Joshua 8 Cross References - LEB

¹ Then Yahweh said to Joshua, "Do not fear or be dismayed. Take _⌊all the fighting men_⌋* with you _⌊and go up immediately to Ai_⌋.* Look, I am giving into your hand the king of Ai, his city, and his land. ² You will do to Ai and its king that which you did to Jericho and its king; you may take only its spoils* and livestock as booty for yourself. Set for yourself an ambush against the city from behind it." ³ So Joshua and _⌊all the fighting men_⌋* went up immediately to Ai. Joshua chose thirty thousand of the best fighting men and sent them by night. ⁴ And he commanded them, saying, "Look, you are to lay an ambush against the city from behind. Do not go very far from the city and be ready. ⁵ Then I and all of the people who are with me will approach the city. And when they go out to meet us _⌊as before_⌋,* we will flee from them.* ⁶ They will come out after us until we draw them away from the city, because they will think, 'They are fleeing from us* _⌊as before_⌋.'* So we will flee from them.* ⁷ Then you will rise up from the ambush and take possession of the city, for Yahweh your God will give it into your hand. ⁸ And when you capture the city you will set it on fire as Yahweh commanded. Look, I have commanded you." ⁹ So Joshua sent them out, and they went to the place of the ambush, and they sat between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai; but Joshua spent the night _⌊with the people_⌋.* ¹⁰ Joshua rose early in the morning and mustered the people, and he went up with the elders of Israel before the people of Ai.* ¹¹ _⌊All the fighting men_⌋* who were with him _⌊went up and drew near before the city_⌋* and camped north of Ai; there was a valley between him and Ai. ¹² And he took about five thousand men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the city. ¹³ So they stationed the forces; all the army was north of the city while _⌊the rear guard was west_⌋.* But Joshua went that night to the middle of the valley. ¹⁴ When the king of Ai saw this, the men of the city hurried and rose early and went out to meet Israel for battle—he* and all his army—to the meeting place before the Arabah.* He did not know that there was an ambush for him behind the city. ¹⁵ Then Joshua and all Israel acted like they were beaten before them, and they fled _⌊in the direction of the wilderness_⌋.* ¹⁶ All of the people who were in the city were called to pursue after them. As they pursued after Joshua, they were drawn away from the city. ¹⁷ Not a man remained in Ai or Bethel who had not gone out after Israel; they left the city open and pursued after Israel. ¹⁸ And Yahweh said to Joshua, "Stretch out the sword* that is in your hand to Ai, because I will give it into your hand." And Joshua stretched out the sword that was in his hand to the city. ¹⁹ The moment he stretched out his hand, those in the ambush stood up quickly from their place and ran. And they went into the city and captured it, quickly setting the city ablaze with fire. ²⁰ Then the men of Ai looked behind them, and they saw smoke from the city rising to the sky; _⌊they had no power to flee this way or that_⌋,* and the people fleeing the wilderness turned around to the pursuers.* ²¹ And Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had captured the city and that the smoke of the city was rising; they returned and struck down the men of Ai. ²² Then the others from the city came out to meet them, _⌊and they found themselves surrounded by Israel_⌋,* _⌊some on one side, and others on the other side_⌋.* And they* struck them down until no survivor or fugitive was left. ²³ But they captured the king of Ai alive, and they brought him to Joshua. ²⁴ When Israel finished slaughtering all the inhabitants of Ai in the open field, in the wilderness where they pursued them, and when all of them had fallen by _⌊the edge of the sword_⌋* until they all had perished, all Israel returned to Ai and attacked it with _⌊the edge of the sword_⌋.* ²⁵ All the people that fell on that day, both men and women, were twelve thousand—all the inhabitants of Ai. ²⁶ For Joshua did not draw back his hand that was stretched out with the sword until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai. ²⁷ Only the livestock and the spoil of that city Israel took as booty for themselves, according to the word of Yahweh that Joshua commanded. ²⁸ So Joshua burned Ai and made it an everlasting heap of rubbish, a desolate place until this day. ²⁹ The king of Ai he hanged on a tree until the time of evening, and as the sun went down Joshua commanded them, and they brought down his dead body from the tree. Then they threw it at the entrance of the gate of the city, and they raised over it a great heap of stones that remains to this day. ³⁰ Then Joshua built an altar on Mount Ebal for Yahweh the God of Israel, ³¹ as Moses Yahweh's servant commanded the _⌊Israelites_⌋,* as it is written in the scroll of the law of Moses: "an altar of unhewn* stones on which no one has _⌊wielded_⌋* an iron implement."* And they offered burnt offerings on it and sacrificed fellowship offerings. ³² And there Joshua wrote on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he* had written, in the presence of the _⌊Israelites_⌋.* ³³ Then all Israel, _⌊foreigner as well as native_⌋,* with the elders, officials, and judges stood _⌊on either side_⌋* of the ark before the priests and the Levites, who carried the ark of the covenant of Yahweh. Half of them stood in front of Mount Gerizim, and the other half in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses Yahweh's servant had commanded before to bless the people of Israel. ³⁴ And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessings* and the curses,* according to all that was written in the scroll of the law. ³⁵ There was not a word from all that Moses commanded that Joshua did not read before the assembly of all Israel, and the women, the little children, and the traveling foreigners* among them.

²¹ See, Yahweh your God has set before you the land; go up and possess it as Yahweh the God of your ancestors* said to you; do not fear and do not be dismayed.'

¹⁸ then remember you must not be afraid of them; you must well remember what Yahweh your God did to Pharaoh and to all of Egypt:

⁸ Yahweh is the one going _⌊before you_⌋;* he will be with you, and he will not leave you alone, and he will not forsake you; you shall not be afraid, and you shall not be discouraged."

⁹ Did I not command you? Be strong and courageous! Do not fear or be dismayed, for Yahweh your God is with you _⌊wherever you go_⌋."*

² And Yahweh said to Joshua, "Look, I am giving Jericho into your hand, its king and the soldiers of the army.

⁶ And Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the ground on his face before the ark of Yahweh until the evening, he and the elders of Israel; and they put dust on their heads.* ⁷ And Joshua said, "Ah, my Lord! Why did you bring this people across the Jordan to give us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us? If only we had been content and stayed beyond the Jordan.

⁹ The Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of this, and they will surround us and cut off our name from the land. What will you do, for your great name?"

¹ Of David.*
Yahweh is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? Yahweh is the refuge of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

³ For not with their sword did they possess the land, and their arm did not give them victory. Rather it was your right hand and your arm and the light of your presence, because you delighted in them.

¹¹ Yahweh of Hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our high stronghold.

² Look! God is my salvation; I will trust, and I will not be afraid, for my strength and might is Yah, Yahweh; and he has become salvation for me."

¹⁰ You must not fear, for I am with you; you must not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, indeed I will help you, indeed I will take hold of you with the right hand of my salvation. ¹¹ Look! All those who are angry with you shall be ashamed and humiliated; _⌊your opponents_⌋* shall be like nothing and shall become lost. ¹² You shall seek them, but* you shall not find them; _⌊your opponents_⌋* shall be like nothing, and the men of your war like nothing. ¹³ For I, Yahweh your God, am grasping your right hand; _⌊it is I who say_⌋* to you, "You must not fear; I myself, I will help you. ¹⁴ You must not fear, O worm of Jacob; people of Israel, I myself, I will help you," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh, "and your redeemer is the holy one of Israel. ¹⁵ Look! I will make you into a new sharp threshing sledge, _⌊with_⌋* sharp edges. You shall thresh and crush the mountains, and you shall make the hills like chaff. ¹⁶ You shall winnow them and the wind shall carry them, and the tempest shall scatter them. And you yourself shall rejoice in Yahweh; you shall boast in the holy one of Israel.

² When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and through the rivers, they shall not flow over you. When you walk through fire, you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not scorch* you.

²⁷ "But as for you, my servant Jacob, you must not be afraid, and Israel, you must not be dismayed, for look, I am going to save you from far, and your offspring from the land of their captivity. And Jacob will return, and he will be quiet, and he will be at ease, and without one who makes him afraid.

²¹ And he changes the times and the seasons, and he deposes kings and he sets up kings; he gives wisdom* to wise men and knowledge to men who know understanding.

³⁷ You, O king, the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power and the might and the glory, ³⁸ and also _⌊human beings wherever they dwell_⌋,* the animals of the field and the birds* of heaven*—he has given into your hand and made you ruler over all of them—you are the head of gold.

²⁵ you will be driven away _⌊from human society_⌋* and _⌊you will dwell_⌋* with the animals* of the field, and you will be caused to graze grass like the oxen _⌊yourself_⌋,* and you will be watered with the dew of heaven, and seven periods of time will pass over you until that you have acknowledged that the Most High is sovereign over the kingdom of humankind, and _⌊to whom he wills_⌋* he gives it.

³⁵ And all the dwellers of the earth are regarded as nothing, and he does _⌊according to_⌋* his desire in the host of heaven and among the dwellers of earth, and there is not one who can hold back his hand, or _⌊ask him_⌋,* 'What are you doing?'

²⁶ And he said to them, "Why are you fearful, you of little faith?" Then he got up and* rebuked the winds and the sea and there was a great calm.

² And Yahweh said to me, 'You should not fear him, for I have given him and all of his army* and his land into your hand. And so you will do to him as you did to Sihon the king of the Amorites,* who was reigning in Heshbon.'

¹⁴ Only the women and the little children and the domestic animals* and all that shall be in the city, all of its spoil you may loot for yourselves, and you may enjoy the spoil of your enemies that Yahweh you God has given to you.

²¹ And they utterly destroyed _⌊by the edge of the sword_⌋* all who were in the city, both men and women, young and old, ox, sheep, and donkey.

⁷ Then you will rise up from the ambush and take possession of the city, for Yahweh your God will give it into your hand.

⁹ So Joshua sent them out, and they went to the place of the ambush, and they sat between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai; but Joshua spent the night _⌊with the people_⌋.*

¹² And he took about five thousand men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the city.

¹⁴ When the king of Ai saw this, the men of the city hurried and rose early and went out to meet Israel for battle—he* and all his army—to the meeting place before the Arabah.* He did not know that there was an ambush for him behind the city.

¹⁹ The moment he stretched out his hand, those in the ambush stood up quickly from their place and ran. And they went into the city and captured it, quickly setting the city ablaze with fire.

²⁴ When Israel finished slaughtering all the inhabitants of Ai in the open field, in the wilderness where they pursued them, and when all of them had fallen by _⌊the edge of the sword_⌋* until they all had perished, all Israel returned to Ai and attacked it with _⌊the edge of the sword_⌋.*

²⁷ Only the livestock and the spoil of that city Israel took as booty for themselves, according to the word of Yahweh that Joshua commanded. ²⁸ So Joshua burned Ai and made it an everlasting heap of rubbish, a desolate place until this day. ²⁹ The king of Ai he hanged on a tree until the time of evening, and as the sun went down Joshua commanded them, and they brought down his dead body from the tree. Then they threw it at the entrance of the gate of the city, and they raised over it a great heap of stones that remains to this day.

¹ And it happened that when Adoni-Zedek king of Jerusalem heard that Joshua captured Ai and had utterly destroyed it (just as he had done to Jericho and its king, so he did to Ai and its king) and that the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel and were among them,

²⁸ Joshua captured Makkedah on that day, and he struck it and its king with _⌊the edge of the sword_⌋;* he utterly destroyed it and everyone that was in it. He did not leave behind a survivor. So he did to the king of Makkedah just as he did to the king of Jericho.

²⁹ So Israel stationed an ambush all around Gibeah. ³⁰ And the _⌊Israelites_⌋* went up against the descendants* of Benjamin on the third day, and they took up positions against Gibeah as before. ³¹ The descendants* of Benjamin went out to meet the troops, and they lured them away from the city and began to inflict casualties on the troops as before, on the main road, one of which goes up to Bethel, the other to Gibeah; and in the field there were about thirty men of Israel. ³² And the descendants* of Benjamin thought,* "They are being defeated before us _⌊as previously_⌋,"* and the _⌊Israelites_⌋* said, "Let us flee and lure them* away from the city to the main roads." ³³ And all the men of Israel got up from their places* and took up positions in Baal Tamar; and the ambush of Israel charged from their places,* from the vicinity of Gibeah.*

¹³ Then Jeroboam sent around an ambush to come behind them. So they were in front of Judah, but the ambush was behind them.

²² And _⌊when_⌋* they began with singing and praise, Yahweh set ambushes against the people* of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir who were coming against Judah. And they were defeated

¹⁶ If he heaps up silver like the dust and fashions clothing like the clay, ¹⁷ he makes it ready, and the righteous will wear it, and the innocent will divide the silver.

⁶ Surely a man walks about as a mere _⌊shadow_⌋;* surely in vain they bustle about. He heaps up possessions but does not know who will gather them in.

²² He who is good will leave an inheritance to _⌊his grandchildren_⌋,* and stored up for the righteous is the wealth of a sinner.

²⁰ A man of faithfulness has abundant blessings, but he who hurries to become rich will not go unpunished.

¹¹ Like a partridge that hatches eggs it did not lay is one who amasses wealth without justice. In the middle of his days it will leave him, and at his end he will prove to be a fool."

¹² Against the walls of Babylon raise a banner; _⌊post a strong watch_⌋,* post watchmen, prepare the ambushes, for Yahweh has both planned as well as performed what he has spoken concerning the inhabitants of Babylon.

²⁰ But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your life* is demanded from you, and the things which you have prepared—whose will they be?' ²¹ So is the one who stores up treasure for himself, and who is not rich toward God!"

³⁹ And they did not know anything* until the deluge came and swept them* all away. So also the coming of the Son of Man will be.

⁵⁰ the master of that slave will come on a day that he does not expect and at an hour that he does not know,

⁶ But in the middle of the night there was a shout, 'Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!'

² for you yourselves well know that the day of the Lord is coming in the same way as a thief in the night.

¹⁰ But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will disappear with a rushing noise, and the celestial bodies will be destroyed by* being burned up, and the earth and the deeds done on it will be disclosed.

¹⁶ All of the people who were in the city were called to pursue after them. As they pursued after Joshua, they were drawn away from the city.

²⁵ And the lords of Shechem set for him ambushes on the top of the mountains, and they robbed all who passed by them along the road; and it was reported to Abimelech.

²⁹ So Israel stationed an ambush all around Gibeah.

³³ And all the men of Israel got up from their places* and took up positions in Baal Tamar; and the ambush of Israel charged from their places,* from the vicinity of Gibeah.*

³⁶ The descendants* of Benjamin saw that they were defeated, and the men of Israel gave ground* to Benjamin because they trusted the ambush that they had set against Gibeah.

² Thus says Yahweh of hosts: 'I have observed what Amalek did to Israel, _⌊how he opposed him_⌋* when he went up from Egypt.

⁵ Then Saul came up to the city of Amalek and set an ambush in the wadi.*

¹⁹ Wisdom gives more strength to the wise than ten rulers who are in the city.

¹⁶ So I concluded that wisdom is better than might, yet the wisdom of the poor is despised, and his words are not heard.

²¹ You therefore do not be persuaded by them, because more than forty men of _⌊their number_⌋* are lying in wait for him, who have bound themselves under a curse neither to eat nor to drink until they have done away with him. And now they are ready, waiting for _⌊you to agree_⌋."*

⁵ The men of Ai killed about thirty-six of them, and they chased them from the gate up to Shebarim and killed them on the slope. And the hearts* of the people melted and became like water.

¹⁶ "Behold, I am sending you out like sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.

³ And Pharaoh will say of the _⌊Israelites_⌋,* 'They are wandering around in the land. The desert has closed in on them.'

⁹ The enemy said, 'I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide plunder, my desire will be full of them, I will draw my sword, my hand will destroy them.'

³² And the descendants* of Benjamin thought,* "They are being defeated before us _⌊as previously_⌋,"* and the _⌊Israelites_⌋* said, "Let us flee and lure them* away from the city to the main roads."

¹¹ Because sentence against an evil deed is not carried out quickly, the heart of _⌊humans_⌋* fills up within them to do evil.

¹² For man does not know his time. Just as fish are caught in a cruel net and like birds who are seized in a snare, so also _⌊humans_⌋* are ensnared at a cruel time when it falls suddenly upon them.

¹ Then Yahweh said to Joshua, "Do not fear or be dismayed. Take _⌊all the fighting men_⌋* with you _⌊and go up immediately to Ai_⌋.* Look, I am giving into your hand the king of Ai, his city, and his land.

¹ Now Naaman was the commander of the army of the king of Aram. He was a great man before his master and _⌊highly regarded_⌋,* for by him Yahweh had given victory to Aram. Now the man was a mighty warrior, but he was afflicted with a skin disease.

³⁰ There is no wisdom, nor understanding, nor counsel to oppose Yahweh. ³¹ A horse is prepared for the day of battle, but to Yahweh belongs the victory.

¹⁶ And they answered Joshua, saying, "All that you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you will send us we will go.

²⁴ And they burned the city and all that was in it with fire; they put only the silver and gold, and the items of copper and iron, into the treasury of the house of Yahweh.

²⁸ So Joshua burned Ai and made it an everlasting heap of rubbish, a desolate place until this day.

⁶ She sent and called for Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh Naphtali and said to him, "Has not Yahweh the God of Israel commanded you? 'Go, _⌊march to_⌋* Mount Tabor, and take ten thousand men from the descendants* of Naphtali and Zebulun.

²⁸ Absalom commanded his servants, saying, "Please watch. At the moment the heart of Amnon is _⌊tipsy_⌋* with wine, then I shall say to you, 'Strike Amnon down,' and you shall kill him! Don't be afraid. Is it not I myself who has commanded you? Be courageous and be _⌊valiant!_⌋*

⁸ And he moved on from there to the hill country, east of Bethel. And he pitched his tent at Bethel on the west, and at Ai on the east. And he built an altar there to Yahweh. And he called on the name of Yahweh.

²¹ So the gift passed on before him, but he himself spent that night in the camp.

² Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth Aven, east of Bethel, and he said to them, "Go up and spy out Ai." And the men went up and spied out Ai.

²⁸ the men of Bethel and Ai, two hundred and twenty-three;

³² The men of Bethel and Ai, one hundred and twenty-three.

³ And Abraham rose up early in the morning and saddled his donkey. And he took two of his servants with him, and Isaac his son. And he chopped wood for a burnt offering. And he got up and went to the place which God had told him.

¹ Joshua rose early in the morning, and they set out from Acacia Grove.* And they came up to the Jordan, he and all the _⌊Israelites_⌋,* and they spent the night there before they crossed over.

¹² Then Joshua got up early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of Yahweh.

¹⁶ So* Joshua rose early in the morning and brought forward Israel, _⌊tribe by tribe_⌋,* and the tribe of Judah was selected by lot.

⁶⁰ I hurry and do not delay to heed your commands.

² You will do to Ai and its king that which you did to Jericho and its king; you may take only its spoils* and livestock as booty for yourself. Set for yourself an ambush against the city from behind it." ³ So Joshua and _⌊all the fighting men_⌋* went up immediately to Ai. Joshua chose thirty thousand of the best fighting men and sent them by night.

⁸ And when you capture the city you will set it on fire as Yahweh commanded. Look, I have commanded you."

¹ These are the words that Moses spoke to all of Israel _⌊on the other side of_⌋* the Jordan in the desert,* in the desert plateau* opposite Suph, between Paran and between Tophel and Laban and Hazeroth and Dizahab.

⁵ Then I and all of the people who are with me will approach the city. And when they go out to meet us _⌊as before_⌋,* we will flee from them.*

³⁴ Then ten thousand well-trained* men from all Israel came out against Gibeah, and the battle became fierce;* they did not know that disaster was about to _⌊close in_⌋* on them. ³⁵ And Yahweh defeated Benjamin in the presence of Israel, and the _⌊Israelites_⌋* destroyed on that day twenty-five thousand one hundred men of Benjamin, all of them _⌊sword-wielding_⌋.* ³⁶ The descendants* of Benjamin saw that they were defeated, and the men of Israel gave ground* to Benjamin because they trusted the ambush that they had set against Gibeah.

¹¹ Surely the princes of Zoan are foolish; the wise of the counselors of Pharaoh give senseless counsel. How can you say to Pharaoh, "I myself am a son of sages, a _⌊descendant_⌋* of ancient kings"?

¹³ The princes of Zoan have become foolish; the princes of Memphis are deceived; the leaders of her tribes have led Egypt astray.

³¹ While the words were still in the mouth of the king, a voice from heaven came, saying, 'To you, King Nebuchadnezzar, it is declared that the kingdom has departed from you,

¹ Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need of anything to be written to you, ² for you yourselves well know that the day of the Lord is coming in the same way as a thief in the night. ³ Whenever they say "Peace and security," then sudden destruction will overtake them like the birth pains of _⌊a pregnant woman_⌋*, and they will not possibly escape.

³ And in greediness they will exploit you with false words, whose condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

⁶¹ In the wilderness: Beth Arabah, Middin, Secacah,

¹ The allotment of the descendants* of Joseph went from the Jordan by Jericho, at the waters of Jericho to the east, into the wilderness, going up from Jericho into the hill country to Bethel;

¹² Their northern border began at the Jordan and went up to the slope of Jericho on the north and continued into the hill country to the west; _⌊it ends_⌋* at the wilderness of Beth Aven.

⁵ Then I and all of the people who are with me will approach the city. And when they go out to meet us _⌊as before_⌋,* we will flee from them.* ⁶ They will come out after us until we draw them away from the city, because they will think, 'They are fleeing from us* _⌊as before_⌋.'* So we will flee from them.*

³¹ The descendants* of Benjamin went out to meet the troops, and they lured them away from the city and began to inflict casualties on the troops as before, on the main road, one of which goes up to Bethel, the other to Gibeah; and in the field there were about thirty men of Israel.

³⁶ The descendants* of Benjamin saw that they were defeated, and the men of Israel gave ground* to Benjamin because they trusted the ambush that they had set against Gibeah. ³⁷ And the ambush came quickly and advanced against Gibeah, and it _⌊put the whole city to the sword_⌋.* ³⁸ Now the appointed time for the men of Israel with the ambush was that they sent up for them a great amount of smoke from the city. ³⁹ And the men of Israel turned in the battle, and Benjamin began to inflict casualties on about thirty men of Israel because they thought,* "They will be completely defeated before us as in the first battle."

¹⁶ Yahweh has made himself known; he has executed judgment. The wicked is snared by the work of his hands. Higgaion* Selah

¹¹ And you will say, 'I will go up against a land of open country; I will come* to the people being at rest _⌊in safety_⌋,* all of them dwelling without a wall* and crossbars* and _⌊without doors_⌋,* ¹² to* loot loot,* and to plunder* plunder, _⌊to assail_⌋* inhabited ruins and a people gathered together from various peoples and who are acquiring livestock and goods and dwelling at the center of the world. ¹³ Sheba and Dedan and traders of Tarshish and all its strong lions,* they will ask you, 'To* loot loot* are you coming? To plunder* plunder have you summoned your assembly, to take away silver and gold, to take livestock and goods, to loot great amounts* of loot?" ' ¹⁴ "Therefore prophesy, son of man,* and you must say to Gog, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "Will you not realize* on that day when my people Israel are dwelling _⌊in safety_⌋,* ¹⁵ and so you will come from your place, from the remote areas of the north, you and many people with you, _⌊horsemen_⌋* all of them, a great crowd and a vast army, ¹⁶ and you will advance against my people Israel like a cloud _⌊covering_⌋* the land; it will be* in the last days, and I will bring you against my land, so that the nations know me, _⌊when I show myself holy through you_⌋ before their eyes, O Gog!" ' ¹⁷ "Thus says the Lord Yahweh, 'Are you he of whom I spoke in former days by the hand of my servants the prophets of Israel who were prophesying in those days for years that I would bring you against them? ¹⁸ And so then in that day, on the day of the coming of God against the land of Israel,' _⌊declares_⌋* the Lord Yahweh, 'my rage will come up in my anger. ¹⁹ And in my passion, in the fire of my wrath, I spoke* that _⌊certainly_⌋* on that day a great earthquake will be on the land of Israel. ²⁰ And the fish of the sea and the birds* of the heaven* and the animals* of the field and all of the creeping things that creep on the earth and all of the humans* who are on the surface of the earth will shake _⌊at my presence_⌋;* and the mountains will be demolished, and the steep mountain sides will fall, and every wall on* the earth will fall. ²¹ And I will call against him* in all of my mountains a sword,' _⌊declares_⌋* the Lord Yahweh, 'And the sword of each person will be against his brother. ²² And I will execute justice with* him with a plague and with blood and _⌊torrents of rain_⌋,* and hailstones; fire and sulfur I will cause to fall on him and on his troops and on many peoples who are with him.

¹⁴ For they are the spirits of demons performing signs that go out to the kings of the whole inhabited world, to gather them for the battle of the great day of God the All-Powerful.

¹⁹ And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war with the one who is seated on the horse and with his army. ²⁰ And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs before him, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who had worshiped his image. The two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulphur. ²¹ And the rest were killed by the sword of the one who is seated on the horse—the sword that comes out of his mouth—and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh.

³⁰ But Sihon king of Heshbon was not willing to let us cross through his territory because Yahweh your God hardened his spirit and _⌊made him obstinate_⌋* _⌊in order to give him_⌋* into your hand, _⌊just as he has now done_⌋.*

³ So Joshua and _⌊all the fighting men_⌋* went up immediately to Ai. Joshua chose thirty thousand of the best fighting men and sent them by night.

²⁴ When Israel finished slaughtering all the inhabitants of Ai in the open field, in the wilderness where they pursued them, and when all of them had fallen by _⌊the edge of the sword_⌋* until they all had perished, all Israel returned to Ai and attacked it with _⌊the edge of the sword_⌋.* ²⁵ All the people that fell on that day, both men and women, were twelve thousand—all the inhabitants of Ai.

²⁰ For it was Yahweh that _⌊hardened their hearts_⌋,* to meet Israel in war in order to utterly destroy them without mercy, that they would destroy them just as Yahweh commanded Moses.

¹³ He is capturing the wise in their craftiness, and the schemes of the wily are rushed.

¹¹ Surely the princes of Zoan are foolish; the wise of the counselors of Pharaoh give senseless counsel. How can you say to Pharaoh, "I myself am a son of sages, a _⌊descendant_⌋* of ancient kings"? ¹² Where are your sages then? Now, let them tell you, and let them know what Yahweh of hosts has planned against Egypt. ¹³ The princes of Zoan have become foolish; the princes of Memphis are deceived; the leaders of her tribes have led Egypt astray.

⁵ And Yahweh said to Moses, "Say to Aaron, 'Stretch out your hand with your staff over the rivers, over the canals, and over the pools, and bring up the frogs on the land of Egypt.'"

¹⁶ And you, lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it so that the _⌊Israelites_⌋* can go in the middle of the sea on the dry land.

⁹ And Moses said to Joshua, "Choose men for us, and go out, fight against Amalek tomorrow. I will be standing on the top of the hill, and the staff of God will be in my hand." ¹⁰ And Joshua did as Moses had said to him to fight with Amalek. And Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. ¹¹ And* when Moses raised his hand, Israel would prevail, but when he rested his hand, Amalek would prevail. ¹² But the hands of Moses were heavy, and they took a stone and placed it under him, and he sat on it; Aaron and Hur supported his hands, _⌊one on each side_⌋,* and his hands were steady until _⌊sundown_⌋.*

²⁶ For Joshua did not draw back his hand that was stretched out with the sword until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai.

⁶ Bronze greaves* were on his legs,* and a bronze javelin was slung between his shoulders.

⁴¹ Then the Philistine _⌊came on, getting nearer and nearer_⌋* to David, with _⌊his shield bearer_⌋* in front of him.

⁴⁵ Then David said to the Philistine, "You are coming to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I am coming to you in the name of Yahweh of hosts, the God of the battle lines of Israel, whom you have defied!

²⁵ Because he stretched out his hand against God, and he was arrogant to Shaddai;

²³ Upon it the quiver rattles along with the flash of the spear and the short sword.

²⁸ And he looked down upon the surface of Sodom and Gomorrah, and upon the whole surface of the land, the plain. And he saw that,* behold, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a smelting furnace.

²⁰ But* the eyes of the wicked will fail; and refuge will be lost to them, and their hope is _⌊to breathe their last breath_⌋."*

⁵ _⌊They themselves saw_⌋* it, so they were astonished. They were terrified; they ran off. ⁶ Trembling seized them there— pain as of a woman in labor.

⁵ The stouthearted are plundered; they sleep their sleep, and all the able men cannot _⌊use_⌋* their hands.

¹⁰ Night and day it shall not be quenched; its smoke shall go up forever. From generation to generation it shall be in ruins; forever and ever there will be no one who passes through her.

¹⁴ Flight will perish from the swift and the strong person will not muster his strength and the warrior will not save his life. ¹⁵ And the one who takes hold of the bow will not stand and the one who is swift on his feet will not save himself, nor will the one who rides the horse save his life. ¹⁶ Even those who are strong of heart among the mighty will flee away naked from the city on that day. This is the declaration of Yahweh!"

¹⁵ And the kings of the earth, and the most important people, and the military leaders, and the rich, and the powerful, and every slave and free person hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, ¹⁶ And they said to the mountains and to the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, ¹⁷ because the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?"

⁹ And the kings of the earth will weep and mourn over her, those who committed sexual immorality and lived sensually with her, when they see the smoke of her burning,

³ And a second time they said,
"Hallelujah!"
And her smoke goes up _⌊forever and ever_⌋*.

² and Yahweh your God will give them _⌊over to you_⌋* and you defeat them, you must _⌊utterly destroy them_⌋;* you shall not make a covenant with them, and you shall not show mercy to them.

¹¹ He struck all the people that were in it with _⌊the edge of the sword_⌋,* utterly destroying them. _⌊There was no one left who breathed_⌋,* and he burned Hazor with fire. ¹² And Joshua captured all the cities of these kings, and all their kings, and he utterly destroyed them with _⌊the edge of the sword_⌋,* as Moses the servant of Yahweh commanded.

⁵ that the rejoicing of the wicked is _⌊short_⌋,* and the joy of the godless _⌊lasts only a moment_⌋?*

²⁶ And just as it was in the days of Noah, so also it will be in the days of the Son of Man— ²⁷ they were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage, until the day Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. ²⁸ Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot—they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building. ²⁹ But on the day that Lot went out from Sodom, it rained fire and sulphur from heaven and destroyed them all. ³⁰ It will be _⌊just the same_⌋* on the day that the Son of Man is revealed.

³ Whenever they say "Peace and security," then sudden destruction will overtake them like the birth pains of _⌊a pregnant woman_⌋*, and they will not possibly escape.

²⁹ The king of Ai he hanged on a tree until the time of evening, and as the sun went down Joshua commanded them, and they brought down his dead body from the tree. Then they threw it at the entrance of the gate of the city, and they raised over it a great heap of stones that remains to this day.

¹⁷ And it was told to Joshua, saying, "The five kings were found hidden in the cave at Makkedah."

⁸ He captured Agag the king of Amalek alive, but all the people he utterly destroyed with the _⌊edge_⌋* of the sword.

²⁰ And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs before him, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who had worshiped his image. The two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulphur.

²⁴ But Israel struck him with the edge of the sword, and they took possession of his land from Arnon to Jabbok, until the _⌊Ammonites_⌋,* because the boundary of the _⌊Ammonites_⌋* was strong.

³⁰ And Yahweh also gave it into the hand of Israel, and its king and all the people in it he struck with _⌊the edge of the sword_⌋.* He left in it no survivor. He did to its king just as he did to the king of Jericho. ³¹ And Joshua passed on, and all of Israel with him, from Libnah to Lachish, and _⌊he laid siege to it_⌋* and fought against it. ³² And Yahweh gave Lachish into the hand of Israel, and he captured it on the second day. He struck it with _⌊the edge of the sword_⌋,* and everyone in it, just as he did to Libnah. ³³ Then Horam king of Gezer came up to help Lachish, and Joshua struck him and his people until he left no survivor behind. ³⁴ And Joshua passed on, and all of Israel with him, from Lachish to Eglon, and _⌊they laid siege to it_⌋* and fought against it. ³⁵ And they captured it on that day, and he struck it with _⌊the edge of the sword_⌋,* and all the people that were in it on that day he utterly destroyed as he had done to Lachish. ³⁶ And Joshua went up, and all Israel with him, from Eglon to Hebron, and they fought against it ³⁷ and captured it, and they struck it with _⌊the edge of the sword_⌋,* its king and all its cities, and all the people that were in it; he left behind no survivor, as he had done to Eglon, and he utterly destroyed it and all the people that were in it. ³⁸ Then Joshua returned to Debir, and all of Israel with him, and they fought against it, ³⁹ and he captured it and its king and all its cities, and they struck them with _⌊the the edge of the sword_⌋,* and they utterly destroyed all the people that were in it; he left behind no survivor, just as he had done to Hebron. Thus he did to Debir and its king what he had done to Libnah and its king. ⁴⁰ So Joshua struck all the land—the hill country, the Negev,* the Shephelah,* and the slopes*—and all their kings; he left behind no survivor, and _⌊all that breathed_⌋* he utterly destroyed as Yahweh the God of Israel commanded. ⁴¹ Joshua struck them from Kadesh Barnea to Gaza, and all the land of Goshen up to Gibeon;

¹⁰ Then Joshua turned back at that time, and he captured Hazor and struck its king with the sword, because Hazor formerly was the head of all these kingdoms. ¹¹ He struck all the people that were in it with _⌊the edge of the sword_⌋,* utterly destroying them. _⌊There was no one left who breathed_⌋,* and he burned Hazor with fire. ¹² And Joshua captured all the cities of these kings, and all their kings, and he utterly destroyed them with _⌊the edge of the sword_⌋,* as Moses the servant of Yahweh commanded. ¹³ Israel did not burn the cities standing on their mounds,* except Hazor alone, which Joshua burned. ¹⁴ And all the spoil and livestock of these cities the _⌊Israelites_⌋ took as booty; they struck the people with _⌊the edge of the sword_⌋,* until they had destroyed them—they left behind no one who breathed.

¹⁶ But from the cities of these peoples that Yahweh your God is giving to you as an inheritance, you shall not let anything live that breathes.* ¹⁷ Rather, you shall utterly destroy them, the Hittites* and the Amorites,* the Canaanites* and the Perizzites,* the Hivites,* and the Jebusites,* just as Yahweh your God has commanded you, ¹⁸ so that they may not teach you to do like all their detestable things that they do for their gods and thereby you sin against Yahweh your God.

¹⁸ And Yahweh said to Joshua, "Stretch out the sword* that is in your hand to Ai, because I will give it into your hand." And Joshua stretched out the sword that was in his hand to the city.

²² Only the gold and the silver, the bronze, the iron, the tin, and the lead—

²⁶ "You and Eleazar the priest and the leaders of the _⌊families_⌋* of the community, _⌊take count_⌋* of the war-booty that was captured, both humans* and the domestic animals;*

² You will do to Ai and its king that which you did to Jericho and its king; you may take only its spoils* and livestock as booty for yourself. Set for yourself an ambush against the city from behind it."

⁴ They came out, they and all their armies with them, as a great army like the sand on the seashore, with very many horses and chariots.

¹⁰ because every animal of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills.

¹⁵ Is it not* permitted for me to do whatever I want with what is mine? Or is your eye evil because I am generous?'

¹⁶ And then you shall gather all of its booty into the middle of its public square, and you shall burn the town and all of its war-booty totally for Yahweh your God, and it shall be _⌊a pile of rubble forever_⌋;* it shall not be built again.

⁹ Then Joshua set up twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests carrying the ark of the covenant stood, and they are there to this day.

²⁵ Have you not heard? From long ago I have determined it, from the days of old I have planned it, and now I am bringing it to pass. It shall be turned into a pile of rocks; fortified cities are ruined.

¹ An oracle of Damascus:
"Look! Damascus will cease being a city and will become a heap of ruins.

² For you have _⌊made_⌋* the city a heap, the fortified city a ruin, the palace of foreigners _⌊is no longer_⌋* a city; it will _⌊never_⌋* be rebuilt.

¹¹ And I will make Jerusalem as heaps of ruins, a lair of jackals, and the towns of Judah I will make a desolation, _⌊without inhabitants_⌋.*

² _⌊Therefore_⌋* look, days are coming," _⌊declares_⌋* Yahweh, "and I will sound against Rabbah, the _⌊Ammonites_⌋,* the alarm of the war, and it will become as a mound of desolation, and its daughters will burn in the fire. Then Israel will dispossess his dispossessors," says Yahweh.

²⁶ Come against her from the end, open her granaries. Pile her up like heaps and destroy her. Let there be no remnant for her.

¹² Therefore on account of you Zion will be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem will be a heap of rubble, and _⌊the temple mount_⌋* as a high place in a forest.

²² "And _⌊if a man commits a sin punishable by death_⌋,* and so he is put to death and you hang him on a tree, ²³ his dead body shall not hang on the tree, but certainly you shall bury him on that day, for cursed by God is one that is being hung; so you shall not defile your land* that Yahweh your God is giving to you as an inheritance."

²⁶ Then _⌊they placed_⌋* on top of him a great pile of stones that remains to this day. And Yahweh _⌊turned from his burning anger_⌋,* and thus the name of that place to this day is called the valley of Achor.*

²⁶ And after this Joshua struck them down and killed them, and he hanged them on five trees. And they were hanging on the trees until the evening. ²⁷ And it happened _⌊at the time of sunset_⌋,* Joshua commanded, and they took them down from the trees and threw them into the cave where they had hidden themselves, and they put large stones against the mouth of the cave, which are there to this very day. ²⁸ Joshua captured Makkedah on that day, and he struck it and its king with _⌊the edge of the sword_⌋;* he utterly destroyed it and everyone that was in it. He did not leave behind a survivor. So he did to the king of Makkedah just as he did to the king of Jericho.

³⁰ And Yahweh also gave it into the hand of Israel, and its king and all the people in it he struck with _⌊the edge of the sword_⌋.* He left in it no survivor. He did to its king just as he did to the king of Jericho.

³³ Then Horam king of Gezer came up to help Lachish, and Joshua struck him and his people until he left no survivor behind.

¹⁷ They took Absalom and they threw him into the large pit in the forest and raised a very great heap of stones over him. Then all of Israel fled, each to his tent.

¹⁰ And they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai, and the anger of the king was abated.

⁴⁰ he pours contempt on princes and causes them to wander in a trackless waste.

⁵ O Lord, at your right hand he will shatter kings in the day of his anger.

²³ And immediately an angel of the Lord struck him down _⌊because_⌋* he did not give the glory to God. And he was eaten by worms and* died.

¹⁷ And I saw one angel standing in the sun, and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly _⌊directly overhead_⌋*,
"Come! Assemble for the great banquet of God, ¹⁸ in order that you may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of military tribunes, and the flesh of the powerful, and the flesh of horses and those seated on them, and the flesh of all people, both free and slave, and small and great!"

²⁰ And Noah built an altar to Yahweh, and he took from all the clean animals and from all the clean birds, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

⁷ And Yahweh appeared to Abram and said, "To your offspring I will give this land." And he built an altar there to Yahweh, who had appeared to him. ⁸ And he moved on from there to the hill country, east of Bethel. And he pitched his tent at Bethel on the west, and at Ai on the east. And he built an altar there to Yahweh. And he called on the name of Yahweh.

²⁴ An altar of earth you will make for me, and you will sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your fellowship offerings, your sheep and your cattle. In every place where I cause my name to be remembered,* I will come to you, and I will bless you.

⁴ And _⌊when you cross the Jordan_⌋,* you shall set up these stones that I am commanding you about _⌊today_⌋* on Mount Ebal, and you shall paint* them with lime. ⁵ And you shall build an altar there for Yahweh your God, an altar of stone, but* _⌊you shall not use an iron tool to shape the stones_⌋.* ⁶ You must build the altar of your God with unhewn stones, and you shall sacrifice on it burnt offerings to Yahweh your God.

¹² And Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God, and Aaron and all the elders of Israel came to eat bread with the father-in-law of Moses before God.

²⁴ An altar of earth you will make for me, and you will sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your fellowship offerings, your sheep and your cattle. In every place where I cause my name to be remembered,* I will come to you, and I will bless you. ²⁵ And if you make an altar of stones for me, you will not build them as hewn stone, because if you use your chisel on it, you have defiled it.

⁵ And he sent young men from the _⌊Israelites_⌋,* and they offered burnt offerings, and they sacrificed sacrifices as fellowship offerings to Yahweh using bulls.

⁵ And you shall build an altar there for Yahweh your God, an altar of stone, but* _⌊you shall not use an iron tool to shape the stones_⌋.* ⁶ You must build the altar of your God with unhewn stones, and you shall sacrifice on it burnt offerings to Yahweh your God. ⁷ And you shall sacrifice fellowship offerings, and you shall eat them there, and you shall rejoice _⌊before_⌋* Yahweh your God.

⁸ The scroll of this law will not depart from your mouth; you will meditate on it day and night so that _⌊you may observe diligently all that is written_⌋* in it. For then you will succeed in your ways and prosper.

³⁴ And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessings* and the curses,* according to all that was written in the scroll of the law. ³⁵ There was not a word from all that Moses commanded that Joshua did not read before the assembly of all Israel, and the women, the little children, and the traveling foreigners* among them.

³¹ Elijah took twelve stones according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of God came, saying, "Israel shall be your name." ³² With them, he built an altar in the name of Yahweh, and he made a trench _⌊which would have held_⌋* about two seahs of seed, all around the altar.

⁶ But the sons of the killers he did not kill, as it is written in the scroll of the law of Moses which Yahweh had commanded, saying, "Fathers should not be killed because of children, and children should not be killed because of fathers; but a man should die because of his own sin."

⁸ Then Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, "I have found the scroll of the Torah in the temple of Yahweh," and Hilkiah gave the scroll to Shaphan and he read it.

⁴ But he did not put their children to death, according to what is written in the law, in the scroll of Moses, where Yahweh commanded, saying, "Fathers shall not be put to death on account of the sons, and the sons shall not be put to death on account of the fathers, but each shall be put to death for his own sin."

¹² And they set aside the burnt offerings to give them to the clans of the _⌊families_⌋* for the _⌊lay people_⌋,* to offer to Yahweh according to what is written in the scroll of Moses. And thus they did with the bulls.

¹⁸ Then they set the priests in their divisions and the Levites in their sections for the work of God in Jerusalem, as it is written in the book of Moses.

¹ On that day the book of Moses was read in the hearing of the people and it was found written in it that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever come into the assembly of God

²⁶ And if Satan expels Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand?

² And then on the day that you cross the Jordan to the land that Yahweh your God is giving to you, then you shall set up _⌊for yourselves_⌋* large stones, and you shall paint* them with lime, ³ and you shall write on them all the words of this law at your crossing, so that you may come into the land that Yahweh your God is giving to you, a land flowing with milk and honey, as Yahweh, the God of your ancestors,* _⌊promised_⌋* to you.

⁸ You shall write on the stone all of the words of this law very clearly."

⁴⁹ One law will be for the native and for the alien who is dwelling in your midst."

²² _⌊You must have_⌋* one norm; as for the alien, so* it must be for the native, because I am Yahweh your God.'"

¹⁶ There will be one law and one stipulation for you and for the alien dwelling among you.'"

²⁹ For the native among the _⌊Israelites_⌋* and the alien that dwells in their midst, there will be one law for anyone who commits an unintentional wrong.

²⁹ "And it will happen that when Yahweh your God has brought you to _⌊the land that you are going to_⌋,* to take possession of it, then* you shall pronounce the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal.

¹¹ And Moses charged the people on that day, _⌊saying_⌋,* ¹² "These tribes shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people _⌊when you cross_⌋* the Jordan: Simeon and Levi and Judah and Issachar and Joseph and Benjamin. ¹³ And these shall stand on Mount Ebal for delivering the curse: Reuben, Gad and Asher and Zebulun, Dan and Naphtali. ¹⁴ And _⌊the Levites shall declare_⌋,* and they shall say to each man of Israel with a loud voice,

¹⁰ "You are standing _⌊today_⌋,* all of you, _⌊before_⌋* Yahweh your God, your leaders, your tribes, your elders, and your officials, all the men of Israel, ¹¹ your little children, your women and your aliens* who are in the midst of your camp, from the choppers* of your wood to the drawers* of your water,

⁹ So Moses wrote this law, and he gave it to the priests, the descendants* of Levi, the ones carrying the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, and to all the elders of Israel.

¹² Assemble the people, the men and the women and the little children and your aliens that are in your _⌊towns_⌋,* so that they may hear and so that they may learn and they may revere Yahweh your God, and _⌊they shall diligently observe_⌋* all the words of this law.

²⁵ then Moses commanded the Levites carrying the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, _⌊saying_⌋,*

³ and they commanded the people: "When you see the Levitical priests carrying the ark of the covenant of Yahweh your God you must set out from your place and go after it.

⁶ And Joshua said to the priests, "Take up the ark of the covenant and cross over _⌊ahead of the people_⌋."* And they took up the ark of the covenant and went _⌊ahead of the people_⌋.*

¹⁴ And it happened, when the people set out from their tents to cross over the Jordan, the priests carrying the ark of the covenant were _⌊ahead of the people_⌋.*

¹⁰ The priests carrying the ark remained standing in the middle of the Jordan until everything that Yahweh commanded Joshua to tell the people was finished, according to all that Moses commanded Joshua. And the people hastily crossed over.

¹⁸ And it happened that when the priests carrying the ark came up from the middle of the Jordan, and the soles of the priests' feet _⌊touched dry land_⌋,* the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and flowed over all its banks as before.

⁶ So Joshua son of Nun summoned the priests and said to them, "Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests carry the trumpets of the rams' horns before the ark of Yahweh."

³⁰ Then Joshua built an altar on Mount Ebal for Yahweh the God of Israel, ³¹ as Moses Yahweh's servant commanded the _⌊Israelites_⌋,* as it is written in the scroll of the law of Moses: "an altar of unhewn* stones on which no one has _⌊wielded_⌋* an iron implement."* And they offered burnt offerings on it and sacrificed fellowship offerings. ³² And there Joshua wrote on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he* had written, in the presence of the _⌊Israelites_⌋.*

² Joshua summoned all Israel, their elders, heads, judges, and officials, and he said to them, "I am old and _⌊well-advanced in years_⌋,*

¹ And Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem; he summoned the elders of Israel, their heads, their judges, and their officials, and they presented themselves before God.

¹¹ Then David summoned Zadok and Abiathar the priests, and the Levites Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel, and Amminadab. ¹² And he said to them, "You are the heads of the _⌊families_⌋* for the Levites. Sanctify yourselves and your brothers and bring up the ark of Yahweh, the God of Israel, to the place I have established for it. ¹³ Because the first time you did not, and Yahweh our God burst out against us, for we did not care for it according to the law." ¹⁴ Then the priests and the Levites sanctified themselves to bring up the ark of Yahweh, the God of Israel. ¹⁵ And the sons of the Levites carried the ark of God according to what Moses commanded, according to the word of Yahweh, on their shoulders with the carrying poles upon them.

¹ " 'You* shall not make for yourselves idols and divine images, and you shall not raise up stone pillars for yourselves, and you shall not put a sculptured stone in your land in order to* worship before it, because I am Yahweh your God. ² " 'You shall keep my Sabbaths, and you shall revere my sanctuary; I am Yahweh. ³ " 'If you walk in my statutes and you keep my commands and you do them, ⁴ then* I will give you rains in their time, and the land shall give its produce, and the trees of the field shall give their fruit. ⁵ And for you the threshing season shall overtake the grape harvest, and the grape harvest shall overtake the sowing, and you shall eat your food _⌊to your fill_⌋* and you shall live _⌊securely_⌋* in your land. ⁶ And I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and there shall not be _⌊anybody who makes you afraid_⌋,* and I will remove harmful animals from the land, and _⌊no sword shall pass through your land_⌋.* ⁷ And you shall pursue your enemies, and they shall fall by the sword _⌊before you_⌋.* ⁸ And five of* you shall pursue a hundred, and a hundred of* you shall pursue a myriad;* and your enemies shall fall by the sword _⌊before you_⌋.* ⁹ And I will turn to you, and I will make you fruitful, and I will make you numerous; and I will keep my covenant with you. ¹⁰ And you shall eat _⌊old grain_⌋,* and _⌊you shall clear away the old before the new_⌋.* ¹¹ And I will put my dwelling place in your midst, and my inner self* shall not abhor you. ¹² And I will walk about in your midst, and I shall be your God,* and you shall be my people.* ¹³ I am Yahweh, your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, from being their slaves; and I broke the bars of your yoke, and I caused you to walk erectly. ¹⁴ " 'But* if you do not listen to me and you do not carry out* all these commands, ¹⁵ and if you reject my statutes and if your inner self* abhors my regulations, to not carry out* all my commands by your breaking my covenant, ¹⁶ I _⌊in turn_⌋* will do this to you: then* I will summon onto you horror, the wasting disease, and the fever that wastes eyes and that drains away life; and you shall sow your seed _⌊in vain_⌋,* and your enemies shall eat it. ¹⁷ And I will set my face against you, and you shall be defeated _⌊before_⌋* your enemies; and your haters shall rule over you, and you shall flee away, but* there shall not be _⌊anybody who is pursuing_⌋* you. ¹⁸ " 'And if in spite of these things you do not listen to me, then* I will continue to discipline you seven times for your sins. ¹⁹ And I will break the pride of your strength; and I will make your heaven like iron* and your land like copper. ²⁰ And your strength shall be consumed _⌊in vain_⌋;* and your land shall not give its produce, and the land's trees shall not give their fruit. ²¹ " 'And if you go against me in hostility and you are not willing to listen to me, then* I will add a plague onto you seven times according to your sins. ²² And I will send _⌊wild animals_⌋* out among you, and they shall make you childless, and they shall cut down your domestic animals, and they shall make you fewer; and your roads shall be desolate. ²³ " 'And if you do not accept correction from* me through these things, but* you go against me in hostility, ²⁴ then* I myself* will also go against you in hostility, and I myself* also will strike you seven times for your sins. ²⁵ And I will bring upon you a sword that seeks vengeance for the covenant, and you shall be gathered to your cities; and I will send a plague in your midst, and you shall be given into the hand of an enemy. ²⁶ At my breaking the _⌊supply_⌋* of bread* for you, then* ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall return your bread by weight; and you shall eat it, and you shall not be satisfied. ²⁷ " 'And if through this you do not listen to me and you go against me in hostility, ²⁸ then* I will go against you in hostile anger, and also* I myself* will discipline you seven times for your sins. ²⁹ And you shall eat the flesh of your sons; and the flesh of your daughters you shall eat. ³⁰ And I will destroy your high places, and I will cut down your incense altars, and I will place your corpses on your idols' corpses; and my inner self* shall abhor you. ³¹ And I will lay your cities in ruins, and I will lay waste your sanctuaries; and I shall not smell your sacrifices'* appeasing fragrance. ³² And I myself* will lay waste the land, and your enemies who are living in it shall be appalled over it. ³³ And I will scatter you among the nations, and I will draw a sword behind you; and your land shall be a desolation, and your cities shall be a ruin. ³⁴ Then the land shall enjoy its Sabbaths all the days of its lying desolate, and you shall be in the land of your enemies; then the land shall rest, and it shall enjoy its Sabbaths. ³⁵ All the days of its lying desolate it shall rest for the time* that it had not rested during your Sabbaths while you were living on it. ³⁶ As for* the ones who remain among you, I will bring* fearfulness in their hearts in the land of their enemies; and a sound of a windblown leaf shall pursue them, and they shall flee like flight _⌊before_⌋* a sword, and they shall fall, but* there shall not be a pursuer. ³⁷ And they shall stumble over _⌊one another_⌋* as _⌊from before_⌋* a sword, but* there shall not be a pursuer; and _⌊you shall have no resistance_⌋* _⌊before_⌋* your enemies. ³⁸ And you shall perish among the nations, and the land of your enemies shall eat you. ³⁹ And because of their guilt, the ones among you who remain shall decay in the land of their enemies; and also because of the iniquities of their ancestors,* they shall decay with them. ⁴⁰ " 'But* when they confess their guilt and the guilt of their ancestors* in their infidelity that they displayed against me, and moreover that they went against me in hostility— ⁴¹ I myself* also* went against them in hostility, and I brought them into the land of their enemies—or if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled and then they pay for their guilt, ⁴² I will remember* my covenant with Jacob; and I will remember also my covenant with Isaac and also my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land. ⁴³ And the land shall be deserted by them, and it shall enjoy its Sabbaths in its being desolate from them, and they themselves* must pay for their guilt, _⌊simply because_⌋* they rejected my regulations, and their inner self* abhorred my statutes. ⁴⁴ And _⌊in spite of_⌋* this, _⌊when they are_⌋* in the land of their enemies I will not reject them, and I will not abhor them to destroy them, to break my covenant with them, because I am Yahweh their God. ⁴⁵ And I will remember the first covenant for them*—whom I brought out from the land of Egypt _⌊in the sight of_⌋* the nations _⌊to be their God_⌋.* I am Yahweh.'" ⁴⁶ These are the rules and the regulations and the laws that Yahweh gave between himself and the _⌊Israelites_⌋* on _⌊Mount Sinai_⌋* _⌊through_⌋* Moses.

¹⁴ And _⌊the Levites shall declare_⌋,* and they shall say to each man of Israel with a loud voice, ¹⁵ 'Cursed be the man that makes a divine image or a cast image, which is a detestable thing for Yahweh, the work of the hand of a skilled craftsman, and then sets it in a hiding place.'* And _⌊all the people shall respond_⌋,* 'Amen.' ¹⁶ 'Cursed be the one who dishonors his father or his mother.' And all of the people shall say, 'Amen.' ¹⁷ 'Cursed be the one who moves the boundary marker of his neighbor.' And all the people shall say, 'Amen.' ¹⁸ 'Cursed be the one who misleads a blind person on the road.' And all the people shall say, 'Amen.' ¹⁹ 'Cursed be the one who deprives the alien, the orphan, and the widow of justice.' And all the people shall say, 'Amen.' ²⁰ 'Cursed be the one who lies with the wife of his father, because _⌊he has dishonored his father's bed_⌋.'* And all the people shall say, 'Amen.' ²¹ 'Cursed be the one who lies with any kind of animal.' And all the people shall say, 'Amen.' ²² 'Cursed be the one who lies with his sister, the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother.' And all the people shall say, 'Amen.' ²³ 'Cursed be the one who lies with his mother-in-law.' And all the people shall say, 'Amen.' ²⁴ 'Cursed be the one who strikes down his neighbor in secret.' And all the people shall say, 'Amen.' ²⁵ 'Cursed be the one who takes a bribe _⌊to murder an innocent person_⌋.'* And all the people shall say, 'Amen.' ²⁶ 'Cursed be the one _⌊who does not keep_⌋* the words of this law, to observe them.' And all the people shall say, 'Amen.'"

¹⁴ And you shall not turn aside from _⌊any of_⌋* the words that I am commanding you _⌊today_⌋* to the right or left by going after other gods to serve them. ¹⁵ "_⌊And then_⌋* if you do not listen to the voice of Yahweh your God _⌊by diligently observing_⌋* all of his commandments and his statutes that I am commanding you _⌊today_⌋,* then all of these curses shall come upon you, and they shall overtake you: ¹⁶ "You shall* be cursed in the city, and you shall be cursed in the field. ¹⁷ "Your basket shall be cursed and your kneading trough. ¹⁸ "The fruit of your womb shall be cursed and the fruit of you ground, the calves of your cattle and the lambs of your flock. ¹⁹ "You shall be cursed _⌊when you come in_⌋,* and you shall be cursed _⌊when you go out_⌋.* ²⁰ "Yahweh will send upon you* the curse,* the panic,* and the threat* _⌊in everything that you undertake_⌋,* _⌊until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly_⌋* _⌊because of_⌋* the evil of your deeds in that* you have forsaken me. ²¹ Yahweh will cause the plague to cling to you _⌊until it consumes you_⌋* from the land that you are going to,* to take possession of it. ²² Yahweh will afflict you with the wasting diseases and with the fever and with the inflammation and with the scorching heat and with the sword* and with the blight and with the mildew, and they shall pursue you _⌊until you perish_⌋.* ²³ And your heavens that are over your heads shall be like bronze, and the earth that is under you shall be like iron. ²⁴ Yahweh will change the rain of your land to fine dust and to sand; from the heaven it shall come down upon you _⌊until you are destroyed_⌋.* ²⁵ "Yahweh shall cause you to be defeated _⌊before_⌋* your enemies; on one road you shall go _⌊against_⌋* them,* but you will flee on seven roads _⌊before_⌋* them,* and you shall become a thing of horror to all of the kingdoms of the earth. ²⁶ And your dead bodies shall be as food for all of the birds of the heaven and to the animals of the earth, and there shall not be _⌊anyone to frighten them away_⌋.* ²⁷ "Yahweh shall afflict you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors and with the scurvy and with _⌊the skin rash that cannot be healed_⌋.* ²⁸ Yahweh shall afflict you with madness and with blindness and with confusion of heart. ²⁹ And you shall be groping at noon just as the blind person gropes in the dark, and you shall not succeed in finding your way, and you shall only be abused and robbed _⌊all the time_⌋,* and there will not be _⌊anyone who will rescue you_⌋. * ³⁰ You shall become engaged to a woman, but another man shall sleep* with her; you shall build a house, but you shall not live in it; a vineyard you shall plant, but you shall not enjoy it. ³¹ Your ox shall be slaughtered before your eyes, and you shall not eat it; your donkey shall be stolen right _⌊before you_⌋,* and it shall not be returned to you; your sheep and your goats shall be given to your enemies, and _⌊there shall not be anyone who rescues you_⌋.* ³² Your sons and your daughters shall be given to other people, and _⌊you will be looking on_⌋* _⌊longingly_⌋* for* them all day, _⌊but you will be powerless to do anything_⌋.* ³³ A people that you do not know shall consume the harvest of your land and all your labor, and you will be only oppressed and crushed _⌊for the rest of your lives_⌋.* ³⁴ You shall become mad _⌊because of what your eyes shall see_⌋.* ³⁵ Yahweh shall strike you with grievous boils on the knees and on the upper thighs from which _⌊you will not be able to be healed_⌋,* from the sole of your foot and up to your crown. ³⁶ Yahweh will bring you and your king whom you set up over you to a nation that you or your ancestors* have not known, and there you will serve other gods of wood and stone. ³⁷ And you will become a horror and a proverb and ridicule among all the peoples where Yahweh drives you there. ³⁸ "You shall carry out much seed to the field, but you shall gather little produce, for the locust shall devour it. ³⁹ You shall plant vineyards and you shall dress* them, but you shall not drink wine and you shall not gather grapes, for the worm shall eat it.* ⁴⁰ There shall be olive trees for you in all of your territory, but you shall not anoint yourself, for your olives* shall drop off. ⁴¹ You shall bear sons and daughters, but they shall not be _⌊yours_⌋,* for they shall go into captivity. ⁴² The cricket shall take possession of all your trees and the fruit of your ground. ⁴³ The alien that is in your midst shall ascend over you, higher and higher, but you shall go down lower and lower. ⁴⁴ He shall lend to you, but you shall not lend to him; he shall be the head, but you shall be the tail. ⁴⁵ "And all of these curses shall come over you, and they shall pursue you, and they shall overtake you _⌊until you are destroyed_⌋,* because _⌊you did not listen_⌋* to the voice of Yahweh your God, _⌊by observing_⌋* his commandments and his statutes that he commanded you. ⁴⁶ And they shall be among you as a sign and as a wonder and among your offspring _⌊forever_⌋.* ⁴⁷ "_⌊Because_⌋* of the fact that you did not serve Yahweh your God with joy and with gladness of heart for the abundance of everything, ⁴⁸ then you shall serve your enemies, whom Yahweh will send against you under conditions of famine, in thirst, in nakedness, and in a lack of everything; and he shall place* a yoke of iron on your neck _⌊until he has destroyed you_⌋.* ⁴⁹ Yahweh will raise up against you a nation from far off, from the end of the earth, attacking as the eagle swoops down, _⌊a nation whose language you will not understand_⌋,* ⁵⁰ _⌊a grim-faced nation_⌋* _⌊who does not show respect_⌋* to the old and the young and does not show pity. ⁵¹ And it* shall consume the fruit of your livestock and the fruit of your ground _⌊until you are destroyed_⌋,* and who will not leave for you any grain, wine, and olive oil, _⌊calves of your herds_⌋,* and _⌊lambs of_⌋* your flock _⌊until it has destroyed you_⌋.* ⁵² And it shall besiege you in all your towns _⌊until your high and fortified walls fall_⌋,* which you are trusting in* _⌊throughout your land_⌋;* and it shall besiege you in all of your towns in all of your land that Yahweh your God has given to you. ⁵³ And you shall eat the fruit of your womb, the flesh of your sons and your daughters, whom Yahweh your God gave to you, _⌊during the siege and during the distress_⌋* your enemy inflicts upon you. ⁵⁴ The most refined and the very sensitive* man among you _⌊shall be mean with his brother_⌋* and _⌊against his beloved wife_⌋* and against the rest* of his children that he has left over, ⁵⁵ _⌊by refraining from giving_⌋* to even one of them any of the meat of his children that he eats, because there is not anything that is left over for him _⌊during the siege and distress_⌋* that your enemy inflicts upon you. ⁵⁶ The most refined and the most delicate woman among you, who shall* not venture to put the sole of her foot on the ground from being so delicate and from such gentleness, _⌊shall be mean to her beloved husband_⌋* and against her son and against her daughter, ⁵⁷ and even concerning her afterbirth _⌊that goes out_⌋* from between her feet and also concerning her children that she bears, because she eats them for lack of anything in secret _⌊during the siege and during the distress_⌋* that your enemy inflicts upon her in your _⌊towns_⌋.* ⁵⁸ "If _⌊you do not diligently observe_⌋* all the words of this law written in this scroll by revering this glorious and awesome name, Yahweh your God, ⁵⁹ then Yahweh shall overwhelm you with your plagues and the plagues of your offspring, severe plagues and lasting illnesses, grievous and enduring. ⁶⁰ And he shall bring back upon you all the diseases of Egypt concerning which _⌊you were in dread_⌋* _⌊because of them_⌋.* ⁶¹ Also any illness and any plague* that is not written in the scroll of this law, he shall bring them, Yahweh, upon you until you are destroyed. ⁶² And you shall remain _⌊only a few people_⌋* in place of the fact you were formerly as the stars of heaven as far as number is concerned, because you did not listen to the voice of Yahweh your God. ⁶³ _⌊And then_⌋* as Yahweh delighted over you _⌊to make you prosperous_⌋* to make you numerous, so Yahweh shall delight over you to exterminate you* and to destroy you, and so you shall be plucked from the land that you are going there to take possession of it. ⁶⁴ And Yahweh shall scatter you among all the nations from one end of the earth up to the other end of the earth, and there you shall serve other gods that you have not known nor* your ancestors,* gods of wood and stone. ⁶⁵ And among these nations you shall not find rest, and there shall not be a resting place for the sole of your foot, and Yahweh shall give you there an anxious heart and a weakening of eyes* and a languishing of your inner self.* ⁶⁶ And _⌊your life shall hang in doubt before you_⌋,* and you shall be startled* night and day, and you shall not be confident of your life. ⁶⁷ In the morning you shall say, '_⌊If only it was evening_⌋!'* and in the evening you shall say '_⌊If only it was morning_⌋!'* because of the dread of your heart that you shall feel, and because of the sight of your eyes that you shall see. ⁶⁸ And Yahweh shall bring you back to Egypt in ships by the route that I _⌊promised_⌋* to you that '_⌊You shall not see it again_⌋!'* And you shall sell yourself there to your enemies as slaves and as female slaves, but there will not be a buyer."

²⁰ Yahweh will not be willing to forgive him, for by then the anger of Yahweh will smoke, and his passion against that man and all the curses written in this scroll will descend on him, and Yahweh will blot out his name from under heaven. ²¹ And Yahweh will single him out for calamity out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant written in the scroll of this law.

¹⁵ "See, I am setting _⌊before you_⌋* _⌊today_⌋* life and prosperity and death and disaster; ¹⁶ what I am commanding you _⌊today_⌋* is to love Yahweh your God by going* in his ways and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his regulations, and then you will live, and you will become numerous, and Yahweh your God will bless you in the _⌊land where you are going_⌋.* ¹⁷ However, if your heart turns aside and you do not listen and you are lured away and you bow down to other gods and you serve them, ¹⁸ I declare to you _⌊today_⌋* that you will certainly perish; _⌊you will not extend your time_⌋* on the land that you are crossing the Jordan to go there to take possession of it. ¹⁹ I invoke as a witness against you _⌊today_⌋* the heaven and the earth: life and death I have set _⌊before you_⌋,* blessing and curse. So choose life, so that you may live, you and your offspring,* ²⁰ by loving Yahweh your God by listening to his voice and by clinging to him, for he is your life and the length of your days in order for you to live on the land that Yahweh swore to your ancestors,* to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them."

¹⁰ Then Moses commanded them, _⌊saying_⌋,* "At the end of seven years, in the time of the year for canceling debts during the Feast of Booths, ¹¹ _⌊when all Israel comes to appear before_⌋* Yahweh their God at the place that he will choose, you shall read this law before all Israel _⌊in their hearing_⌋.* ¹² Assemble the people, the men and the women and the little children and your aliens that are in your _⌊towns_⌋,* so that they may hear and so that they may learn and they may revere Yahweh your God, and _⌊they shall diligently observe_⌋* all the words of this law.

² So Ezra the priest brought the law* before the assembly for each man and woman to hear with understanding, on the first day of the seventh month. ³ He read from it facing the public square before the Water Gate from dawn until noon that day, opposite the men, women, and those with understanding. The ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law.*

³ They stood up in their place and read from the book of the law* of Yahweh their God for a fourth part of the day, and for a fourth they were confessing and worshiping Yahweh their God.

³⁸ And also a _⌊mixed multitude_⌋* went up with them and sheep and goats and cattle, very numerous livestock.

² You must not add to the word that I am commanding you, and you shall not take away from it in order to keep* the commands of Yahweh your God that I am commanding you to observe.

¹¹ your little children, your women and your aliens* who are in the midst of your camp, from the choppers* of your wood to the drawers* of your water,

¹ While Ezra was praying and confessing, weeping and throwing himself down before the house of God, a very great assembly of men, women, and children from Israel gathered to him. And the people wept bitterly.

² So Ezra the priest brought the law* before the assembly for each man and woman to hear with understanding, on the first day of the seventh month.

² "Thus says Yahweh: 'Stand in the courtyard of the house of Yahweh, and you must speak to all the cities of Judah that come to bow in worship in the house of Yahweh all the words that I command you to speak to them. You must not omit a word.

¹⁶ gather the people, consecrate the assembly; assemble the elders, gather the children, even those who are breast-feeding; let the bridegroom come out from his private room, and the bride from her canopy.

¹⁴ But when* Jesus saw it,* he was indignant, and said to them, "Let the young children come to me. Do not forbid them, _⌊for to such belongs_⌋* the kingdom of God.

²⁷ for I did not shrink from proclaiming to you the whole purpose of God.

⁵ And it happened that when our days were over, we departed and* went on our way, while* all of them accompanied us, together with their* wives and children, as far as outside the city. And after* falling to our knees on the beach and* praying,