Sukkot, not Pesach-Matzot
The truly greatest miracle of the gospels, far greater even
than the reported Resurrection, is the unbelievably astonishing feat whereby
spacetime was warped so that a week which began in early fall on 15 Tishrei
ended in mid-spring on 15 Nisan. That
kind of reality bending feat is worthy of Hitchhiker’s
Guide to the Galaxy, the Chronicles
of Amber, and several different episodes of Star Trek from different series across the franchise, combined.
The crowds in Jerusalem, there to greet Isho and company
according to the gospels, are pictured, six days before the actual festival,
mind you, crying out, “Hosanna!” and “Blessed is he who comes in the name of
the Lord”. They are also described as
carrying “palm branches”. For such
things to have actually happened in Jerusalem around the time of Pesach, even
six days before it, would be like Christians carrying sprigs of mistletoe and
singing Christmas carols around a decorated evergreen tree at Easter.
It is not just these ceremonies; the eight-day sequence of
events, Palm Sunday through Easter Sunday in Christian parlance better fits the
progress of Sukkot than Pesach-Matzot.
Even the blood and water flowing from Isho’s side after he is pierced
with the spear reflect Sukkot as celebrated in Jerusalem in the first century
CE.
Many of these traditions still go on, but I use the past
tense here because we are talking about what happened in the first century CE.
The central ritual feature of the whole period, at least as
far as lay participation went, the one which gave the festival its name, was
the sukkah, or booth. These were temporary shelters built for use
during the festival, primarily for eating but sometimes for sleeping also,
particularly in the Temple period when pilgrims to Jerusalem needed somewhere
to sleep.
The other major feature was the four species carried by each
worshipper. These four species were a
palm branch, a willow branch, a myrtle branch, and a citron fruit. Bound together, these were referred to collectively
as the luvav, Hebrew for ‘palm
branch’. While the luvavim were used
daily by those worshipping in the Temple, in the rest of Palestine they were
reserved for the first day of Sukkot only, even elsewhere in the city of Jerusalem.
The messianic festival
The feast of Sukkot, literally Booths or Tabernacles,
originally went by the moniker of the
Feast of Ingathering (Chag ha-Asif),
and its original purpose was to carry out and celebrate the finish of the fruit
harvest, the last of the Palestinian year.
The booths originally housed the farmers or laborers performing the
harvest, staying near their crops.
As Israelite society became sedentary and more urban,
agrarian symbols lost their meaning, and to preserve the feast, the priests
made it symbolize the mythical wandering in the Sinai desert after the mythical
Moses received the Torah on Mount Sinai-Horeb-Paran commemorated on Shavuot, along
with the Messiah ben Joseph.
During the so-called “Second Temple” era, especially
beginning in the later second century BCE when the great festivals came to be
identified with messianic figures, Sukkot came to symbolize expectation of the
coming of the Messiah ben David and to be thought of as the time he would
appear, particularly given the above-mentioned passage in Zechariah 14.
The designation “Second Temple”, by the way, is a misnomer
since there was no “First Temple”, Jerusalem being uninhabited from the Late
Bronze Age through the Early Iron Age. The
Jews have not been the only ones stretching the truth about their chosen
spiritual center. Shechem (modern
Nablus), the holy site of the Samaritans, was likewise uninhabited from the Late
Bronze Age through the Early Iron Age.
Something about Philistines.
Sukkot is the only festival that the Torah named as a time
of joy. In fact, another name for the
festival is Zeman Simhatenu, or
‘Season of Our Joy’. In the Temple era,
it was the greatest of all the festivals of Judaism, especially in Palestine,
so much that it was most commonly referred to simply as “The Festival”.
Order of Sukkot festivities
In the first century CE, Sukkot was a seven-day affair, as
it still is in Palestine.
The first day was a sabbath, and no work was done. Before the Shacharit sacrifice, the priests
and Levites placed willow branches upright around the altar with their tips
hanging over. For the first day, the
sabbath at the beginning, these had been gathered the day before from the
village a few kilometers outside Jerusalem known as Motza.
(Note: Israelites had
inhabited Motza since the destruction of the Philistine city of Gath in 854 BCE
by Hazael, Aramean king of Damascus. So,
unlike Jerusalem, it was indeed inhabited before the Babylonian Exile, and hosts
one of only three known sanctuaries titled “House of Yahweh” of the pre-Exilic
period; the others are at the town of Arad and the city of Samaria.)
Before offering the slaughtered animal(s) as
burnt-offerings, the priest made a libation offering of wine, just as he did
with every burnt-offiering.
On the first day of Sukkot, the burnt offering was thirteen
bulls, fourteen lambs, and fifteen rams, plus a goat kid for expiation of
sins.
Immediately after the Shacharit sacrifice, Levites sang the
group of psalms known as the Lesser Hallel, Psalms
113-118. The congregation, holding their
luvavim, would wave them back and forth as they sang along.
The Mussaf sacrifice followed immediately after Shacharit,
as is did every Shabbat, Rosh Chodesh, and Yom Tov. Unique to Sukkot, however, after the Mussaf sacrifice and its prayers
were finished, the shofar would sound, and the priests, Levites, and Israelites
(as lay people were termed) would then circumambulate around the altar reciting
Psalm 118:25-26: “Hosanna (‘Save us’), we beseech you, O
Yahweh! O Yahweh, we beseech you,
give us success! Blessed is he who comes
in the name of Yahweh. We bless you from
the house of Yahweh”.
Though the number of circuits may have at one time been
seven, by the first century there was just one on this day and the rest until
the seventh day. After this, most or all
the lay people returned to their homes to prepare to the festivities later that
night.
The Mincha sacrifices, though not closed, were more of a
temple rather than a public affair, and usually were. And for those celebrating Sukkot at the Temple,
rest was certainly needed.
Outside the compound atop the Temple Mount, in the city of
Jerusalem and across much of Palestine, the people had their own popular
ceremonies for this, the greatest of all feasts, including parading through the
streets with their luvavim and singing the Hallel. But unlike the worshippers at the Temple,
those celebrating outside the compound put away their luvavim after this first
day, as mentioned above.
The days following the first day were called the Chol ha-Moed, or ‘festival weekdays’;
the same pattern followed at Matzot.
Each of the Chol ha-Moed, of course, began at sundown, when the Arvit
ceremonies and prayers were conducted.
But it was at midnight, when the gates of the compound were thrown open,
that the real festivities began.
Simchat Beit ha-Shoeivah
Hebrew for ‘Rejoicing
at the Place of the Water-Drawing’, these festivities took place in the Women’s
Court at the temple, which indicates the participation of those not normally
allowed in Temple ceremonies in the Court of the Israelites, such as women,
lepers, and Nazarites.
For several hours,
everybody parties. There was no
solemnity allowed. Four giant menorah
lit up the Court of Women and the whole Temple Mount, even the entire city of
Jerusalem. By the descriptions, it sounds
like Clark Griswold’s Christmas lighting.
Accompanied by
lyres, harps, cymbals, and trumpets played by Levites, dancers danced and
whirled while holding torches in either hand.
People drank, ate, watched, sang, laughed. At various points in the night, Levites sang
the Songs of the Ascents (Psalms 120-134).
At cockcrow, two
priests keeping watch at the Nicanor Gate, between the Court of Women and the
Court of Israelites, called out, “Our ancestors in this place turned their
backs on the altar of Yahweh, and their faces to the east, worshipping the Sun;
but we turn to Yahweh”.
Nisuch ha-Mayim
Hebrew for ‘Pouring
of the water’, this ceremony was unique to the Chol ha-Moed of Sukkot; at no
other time were burnt-offerings preceded by any libation but wine. After the shout from the Nicanor Gate, priests,
Levites, and people processed from
the Court of the Women atop the Temple Mount to the Pool of Siloam south of it,
which lay some six hundred meters from the base. Worshippers carried their livavim and sang
the Lesser Hallel. After the high priest
filled a pitcher with water, about a quart of it, the whole crowd returned to
the Temple.
As he entered the gate of the Temple compound, the high
priest cried out, quoting Isaiah
12:3, “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation!”. Upon arrival at the altar, he would take the
pitcher of water in one hand and a pitcher of wine in the other, then simultaneously
pour both out over the altar as a libation offering.
Chol ha-Moed
Every day of Sukkot was the same (bulls, fourteen lambs, fifteen
rams), except that the number of bulls sacrificed was one less each succeeding
day, plus a goat kid for expiation of sins.
Immediately after the Shacharit sacrifice, Levites sang the
group of psalms known as the Lesser Hallel, Psalms
113-118. Again the congregation, holding
their luvavim, would wave them back and forth as they sang along.
Every day, priests, Levites, and Israelites circumambulated
the altar after the Mussaf sacrifice reciting Psalm 118:25-26, once each day, for the first six days.
Hoshanna Rabbah
Though not a sabbath, the seventh day evolved into something
special and acquired the name Hoshanna
Rabbah (‘Great Hosanna’). In Temple
times, it stood out in a couple of ways.
First, the Great Hallel, Psalm 136, was added onto the end
of the Lesser Hallel following the sacrifices of Shacharit.
Second, each previous day of Sukkot, the priests, Levites,
and people circumambulated the altar once; on Hoshanna Rabbah, however, they
did so seven times. At the end of the
seventh circuit, all present beat their luvavim on the ground several times,
then tossed the branches, after which they finally consumed their citron fruit.
Shemini Atzeret
Literally the ‘eighth day of assembly’, the day after
Hoshanna Rabbah was a separate observance in its own right, a full sabbath. In Temple times, this served primarily as the
day for the ritual cleansing of the altar, vessels, priestly garments, etc. The burnt offering for the day was a bull, a
ram, and seven lambs, plus a goat kid for expiation of sins.
Hakhel
The Hakhel ceremony was prescribed by the Torah, in Deuteronomy 31. During Sukkot at the end of every Shemita, or ‘sabbath year’, the Torah,
or at least a representative portion of it from Deuteronomy, was read to the
people on the second day of the festival.
Trumpets blew all over Jerusalem so that even those not able to attend
would know it was about to proceed.
According to the Talmud, the portion read was composed of
the following passages from Deuteronomy
as follows:
Hakhel reading, according to
the Talmud
Composed from Deuteronomy 1:1-6:5; 11:13-21; 14:22-27;
26:12-15; 17:14-20; and 28:1-69.
These are the words
that Moses spoke to all Israel beyond the Jordan—in the wilderness, on the
plain opposite Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and
Di-zahab. (By the way of Mount Seir it
takes eleven days to reach Kadesh-barnea from Horeb.) In the fortieth year, on the first day of the
eleventh month, Moses spoke to the Israelites just as the Lord had commanded
him to speak to them. This was after he
had defeated King Sihon of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon, and King Og of
Bashan, who reigned in Ashtaroth and in Edrei.
Beyond the Jordan in the land of Moab, Moses undertook to expound this
law as follows: Yahweh our God spoke to us at Horeb, saying, “You have
stayed long enough at this mountain. Resume
your journey, and go into the hill country of the Amorites as well as into the
neighboring regions—the Arabah, the hill country, the Shephelah, the Negeb, and
the seacoast—the land of the Canaanites and the Lebanon, as far as the great
river, the river Euphrates. See, I have
set the land before you; go in and take possession of the land that I swore to
your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them and to
their descendants after them.”
At that time I said
to you, “I am unable by myself to bear you.
Yahweh your God has multiplied you, so that
today you are as numerous as the stars of heaven. May Yahweh, the God of your ancestors, increase
you a thousand times more and bless you, as he has promised you! But how can I bear the heavy burden of your
disputes all by myself? Choose for each
of your tribes individuals who are wise, discerning, and reputable to be your
leaders.” You answered me, “The plan you
have proposed is a good one.” So I took
the leaders of your tribes, wise and reputable individuals, and installed them
as leaders over you, commanders of thousands, commanders of hundreds,
commanders of fifties, commanders of tens, and officials, throughout your
tribes. I charged your judges at that
time: “Give the members of your community a fair hearing, and judge rightly
between one person and another, whether citizen or resident alien. You must not be partial in judging: hear out the
small and the great alike; you shall not be intimidated by anyone, for the
judgment is God’s. Any case that is too hard for you, bring to me, and I will
hear it.” So I charged you at that time
with all the things that you should do.
Then, just as Yahweh our
God had ordered us, we set out from Horeb and went through all that great and
terrible wilderness that you saw, on the way to the hill country of the
Amorites, until we reached Kadesh-barnea.
I said to you, “You have reached the hill country of the Amorites, which
Yahweh our God is giving us. See, Yahweh your
God has given the land to you; go up, take possession, as Yahweh, the God of
your ancestors, has promised you; do not fear or be dismayed.” All of you came to me and said, “Let us send
men ahead of us to explore the land for us and bring back a report to us
regarding the route by which we should go up and the cities we will come to.” The plan seemed good to me, and I selected
twelve of you, one from each tribe. They
set out and went up into the hill country, and when they reached the Valley of
Eshcol they spied it out and gathered some of the land’s produce, which they
brought down to us. They brought back a
report to us, and said, “It is a good land that Yahweh our God is giving us.” But you were unwilling to go up. You rebelled against the command of Yahweh your God; you grumbled in your
tents and said, “It is because Yahweh hates us that he has brought us out of
the land of Egypt, to hand us over to the Amorites to destroy us. Where are we headed? Our kindred have made our hearts melt by
reporting, ‘The people are stronger and taller than we; the cities are large
and fortified up to heaven! We actually
saw there the offspring of the Anakim!’”
I said to you, “Have no dread or fear of them. Yahweh your God, who goes before you, is
the one who will fight for you, just as he did for you in Egypt before your very
eyes, and in the wilderness, where you saw how Yahweh your God carried
you, just as one carries a child, all the way that you traveled until you
reached this place. But in spite of
this, you have no trust in Yahweh your God, who goes before you on the way
to seek out a place for you to camp, in fire by night, and in the cloud by day,
to show you the route you should take.”
When Yahweh heard
your words, he was wrathful and swore: “Not one of these—not one of this evil
generation—shall see the good land that I swore to give to your ancestors,
except Caleb son of Jephunneh. He shall
see it, and to him and to his descendants I will give the land on which he set
foot, because of his complete fidelity to Yahweh.” Even with me Yahweh was angry on your
account, saying, “You also shall not enter there. Joshua son of Nun, your assistant, shall
enter there; encourage him, for he is the one who will secure Israel’s
possession of it. And as for your little
ones, who you thought would become booty, your children, who today do not yet
know right from wrong, they shall enter there; to them I will give it, and they
shall take possession of it. But as for
you, journey back into the wilderness, in the direction of the Red Sea.” You answered me, “We have sinned against
the Lord! We are ready to go up and fight, just as Yahweh our God
commanded us.” So all of you strapped on
your battle gear, and thought it easy to go up into the hill country. Yahweh said to me, “Say to them, ‘Do not go
up and do not fight, for I am not in the midst of you; otherwise you will be
defeated by your enemies.’” Although I
told you, you would not listen. You rebelled against the command of Yahweh and
presumptuously went up into the hill country.
The Amorites who lived in that hill country then came out against you
and chased you as bees do. They beat you down in Seir as far as Hormah. When you returned and
wept before Yahweh, Yahweh would neither heed your voice nor pay you any
attention.
After you had
stayed at Kadesh as many days as you did, we journeyed back into
the wilderness, in the direction of the Red Sea, as Yahweh had told me and
skirted Mount Seir for many days. Then Yahweh said
to me: “You have been skirting this hill country long enough. Head north, and
charge the people as follows: You are about to pass through the territory of
your kindred, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. They will be afraid of you, so, be very
careful not to engage in battle with them, for I will not give you even so much
as a foot’s length of their land, since I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a
possession. You shall purchase food from
them for money, so that you may eat; and you shall also buy water from them for
money, so that you may drink. Surely Yahweh your God has blessed you in
all your undertakings; he knows your going through this great wilderness. These
forty years the Lord your God has been with you; you have lacked
nothing.” So we passed by our kin, the descendants of Esau who live in Seir,
leaving behind the route of the Arabah, and leaving behind Elath and
Ezion-geber.
When we had headed
out along the route of the wilderness of Moab, Yahweh said to me: “Do not
harass Moab or engage them in battle, for I will not give you any of its land
as a possession, since I have given Ar as a possession to the descendants of
Lot.” (The Emim—a large and numerous
people, as tall as the Anakim—had formerly inhabited it. Like the Anakim, they are usually reckoned as
Rephaim, though the Moabites call them Emim.
Moreover, the Horim had formerly inhabited Seir, but the descendants of
Esau dispossessed them, destroying them and settling in their place, as Israel
has done in the land that the Lord gave them as a possession.) “Now then, proceed to cross over the Wadi
Zered.”
So we crossed over
the Wadi Zered. And the length of time
we had traveled from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed the Wadi Zered was
thirty-eight years, until the entire generation of warriors had perished from
the camp, as Yahweh had sworn concerning them.
Indeed, Yahweh’s own hand was against them, to root them out from the
camp, until all had perished. Just as
soon as all the warriors had died off from among the people, Yahweh spoke
to me, saying, “Today you are going to cross the boundary of Moab at Ar. When you approach the frontier of the
Ammonites, do not harass them or engage them in battle, for I will not give the
land of the Ammonites to you as a possession, because I have given it to the
descendants of Lot.” (It also is usually
reckoned as a land of Rephaim. Rephaim
formerly inhabited it, though the Ammonites call them Zamzummim, a strong and
numerous people, as tall as the Anakim. Yahweh destroyed them from before the
Ammonites so that they could dispossess them and settle in their place. He did the same for the descendants of Esau,
who live in Seir, by destroying the Horim before them so that they could
dispossess them and settle in their place even to this day. As for the Avvim, who had lived in
settlements in the vicinity of Gaza, the Caphtorim, who came from Caphtor,
destroyed them and settled in their place.)
“Proceed on your journey and cross the Wadi Arnon. See, I have handed over to you King Sihon the
Amorite of Heshbon, and his land. Begin to take possession by engaging him in
battle. This day I will begin to put the
dread and fear of you upon the peoples everywhere under heaven; when they hear
report of you, they will tremble and be in anguish because of you.”
So I sent
messengers from the wilderness of Kedemoth to King Sihon of Heshbon with the
following terms of peace: “If you let me pass through your land, I will travel
only along the road; I will turn aside neither to the right nor to the
left. You shall sell me food for money,
so that I may eat, and supply me water for money, so that I may drink. Only allow
me to pass through on foot—just as the descendants of Esau who live in Seir
have done for me and likewise the Moabites who live in Ar—until I cross the
Jordan into the land that Yahweh our God is giving us.” But King Sihon of Heshbon was not willing to
let us pass through, for Yahweh your God had hardened his spirit and made
his heart defiant in order to hand him over to you, as he has now done.
Yahweh said to
me, “See, I have begun to give Sihon and his land over to you. Begin now to
take possession of his land.” So when
Sihon came out against us, he and all his people for battle at Jahaz, Yahweh our
God gave him over to us; and we struck him down, along with his offspring and
all his people. At that time we captured
all his towns, and in each town we utterly destroyed men, women, and children.
We left not a single survivor. Only the
livestock we kept as spoil for ourselves, as well as the plunder of the towns
that we had captured. From Aroer on the
edge of the Wadi Arnon (including the town that is in the wadi itself) as far
as Gilead, there was no citadel too high for us. Yahweh our God gave everything to
us. You did not encroach, however, on
the land of the Ammonites, avoiding the whole upper region of the Wadi Jabbok
as well as the towns of the hill country, just as Yahweh our God had
charged.
When we headed up
the road to Bashan, King Og of Bashan came out against us, he and all his
people, for battle at Edrei. Yahweh said
to me, “Do not fear him, for I have handed him over to you, along with his
people and his land. Do to him as you did to King Sihon of the Amorites, who
reigned in Heshbon.” So Yahweh our God also handed over to us King Og of
Bashan and all his people. We struck him down until not a single survivor was
left. At that time we captured all his
towns; there was no citadel that we did not take from them—sixty towns, the
whole region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan. All these were fortress towns with high
walls, double gates, and bars, besides a great many villages. And we utterly destroyed them, as we had done
to King Sihon of Heshbon, in each city utterly destroying men, women, and
children. But all the livestock and the
plunder of the towns we kept as spoil for ourselves.
So at that time we
took from the two kings of the Amorites the land beyond the Jordan, from the
Wadi Arnon to Mount Hermon (the Sidonians call Hermon Sirion, while the
Amorites call it Senir), all the towns of the tableland, the whole of Gilead,
and all of Bashan, as far as Salecah and Edrei, towns of Og’s kingdom in
Bashan. (Now only King Og of Bashan was left of the
remnant of the Rephaim. In fact his bed, an iron bed, can still be seen in
Rabbah of the Ammonites. By the common cubit it is nine cubits long and four
cubits wide.) As for
the land that we took possession of at that time, I gave to the Reubenites and
Gadites the territory north of Aroer, that is on the edge of the Wadi
Arnon, as well as half the hill country of Gilead with its towns, and I gave to
the half-tribe of Manasseh the rest of Gilead and all of Bashan, Og’s kingdom.
(The whole region of Argob: all that portion of Bashan used to be called a land
of Rephaim; Jair the Manassite acquired the whole region of Argob as far as the
border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, and he named them—that is,
Bashan—after himself, Havvoth-jair, as it is to this day.) To Machir I gave Gilead. And to the Reubenites and the Gadites I gave
the territory from Gilead as far as the Wadi Arnon, with the middle of the wadi
as a boundary, and up to the Jabbok, the wadi being boundary of the Ammonites; the
Arabah also, with the Jordan and its banks, from Chinnereth down to the sea of
the Arabah, the Dead Sea, with the lower slopes of Pisgah on the east.
At that time, I
charged you as follows: “Although Yahweh your God has given you this land
to occupy, all your troops shall cross over armed as the vanguard of your
Israelite kin. Only your wives, your
children, and your livestock—I know that you have much livestock—shall stay
behind in the towns that I have given to you.
When Yahweh gives rest to your kindred, as to you, and they too
have occupied the land that Yahweh your God is giving them beyond the
Jordan, then each of you may return to the property that I have given to
you.” And I charged Joshua as well at
that time, saying: “Your own eyes have seen everything that Yahweh your
God has done to these two kings; so Yahweh will do to all the kingdoms into
which you are about to cross. Do not
fear them, for it is Yahweh your God who fights for you.”
At that time, too,
I entreated Yahweh, saying: “Yahweh Elohim, you have only begun to show your
servant your greatness and your might; what god in heaven or on earth can
perform deeds and mighty acts like yours! Let me cross over to see the good land beyond
the Jordan, that good hill country and the Lebanon.” But Yahweh was angry with me on your
account and would not heed me. Yahweh said
to me, “Enough from you! Never speak to me of this matter again! Go up to the top of Pisgah and look around
you to the west, to the north, to the south, and to the east. Look well, for
you shall not cross over this Jordan. But
charge Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, because it is he who shall
cross over at the head of this people and who shall secure their possession of
the land that you will see.” So we
remained in the valley opposite Beth-peor.
So now, Israel,
give heed to the statutes and ordinances that I am teaching you to observe, so
that you may live to enter and occupy the land that Yahweh, the God of your
ancestors, is giving you. You must
neither add anything to what I command you nor take away anything from it, but
keep the commandments of the Lord your God with which I am charging
you. You have seen for yourselves what
the Lord did with regard to the Baal of Peor—how Yahweh your God
destroyed from among you everyone who followed the Baal of Peor, while those of
you who held fast to Yahweh your God are all alive today.
See, just as Yahweh my
God has charged me, I now teach you statutes and ordinances for you to observe
in the land that you are about to enter and occupy. You must observe them diligently, for this
will show your wisdom and discernment to the peoples, who, when they hear all
these statutes, will say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and discerning
people!” For what other great nation has
a god so near to it as the Lord our God is whenever we call to
him? And what other great nation has
statutes and ordinances as just as this entire law that I am setting before you
today?
But take care and
watch yourselves closely, so as neither to forget the things that your eyes
have seen nor to let them slip from your mind all the days of your life; make
them known to your children and your children’s children—how you once stood
before Yahweh your God at Horeb, when Yahweh said to me, “Assemble
the people for me, and I will let them hear my words, so that they may learn to
fear me as long as they live on the earth, and may teach their children so”; you
approached and stood at the foot of the mountain while the mountain was blazing
up to the very heavens, shrouded in dark clouds. Then Yahweh spoke to you out of the
fire. You heard the sound of words but saw no form; there was only a
voice. He declared to you his covenant,
which he charged you to observe, that is, the ten commandments; and he wrote
them on two stone tablets. And Yahweh charged
me at that time to teach you statutes and ordinances for you to observe in the
land that you are about to cross into and occupy.
Since you saw no
form when Yahweh spoke to you at Horeb out of the fire, take care and
watch yourselves closely, so that you do not act corruptly by making an idol
for yourselves, in the form of any figure—the likeness of male or female, the
likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird
that flies in the air, the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the
likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth. And when you look up to the heavens and see
the sun, the moon, and the stars, all the host of heaven, do not be led astray
and bow down to them and serve them, things that Yahweh your God has
allotted to all the peoples everywhere under heaven. But Yahweh has taken you and brought you
out of the iron-smelter, out of Egypt, to become a people of his very own
possession, as you are now.
Yahweh was angry
with me because of you, and he vowed that I should not cross the Jordan and
that I should not enter the good land that Yahweh your God is giving for your
possession. For I am going to die in
this land without crossing over the Jordan, but you are going to cross over to
take possession of that good land. So be
careful not to forget the covenant that Yahweh your God made with you, and
not to make for yourselves an idol in the form of anything that Yahweh your
God has forbidden you. For Yahweh your
God is a devouring fire, a jealous God.
When you have had
children and children’s children, and become complacent in the land, if you act
corruptly by making an idol in the form of anything, thus doing what is evil in
the sight of Yahweh your God, and provoking him to anger, I call heaven
and earth to witness against you today that you will soon utterly perish from
the land that you are crossing the Jordan to occupy; you will not live long on
it, but will be utterly destroyed.
Yahweh will scatter you among the peoples; only a few of you will be
left among the nations where Yahweh will lead you. There you will serve other gods made by human
hands, objects of wood and stone that neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor
smell. From there you will seek Yahweh your
God, and you will find him if you search after him with all your heart and
soul. In your distress, when all these
things have happened to you in time to come, you will return to Yahweh your
God and heed him. Because Yahweh your
God is a merciful God, he will neither abandon you nor destroy you; he will not
forget the covenant with your ancestors that he swore to them.
For ask now about
former ages, long before your own, ever since the day that God created human
beings on the earth; ask from one end of heaven to the other: has anything so
great as this ever happened or has its like ever been heard of? Has any people ever heard the voice of a god
speaking out of a fire, as you have heard, and lived? Or has any god ever attempted to go and take
a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs and
wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by terrifying
displays of power, as Yahweh your God did for you in Egypt before your very
eyes? To you it was shown so that you
would acknowledge that Yahweh is God; there is no other besides him. From heaven he made you hear his voice to
discipline you. On earth he showed you his great fire, while you heard his
words coming out of the fire. And
because he loved your ancestors, he chose their descendants after them. He brought you out of Egypt with his own
presence, by his great power, driving out before you nations greater and
mightier than yourselves, to bring you in, giving you their land for a
possession, as it is still today. So
acknowledge today and take to heart that Yahweh is God in heaven above and
on the earth beneath; there is no other.
Keep his statutes and his mitzvot, which I am commanding you today for
your own well-being and that of your descendants after you, so that you may
long remain in the land that Yahweh your God is giving you for all time.
Then Moses set
apart on the east side of the Jordan three cities to which a homicide could
flee, someone who unintentionally kills another person, the two not having been
at enmity before; the homicide could flee to one of these cities and live: Bezer
in the wilderness on the tableland belonging to the Reubenites, Ramoth in Gilead
belonging to the Gadites, and Golan in Bashan belonging to the Manassites.
This is the law
that Moses set before the Israelites. These
are the decrees and the statutes and ordinances that Moses spoke to the
Israelites when they had come out of Egypt, beyond the Jordan in the valley
opposite Beth-peor, in the land of King Sihon of the Amorites, who reigned at
Heshbon, whom Moses and the Israelites defeated when they came out of
Egypt. They occupied his land and the
land of King Og of Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites on the eastern side of
the Jordan: from Aroer, which is on the edge of the Wadi Arnon, as far as Mount
Sirion (that is, Hermon), together with all the Arabah on the east side of
the Jordan as far as the Sea of the Arabah, under the slopes of Pisgah.
Moses convened all
Israel, and said to them: Hear, O Israel, the statutes and ordinances that I am
addressing to you today; you shall learn them and observe them diligently. Yahweh our God made a covenant with us
at Horeb. Not with our ancestors did Yahweh
make this covenant, but with us, who are all of us here alive today. Yahweh spoke with you face to face at
the mountain, out of the fire. (At that
time I was standing between Yahweh and you to declare to you the
words of Yahweh; for you were afraid because of the fire and did not go up
the mountain.)
And he said: I am
the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of
the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me.
You shall not make
for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above,
or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or worship
them; for Yahweh your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity
of parents, to the third and fourth generation of those who reject me, but
showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me
and keep my commandments.
You shall not make
wrongful use of the name of Yahweh your God, for Yahweh will not
acquit anyone who misuses his name.
Observe Shabbat and
keep it holy, as Yahwehyour God commanded you.
Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a sabbath to Yahweh your
God; you shall not do any work—you, or your son or your daughter, or your male
or female slave, or your ox or your donkey, or any of your livestock, or the
resident alien in your towns, so that your male and female slave may rest as
well as you. Remember that you were a
slave in the land of Egypt, and Yahweh your God brought you out from there
with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore Yahweh your God
commanded you to keep Shabbat.
Honor your father
and your mother, as Yahweh your God commanded you, so that your days may
be long and that it may go well with you in the land that Yahweh your God
is giving you.
You shall not kill.
Neither shall you
commit adultery.
Neither shall you
steal.
Neither shall you
bear false witness against your neighbor.
Neither shall you
covet your neighbor’s wife. Neither
shall you desire your neighbor’s house, or field, or male or female slave, or
ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
These words Yahweh spoke
with a loud voice to your whole assembly at the mountain, out of the fire, the
cloud, and the thick darkness, and he added no more. He wrote them on two stone
tablets, and gave them to me. When you
heard the voice out of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire,
you approached me, all the heads of your tribes and your elders; and you said,
“Look, Yahweh our God has shown us his glory and greatness, and we have
heard his voice out of the fire. Today we have seen that God may speak to
someone and the person may still live. So
now why should we die? For this great fire will consume us; if we hear the
voice of Yahweh our God any longer, we shall die. For who is there of all flesh that has heard
the voice of the living God speaking out of fire, as we have, and remained
alive? Go near, you yourself, and hear
all that Yahweh our God will say. Then tell us everything that Yahweh our
God tells you, and we will listen and do it.”
Yahweh heard your
words when you spoke to me, and Yahweh said to me: “I have heard the words
of this people, which they have spoken to you; they are right in all that they
have spoken. If only they had such a
mind as this, to fear me and to keep all my mitzvot always, so that it might go
well with them and with their children forever!
Go say to them, ‘Return to your tents.’
But you, stand here by me, and I will tell you all the mitzvot, the
statutes and the ordinances, that you shall teach them, so that they may do
them in the land that I am giving them to possess.” You must therefore be careful to do as Yahweh your
God has commanded you; you shall not turn to the right or to the left. You must follow exactly the path that Yahweh your
God has commanded you, so that you may live, and that it may go well with you,
and that you may live long in the land that you are to possess.
Now this is the
commandment—the statutes and the ordinances—that Yahweh your God charged
me to teach you to observe in the land that you are about to cross into and
occupy, so that you and your children and your children’s children may fear Yahweh
your God all the days of your life, and keep all his decrees and his
commandments that I am commanding you, so that your days may be long. Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe them
diligently, so that it may go well with you, and so that you may multiply
greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, as Yahweh, the God of your
ancestors, has promised you.
Hear, O Israel:
Yahweh our God is one Yahweh. Love
Yahweh your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all
your might.
If you will only
heed his every mitzvah that I am commanding you today—loving Yahweh your
God, and serving him with all your heart and with all your soul—then he will
give the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the later rain,
and you will gather in your grain, your wine, and your oil; and he will give
grass in your fields for your livestock, and you will eat your fill. Take care, or you will be seduced into
turning away, serving other gods and worshiping them, for then the anger of Yahweh will
be kindled against you and he will shut up the heavens, so that there will be
no rain and the land will yield no fruit; then you will perish quickly off the
good land that Yahweh is giving you.
You shall put these
words of mine in your heart and soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your
hand, and fix them as an emblem on your forehead. Teach them to your children, talking about
them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you
rise. Write them on the doorposts of
your house and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children
may be multiplied in the land that the Lord swore to your ancestors
to give them, as long as the heavens are above the earth.
Set apart a tithe of all the yield of your
seed that is brought in yearly from the field.
In the presence of Yahweh your God, in the place that he will
choose as a dwelling for his name, you shall eat the tithe of your grain, your
wine, and your oil, as well as the firstlings of your herd and flock, so that
you may learn to fear Yahweh your God always. But if, when Yahweh your God has blessed
you, the distance is so great that you are unable to transport it, because the
place where Yahweh your God will choose to set his name is too far away
from you, then you may turn it into money. With the money secure in hand, go to the place
that Yahweh your God will choose; spend the money for whatever you
wish—oxen, sheep, wine, strong drink, or whatever you desire. And you shall eat
there in the presence of Yahweh your God, you and your household rejoicing
together. As for the Levites resident in
your towns, do not neglect them, because they have no allotment or inheritance
with you.
When you have
finished paying all the tithe of your produce in the third year (which is the
year of the tithe), giving it to the Levites, the aliens, the orphans, and the
widows, so that they may eat their fill within your towns, then you shall say
before Yahweh your God: “I have removed the sacred portion from the house, and
I have given it to the Levites, the resident aliens, the orphans, and the
widows, in accordance with your entire commandment that you commanded me; I
have neither transgressed nor forgotten any of your commandments: I have not
eaten of it while in mourning; I have not removed any of it while I was
unclean; and I have not offered any of it to the dead. I have obeyed Yahweh my
God, doing just as you commanded me. Look
down from your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless your people Israel and
the ground that you have given us, as you swore to our ancestors—a land flowing
with milk and honey.”
When you have come
into the land that Yahweh your God is giving you, and have taken
possession of it and settled in it, and you say, “I will set a king over me,
like all the nations that are around me,” you may indeed set over you a king
whom Yahweh your God will choose. One of your own community you may set as
king over you; you are not permitted to put a foreigner over you, who is not of
your own community. Even so, he must not
acquire many horses for himself, or return the people to Egypt in order to
acquire more horses, since Yahweh has said to you, “You must never return
that way again.” And he must not
acquire many wives for himself, or else his heart will turn away; also silver
and gold he must not acquire in great quantity for himself. When he has taken the throne of his
kingdom, he shall have a copy of this law written for him in the presence of
the Levites. It shall remain with him
and he shall read in it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to fear Yahweh his
God, diligently observing all the words of this law and these statutes, neither
exalting himself above other members of the community nor turning aside from
the mitzvah, either to the right or to the left, so that he and his descendants
may reign long over his kingdom in Israel.
If you will only
obey Yahweh your God, by diligently observing all his commandments that I
am commanding you today, Yahweh your God will set you high above all the
nations of the earth; all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake
you, if you obey Yahweh your God:
Blessed shall you
be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field.
Blessed shall be
the fruit of your womb, the fruit of your ground, and the fruit of your
livestock, both the increase of your cattle and the issue of your flock.
Blessed shall be
your basket and your kneading bowl.
Blessed shall you
be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.
Yahweh will
cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before you; they shall
come out against you one way, and flee before you seven ways.
Yahweh will
command the blessing upon you in your barns, and in all that you undertake; he
will bless you in the land that Yahweh your God is giving you.
Yahweh will
establish you as his holy people, as he has sworn to you, if you keep the mitzvot
of Yahweh your God and walk in his ways.
All the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name
of Yahweh, and they shall be afraid of you.
Yahweh will make
you abound in prosperity, in the fruit of your womb, in the fruit of your
livestock, and in the fruit of your ground in the land that Yahweh swore
to your ancestors to give you.
Yahweh will open
for you his rich storehouse, the heavens, to give the rain of your land in its
season and to bless all your undertakings. You will lend to many nations, but you will
not borrow.
Yahweh will make
you the head, and not the tail; you shall be only at the top, and not at the
bottom—if you obey the commandments of Yahweh your God, which I am
commanding you today, by diligently observing them, and if you do not turn
aside from any of the words that I am commanding you today, either to the right
or to the left, following other gods to serve them.
But if you will not
obey Yahweh your God by diligently observing all his commandments and
decrees, which I am commanding you today, then all these curses shall come upon
you and overtake you:
Cursed shall you be
in the city, and cursed shall you be in the field.
Cursed shall be
your basket and your kneading bowl.
Cursed shall be the
fruit of your womb, the fruit of your ground, the increase of your cattle and
the issue of your flock.
Cursed shall you be
when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.
Yahweh will send
upon you disaster, panic, and frustration in everything you attempt to do,
until you are destroyed and perish quickly, on account of the evil of your
deeds, because you have forsaken me.
Yahweh will make
the pestilence cling to you until it has consumed you off the land that you are
entering to possess.
Yahweh will afflict
you with consumption, fever, inflammation, with fiery heat and drought, and
with blight and mildew; they shall pursue you until you perish. The sky over your head shall be bronze, and
the earth under you iron.
Yahweh will change
the rain of your land into powder, and only dust shall come down upon you from
the sky until you are destroyed.
Yahweh will cause
you to be defeated before your enemies; you shall go out against them one way
and flee before them seven ways.
You shall become an
object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.
Your corpses shall
be food for every bird of the air and animal of the earth, and there shall be
no one to frighten them away.
Yahweh will afflict
you with the boils of Egypt, with ulcers, scurvy, and itch, of which you cannot
be healed.
Yahweh will afflict
you with madness, blindness, and confusion of mind; you shall grope about at
noon as blind people grope in darkness, but you shall be unable to find your
way; and you shall be continually abused and robbed, without anyone to help.
You shall become
engaged to a woman, but another man shall lie with her.
You shall build a
house, but not live in it.
You shall plant a
vineyard, but not enjoy its fruit.
Your ox shall be
butchered before your eyes, but you shall not eat of it.
Your donkey shall
be stolen in front of you, and shall not be restored to you.
Your sheep shall be
given to your enemies, without anyone to help you.
Your sons and
daughters shall be given to another people, while you look on; you will strain
your eyes looking for them all day but be powerless to do anything.
A people whom you
do not know shall eat up the fruit of your ground and of all your labors; you
shall be continually abused and crushed, and driven mad by
the sight that your eyes shall see.
Yahweh will strike you
on the knees and on the legs with grievous boils of which you cannot be healed,
from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head.
Yahweh will bring
you, and the king whom you set over you, to a nation that neither you nor your
ancestors have known, where you shall serve other gods, of wood and stone.
You shall become an
object of horror, a proverb, and a byword among all the peoples where
the Lord will lead you.
You shall carry
much seed into the field but shall gather little in, for the locust shall
consume it.
You shall plant
vineyards and dress them, but you shall neither drink the wine nor gather the
grapes, for the worm shall eat them.
You shall have
olive trees throughout all your territory, but you shall not anoint yourself
with the oil, for your olives shall drop off.
You shall have sons
and daughters, but they shall not remain yours, for they shall go into
captivity.
All your trees and
the fruit of your ground the cicada shall take over.
Aliens residing
among you shall ascend above you higher and higher, while you shall descend
lower and lower. They shall lend to you
but you shall not lend to them; they shall be the head and you shall be the
tail.
All these curses
shall come upon you, pursuing and overtaking you until you are destroyed,
because you did not obey Yahweh your God, by observing the mitzvot and the
decrees that he commanded you. They
shall be among you and your descendants as a sign and a portent forever.
Because you did not
serve Yahweh your God joyfully and with gladness of heart for the
abundance of everything, therefore you shall serve your enemies whom Yahweh will
send against you, in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and lack of everything. He will put an iron yoke on your neck until he
has destroyed you. Yahweh will bring a
nation from far away, from the end of the earth, to swoop down on you like an
eagle, a nation whose language you do not understand, a grim-faced nation
showing no respect to the old or favor to the young. It shall consume the fruit of your livestock
and the fruit of your ground until you are destroyed, leaving you neither
grain, wine, and oil, nor the increase of your cattle and the issue of your
flock, until it has made you perish. It
shall besiege you in all your towns until your high and fortified walls, in
which you trusted, come down throughout your land; it shall besiege you in all
your towns throughout the land that Yahweh your God has given you. In the desperate straits to which the enemy
siege reduces you, you will eat the fruit of your womb, the flesh of your own
sons and daughters whom Yahweh your God has given you. Even the most refined and gentle of men among
you will begrudge food to his own brother, to the wife whom he embraces, and to
the last of his remaining children, giving to none of them any of the flesh of
his children whom he is eating, because nothing else remains to him, in the
desperate straits to which the enemy siege will reduce you in all your
towns. She who is the most refined and
gentle among you, so gentle and refined that she does not venture to set the
sole of her foot on the ground, will begrudge food to the husband whom she
embraces, to her own son, and to her own daughter, begrudging even the
afterbirth that comes out from between her thighs, and the children that she
bears, because she is eating them in secret for lack of anything else, in the
desperate straits to which the enemy siege will reduce you in your towns.
If you do not diligently
observe all the words of this law that are written in this book, fearing this
glorious and awesome name, Yahweh your God, then Yahweh will
overwhelm both you and your offspring with severe and lasting afflictions and
grievous and lasting maladies. He will
bring back upon you all the diseases of Egypt, of which you were in dread, and
they shall cling to you. Every
other malady and affliction, even though not recorded in the book of this law, Yahweh will
inflict on you until you are destroyed. Although
once you were as numerous as the stars in heaven, you shall be left few in
number, because you did not obey Yahweh your God. And just as Yahweh took delight in making you
prosperous and numerous, so Yahweh will take delight in bringing you to
ruin and destruction; you shall be plucked off the land that you are entering
to possess. Yahweh will scatter you
among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other; and there you shall
serve other gods, of wood and stone, which neither you nor your ancestors have
known. Among those nations you shall
find no ease, no resting place for the sole of your foot. There Yahweh will
give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and a languishing spirit. Your life shall hang in doubt before you;
night and day you shall be in dread, with no assurance of your life. In the morning you shall say, “If only it
were evening!” and at evening you shall say, “If only it were morning!”—because
of the dread that your heart shall feel and the sights that your eyes shall
see. Yahweh will bring you back in
ships to Egypt, by a route that I promised you would never see again; and there
you shall offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves,
but there will be no buyer.
