Pgs. 569-583
Ch. 3-7

SECTION XLV.

VAETHCHANAN.

And I sought mercy at that time from before the Lord, saying: I supplicate compassion before Thee, 0 Lord God: Thou hast begun to show unto Thy servant Thy greatness and the power of Thy mighty hand; for Thou art God, and there is none beside Thee; for Thy glory dwelleth in the heavens on high, and Thou rulest upon the earth; there is none who can work according to Thy working or Thy power. [JERUSALEM. And I prayed and sought mercy in that hour, said Mosheh, saying: I supplicate compassion before Thee, 0 Lord God; Thou hast begun.] Let me, I pray, pass over and see the good land that is beyond Jordan, that goodly mountain on which is builded the city of Jerusalem, and Mount Lebanon, where the Shekinah will dwell. But the Lord was displeased with me on your account, and received not my prayer; but the Lord said to me: Let it be enough for thee; speak not before Me again of this matter: go up to the head of the mountain, and lift up thine eyes to the west, to the north, to the south, and to the east, and behold with thy eyes, for thou shalt not pass over this Jordan. But instruct Jehoshua, strengthen and confirm him; for he shall go over before this people, and give them the inheritance of the land which thou seest. And we dwelt in the valley, weeping for our sins, because we bad been joined with the worshippers of the idol of Peor. [JERUSALEM. And we dwelt in the valley weeping for our guilt, and confessing our sins, for that we had been joined with the worshippers of the idol of Baal Peor.]

IV. And now, Israel, hear the statutes and judgments which I teach you to do, that you may live, and go in and inherit the land the Lord God of your fathers giveth you. Ye shall not add to the words that I teach you nor diminish them, but keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.

Your eyes have seen what the Word of the Lord hath done to the worshippers of the idol Peor: for all the men who went astray after the idol Peor, the Lord thy God hath destroyed from among you; but you who have cleaved to the worship of the Lord your God are alive all of you this day. See, I teach you statutes and judgments, as the Lord God hath taught me, that you may so do in the land which you are entering to possess it. So shall you observe and perform the law; for it it is your wisdom and understanding in the sight of the peoples, who will hear all these statutes, and will say: How wise and intelligent is this great people! For what people so great, to whom the Lord is so high in the Name of the Word of the Lord? But the custom of (other) nations is to carry their gods upon their shoulders, that they may seem to be nigh them; but they cannot hear with their ears, (be they nigh or) be they afar off; but the Word of the Lord sitteth upon His throne high and lifted up, and heareth our prayer what time we pray before Him and make our petitions. [JERUSALEM. For what people is so great, who hath God so nigh to it as the Lord our God is, in every hour that we cry unto Him, and He answereth us?] And what people have statutes and right judgments according to all this law which I order before you this day? Only take heed to yourselves and diligently keep your souls, lest you forget the things which you beheld with your eyes at Sinai, and that they depart not from thy heart all the days of thy life, and you may teach them to your children, and to your childrens children; and that you may make yourselves pure in your transactions thereby, as in the day when you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, at the time when the Lord said to me: Gather the people before Me, that they may hear My words, by which they shall learn to fear before Me all the days that they remain upon the earth, and may teach their children. And you drew near, and stood at the lower part of the mount, and the mountain burned with fire, and its flame went up to the height of the heavens, with darkness, clouds, and shadows. And the Lord spake with you on the mountain from the midst of the fire: you heard the voice of the word, but you saw no like­ness, but only a voice speaking. And He proclaimed to you His covenant which He commanded you to per­form; Ten Words which He wrote upon sapphire tablets.

And the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you the statutes and judgments, that you may do them in the land which you pass over to possess. Keep then your souls diligently; for you saw no likeness on the day when the Lord spake with you in Horeb from the midst of the fire. Be admonished, lest you corrupt your works, and make to you an image or likeness of any idol, the likeness either male or female of any beast of the earth, of any winged bird that flieth in the air in the expanse of heaven, of any reptile on the ground, or of any fish in the waters under the earth. [JERUSALEM. The likeness of any fishes which are in the waters under the earth.] And lest, when you lift up your eyes to the height of the heavens, and gaze at the sun, or the moon, and the principal stars of all the hosts of the heavens, you go astray, and adore and serve them; for the Lord your God hath by them distributed (or divided) the knowledge of all the peoples that are under the whole heavens.[1] For you hath the Word of the Lord taken for His portion, and hath brought you out from the iron furnace of Mizraim to be unto Him a people of inheritance as at this day. [JERUSALEM. To be a people beloved as a treasure in this day.]

But against me was displeasure before the Lord on account of your words, because you had murmured for the water; and He sware that I should not pass the Jordan, nor go into the land which the Lord your God giveth you to inherit. But I must die in this land; I am not to pass over Jordan; but you will pass over and possess the inheritance of that good land. Beware, then, that you forget not the covenant of the Lord your God which He hath confirmed with you, or make to you an image, the likeness of any thing of which the Lord your God hath commanded that you should not make it. For the Word of the Lord your God is a consuming fire; the jealous God is a fire, and He avengeth Himself in jealousy. [JERUSALEM. For the Lord your God is a consuming fire; the jealous God is a fire, and He avengeth Himself in jealousy.]

If, when thou wilt have begotten children and children's children, and wilt have grown old in the land, you corrupt your works, and make to you an image or any likeness, and do that which is evil before the Lord to provoke Him; I attest against you this day the sworn witnesses of the heavens and the earth, that perishing you will perish swiftly from the land to possess which you pass the Jordan: you will not lengthen out days upon it, but will be utterly destroyed. And the Lord will scatter you among the Gentiles, and you will remain as a little people with the nations among whom the Lord will disperse you in captivity. And there will you be constrained to serve the worshippers of idols, the work of men's hands, of wood and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. But if there you seek to return to the fear of the Lord your God, you shall find mercy, when you seek before Him with all your heart and with all your soul. When you suffer oppression, and all these things come upon you in the end of the days, and you be converted to the fear of the Lord your God, and obey His Word; for the Lord our God is a merciful God; He will not forsake you, nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He sware unto them.

For ask now the generations which have been from the days of the beginning, which have been before thee from the day when the Lord created man upon the earth, from one end of the heavens to the other, whether so great a thing as this hath been, or any like to it hath been heard? Hath it ever been that a people should hear the voice of the Word of the Lord, the Living God, speaking from the midst of fire, as you heard, and remained alive? Or, as the wonder which the Lord hath wrought, revealing Himself to separate a people to Himself from among another people, by signs, by miracles, by portents, by the victories of ordered battles, by an uplifted arm, and by great visions, like all that the Lord our God hath done for us in Mizraim, and your eyes beholding? [JERUSALEM. Or what is the people or kingdom that hath heard?. . . . . Or the signs which the Word of the Lord hath wrought, coming to announce (that He would separate) to Himself a people from among a people ?] Unto thee have these wonders been shown, that thou mayest know that the Lord is God, and there is none beside Him. He made you hear the voice of His Word from the heavens on high, to give you discipline by His doctrine, and showed thee upon earth His great fire, and made thee hear His words from the midst of the flame. And because He loved thy fathers Abraham and Izhak, therefore hath He plea­sure in the children of Jakob after him, and hath brought you in His lovingkindness and power from Mizraim, to drive out nations greater and stronger than you from before you, and give you their land to inherit as at this day. Know therefore to‑day, and set your heart upon it, that the Lord is God, whose Shekinah dwelleth in the heavens above, and reigneth on the earth beneath, neither is there any other beside Him. Therefore observe His covenant, and the commandments which I command you this day, that He may do good to you and to your children after you, and that you may have continuance upon the land which the Lord your God giveth you for all days.

And now, behold, Mosheh set apart three cities beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise, that the manslayer who had killed his neighbour without intention, not having hated him yesterday or before, may flee, and escape into one of those cities, and be spared alive. [JERUSALEM. Who had slain his neighbour unawares,[2] but had not entertained enmity toward him yesterday or before.] Kevatirin the wilderness, in the plain country, for the tribe of Reuben, and Ramatha in Gilead for the tribe of Gad, and Dabera in Mathnan for the tribe of Menasheh. This is the declaration of the law which Mosheh set in order before the sons of Israel [JERUSALEM. This is the declaration of the law which Mosheh set before the sons of Israel,] and the statutes and judgments which Mosheh spake with the sons of Israel at the time when they had come out of Mizraim. And Mosheh delivered them beyond Jordan over against Beth Peor, in the land of Sihon king of the Amoraee, who dwelt in Heshbon, whom Mosheb and the sons of Israel smote when the had come out of Mizraim. And they took possession of his land and the land of Og, king of Mathnan, the two kings of the Amoraee, who were beyond the Jordan, eastward, from Aroer on the bank of the river Arnon to the mountain of Saion, which is the Snowy Mount; [JERUSALEM. From Lechaiath, on the side of the river Arnona, unto the mountain whose fruits are delivered, which is the Snowy Mount;] and all the plain beyond Jordan, eastward, unto the sea that is in the plain under the spring of the heights.

V. And Mosheh called all Israel, and said to them: Hear, Israel, the statutes and judgments that I speak before you this day, to learn them, and observe to perform them. The Lord our God confirmed a covenant with us in Horeb: not with our fathers did the Lord confirm this covenant, but with us, who are all of us here this day alive and abiding. Word to word did the Lord speak with you at the mountain from the midst of the fire. I stood between the Word of the Lord and you at that time, to declare to you the Word of the Lord, because you were afraid before the voice of the Word of the Lord, which you heard from the midst of the fire; neither did you go up to the mountain while He said : Sons of Israel, My people, I am the Lord your God, who made and led you out free from the land of Mizraim, from the house of the bondage of slaves. Sons of Israel, My people, no other god shall you have beside Me. You shall not make to you an image or the likeness of anything which is in the heavens above, or in the earth below, or in the waters under the earth: thou shalt not worship them or do service before them; for I am the Lord your God, a jealous and avenging God, taking vengeance in jealousy; remembering the sins of wicked fathers upon rebellious children to the third genera­tion and to the fourth of them that hate Me, when the children complete to sin after their fathers; but keeping mercy and bounty for a thousand generations of the righteous who love Me and keep My mandates and My laws. Sons of Israel, My people, no one of you shall swear by the Name of the Word of the Lord your God in vain: for the Lord, in the day of the great judgment, will not acquit any one who shall swear by His Name in vain. Soils of Israel, My people, observe the day of Sabbath, to sanctify it according to all that the Lord your God hath commanded. Six days you shall labour and do all your work, but the seventh day (shall be for) rest and quiet before the Lord your God; ye shall do no work, neither you, nor your sons, nor your daughters, nor your servants, nor your handmaids, nor your oxen, your asses, nor any of your cattle, nor your sojourners who are among you; that your servants and handmaids may have repose as well as you. And remember that you were servants in the land of Mizraim, and that the Lord your God delivered and led you out with a strong hand and uplifted arm; therefore the Lord thy God hath commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day. Sons of Israel, My people, be every one mindful of the honour of his father and his mother, as the Lord your God hath commanded you, that your days may be proIonged, and it may be well with you in the land which the Lord your God giveth you. Sons of Israel, My people, you shall not murder, nor be companions or participators with those who do murder, nor shall there be seen in the congregations of Israel (those who have part) with murderers; that your children may not arise after you, and teach their own to have part with murderers; for because of the guilt of murder the sword cometh forth upon the world.

Sons of Israel, My people, you shall not be adulterers, nor companions of, or have part with, adulterers; neither shall there be seen in the congregations of Israel (those who have part) with adulterers, and that your children may not arise after you, and teach theirs also to be with adulterers; for through the guilt of adulteries the plague cometh forth upon the world. Sons of Israel, My people, you shall not be thieves, nor be companions nor have fellowship with thieves, nor shall there be seen in the congregations of Israel (those who have part)with theives; for because of the guilt of robberies famine cometh forth on the world. Sons of Isreal, My people, you shall not bear false witness, nor be companions or have fellowship with the bearers of false testimony;neither shall there be seen in the congregations of Isreal those who (have part) with false witnesses; for because of the guilt of false witnesses the clouds arise, but the rain does not come down, and dearth cometh on the world. Sons of Israel, My people, you shall not be covetous, nor be companions or have fellowship with the covetous; neither shall there be seen in the congregations of Israel any who (have part) with the covetous; that your children may not arise after you, and teach their own to be with the covetous. Nor let any one of you desire his neighbour's wife, nor his field, nor his servant, nor his handmaid, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that belongeth to his neighbour; for because of the guilt of covetousness the government (malkutha) seizeth upon men's property to take it away, and bondage cometh on the world.

These words spake the Lord with all your congregation at the mount, from the midst of the fiery cloud and tempest, with a great voice which was not limited; and the voice of the Word was written upon two tables of marble, and He gave them unto me. But when you had heard the voice of the Word from the midst of the darkness, the mountain burning with fire, the chiefs of your tribes and your sages drew nigh to me, and said, Behold, the Word of the Lord our God hath showed us His glorious Shekinah, and the greatness of His excellency, (tushbachteih, His magnificence,) and the voice of His Word have we heard out of the midst of the fire. This day have we seen that the Lord speaketh with a man in whom is the Holy Spirit, and he remaineth alive. But now why should we die? For this great fire will devour us; if we again hear the voice of the Word of the Lord our God, we shall die. For who, of all the offspring of flesh, hath heard the voice of the Word of the Living God speaking from amid the fire as we, and hath lived? Go thou nigh, and hear all that the Lord our God shall say, and speak thou with us all that the Lord our God will say to thee, and we will hearken and will do. And the voice of your words was heard before the Lord when you spake with me, and the Lord said to me, All the words of this people which they have spoken with thee are heard before Me; all that they have said is good. O that the disposition of their heart were perfect as this willingness is to fear Me and to keep all My commandments all days, that it may be well with them and with their children for ever! [JERUSALEM. O that they may have this good heart!] Now therefore be separate from thy wife, that with the orders above thou mayest stand before Me, and I will speak with thee the commandments, statutes, and judgments, which thou shalt teach them to perform in the land that I give you to inherit. And now observe to do as the Lord your God hath commanded you; decline not to the right hand or to the left. Walk in all the way which the Lord your God commandeth you, that you may live and do well, and lengthen out days in the land you shall inherit.

VI. And this is the declaration of the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments which the Lord your God hath commanded (me) to teach you to perform in the land to which you pass over to inherit; that thou mayest fear the Lord thy God, and keep all His statutes and precepts which I command thee; thou, thy son, and the son of thy son, all the days of thy life; and that thou mayest prolong thy days. Hearken then, Israel, to keep and to do, that it may be well with thee, and you may increase greatly, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath spoken to thee, (that) He will give thee a land whose fruits are rich as milk, and sweet as honey. [JERUSALEM. A land producing good fruits, pure as milk, sweet and tasty as honey.]

It was, when the time came that our father Jakob should be gathered out of the world, he was anxious lest there might be an idolater among his sons. He called them, and questioned them, Is there such perversity in your hearts? They answered, all of them together, and said to him: HEAR, ISRAEL OUR FATHER: THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD! Jakob made response, and said, Blessed be His Glorious Name for ever and ever. [JERUSALEM. When the end had come to our father Jakob, that he should be taken up from the world, he called the twelve tribes, his sons, and gathered them round his couch. Then Jakob our father rose up, and said to them., Do you worship any idol that Terah the father of Abraham worshipped? do you worship any idol that Laban (the brother of his mother) worshipped? or worship you the God of Jakob? The twelve tribes answered together, with fulness of heart, and said, Hear now, Israel our father: The Lord our God is one Lord. Jakob responded and said, May His Great Name be blessed for ever!]

Mosheh the prophet said to the people of the house of Israel, Follow after the true worship of your fathers, that you may love the Lord your God with each disposition of your hearts, and also that He may accept your souls, and the (dedicated) service of all your wealth; and let these words which I command you this day be written upon the tables of your hearts. And thou shalt unfold them to thy children, and meditate upon them when thou art sitting in your houses, at the time when you are occupied in secret chambers, or in journeying by the way; at evening when you lie down, and at morn when you arise. And you shall bind them as written signs upon thy left hand, and they shall be for tephillin upon thy forehead over thine eyes. And thou shalt write them upon the pillars, and affix them in three places, against the cupboard[3], upon the posts of thy house, and on the right hand of thy gate, in thy going out.

And when the Lord thy God hath brought thee into the land which he promised to Abraham, Izhak, and Jakob, thy fathers, to give thee cities great and goodly which thou didst not toil in building, houses also, filled with all good, which thou wast not occupied in filling, and hewn cisterns in hewing which thou didst not labour, vineyards and olives with planting which thou wast not wearied; and when thou hast eaten. and art satisfied, beware lest you forget the fear of the Lord your God, who delivered and led you out free from the land of Mizraim, from the house of the affliction of slaves; but fear the Lord your God, and worship before Him, and swear by the Name of the Word of the Lord in truth. You shall not go after the idols of the Gentiles, the idols of the peoples who are round about you: for the Lord our God is a jealous God, and an Avenger, whose Shekinah dwelleth in the midst of you; lest the anger of the Lord your God be kindled against you, and He quickly destroy you from the face of the earth. Sons of Israel, my people, be warned not to tempt the Lord your God as you tempted Him in the ten temptations; keeping keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and His testimonies and statutes which He hath commanded you; and do what is good and right before the Lord, that it may be well with you, and ye may go in, and possess by inheritance the good land which the Lord covenanted to your fathers; that He may drive out all thy enemies before thee, as the Lord hath said.

When thy son, in time to come, shall ask thee, say­ing, What are the testimonies, statutes, and judgments which the Lord our God hath commanded you? then shall you say to your sons, We were servants to Pharoh in Mizraim, and the Word of the Lord brought us out of Mizraim with a mighty hand; and the Word of the Lord wrought signs, great wonders, and sore plagues on Mizraim and on Pharoh and all the men of his house, which our eyes beheld; but us He led forth free to bring us in and give us the land which He sware to our fathers. And the Lord commanded us to perform all these statutes, that we may fear the Lord our God for good to us in all days, that He may preserve us alive as at the time of this day; and (the reward of ) righteousness will be reserved for us in the world to come, if we keep all these commandments to perform them before the Lord our God, as He hath commanded us.

VII. When the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land to which thou wilt come to possess it, and He will make many peoples to go out from before thee, the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Kenaanites, Perizites, Hivites, and Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and strong than thou., and the Lord your God will deliver them up before you, then shall you blot them out and utterly consume them by the curse of the Lord. You shall strike no covenant with them, nor have pity upon them. You shall not intermarry with them; your daughters you shall not give to their sons, nor take their daughters for your sons; for whosoever marrieth with them is as if he made marriage with their idols. [JERUSALEM. You shall not be commixed with them.] For their daughters will lead your sons away from My worship to serve the idols of the Gentiles; so will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you, and He will destroy you suddenly. But this shall you do to them : you shall destroy their altars, break their statues in pieces, cut down their groves for worship, and burn the images of their idols with fire. For you shall be a holy people before the Lord your God, as the Lord your God hath taken pleasure in you, that you may be a people more beloved before Him than all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. Not because You were more excellent than all other peoples hath the Lord had pleasure in you and chosen you, but because you were poor in spirit, and more humble than all the nations. Therefore, because the Lord had mercy on you, and would keep the covenant He had sworn with your fathers, He led you out free with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of the affliction of slaves, from the hand of Pharoh king of Mizraim. Know therefore that the Lord your God is a Judge, strong and faithful, keeping covenant and mercy with them who love Him and keep His commandments unto a thousand generations, and who repayeth to them who hate Him the reward of their good works in this world, to destroy them (for their evil works) in the world to come; neither delayeth He (to reward) His enemies, but while they are alive in this world He payeth them their recompense. [JERUSALEM. And he repayeth them who hate Him for their little deeds of good which are in their hands in this world, to destroy them in the world to come; nor doth He delay to render to them that hate Him the reward of the slight works that are in their hands in this world.] Observe therefore the mandates, the statutes, and judgments which I command you, to perform them.