, the immortal, the invisible, who alone is God, Amen.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	1	18	This charge, then, I give into thy hands, my son Timothy, remembering how prophecy singled thee out, long ago. Serve, as it bade thee, in this honourable warfare,
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	1	19	with faith and a good conscience to aid thee. Some, through refusing this duty, have made shipwreck of the faith;
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	1	20	among them, Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have made over to Satan, till they are cured of their blasphemy.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	2	1	This, first of all, I ask; that petition, prayer, entreaty and thanksgiving should be offered for all mankind,
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	2	2	especially for kings and others in high station, so that we can live a calm and tranquil life, as dutifully and decently as we may.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	2	3	Such prayer is our duty, it is what God, our Saviour, expects of us,
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	2	4	since it is his will that all men should be saved, and be led to recognize the truth;
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	2	5	there is only one God, and only one mediator between God and men, Jesus Christ, who is a man, like them,
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	2	6	and gave himself as a ransom for them all. At the appointed time, he bore his witness,
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	2	7	and of that witness I am the chosen herald, sent as an apostle (I make no false claims, I am only recalling the truth) to be a true and faithful teacher of the Gentiles.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	2	8	It is my wish that prayer should everywhere be offered by the men; they are to lift up hands that are sanctified, free from all anger and dispute.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	2	9	So, too, with the women; they are to dress themselves modestly and with restraint in befitting attire; no plaited hair, no gold ornaments, or pearls, or rich clothes;
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	2	10	a virtuous life is the best adornment for women who lay claim to piety.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	2	11	Women are to keep silence, and take their place, with all submissiveness, as learners;
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	2	12	a woman shall have no leave from me to teach, and issue commands to her husband; her part is to be silent.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	2	13	It was Adam that was created first, and Eve later,
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	2	14	nor was it Adam that went astray; woman was led astray, and was involved in transgression.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	2	15	Yet woman will find her salvation in child-bearing, if she will but remain true to faith and love and holy living.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	3	1	It is well said, When a man aspires to a bishopric, it is no mean employment that he covets.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	3	2	The man who is to be a bishop, then, must be one with whom no fault can be found; faithful to one wife, sober, discreet, modest, well behaved, hospitable, experienced in teaching,
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	3	3	no lover of wine or of brawling, courteous, neither quarrelsome nor grasping.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	3	4	He must be one who is a good head to his own family, and keeps his children in order by winning their full respect;
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	3	5	if a man has not learned how to manage his own household, will he know how to govern God’s church?
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	3	6	He must not be a new convert, or he may be carried away by vanity, and incur Satan’s doom.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	3	7	He must bear a good character, too, in the world’s eyes; or he may fall into disrepute, and become a prey to the False Accuser.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	3	8	Deacons, in the same way, must be men of decent behaviour, men of their word, not given to deep drinking or to money-getting,
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	3	9	keeping true, in all sincerity of conscience, to the faith that has been revealed.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	3	10	These, in their turn, must first undergo probation, and only be allowed to serve as deacons if no charge is brought against them.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	3	11	The women-folk, too, should be modest, not fond of slanderous talk; they must be sober, and in every way worthy of trust.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	3	12	The deacon must be faithful to one wife, good at looking after his own family and household.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	3	13	Those who have served well in the diaconate will secure for themselves a sure footing, and great boldness in proclaiming that faith which is founded on Christ Jesus.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	3	14	So much I tell thee by letter, although I hope to pay thee a visit before long;
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	3	15	so that, if I am slow in coming, thou mayest be in no doubt over the conduct that is expected of thee in God’s household. By that I mean the Church of the living God, the pillar and foundation upon which the truth rests.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	3	16	No question of it, it is a great mystery we worship. Revelation made in human nature, justification won in the realm of the Spirit; a vision seen by angels, a mystery preached to the Gentiles; Christ in this world, accepted by faith, Christ, on high, taken up into glory.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	4	1	We are expressly told by inspiration that, in later days, there will be some who abandon the faith, listening to false inspirations, and doctrines taught by the devils.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	4	2	They will be deceived by the pretensions of impostors, whose conscience is hardened as if by a searing-iron.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	4	3	Such teachers bid them abstain from marriage, and from certain kinds of food, although God has made these for the grateful enjoyment of those whom faith has enabled to recognize the truth.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	4	4	All is good that God has made, nothing is to be rejected; only we must be thankful to him when we partake of it,
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	4	5	then it is hallowed for our use by God’s blessing and the prayer which brings it.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	4	6	Lay down these rules for the brethren, and thou wilt shew thyself a true servant of Jesus Christ, thriving on the principles of that faith whose wholesome doctrine thou hast followed.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	4	7	Leave foolish nursery tales alone, and train thyself, instead, to grow up in holiness.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	4	8	Training of the body avails but little; holiness is all-availing, since it promises well both for this life and for the next;
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	4	9	how true is that saying, and what a welcome it deserves!
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	4	10	It is for this that we endure toil and reproach, our hope in a living God, who is the Saviour of mankind, and above all of those who believe in him.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	4	11	Such is the charge, such is the doctrine thou art to deliver.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	4	12	Do not let anyone think the less of thee for thy youthfulness; make thyself a model of speech and behaviour for the faithful, all love, all faith, all purity.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	4	13	Reading, preaching, instruction, let these be thy constant care while I am absent.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	4	14	A special grace has been entrusted to thee; prophecy awarded it, and the imposition of the presbyters’ hands went with it; do not let it suffer from neglect.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	4	15	Let this be thy study, these thy employments, so that all may see how well thou doest.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	4	16	Two things claim thy attention, thyself and the teaching of the faith; spend thy care on them; so wilt thou and those who listen to thee achieve salvation.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	5	1	Instead of finding fault, appeal to an older man as if he were thy father, to younger men as thy brothers,
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	5	2	to the older women, as mothers, to the younger (but with all modesty) as sisters.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	5	3	Give widows their due, if that name really belongs to them;
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	5	4	if a widowed woman is left with children or grandchildren, she must be warned that their own flesh and blood has the first claim on their piety. They must make due returns to those who gave them birth; that is what God asks of them.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	5	5	The woman who is indeed a widow, bereft of all help, will put her trust in God, and spend her time, night and day, upon the prayers and petitions that belong to her state;
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	5	6	one who lives in luxury would be alive and dead both at once.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	5	7	Warn them of this, too, or they will bring themselves into disrepute;
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	5	8	the man who makes no provision for those nearest him, above all his own family, has contradicted the teaching of the faith, and indeed does worse than the unbelievers do.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	5	9	If a woman is to be put on the list of widows, she must have reached, at least, the age of sixty, and have been faithful to one husband.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	5	10	She must have a name for acts of charity; has she brought up children? Has she been hospitable? Has she washed the feet of the saints? Has she helped those who were in affliction? Has she attached herself to every charitable cause?
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	5	11	Have nothing to do with younger widows; they will live at their ease at Christ’s expense, and then be for marrying again,
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	5	12	thus incurring the guilt of breaking the promise they have made.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	5	13	Meanwhile, they learn habits of idleness as they go from house to house; nor are they merely idle, they gossip and interfere, and say what they have no right to say.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	5	14	So I would have the younger women marry and bear children and have households to manage; then they will give enmity no handle for speaking ill of us.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	5	15	Already there are some who have turned aside, to follow Satan.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	5	16	Meanwhile, if a believer has any widows depending on him, he should undertake their support, leaving the church free to support the widows who are really destitute.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	5	17	Presbyters who have acquitted themselves well of their charge should be awarded double consideration; those especially, who bestow their pains on preaching and instruction:
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	5	18	there is a passage in scripture which tells us not to muzzle the ox while it is threshing grain, and the labourer has a right to expect his maintenance.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	5	19	Do not take cognizance of any charge made against a presbyter, unless there are two witnesses or more.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	5	20	Give a public rebuke to those who are living amiss, and thus put fear into the rest.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	5	21	I adjure thee in the sight of God and of Jesus Christ, and the angels he has chosen, to observe these rules without rash judgement, without yielding to partiality.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	5	22	As for the imposition of hands, do not bestow it inconsiderately, and so share the blame for the sins of others. Keep thyself clear of fault.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	5	23	(No, do not confine thyself to water any longer; take a little wine to relieve thy stomach, and thy frequent attacks of illness.)
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	5	24	Some men have faults that are plain to view, so that they invite question; with others, discovery follows upon the heels of enquiry;
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	5	25	so it is, too, with their merits; some are plain to view, and where they are not, they cannot long remain hidden.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	6	1	Those who are bound to slavery must treat their masters as entitled to all respect; otherwise God’s name and our doctrine will be ill spoken of.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	6	2	And those whose masters belong to the faith must not think the less of them, for being their brethren; they should render all the better service, when those who benefit by their good will are believers, worthy of their love. Teach them, and encourage them, so to act.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	6	3	Is there some rival teacher, who refuses assent to the sound principles which are the principles of our Lord Jesus Christ, to the doctrine which accords with holiness?
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	6	4	Then it is because he is puffed up with vanity; knowledge he has none, but an itch for speculation and controversy. What comes of it? Only jealousy, quarrelling, recriminations and base suspicions,
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	6	5	all such encounters as must arise between men with corrupted minds who have lost track of the truth. Religion, they think, will provide them with a living.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	6	6	And indeed, religion is ample provision for life, though no more than a bare sufficiency goes with it.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	6	7	Empty-handed we came into the world, and empty-handed, beyond question, we must leave it;
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	6	8	why then, if we have food and clothing to last us out, let us be content with that.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	6	9	Those who would be rich fall into temptation, the devil’s trap for them; all those useless and dangerous appetites which sink men into ruin here and perdition hereafter.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	6	10	The love of money is a root from which every kind of evil springs, and there are those who have wandered away from the faith by making it their ambition, involving themselves in a world of sorrows.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	6	11	It is for thee, servant of God, to shun all this; to aim at right living, holiness, and faith, and love, and endurance, and kind forbearance.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	6	12	Fight the good fight of faith, lay thy grasp on eternal life, that life thou wert called to, when thou didst assert the great claim before so many witnesses.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	6	13	I adjure thee before the God who gives life to all things, before Christ Jesus who bore witness to that great claim when he stood before Pontius Pilate,
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	6	14	to fulfil thy charge without stain of reproach until the day when our Lord Jesus Christ appears.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	6	15	God will reveal him in due time, the blessed God who alone enjoys dominion; he is King of kings, and Lord of lords;
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	6	16	to him alone immortality belongs, his dwelling is in unapproachable light; no human eye has seen or can ever see him; to him be glory and everlasting empire, Amen.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	6	17	Warn those who are rich in this present world not to think highly of themselves, not to repose their hopes in the riches that may fail us, but in the living God, who bestows on us so richly all that we enjoy.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	6	18	Let them do good, enrich their lives with charitable deeds, always ready to give, and to share the common burden,
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	6	19	laying down a sure foundation for themselves in time to come, so as to have life which is true life within their grasp.
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	6	20	It is for thee, Timothy, to keep safe what has been entrusted to thee, avoiding these new, intruding forms of speech, this quibbling knowledge that is knowledge only in name;
 1 Timothy	1Tim	60	6	21	there are those who profess them, and in professing them have shot wide of the mark which faith sets us. Grace be with thee, Amen.
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	1	1	Paul, sent as an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, in furtherance of that promise of life which is given us in Christ Jesus,
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	1	2	to Timothy, his well beloved son; Grace and mercy and peace from God the Father, and from Christ Jesus our Lord.
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	1	3	It is with gratitude to that God, whom I worship with a clear conscience in the way my fathers taught me, that I make mention of thee continually, day and night, in my prayer.
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	1	4	I keep the memory of thy tears, and long to see thee again, so as to have my fill of joy
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	1	5	when I receive fresh proof of thy sincere faith. That faith dwelt in thy grandmother Lois, and in thy mother Eunice, before thee; I am fully persuaded that it dwells in thee too.
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	1	6	That is why I would remind thee to fan the flame of that special grace which God kindled in thee, when my hands were laid upon thee.
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	1	7	The spirit he has bestowed on us is not one that shrinks from danger; it is a spirit of action, of love, and of discipline.
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	1	8	Do not blush, then, for the witness thou bearest to our Lord, or for me, who am his prisoner; share all the tribulations of the gospel message as God gives thee strength.
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	1	9	Has he not saved us, and called us to a vocation of holiness? It was not because of anything we had done; we owe it to his own design, to the grace lavished on us, long ages ago, in Christ Jesus.
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	1	10	Now it has come to light, since our Saviour Jesus Christ came to enlighten us; now he has annulled death, now he has shed abroad the rays of life and immortality, through that gospel
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	1	11	which I have been appointed to herald, as an apostle and a teacher of the Gentiles.
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	1	12	This is what I have to suffer as the result; but I am not put to the blush. He, to whom I have given my confidence, is no stranger to me, and I am fully persuaded that he has the means to keep my pledge safe, until that day comes.
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	1	13	With all the faith and love thou hast in Christ Jesus, keep to the pattern of sound doctrine thou hast learned from my lips.
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	1	14	By the power of the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, be true to thy high trust.
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	1	15	In Asia, as thou knowest, all have treated me coldly, Phigellus and Hermogenes among them.
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	1	16	May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus; often enough he revived my spirits. Instead of being ashamed of a prisoner’s acquaintance,
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	1	17	he sought me out when he was in Rome, and succeeded in finding me.
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	1	18	The Lord grant that he may find mercy with his Lord when that day comes; what he did for me in Ephesus I have no need to tell thee.
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	2	1	Take strength, my own son, from the grace which dwells in Christ Jesus.
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	2	2	Thou hast learned, from many who can witness to it, the doctrine which I hand down; give it into the keeping of men thou canst trust, men who will know how to teach it to others besides themselves.
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	2	3	Then, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus, take thy share of hardship.
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	2	4	Thou art God’s soldier, and the soldier on service, if he would please the captain who enlisted him, will refuse to be entangled in the business of daily life;
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	2	5	the athlete will win no crown, if he does not observe the rules of the contest;
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	2	6	the first share in the harvest goes to the labourer who has toiled for it.
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	2	7	Grasp the sense of what I am saying; the Lord will give thee quick insight wherever it is needed.
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	2	8	Fix thy mind on Jesus Christ, sprung from the race of David, who has risen from the dead; that is the gospel I preach,
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	2	9	and in its service I suffer hardship like a criminal, yes, even imprisonment; but there is no imprisoning the word of God.
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	2	10	For its sake I am ready to undergo anything; for love of the elect, that they, like us, may win salvation in Christ Jesus, and eternal glory with it.
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	2	11	It is well said, We are to share his life, because we have shared his death;
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	2	12	if we endure, we shall reign with him, if we disown him, he in his turn will disown us.
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	2	13	If we play him false, he remains true to his word; he cannot disown himself.
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	2	14	Bring this back to men’s thoughts, pleading with them earnestly in the Lord’s name; there must be no wordy disputes, such as can only unsettle the minds of those who are listening.
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	2	15	Aim first at winning God’s approval, as a workman who does not need to be ashamed of his work, one who knows how to handle the claims of the truth like a master.
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	2	16	Keep thy distance from those who are bringing in a fashion of meaningless talk; they will go far to establish neglect of God,
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	2	17	and their influence eats in like a cancer. Such are Hymenaeus and Philetus,
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	2	18	who have missed the true mark, by contending that the resurrection has come about already, to the overthrow of the faith in some minds.
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	2	19	But God’s foundation-stone stands firm, and this is the legend on it, The Lord acknowledges none but his own; and again, Let everyone who names the Lord’s name keep far from iniquity.
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	2	20	A great house, besides its plate of gold and silver, contains other objects made of wood and earthenware; those for noble, these for ignoble uses;
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	2	21	it is by keeping himself separate from these that a man will prove the object of his Lord’s regard, hallowed, and serviceable, and fit for all honourable employment.
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	2	22	Shun these youthful ardours I speak of; aim at right living, faith, and hope, and love, and fellowship with all those who call on the name of the Lord with a pure heart.
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	2	23	Leave these foolish, ill-conceived disputes alone; be very sure, they breed nothing but quarrels.
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	2	24	A servant of the Lord has no business with quarrelling; he must be kindly towards all men, persuasive and tolerant,
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	2	25	with a gentle hand for correcting those who are obstinate in their errors. It may be that God will enable them to repent, and acknowledge the truth;
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	2	26	so they will recover their senses, and shake off the snare by which the devil, till now, has held them prisoners to his will.
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	3	1	Be sure of this, that in the world’s last age there are perilous times coming.
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	3	2	Men will be in love with self, in love with money, boastful, proud, abusive; without reverence for their parents, without gratitude, without scruple,
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	3	3	without love, without peace; slanderers, incontinent, strangers to pity and to kindness;
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	3	4	treacherous, reckless, full of vain conceit, thinking rather of their pleasures than of God.
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	3	5	They will preserve all the outward form of religion, although they have long been strangers to its meaning. From these, too, turn away.
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	3	6	They count among their number the men that will make their way into house after house, captivating weak women whose consciences are burdened by sin; women swayed by shifting passions,
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	3	7	who are for ever inquiring, yet never attain to recognition of the truth.
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	3	8	Moses found rivals in Jannes and Mambres; just so the men I speak of set themselves up in rivalry against the truth, men whose minds are corrupt, whose faith is counterfeit;
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	3	9	yet they will come to little, they will soon be detected, like those others, in their rash folly.
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	3	10	Not such was the schooling, the guidance, thou hadst from me; in firm resolve, in faith, in patience, in love, in endurance;
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	3	11	all my persecutions and suffering, such as those which befell me at Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra; what persecutions I underwent! And yet the Lord brought me through them all safely.
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	3	12	And indeed, all those who are resolved to live a holy life in Christ Jesus will meet with persecution;
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	3	13	while the rogues and the mountebanks go on from bad to worse, at once impostors and dupes.
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	3	14	It is for thee to hold fast by the doctrine handed on to thee, the charge committed to thee; thou knowest well, from whom that tradition came;
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	3	15	thou canst remember the holy learnin thou hast been taught from childhood upwards. This will train thee up for salvation, through the faith which rests in Christ Jesus.
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	3	16	Everything in the scripture has been divinely inspired, and has its uses; to instruct us, to expose our errors, to correct our faults, to educate us in holy living;
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	3	17	so God’s servant will become a master of his craft, and each noble task that comes will find him ready for it.
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	4	1	I adjure thee in the sight of God, and of Jesus Christ, who is to be the judge of living and dead, in the name of his coming, and of his kingdom,
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	4	2	preach the word, dwelling upon it continually, welcome or unwelcome; bring home wrong-doing, comfort the waverer, rebuke the sinner, with all the patience of a teacher.
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	4	3	The time will surely come, when men will grow tired of sound doctrine, always itching to hear something fresh; and so they will provide themselves with a continuous succession of new teachers, as the whim takes them,
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	4	4	turning a deaf ear to the truth, bestowing their attention on fables instead.
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	4	5	It is for thee to be on the watch, to accept every hardship, to employ thyself in preaching the gospel, and perform every duty of thy office, keeping a sober mind.
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	4	6	As for me, my blood already flows in sacrifice; the time has nearly come when I can go free.
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	4	7	I have fought the good fight; I have finished the race; I have redeemed my pledge;
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	4	8	I look forward to the prize that is waiting for me, the prize I have earned. The Lord, the judge whose award never goes amiss, will grant it to me when that day comes; to me, yes, and all those who have learned to welcome his appearing. Make haste, and come quickly to me.
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	4	9	Demas has fallen in love with this present world; he has deserted me, and gone to Thessalonica.
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	4	10	Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia,
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	4	11	and Luke is my only companion. Join company with Mark, and bring him here with thee; he can help me with the exercise of his ministry
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	4	12	now that I have sent Tychicus away to Ephesus.
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	4	13	When thou comest, bring with thee the cloak which I left in Carpus’ hands at Troas; the books, too, and above all the rolls of parchment.
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	4	14	I have had much ill usage from Alexander, the coppersmith. As for what he has done, the Lord will judge him for it;
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	4	15	only do thou, too, be on thy guard against him; he has been a great enemy to our preaching.
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	4	16	At my first trial, no one stood by me; I was deserted by everybody; may it be forgiven them.
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	4	17	But the Lord was at my side; he endowed me with strength, so that through me the preaching of the gospel might attain its full scope, and all the Gentiles might hear it; thus I was brought safely out of the jaws of the lion.
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	4	18	Yes, the Lord has preserved me from every assault of evil; he will bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom; glory be to him through endless ages, Amen.
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	4	19	My greetings to Prisca and Aquila, and to the household of Onesiphorus.
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	4	20	Erastus has stayed on at Corinth; Trophimus fell ill, and I left him behind at Miletus.
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	4	21	Make haste, and come to me before winter. Eubulus and Pudens and Linus and Claudia and all the brethren send thee their greeting.
 2 Timothy	2Tim	61	4	22	The Lord Jesus Christ be with thy spirit. Grace be with you, Amen.
 Titus	Tit	62	1	1	It is Paul who writes; God’s servant, sent out as an apostle of Jesus Christ, with the faith of God’s elect for his care; they were to acknowledge that truth which accords with holiness,
 Titus	Tit	62	1	2	and fix their hopes on eternal life. It has been promised to us long ages since by the God who cannot fail us;
 Titus	Tit	62	1	3	and now, in due time, he has made his meaning clear to us, through the preaching with which God, our Saviour, has seen fit to entrust me.
 Titus	Tit	62	1	4	To Titus, my own son in the faith we share, grace and peace from God the Father and from Christ Jesus our Lord.
 Titus	Tit	62	1	5	If I left thee behind me in Crete, it was to put all in order, where order is still needed. It is for thee to appoint presbyters, as I enjoined, in each city,
 Titus	Tit	62	1	6	always looking for a man who is beyond reproach, faithful to one wife; one whose children hold the faith, not accused of reckless living, not wanting in obedience.
 Titus	Tit	62	1	7	A bishop, after all, since he is the steward of God’s house, must needs be beyond reproach. He must not be an obstinate or quarrelsome man, one who drinks deep, or comes to blows, or is grasping over money.
 Titus	Tit	62	1	8	He must be hospitable, kindly, discreet, upright, unworldly and continent.
 Titus	Tit	62	1	9	He must hold firmly to the truths which have tradition for their warrant; able, therefore, to encourage sound doctrine, and to shew the wayward their error.
 Titus	Tit	62	1	10	There are many rebellious spirits abroad, who talk of their own fantasies and lead men’s minds astray; those especially who hold by circumcision;
 Titus	Tit	62	1	11	and they must be silenced. They will bring ruin on entire households by false teaching, with an eye to their own base profits.
 Titus	Tit	62	1	12	Why, one of themselves, a spokesman of their own, has told us, The men of Crete were ever liars, venomous creatures, all hungry belly and nothing besides;
 Titus	Tit	62	1	13	and that is a true account of them. Be strict, then, in taking them to task, so that they may be soundly established in the faith,
 Titus	Tit	62	1	14	instead of paying attention to these Jewish fables, these rules laid down for them by human teachers who will not look steadily at the truth.
 Titus	Tit	62	1	15	As if anything could be unclean for those who have clean hearts! But for these men, defiled as they are by want of faith, everything is unclean; defilement has entered their very thought, their very consciences.
 Titus	Tit	62	1	16	They profess recognition of God, but their practice contradicts it; it is they who are abominable, who are disloyal, who are ill qualified for the practice of any true virtue.
 Titus	Tit	62	2	1	Thine is to be a different message, with sound doctrine for its rule.
 Titus	Tit	62	2	2	Teach the older men to be sober, decent, orderly, soundly established in faith, in charity, in patience.
 Titus	Tit	62	2	3	The older women, too, must carry themselves as befits a holy calling, not given to slanderous talk or enslaved to drunken habits; teaching others by their good example.
 Titus	Tit	62	2	4	From them the younger women must learn orderly behaviour, how to treat their husbands and their children lovingly,
 Titus	Tit	62	2	5	how to be discreet, modest, and sober, busy about the house, kindly, submissive to their own husbands; the preaching of God’s word must not be brought into disrepute.
 Titus	Tit	62	2	6	Encourage the young men, too, to live orderly lives.
 Titus	Tit	62	2	7	Let them find in all thou doest the model of a life nobly lived; let them find thee disinterested in thy teaching, worthy of their respect,
 Titus	Tit	62	2	8	thy doctrine sound beyond all cavil; so that our adversaries may blush to find that they have no opportunity for speaking ill of us.
 Titus	Tit	62	2	9	Slaves must be submissive to their own masters, so as to content them in every way; no arguing,
 Titus	Tit	62	2	10	no pilfering; they must give good proof of utter fidelity, every action of theirs bringing credit to the teaching which God, our Saviour, has revealed.
 Titus	Tit	62	2	11	The grace of God, our Saviour, has dawned on all men alike,
 Titus	Tit	62	2	12	schooling us to forgo irreverent thoughts and worldly appetites, and to live, in this present world, a life of order, of justice, and of holiness.
 Titus	Tit	62	2	13	We were to look forward, blessed in our hope, to the day when there will be a new dawn of glory, the glory of the great God, the glory of our Saviour Jesus Christ;
 Titus	Tit	62	2	14	who gave himself for us, to ransom us from all our guilt, a people set apart for himself, ambitious of noble deeds.
 Titus	Tit	62	2	15	Be this thy message, lending all authority to thy encouragement and thy reproof. Let no man lightly esteem thee.
 Titus	Tit	62	3	1	Remind them that they have a duty of submissive loyalty to governments and to those in authority, of readiness to undertake any kind of honourable service.
 Titus	Tit	62	3	2	They are not to speak injuriously of anyone, or pick quarrels; they must be considerate, and lose no opportunity of shewing courtesy to the world around them.
 Titus	Tit	62	3	3	We, after all, were once like the rest of them, reckless, rebellious, the dupes of error; enslaved to a strange medley of desires and appetites, our lives full of meanness and of envy, hateful, and hating one another.
 Titus	Tit	62	3	4	Then the kindness of God, our Saviour, dawned on us, his great love for man.
 Titus	Tit	62	3	5	He saved us; and it was not thanks to anything we had done for our own justification. In accordance with his own merciful design he saved us, with the cleansing power which gives us new birth, and restores our nature through the Holy Spirit,
 Titus	Tit	62	3	6	shed on us in abundant measure through our Saviour, Jesus Christ.
 Titus	Tit	62	3	7	So, justified by his grace, we were to become heirs, with the hope of eternal life set before us.
 Titus	Tit	62	3	8	It is well said, and I would have thee dwell on it, that those who have learned to trust in God should be at pains to find honourable employment. That is their duty, and the world will benefit by it.
 Titus	Tit	62	3	9	But take no part in vain researches into pedigrees, and controversies that wrangle over points of the law; they are useless folly.
 Titus	Tit	62	3	10	Give a heretic one warning, then a second, and after that avoid his company;
 Titus	Tit	62	3	11	his is a perverse nature, thou mayest be sure, and his fault has been admitted on his own confession.
 Titus	Tit	62	3	12	When I send for thee by Artemas or Tychicus, make haste and come to meet me at Nicopolis; I have decided to spend the winter there.
 Titus	Tit	62	3	13	Make careful provision for Zenas, the lawyer, and Apollo on their journey; they must not be left wanting for anything.
 Titus	Tit	62	3	14	It would be well if our brethren would learn to find honourable employment, so as to meet what necessity demands of them, instead of having nothing to contribute.
 Titus	Tit	62	3	15	All those who are with me send their greeting to you. Greet all those who are our friends in the common faith. The grace of God be with you all, Amen.
 Philemon	Phm	63	1	1	Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, and Timothy, who is their brother, to the well beloved Philemon, who shares our labours,
 Philemon	Phm	63	1	2	and to all the church that is in his household, to our dear sister Appia, Archippus, who fights the same battle with ourselves, and the rest;
 Philemon	Phm	63	1	3	Grace and peace be yours from God, our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
 Philemon	Phm	63	1	4	I give thanks to my God at all times, remembering thee in my prayers;
 Philemon	Phm	63	1	5	such accounts I hear of the love and faith thou shewest towards the Lord Jesus and towards all the saints.
 Philemon	Phm	63	1	6	May thy generosity in the faith be made known, when all your good actions are recognized in Christ Jesus.
 Philemon	Phm	63	1	7	It has been a happiness and a comfort to me to hear of thy charity, brother, and of the refreshment thou hast brought to the hearts of the saints.
 Philemon	Phm	63	1	8	And now, though I might well make bold in Christ to prescribe a duty to thee,
 Philemon	Phm	63	1	9	I prefer to appeal to this charity of thine. Who is it that writes to thee? Paul, an old man now, and in these days the prisoner, too, of Jesus Christ;
 Philemon	Phm	63	1	10	and I am appealing to thee on behalf of Onesimus, the child of my imprisonment.
 Philemon	Phm	63	1	11	He did thee an ill service once; now, both to thee and to myself, he can be serviceable,
 Philemon	Phm	63	1	12	and I am sending him back to thee; make him welcome, for my heart goes with him.
 Philemon	Phm	63	1	13	I would sooner have kept him here with me, to attend, as thy deputy, on a prisoner of the gospel,
 Philemon	Phm	63	1	14	but I would do nothing without thy leave; thy generosity should be exercised freely, not from lack of choice.
 Philemon	Phm	63	1	15	Perhaps, after all, the very purpose of thy losing him for a time was that thou mightest have him always by thee.
 Philemon	Phm	63	1	16	Do not think of him any longer as a slave; he is something more than a slave, a well loved brother, to me in a special way; much more, then, to thee, now that both nature and Christ make him thy own.
 Philemon	Phm	63	1	17	As thou dost value thy fellowship with me, make him welcome as thou wouldst myself;
 Philemon	Phm	63	1	18	if he has wronged thee, or is in thy debt, make me answerable for it.
 Philemon	Phm	63	1	19	Here is a message in Paul’s own hand; I will make it good. Not to remind thee that thou owest me a debt already, thy own self.
 Philemon	Phm	63	1	20	And now, brother, let me claim thy services; give comfort in the Lord to my anxious heart.
 Philemon	Phm	63	1	21	I write to thee counting on thy obedience, well assured that thou wilt do even more than I ask.
 Philemon	Phm	63	1	22	Be prepared, meanwhile, to entertain me; I hope, through your prayers, to be restored to you.
 Philemon	Phm	63	1	23	Greetings to you from Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus;
 Philemon	Phm	63	1	24	from Mark, Aristarchus, Demas and Luke, who share my labours.
 Philemon	Phm	63	1	25	The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	1	1	In old days, God spoke to our fathers in many ways and by many means, through the prophets; now at last
 Hebrews	Heb	64	1	2	in these times he has spoken to us with a Son to speak for him; a Son, whom he has appointed to inherit all things, just as it was through him that he created this world of time;
 Hebrews	Heb	64	1	3	a Son, who is the radiance of his Father’s splendour, and the full expression of his being; all creation depends, for its support, on his enabling word. Now, making atonement for our sins, he has taken his place on high, at the right hand of God’s majesty,
 Hebrews	Heb	64	1	4	superior to the angels in that measure in which the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	1	5	Did God ever say to one of the angels, Thou art my Son, I have begotten thee this day? And again, He shall find in me a Father, and I in him a Son?
 Hebrews	Heb	64	1	6	Why, when the time comes for bringing his first-born into the world anew, then, he says, Let all the angels of God worship before him.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	1	7	What does he say of the angels? He will have his angels be like the winds, the servants that wait on him like a flame of fire.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	1	8	And what of the Son? Thy throne, O God, stands firm for ever and ever; the sceptre of thy kingship is a rod that rules true.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	1	9	Thou hast been a friend to right, an enemy to wrong; and God, thy own God, has given thee an unction to bring thee pride, as none else of thy fellows.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	1	10	And elsewhere: Lord, thou hast laid the foundations of the earth at its beginning, and the heavens are the work of thy hands.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	1	11	They will perish, but thou wilt remain; they will all be like a cloak that grows threadbare,
 Hebrews	Heb	64	1	12	and thou wilt lay them aside, like a garment, and exchange them for new; but thou art he who never changes, thy years will not come to an end.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	1	13	Did he ever say to one of the angels, Sit on my right hand, while I make thy enemies a footstool under thy feet?
 Hebrews	Heb	64	1	14	What are they, all of them, but spirits apt for service, whom he sends out when the destined heirs of eternal salvation have need of them?
 Hebrews	Heb	64	2	1	More firmly, then, than ever must we hold to the truths which have now come to our hearing, and run no risk of drifting away from them.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	2	2	The old law, which only had angels for its spokesmen, was none the less valid; every transgression of it, every refusal to listen to it, incurred just retribution;
 Hebrews	Heb	64	2	3	and what excuse shall we have, if we pay no heed to such a message of salvation as has been given to us? One which was delivered in the first instance by the Lord himself, and has been guaranteed to us by those who heard it from his own lips?
 Hebrews	Heb	64	2	4	One which God himself has attested by signs and portents, manifesting his power so variously, and distributing the gifts of his Holy Spirit wherever he would?
 Hebrews	Heb	64	2	5	We are speaking of a world that is to come; to whom has God entrusted the ordering of that world? Not to angels.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	2	6	We are assured of that, in a passage where the writer says, What is man, that thou shouldst remember him? What is the son of man, that thou shouldst care for him?
 Hebrews	Heb	64	2	7	Man, whom thou hast made a little lower than the angels, whom thou hast crowned with glory and honour, setting him in authority over the works of thy hands?
 Hebrews	Heb	64	2	8	Thou hast made all things subject at his feet. Observe, he has subjected all things to him, left nothing unsubdued. And what do we see now? Not all things subject to him as yet.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	2	9	But we can see this; we can see one who was made a little lower than the angels, I mean Jesus, crowned, now, with glory and honour because of the death he underwent; in God’s gracious design he was to taste death, and taste it on behalf of all.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	2	10	God is the last end of all things, the first beginning of all things; and it befitted his majesty that, in summoning all those sons of his to glory, he should crown with suffering the life of that Prince who was to lead them into salvation.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	2	11	The Son who sanctifies and the sons who are sanctified have a common origin, all of them; he is not ashamed, then, to own them as his brethren.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	2	12	I will proclaim thy renown, he says, to my brethren; with the church around me I will praise thee;
 Hebrews	Heb	64	2	13	and elsewhere he says, I will put my trust in him, and then, Here stand I, and the children God has given me.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	2	14	And since these children have a common inheritance of flesh and blood, he too shared that inheritance with them. By his death he would depose the prince of death, that is, the devil;
 Hebrews	Heb	64	2	15	he would deliver those multitudes who lived all the while as slaves, made over to the fear of death.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	2	16	After all, he does not make himself the angels’ champion, no sign of that; it is the sons of Abraham that he champions.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	2	17	And so he must needs become altogether like his brethren; he would be a high priest who could feel for us and be our true representative before God, to make atonement for the sins of the people.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	2	18	It is because he himself has been tried by suffering, that he has power to help us in the trials we undergo.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	3	1	Brethren and saints, you share a heavenly calling. Think, now, of Jesus as the apostle and the high priest of the faith which we profess,
 Hebrews	Heb	64	3	2	and how loyal he was to the God who had so appointed him; just as Moses was loyal in all the management of God’s house.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	3	3	In any household, the first honours are reserved for him who founded it; and in that degree, Jesus has a prouder title than Moses.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	3	4	Every household has its founder, and this household of creation was founded by God.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	3	5	Thus the loyalty of Moses in the management of all God’s house was the loyalty of a servant; he only bore witness to what was to be revealed later on;
 Hebrews	Heb	64	3	6	whereas Christ’s was the loyalty of a Son in a household which is his own. What is that household? We are, if only we will keep unshaken to the end our confidence, and the hope which is our pride.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	3	7	Come, then, the Holy Spirit says, If you hear his voice speaking to you this day,
 Hebrews	Heb	64	3	8	do not harden your hearts, as they were hardened once when you provoked me, and put me to the test in the wilderness.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	3	9	Your fathers put me to the test, made trial of me, and saw what I could do,
 Hebrews	Heb	64	3	10	all those forty years. So I became the enemy of that generation; These, I said, are ever wayward hearts, these have never learned my lessons.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	3	11	And I took an oath in my anger, They shall never attain my rest.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	3	12	Take care, brethren, that there is no heart among you so warped by unbelief as to desert the living God.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	3	13	Each day, while the word To-day has still a meaning, strengthen your own resolution, to make sure that none of you grows hardened; sin has such power to cheat us.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	3	14	We have been given a share in Christ, but only on condition that we keep unshaken to the end the principle by which we are grounded in him.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	3	15	That is the meaning of the words, If you hear his voice speaking to you this day, do not harden your hearts, as they were hardened once when you provoked me;
 Hebrews	Heb	64	3	16	those who provoked him were the people (some, though not all of them) whom Moses had rescued from Egypt.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	3	17	Who was it, during all those forty years, that incurred his enmity? Those who sinned; it was their corpses that lay scattered in the wilderness.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	3	18	To whom did he swear that they should never attain his rest? Those who refused to believe in him.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	3	19	We see, then, the consequences of unbelief; this it was that denied them entrance.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	4	1	The promise, therefore, still holds good, that we are to attain God’s rest; what we have to be afraid of, is that there may be someone among you who will be found to have missed his chance.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	4	2	The promise has been proclaimed to us, just as it was to them. The message which came to them did them no good, because it was not met by belief in what they heard,
 Hebrews	Heb	64	4	3	and this rest is only to be attained by those who, like ourselves, have learned to believe; that is why he said, I took an oath in my anger, They shall never attain my rest. God’s rest, from what? From labours which were over and done with, as soon as the world was founded;
 Hebrews	Heb	64	4	4	in another passage he has said of the sabbath, God rested on the seventh day from all his labours;
 Hebrews	Heb	64	4	5	and yet in this passage he is still saying, They shall not attain my rest.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	4	6	It is still left for some, then, to attain it, and meanwhile, those to whom the message first came have been excluded by their unbelief.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	4	7	So he fixes another day, To-day, as he calls it; in the person of David, all those long years afterwards, he uses the words I have already quoted, If you hear his voice speaking this day, do not harden your hearts.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	4	8	(Josue cannot have brought them their rest, or God would not still be talking of a fresh To-day, long afterwards.)
 Hebrews	Heb	64	4	9	You see, therefore, that God’s people have a sabbath of rest still in store for them;
 Hebrews	Heb	64	4	10	to attain his rest means resting from human labours, as God did from divine.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	4	11	We must strive eagerly, then, to attain that rest; none of you must fall away into the same kind of unbelief.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	4	12	God’s word to us is something alive, full of energy; it can penetrate deeper than any two-edged sword, reaching the very division between soul and spirit, between joints and marrow, quick to distinguish every thought and design in our hearts.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	4	13	From him, no creature can be hidden; everything lies bare, everything is brought face to face with him, this God to whom we must give our account.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	4	14	Let us hold fast, then, by the faith we profess. We can claim a great high priest, and one who has passed right up through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	4	15	It is not as if our high priest was incapable of feeling for us in our humiliations; he has been through every trial, fashioned as we are, only sinless.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	4	16	Let us come boldly, then, before the throne of grace, to meet with mercy, and win that grace which will help us in our needs.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	5	1	The purpose for which any high priest is chosen from among his fellow men, and made a representative of men in their dealings with God, is to offer gifts and sacrifices in expiation of their sins.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	5	2	He is qualified for this by being able to feel for them when they are ignorant and make mistakes, since he, too, is all beset with humiliations,
 Hebrews	Heb	64	5	3	and, for that reason, must needs present sin-offerings for himself, just as he does for the people.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	5	4	His vocation comes from God, as Aaron’s did; nobody can take on himself such a privilege as this.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	5	5	So it is with Christ. He did not raise himself to the dignity of the high priesthood; it was God that raised him to it, when he said, Thou art my Son, I have begotten thee this day,
 Hebrews	Heb	64	5	6	and so, elsewhere, Thou art a priest for ever, in the line of Melchisedech.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	5	7	Christ, during his earthly life, offered prayer and entreaty to the God who could save him from death, not without a piercing cry, not without tears; yet with such piety as won him a hearing.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	5	8	Son of God though he was, he learned obedience in the school of suffering,
 Hebrews	Heb	64	5	9	and now, his full achievement reached, he wins eternal salvation for all those who render obedience to him.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	5	10	A high priest in the line of Melchisedech, so God has called him.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	5	11	Of Christ as priest we have much to say, and it is hard to make ourselves understood in the saying of it, now that you have grown so dull of hearing.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	5	12	You should, after all this time, have been teachers yourselves, and instead of that you need to be taught; taught even the first principles on which the oracles of God are based. You have gone back to needing milk, instead of solid food.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	5	13	Those who have milk for their diet can give no account of what holiness means; how should they? They are only infants.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	5	14	Solid food is for the full-grown; for those whose faculties are so trained by exercise that they can distinguish between good and evil.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	6	1	We must leave on one side then, all discussion of our first lessons in Christ, and pass on to our full growth; no need to lay the foundations all over again, the change of heart which turns away from lifeless observances, the faith which turns towards God,
 Hebrews	Heb	64	6	2	instructions about the different kinds of baptism, about the laying on of hands, about the resurrection of the dead, and our sentence in eternity.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	6	3	Such will be our plan, if God permits it.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	6	4	We can do nothing for those who have received, once for all, their enlightenment, who have tasted the heavenly gift, partaken of the Holy Spirit,
 Hebrews	Heb	64	6	5	known, too, God’s word of comfort, and the powers that belong to a future life,
 Hebrews	Heb	64	6	6	and then fallen away. They cannot attain repentance through a second renewal. Would they crucify the Son of God a second time, hold him up to mockery a second time, for their own ends?
 Hebrews	Heb	64	6	7	No, a piece of ground which has drunk in, again and again, the showers which fell upon it, has God’s blessing on it, if it yields a crop answering the needs of those who tilled it;
 Hebrews	Heb	64	6	8	if it bears thorns and thistles, it has lost its value; a curse hangs over it, and it will feed the bonfire at last.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	6	9	Beloved, of you we have better confidence, which does not stop short of your salvation, even when we speak to you as we are speaking now.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	6	10	God is not an unjust God, that he should forget all you have done, all the charity you have shewn in his name, you who have ministered, and still minister, to the needs of his saints.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	6	11	But our great longing is, to see you all shewing the same eagerness right up to the end, looking forward to the fulfilment of your hope;
 Hebrews	Heb	64	6	12	listless no more, but followers of all those whose faith and patience are to bring them into possession of the good things promised them.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	6	13	Such was Abraham. God made him a promise, and then took an oath (an oath by himself, since he had no greater name to swear by),
 Hebrews	Heb	64	6	14	in the words, More and more I will bless thee, more and more I will give thee increase;
 Hebrews	Heb	64	6	15	whereupon Abraham waited patiently, and saw the promise fulfilled.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	6	16	Men, since they have something greater than themselves to swear by, will confirm their word by oath, which puts an end to all controversy;
 Hebrews	Heb	64	6	17	and God, in the same way, eager to convince the heirs of the promise that his design was irrevocable, pledged himself by an oath.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	6	18	Two irrevocable assurances, over which there could be no question of God deceiving us, were to bring firm confidence to us poor wanderers, bidding us cling to the hope we have in view,
 Hebrews	Heb	64	6	19	the anchorage of our souls. Sure and immovable, it reaches that inner sanctuary beyond the veil,
 Hebrews	Heb	64	6	20	which Jesus Christ, our escort, has entered already, a high priest, now, eternally with the priesthood of Melchisedech.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	7	1	It was this Melchisedech, king of Salem, and priest of the most high God, who met Abraham and blessed him on his way home, after the defeat of the kings;
 Hebrews	Heb	64	7	2	and to him Abraham gave a tenth of his spoils. Observe, in the first place, that his name means, the king of justice; and further that he is king of Salem, that is, of peace.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	7	3	That is all; no name of father or mother, no pedigree, no date of birth or of death; there he stands, eternally, a priest, the true figure of the Son of God.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	7	4	Consider how great a man was this, to whom the patriarch Abraham himself gave a tenth part of his chosen spoil.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	7	5	The descendants of Levi, when the priesthood is conferred on them, are allowed by the provisions of the law to take tithes from God’s people, although these, like themselves, come from the privileged stock of Abraham; after all, they are their brothers;
 Hebrews	Heb	64	7	6	here is one who owns no common descent with them, taking tithes from Abraham himself. He blesses him, too, blesses the man to whom the promises have been made;
 Hebrews	Heb	64	7	7	and it is beyond all question that blessings are only given by what is greater in dignity to what is less.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	7	8	In the one case, the priests who receive tithe are only mortal men; in the other, it is a priest (so the record tells us) who lives on.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	7	9	And indeed, there is a sense in which we can say that Levi, who receives the tithe, paid tithe himself with Abraham;
 Hebrews	Heb	64	7	10	as the heir of Abraham’s body, he was present in the person of his ancestor, when he met Melchisedech.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	7	11	Now, there could be no need for a fresh priest to arise, accredited with Melchisedech’s priesthood, not with Aaron’s, if the Levitical priesthood had brought fulfilment. And it is on the Levitical priesthood that the law given to God’s people is founded.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	7	12	When the priesthood is altered, the law, necessarily, is altered with it.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	7	13	After all, he to whom the prophecy relates belonged to a different tribe, which never produced a man to stand at the altar;
 Hebrews	Heb	64	7	14	our Lord took his origin from Juda, that is certain, and Moses in speaking of this tribe, said nothing about priests.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	7	15	And something further becomes evident, when a fresh priest arises to fulfil the type of Melchisedech,
 Hebrews	Heb	64	7	16	appointed, not to obey the law, with its outward observances, but in the power of an unending life;
 Hebrews	Heb	64	7	17	(Thou art a priest in the line of Melchisedech, God says of him, for ever).
 Hebrews	Heb	64	7	18	The old observance is abrogated now, powerless as it was to help us;
 Hebrews	Heb	64	7	19	the law had nothing in it of final achievement. Instead, a fuller hope has been brought into our lives, enabling us to come close to God.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	7	20	And this time there is a ratification by oath; none was taken when those other priests were appointed,
 Hebrews	Heb	64	7	21	but the new priest is appointed with an oath, when God says to him, The Lord has sworn an irrevocable oath, Thou art a priest for ever;
 Hebrews	Heb	64	7	22	all the more solemn, then, is that covenant for which Jesus has been given us as our surety.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	7	23	Of those other priests there was a succession, since death denied them permanence;
 Hebrews	Heb	64	7	24	whereas Jesus continues for ever, and his priestly office is unchanging;
 Hebrews	Heb	64	7	25	that is why he can give eternal salvation to those who through him make their way to God; he lives on still to make intercession on our behalf.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	7	26	Such was the high priest that suited our need, holy and guiltless and undefiled, not reckoned among us sinners, lifted high above all the heavens;
 Hebrews	Heb	64	7	27	one who has no need to do as those other priests did, offering a twofold sacrifice day by day, first for his own sins, then for those of the people. What he has done he has done once for all; and the offering was himself.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	7	28	The law makes high priests of men, and men are frail; promise and oath, now, have superseded the law; our high priest, now, is that Son who has reached his full achievement for all eternity.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	8	1	And here we come to the very pith of our argument. This high priest of ours is one who has taken his seat in heaven, on the right hand of that throne where God sits in majesty,
 Hebrews	Heb	64	8	2	ministering, now, in the sanctuary, in that true tabernacle which the Lord, not man, has set up.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	8	3	After all, if it is the very function of a priest to offer gift and sacrifice, he too must needs have an offering to make.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	8	4	Whereas, if he were still on earth, he would be no priest at all; there are priests already, to offer the gifts which the law demands,
 Hebrews	Heb	64	8	5	men who devote their service to the type and the shadow of what has its true being in heaven. (That is why Moses, when he was building the tabernacle, received the warning, Be sure to make everything in accordance with the pattern that was shewn to thee on the mountain.)
 Hebrews	Heb	64	8	6	As it is, he has been entrusted with a more honourable ministry, dispenser as he is of a nobler covenant, with nobler promises for its sanction.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	8	7	There would have been no room for this second covenant, if there had been no fault to find with the first.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	8	8	But God, you see, does find fault; this is what he tells them: Behold, says the Lord, a time is coming when I will ratify a new covenant with the people of Israel, and with the people of Juda.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	8	9	It will not be like the covenant which I made with their fathers, on the day when I took them by the hand, to rescue them from Egypt; that they should break my covenant, and I (says the Lord) should abandon them.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	8	10	No, this is the covenant I will grant the people of Israel, the Lord says, when that time comes. I will implant my law in their innermost thoughts, engrave it in their hearts; I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	8	11	There will be no need for neighbour to teach neighbour, or brother to teach brother, the knowledge of the Lord; all will know me, from the highest to the lowest.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	8	12	I will pardon their wrong-doing; I will not remember their sins any more.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	8	13	In speaking of a new covenant, he has superannuated the old. And before long the superannuated, the antiquated, must needs disappear.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	9	1	The former covenant, to be sure, had its own ceremonial observances, its own earthly sanctuary.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	9	2	There was an outer tabernacle, which contained the lamp-stand and the table and the loaves set out before God; sanctuary was the name given to this;
 Hebrews	Heb	64	9	3	and then, beyond the second veil, the inner sanctuary, as it is called,
 Hebrews	Heb	64	9	4	with the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant, gilded all round. In the ark rested the golden urn with the manna in it, Aaron’s staff that budded, and the tablets on which the covenant was inscribed;
 Hebrews	Heb	64	9	5	above were the Cherubim, heralds of the divine glory, spreading their wings over the throne of mercy. We have no time to treat of these more particularly,
 Hebrews	Heb	64	9	6	but this was the general fashion of it. Into the outer tabernacle the priests made their way at all times, in the performance of their duties;
 Hebrews	Heb	64	9	7	into this other, only the high priest, once a year, and even then not without an offering of blood, for the faults which he and the people had committed unknowingly.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	9	8	The Holy Spirit meant us to see that no way of access to the true sanctuary lay open to us, as long as the former tabernacle maintained its standing.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	9	9	And that allegory still holds good at the present day; here are gifts and sacrifices being offered, which have no power, where conscience is concerned, to bring the worshipper to his full growth; they are but outward observances, connected with food and drink
 Hebrews	Heb	64	9	10	and ceremonial washings on this occasion or that, instituted to hold their own until better times should come.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	9	11	Meanwhile, Christ has taken his place as our high priest, to win us blessings that still lie in the future. He makes use of a greater, a more complete tabernacle, which human hands never fashioned; it does not belong to this order of creation at all.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	9	12	It is his own blood, not the blood of goats and calves, that has enabled him to enter, once for all, into the sanctuary; the ransom he has won lasts for ever.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	9	13	The blood of bulls and goats, the ashes of a heifer sprinkled over men defiled, have power to hallow them for every purpose of outward purification;
 Hebrews	Heb	64	9	14	and shall not the blood of Christ, who offered himself, through the Holy Spirit, as a victim unblemished in God’s sight, purify our consciences, and set them free from lifeless observances, to serve the living God?
 Hebrews	Heb	64	9	15	Thus, through his intervention, a new covenant has been bequeathed to us; a death must follow, to atone for all our transgressions under the old covenant, and then the destined heirs were to obtain, for ever, their promised inheritance.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	9	16	Where a bequest is concerned, the death of the testator must needs play its part;
 Hebrews	Heb	64	9	17	a will has no force while the testator is alive, and only comes into force with death.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	9	18	Thus the old covenant, too, needed blood for its inauguration.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	9	19	When he had finished reading the provisions of the law to the assembled people, Moses took blood, the blood of calves and goats, took water, and scarlet-dyed wool, and hyssop, sprinkled the book itself, and all the people,
 Hebrews	Heb	64	9	20	and said, This is the blood of the covenant which God has prescribed to you.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	9	21	The tabernacle, too, and all the requisites of worship he sprinkled in the same way with blood;
 Hebrews	Heb	64	9	22	and the law enjoins that blood shall be used in almost every act of purification; unless blood is shed, there can be no remission of sins.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	9	23	And if such purification was needed for what was but a representation of the heavenly world, the heavenly world itself will need sacrifices more availing still.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	9	24	The sanctuary into which Jesus has entered is not one made by human hands, is not some adumbration of the truth; he has entered heaven itself, where he now appears in God’s sight on our behalf.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	9	25	Nor does he make a repeated offering of himself, as the high priest, when he enters the sanctuary, makes a yearly offering of the blood that is not his own.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	9	26	If that were so, he must have suffered again and again, ever since the world was created; as it is, he has been revealed once for all, at the moment when history reached its fulfilment, annulling our sin by his sacrifice.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	9	27	Man’s destiny is to die once for all; nothing remains after that but judgement;
 Hebrews	Heb	64	9	28	and Christ was offered once for all, to drain the cup of a world’s sins; when we see him again, sin will play its part no longer, he will be bringing salvation to those who await his coming.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	10	1	What the law contains is only the shadow of those blessings which were still to come, not the full expression of their reality. The same sacrifices are offered year after year without intermission, and still the worshippers can never reach, through the law, their full growth.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	10	2	If they could, must not the offerings have ceased before now? There would be no guilt left to reproach the consciences of those who come to worship; they would have been cleansed once for all.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	10	3	No, what these offerings bring with them, year by year, is only the remembrance of sins;
 Hebrews	Heb	64	10	4	that sins should be taken away by the blood of bulls and goats is impossible.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	10	5	As Christ comes into the world, he says, No sacrifice, no offering was thy demand; thou hast endowed me, instead, with a body.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	10	6	Thou hast not found any pleasure in burnt-sacrifices, in sacrifices for sin.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	10	7	See then, I said, I am coming to fulfil what is written of me, where the book lies unrolled; to do thy will, O my God.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	10	8	First he says, Thou didst not demand victim or offering, the burnt-sacrifice, the sacrifice for sin, nor hast thou found any pleasure in them; in anything, that is, which the law has to offer,
 Hebrews	Heb	64	10	9	and then:—I said, See, my God, I am coming to do thy will. He must clear the ground first, so as to build up afterwards.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	10	10	In accordance with this divine will we have been sanctified by an offering made once for all, the body of Jesus Christ.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	10	11	One high priest after another must stand there, day after day, offering again and again the same sacrifices, which can never take away our sins;
 Hebrews	Heb	64	10	12	whereas he sits for ever at the right hand of God, offering for our sins a sacrifice that is never repeated.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	10	13	He only waits, until all his enemies are made a footstool under his feet;
 Hebrews	Heb	64	10	14	by a single offering he has completed his work, for all time, in those whom he sanctifies.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	10	15	And here the Holy Spirit adds his testimony. He has been saying,
 Hebrews	Heb	64	10	16	This is the covenant I will grant them, the Lord says, when that time comes; I will implant my laws in their hearts, engrave them in their innermost thoughts. And what follows?
 Hebrews	Heb	64	10	17	I will not remember their sins and their transgressions any more.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	10	18	Where they are so remitted, there is no longer any room for a sin-offering.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	10	19	Why then, brethren, we can enter the sanctuary with confidence through the blood of Christ.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	10	20	He has opened up for us a new, a living approach, by way of the veil, I mean, his mortality.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	10	21	A great priest is ours, who has dominion over God’s house.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	10	22	Let us come forward with sincere hearts in the full assurance of the faith, our guilty consciences purified by sprinkling, our bodies washed clean in hallowed water.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	10	23	Do not let us waver in acknowledging the hope we cherish; we have a promise from one who is true to his word.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	10	24	Let us keep one another in mind, always ready with incitements to charity and to acts of piety,
 Hebrews	Heb	64	10	25	not abandoning, as some do, our common assembly, but encouraging one another; all the more, as you see the great day drawing nearer.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	10	26	If we go on sinning wilfully, when once the full knowledge of the truth has been granted to us, we have no further sacrifice for sin to look forward to;
 Hebrews	Heb	64	10	27	nothing but a terrible expectation of judgement, a fire that will eagerly consume the rebellious.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	10	28	Let a man be convicted by two or three witnesses of defying the law of Moses, and he dies, without hope of mercy.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	10	29	What of the man who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has reckoned the blood of the covenant, that blood which sanctified him, as a thing unclean, mocked at the Spirit that brought him grace? Will not he incur a punishment much more severe?
 Hebrews	Heb	64	10	30	It is one we know well, who has told us, Vengeance is for me, I will repay; and again, The Lord will judge his people.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	10	31	It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	10	32	Remember those early days, when the light first came to you, and the hard probation of suffering you went through.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	10	33	There were times when you yourselves were publicly exposed to calumny and persecution; there was a time when you took part with those who had the same path to tread.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	10	34	You shewed your sympathy with those who were in bonds; and when you were robbed of your goods you took it cheerfully, as men who knew that a higher, a more lasting good was yours.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	10	35	Do not throw away that confidence of yours, with its rich hope of reward;
 Hebrews	Heb	64	10	36	you still need endurance, if you are to attain the prize God has promised to those who do his will.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	10	37	Only a brief moment, now, before he who is coming will be here; he will not linger on the way.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	10	38	It is faith that brings life to the man whom I accept as justified; if he shrinks back, he shall win no favour with me.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	10	39	Not for us to shrink away, and be lost; it is for us to have faith, and save our souls.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	11	1	What is faith? It is that which gives substance to our hopes, which convinces us of things we cannot see.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	11	2	It was this that brought credit to the men who went before us.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	11	3	It is faith that lets us understand how the worlds were fashioned by God’s word; how it was from things unseen that the things we see took their origin.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	11	4	It was in faith that Abel offered a sacrifice richer than Cain’s, and was proved thereby to be justified, since God recognized his offering; through that offering of his he still speaks in death.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	11	5	When Enoch was taken away without the experience of death, when God took him and no more was seen of him, it was because of his faith; that is the account we have of him before he was taken, that he pleased God;
 Hebrews	Heb	64	11	6	and it is impossible to please God without faith. Nobody reaches God’s presence until he has learned to believe that God exists, and that he rewards those who try to find him.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	11	7	When Noe received a warning about dangers still unseen, it was faith that made him take alarm, and build an ark to preserve his family. Thus he proved the whole world wrong, and was left heir to the justification which comes through faith.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	11	8	And he to whom the name of Abraham was given shewed faith when he left his home, obediently, for the country which was to be his inheritance; left it without knowing where his journey would take him.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	11	9	Faith taught him to live as a stranger in the land he had been promised for his own, encamping there with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of a common hope;
 Hebrews	Heb	64	11	10	looking forward all the while to that city which has true foundations, which is God’s design and God’s fashioning.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	11	11	It was faith that enabled Sara, barren till then, to conceive offspring, although she was past the age of child-bearing; she believed that God would be faithful to his word.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	11	12	Here is one man, a man for whom life is already over; and from him springs a race whose numbers rival the stars of heaven, or the uncounted grains of sand on the sea-shore.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	11	13	It was faith they lived by, all of them, and in faith they died; for them, the promises were not fulfilled, but they looked forward to them and welcomed them at a distance, owning themselves no better than strangers and exiles on earth.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	11	14	Those who talk so make it clear enough, that they have not found their home.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	11	15	Did they regret the country they had left behind? If that were all, they could have found opportunities for going back to it.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	11	16	No, the country of their desires is a better, a heavenly country. God does not disdain to take his title from such names as these; he has a city ready for them to dwell in.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	11	17	Abraham shewed faith, when he was put to the test, by offering up Isaac. He was ready to offer up an only son, this man who had made the promises his own,
 Hebrews	Heb	64	11	18	and received the assurance, It is through Isaac that thy posterity shall be traced.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	11	19	God, he argued, had the power to restore his son even from the dead; and indeed, in a hidden sense, he did so recover him.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	11	20	It was by faith that Isaac, in blessing Jacob and Esau, foretold what was to come;
 Hebrews	Heb	64	11	21	by faith that Jacob, on his death-bed, made reverence to the top of Joseph’s staff, as he blessed his two sons in turn;
 Hebrews	Heb	64	11	22	by faith that Joseph, when he, too, came to the end of his life, spoke of the Israelites’ escape from Egypt, and gave orders for the removal of his bones.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	11	23	The parents of Moses shewed faith, in making light of the king’s edict, and hiding their child away for three months, when they saw what a fine child he was.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	11	24	And Moses shewed faith, when he grew up, by refusing to pass for the son of Pharao’s daughter.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	11	25	He preferred ill-usage, shared with the people of God, to the brief enjoyment of sinful pleasures;
 Hebrews	Heb	64	11	26	all the wealth of Egypt could not so enrich him as the despised lot of God’s anointed; he had eyes, you see, for nothing but the promised reward.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	11	27	It was in faith that he left Egypt behind, defying the royal anger, made strong as if by the very sight of him who is invisible;
 Hebrews	Heb	64	11	28	in faith that he performed the paschal rite, and the sprinkling of the blood, to leave Israel untouched by the angel that destroyed the first-born;
 Hebrews	Heb	64	11	29	in faith that they crossed the Red Sea as if it had been dry land, whereas the Egyptians, when they ventured into it, were drowned.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	11	30	Faith pulled down the walls of Jericho, after seven days spent in marching round them;
 Hebrews	Heb	64	11	31	faith saved Rahab, the harlot, from sharing the doom of the disobedient, because she had given the spies a peaceable welcome.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	11	32	What need is there to say more? Time will fail me if I try to go through all the history of Gedeon, of Barac, of Samson, of Jephte, of David and Samuel and the prophets.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	11	33	Theirs was the faith which subdued kingdoms, which served the cause of right, which made promises come true. They shut the mouths of lions,
 Hebrews	Heb	64	11	34	they quenched raging fire, swords were drawn on them, and they escaped. How strong they became, who till then were weak, what courage they shewed in battle, how they routed invading armies!
 Hebrews	Heb	64	11	35	There were women, too, who recovered their dead children, brought back to life. Others, looking forward to a better resurrection still, would not purchase their freedom on the rack.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	11	36	And others experienced mockery and scourging, chains, too, and imprisonment;
 Hebrews	Heb	64	11	37	they were stoned, they were cut in pieces, they were tortured, they were put to the sword; they wandered about, dressed in sheepskins and goatskins, amidst want, and distress, and ill-usage;
 Hebrews	Heb	64	11	38	men whom the world was unworthy to contain, living a hunted life in deserts and on mountain-sides, in rock-fastnesses and caverns underground.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	11	39	One and all gave proof of their faith, yet they never saw the promise fulfilled;
 Hebrews	Heb	64	11	40	for us, God had something better in store. We were needed, to make the history of their lives complete.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	12	1	Why then, since we are watched from above by such a cloud of witnesses, let us rid ourselves of all that weighs us down, of the sinful habit that clings so closely, and run, with all endurance, the race for which we are entered.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	12	2	Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the origin and the crown of all faith, who, to win his prize of blessedness, endured the cross and made light of its shame, Jesus, who now sits on the right of God’s throne.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	12	3	Take your standard from him, from his endurance, from the enmity the wicked bore him, and you will not grow faint, you will not find your souls unmanned.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	12	4	Your protest, your battle against sin, has not yet called for bloodshed;
 Hebrews	Heb	64	12	5	yet you have lost sight, already, of those words of comfort in which God addresses you as his sons; My son, do not undervalue the correction which the Lord sends thee, do not be unmanned when he reproves thy faults.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	12	6	It is where he loves that he bestows correction; there is no recognition for any child of his, without chastisement.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	12	7	Be patient, then, while correction lasts; God is treating you as his children. Was there ever a son whom his father did not correct?
 Hebrews	Heb	64	12	8	No, correction is the common lot of all; you must be bastards, not true sons, if you are left without it.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	12	9	We have known what it was to accept correction from earthly fathers, and with reverence; shall we not submit, far more willingly, to the Father of a world of spirits, and draw life from him?
 Hebrews	Heb	64	12	10	They, after all, only corrected us for a short while, at their own caprice; he does it for our good, to give us a share in that holiness which is his.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	12	11	For the time being, all correction is painful rather than pleasant; but afterwards, when it has done its work of discipline, it yields a harvest of good dispositions, to our great peace.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	12	12	Come then, stiffen the sinews of drooping hand, and flagging knee,
 Hebrews	Heb	64	12	13	and plant your footprints in a straight track, so that the man who goes lame may not stumble out of the path, but regain strength instead.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	12	14	Your aim must be peace with all men, and that holiness without which no one will ever see God.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	12	15	Take good care that none of you is false to God’s grace, that no poisonous shoot is allowed to spring up, and contaminate many of you by its influence.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	12	16	None of you must be guilty of fornication, none of you earthly-minded, as Esau was, when he sold his birthright for a single dish of food;
 Hebrews	Heb	64	12	17	afterwards, you may be sure, he was eager enough to have the blessing allotted to him, but no, he was rejected. He pleaded for it in tears, but no second chance was given him.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	12	18	What is the scene, now, of your approach to God? It is no longer a mountain that can be discerned by touch; no longer burning fire, and whirlwind, and darkness, and storm.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	12	19	No trumpet sounds; no utterance comes from that voice, which made those who listened to it pray that they might hear no more
 Hebrews	Heb	64	12	20	(daunted by the command, that if even a beast touched the mountain it should die by stoning.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	12	21	Moses said, in terror at the sight, I am overcome with fear and trembling).
 Hebrews	Heb	64	12	22	The scene of your approach now is mount Sion, is the heavenly Jerusalem, city of the living God; here are gathered thousands upon thousands of angels,
 Hebrews	Heb	64	12	23	here is the assembly of those first-born sons whose names are written in heaven, here is God sitting in judgement on all men, here are the spirits of just men, now made perfect;
 Hebrews	Heb	64	12	24	here is Jesus, the spokesman of the new covenant, and the sprinkling of his blood, which has better things to say than Abel’s had.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	12	25	Beware of excusing yourselves from listening to him who is speaking to you. There was no escape for those others, who tried to excuse themselves when God uttered his warnings on earth; still less for us, if we turn away when he speaks from heaven.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	12	26	His voice, even then, made the earth rock; now, he has announced to us that it shall happen again, only once; he will shake earth and heaven too.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	12	27	Only once again; that means that what is shaken, this created universe, will be removed; only the things which cannot be shaken are to stand firm.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	12	28	The kingdom we have inherited is one which cannot be shaken; in gratitude for this, let us worship God as he would have us worship him, in awe and reverence;
 Hebrews	Heb	64	12	29	no doubt of it, our God is a consuming fire.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	13	1	Let brotherly love be firmly established among you;
 Hebrews	Heb	64	13	2	and do not forget to shew hospitality; in doing this, men have before now entertained angels unawares.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	13	3	Remember those who are in prison, as if you were prisoners too; those who endure suffering, since you have mortal bodies of your own.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	13	4	Marriage, in every way, must be held in honour, and the marriage-bed kept free from stain; over fornication and adultery, God will call us to account.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	13	5	The love of money should not dwell in your thoughts; be content with what you have. God himself has told us, I will never forsake thee, never abandon thee;
 Hebrews	Heb	64	13	6	so that we can say with confidence, The Lord is my champion; I will not be afraid of what man can do to me.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	13	7	Do not forget those who have had charge of you, and preached God’s word to you; contemplate the happy issue of the life they lived, and imitate their faith.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	13	8	What Jesus Christ was yesterday, and is to-day, he remains for ever.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	13	9	Do not be carried aside from your course by a maze of new doctrines; what gives true strength to a man’s heart is gratitude, not observances in the matter of food, which never yet proved useful to those who followed them.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	13	10	We have an altar of our own, and it is not those who carry out the worship of the tabernacle that are qualified to eat its sacrifices.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	13	11	When the high priest takes the blood of beasts with him into the sanctuary, as an offering for sin, the bodies of those beasts have to be burned, away from the camp;
 Hebrews	Heb	64	13	12	and thus it was that Jesus, when he would sanctify the people through his own blood, suffered beyond the city gate.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	13	13	Let us, too, go out to him away from the camp, bearing the ignominy he bore;
 Hebrews	Heb	64	13	14	we have an everlasting city, but not here; our goal is the city that is one day to be.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	13	15	It is through him, then, that we must offer to God a continual sacrifice of praise, the tribute of lips that give thanks to his name.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	13	16	Meanwhile, you must remember to do good to others and give alms; God takes pleasure in such sacrifice as this.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	13	17	Obey those who have charge of you, and yield to their will; they are keeping unwearied watch over your souls, because they know they will have an account to give. Make it a grateful task for them: it is your own loss if they find it a laborious effort.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	13	18	Pray for us; we trust we have a clear conscience, and the will to be honourable in all our dealings.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	13	19	And I make this request the more earnestly, in the hope of being restored to you the sooner.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	13	20	May God, the author of peace, who has raised our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead, that great shepherd, whose flock was bought with the blood of an eternal covenant,
 Hebrews	Heb	64	13	21	grant you every capacity for good, to do his will. May he carry out in you the design he sees best, through Jesus Christ, to whom glory belongs throughout all ages, Amen.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	13	22	I entreat you, brethren, bear patiently with all these words of warning; it is but a brief letter I am sending you.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	13	23	You must know that our brother Timothy has been set at liberty; if he comes soon, I will bring him with me when I visit you.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	13	24	Greet all those who are in authority, and all the saints. The brethren from Italy send you their greetings.
 Hebrews	Heb	64	13	25	Grace be with you all, Amen.
 James	Jas	65	1	1	James, a servant of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ, sends greeting to the members of the twelve tribes scattered throughout the world.
 James	Jas	65	1	2	Consider yourselves happy indeed, my brethren, when you encounter trials of every sort,
 James	Jas	65	1	3	as men who know well enough that the testing of their faith breeds endurance.
 James	Jas	65	1	4	Endurance must do its work thoroughly, if you are to be men full-grown in every part, nothing lacking in you.
 James	Jas	65	1	5	Is there one of you who still lacks wisdom? God gives to all, freely and ungrudgingly; so let him ask God for it, and the gift will come.
 James	Jas	65	1	6	(Only it must be in faith that he asks, he must not hesitate; one who hesitates is like a wave out at sea, driven to and fro by the wind;
 James	Jas	65	1	7	such a man must not hope to win any gift from the Lord.
 James	Jas	65	1	8	No, a man who is in two minds will find no rest wherever he goes.)
 James	Jas	65	1	9	Is one of the brethren in humble circumstances? Let him be proud of it; it exalts him,
 James	Jas	65	1	10	whereas the rich man takes pride in what in truth abases him. (The rich man will pass by like the bloom on the grass;
 James	Jas	65	1	11	the sun gets up, and the scorching wind with it, which dries up the grass, till the bloom on it falls, and all its fair show dies away; so the rich man, with his enterprises, will disappear.)
 James	Jas	65	1	12	Blessed is he who endures under trials. When he has proved his worth, he will win that crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.
 James	Jas	65	1	13	Nobody, when he finds himself tempted, should say, I am being tempted by God. God may threaten us with evil, but he does not himself tempt anyone.
 James	Jas	65	1	14	No, when a man is tempted, it is always because he is being drawn away by the lure of his own passions.
 James	Jas	65	1	15	When that has come about, passion conceives and gives birth to sin; and when sin has reached its full growth, it breeds death.
 James	Jas	65	1	16	Beloved brethren, do not deceive yourselves over this.
 James	Jas	65	1	17	Whatever gifts are worth having, whatever endowments are perfect of their kind, these come to us from above; they are sent down by the Father of all that gives light, with whom there can be no change, no swerving from his course;
 James	Jas	65	1	18	and it was his will to give us birth, through his true word, meaning us to be the first-fruits, as it were, of all his creation.
 James	Jas	65	1	19	You know this, my beloved brethren, well enough. It is for us men to be ready listeners, slow to speak our minds, slow to take offence;
 James	Jas	65	1	20	man’s anger does not bear the fruit that is acceptable to God.
 James	Jas	65	1	21	Rid yourselves, then, of all defilement, of all the ill-will that remains in you; be patient, and cherish that word implanted in you which can bring salvation to your souls.
 James	Jas	65	1	22	Only you must be honest with yourselves; you are to live by the word, not content merely to listen to it.
 James	Jas	65	1	23	One who listens to the word without living by it is like a man who sees, in a mirror, the face he was born with;
 James	Jas	65	1	24	he looks at himself, and away he goes, never giving another thought to the man he saw there.
 James	Jas	65	1	25	Whereas one who gazes into that perfect law, which is the law of freedom, and dwells on the sight of it, does not forget its message; he finds something to do, and does it, and his doing of it wins him a blessing.
 James	Jas	65	1	26	If anyone deludes himself by thinking he is serving God, when he has not learned to control his tongue, the service he gives is vain.
 James	Jas	65	1	27	If he is to offer service pure and unblemished in the sight of God, who is our Father, he must take care of orphans and widows in their need, and keep himself untainted by the world.
 James	Jas	65	2	1	Brethren, you believe that all glory belongs to our Lord Jesus Christ; do not combine this faith of yours with flattery of human greatness.
 James	Jas	65	2	2	Suppose that a man comes into your place of meeting in fine clothes, wearing a gold ring; suppose that a poor man comes in at the same time, ill clad.
 James	Jas	65	2	3	Will you pay attention to the well-dressed man, and bid him take some place of honour; will you tell the poor man, Stand where thou art, or Sit on the ground at my footstool?
 James	Jas	65	2	4	If so, are you not introducing divisions into your company? Have you not shewn partiality in your judgement?
 James	Jas	65	2	5	Listen to me, my dear brethren; has not God chosen the men who are poor in the world’s eyes to be rich in faith, to be heirs of that kingdom which he has promised to those who love him?
 James	Jas	65	2	6	And here are you putting the poor man to shame. Is it not the rich who use their power to oppress you? Are not they the very men who drag you into court,
 James	Jas	65	2	7	the very men who speak evil of that honoured name, by which you are called?
 James	Jas	65	2	8	True, you do well to observe, in their regard, the royal law you find in the words of scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
 James	Jas	65	2	9	But if you flatter the great, you incur guilt; the law finds you out in a transgression.
 James	Jas	65	2	10	And the man who has failed in one point, though he has kept the rest of the law, is liable to all its penalties:
 James	Jas	65	2	11	he who forbids adultery has forbidden murder as well. The murderer, though he be no adulterer, has yet transgressed the law.
 James	Jas	65	2	12	You must speak and act like men already on their trial before a law of freedom.
 James	Jas	65	2	13	The merciless will be judged mercilessly; mercy gives its judgement an honourable welcome.
 James	Jas	65	2	14	Of what use is it, my brethren, if a man claims to have faith, and has no deeds to shew for it? Can faith save him then?
 James	Jas	65	2	15	Here is a brother, here is a sister, going naked, left without the means to secure their daily food;
 James	Jas	65	2	16	if one of you says to them, Go in peace, warm yourselves and take your fill, without providing for their bodily needs, of what use is it?
 James	Jas	65	2	17	Thus faith, if it has no deeds to shew for itself, has lost its own principle of life.
 James	Jas	65	2	18	We shall be inclined to say to him, Thou hast faith, but I have deeds to shew. Shew me this faith of thine without any deeds to prove it, and I am prepared, by my deeds, to prove my own faith.
 James	Jas	65	2	19	Thou believest that there is only one God; that is well enough, but then, so do the devils, and the devils shrink from him in terror.
 James	Jas	65	2	20	Rash soul, wouldst thou be assured that faith without deeds to shew has no life in it?
 James	Jas	65	2	21	Think of our father Abraham; was it not by his deeds that he found approval, when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?
 James	Jas	65	2	22	See how his faith conspired with deeds done, and through those deeds his faith was realized.
 James	Jas	65	2	23	Thus he confirmed the words of scripture, which tell us, Abraham put his faith in God, and it was reckoned virtue in him, and he earned the title of God’s friend.
 James	Jas	65	2	24	You see, then, that it takes deeds as well as faith if a man is to be justified.
 James	Jas	65	2	25	Or again, how did Rahab, the harlot, win God’s approval? Was it not by her deeds, when she harboured the spies and sent them home by a different way?
 James	Jas	65	2	26	Body separated from spirit is a dead body, and faith separated from good deeds is a dead faith.
 James	Jas	65	3	1	Do not be too eager, brethren, to impart instruction to others; be sure that, if we do, we shall be called to account all the more strictly.
 James	Jas	65	3	2	We are betrayed, all of us, into many faults; and a man who is not betrayed into faults of the tongue must be a man perfect at every point, who knows how to curb his whole body.
 James	Jas	65	3	3	Just so we can make horses obey us, and turn their whole bodies this way and that, by putting a curb in their mouths.
 James	Jas	65	3	4	Or look at ships; how huge they are, how boisterous are the winds that drive them along! And yet a tiny rudder will turn them this way and that, as the captain’s purpose will have it.
 James	Jas	65	3	5	Just so, the tongue is a tiny part of our body, and yet what power it can boast! How small a spark it takes to set fire to a vast forest!
 James	Jas	65	3	6	And that is what the tongue is, a fire. Among the organs of our nature, the tongue has its place as the proper element in which all that is harmful lives. It infects the whole body, and sets fire to this mortal sphere of ours, catching fire itself from hell.
 James	Jas	65	3	7	Mankind can tame, and has long since learned to tame, every kind of beast and bird, of creeping things and all else;
 James	Jas	65	3	8	but no human being has ever found out how to tame the tongue; a pest that is never allayed, all deadly poison.
 James	Jas	65	3	9	We use it to bless God who is our Father; we use it to curse our fellow men, that were made in God’s image;
 James	Jas	65	3	10	blessing and cursing come from the same mouth. My brethren, there is no reason in this.
 James	Jas	65	3	11	Does the fountain gush out fresh and salt water from the same outlet?
 James	Jas	65	3	12	What, my brethren, can a fig-tree yield olives, or a vine figs? No more easily will brackish water yield fresh.
 James	Jas	65	3	13	Does any of you lay claim to wisdom or learning? Then let him give proof of his quality by setting a good example, living peaceably as a wise man should.
 James	Jas	65	3	14	As long as you find bitter jealousy and thoughts of rivalry in your hearts, let us have none of this boasting that perverts the truth;
 James	Jas	65	3	15	such wisdom as yours does not come from above, it belongs to earth and to nature, and is fit only for devils.
 James	Jas	65	3	16	Where there is jealousy, where there is rivalry, there you will find disorder and every kind of defect.
 James	Jas	65	3	17	Whereas the wisdom which does come from above is marked chiefly indeed by its purity, but also by its peacefulness; it is courteous and ready to be convinced, always taking the better part; it carries mercy with it, and a harvest of all that is good; it is uncensorious, and without affectation.
 James	Jas	65	3	18	Peace is the seed-ground of holiness, and those who make peace will win its harvest.
 James	Jas	65	4	1	What leads to war, what leads to quarrelling among you? I will tell you what leads to them; the appetites which infest your mortal bodies.
 James	Jas	65	4	2	Your desires go unfulfilled, so you fall to murdering; you set your heart on something, and cannot have your will, so there is quarrelling and fighting. Why cannot you have your will? Because you do not pray for it,
 James	Jas	65	4	3	or you pray, and what you ask for is denied you, because you ask for it with ill intent; you would squander it on your appetites.
 James	Jas	65	4	4	Wantons, have you never been told that the world’s friendship means enmity with God, and the man who would have the world for his friend makes himself God’s enemy?
 James	Jas	65	4	5	Do you think scripture means nothing when it tells you that the Spirit which dwells in you loves with a jealous love?
 James	Jas	65	4	6	No, the grace he gives us is something better still; and so he tells us, God flouts the scornful, and gives the humble man his grace.
 James	Jas	65	4	7	Be God’s true subjects, then; stand firm against the devil, and he will run away from you,
 James	Jas	65	4	8	come close to God, and he will come close to you. You that are sinners must wash your hands clean, you that are in two minds must purify the intention of your hearts.
 James	Jas	65	4	9	Bring yourselves low with mourning and weeping, turn your laughter into sadness, your joy into downcast looks;
 James	Jas	65	4	10	humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
 James	Jas	65	4	11	Brethren, do not disparage one another. In disparaging one of his brethren, in passing judgement on him, a man disparages the law, passes judgement on the law; and in passing judgement on the law thou art setting thyself up to be its censor, instead of obeying it.
 James	Jas	65	4	12	There is only one Lawgiver, only one Judge, he who has power to destroy and to set free.
 James	Jas	65	4	13	Who art thou, to sit in judgement on thy neighbour?See how you go about saying, To-day, or to-morrow, we will make our way to such and such a town, spend a year there, and make profit by trading,
 James	Jas	65	4	14	when you have no means of telling what the morrow will bring.
 James	Jas	65	4	15	What is your life but a wisp of smoke, which shews for a moment and then must vanish into nothing? You ought to be saying, We will do this or that if it is the Lord’s will, and if life is granted us.
 James	Jas	65	4	16	As it is, your self-conceit makes boasters of you; all such boastfulness is an evil thing.
 James	Jas	65	4	17	Yes, if a man has the power to do good, it is sinful in him to leave it undone.
 James	Jas	65	5	1	Come, you men of riches, bemoan yourselves and cry aloud over the miseries that are to overtake you.
 James	Jas	65	5	2	Corruption has fallen on your riches; all the fine clothes are left moth-eaten,
 James	Jas	65	5	3	and the gold and silver have long lain rusting. That rust will bear witness against you, will bite into your flesh like flame. These are the last days given you, and you have spent them in heaping up a store of retribution.
 James	Jas	65	5	4	You have kept back the pay of the workmen who reaped your lands, and it is there to cry out against you; the Lord of hosts has listened to their complaint.
 James	Jas	65	5	5	You have feasted here on earth, you have comforted your hearts with luxuries on this day that dooms you to slaughter.
 James	Jas	65	5	6	You have condemned and murdered the innocent man, while he offered no resistance.
 James	Jas	65	5	7	Wait, then, brethren, in patience for the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer looks forward to the coveted returns of his land, yet waits patiently for the early and the late rains to fall before they can be brought in.
 James	Jas	65	5	8	You too must wait patiently, and take courage; the Lord’s coming is close at hand.
 James	Jas	65	5	9	Brethren, do not bring complaints against one another; if you do, you will be judged, and the judge is already standing at your doors.
 James	Jas	65	5	10	If you would learn by example, brethren, how to work on and wait patiently in evil times, think of the prophets who spoke in the Lord’s name.
 James	Jas	65	5	11	See how we congratulate those who have shewn endurance. You have heard of Job’s endurance; and you have read, in that story, how kind and merciful the Lord is in rewarding us.
 James	Jas	65	5	12	But above all, my brethren, do not bind yourselves by any oath, by heaven, by earth, or by any oath at all. Let your word be Yes for Yes, and No for No; if not, you will be judged for it.
 James	Jas	65	5	13	Is one of you unhappy? Let him fall to prayer. Is one of you cheerful? For him, a psalm.
 James	Jas	65	5	14	Is one of you sick? Let him send for the presbyters of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the Lord’s name.
 James	Jas	65	5	15	Prayer offered in faith will restore the sick man, and the Lord will give him relief; if he is guilty of sins, they will be pardoned.
 James	Jas	65	5	16	Confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, for the healing of your souls. When a just man prays fervently, there is great virtue in his prayer.
 James	Jas	65	5	17	Elias was only a mortal man like ourselves, and when he prayed and prayed that it might not rain on the land, there was no rain for three years and six months;
 James	Jas	65	5	18	then he prayed anew, and rain fell from heaven, and so the land yielded its harvest.
 James	Jas	65	5	19	My brethren, if one of you strays from the truth, and a man succeeds in bringing him back,
 James	Jas	65	5	20	let him be sure of this; to bring back erring feet into the right path means saving a soul from death, means throwing a veil over a multitude of sins.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	1	1	Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the elect who dwell as foreigners up and down Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	1	2	chosen in the foreknowledge of God the Father, to be sanctified by the Spirit, to give their allegiance to Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with his blood; Grace and peace be yours abundantly.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	1	3	Blessed be that God, that Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who in his great mercy has begotten us anew, making hope live in us through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	1	4	We are to share an inheritance that is incorruptible, inviolable, unfading. It is stored up for you in heaven;
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	1	5	and meanwhile, through your faith, the power of God affords you safe conduct till you reach it, this salvation which is waiting to be disclosed at the end of time.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	1	6	Then you will be triumphant. What if you have trials of many sorts to sadden your hearts in this brief interval? That must needs happen,
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	1	7	so that you may give proof of your faith, a much more precious thing than the gold we test by fire; proof which will bring you praise, and glory, and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	1	8	You never saw him, but you learned to love him; you may not see him even now, but you believe in him; and, if you continue to believe in him, how you will triumph! How ineffable your joy will be, and how sublime,
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	1	9	when you reap the fruit of that faith of yours, the salvation of your souls!
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	1	10	Salvation was the aim and quest of the prophets, and the grace of which they prophesied has been reserved for you.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	1	11	The Spirit of Christ was in them, making known to them the sufferings which Christ’s cause brings with it, and the glory that crowns them; when was it to be, and how was the time of it to be recognized?
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	1	12	It was revealed to them that their errand was not to their own age, it was to you. And now the angels can satisfy their eager gaze; the Holy Spirit has been sent from heaven, and your evangelists have made the whole mystery plain, to you instead.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	1	13	Rid your minds, then, of every encumbrance, keep full mastery of your senses, and set your hopes on the gracious gift that is offered you when Jesus Christ appears.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	1	14	Obedience should be native to you now; you must not retain the mould of your former untutored appetites.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	1	15	No, it is a holy God who has called you, and you too must be holy in all the ordering of your lives;
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	1	16	You must be holy, the scripture says, because I am holy.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	1	17	You appeal to God as your Father; yes, but he judges each man impartially by what he has done; look anxiously, then, to the ordering of your lives while your stay on earth lasts.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	1	18	What was the ransom that freed you from the vain observances of ancestral tradition? You know well enough that it was not paid in earthly currency, silver or gold;
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	1	19	it was paid in the precious blood of Christ; no lamb was ever so pure, so spotless a victim.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	1	20	Before the beginning of the world, God had foreknown him, but it was only in these last days that he was revealed, for your sakes;
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	1	21	through him you have learned to be faithful to God, who raised him from the dead and endowed him with glory; your faith and your hope are to be centred in God.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	1	22	Purify your souls with the discipline of charity, and give constant proof of your good will for each other, loving unaffectedly as brethren should,
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	1	23	since you have all been born anew with an immortal, imperishable birth, through the word of God who lives and abides for ever.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	1	24	Yes, all mortal things are like grass, and all their glory like the bloom of grass; the grass withers, and its bloom falls,
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	1	25	but the word of the Lord lasts for ever. And this word is nothing other than the gospel which has been preached to you.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	2	1	You must put aside, then, every trace of ill-will and deceitfulness, your affectations, the grudges you bore, and all the slanderous talk;
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	2	2	you are children new-born, and all your craving must be for the soul’s pure milk, that will nurture you into salvation,
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	2	3	once you have tasted, as you have surely tasted, the goodness of the Lord.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	2	4	Draw near to him; he is the living antitype of that stone which men rejected, which God has chosen and prized;
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	2	5	you too must be built up on him, stones that live and breathe, into a spiritual fabric; you must be a holy priesthood, to offer up that spiritual sacrifice which God accepts through Jesus Christ.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	2	6	So you will find in scripture the words, Behold, I am setting down in Sion a corner-stone, chosen out and precious; those who believe in him will not be disappointed.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	2	7	Prized, then, by you, the believers, he is something other to those who refuse belief; the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief stone at the corner,
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	2	8	a stone to trip men’s feet, a boulder they stumble against. They stumble over God’s word, and refuse it belief; it is their destiny.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	2	9	Not so you; you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a consecrated nation, a people God means to have for himself; it is yours to proclaim the exploits of the God who has called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	2	10	Time was when you were not a people at all, now you are God’s people; once you were unpitied, and now his pity is yours.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	2	11	Beloved, I call upon you to be like strangers and exiles, to resist those natural appetites which besiege the soul.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	2	12	Your life amidst the Gentiles must be beyond reproach; decried as malefactors, you must let them see, from your honourable behaviour, what you are; they will praise God for you, when his time comes to have mercy on them.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	2	13	For love of the Lord, then, bow to every kind of human authority; to the king, who enjoys the chief power,
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	2	14	and to the magistrates who hold his commission to punish criminals and encourage honest men.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	2	15	To silence, by honest living, the ignorant chatter of fools; that is what God expects of you.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	2	16	Free men, but the liberty you enjoy is not to be made a pretext for wrong-doing; it is to be used in God’s service.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	2	17	Give all men their due; to the brethren, your love; to God, your reverence; to the king, due honour.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	2	18	You who are slaves must be submissive to your masters, and shew all respect, not only to those who are kind and considerate, but to those who are hard to please.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	2	19	It does a man credit when he bears undeserved ill treatment with the thought of God in his heart.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	2	20	If you do wrong and are punished for it, your patience is nothing to boast of; it is the patience of the innocent sufferer that wins credit in God’s sight.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	2	21	Indeed, you are engaged to this by the call of Christ; he suffered for our sakes, and left you his own example; you were to follow in his footsteps.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	2	22	He did no wrong, no treachery was found on his lips;
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	2	23	he was ill spoken of, and spoke no evil in return, suffered, and did not threaten vengeance, gave himself up into the hands of injustice.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	2	24	So, on the cross, his own body took the weight of our sins; we were to become dead to our sins, and live for holiness; it was his wounds that healed you.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	2	25	Till then, you had been like sheep going astray; now, you have been brought back to him, your shepherd, who keeps watch over your souls.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	3	1	You, too, who are wives must be submissive to your husbands. Some of these still refuse credence to the word; it is for their wives to win them over, not by word but by example;
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	3	2	by the modesty and reverence they observe in your demeanour.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	3	3	Your beauty must lie, not in braided hair, not in gold trinkets, not in the dress you wear,
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	3	4	but in the hidden features of your hearts, in a possession you can never lose, that of a calm and tranquil spirit; to God’s eyes, beyond price.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	3	5	It was thus that the holy women of old time adorned themselves, those women who had such trust in God, and paid their husbands such respect.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	3	6	Think how obedient Sara was to Abraham, how she called him her lord; if you would prove yourselves her children, live honestly, and let no anxious thoughts disturb you.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	3	7	You, too, who are husbands must use marriage considerately, paying homage to woman’s sex as weaker than your own. The grace of eternal life belongs to both, and your prayers must not suffer interruption.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	3	8	In a word, think the same thoughts, all of you, and share the same feelings; be lovers of the brethren. I would see you tender-hearted, modest, and humble,
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	3	9	not repaying injury with injury, or hard words with hard words, but blessing those who curse you. This God’s call demands of you, and you will inherit a blessing in your turn.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	3	10	Yes, long life and prosperous days, who would have these for the asking? My counsel is, keep thy tongue clear of harm, and thy lips free from every treacherous word.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	3	11	Neglect the call of evil, and rather do good; let peace be all thy quest and aim.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	3	12	On the upright, the Lord’s eye ever looks favourably; his ears are open to their pleading. Perilous is his frown for the wrong-doers.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	3	13	And who is to do you wrong, if only what is good inspires your ambitions?
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	3	14	If, after all, you should have to suffer in the cause of right, yours is a blessed lot. Do not be afraid or disturbed at their threats;
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	3	15	enthrone Christ as Lord in your hearts. If anyone asks you to give an account of the hope which you cherish, be ready at all times to answer for it,
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	3	16	but courteously and with due reverence. What matters is that you should have a clear conscience; so the defamers of your holy life in Christ will be disappointed in their calumny.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	3	17	It may be God’s will that we should suffer for doing right; better that, than for doing wrong.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	3	18	It was thus that Christ died as a ransom, paid once for all, on behalf of our sins, he the innocent for us the guilty, so as to present us in God’s sight. In his mortal nature he was done to death, but endowed with fresh life in his spirit,
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	3	19	and it was in his spirit that he went and preached to the spirits who lay in prison.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	3	20	Long before, they had refused belief, hoping that God would be patient with them, in the days of Noe. That ark which Noe was then building, in which a few souls, eight in all, found refuge as they passed through the waves,
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	3	21	was a type of the baptism which saves us now. Our baptism is not a putting away of outward defilement; it is the test which assures us of a good conscience before God, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	3	22	He sits, now, at the right hand of God, annihilating death, to make us heirs of eternal life; he has taken his journey to heaven, with all the angels and powers and princedoms made subject under his feet.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	4	1	Christ’s mortal nature, then, has been crucified, and you must arm yourselves with the same intention; he whose mortal nature has been crucified is quit, now, of sin.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	4	2	The rest of your mortal life must be ordered by God’s will, not by human appetites.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	4	3	Time enough has been spent already in doing what the heathen would have you do, following a course of incontinence, passion, drunkenness, revelling, carousal, and shameful idolatry.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	4	4	They are surprised that you do not rush headlong into the same welter of debauch, and call you ill names accordingly;
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	4	5	they will have to answer for it before him who is all in readiness to pass sentence on the living and the dead.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	4	6	That is why dead men, too, had the gospel message brought to them; though their mortal natures had paid the penalty in men’s eyes, in the sight of God their spirits were to live on.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	4	7	The end of all things is close at hand; live wisely, and keep your senses awake to greet the hours of prayer.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	4	8	Above all things, preserve constant charity among yourselves; charity draws the veil over a multitude of sins.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	4	9	Make one another free of what is yours ungrudgingly,
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	4	10	sharing with all whatever gift each of you has received, as befits the stewards of a God so rich in graces.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	4	11	One of you preaches, let him remember that it is God’s message he is uttering; another distributes relief, let him remember that it is God who supplies him the opportunity; that so, in all you do, God may be glorified through Jesus Christ; to him be the glory and the power through endless ages, Amen.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	4	12	Do not be surprised, beloved, that this fiery ordeal should have befallen you, to test your quality; there is nothing strange in what is happening to you.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	4	13	Rather rejoice, when you share in some measure the sufferings of Christ; so joy will be yours, and triumph, when his glory is revealed.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	4	14	Your lot will be a blessed one, if you are reproached for the name of Christ; it means that the virtue of God’s honour and glory and power, it means that his own Spirit, is resting upon you.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	4	15	Let it not be said that any of you underwent punishment for murder, or theft, or slander, or infringing other men’s rights;
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	4	16	but, if a man is punished for being a Christian, he has no need to be ashamed of it; let him bear that name, and give glory to God.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	4	17	The time is ripe for judgement to begin, and to begin with God’s own household; and if our turn comes first, what will be its issue for those who refuse credence to God’s message?
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	4	18	If the just man wins salvation only with difficulty, what will be the plight of the godless, of the sinner?
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	4	19	Why then, let those who suffer in fulfilment of God’s will commend their souls, all innocent, into his hands; he created them, and he will not fail them.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	5	1	And now I have a charge to give to the presbyters in your company; I, who am a presbyter like themselves, I, who bear witness of Christ’s sufferings, I, who have my part in that glory which will one day be revealed.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	5	2	Be shepherds to the flock God has given you. Carry out your charge as God would have it done, cordially, not like drudges, generously, not in the hope of sordid gain;
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	5	3	not tyrannizing, each in his own sphere, but setting an example, as best you may, to the flock.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	5	4	So, when the Prince of shepherds makes himself known, your prize will be that crown of glory which cannot fade.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	5	5	And you, who are young, must defer to these, your seniors. Deference to one another is the livery you must all wear; God thwarts the proud, and keeps his grace for the humble.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	5	6	Bow down, then, before the strong hand of God; he will raise you up, when his time comes to deliver you.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	5	7	Throw back on him the burden of all your anxiety; he is concerned for you.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	5	8	Be sober, and watch well; the devil, who is your enemy, goes about roaring like a lion, to find his prey,
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	5	9	but you, grounded in the faith, must face him boldly; you know well enough that the brotherhood you belong to pays, all the world over, the same tribute of suffering.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	5	10	And God, the giver of all grace, who has called us to enjoy, after a little suffering, his eternal glory in Christ Jesus, will himself give you mastery, and steadiness, and strength.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	5	11	To him be glory and power through endless ages, Amen.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	5	12	I count on Silvanus as a faithful brother; and through him I have written you these brief lines of encouragement; to assure you that the grace in which you are so firmly established is the true grace of God.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	5	13	The church here in Babylon, united with you by God’s election, sends you her greeting; so does my son, Mark.
 1 Peter	1Pet	66	5	14	Greet one another with the kiss of fellowship. Grace be to all of you, friends in Christ Jesus. Amen.
 2 Peter	2Pet	67	1	1	Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who share with us the common privilege of faith, justified as we are by our God and Saviour Jesus Christ;
 2 Peter	2Pet	67	1	2	Grace and peace be yours abundantly, as you gain fuller knowledge of God, and of Christ Jesus our Lord.
 2 Peter	2Pet	67	1	3	See how all the gifts that make for life and holiness in us belong to his divine power; come to us through fuller knowledge of him, whose own glory and sovereignty have drawn us to himself!
 2 Peter	2Pet	67	1	4	Through him God has bestowed on us high and treasured promises; you are to share the divine nature, with the world’s corruption, the world’s passions, left behind.
 2 Peter	2Pet	67	1	5	And you too have to contribute every effort on your own part, crowning your faith with virtue, and virtue with enlightenment,
 2 Peter	2Pet	67	1	6	and enlightenment with continence, and continence with endurance, and endurance with holiness,
 2 Peter	2Pet	67	1	7	and holiness with brotherly love, and brotherly love with charity.
 2 Peter	2Pet	67	1	8	Such gifts, when they are yours in full measure, will make you quick and successful pupils, reaching ever closer knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ;
 2 Peter	2Pet	67	1	9	he who lacks them is no better than a blind man feeling his way about; his old sins have been purged away, and he has forgotten it.
 2 Peter	2Pet	67	1	10	Bestir yourselves then, brethren, ever more eagerly, to ratify God’s calling and choice of you by a life well lived; if you do this, you will make no false step,
 2 Peter	2Pet	67	1	11	and it will be no grudging entrance that is afforded to you into the kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
 2 Peter	2Pet	67	1	12	I shall never fail, then, to go on reminding you of this, although you know it well, and are firmly grounded in a truth that is present to your minds.
 2 Peter	2Pet	67	1	13	I hold it my duty to keep the memory awake in you, while I am still in this brief dwelling-place;
 2 Peter	2Pet	67	1	14	I am assured, by what our Lord Jesus Christ has made known to me, that I must fold my tent before long.
 2 Peter	2Pet	67	1	15	And I will see to it that, when I am gone, you shall always be able to remember what I have been saying.
 2 Peter	2Pet	67	1	16	We were not crediting fables of man’s invention, when we preached to you about the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, and about his coming; we had been eye-witnesses of his exaltation.
 2 Peter	2Pet	67	1	17	Such honour, such glory was bestowed on him by God the Father, that a voice came to him out of the splendour which dazzles human eyes; This, it said, is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; to him, then, listen.
 2 Peter	2Pet	67	1	18	We, his companions on the holy mountain, heard that voice coming from heaven,
 2 Peter	2Pet	67	1	19	and now the word of the prophets gives us more confidence than ever. It is with good reason that you are paying so much attention to that word; it will go on shining, like a lamp in some darkened room, until the dawn breaks, and the day-star rises in your hearts.
 2 Peter	2Pet	67	1	20	Yet always you must remember this, that no prophecy in scripture is the subject of private interpretation.
 2 Peter	2Pet	67	1	21	It was never man’s impulse, after all, that gave us prophecy; men gave it utterance, but they were men whom God had sanctified, carried away, as they spoke, by the Holy Spirit.
 2 Peter	2Pet	67	2	1	There were false prophets, too, among God’s people. So, among you, there will be false teachers, covertly introducing pernicious ways of thought, and denying the Master who redeemed them, to their own speedy undoing.
 2 Peter	2Pet	67	2	2	Many will embrace their wanton creeds, and bring the way of truth into disrepute,
 2 Peter	2Pet	67	2	3	trading on your credulity with lying stories for their own ends. Long since, the warrant for their doom is in full vigour; destruction is on the watch for them.
 2 Peter	2Pet	67	2	4	God did not spare the angels who fell into sin; he thrust them down to hell, chained them there in the abyss, to await their sentence in torment.
 2 Peter	2Pet	67	2	5	Nor did he spare the world he had first made; he brought a flood on that world of wickedness, preserving Noe, who had borne witness to holiness, and only seven others with him.
 2 Peter	2Pet	67	2	6	The cities of Sodom and Gomorrha, too, he punished with utter ruin, turning them to ashes, for an example to the godless of a later time.
 2 Peter	2Pet	67	2	7	Yet he saved Lot, an innocent man who was overborne by the violence and the wantonness of his wicked neighbours;
 2 Peter	2Pet	67	2	8	eye and ear could testify to his innocence, although he lived among men whose lawless doings, day after day, wrung that blameless heart.
 2 Peter	2Pet	67	2	9	The Lord does not find it difficult to save his true worshippers from their trials, while the wrong-doers must await the day of judgement, marked down for torment;
 2 Peter	2Pet	67	2	10	those especially, who follow the defiling appetites of their corrupt nature, and make light of authority. So bold are they, so obstinate, that they are not afraid to bring in new and blasphemous ways of thought,
 2 Peter	2Pet	67	2	11	whereas angels, with a strength and a capacity far above theirs, do not bring on themselves any charge so abominable.
 2 Peter	2Pet	67	2	12	Such men, like dumb creatures that are born to be trapped and destroyed, sneer at what they cannot understand, and will soon perish in their own corruption;
 2 Peter	2Pet	67	2	13	they will have the reward their wickedness has deserved. To live in luxury while the day lasts is all their pleasure; what a stain they are, what a disfigurement, when they revel in the luxury of their own banquets, as they fare sumptuously at your side!
 2 Peter	2Pet	67	2	14	Their eyes feast on adultery, insatiable of sin; and they know how to win wavering souls to their purpose, so skilled is all their accursed brood at gaining its own ends.
 2 Peter	2Pet	67	2	15	They have gone far astray, leaving the true path, and following the path of Balaam the son of Bosor, the man who was content to take pay in the cause of wrong,
 2 Peter	2Pet	67	2	16	and was rebuked for his perversity, when the dumb beast spoke with a human voice, to bring a prophet to his senses.
 2 Peter	2Pet	67	2	17	They are wells with no water in them, clouds driven before the storm; the lot that awaits them is darkness and gloom.
 2 Peter	2Pet	67	2	18	Using fine phrases that have no meaning, they bait their hook with the wanton appetites of sense, to catch those who have had but a short respite from false teaching.
 2 Peter	2Pet	67	2	19	What do they offer them? Liberty. And all the time they themselves are enslaved to worldly corruption; whatever influence gets the better of a man, becomes his master.
 2 Peter	2Pet	67	2	20	That they should have been rescued, by acknowledging our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, from the world’s pollution, and then been entangled and overpowered by it a second time, means that their last state is worse than the first.
 2 Peter	2Pet	67	2	21	Better for them, never to have found their way to justification, than to have found it, and then turned their backs on the holy law once handed down to them.
 2 Peter	2Pet	67	2	22	What has happened to them proves the truth of the proverb, The dog is back at his own vomit again. Wash the sow, and you find her wallowing in the mire.
 2 Peter	2Pet	67	3	1	This is my second letter to you, beloved; I write such letters as a reminder, to awaken in you your clear sense of the truth.
 2 Peter	2Pet	67	3	2	Do not forget those predictions of the holy prophets which I mentioned to you, or the charge which our Lord and Saviour laid on your apostles.
 2 Peter	2Pet	67	3	3	Remember always that in the last days mocking deceivers must needs come, following the rule of their own appetites,
 2 Peter	2Pet	67	3	4	who will ask, What has become of the promise that he would appear? Ever since the fathers went to their rest, all is as it was from the foundation of the world.
 2 Peter	2Pet	67	3	5	They are fain to forget how, long ago, heaven stood there, and an earth which God’s word had made with water for its origin, water for its frame;
 2 Peter	2Pet	67	3	6	and those were the very means by which the world, as it then was, came to perish, overwhelmed by water.
 2 Peter	2Pet	67	3	7	That same word keeps heaven and earth, as they now are, stored up, ready to feed the fire on the day when the godless will be judged, and perish.
 2 Peter	2Pet	67	3	8	But one thing, beloved, you must keep in mind, that with the Lord a day counts as a thousand years, and a thousand years count as a day.
 2 Peter	2Pet	67	3	9	The Lord is not being dilatory over his promise, as some think; he is only giving you more time, because his will is that all of you should attain repentance, not that some should be lost.
 2 Peter	2Pet	67	3	10	But the day of the Lord is coming, and when it comes, it will be upon you like a thief. The heavens will vanish in a whirlwind, the elements will be scorched up and dissolve, earth, and all earth’s achievements, will burn away.
 2 Peter	2Pet	67	3	11	All so transitory; and what men you ought to be! How unworldly in your life, how reverent towards God,
 2 Peter	2Pet	67	3	12	as you wait, and wait eagerly, for the day of the Lord to come, for the heavens to shrivel up in fire, and the elements to melt in its heat!
 2 Peter	2Pet	67	3	13	And meanwhile, we have new heavens and a new earth to look forward to, the dwelling-place of holiness; that is what he has promised.
 2 Peter	2Pet	67	3	14	Beloved, since these expectations are yours, do everything to make sure that he shall find you innocent, undefiled, at peace.
 2 Peter	2Pet	67	3	15	If our Lord stays his hand, count it part of his mercy. Our beloved brother Paul, with the wisdom God has granted him, has written you a letter,
 2 Peter	2Pet	67	3	16	in which, as in all his letters, he talks of this. (Though indeed, there are passages in them difficult to understand, and these, like the rest of scripture, are twisted into a wrong sense by ignorant and restless minds, to their own undoing.)
 2 Peter	2Pet	67	3	17	For yourselves, beloved, be warned in time; do not be carried away by their rash errors, and lose the firm foothold you have won;
 2 Peter	2Pet	67	3	18	grow up in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory, now and for all eternity. Amen.
 1 John	1Jn	68	1	1	Our message concerns that Word, who is life; what he was from the first, what we have heard about him, what our own eyes have seen of him; what it was that met our gaze, and the touch of our hands.
 1 John	1Jn	68	1	2	Yes, life dawned; and it is as eye-witnesses that we give you news of that life, that eternal life, which ever abode with the Father and has dawned, now, on us.
 1 John	1Jn	68	1	3	This message about what we have seen and heard we pass on to you, so that you too may share in our fellowship. What is it, this fellowship of ours? Fellowship with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.
 1 John	1Jn	68	1	4	And if we are writing to you now, it is so that joy may be yours in full measure.
 1 John	1Jn	68	1	5	What, then, is this message we have heard from him, and are passing on to you? That God is light, and no darkness can find any place in him;
 1 John	1Jn	68	1	6	if we claim fellowship with him, when all the while we live and move in darkness, it is a lie; our whole life is an untruth.
 1 John	1Jn	68	1	7	God dwells in light; if we too live and move in light, there is fellowship between us, and the blood of his Son Jesus Christ washes us clean from all sin.
 1 John	1Jn	68	1	8	Sin is with us; if we deny that, we are cheating ourselves; it means that truth does not dwell in us.
 1 John	1Jn	68	1	9	No, it is when we confess our sins that he forgives us our sins, ever true to his word, ever dealing right with us, and all our wrong-doing is purged away.
 1 John	1Jn	68	1	10	If we deny that we have sinned, it means that we are treating him as a liar; it means that his word does not dwell in our hearts.
 1 John	1Jn	68	2	1	Little children, the purpose of this letter is to keep you clear of sin. Meanwhile, if any of us does fall into sin, we have an advocate to plead our cause before the Father in the Just One, Jesus Christ.
 1 John	1Jn	68	2	2	He, in his own person, is the atonement made for our sins, and not only for ours, but for the sins of the whole world.
 1 John	1Jn	68	2	3	Have we attained the knowledge of him? The test is, whether we keep his commandments;
 1 John	1Jn	68	2	4	the man who claims knowledge of him without keeping his commandments is a liar; truth does not dwell in such a man as that.
 1 John	1Jn	68	2	5	No, if a man keeps true to his word, then it is certain that the love of God has reached its full stature in him; that is what tells us that we are dwelling in him.
 1 John	1Jn	68	2	6	One who claims to dwell in him must needs live and move as he lived and moved.
 1 John	1Jn	68	2	7	Beloved, I am not sending you a new commandment; it is an old commandment, which you were given from the very first; what was the message to which you listened long ago but this same commandment, now grown old?
 1 John	1Jn	68	2	8	And yet it is a new commandment I am sending you, now that it is verified in him and you; the darkness has passed away now, and true light shines instead.
 1 John	1Jn	68	2	9	He who claims enlightenment, and all the while hates his brother, is in darkness still.
 1 John	1Jn	68	2	10	It is the man who loves his brother that lives in light; no fear of stumbling haunts him.
 1 John	1Jn	68	2	11	The man who hates his brother is in the dark, guides his steps in the dark without being able to tell where he is going; darkness has fallen, and blinded his eyes.
 1 John	1Jn	68	2	12	I call you little children; have not your sins been forgiven in his name?
 1 John	1Jn	68	2	13	I call you fathers; have you not knowledge of one who was from the first? I call you young men; have you not gained victory over the evil one?
 1 John	1Jn	68	2	14	I call you sons; you have learned to recognize the Father. I call you young men; you are strong, with God’s word dwelling in you always; you have gained your victory over the evil one.
 1 John	1Jn	68	2	15	Do not bestow your love on the world, and what the world has to offer; the lover of this world has no love of the Father in him.
 1 John	1Jn	68	2	16	What does the world offer? Only gratification of corrupt nature, gratification of the eye, the empty pomp of living; these things take their being from the world, not from the Father.
 1 John	1Jn	68	2	17	The world and its gratifications pass away; the man who does God’s will outlives them, for ever.
 1 John	1Jn	68	2	18	My sons, this is the last age of time. You have been told that Antichrist must needs come; and even now, to prove to us that it is the last stage of time, many Antichrists have appeared.
 1 John	1Jn	68	2	19	They came of our company, but they never belonged to our company; if they had belonged to it, they would have persevered at our side. As it is, they were destined to prove that there are some who are no true companions of ours.
 1 John	1Jn	68	2	20	With you, it is otherwise; the Holy One has anointed you, and now nothing is hidden from you,
 1 John	1Jn	68	2	21	so that I am not writing to you as to men from whom the truth is hidden. Rather, I am appealing to your knowledge of it; the truth, after all, cannot give birth to a lie.
 1 John	1Jn	68	2	22	To whom do we give the lie, if not to him who tells us that Jesus is not the Christ? Such a man is Antichrist, disowning as he does both the Father and the Son.
 1 John	1Jn	68	2	23	To disown the Son is to have no claim to the Father; it is by acknowledging the Son that we lay claim to the Father too.
 1 John	1Jn	68	2	24	Enough for you, that the message which was first brought you should dwell in you. If that first message dwells in you, you too will dwell in the Son, and in the Father.
 1 John	1Jn	68	2	25	He himself has made us a promise, the promise of eternal life.
 1 John	1Jn	68	2	26	So much I have written about those who are trying to mislead you.
 1 John	1Jn	68	2	27	Meanwhile, the influence of his anointing lives on in you, so that you have no need of teaching; no lesson his influence gives you can be a lie, they are all true. Follow those lessons, and dwell in him.
 1 John	1Jn	68	2	28	Yes, little children, dwell in him, so that when he appears we may greet him confidently, instead of being ashamed at his presence.
 1 John	1Jn	68	2	29	You are sure that he is just; be sure, then, that whoever does right is born of him.
 1 John	1Jn	68	3	1	See how the Father has shewn his love towards us; that we should be counted as God’s sons, should be his sons. If the world does not recognize us, that is because it never recognized him.
 1 John	1Jn	68	3	2	Beloved, we are sons of God even now, and what we shall be hereafter, has not been made known as yet. But we know that when he comes we shall be like him; we shall see him, then, as he is.
 1 John	1Jn	68	3	3	Now, a man who rests these hopes in him lives a life of holiness; he, too, is holy.
 1 John	1Jn	68	3	4	The man who commits sin, violates order; sin of its nature is disorder.
 1 John	1Jn	68	3	5	You know well enough that when he was revealed to us, it was to take away our sins; there is no sinfulness in him,
 1 John	1Jn	68	3	6	and no one can dwell in him and be a sinner. The sinner must be one who has failed to see him, failed to recognize him.
 1 John	1Jn	68	3	7	Little children, do not allow anybody to mislead you; the man who lives right is the man who is right with God; he, too, is right in all his dealings.
 1 John	1Jn	68	3	8	The man who lives sinfully takes his character from the devil; the devil was a sinner from the first. If the Son of God was revealed to us, it was so that he might undo what the devil had done,
 1 John	1Jn	68	3	9	and if a man is born of God, he does not live sinfully, he is true to his parentage; he cannot be a sinner, if he is born of God.
 1 John	1Jn	68	3	10	This, then, is how God’s children and the devil’s children are known apart. A man cannot trace his origin from God if he does not live right, if he does not love his brethren.
 1 John	1Jn	68	3	11	To love one another; that, from the first, was the charge given to you;
 1 John	1Jn	68	3	12	you were not to be like Cain, who took his character from the evil one, and murdered his brother. Why did he murder him? Because his own life was evil, and his brother’s life was acceptable to God.
 1 John	1Jn	68	3	13	No, brethren, do not be surprised that the world should hate you.
 1 John	1Jn	68	3	14	Remember that we have changed over from death to life, in loving the brethren as we do; whereas, if a man is without love, he holds fast by death.
 1 John	1Jn	68	3	15	A man cannot hate his brother without being a murderer, and you may be sure that no murderer has eternal life dwelling in him.
 1 John	1Jn	68	3	16	God has proved his love to us by laying down his life for our sakes; we too must be ready to lay down our lives for the sake of our brethren.
 1 John	1Jn	68	3	17	And now, suppose that a man has the worldly goods he needs, and sees his brother go in want; if he steels his heart against his brother, how can we say that the love of God dwells in him?
 1 John	1Jn	68	3	18	My little children, let us shew our love by the true test of action, not by taking phrases on our lips.
 1 John	1Jn	68	3	19	That proves to us that we take our character from the truth, and we shall be able to satisfy our consciences before God;
 1 John	1Jn	68	3	20	if our consciences condemn us, it is because God is above conscience, and nothing is hidden from him.
 1 John	1Jn	68	3	21	Beloved, if conscience does not condemn us, we can appear boldly before God,
 1 John	1Jn	68	3	22	and he will grant all our requests, since we are keeping his commandments, and living as he would see us live.
 1 John	1Jn	68	3	23	What he commands is, that we should have faith in the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and at his command should love one another.
 1 John	1Jn	68	3	24	When a man keeps his commandments, it means that he is dwelling in God, and God in him. This is our proof that he is really dwelling in us, through the gift of his Spirit.
 1 John	1Jn	68	4	1	Not all prophetic spirits, brethren, deserve your credence; you must put them to the test, to see whether they come from God. Many false prophets have made their appearance in the world.
 1 John	1Jn	68	4	2	This is the test by which God’s Spirit is to be recognized; every spirit which acknowledges Jesus Christ as having come to us in human flesh has God for its author;
 1 John	1Jn	68	4	3	and no spirit which would disunite Jesus comes from God. This is the power of Antichrist, whose coming you have been told to expect; now you must know that he is here in the world already.
 1 John	1Jn	68	4	4	You, little children, who take your origin from God, have gained the mastery over it; there is a stronger power at work in you, than in the world.
 1 John	1Jn	68	4	5	Those others, belonging to the world, speak the world’s language, and the world listens to them;
 1 John	1Jn	68	4	6	we belong to God, and a man must have knowledge of God if he is to listen to us; if he does not belong to God, he does not listen to us at all. That is the test by which we distinguish the true Spirit from the false spirit.
 1 John	1Jn	68	4	7	Beloved, let us love one another; love springs from God; no one can love without being born of God, and knowing God.
 1 John	1Jn	68	4	8	How can the man who has no love have any knowledge of God, since God is love?
 1 John	1Jn	68	4	9	What has revealed the love of God, where we are concerned, is that he has sent his only-begotten Son into the world, so that we might have life through him.
 1 John	1Jn	68	4	10	That love resides, not in our shewing any love for God, but in his shewing love for us first, when he sent out his Son to be an atonement for our sins.
 1 John	1Jn	68	4	11	Beloved, if God has shewn such love to us, we too must love one another.
 1 John	1Jn	68	4	12	No man has ever seen God; but if we love one another, then we have God dwelling in us, and the love of God has reached its full growth in our lives.
 1 John	1Jn	68	4	13	This is our proof that we are dwelling in him, and he in us; he has given us a share of his own Spirit.
 1 John	1Jn	68	4	14	We apostles have seen for ourselves, and can testify, that the Father sent out his Son to be the redeemer of the world,
 1 John	1Jn	68	4	15	and where a man acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwells in him, and he in God;
 1 John	1Jn	68	4	16	we have learned to recognize the love God has in our regard, to recognize it, and to make it our belief. God is love; he who dwells in love dwells in God, and God in him.
 1 John	1Jn	68	4	17	That our life in the world should be like his, means that his love has had its way with us to the full, so that we can meet the day of judgement with confidence.
 1 John	1Jn	68	4	18	Love has no room for fear; and indeed, love drives out fear when it is perfect love, since fear only serves for correction. The man who is still afraid has not yet reached the full measure of love.
 1 John	1Jn	68	4	19	Yes, we must love God; he gave us his love first.
 1 John	1Jn	68	4	20	If a man boasts of loving God, while he hates his own brother, he is a liar. He has seen his brother, and has no love for him; what love can he have for the God he has never seen?
 1 John	1Jn	68	4	21	No, this is the divine command that has been given us; the man who loves God must be one who loves his brother as well.
 1 John	1Jn	68	5	1	Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is a child of God, and to love the parent is to love his child.
 1 John	1Jn	68	5	2	If we love God, and keep his commandments, we can be sure of loving God’s children.
 1 John	1Jn	68	5	3	Loving God means keeping his commandments, and these commandments of his are not a burden to us.
 1 John	1Jn	68	5	4	Whatever takes its origin from God must needs triumph over the world; our faith, that is the triumphant principle which triumphs over the world.
 1 John	1Jn	68	5	5	He alone triumphs over the world, who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.
 1 John	1Jn	68	5	6	He it is, Jesus Christ, whose coming has been made known to us by water and blood; water and blood as well, not water only; and we have the Spirit’s witness that Christ is the truth.
 1 John	1Jn	68	5	7	Thus we have a threefold warrant in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, three who are yet one;
 1 John	1Jn	68	5	8	and we have a threefold warrant on earth, the Spirit, the water, and the blood, three witnesses that conspire in one.
 1 John	1Jn	68	5	9	We are ready to trust human authority; is not divine authority higher still? And we have that higher divine authority for this; God has borne witness to his own Son.
 1 John	1Jn	68	5	10	The man who believes in the Son of God has this divine attestation in his heart; the man who does not believe in the Son treats God as a liar; although God himself has borne witness to his Son, he has refused to believe in it.
 1 John	1Jn	68	5	11	And what is the truth so attested? That God has given us eternal life, and that this life is to be found in his Son.
 1 John	1Jn	68	5	12	To keep hold of the Son is to have life; he is lifeless, who has no hold of the Son of God.
 1 John	1Jn	68	5	13	There is my message to you; be sure that you have eternal life, you who go on believing in the name of the Son of God.
 1 John	1Jn	68	5	14	Such familiar confidence we have in him, that we believe he listens to us whenever we make any request of him in accordance with his will.
 1 John	1Jn	68	5	15	We are sure that he listens to all our requests, sure that the requests we make of him are granted.
 1 John	1Jn	68	5	16	If a man knows his brother to be guilty, yet not of such a sin as brings death with it, he should pray for him; and, at his request, life will be granted to the brother who is sinning, yet not fatally. There is a sin which kills; it is not over this that I bid him fall to prayer.
 1 John	1Jn	68	5	17	Sin may be wrong-doing of any kind; not all sin is fatal.
 1 John	1Jn	68	5	18	The man who has been born of God, we may be sure, keeps clear of sin; that divine origin protects him, and the evil one cannot touch him.
 1 John	1Jn	68	5	19	And we can be sure that we are God’s children, though the whole world about us lies in the power of evil.
 1 John	1Jn	68	5	20	We can be sure, too, that the Son of God has come to us, and has given us a sense of truth; we were to recognize the true God, and to live in his true Son. He is true God, and eternal life.
 1 John	1Jn	68	5	21	Beware, little children, of false gods.
 2 John	2Jn	69	1	1	I, the presbyter, send greeting to that sovereign lady whom God has chosen; and to those children of hers who are my friends in the truth, loved, not by me only, but by all those who have recognized the truth,
 2 John	2Jn	69	1	2	for love of that truth which dwells in us, and will be our companion for ever.
 2 John	2Jn	69	1	3	God the Father, and Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, send you grace, mercy and peace in a spirit of truth and love.
 2 John	2Jn	69	1	4	It has given me great happiness, in meeting some of thy children, to find that they followed the way of truth, obeying the command that came to us from the Father.
 2 John	2Jn	69	1	5	And now, sovereign lady, I have a request to make of thee. It is no new command that my letter brings, only the command we were given from the first; let us all love one another.
 2 John	2Jn	69	1	6	Love means keeping his commandments; love is itself the commandment which our earliest lessons bade us follow.
 2 John	2Jn	69	1	7	Many false teachers have appeared in the world, who will not acknowledge that Jesus Christ has come in human flesh; here is the deceiver you were warned against, here is Antichrist.
 2 John	2Jn	69	1	8	Be on your guard, or you will lose all you have earned, instead of receiving your wages in full.
 2 John	2Jn	69	1	9	The man who goes back, who is not true to Christ’s teaching, loses hold of God; the man who is true to that teaching, keeps hold both of the Father and of the Son.
 2 John	2Jn	69	1	10	If you are visited by one who does not bring this teaching with him, you must not receive him in your houses, or bid him welcome;
 2 John	2Jn	69	1	11	to bid him welcome is to share the guilt of his doings.
 2 John	2Jn	69	1	12	I might add to this letter, but I have thought it best not to entrust my message to paper and ink; I hope to visit you, and convey it by word of mouth, to give you happiness in full measure.
 2 John	2Jn	69	1	13	The children of thy sister, God’s chosen, send thee greeting.
 3 John	3Jn	70	1	1	Greetings from the presbyter to Gaius, his most dear friend in the truth.
 3 John	3Jn	70	1	2	Beloved, my prayer is that all goes well with thee, and that thou art in health; with thy soul, all goes well.
 3 John	3Jn	70	1	3	What happiness it gave me, when the brethren who came here bore witness of thy loyalty to the truth, the loyalty thou shewest in all thy dealings!
 3 John	3Jn	70	1	4	I have no greater cause for thankfulness, than when I hear that my children are following the way of truth.
 3 John	3Jn	70	1	5	Beloved, thou art playing a faithful man’s part in shewing such kindness to the brethren, even when they are strangers to thee.
 3 John	3Jn	70	1	6	They have borne public witness before the church of thy charity, and thou wilt do well to set them forward on their journey in such a manner as befits God’s service;
 3 John	3Jn	70	1	7	it was undertaken for love of his name, the heathen contributed nothing to it.
 3 John	3Jn	70	1	8	Yes, it is our duty to help on the cause of truth by giving welcome to such men as these.
 3 John	3Jn	70	1	9	I might have sent this message to the church at large, were it not that Diotrephes, ever eager to take a leading part among them, refuses to acknowledge us,
 3 John	3Jn	70	1	10	If I should pay you a visit, be sure I will tax him with his ill conduct. He maligns us with his foolish gossip; is not that enough for him, without refusing to acknowledge our brethren, and putting restraint on those who would, by expelling them from the church?
 3 John	3Jn	70	1	11	Beloved, choose the right pattern, not the wrong, to imitate. He who does right is a child of God; the wrong-doer has caught no glimpse of him.
 3 John	3Jn	70	1	12	Demetrius is one whom all speak well of, and the truth itself is his warrant; we, too, commend him, and thou knowest that our commendation is true.
 3 John	3Jn	70	1	13	I have much to tell thee, but I have no mind to convey the message with paper and ink;
 3 John	3Jn	70	1	14	I hope to see thee before long, and we will converse by word of mouth. Peace be with thee. Thy friends here greet thee. Give our friends, each of them by name, our greeting.
 Jude	Jud	71	1	1	Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to those who have met with loving-kindness from God the Father, those whom he has set apart for Jesus Christ, and called them;
 Jude	Jud	71	1	2	Mercy and peace and love be yours, in full measure.
 Jude	Jud	71	1	3	Beloved, as one who is ever ready to write to you about that salvation which is your common concern, I am compelled to send you this letter of warning; you have a battle to fight over the faith that was handed down, once for all, to the saints.
 Jude	Jud	71	1	4	Godless men, long since destined thus to incur condemnation, have found their way secretly into your company, and are perverting the life of grace our God has bestowed on us into a life of wantonness; they even deny Jesus Christ, our one Lord and Master.
 Jude	Jud	71	1	5	Learn one lesson, and you know all. Let me remind you, how the Saviour who had rescued his people from Egypt went on to destroy those who had proved unfaithful.
 Jude	Jud	71	1	6	The angels, too, who left the place assigned to them, instead of keeping their due order, he has imprisoned in eternal darkness, to await their judgement when the great day comes.
 Jude	Jud	71	1	7	So with Sodom and Gomorrha and the cities round them, which fell into the same debauchery as their neighbours and pursued unnatural lust; they bear, for our warning, their sentence of eternal fire.
 Jude	Jud	71	1	8	And so it is with these as it was with those others; they pollute nature, they defy authority, they insult august names.
 Jude	Jud	71	1	9	(And yet, when the archangel Michael held debate with the devil, in their dispute over the body of Moses, he did not venture to accuse him insultingly; he was content to say, May the Lord rebuke thee.)
 Jude	Jud	71	1	10	Such men sneer at the things they cannot understand; like the brute beasts they derive knowledge only from their senses, and it serves to corrupt them.
 Jude	Jud	71	1	11	Woe betide them, they have followed in the path of Cain; greed, that led Balaam astray, has been their ruin; they have taken part in the fatal rebellion of Core.
 Jude	Jud	71	1	12	What defilement there is in their banquets, as they fare sumptuously at your side, shepherds that feed themselves without scruple! They are clouds with no water in them, driven before the winds, autumn trees that bear no fruit, given over anew to death, plucked up by the roots;
 Jude	Jud	71	1	13	they are fierce waves of the sea, with shame for their crests, wandering stars, with eternal darkness and storm awaiting them.
 Jude	Jud	71	1	14	Of these, among others, Enoch was speaking, Adam’s descendant in the seventh degree, when he prophesied, Behold, the Lord came with his saints in their thousands,
 Jude	Jud	71	1	15	to carry out his sentence on all men, and to convict the godless. Godless and sinners, with how many ungodly acts they have defied God, with how many rebellious words have they blasphemed him!
 Jude	Jud	71	1	16	Such men go about whispering and complaining, and live by the rule of their own appetites; meanwhile, their mouths are ready with fine phrases, to flatter the great when it serves their ends.
 Jude	Jud	71	1	17	But as for you, beloved, keep in mind the warnings given you long since by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ;
 Jude	Jud	71	1	18	how they told you, that mocking spirits must needs appear in the last age, who would make their own ungodly appetites into a rule of life.
 Jude	Jud	71	1	19	Such are the men who now keep themselves apart; animal natures, without the life of the Spirit.
 Jude	Jud	71	1	20	It is for you, beloved, to make your most holy faith the foundation of your lives, and to go on praying in the power of the Holy Spirit;
 Jude	Jud	71	1	21	to maintain yourselves in the love of God, and wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, with eternal life for your goal.
 Jude	Jud	71	1	22	To some you must give a hearing, and confute them;
 Jude	Jud	71	1	23	others you must pluck out of the fire, and rescue them; others again you can only pity, while you shun them; even the outward fringe of what the flesh has defiled must be hateful to you.
 Jude	Jud	71	1	24	There is one who can keep you clear of fault, and enable you to stand in the presence of his glory, triumphant and unreproved, when our Lord Jesus Christ comes;
 Jude	Jud	71	1	25	to him, who alone is God, to him, who gives us salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord, glory and majesty and power and domination are due, before time was, and now, and for all ages. Amen.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	1	1	This is a revelation from Jesus Christ, which God has allowed him to make known to his servants, of things which must soon find their due accomplishment. And he has sent his angel to disclose the pattern of it to his servant John,
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	1	2	one who bore witness for God’s word, and for the truth concerning Jesus Christ, as his own eyes had seen it.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	1	3	A blessing on him who reads this, and on all who listen to these words of prophecy, and keep true to their message; the time is close at hand.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	1	4	Thus John writes to the seven churches in Asia, Grace and peace be yours, from him who is, and ever was, and is still to come, and from the seven spirits that stand before his throne;
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	1	5	and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, first-born of the risen dead, who rules over all earthly kings. He has proved his love for us, by washing us clean from our sins in his own blood,
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	1	6	and made us a royal race of priests, to serve God, his Father; glory and power be his through endless ages, Amen.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	1	7	Behold, he comes with clouds about him, seen by every eye, seen by those who wounded him, and he shall bring lamentation to all the tribes of earth. So it must be, Amen.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	1	8	I am Alpha, I am Omega, the beginning of all things and their end, says the Lord God; he who is, and ever was, and is still to come, the Almighty.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	1	9	I, John, your brother, who share your ill-usage, your royal dignity, and your endurance in Christ Jesus, was set down on the island called Patmos, for love of God’s word and of the truth concerning Jesus.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	1	10	And there, on the Lord’s day, I fell into a trance, and heard behind me a voice, loud as the call of a trumpet,
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	1	11	which said, Write down all thou seest in a book, and send it to the seven churches in Asia, to Ephesus, and Smyrna, and Pergamum, and Thyatira, and Sardis, and Philadelphia, and Laodicea.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	1	12	So I turned, to see what voice it was that was speaking to me. And as I turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks,
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	1	13	and in the midst of these seven golden candlesticks one who seemed like a son of man, clothed in a long garment, with a golden girdle about his breast.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	1	14	The hair on his head was like wool snow-white, and his eyes like flaming fire,
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	1	15	his feet like orichalc melted in the crucible, and his voice like the sound of water in deep flood.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	1	16	In his right hand were seven stars; from his mouth came a sword sharpened at both its edges; and his face was like the sun when it shines at its full strength.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	1	17	At the sight of him, I fell down at his feet like a dead man; and he, laying his right hand on me, spoke thus: Do not be afraid; I am before all, I am at the end of all,
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	1	18	and I live. I, who underwent death, am alive, as thou seest, to endless ages, and I hold the keys of death and hell.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	1	19	Write down thy vision of what now is, and what must befall hereafter.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	1	20	As for the meaning of the seven stars which thou hast seen in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches thou knowest, and the candlesticks, seven in number, are the seven churches.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	2	1	To the angel of the church at Ephesus write thus: A message to thee from him who bears the seven stars in his right hand, and walks amidst the seven golden candlesticks:
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	2	2	I know of all thy doings, all thy toil and endurance; how little patience thou hast with wickedness, how thou hast made trial of such as usurp the name of apostle, and found them false.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	2	3	Yes, thou endurest, and all thou hast borne for the love of my name has not made thee despair.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	2	4	Yet there is one charge I make against thee; of losing the charity that was thine at first.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	2	5	Remember the height from which thou hast fallen, and repent, and go back to the old ways; or else I will come to visit thee, and, when I find thee still unrepentant, will remove thy candlestick from its place.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	2	6	Yet this is in thy favour, thou dost abhor the ways of the Nicolaitans, as I, too abhor them.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	2	7	Listen, you that have ears, to the message the Spirit has for the churches. Who wins the victory? I will give him fruit from the tree of life, which grows in the Paradise of my God.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	2	8	And to the angel of the church at Smyrna write thus: A message to thee from him, who is before all and at the end of all, who underwent death and now is alive:
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	2	9	I know how sorely tried thou art, how stricken with poverty (yet, all the while, so rich); how thy name is traduced by men who claim to be Jews (though they are no true Jews; they are rather the chosen people of Satan).
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	2	10	Do not be afraid of the suffering thou art to undergo. Before long, the devil will throw some of you into prison, to have your faith tested there, and for ten days you shall be in sore distress. Keep faith with me to the point of death, and I will crown thee with life.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	2	11	Listen, you that have ears, to the message the Spirit has for the churches. Who wins the victory? The second death shall have no power to hurt him.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	2	12	And to the angel of the church at Pergamum write thus: A message to thee from him whose sword is sharpened at both its edges:
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	2	13	I know well in what a place thou dwellest, a place where Satan sits enthroned. And yet thou art true to my name, and hast not disowned thy faith in me. Such in former times was Antipas, who bore me faithful witness, and was put to death in Satan’s dwelling-place, your city.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	2	14	Yet here and there I have fault to find with thee; thou hast followers there of the school of Balaam. It was Balaam who taught Balac how to lay a trap for the people of Israel, when they ate what was sacrificed to idols and fell into fornication;
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	2	15	and thou, too, hast followers of the Nicolaitan school.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	2	16	Do thou, in thy turn, repent; or I will quickly come to visit thee, and fight against them with the sword of my mouth.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	2	17	Listen, you that have ears, to the message the Spirit has for the churches. Who wins the victory? I will feed him with the hidden manna, and give him a white stone, on which stone a new name is written, known to him only who receives it.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	2	18	And to the angel of the church at Thyatira write thus: A message to thee from the Son of God, who has eyes like flaming fire, and feet like orichalc:
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	2	19	I know of all thy doings, thy faith, thy love, thy generosity, thy endurance, how in these last days thou art more active than at first.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	2	20	Yet here and there I have fault to find with thee; thou allowest the woman Jezabel, who claims the gift of prophecy, to mislead my servants with her teaching, so that they fall into fornication, and eat what is offered to idols.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	2	21	I have given her time for repentance, but she will not mend her harlot’s ways.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	2	22	I have a bed ready to lay her in; and those who commit adultery with her will be in sore straits, if they do not repent of their wrong-doing.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	2	23	And her children I will kill outright, so that all the churches may know me for one who probes the innermost heart, and will repay each of you what his deeds have earned. But I say to you,
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	2	24	those others in Thyatira who do not follow this teaching, who have never learned the deep mysteries (as they are called) which Satan offers; I have no fresh burden to lay upon you;
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	2	25	keep hold of what is in your grasp already, until I come.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	2	26	Who wins the victory? Who will do my bidding to the last? I will give him authority over the nations;
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	2	27	to herd them like sheep with a crook of iron, breaking them in pieces like earthenware;
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	2	28	the same authority which I myself hold from my Father. And the Star of morning shall be his.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	2	29	Listen, you that have ears, to the message the Spirit has for the churches.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	3	1	And to the church’s angel at Sardis write thus: A message to thee from him who bears the seven spirits of God, and the seven stars: I know of all thy doings, how thou dost pass for a living man, and all the while art a corpse.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	3	2	Rouse thyself, and rally whatever else still lives, but lives at the point of death. There are tasks my God expects of thee, and I find them unfulfilled.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	3	3	Remember how the gift, how the message came to thee; hold it fast, and repent. If thou failest in thy watch, I will come upon thee like a thief; thou shalt never know the hour of my coming to thee.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	3	4	Yet here and there in Sardis thou canst claim souls which have kept their garments undefiled, and these shall bear me company, clothed in white; it is their due.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	3	5	Who wins the victory? So shall he be clothed, in white garments; his name I will never blot out of the book of life, his name I will acknowledge before my Father and his angels.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	3	6	Listen, you that have ears, to the message the Spirit has for the churches.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	3	7	And to the angel of the church at Philadelphia write thus: A message to thee from him, who is all holiness and truth; who bears the key of David, so that none may shut when he opens, none open when he shuts:
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	3	8	I know of thy doings, and see, I have set before thee an open door, there is no shutting it. I know how little thy strength is, and yet thou hast been true to my message, and hast not denied my name.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	3	9	Before long, I will give thee for thy own some of Satan’s chosen people, the men who falsely claim to be Jews when they are none; before long, I will make them come to thee, doing reverence at thy feet, and acknowledging the love I have shewn for thee.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	3	10	Thou hast kept true to my lesson of endurance, and I will keep thee safe from the hour of trial which is soon to fall upon the whole world, for the testing of all who dwell on the earth.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	3	11	Patience, I am coming soon; hold what is in thy grasp, so that none may rob thee of thy crown.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	3	12	Who wins the victory? I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, never to leave it again. I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city my God has built, that new Jerusalem which my God is even now sending down from heaven, and my own new name.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	3	13	Listen, you that have ears, to the message the Spirit has for the churches.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	3	14	And to the angel of the church at Laodicea write thus: A message to thee from the Truth, the faithful and unerring witness, the source from which God’s creation began:
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	3	15	I know of thy doings, and find thee neither cold nor hot; cold or hot, I would thou wert one or the other.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	3	16	Being what thou art, lukewarm, neither cold nor hot, thou wilt make me vomit thee out of my mouth.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	3	17	I am rich, thou sayest, I have come into my own; nothing, now, is wanting to me. And all the while, if thou didst but know it, it is thou who art wretched, thou who art to be pitied. Thou art a beggar, blind and naked;
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	3	18	and my counsel to thee is, to come and buy from me what thou needest; gold, proved in the fire, to make thee rich, and white garments, to clothe thee, and cover up the nakedness which dishonours thee; rub salve, too, upon thy eyes, to restore them sight.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	3	19	It is those I love that I correct and chasten; kindle thy generosity, and repent.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	3	20	See where I stand at the door, knocking; if anyone listens to my voice and opens the door, I will come in to visit him, and take my supper with him, and he shall sup with me.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	3	21	Who wins the victory? I will let him share my throne with me; I too have won the victory, and now I sit sharing my Father’s throne.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	3	22	Listen, you that have ears, to the message the Spirit has for the churches.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	4	1	Then a vision came to me; I saw a door in heaven, standing open. And the same voice, which I had heard speaking to me before, loud as the call of a trumpet, said to me, Come up to my side, and I will shew thee what must find, after this, its due accomplishment.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	4	2	And all at once I was in a trance, and saw where a throne stood in heaven, and one sat there enthroned.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	4	3	He who sat there bore the semblance of a jewel, jasper or sardius, and there was a rainbow about the throne, like a vision of emerald.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	4	4	Round it were twenty-four seats, and on these sat twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with crowns of gold on their heads.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	4	5	Lightnings came out from the throne, and mutterings, and thunders, and before it burned seven lamps, which are the seven spirits of God;
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	4	6	facing it was a whole sea of glass, like crystal. And in the midst, where the throne was, round the throne itself, were four living figures, that had eyes everywhere to see before them and behind them.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	4	7	The first figure was that of a lion, the second that of an ox, the third had a man’s look, and the fourth was that of an eagle in flight.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	4	8	Each of the four figures had six wings, with eyes everywhere looking outwards and inwards; day and night they cried unceasingly, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who ever was, and is, and is still to come.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	4	9	And as often as these figures gave glory and honour and blessing to him who sat on the throne, who lives for ever and ever,
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	4	10	the twenty-four elders fell down in worship before him who sat on the throne, who lives for ever and ever, and threw down their crowns before the throne, crying out,
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	4	11	Thou, our Lord God, claimest as thy due glory and honour and power; by thee all things were created; nothing ever was, nothing was ever created, but in obedience to thy will.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	5	1	And now I saw that he who sat on the throne carried in his right hand a scroll. The inside of the page and the outside were both written on, and it was sealed with seven seals.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	5	2	And I saw an angel of sovereign strength, who was crying in a loud voice, Who claims the right to open the book, and break the seals on it?
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	5	3	But there was no one in heaven, or on earth, or under the earth, who could open the scroll and have sight of it.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	5	4	I was all in tears, that none should be found worthy to open the scroll or have sight of it;
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	5	5	until one of the elders said to me, No need for tears; here is one who has gained the right to open the book, by breaking its seven seals, the Lion that comes from the tribe of Juda, from the stock of David.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	5	6	Then I saw, in the midst, where the throne was, amid the four figures and the elders, a Lamb standing upright, yet slain (as I thought) in sacrifice. He had seven horns, and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God, that go out to do his bidding everywhere on earth.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	5	7	He now came, and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne,
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	5	8	and when he disclosed it, the four living figures and the twenty-four elders fell down in the Lamb’s presence. Each bore a harp, and they had golden bowls full of incense, the prayers of the saints.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	5	9	And now it was a new hymn they sang, Thou, Lord, art worthy to take up the book and break the seals that are on it. Thou wast slain in sacrifice; out of every tribe, every language, every people, every nation thou hast ransomed us with thy blood and given us to God.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	5	10	Thou hast made us a royal race of priests, to serve God; we shall reign as kings over the earth.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	5	11	Then I heard, in my vision, the voices of a multitude of angels, standing on every side of the throne, where the living figures and the elders were, in thousands of thousands,
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	5	12	and crying aloud, Power and Godhead, wisdom and strength, honour and glory and blessing are his by right, the Lamb that was slain.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	5	13	And every creature in heaven and on earth, and under the earth, and on the sea, and all that is in it, I heard crying out together, Blessing and honour and glory and power, through endless ages, to him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	5	14	Then the four living figures said, Amen; and the twenty-four elders fell prostrate, worshipping him who lives for ever and ever.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	6	1	Then, in my vision, the Lamb broke open one of the seven seals, and with that I heard one of the four living figures say, in a voice like thunder, Come and look.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	6	2	So I looked, and saw there a white horse, whose rider carried a bow; a crown was given him, and he rode out victorious, and to win victory.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	6	3	And when he broke the second seal, I heard the second figure say, Come and look;
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	6	4	and a second horse came out, fiery-red, whose rider was empowered to take away all peace from the world, bidding men slay one another; and a great sword was given to him.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	6	5	And when he broke the third seal, I heard the third figure say, Come and look; so I looked, and saw there a black horse, whose rider carried in his hand a pair of scales;
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	6	6	I thought, too, I heard a voice that came from where the living figures were. A silver piece, it said, for a quart of wheat, a silver piece for three quarts of barley; but do the wine and the oil no hurt.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	6	7	And when he broke the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living figure say, Come and look.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	6	8	So I looked, and saw there a cream-white horse; its rider was called Death, and Hell went at his bridle-rein; he was allowed to have his way with all the four quarters of the world, killing men by the sword, by famine, by plague, and through wild beasts that roam the earth.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	6	9	And when he broke the fifth seal, I saw there, beneath the altar, the souls of all who had been slain for love of God’s word and of the truth they held,
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	6	10	crying out with a loud voice, Sovereign Lord, the holy, the true, how long now before thou wilt sit in judgement, and exact vengeance for our blood from all those who dwell on earth?
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	6	11	Whereupon a white robe was given to each of them, and they were bidden to take their rest a little while longer, until their number had been made up by those others, their brethren and fellow servants, who were to die as they had died.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	6	12	Then, in my vision, he broke the sixth seal; and with that there was a great earthquake, and the sun grew dark as sackcloth, and the whole moon blood-red;
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	6	13	the stars of heaven fell to earth, like unripe fruit shaken from a fig-tree, when a high wind rocks it;
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	6	14	the sky folded up like a scroll, and disappeared; no mountain, no island, but was removed from its place.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	6	15	The kings of the world with their noblemen and their captains, men of wealth and of strength, all alike, slaves and free men, took shelter in caves and rock-fastnesses among the hills.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	6	16	Fall on us, they said to the hills and the rocks, and hide us from the presence of him who sits on the throne, and from the vengeance of the Lamb.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	6	17	Which of us can stand his ground, now that the great day, the day of their vengeance, has come?
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	7	1	And now I saw four angels, standing at the world’s four corners, and holding back the four winds of the world, so that no wind should blow on land or sea, or upon any of the trees.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	7	2	And I saw a second angel coming up from the east, with the seal of the living God. And he cried out with a loud voice to the four angels who were empowered to lay waste land and sea;
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	7	3	Do not lay waste land or sea or wood, until we have put a seal on the foreheads of those who serve our God.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	7	4	Then I heard the count of those who were sealed, a hundred and forty-four thousand of them, taken from every tribe of the sons of Israel.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	7	5	Twelve thousand were sealed from the tribe of Juda, twelve thousand from the tribe of Ruben, twelve thousand from the tribe of Gad;
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	7	6	twelve thousand from the tribe of Nephthali, twelve thousand from the tribe of Aser, twelve thousand from the tribe of Manasses;
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	7	7	twelve thousand from the tribe of Simeon, twelve thousand from the tribe of Levi, twelve thousand from the tribe of Issachar;
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	7	8	twelve thousand from the tribe of Zabulon, twelve thousand from the tribe of Joseph, twelve thousand from the tribe of Benjamin.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	7	9	And then I saw a great multitude, past all counting, taken from all nations and tribes and peoples and languages. These stood before the throne in the Lamb’s presence, clothed in white robes, with palm-branches in their hands,
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	7	10	and cried with a loud voice, To our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, all saving power belongs.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	7	11	And all the angels that were standing round the throne, round the elders and the living figures, fell prostrate before the throne and paid God worship;
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	7	12	Amen, they cried, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honour and power and strength belong to our God through endless ages, Amen.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	7	13	And now one of the elders turned to me, and asked, Who are they, and whence do they come, these who are robed in white?
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	7	14	My Lord, said I, thou canst tell me. These, he said, have come here out of the great affliction; they have washed their robes white in the blood of the Lamb.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	7	15	And now they stand before God’s throne, serving him day and night in his temple; the presence of him who sits on the throne shall overshadow them.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	7	16	They will not be hungry or thirsty any more; no sun, no noonday heat, shall fall across their path.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	7	17	The Lamb, who dwells where the throne is, will be their shepherd, leading them out to the springs whose water is life; and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	8	1	Then he broke open the seventh seal; and, for about half an hour, there was silence in heaven.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	8	2	And now I saw seven trumpets given to the seven angels who stand in God’s presence.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	8	3	There was another angel that came and took his stand at the altar, with a censer of gold; and incense was given him in plenty, so that he could make an offering on the golden altar before the throne, out of the prayers said by all the saints.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	8	4	So, from the angel’s hand, the smoke of the incense went up in God’s presence, kindled by the saints’ prayer.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	8	5	Then the angel took his censer, filled it up with fire-brands from the altar, and threw it down on to the earth; thunder followed, and mutterings, and lightning, and a great earthquake.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	8	6	And now the seven angels with the seven trumpets made ready to sound them.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	8	7	When the first sounded, there was a storm of hail and fire, mingled with blood, that fell on the earth, burning up a third part of earth, burning up a third of the trees, burning up all the green grass on it.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	8	8	And when the second angel sounded, it was as if a great mountain, all in flames, fell into the sea, turning a third part of the sea into blood,
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	8	9	and killing a third of all the creatures that live in the sea, and wrecking a third of the ships.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	8	10	And when the third angel sounded, a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, fell upon a third part of the rivers, and on the springs of water.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	8	11	The name of this star is Wormwood; and it changed a third of the water into wormwood, till many died of drinking the water, so bitter had it become.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	8	12	And when the fourth angel sounded, a third of the sun and a third of the moon and a third of the stars were smitten with darkness, so that the day must go without light for a third of its length, and the night too.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	8	13	And I heard, in my vision, words spoken by an eagle that flew across the middle part of heaven, crying aloud, Woe, woe, woe to all that dwell on earth, when those other calls are sounded by the three angels whose trumpets have yet to sound.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	9	1	And when the fifth angel sounded, I saw where a star had fallen from heaven to earth. This star was entrusted with the key of that shaft which leads to the abyss.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	9	2	So it opened the shaft which leads to the abyss, and smoke rose from the shaft as smoke rises from a great furnace, till the smoke rising from the shaft darkened both the sun and the air.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	9	3	And out of the smoke a swarm of locusts spread over the world, endowed with such power for mischief as scorpions have on earth;
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	9	4	they were not to injure the grass on the land, the green things that grew there, or the trees; they were to attack men, such men as did not bear God’s mark on their foreheads.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	9	5	These they had no power to kill, only to inflict pain on them during a space of five months; such pain as a man feels when he has been stung by a scorpion.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	9	6	(When those days come, men will be looking for the means of death, and there will be no finding it; longing to die, and death will always give them the slip.)
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	9	7	The semblance of these locusts was that of horses caparisoned for war; on their heads they wore a kind of circlet that shone like gold, and their faces were like human faces;
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	9	8	they had hair like women’s hair, and teeth like lions’ teeth.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	9	9	They wore breastplates that might have been of iron, and the noise of their wings was like the noise of chariots, drawn at full speed by many horses into battle.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	9	10	It was their tails and the stings in their tails that made them like scorpions, and with these they were empowered to do men hurt for a space of five months. And they fought under a king;
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	9	11	their king was the angel of the abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, in Greek Apollyon, that is, in Latin, the Exterminator.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	9	12	Of the three woes that were pronounced, one is now past; the two others are still to come.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	9	13	And when the sixth angel sounded, I heard a voice that came from the four corners of the golden altar which stands in the presence of God.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	9	14	It said to the sixth angel, as he stood there with his trumpet, Release the four angels who are imprisoned by the great river, the river Euphrates.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	9	15	So these were released, four angels who were waiting for the year, the month, the day, the hour, when they were to destroy a third part of mankind.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	9	16	And the muster of the armies that followed them on horseback (for I heard their muster called) was twenty thousand armies of ten thousand.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	9	17	This is what I saw in my vision of the horses and of their riders; the riders had breastplates of fiery red, and blue, and brimstone yellow, and the horses’ heads seemed like the heads of lions, with fire and smoke and brimstone coming out of their mouths.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	9	18	This fire, this smoke, this brimstone that came out of their mouths were three plagues, from which a third part of mankind perished.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	9	19	The power these horses have to do mischief lies in their mouths and in their tails; their tails are like serpents, with serpents’ heads, and they use them to do hurt.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	9	20	The rest of mankind, that did not perish by these plagues, would not turn away from the things their own hands had fashioned; still worshipped evil spirits, false gods of gold and silver and brass and stone and wood, that can neither see, nor hear, nor move.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	9	21	Nor would they repent of the murders, the sorceries, the fornications, and the thefts which they committed.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	10	1	And now I saw a second angel of sovereign strength coming down from heaven, with a cloud for his vesture, and a rainbow about his head; with a face bright as the sun, and legs like pillars of fire.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	10	2	He carried in his hand an open book. Setting his right foot on the sea, and his left on the dry land,
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	10	3	he cried with a loud voice, like the roaring of a lion; and as he cried, the seven thunders of heaven made their voices heard.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	10	4	And I, when the seven thunders had finished their utterance, was making as if to write it down, when I heard a voice say from heaven, Do not write down the message of the seven thunders, keep it sealed.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	10	5	Then that angel, whom I had already seen with his feet on the sea and on the dry land, lifted up his right hand towards heaven,
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	10	6	and swore an oath by him who lives through endless ages, who made heaven and all that is in heaven, earth and all that is on earth, the sea and all that is in the sea. He swore that there should be no more waiting;
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	10	7	when the time came for the seventh angel to make himself heard, as he stood ready to sound his trumpet, God’s secret design, made known by his servants the prophets, would be accomplished.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	10	8	Then once more I heard the voice speaking to me from heaven, thus: Go and take the open book from the hand of that angel, whose feet are on the sea and on the dry land.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	10	9	So I went to the angel, bidding him give me the book. Take it, he said, and eat it; it will turn thy belly sour, though in thy mouth it be as sweet as honey.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	10	10	So I took the book from the angel’s hand and ate it; it was sweet as honey in my mouth, but my belly turned sour once I had eaten it.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	10	11	Then he said to me, Thou art to make a fresh prophecy, which concerns many peoples, many races, many languages, and many kings.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	11	1	Then I was given a reed, shaped like a wand, and word came to me, Up, and measure God’s temple, and the altar, and reckon up those who worship in it.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	11	2	But leave out of thy reckoning the court which is outside the temple; do not measure that, because it has been made over to the Gentiles, who will tread the holy city under foot for the space of forty-two months.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	11	3	Meanwhile I will give the power of prophecy to my two witnesses; for twelve hundred and sixty days they shall prophesy, dressed in sackcloth;
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	11	4	these are the two olive-trees, the two candlesticks thou knowest of, that stand before him who is Lord of the earth.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	11	5	Does anyone try to hurt them? Fire will come out from their mouths and devour such enemies of theirs; that will be the end of all who try to do them hurt.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	11	6	These two have it in their power to shut the doors of heaven, and let no rain fall during the days of their ministry; they can turn the waters into blood, and smite the earth with any other plague, whenever they will.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	11	7	Then, when they have borne me witness to the full, the beast which comes up out of the abyss will make war on them, and defeat and kill them.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	11	8	Their bodies will lie in the open street, in that great city which is called Sodom or Egypt in the language of prophecy; there, too, their Lord was crucified.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	11	9	For three days and a half, men of every tribe and people and language and race will gaze at their bodies, those bodies to which they refuse burial;
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	11	10	and all who dwell on earth will triumph over them, and take their ease, and send presents to one another; such a torment were these two prophets to all that dwell on the earth.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	11	11	Then, after three and a half days, by God’s gift the breath of life entered into them, and they rose to their feet, while great dread fell on all who watched them.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	11	12	Then they heard a loud voice from heaven, Come up to my side; and, while their enemies watched them, they went up, amid the clouds, to heaven.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	11	13	At that hour there was a great earthquake, which overthrew a tenth of the city; the count of those who were killed by the earthquake was seven thousand, and the rest were filled with dread, and acknowledged the glory of God in heaven.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	11	14	So the second of the three woes that were pronounced is past, and the third will come speedily.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	11	15	Then the seventh angel sounded, and with that, a great cry was raised in heaven, The dominion of the world has passed to the Lord of us all, and to Christ his anointed; he shall reign for ever and ever, Amen.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	11	16	And the twenty-four elders who sit enthroned in God’s presence fell prostrate, worshipping God and crying out,
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	11	17	Lord God Almighty, who art, and ever wast, and art still to come, we give thee thanks for assuming that high sovereignty which belongs to thee, and beginning thy reign.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	11	18	The heathen have vented their rage upon us, but now the day of thy retribution has come; the time when thou wilt judge the dead, rewarding thy servants, prophets and holy men and all who fear thy name, little or great, and destroying the corrupters of the world.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	11	19	After this, God’s heavenly temple was thrown open, and the ark of the covenant was plain to view, standing in his temple; and there were lightnings, and mutterings, and an earthquake, and a great storm of hail.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	12	1	And now, in heaven, a great portent appeared; a woman that wore the sun for her mantle, with the moon under her feet, and a crown of twelve stars about her head.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	12	2	She had a child in her womb, and was crying out as she travailed, in great pain of her delivery.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	12	3	Then a second portent appeared in heaven; a great dragon was there, fiery-red, with seven heads and ten horns, and on each of the seven heads a royal diadem;
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	12	4	his tail dragged down a third part of the stars in heaven, and flung them to earth. And he stood fronting the woman who was in childbirth, ready to swallow up the child as soon as she bore it.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	12	5	She bore a son, the son who is to herd the nations like sheep with a crook of iron; and this child of hers was caught up to God, right up to his throne,
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	12	6	while the mother fled into the wilderness, where God had prepared a place of refuge for her, and there, for twelve hundred and sixty days, she is to be kept safe.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	12	7	Fierce war broke out in heaven, where Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon and his angels fought on their part,
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	12	8	but could not win the day, or stand their ground in heaven any longer;
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	12	9	the great dragon, serpent of the primal age, was flung down to earth; he whom we call the devil, or Satan, the whole world’s seducer, flung down to earth, and his angels with him.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	12	10	Then I heard a voice crying aloud in heaven, The time has come; now we are saved and made strong, our God reigns, and power belongs to Christ, his anointed; the accuser of our brethren is overthrown. Day and night he stood accusing them in God’s presence;
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	12	11	but because of the Lamb’s blood and because of the truth to which they bore witness, they triumphed over him, holding their lives cheap till death overtook them.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	12	12	Rejoice over it, heaven, and all you that dwell in heaven; but woe to you, earth and sea, now that the devil has come down upon you, full of malice, because he knows how brief is the time given him.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	12	13	So the dragon, finding himself cast down to earth, went in pursuit of the woman, the boy’s mother;
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	12	14	but the woman was given two wings, such as the great eagle has, to speed her flight into the wilderness, to her place of refuge, where for a year, and two years, and half a year she will be kept hidden from the serpent’s view.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	12	15	Thereupon the serpent sent a flood of water out of his mouth in pursuit of the woman, to carry her away on its tide;
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	12	16	but earth came to the woman’s rescue. The earth gaped wide, and swallowed up this flood which the dragon had sent out of his mouth.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	12	17	So, in his spite against the woman, the dragon went elsewhere to make war on the rest of her children, the men who keep God’s commandments, and hold fast to the truth concerning Jesus.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	12	18	And he stood there waiting on the sea beach.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	13	1	And out of the sea, in my vision, a beast came up to land, with ten horns and seven heads, and on each of its ten horns a royal diadem; and the names it bore on its heads were names of blasphemy.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	13	2	This beast which I saw was like a leopard, but it had bear’s feet and a lion’s mouth. To it the dragon gave the strength that was his, and great dominion.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	13	3	One of its heads, it seemed, had been mortally wounded, but this deadly wound had been healed. And now the whole world went after the beast in admiration,
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	13	4	falling down and praising the dragon for giving the beast all this dominion; praising the beast too. Who is a match for the beast? they asked; Who is fit to make war upon him?
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	13	5	And he was given power of speech, to boast and to blaspheme with, and freedom to work his will for a space of forty-two months.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	13	6	So he began to utter blasphemy against God, blasphemy against his name, against his dwelling-place and all those who dwell in heaven.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	13	7	He was allowed, too, to levy war on the saints, and to triumph over them. The dominion given to him extended over all tribes and peoples and languages and races;
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	13	8	all the dwellers on earth fell down in adoration of him, except those whose names the Lamb has written down in his book of life, the Lamb slain in sacrifice ever since the world was made.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	13	9	Listen to this, you that have ears to hear with.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	13	10	The captor will go into captivity; he who slays with the sword must himself be slain with the sword. Such good ground have the saints for their endurance, and for their faithfulness.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	13	11	Then, from the land itself, I saw another beast come up; it had two horns like a lamb’s horns, but it roared like a dragon.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	13	12	And it stood in the presence of the former beast, to carry out all that it was empowered to do, bidding the world and all its inhabitants worship the former beast, that beast whose deadly wound was healed.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	13	13	Such wonders could it accomplish, that it brought down fire, before men’s eyes, from heaven to earth;
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	13	14	and by these wonders, which it was enabled to do in its master’s presence, it deluded the inhabitants of the world, bidding those who dwell in it set up an image to that beast which was smitten with the sword, and lived.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	13	15	Further, it was able to put life into that beast’s image, so that even the beast’s image uttered speech; and if anyone refused to worship the image of the beast, it had him put to death.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	13	16	All alike, little and great, rich and poor, free men and slaves, must receive a mark from him on their right hands, or on their foreheads,
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	13	17	and none might buy or sell, unless he carried this mark, which was the beast’s name, or the number that stands for his name.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	13	18	Here is room for discernment; let the reader, if he has the skill, cast up the sum of the figures in the beast’s name, after our human fashion, and the number will be six hundred and sixty-six.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	14	1	Then I looked, and saw where the Lamb stood on mount Sion, amidst a company of a hundred and forty-four thousand, with his name, and his Father’s name, written on their foreheads.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	14	2	And I heard a sound from heaven, louder than water in full flood, or heavy thunder. This sound which I heard seemed to come from harpers, playing on their harps,
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	14	3	as they sang a new song, there before the throne, and the living figures, and the elders. It was a song none else might learn to sing but the hundred and forty-four thousand that were ransomed from the earth.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	14	4	These have kept their virginity undefiled by the touch of woman; these are the Lamb’s attendants, wherever he goes; these have been ransomed for God and the Lamb as the first-fruits of mankind.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	14	5	Falsehood was not found on their lips; they stand there untainted before the throne of God.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	14	6	I saw, too, another angel flying in mid-heaven, carrying with him a final gospel to preach to all those who dwell on the earth, to every race and tribe and language and people.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	14	7	Fear the Lord, he cried aloud, and give him the praise; the hour of his judgement has come. Fall down before him who made heaven and earth, and the sea, and the springs of water.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	14	8	A second angel followed, who cried out, Babylon, great Babylon has fallen; she who made all the nations drunk with the maddening wine of her fornication.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	14	9	And these were followed by a third angel, who cried aloud, Whoever worships the beast and his image, or wears the beast’s mark on forehead or hand,
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	14	10	he too shall drink; but the wine he shall drink is God’s anger, untempered wine poured out in the cup of his vengeance. Fire and brimstone shall be his torment, in the presence of the holy angels, in the presence of the Lamb.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	14	11	The smoke of their torment goes up for ever and ever; day and night no rest is theirs, who worshipped the beast and his image, who bore the mark of his name.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	14	12	This is the test which the saints endure, keeping true to God’s commandment, and the faith of Jesus.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	14	13	I heard a voice, too, from heaven, Write thus: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord. Yes, for ever henceforward, the Spirit says; they are to have rest from their labours; but the deeds they did in life go with them now.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	14	14	Then, in my vision, a white cloud appeared; and on this cloud sat one who seemed like a son of man, with a crown of gold on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	14	15	And now, from the temple, came another angel, crying out to him who sat on the cloud, Put in thy sickle, and reap; the crop of earth is dry, and the time has come to reap it.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	14	16	So he who sat on the cloud put in his sickle, and earth’s harvest was reaped.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	14	17	Then another angel came from the heavenly temple; he too had a sharp sickle.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	14	18	And from the altar came another angel, the same that had power over the fire on it, and cried aloud to the angel with the sharp sickle, Put in thy sharp sickle, and gather the grapes from earth’s vineyard; its clusters are ripe.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	14	19	So the angel put in his sickle over the earth, and gathered in earth’s vintage, which he threw into the great wine-press of God’s anger;
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	14	20	and when the wine-press was trodden out, away from the city, blood came from the wine-press, and reached as high as a horse’s bridle, sixteen hundred furlongs off.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	15	1	This was another great portent I saw in heaven, and a strange one; seven angels, the bearers of seven plagues, those last plagues by which the vengeance of God is finally achieved.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	15	2	I saw, too, what might have been a sea of glass, tinged with fire. And by this sea of glass the victors were standing, safe now from the beast, and his image, and the mark of his name, with harps of God’s fashioning.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	15	3	Theirs is the song of God’s servant Moses, theirs is the song of the Lamb. Lord God almighty, they cry, the deeds thou doest are great and wonderful; King of all the ages, thy ways are just and true.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	15	4	Lord, who alone art holy, who shall refuse reverence and glory to thy name? All the nations shall come and fall down before thee, now that thy just retribution has been made known.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	15	5	Then, as I looked, the tabernacle that bears record in heaven opened its inner shrine,
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	15	6	and the seven angels who bear the seven plagues came out of the shrine, clad in pure white linen, with golden girdles at their breasts.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	15	7	And one of the four living figures gave to these seven angels seven golden cups, filled with the vengeance of God, who lives for ever and ever.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	15	8	Meanwhile, God’s majesty and power filled the whole shrine with smoke, so that none could enter the shrine until the plagues borne by the seven angels had run their course.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	16	1	Then I heard a loud voice coming from the shrine, that said to the seven angels, Go and pour out the seven cups of God’s vengeance on the earth.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	16	2	The first angel went on his errand, pouring out his cup on to the earth; whereupon an ulcer broke out, malignant and troublesome, upon all the men who bore the beast’s mark, and worshipped his image.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	16	3	And the second angel poured out his cup over the sea, where it turned into blood, as if murder had been done there till every living creature in the sea was dead.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	16	4	And the third poured out his cup over the rivers and the springs of water, where it turned into blood.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	16	5	Then I heard the angel of the waters cry out, Holy thou art, O Lord, and wast ever holy, and this is a just award of thine,
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	16	6	blood to drink for those who have shed the blood of thy saints and prophets; it is their due.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	16	7	I heard another, too, saying from the altar, Yes, the judgements thou dost pronounce, Lord God almighty, are true and just.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	16	8	The fourth angel poured out his cup over the sun, which thereupon was given power to afflict mankind with burning heat;
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	16	9	and in the great heat which burned them, men blasphemed the name of God, who disposes of these plagues, instead of repenting, and giving praise to him.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	16	10	And the fifth angel poured out his cup where the beast’s throne was; and with that, all the beast’s kingdom was turned into darkness, in which men sat biting their tongues for pain,
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	16	11	finding cause to blaspheme the God of heaven in their pains and their ulcers, instead of finding cause for repentance in their ill deeds.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	16	12	And the sixth angel poured out his cup over the great river Euphrates, whose waters dried up, to make a passage for the kings that march from the East.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	16	13	Then, in my vision, three unclean spirits appeared in the form of frogs; one from the mouth of the dragon, one from the mouth of the beast, and one from the mouth of his false prophet.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	16	14	These are devilish spirits that can do miracles, and find access to all the kings of the world, bidding them meet in battle when the great day comes, the day of almighty God.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	16	15	(Behold, I come as the thief comes; blessed is he that keeps watch, and is ready clad, so that he has no need to go naked, and be ashamed in men’s sight.)
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	16	16	The place where they are bidden to meet is the place called in Hebrew, Armagedon.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	16	17	And the seventh angel poured out his cup over the air. Then a loud voice came out of the shrine, a voice which cried from the throne, It is over;
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	16	18	and there were lightnings and mutterings and thunder, and a violent earthquake; since man came into the world there was never an earthquake so great and so violent as this.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	16	19	The great city broke in three pieces, while the cities of the heathen came down in ruins. And God did not forget to minister a draught of his wine, his avenging anger, to Babylon, the great city.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	16	20	Gone were all the islands, and the mountains were no more to be seen.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	16	21	And hailstones as big as a talent-weight fell upon mankind out of heaven, till men cursed God for his plague of hail, so great it was, and so grievous.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	17	1	And now one of the angels that bear the seven cups came and spoke to me. Come with me, he said, and I will shew thee how judgement is pronounced on the great harlot, that sits by the meeting-place of many rivers.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	17	2	The kings of the world have committed fornication with her; all the dwellers on earth have been drunk with the wine of her dalliance.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	17	3	Then, in a trance, he carried me off into the wilderness, where I saw a woman riding on a scarlet beast, scrawled over with names of blasphemy; it had seven heads, and ten horns.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	17	4	The woman went clad in purple and scarlet, all hung about with gold and jewels and pearls, and held a golden cup in her hand, full to the brim with those abominations of hers, with the lewdness of her harlot’s ways.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	17	5	There was a title written over her forehead, The mystic Babylon, great mother-city of all harlots, and all that is abominable on earth.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	17	6	I saw this woman drunk with the blood of saints, the blood of those who bore witness to Jesus; and I was filled with great wonder at the sight.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	17	7	But the angel said to me, Why dost thou find cause for wonder? I will disclose to thee the mystery of this woman, and of the beast she rides, with its seven heads and ten horns.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	17	8	The beast thou sawest is that which lived once, and now is dead; soon it must rise from the abyss, and find its way to utter destruction. The sight of this beast which lived once, and now is dead, will strike awe into every dweller on earth, except those whose names have been written, before the world was, in the book of life.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	17	9	Here is need for a discerning mind. These seven heads are seven hills; upon these the woman sits enthroned. They are also seven kings;
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	17	10	of these, five have fallen already, one is reigning now; the last has not come yet, but when he does, his reign will be a short one.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	17	11	And the beast which lived once and now is dead must be reckoned as the eighth, yet it is one of the seven; now it is to find its way to utter destruction.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	17	12	And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, who have not yet received their royal title, but are to enjoy such power as kings have, for one hour, in succession to the beast.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	17	13	All of them have a single policy; they surrender to the beast the power and the dominion which is theirs.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	17	14	And they will fight against the Lamb, but the Lamb will have the mastery of them; he is Lord of all lords, King of all kings; whoever is called, is chosen, is faithful, will take his part.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	17	15	Then he told me, These waters in thy vision, at whose meeting the harlot sits enthroned, are all her peoples, nations, and languages.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	17	16	And the ten horns, which the beast had in thy vision, will become the harlot’s enemies; they will lay her waste, and strip her quite bare, eat her flesh away, and then burn down what is left of her.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	17	17	God has put it into their hearts to carry out his design, and to give their dominion over to the beast, so that at last all the words of God may be fulfilled.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	17	18	And as for the woman of thy vision, she is that great city that bears rule over the rulers of the earth.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	18	1	After this I saw another angel, entrusted with great power, come down from heaven; earth shone with the glory of his presence.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	18	2	And he cried aloud, Babylon, great Babylon is fallen; she has become the abode of devils, the stronghold of all unclean spirits, the eyrie of all birds that are unclean and hateful to man.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	18	3	The whole world has drunk the maddening wine of her fornication; the kings of the earth have lived in dalliance with her, and its merchants have grown rich through her reckless pleasures.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	18	4	And now I heard another voice from heaven say, Come out of her, my people, that you may not be involved in her guilt, nor share the plagues that fall upon her.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	18	5	Her guilt mounts up to heaven; the Lord has kept her sins in remembrance.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	18	6	Deal with her as she has dealt with you; repay her twice over for all she has done amiss; brew double measure for her in the cup she has brewed for others;
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	18	7	requite her with anguish and sorrow for all her pride and luxury. She tells herself, Here I sit enthroned like a queen; widowhood is not for me, I shall never know what it is to mourn;
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	18	8	and all her plagues shall come upon her in one day, death and mourning and famine, and she will be burned to the ground; such power has the God who is her judge.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	18	9	How they will weep over her and beat their breasts, those kings of the earth who once lived in dalliance and took their pleasures with her, as they see the smoke rise where she burns!
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	18	10	Standing at a distance, for fear of sharing her punishment, they will cry out, Alas, Babylon the great, alas, Babylon the strong, in one brief hour judgement has come upon thee!
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	18	11	And all the merchants of the world will weep and mourn over her; who will buy their merchandise now?
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	18	12	Their cargoes of gold and silver, of precious stone and pearl, of lawn and purple, of silk and scarlet; all the citrus wood, the work in ivory and precious stone and brass and iron and marble;
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	18	13	cinnamon and balm, perfume and myrrh and incense, wine and oil and wheat and fine flour, cattle and sheep and horses and chariots, and men’s bodies, and men’s souls.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	18	14	It is gone from thee, the harvest thy soul longed for; all that gaiety and glory is lost to thee, and shall never be seen any more.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	18	15	The merchants that grew rich from such traffic will stand at a distance from her, for fear of sharing her punishment, weeping and mourning;
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	18	16	Alas, they will say, alas for the great city, that went clad in lawn and purple and scarlet, all hung about with gold and jewels and pearls;
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	18	17	in one brief hour all that wealth has vanished. The sea-captains, too, and all that sail between ports, the mariners and all who make their living from the sea, stood at a distance,
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	18	18	crying out, as they saw the smoke rise where she was burning, What city can compare with this great city?
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	18	19	They poured dust on their heads, and cried aloud, weeping and mourning, Alas, alas for the great city, whose magnificence brought wealth to all that had ships at sea; in one brief hour she is laid waste.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	18	20	Triumph, heaven, over her fall, triumph, you saints in heaven, apostles and prophets; God has avenged you on her.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	18	21	And now an angel, of sovereign strength, lifted up a stone like a great mill-stone and cast it into the sea, crying out, So, with one crash of ruin, will Babylon fall, the great city, and there will be no trace of her any more.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	18	22	Never again will men listen there to the music of harper and of minstrel, of flute-player and trumpeter; never again will the craftsmen of all those crafts be found in thee, never again the grinding of a mill heard in thee;
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	18	23	never again the light of lamps shining, never again the voice of bridegroom and of bride. Once the great men of the earth were thy purveyors; once thy sorceries bewitched the world.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	18	24	The blood of prophet and saint lay at her doors; the blood of all that were ever slain on the earth.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	19	1	After this I heard, as it seemed, the voices of countless multitudes crying out in heaven, Alleluia; salvation and glory and power belong to our God;
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	19	2	his sentence is ever true and just, and now he has given sentence against the great harlot, who poisoned the earth with her harlot’s ways; now he has called her to account for the blood of his servants.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	19	3	And again they cried, Alleluia, the smoke of her burning goes up everlastingly.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	19	4	Then the twenty-four elders and the four living figures fell down and worshipped God, where he sits enthroned, crying, Amen, Alleluia.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	19	5	And a voice came from the throne, which said, Praise our God, all you that are his servants, and all you that fear him, little and great alike;
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	19	6	whereupon I heard, as it seemed, the noise of a great multitude, like the noise of water in flood, or the noise of deep thunder, as they cried out, Alleluia, the Lord our God, the Almighty, has claimed his kingdom;
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	19	7	let us rejoice and triumph and give him the praise; the time has come for the wedding-feast of the Lamb. His bride has clothed herself in readiness for it;
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	19	8	hers it is to wear linen of shining white; the merits of the saints are her linen.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	19	9	And now the angel said to me, Write thus: Blessed are those who are bidden to the Lamb’s wedding-feast. All this is true, he said; it is God’s own utterance.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	19	10	Thereupon I fell at his feet, to worship him. But he said, Never that; keep thy worship for God; I am only thy fellow servant, one of those brethren of thine who hold fast the truth concerning Jesus. It is the truth concerning Jesus that inspires all prophecy.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	19	11	Then, in my vision, heaven opened, and I saw a white horse appear. Its rider bore for his title, the Faithful, the True; he judges and goes to battle in the cause of right.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	19	12	His eyes were like flaming fire, and on his brow were many royal diadems; the name written there is one that only he knows.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	19	13	He went clad in a garment deep dyed with blood, and the name by which he is called is the Word of God;
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	19	14	the armies of heaven followed him, mounted on white horses, and clad in linen, white and clean.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	19	15	From his mouth came a two-edged sword, ready to smite the nations; he will herd them like sheep with a crook of iron. He treads out for them the wine-press, whose wine is the avenging anger of almighty God.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	19	16	And this title is written on his cloak, over his thigh, The King of kings, and the Lord of lords.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	19	17	And I saw an angel standing in the sun’s orb, who cried aloud to all the birds that hovered in mid-air, Come and gather at God’s great feast,
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	19	18	where you shall eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of the strong, the flesh of horses and their riders, the flesh of all mankind, free men and slaves, the little and the great.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	19	19	And then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth muster their armies, to join battle with the rider on the white horse and the army which followed him.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	19	20	The beast was made prisoner, and with it the false prophet that did miracles in its presence, deluding all those who bore the beast’s mark and worshipped its image; and both were thrown alive into the fiery lake that burns with brimstone.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	19	21	All the rest were slain by the sword of that horseman, the sword that comes from his mouth; and all the birds feasted on the carrion, and had their fill.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	20	1	I saw, too, an angel come down from heaven, with the key of the abyss in his hand, and a great chain.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	20	2	He made prisoner of the dragon, serpent of the primal age, whom we call the devil, or Satan, and put him in bonds for a thousand years,
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	20	3	thrusting him down to the abyss and locking him in there, and setting a seal over him. He was not to delude the world any more until the thousand years were over; then, for a short time, he is to be released.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	20	4	Then I saw thrones prepared for those to whom judgement was committed; I saw the souls of all those who went to execution for love of the truth concerning Jesus, and of God’s word, and all who would not worship the beast, or its image, or bear its mark on their foreheads and their hands. These were endowed with life, and reigned as kings with Christ for a thousand years;
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	20	5	but the rest of the dead remained lifeless while the thousand years lasted. Such is the first resurrection.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	20	6	Blessed and holy is his lot who has a share in this first resurrection; over such the second death has no power, they will be priests of God, priests of Christ; all those thousand years they will reign with him.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	20	7	Then, when the thousand years are over, Satan will be let loose from his prison, and will go out to seduce the nations that live at the four corners of the earth—that is the meaning of Gog and Magog—and muster them for battle, countless as the sand by the sea.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	20	8	They came up across the whole breadth of the earth, and beleaguered the encampment of the saints, and the beloved city.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	20	9	But God sent fire from heaven to consume them, and the devil, their seducer, was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where, like himself, the beast
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	20	10	and the false prophet will be tormented day and night eternally.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	20	11	And now I saw a great throne, all white, and one sitting on it, at whose glance earth and heaven vanished, and were found no more.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	20	12	Before this throne, in my vision, the dead must come, great and little alike; and the books were opened. Another book, too, was opened, the book of life. And the dead were judged by their deeds, as the books recorded them.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	20	13	The sea, too, gave up the dead that lay there, and death and hell gave up the dead they imprisoned, and each man was judged according to his deeds,
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	20	14	while death and hell were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death;
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	20	15	everyone must be thrown into this lake of fire, unless his name was found written in the book of life.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	21	1	Then I saw a new heaven, and a new earth. The old heaven, the old earth had vanished, and there was no more sea.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	21	2	And I, John, saw in my vision that holy city which is the new Jerusalem, being sent down by God from heaven, all clothed in readiness, like a bride who has adorned herself to meet her husband.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	21	3	I heard, too, a voice which cried aloud from the throne, Here is God’s tabernacle pitched among men; he will dwell with them, and they will be his own people, and he will be among them, their own God.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	21	4	He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death, or mourning, or cries of distress, no more sorrow; those old things have passed away.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	21	5	And he who sat on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. (These words I was bidden write down, words most sure and true.)
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	21	6	And he said to me, It is over. I am Alpha, I am Omega, the beginning of all things and their end; those who are thirsty shall drink—it is my free gift—out of the spring whose water is life.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	21	7	Who wins the victory? He shall have his share in this; I will be his God, and he shall be my son.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	21	8	But not the cowards, not those who refuse belief, not those whose lives are abominable; not the murderers, the fornicators, the sorcerers, the idolaters, not those who are false in any of their dealings. Their lot awaits them in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, and it is the second death.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	21	9	And now an angel came and spoke to me, one of those seven who bear the seven cups charged with the seven last plagues. Come with me, he said, and I will shew thee that bride, whose bridegroom is the Lamb.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	21	10	And he carried me off in a trance to a great mountain, high up, and there shewed me the holy city Jerusalem, as it came down, sent by God, from heaven,
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	21	11	clothed in God’s glory. The light that shone over it was bright as any precious stone, as the jasper when it is most like crystal;
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	21	12	and a great wall was raised high all round it, with twelve gates, and twelve angels at the gates, and the names of the twelve tribes of Israel carved on the lintels;
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	21	13	three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south, three on the west.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	21	14	The city wall, too, had twelve foundation-stones; and these, too, bore names, those of the Lamb’s twelve apostles.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	21	15	The angel who was speaking to me had a rod of gold for a rule, to measure the city, and its gates, and its wall.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	21	16	The city lies foursquare, the same in its length as in its breadth, and when he measured it with his rod, he counted twelve thousand furlongs. Length and breadth and height are everywhere equal.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	21	17	And when he measured its wall, he counted a hundred and forty-four cubits, reckoned by the measure of a man, that is, of an angel.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	21	18	The fashioning of its wall was of jasper, but the city itself was pure gold, that seemed to have the purity of glass.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	21	19	And the foundations of the city wall were worked in every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was a jasper, the second a sapphire, the third a chalcedony, the fourth an emerald;
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	21	20	the fifth a sardonyx, the sixth a sardius, the seventh a chrysolite, the eighth a beryl; the ninth a topaz, the tenth a chrysoprase, the eleventh a jacynth, the twelfth an amethyst.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	21	21	And the twelve gates were twelve single pearls, one pearl for each gate; and the street of the city was of pure gold, that seemed like transparent glass.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	21	22	I saw no temple in it; its temple is the Lord God Almighty, its temple is the Lamb.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	21	23	Nor had the city any need of sun or moon to shew in it; the glory of God shone there, and the Lamb gave it light.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	21	24	The nations will live and move in its radiance; the kings of the earth will bring it their tribute of praise and honour.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	21	25	All day the gates will never be shut (there will be no night there),
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	21	26	as the nations flock into it with their honour and their praise.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	21	27	Nothing that is unclean, no source of corruption or deceit can ever hope to find its way in; there is no entrance but for those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	22	1	He shewed me, too, a river, whose waters give life; it flows, clear as crystal, from the throne of God, from the throne of the Lamb.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	22	2	On either side of the river, mid-way along the city street, grows the tree that gives life, bearing its fruit twelvefold, one yield for each month. And the leaves of this tree bring health to all the nations.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	22	3	No longer can there be any profanation in that city; God’s throne (which is the Lamb’s throne) will be there, with his servants to worship him,
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	22	4	and to see his face, his name written on their foreheads.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	22	5	There will be no more night, no more need of light from lamp or sun; the Lord God will shed his light on them, and they will reign for ever and ever.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	22	6	Then the angel said to me, These words are sure and true. The Lord God who inspires his prophets has sent his angel to tell his servants what must soon find its due accomplishment.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	22	7	Patience, I am coming soon. Blessed is he who holds fast the words of prophecy this book contains.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	22	8	All this I, John, heard and saw, till, hearing and seeing it, I fell down as if to worship at the feet of the angel who revealed it to me.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	22	9	But he said, Never that; I am only a fellow servant of thine, and of thy brother prophets, and of all who hold fast the words which this book contains. Keep thy worship for God.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	22	10	Then the command came to me, Do not seal up the words of prophecy that are contained in this book; the time is close at hand.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	22	11	Meanwhile, the wrong-doer must persist in his deeds of wrong, the corrupt in his corruption, the just man in winning his justification, the holy in his life of holiness.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	22	12	Patience, I am coming soon; and with me comes the award I make, repaying each man according to the life he has lived.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	22	13	I am Alpha, I am Omega, I am before all, I am at the end of all, the beginning of all things and their end.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	22	14	Blessed are those who wash their garments in the blood of the Lamb; so they will have access to the tree which gives life, and find their way through the gates into the city.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	22	15	No room there for prowling dogs, for sorcerers and wantons and murderers and idolaters, for anyone who loves falsehood and lives in it.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	22	16	I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you the assurance of this in your churches; I, the root, I, the offspring of David’s race, I, the bright star that brings in the day.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	22	17	The Spirit and my bride bid me come; let everyone who hears this read out say, Come. Come, you who are thirsty, take, you who will, the water of life; it is my free gift.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	22	18	To all who hear the words of prophecy this book contains, I give this warning. If anyone adds to them, God will add to his punishment the plagues which this book threatens;
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	22	19	and if anyone cancels a word in this book of prophecy, God will cancel his share in the book of life, in the holy city, in all that this book promises.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	22	20	And he who gives this warning says, Indeed I am coming soon. Be it so, then; come, Lord Jesus.
 Apocalypse	Apoc	72	22	21	May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.