Old
Testament Readings
Which are never read in a Roman
Catholic Mass
Biblical
Verses Omitted From Roman Catholic Mass Readings
Chapter 1 - verses 1-46 have been
omitted from the Mass readings.
[1] These are the words, which Moses spoke to all Israel beyond the
Jordan, in the plain wilderness, over against the Red Sea, between
Pharan and Thophel and Laban and Haseroth, where there is very much
gold: [2] Eleven days' journey from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir to
Cadesbarne.
[3] In the fortieth year, the eleventh month, the first day of the
month, Moses spoke to the children of Israel all that the Lord had
commanded him to say to them: [4] After that he had slain Sehon king of
the Amorrhites, who dwelt in Hesebon: and Og king of Basan who abode in
Astaroth, and in Edrai, [5] Beyond the Jordan in the land of Moab. And
Moses began to expound the law, and to say:
[6] The Lord our God spoke to us in Horeb, saying: You have stayed long
enough in this mountain: [7] Turn you, and come to the mountain of the
Amorrhites, and to the other places that are next to it, the plains and
the hills and the vales towards the south, and by the sea shore, the
land of the Chanaanites, and of Libanus, as far as the great river
Euphrates. [8] Behold, said he, I have delivered it to you: go in and
possess it, concerning which the Lord swore to your fathers Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, that he would give it to them, and to their seed
after them.
[9] And I said to you at that time: [10] I alone am not able to bear
you: for the Lord your God hath multiplied you, and you are this day as
the stars of heaven, for multitude. [11] (The Lord God of your fathers
add to this number many thousands, and bless you as he hath spoken.)
[12] I alone am not able to bear your business, and the charge of you
and your differences. [13] Let me have from among you wise and
understanding men, and such whose conversation is approved among your
tribes, that I may appoint them your rulers.
[14] Then you answered me: The thing is good which thou meanest to do.
[15] And I took out of your tribes men wise and honourable, and
appointed them rulers, tribunes, and centurions, and officers over
fifties, and over tens, who might teach you all things. [16] And I
commanded them, saying: Hear them, and judge that which is just:
whether he be one of your country, or a stranger.
[17] There shall be no difference of persons, you shall hear the little
as well as the great: neither shall you respect any man's person,
because it is the judgment of God. And if any thing seem hard to you,
refer it to me, and I will hear it. [18] And I commanded you all things
that you were to do.
[19] And departing from Horeb, we passed through the terrible and vast
wilderness, which you saw, by the way of the mountain of the Amorrhite,
as the Lord our God had commanded us. And when we were come into
Cadesbarne,
[20] I said to you: You are come to the mountain of the Amorrhite,
which the Lord our God will give to us. [21] See the land which the
Lord thy God giveth thee: go up and possess it, as the Lord our God
hath spoken to thy fathers: fear not, nor be any way discouraged.
[22] And you came all to me, and said: Let us send men who may view the
land, and bring us word what way we shall go up, and to what cities we
shall go.
[23] And because the saying pleased me, I sent of you twelve men, one
of every tribe: [24] Who, when they had set forward and had gone up to
the mountains, came as far as the valley of the cluster: and having
viewed the land, [25] Taking of the fruits thereof, to shew its
fertility, they brought them to us, and said: The land is good, which
the Lord our God will give us.
[26] And you would not go up, but being incredulous to the word of the
Lord our God, [27] You murmured in your tents, and said: The Lord
hateth us, and therefore he hath brought us out of the land of Egypt,
that he might deliver us into the hand of the Amorrhite, and destroy
us. [28] Whither shall we go up? the messengers have terrified our
hearts, saying: The multitude is very great, and taller than we: the
cities are great, and walled up to the sky, we have seen the sons of
the Enacims there.
[29] And I said to you: Fear not, neither be ye afraid of them: [30]
The Lord God, who is your leader, himself will fight for you, as he did
in Egypt in the sight of all. [31] And in the wilderness (as thou hast
seen) the Lord thy God hath carried thee, as a man is wont to carry his
little son, all the way that you have come, until you came to this
place.
[32] And yet for all this you did not believe the Lord your God, [33]
Who went before you in the way, and marked out the place, wherein you
should pitch your tents, in the night shewing you the way by fire, and
in the day by the pillar of a cloud.
[34] And when the Lord had heard the voice of your words, he was angry
and swore, and said: [35] Not one of the men of this wicked generation
shall see the good land, which I promised with an oath to your fathers:
[36] Except Caleb the son of Jephone: for he shall see it, and to him I
will give the land that he hath trodden upon, and to his children,
because he hath followed the Lord.
[37] Neither is his indignation against the people to be wondered at,
since the Lord was angry with me also on your account, and said:
Neither shalt thou go in thither. [38] But Josue the son of Nun, thy
minister, he shall go in for thee: exhort and encourage him, and he
shall divide the land by lot to Israel. [39] Your children, of whom you
said that they should be led away captives, and your sons who know not
this day the difference of good and evil, they shall go in: and to them
I will give the land, and they shall possess it. [40] But return you
and go into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea.
[41] And you answered me: We have sinned against the Lord: we will go
up and fight, as the Lord our God hath commanded. And when you went
ready armed unto the mountain,
[42] The Lord said to me: Say to them: Go not up, and fight not, for I
am not with you: lest you fall before your enemies. [43] I spoke, and
you hearkened not: but resisting the commandment of the Lord, and
swelling with pride, you went up into the mountain. [44] And the
Amorrhite that dwelt in the mountains coming out, and meeting you,
chased you, as bees do: and made slaughter of you from Seir as far as
Horma. [45] And when you returned and wept before the Lord, he heard
you not, neither would he yield to; your voice.
[46] So you abode in Cadesbarne a long time.
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Chapter 2 - verses 1-37 have been
omitted from the Mass readings.
[1] And departing from thence we came into the wilderness that leadeth
to the Red Sea, as the Lord had spoken to me: and we compassed mount
Seir a long time. [2] And the Lord said to me: [3] You have compassed
this mountain long enough: go toward the north: [4] And command thou
the people, saying: You shall pass by the borders of your brethren the
children of Esau, who dwell in Seir, and they will be afraid of you.
[5] Take ye then good heed that you stir not against them. For I will
not give you of their land so much as the step of one foot can tread
upon, because I have given mount Seir to Esau, for a possession. [6]
You shall buy meats of them for money and shall eat: you shall draw
waters for money, and shall drink. [7] The Lord thy God hath blessed
thee in every work of thy hands: the Lord thy God dwelling with thee,
knoweth thy journey, how thou hast passed through this great
wilderness, for forty years, and thou hast wanted nothing.
[8] And when we had passed by our brethren the children of Esau, that
dwelt in Seir, by the way of the plain from Elath and from Asiongaber,
we came to the way that leadeth to the desert of Moab.
[9] And the Lord said to me: Fight not against the Moabites, neither go
to battle against them: for I will not give thee any of their land,
because I have given Ar to the children of Lot in possession. [10] The
Emims first were the inhabitants thereof, a people great, and strong,
and so tall, that like the race of the Enacims, [11] They were esteemed
as giants, and were like the sons of the Enacims. But the Moabites call
them Emims. [12] The Horrhites also formerly dwelt in Seir: who being
driven out and destroyed, the children of Esau dwelt there, as Israel
did in the land of his possession, which the Lord gave him. [13] Then
rising up to pass the torrent Zared, we came to it.
[14] And the time that we journeyed from Cadesbarne till we passed over
the torrent Zared, was thirty-eight years: until all the generation of
the men that were fit for war was consumed out of the camp, as the Lord
had sworn: [15] For his hand was against them, that they should perish
from the midst of the camp. [16] And after all the fighting men were
dead, [17] The Lord spoke to me, saying: [18] Thou shalt pass this day
the borders of Moab, the city named Ar: [19] And when thou comest nigh
the frontiers of the children of Ammon, take heed thou fight not
against them, nor once move to battle: for I will not give thee of the
land of the children of Ammon, because I have given it to the children
of Lot for a possession. [20] It was accounted a land of giants: and
giants formerly dwelt in it, whom the Ammonites call Zomzommims, [21] A
people great and many, and of tall stature, like the Enacims whom the
Lord destroyed before their face: and he made them to dwell in their
stead, [22] As he had done in favour of the children of Esau, that
dwell in Seir, destroying the Horrhites, and delivering their land to
them, which they possess to this day. [23] The Hevites also, that dwelt
in Haserim as far as Gaza, were expelled by the Cappadocians: who came
out of Cappadocia, and destroyed them, and dwelt in their stead. [24]
Arise ye, and pass the torrent Arnon: Behold I have delivered into thy
hand Sehon king of Hesebon the Amorrhite, and begin thou to possess his
land and make war against him. [25] This day will I begin to send the
dread and fear of thee upon the nations that dwell under the whole
heaven: that when they hear thy name they may fear and tremble, and be
in pain like women in travail.
[26] So I sent messengers from the wilderness of Cademoth to Sehon the
king of Hesebon with peaceable words, saying: [27] We will pass through
thy land, we will go along by the highway: we will not turn aside
neither to the right hand nor to the left. [28] Sell us meat for money,
that we may eat: give us water for money and so we will drink. We only
ask that thou wilt let us pass through, [29] As the children of Esau
have done, that dwell in Seir, and the Moabites, that abide in Ar:
until we come to the Jordan, and pass to the land which the Lord our
God will give us.
[30] And Sehon the king of Hesebon would not let us pass: because the
Lord thy God had hardened his spirit, and fixed his heart, that he
might be delivered into thy hands, as now thou seest. [31] And the Lord
said to me: Behold I have begun to deliver unto thee Sehon and his
land, begin to possess it.
[32] And Sehon came out to meet us with all his people to fight at
Jasa. [33] And the Lord our God delivered him to us: and we slew him
with his sons and all his people. [34] And we took all his cities at
that time, killing the inhabitants of them, men and women and children.
We left nothing of them: [35] Except the cattle which came to the share
of them that took them: and the spoils of the cities, which we took:
[36] From Aroer, which is upon the bank of the torrent Amen, a town
that is situate in a valley, as far as Galaad. There was not a village
or city, that escaped our hands: the Lord our God delivered all unto
us: [37] Except the land of the children of Ammon, to which we
approached not: and all that border upon the torrent Jeboc, and the
cities in the mountains, and all the places which the Lord our God
forbade us.
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Chapter 3 - verses 1-29 have been
omitted from the Mass readings.
[1] Then we turned and went by the way of Basan: and Og the king of
Basan came out to meet us with his people to fight in Edrai. [2] And
the Lord said to me: Fear him not: because he is delivered into thy
hand, with all his people and his land: and thou shalt do to him as
thou hast done to Sehon king of the Amorrhites, that dwelt in Hesebon.
[3] So the Lord our God delivered into our hands, Og also the king of
Basan, and all his people: and we utterly destroyed them, [4] Wasting
all his cities at one time, there was not a town that escaped us: sixty
cities, all the country of Argob the kingdom of Og in Basan. [5] All
the cities were fenced with very high walls, and with gates and bars,
besides innumerable towns that had no walls. [6] And we utterly
destroyed them, as we had done to Sehon the king of Hesebon, destroying
every city, men and women and children: [7] But the cattle and the
spoils of the cities we took for our prey. [8] And we took at that time
the land out of the hand of the two kings of the Amorrhites, that were
beyond the Jordan: from the torrent Amen unto the mount Hermon, [9]
Which the Sidonians call Sarion, and the Amorrhites Sanir: [10] All the
cities that are situate in the plain, and all the land of Galaad and
Basan as far as Selcha and Edrai, cities of the kingdom of Og in Basan.
[11] For only Og king of Basan remained of the race of the giants. His
bed of iron is shewn, which is in Rabbath of the children of Ammon,
being nine cubits long, and four broad after the measure of the cubit
of a man's hand.
[12] And we possessed the land at that time from Aroer, which is upon
the bank of the torrent Amen, unto the half of mount Galaad: and I gave
the cities thereof to Ruben and Gad. [13] And I delivered the other
part of Galaad, and all Basan the kingdom of Og to the half tribe of
Manasses, all the country of Argob: and all Basan is called the Land of
giants. [14] Jair the son of Manasses possessed all the country of
Argob unto the borders of Gessuri, and Machati. And he called Basan by
his own name, Havoth Jair, that is to say, the towns of Jair, until
this present day. [15] To Machir also I gave Galaad. [16] And to the
tribes of Ruben and Gad I gave of the land of Galaad as far as the
torrent Amen, half the torrent, and the confines even unto the torrent
Jeboc, which is the border of the children of Ammon: [17] And the plain
of the wilderness, and the Jordan, and the borders of Cenereth unto the
sea of the desert, which is the most salt sea, to the foot of mount
Phasga eastward.
[18] And I commanded you at that time, saying: The Lord your God giveth
you this land for an inheritance, go ye well appointed before your
brethren the children of Israel, all the strong men of you, [19]
Leaving your wives and children and cattle. For I know you have much
cattle, and they must remain in the cities, which I have delivered to
you. [20] Until the Lord give rest to your brethren, as he hath given
to you: and they also possess the land, which he will give them beyond
the Jordan: then shall every man return to his possession, which I have
given you.
[21] I commanded Josue also at that time, saying: Thy eyes have seen
what the Lord your God hath done to these two kings: so will he do to
all the kingdoms to which thou shalt pass. [22] Fear them not: for the
Lord your God will fight for you.
[23] And I besought the Lord at that time, saying: [24] Lord God, thou
hast begun to shew unto thy servant thy greatness, and most mighty
hand, for there is no other God either in heaven or earth, that is able
to do thy works, or to be compared to thy strength. [25] I will pass
over therefore, and will see this excellent land beyond the Jordan, and
this goodly mountain, and Libanus.
[26] And the Lord was angry with me on your account and heard me not,
but said to me: It is enough: speak no more to me of this matter. [27]
Go up to the top of Phasga, and cast thy eyes round about to the west,
and to the north, and to the south, and to the east, and behold it, for
thou shalt not pass this Jordan. [28] Command Josue, and encourage and
strengthen him: for he shall go before this people, and shall divide
unto them the land which thou shalt see.
[29] And we abode in the valley over against the temple of Phogor.
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Chapter 4 - verses 3-4, 10-31 and
41-49 have been omitted from the Mass readings.
[3] Your eyes have seen all that the Lord hath done against Beelphegor,
how he hath destroyed all his worshippers from among you. [4] But you
that adhere to the Lord your God, are all alive until this present day.
[10] From the day in which thou didst stand before the Lord thy God in
Horeb, when the Lord spoke to me, saying: Call together the people unto
me, that they may hear my words, and may learn to fear me all the time
that they live on the earth, and may teach their children.
[11] And you came to the foot of the mount, which burned even unto
heaven: and there was darkness, and a cloud and obscurity in it. [12]
And the Lord spoke to you from the midst of the fire. You heard the
voice of his words, but you saw not any form at all. [13] And he shewed
you his covenant, which he commanded you to do, and the ten words that
he wrote in two tables of stone. [14] And he commanded me at that time
that I should teach you the ceremonies and judgments which you shall do
in the land, that you shall possess.
[15] Keep therefore your souls carefully. You saw not any similitude in
the day that the Lord God spoke to you in Horeb from the midst of the
fire: [16] Lest perhaps being deceived you might make you a graven
similitude, or image of male or female, [17] The similitude of any
beasts, that are upon the earth, or of birds, that fly under heaven,
[18] Or of creeping things, that move on the earth, or of fishes, that
abide in the waters under the earth: [19] Lest perhaps lifting up thy
eyes to heaven, thou see the sun and the moon, and all the stars of
heaven, and being deceived by error thou adore and serve them, which
the Lord thy God created for the service of all the nations, that are
under heaven. [20] But the Lord hath taken you and brought you out of
the iron furnace of Egypt, to make you his people of inheritance, as it
is this present day.
[21] And the Lord was angry with me for your words, and he swore that I
should not pass over the Jordan, nor enter into the excellent land,
which he will give you. [22] Behold I die in this land, I shall not
pass over the Jordan: you shall pass, and possess the goodly land. [23]
Beware lest thou ever forget the covenant of the Lord thy God, which he
hath made with thee: and make to thyself a graven likeness of those
things which the Lord hath forbid to be made: [24] Because the Lord thy
God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
[25] If you shall beget sons and grandsons, and abide in the land, and
being deceived, make to yourselves any similitude, committing evil
before the Lord your God, to provoke him to wrath: [26] I call this day
heaven and earth to witness, that you shall quickly perish out of the
land, which, when you have passed over the Jordan, you shall possess.
You shall not dwell therein long, but the Lord will destroy you, [27]
And scatter you among all nations, and you shall remain a few among the
nations, to which the Lord shall lead you. [28] And there you shall
serve gods, that were framed with men's hands: wood and stone, that
neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. [29] And when thou shalt
seek there the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him: yet so, if thou seek
him with all thy heart, and all the affliction of thy soul. [30] After
all the things aforesaid shall and thee, in the latter time thou shalt
return to the Lord thy God, and shalt hear his voice. [31] Because the
Lord thy God is a merciful God: he will not leave thee, nor altogether
destroy thee, nor forget the covenant, by which he swore to thy fathers.
[41] Then Moses set aside three cities beyond the Jordan at the east
side, [42] That any one might flee to them who should kill his
neighbour unwillingly, and was not his enemy a day or two before, and
that he might escape to some one of these cities: [43] Bosor in the
wilderness, which is situate in the plains of the tribe of Ruben: and
Ramoth in Galaad, which is in the tribe of Gad: and Golan in Basan,
which is in the tribe of Manasses.
[44] This is the law, that Moses set before the children of Israel,
[45] And these are the testimonies and ceremonies and judgments, which
he spoke to the children of Israel, when they came out of Egypt, [46]
Beyond the Jordan in the valley over against the temple of Phogor, in
the land of Sehon king of the Amorrhites, that dwelt in Hesebon, whom
Moses slew. And the children of Israel coming out of Egypt, [47]
Possessed his land, and the land of Og king of Basan, of the two kings
of the Amorrhites, who were beyond the Jordan towards the rising of the
sun: [48] From Aroer, which is situate upon the bank of the torrent
Amen, unto mount Sion, which is also called Hermon, [49] All the plain
beyond the Jordan at the east side, unto the see of the wilderness, and
unto the foot of mount Phasga.
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Chapter 5 - verses 1-11 and 16-33
have been omitted from the Mass readings.
[1] And Moses called all Israel, and said to them: Hear, O Israel, the
ceremonies and judgments, which I speak in your ears this day: learn
them, and fulfill them in work.
[2] The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. [3] He made not
the covenant with our fathers, but with us, who are now present and
living. [4] He spoke to us face to face in the mount out of the midst
of fire. [5] I was the mediator and stood between the Lord and you at
that time, to shew you his words, for you feared the fire, and went not
up into the mountain, and he said:
[6] I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt,
out of the house of bondage.
[7] Thou shalt not have strange gods in my sight.
[8] Thou shalt not make to thyself a graven thing, nor the likeness of
any things, that are in heaven above, or that are in the earth beneath,
or that abide in the waters under the earth. [9] Thou shalt not adore
them, and thou shalt not serve them. For I am the Lord thy God, a
jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon their children
unto the third and fourth generation, to them that hate me, [10] And
shewing mercy unto many thousands, to them that love me, and keep my
commandments.
[11] Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain: for he
shall not be unpunished that taketh his name upon a vain thing.
[16] Honour thy father and mother, as the Lord thy God hath commanded
thee, that thou mayst live a long time, and it may be well with thee in
the land, which the Lord thy God will give thee.
[17] Thou shalt not kill.
[18] Neither shalt thou commit adultery.
[19] And thou shalt not steal.
[20] Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbour.
[21] Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife: nor his house, nor his
field, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his
ass, nor any thing that is his.
[22] These words the Lord spoke to all the multitude of you in the
mountain, out of the midst of the fire and the cloud, and the darkness,
with a loud voice, adding nothing more: and he wrote them in two tables
of stone, which he delivered unto me.
[23] But you, after you heard the voice out of the midst of the
darkness, and saw the mountain burn, came to me, all the princes of the
tribes and the elders, and you said: [24] Behold the Lord our God hath
shewn us his majesty and his greatness, we have heard his voice out of
the midst of the fire, and have proved this day that God speaking with
man, man hath lived. [25] Why shall we die therefore, and why shall
this exceeding great fire consume us: for if we hear the voice of the
Lord our God any more, we shall die. [26] What is all flesh, that it
should hear the voice of the living God, who speaketh out of the midst
of the fire, as we have heard, and be able to live? [27] Approach thou
rather: and hear all things that the Lord our God shall say to thee,
and thou shalt speak to us, and we will hear and will do them.
[28] And when the Lord had heard this, he said to me: I have heard the
voice of the words of this people, which they spoke to thee: they have
spoken all things well. [29] Who shall give them to have such a mind,
to fear me, and to keep all my commandments at all times, that it may
be well with them and with their children for ever? [30] Go and say to
them: Return into your tents. [31] But stand thou here with me, and I
will speak to thee all my commandments, and ceremonies and judgments:
which thou shalt teach them, that they may do them in the land, which I
will give them for a possession.
[32] Keep therefore and do the things which the Lord God hath commanded
you: you shall not go aside neither to the right hand, nor to the left.
[33] But you shall walk in the way that the Lord your God hath
commanded, that you may live, and it may be well with you, and your
days may be long in the land of your possession.
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Chapter 6 - verses 1 and 14-25 have
been omitted from the Mass readings.
[1] These are the precepts, and ceremonies, and judgments, which the
Lord your God commanded that I should teach you, and that you should do
them in the land into which you pass over to possess it:
[14] You shall not go after the strange gods of all the nations, that
are round about you: [15] Because the Lord thy God is a jealous God in
the midst of thee: lest at any time the wrath of the Lord thy God be
kindled against thee, and take thee away from the face of the earth.
[16] Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God, as thou temptedst him in
the place of temptation.
[17] Keep the precepts of the Lord thy God, and the testimonies and
ceremonies which he hath commanded thee.
[18] And do that which is pleasing and good in the sight of the Lord,
that it may be well with thee: and going in thou mayst possess the
goodly land, concerning which the Lord swore to thy fathers, [19] That
he would destroy all thy enemies before thee, as he hath spoken.
[20] And when thy son shall ask thee tomorrow, saying: What mean these
testimonies, and ceremonies and judgments, which the Lord our God hath
commanded us? [21] Thou shalt say to him: We were bondmen of Pharao in
Egypt, and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand. [22]
And he wrought signs and wonders great and very grievous in Egypt
against Pharao, and all his house, in our sight, [23] And he brought us
out from thence, that he might bring us in and give us the land,
concerning which he swore to our fathers. [24] And the Lord commanded
that we should do all these ordinances, and should fear the Lord our
God, that it might be well with us all the days of our life, as it is
at this day. [25] And he will be merciful to us, if we keep and do all
his precepts before the Lord our God, as he hath commanded us.
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Chapter 7 - verses 1-5 and 12-26 have
been omitted from the Mass readings.
[1] When the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into the land, which
thou art going in to possess, and shall have destroyed many nations
before thee, the Hethite, and the Gergezite, and the Amorrhite, and the
Chanaanite, and the Pherezite, and the Hevite, and the Jebusite, seven
nations much more numerous than thou art, and stronger than thou: [2]
And the Lord thy God shall have delivered them to thee, thou shalt
utterly destroy them. Thou shalt make no league with them, nor shew
mercy to them: [3] Neither shalt thou make marriages with them. Thou
shalt not give thy daughter to his son, nor take his daughter for thy
son: [4] For she will turn away thy son from following me, that he may
rather serve strange gods, and the wrath of the Lord will be kindled,
and will quickly destroy thee.
[5] But thus rather shall you deal with them: Destroy their altars, and
break their statues, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven
things.
[12] If after thou hast heard these judgments, thou keep and do them,
the Lord thy God will also keep his covenant to thee, and the mercy
which he swore to thy fathers: [13] And he will love thee and multiply
thee, and will bless the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy land,
thy corn, and thy vintage, thy oil, and thy herds, and the flocks of
thy sheep upon the land, for which he swore to thy fathers that he
would give it thee. [14] Blessed shalt thou be among all people. No one
shall be barren among you of either sex, neither of men nor cattle.
[15] The Lord will take away from thee all sickness: and the grievous
infirmities of Egypt, which thou knowest, he will not bring upon thee,
but upon thy enemies.
[16] Thou shalt consume all the people, which the Lord thy God will
deliver to thee. Thy eye shall not spare them, neither shalt thou serve
their gods, lest they be thy ruin.
[17] If thou say in thy heart: These nations are more than I, how shall
I be able to destroy them? [18] Fear not, but remember what the Lord
thy God did to Pharao and to all the Egyptians, [19] The exceeding
great plagues, which thy eyes saw, and the signs and wonders, and the
strong hand, and the stretched out arm, with which the Lord thy God
brought thee out: so will he do to all the people, whom thou fearest.
[20] Moreover the Lord thy God will send also hornets among them, until
he destroy and consume all that have escaped thee, and could hide
themselves. [21] Thou shalt not fear them, because the Lord thy God is
in the midst of thee, a God mighty and terrible:
[22] He will consume these nations in thy sight by little and little
and by degrees. Thou wilt not be able to destroy them altogether: lest
perhaps the beasts of the earth should increase upon thee. [23] But the
Lord thy God shall deliver them in thy sight: and shall slay them until
they be utterly destroyed. [24] And he shall deliver their kings into
thy hands, and thou shalt destroy their names from under Heaven: no man
shall be able to resist thee, until thou destroy them.
[25] Their graven things thou shalt burn with fire: thou shalt not
covet the silver and gold of which they are made, neither shalt thou
take to thee any thing thereof, lest thou offend, because it is an
abomination to the Lord thy God. [26] Neither shalt thou bring any
thing of the idol into thy house, lest thou become an anathema, like
it. Thou shalt detest it as dung, and shalt utterly abhor it as
uncleanness and filth, because it is an anathema.
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Chapter 8 - verses 1, 4-6 and 19-20
have been omitted from the Mass readings.
[1] All the commandments, that I command thee this day, take great care
to observe: that you may live, and be multiplied, and going in may
possess the land, for which the Lord swore to your fathers.
[4] Thy raiment, with which thou wast covered, hath not decayed for
age, and thy foot is not worn, lo this is the fortieth year, [5] That
thou mayst consider in thy heart, that as a man traineth up his son, so
the Lord thy God hath trained thee up. [6] That thou shouldst keep the
commandments of the Lord thy God, and walk in his ways, and fear him.
[19] But if thou forget the Lord thy God, and follow strange gods, and
serve and adore them: behold now I foretell thee that thou shalt
utterly perish. [20] As the nations, which the Lord destroyed at thy
entrance, so shall you also perish, if you be disobedient to the voice
of the Lord your God.
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Chapter 9 - verses 1-29 have been
omitted from the Mass readings.
[1] Hear, O Israel: Thou shalt go over the Jordan this day; to possess
nations very great, and stronger than thyself, cities great, and walled
up to the sky, [2] A People great and tall, the sons of the Enacims,
whom thou hast seen, and heard of, against whom no man is able to
stand. [3] Thou shalt know therefore this day that the Lord thy God
himself will pass over before thee, a devouring and consuming fire, to
destroy and extirpate and bring them to nothing before thy face
quickly, as he hath spoken to thee.
[4] Say not in thy heart, when the Lord thy God shall have destroyed
them in thy sight: For my justice hath the Lord brought me in to
possess this land, whereas these nations are destroyed for their
wickedness. [5] For it is not for thy justices, and the uprightness of
thy heart that thou shalt go in to possess their lands: but because
they have done wickedly, they are destroyed at thy coming in: and that
the Lord might accomplish his word, which he promised by oath to thy
fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. [6] Know therefore that the Lord thy
God giveth thee not this excellent land in possession for thy justices,
for thou art a very stiffnecked people.
[7] Remember, and forget not how then provokedst the Lord thy God to
wrath in the wilderness. From the day that thou camest out of Egypt
unto this place, thou hast always strove against the Lord. [8] For in
Horeb also thou didst provoke him, and he was angry, and would have
destroyed thee,
[9] When I went up into the mount to receive the tables of stone, the
tables of the covenant which the Lord made with you: and I continued in
the mount forty days and nights, neither eating bread, nor drinking
water. [10] And the Lord gave me two tables of stone written with the
finger of God, and containing all the words that he spoke to you in the
mount from the midst of the fire, when the people were assembled
together. [11] And when forty days were passed, and as many nights, the
Lord gave me the two tables of stone, the tables of the covenant, [12]
And said to me: Arise, and go down from hence quickly: for thy people,
which thou hast brought out of Egypt, have quickly forsaken the way
that thou hast shewn them, and have made to themselves a molten idol.
[13] And again the Lord said to me: I see that this people is
stiffnecked: [14] Let me alone that I may destroy them, and abolish
their name from under heaven, and set thee over a nation, that is
greater and stronger than this.
[15] And when I came down from the burning mount, and held the two
tables of the covenant with both hands, [16] And saw that you had
sinned against the Lord your God, and had made to yourselves a molten
calf, and had quickly forsaken his way, which he had shewn you: [17] I
cast the tables out of my hands, and broke them in your sight. [18] And
I fell down before the Lord as before, forty days and nights neither
eating bread, nor drinking water, for all your sins, which you had
committed against the Lord, and had provoked him to wrath: [19] For I
feared his indignation and anger, wherewith being moved against you, he
would have destroyed you. And the Lord heard me this time also.
[20] And he was exceeding angry against Aaron also, and would have
destroyed him, and I prayed in like manner for him.
[21] And your sin that you had committed, that is, the calf, I took,
and burned it with fire, and breaking it into pieces, until it was as
small as dust, I threw it into the torrent, which cometh down from the
mountain.
[22] At the burning also, and at the place of temptation, and at the
graves of lust you provoked the Lord: [23] And when he sent you from
Cadesbarne, saying: Go up, and possess the land that I have given you,
and you slighted the commandment of the Lord your God, and did not
believe him, neither would you hearken to his voice: [24] But were
always rebellious from the day that I began to know you.
[25] And I lay prostrate before the Lord forty days and nights, in
which I humbly besought him, that he would not destroy you as he had
threatened: [26] And praying, I said: O Lord God, destroy not thy
people, and thy inheritance, which thou hast redeemed in thy greatness,
whom thou hast brought out of Egypt with a strong hand. [27] Remember
thy servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: look not on the stubbornness of
this people, nor on their wickedness and sin: [28] Lest perhaps the
inhabitants of the land, out of which thou hast brought us, say: The
Lord could not bring them into the land that he promised them, and he
hated them: therefore he brought them out, that he might kill them in
the wilderness, [29] Who are thy people and thy inheritance, whom thou
hast brought out by thy great strength, and in thy stretched out arm.
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Chapter 10 - verses 1-7 and 10-11
have been omitted from the Mass readings.
[1] At that time the Lord said to me: Hew thee two tables of stone like
the former, and come up to me into the mount: and thou shalt make an
ark of wood, [2] And I will write on the tables the words that were in
them, which thou brokest before, and thou shalt put them in the ark.
[3] And I made an ark of setim wood And when I had hewn two tables of
stone like the former, I went up into the mount, having them in my
hands. [4] And he wrote in the tables, according as he had written
before, the ten words, which the Lord spoke to you in the mount from
the midst of the fire, when the people were assembled: and he gave them
to me. [5] And returning from the mount, I came down, and put the
tables into the ark, that I had made, and they are there till this
present, as the Lord commanded me.
[6] And the children of Israel removed their camp from Beroth of the
children of Jacan into Mosera, where Aaron died and was buried, and
Eleazar his son succeeded him in the priestly office. [7] From thence
they came to Gadgad, from which place they departed, and camped in
Jetebatha, in a land of waters and torrents.
[10] And I stood in the mount, as before, forty days and nights: and
the Lord heard me this time also, and would not destroy thee. [11] And
he said to me: Go, and walk before the people, that they may enter, and
possess the land, which I swore to their fathers that I would give them.
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Chapter 11 - verses 1-17, 19-25 and
29-32 have been omitted from the Mass readings.
[1] Therefore love the Lord thy God and observe his precepts and
ceremonies, his judgments and commandments at all times.
[2] Know this day the things that your children know not, who saw not
the chastisements of the Lord your God. his great doings and strong
hand, and stretched out arm, [3] The signs and works which he did in
the midst of Egypt to king Pharao, and to all his land, [4] And to all
the host of the Egyptians, and to their horses and chariots: how the
waters of the Red Sea covered them, when they pursued you, and how the
Lord destroyed them until this present day: [5] And what he hath done
to you in the wilderness, till you came to this place: [6] And to
Dathan and Abiron the sons of Eliab, who was the son of Ruben: whom the
earth, opening her mouth swallowed up with their households and tents,
and all their substance, which they had in the midst of Israel. [7]
Your eyes have seen all the greet works of the Lord, that he hath done,
[8] That you may keep all his commandments, which I command you this
day, and may go in, and possess the land, to which you are entering,
[9] And may live in it a long time: which the Lord promised by oath to
your fathers, and to their seed, a land which floweth with milk and
honey. [10] For the land, which thou goest to possess, is not like the
land of Egypt, from whence thou camest out, where, when the seed is
sown, waters are brought in to water it after the manner of gardens.
[11] But it is a land of hills and plains, expecting rain from heaven.
[12] And the Lord thy God doth always visit it, and his eyes are on it
from the beginning of the year unto the end thereof.
[13] If then you obey my commandments, which I command you this day,
that you love the Lord your God, and serve him with all your heart, and
with all your soul: [14] He will give to your land the early rain and
the latter rain, that you may gather in your corn, and your wine, and
your oil, [15] And your hay out of the fields to feed your cattle, and
that you may eat and be filled.
[16] Beware lest perhaps your heart be deceived, and you depart from
the Lord, and serve strange gods, and adore them: [17] And the Lord
being angry shut up heaven, that the rain come not down, nor the earth
yield her fruit, and you perish quickly from the excellent land, which
the Lord will give you.
[19] Teach your children that they meditate on them, when thou sittest
in thy house, and when thou walkest on the way, and when thou liest
down and risest up. [20] Thou shalt write them upon the posts and the
doors of thy house: [21] That thy days may be multiplied, and the days
of thy children in the land which the Lord swore to thy fathers, that
he would give them as long as the heaven hangeth over the earth.
[22] For if you keep the commandments which I command you, and do them,
to love the Lord your God, and walk in all his ways, cleaving unto him,
[23] The Lord will destroy all these nations before your face, and you
shall possess them, which are greater and stronger than you. [24] Every
place, that your foot shall tread upon, shall be yours. From the
desert, and from Libanus, from the great river Euphrates unto the
western sea shall be your borders. [25] None shall stand against you:
the Lord your God shall lay the dread and fear of you upon all the land
that you shall tread upon, as he hath spoken to you.
[29] And when the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into the land,
whither thou goest to dwell, thou shalt put the blessing upon mount
Garizim, the curse upon mount Hebal: [30] Which are beyond the Jordan,
behind the way that goeth to the setting of the sun, in the land of the
Chanaanite who dwelleth in the plain country over against Galgala,
which is near the valley that reacheth and entereth far. [31] For you
shall pass over the Jordan, to possess the land, which the Lord your
God will give you, that you may have it and possess it. [32] See
therefore that you fulfill the ceremonies and judgments, which I shall
set this day before you.
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Chapter 12 - verses 1-32 have been
omitted from the Mass readings.
[1] These are the precepts and judgments, that you must do in the land,
which the Lord the God of thy fathers will give thee, to possess it all
the days that thou shalt walk upon the earth.
[2] Destroy all the places in which the nations, that you shall
possess, worshipped their gods upon high mountains, and hills, and
under every shady tree: [3] Overthrow their altars, and break down
their statues, burn their groves with fire, and break their idols in
pieces: destroy their names out of those places.
[4] You shall not do so to the Lord your God: [5] But you shall come to
the place, which the Lord your God shall choose out of all your tribes,
to put his name there, and to dwell in it: [6] And you shall offer in
that place your holocausts and victims, the tithes and firstfruits of
your hands and your vows and gifts, the firstborn of your herds and
your sheep. [7] And you shall eat there in the sight of the Lord your
God: and you shall rejoice in all things, whereunto you shall put your
hand, you and your houses wherein the Lord your God hath blessed you.
[8] You shall not do there the things we do here this day, every man
that which seemeth good to himself. [9] For until this present time you
are not come to refit, and to the possession, which the Lord your God
will give you. [10] You shall pass over the Jordan, and shall dwell in
the land which the Lord your God will give you, that you may have rest
from all enemies round about: and may dwell without any fear, [11] In
the place, which the Lord your God shall choose, that his name may be
therein. Thither shall you bring all the things that I command you,
holocausts, and victims, and tithes, and the firstfruits of your hands:
and whatsoever is the choicest in the gifts which you shall vow to the
Lord. [12] There shall you feast before the Lord your God, you and your
sons and your daughters, your menservants and maid-servants, and the
Levite that dwelleth in your cities. For he hath no other part and
possession among you.
[13] Beware lest thou offer thy holocausts in every place that thou
shalt see: [14] But in the place which the Lord shall choose in one of
thy tribes shalt thou offer sacrifices. and shalt do all that I command
thee. [15] But if thou desirest to eat, and the eating of flesh delight
thee, kill, and eat according to the blessing of the Lord thy God,
which he hath given thee, in thy cities: whether it be unclean, that is
to say, having blemish or defect: or clean, that is to say, sound and
without blemish, such as may be offered, as the roe, and the hart,
shalt thou eat it: [16] Only the blood thou shalt not eat, but thou
shalt pour it out upon the earth as water.
[17] Thou mayst not eat in thy towns the tithes of thy corn, and thy
wine, and thy oil, the firstborn of thy herds and thy cattle, nor any
thing that thou vowest, and that thou wilt offer voluntarily, and the
firstfruits of thy hands: [18] But thou shalt eat them before the Lord
thy God in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose, thou and thy
son and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and maidservant, and the
Levite that dwelleth in thy cities: and thou shalt rejoice and be
refreshed before the Lord thy God in all things, whereunto thou shalt
put thy hand.
[19] Take heed thou forsake not the Levite all the time that thou
livest in the land. [20] When the Lord thy God shall have enlarged thy
borders, as he hath spoken to thee, and thou wilt eat the flesh that
thy soul desireth: [21] And if the place which the Lord thy God shall
choose, that his name should be there, be far off, thou shalt kill of
thy herds and of thy flocks, as I have commanded thee, and shalt eat in
thy towns, as it pleaseth thee. [22] Even as the roe and the hart is
eaten, so shalt thou eat them: both the clean and unclean shall eat of
them alike.
[23] Only beware of this, that thou eat not the blood, for the blood is
for the soul: and therefore thou must not eat the soul with the flesh:
[24] But thou shalt pour it upon the earth as water, [25] That it may
be well with thee and thy children after thee, when thou shalt do that
which is pleasing in the sight of the Lord.
[26] But the things which thou hast sanctified and vowed to the Lord,
thou shalt take, and shalt come to the place which the Lord shall
choose: [27] And shalt offer thy oblations the flesh and the blood upon
the altar of the Lord thy God: the blood of thy victims thou shalt pour
on the altar: and the flesh thou thyself shalt eat.
[28] Observe and hear all the things that I command thee, that it may
be well with thee and thy children after thee for ever, when thou shalt
do what is good and pleasing in the sight of the Lord thy God.
[29] When the Lord thy God shall have destroyed before thy face the
nations, which then shalt go in to possess, and when thou shalt possess
them, and dwell in their land: [30] Beware lest thou imitate them,
after they are destroyed at thy coming in, and lest thou seek after
their ceremonies, saying: As these nations have worshipped their gods,
so will I also worship. [31] Thou shalt not do in like manner to the
Lord thy God. For they have done to their gods all the abominations
which the Lord abhorreth, offering their sons and daughters, and
burning them with fire. [32] What I command thee, that only do thou to
the Lord: neither add any thing, nor diminish.
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Chapter 13 - verses 1-18 have been
omitted from the Mass readings.
[1] If there rise in the midst of thee a prophet or one that saith he
hath dreamed a dream, and he foretell a sign and a wonder,
[2] And that come to pass which he spoke, and he say to thee: Let us go
and follow strange gods, which thou knowest not, and let us serve them:
[3] Thou shalt not hear the words of that prophet or dreamer: for the
Lord your God trieth you, that it may appear whether you love him with
all your heart, and with all your soul, or not. [4] Follow the Lord
your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and hear his voice:
him you shall serve, and to him you shall cleave.
[5] And that prophet or forger of dreams shall be slain: because he
spoke to draw you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of
the land of Egypt, and redeemed you from the house of bondage: to make
thee go out of the way, which the Lord thy God commanded thee: and thou
shalt take away the evil out of the midst of thee.
[6] If thy brother the son of thy mother, or thy son, or daughter, or
thy wife that is in thy bosom, or thy friend, whom thou lovest as thy
own soul, would persuade thee secretly, saying: Let us go, and serve
strange gods, which thou knowest not, nor thy fathers,
[7] Of all the nations round about, that are near or afar off, from one
end of the earth to the other, [8] Consent not to him, hear him not,
neither let thy eye spare him to pity and conceal him, [9] But thou
shalt presently put him to death. It Let thy hand be first upon him,
and afterwards the hands of all the people. [10] With stones shall he
be stoned to death: because he would have withdrawn thee from the Lord
thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of
bondage: [11] That all Israel hearing may fear, and may do no more any
thing like this. [12] If in one of thy cities, which the Lord thy God
shall give thee to dwell in, thou hear some say:
[13] Children of Belial are gone out of the midst of thee, and have
withdrawn the inhabitants of their city, and have said: Let us go, and
serve strange gods which you know not: [14] Inquire carefully and
diligently, the truth of the thing by looking well into it, and if thou
find that which is said to be certain, and that this abomination hath
been really committed, [15] Thou shalt forthwith kill the inhabitants
of that city with the edge of the sword, and shalt destroy it and all
things that are in it, even the cattle. [16] And all the household
goods that are there, thou shalt gather together in the midst of the
streets thereof, and shalt burn them with the city itself, so as to
consume all for the Lord thy God, and that it be a heap for ever: it
shall be built no more. [17] And there shall nothing of that anathema
stick to thy hand: that the Lord may turn from the wrath of his fury,
and may have mercy on thee, and multiply thee as he swore to thy
fathers, [18] When thou shalt hear the voice of the Lord thy God,
keeping all his precepts, which I command thee this day, that thou
mayst do what is pleasing in the sight of the Lord thy God.
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Chapter 14 - verses 1-29 have been
omitted from the Mass readings.
[1] Be ye children of the Lord your God: you shall not cut yourselves,
no, make any baldness for the dead; [2] Because thou art a holy people
to the Lord thy God: and he chose thee to be his peculiar people of all
nations that are upon the earth. [3] Eat not the things that are
unclean.
[4] These are the beasts that you shall eat, the ox, and the sheep, and
the goat, [5] The hart and the roe, the buffle, the chamois, the
pygarg, the wild goat, the camelopardalus. [6] Every beast that
divideth the hoof in two parts, and cheweth the cud, you shall eat. [7]
But of them that chew the cud, but divide not the hoof, you shall not
eat, such as the camel, the hare, and the cherogril: because they chew
the cud, but divide not the hoof, they shall be unclean to you. [8] The
swine also, because it divideth the hoof, but cheweth not the cud,
shall be unclean, their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses
you shall not touch.
[9] These shall you eat of all that abide in the waters: All that have
fins and scales, you shall eat. [10] Such as are without fins and
scales, you shall not eat, because they are unclean.
[11] All birds that are clean you shall eat. [12] The unclean eat not:
to wit, the eagle, and the grype, and the osprey, [13] The ringtail,
and the vulture, and the kite according to their kind: [14] And all of
the raven's kind: [15] And the ostrich, and the owl, and the larus, and
the hawk according to its kind: [16] The heron, and the swan, and the
stork, [17] And the cormorant, the porphyrion, and the night crow, [18]
The bittern, and the charadrion, every one in their kind: the hoop also
and the bat. [19] Every thing that creepeth, and hath little wings,
shall be unclean, and shall not be eaten. [20] All that is clean, you
shall eat.
[21] But whatsoever is dead of itself, eat not thereof. Give it to the
stranger, that is within thy gates, to eat, or sell it to him: because
thou art the holy people of the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not boil a kid
in the milk of his dam.
[22] Every year thou shalt set aside the tithes of all thy fruits that
the earth bringeth forth, [23] And thou shalt eat before the Lord thy
God in the place which he shall choose, that his name may be called
upon therein, the tithe of thy corn, and thy wine, and thy oil, and the
firstborn of thy herds and thy sheep: that thou mayst learn to fear the
Lord thy God at all times. [24] But when the way and the place which
the Lord thy God shall choose, are far off, and he hath blessed thee,
and thou canst not carry all these things thither, [25] Thou shalt sell
them all, and turn them into money, and shalt carry it in thy hand, and
shalt go to the place which the Lord shall choose: [26] And thou shalt
buy with the same money whatsoever pleaseth thee, either of the herds
or of sheep, wine also and strong drink, and all that thy soul
desireth: and thou shalt eat before the Lord thy God, and shalt feast,
thou and thy house: [27] And the Levite that is within thy gates,
beware thou forsake him not, because he hath no other part in thy
possession.
[28] The third year thou shalt separate another tithe of all things
that grow to thee at that time, and shalt lay it up within thy gates.
[29] And the Levite that hath no other part nor possession with thee,
and the stranger and the fatherless and the widow, that are within thy
gates, shall come and shall eat and be filled: that the Lord thy God
may bless thee in all the works of thy hands that thou shalt do.
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Chapter 15 - verses 1-23 have been
omitted from the Mass readings.
[1] In the seventh year thou shalt make a remission, [2] Which shall be
celebrated in this order. He to whom any thing is owing from his friend
or neighbour or brother, cannot demand it again, because it is the year
of remission of the Lord, [3] Of the foreigner or stranger thou mayst
exact it: of thy countryman and neighbour thou shalt not have power to
demand it again.
[4] And there shall be no poor nor beggar among you: that the Lord thy
God may bless thee in the land which he will give thee in possession.
[5] Yet so if thou hear the voice of the Lord thy God, and keep all
things that he hath ordained, and which I command thee this day, he
will bless thee, as he hath promised. [6] Thou shalt lend to many
nations, and thou shalt borrow of no man. Thou shalt have dominion over
very many nations, and no one shall have dominion over thee.
[7] If one of thy brethren that dwelleth within the gates of thy city
in the land which the Lord thy God will give thee, come to poverty:
thou shalt not harden thy heart, nor close thy hand, [8] But shalt open
it to the poor man, thou shalt lend him, that which thou perceivest he
hath need of.
[9] Beware lest perhaps a wicked thought steal in upon thee, and thou
say in thy heart: The seventh year of remission draweth nigh; and thou
turn away thy eyes from thy poor brother, denying to lend him that
which he asketh: lest he cry against thee to the Lord, and it become a
sin unto thee. [10] But thou shalt give to him: neither shalt thou do
any thing craftily in relieving his necessities: that the Lord thy God
may bless thee at all times, and in all things to which thou shalt put
thy hand.
[11] There will not be wanting poor in the land of thy habitation:
therefore I command thee to open thy hand to thy needy and poor
brother, that liveth in the land.
[12] When thy brother a Hebrew man, or Hebrew woman is sold to thee,
and hath served thee six years, in the seventh year thou shalt let him
go free: [13] And when thou sendest him out free, thou shalt not let
him go away empty: [14] But shalt give him for his way out of thy
flocks, and out of thy barnfloor, and thy winepress, wherewith the Lord
thy God shall bless thee. [15] Remember that thou also wast a
bondservant in the land of Egypt, and the Lord thy God made thee free,
and therefore I now command thee this. [16] But if he say: I will not
depart: because he loveth thee, and thy house, and findeth that he is
well with thee: [17] Thou shalt take an awl, and bore through his ear
in the door of thy house, and he shall serve thee for ever: thou shalt
do in like manner to thy womanservant also. [18] Turn not away thy eyes
from them when thou makest them tree: because he hath served thee six
years according to the wages of a hireling: that the Lord thy God may
bless thee in all the works that thou dost.
[19] Of the firstlings, that come of thy herds and thy sheep, thou
shalt sanctify to the Lord thy God whatsoever is of the male sex. Thou
shalt not work with the firstling of a bullock, and thou shalt not
shear the firstlings of thy sheep. [20] In the sight of the Lord thy
God shalt thou eat them every year, in the place that the Lord shall
choose, thou and thy house. [21] But if it have a blemish, or be lame,
or blind, or in any part disfigured or feeble, it shall not be
sacrificed to the Lord thy God. [22] But thou shalt eat it within the
gates of thy city: the clean and the unclean shall eat them alike, as
the roe and as the hart. [23] Only thou shalt take heed not to eat
their blood, but pour it out on the earth as water.
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Chapter 16 - verses 1-22 have been
omitted from the Mass readings.
[1] Observe the month of new corn, which is the first of the spring,
that thou mayst celebrate the phase to the Lord thy God: because in
this month the Lord thy God brought thee out of Egypt by night. [2] And
thou shalt sacrifice the phase to the Lord thy God, of sheep, and of
oxen, in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose, that his name
may dwell there. [3] Thou shalt not eat with it leavened bread: seven
days shalt thou eat without leaven, the bread of affliction, because
thou camest out of Egypt in fear: that thou mayst remember the day of
thy coming out of Egypt, all the days of thy life. [4] No leaven shall
be seen in all thy coasts for seven days, neither shall any of the
flesh of that which was sacrificed the first day in the evening remain
until morning.
[5] Thou mayst not immolate the phase in any one of thy cities, which
the Lord thy God will give thee: [6] But in the place which the Lord
thy God shall choose, that his name may dwell there: thou shalt
immolate the phase in the evening, at the going down of the sun, at
which time thou camest out of Egypt. [7] And thou shalt dress, and eat
it in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose, and in the morning
rising up thou shalt go into thy dwellings. [8] Six days shalt thou eat
unleavened bread: and on the seventh day, because it is the assembly of
the Lord thy God, thou shalt do no work.
[9] Thou shalt number unto thee seven weeks from that day, wherein thou
didst put the sickle to the corn. [10] And thou shalt celebrate the
festival of weeks to the Lord thy God, a voluntary oblation of thy
hand, which thou shalt offer according to the blessing of the Lord thy
God. [11] And thou shalt feast before the Lord thy God, thou, and thy
son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the
Levite that is within thy gates, and the stranger and the fatherless,
and the widow, who abide with you: in the place which the Lord thy God
shall choose, that his name may dwell there: [12] And thou shalt
remember that thou wast a servant in Egypt: and thou shalt keep and do
the things that are commanded.
[13] Thou shalt celebrate the solemnity also of tabernacles seven days,
when thou hast gathered in thy fruit of the barnfloor and of the
winepress. [14] And thou shalt make merry in thy festival time, thou,
thy son, and thy daughter, thy manservant, and thy maidservant, the
Levite also and the stranger, and the fatherless and the widow that are
within thy gates. [15] Seven days shalt thou celebrate feasts to the
Lord thy God in the place which the Lord shall choose: and the Lord thy
God will bless thee in all thy fruits, and in every work of thy hands,
and thou shalt be in joy.
[16] Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the Lord
thy God in the place which he shall choose: in the feast of unleavened
bread, in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles. No one
shall appear with his hands empty before the Lord: [17] But every one
shall offer according to what he hath, according to the blessing of the
Lord his God, which he shall give him.
[18] Thou shalt appoint judges and magistrates in all thy gates, which
the Lord thy God shall give thee, in all thy tribes: that they may
judge the people with just judgment, [19] And not go aside to either
part. Thou shalt not accept person nor gifts: for gifts blind the eyes
of the wise, and change the words of the just. [20] Thou shalt follow
justly after that which is just: that thou mayst live and possess the
land, which the Lord thy God shall give thee.
[21] Thou shalt plant no grove, nor any tree near the altar of the Lord
thy God: [22] Neither shalt thou make nor set up to thyself a statue:
which things the Lord thy God hateth.
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Chapter 17 - verses 1-20 have been
omitted from the Mass readings.
[1] Thou shalt not sacrifice to the Lord thy God a sheep, or an ox,
wherein there is blemish, or any fault: for that is an abomination to
the Lord thy God.
[2] When there shall be found among you within any of thy gates, which
the Lord thy God shall give thee, man or woman that do evil in the
sight of the Lord thy God, and transgress his covenant, [3] So as to go
and serve strange gods, and adore them, the sun and the moon. and all
the host of heaven, which I have not commanded: [4] And this is told
thee, and hearing it thou hast inquired diligently, and found it to be
true, and that the abomination is committed in Israel: [5] Thou shalt
bring forth the man or the woman, who have committed that most wicked
thing, to the gates of thy city, and they shall be stoned.
[6] By the mouth of two or three witnesses shall he die that is to be
slain. Let no man be put to death, when only one beareth witness
against him. [7] The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to
kill him, and afterwards the hands of the rest of the people: that thou
mayst take away the evil out of the midst of thee.
[8] If thou perceive that there be among you a hard and doubtful matter
in judgment between blood and blood, cause and cause, leprosy and
leprosy: and thou see that the words of the judges within thy gates do
vary: arise, and go up to the place, which the Lord thy God shall
choose. [9] And thou shalt come to the priests of the Levitical race,
and to the judge, that shall be at that time: and thou shalt ask of
them, and they shall shew thee the truth of the judgment. [10] And thou
shalt do whatsoever they shall say, that preside in the place, which
the Lord shall choose, and what they shall teach thee, [11] According
to his law; and thou shalt follow their sentence: neither shalt thou
decline to the right hand nor to the left hand. [12] But he that will
be proud, and refuse to obey the commandment of the priest, who
ministereth at that time to the Lord thy God, and the decree of the
judge, that man shall die, and thou shalt take away the evil from
Israel: [13] And all the people hearing it shall fear, that no one
afterwards swell with pride.
[14] When thou art come into the land, which the Lord thy God will give
thee, and possessest it, and shalt say: I will set a king over me, as
all nations have that are round about: [15] Thou shalt set him whom the
Lord thy God shall choose out of the number of thy brethren. Thou mayst
not make a man of another nation king, that is not thy brother.
[16] And when he is made king, he shall not multiply horses to himself,
nor lead back the people into Egypt, being lifted up with the number of
his horsemen, especially since the Lord hath commanded you to return no
more the same way. [17] He shall not have many wives, that may allure
his mind, nor immense sums of silver and gold. [18] But after he is
raised to the throne of his kingdom, he shall copy out to himself the
Deuteronomy of this law in a volume, taking the copy of the priests of
the Levitical tribe, [19] And he shall have it with him, and shall read
it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his
God, and keep his words and ceremonies, that are commanded in the law;
[20] And that his heart be not lifted up with pride over his brethren,
nor decline to the right or to the left, that he and his sons may reign
a long time over Israel.
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Chapter 18 - verses 1-14 and 21-22
have been omitted from the Mass readings.
[1] The priests and Levites, and all that are of the same tribe, shall
have no part nor inheritance with the rest of Israel, because they
shall eat the sacrifices of the Lord, and his oblations, [2] And they
shall receive nothing else. of the possession of their brethren: for
the Lord himself is their inheritance, as he hath said to them.
[3] This shall be the priest's due from the people, and from them that
offer victims: whether they sacrifice an ox, or a sheep, they shall
give to the priest the shoulder and the breast: [4] The firstfruits
also of corn, of wine, and of oil, and a part of the wool from the
shearing of their sheep. [5] For the Lord thy God hath chosen him of
all thy tribes, to stand and to minister to the name of the Lord, him
and his sons for ever.
[6] If a Levite go out of any one of the cities throughout all Israel,
in which he dwelleth, and have a longing mind to come to the place
which the Lord shall choose, [7] He shall minister in the name of the
Lord his God, as all his brethren the Levites do, that shall stand at
that time before the Lord. [8] He shall receive the same portion of
food that the rest do: besides that which is due to him in his own
city, by succession from his fathers.
[9] When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God shall give
thee, beware lest thou have a mind to imitate the abominations of those
nations. [10] Neither let there be found among you any one that shall
expiate his son or daughter, making them to pass through the fire: or
that consulteth soothsayers, or observeth dreams and omens, neither let
there be any wizard, [11] Nor charmer, nor any one that consulteth
pythonic spirits, or fortune tellers, or that seeketh the truth from
the dead. [12] For the Lord abhorreth all these things, and for these
abominations he will destroy them at thy coming.
[13] Thou shalt be perfect, and without spot before the Lord thy God.
[14] These nations, whose land thou shalt possess, hearken to
soothsayers and diviners: but thou art otherwise instructed by the Lord
thy God.
[21] And if in silent thought thou answer: How shall I know the word
that the Lord hath not spoken?
[22] Thou shalt have this sign: Whatsoever that same prophet
foretelleth in the name of the Lord, and it cometh not to pass: that
thing the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath forged it by the
pride of his mind: and therefore thou shalt not fear him.
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Chapter 19 - verses 1-21 have been
omitted from the Mass readings.
[1] When the Lord thy God hath destroyed the nations, whose land he
will deliver to thee, and thou shalt possess it, and shalt dwell in the
cities and houses thereof: [2] Thou shalt separate to thee three cities
in the midst of the land, which the Lord will give thee in possession,
[3] Paving diligently the way: and thou shalt divide the whole province
of thy land equally into three parts: that he who is forced to flee for
manslaughter, may have near at hand whither to escape.
[4] This shall be the law of the slayer that fleeth, whose life is to
be saved: He that killeth his neighbour ignorantly, and who is proved
to have had no hatred against him yesterday and the day before: [5] But
to have gone with him to the wood to hew wood, and in cutting down the
tree the axe slipped out of his hand, and the iron slipping from the
handle struck his friend, and killed him: he shall flee to one of the
cities aforesaid, and live: [6] Lest perhaps the next kinsman of him
whose blood was shed, pushed on by his grief should pursue, and
apprehend him. if the way be too long, and take away the life of him
who is not guilty of death, because he is proved to have had no hatred
before against him that was slain.
[7] Therefore I command thee, that thou separate three cities at equal
distance one from another. [8] And when the Lord thy God shall have
enlarged thy borders, as he swore to thy fathers, and shall give thee
all the land that he promised them, [9] (Yet so, if thou keep his
commandments, and do the things which I command thee this day, that
thou love the Lord thy God, and walk in his ways at all times) thou
shalt add to thee other three cities, and shalt double the number of
the three cities aforesaid: [10] That innocent blood may not be shed in
the midst of the land which the Lord thy God will give thee to possess,
lest thou be guilty of blood.
[11] But if any man hating his neighbour, lie in wait for his life, and
rise and strike him, and he die, and he flee to one of the cities
aforesaid, [12] The ancients of his city shall send, and take him out
of the place of refuge, and shall deliver him into the hand of the
kinsman of him whose blood was shed, and he shall die. [13] Thou shalt
not pity him, and thou shalt take away the guilt of innocent blood out
of Israel, that it may be well with thee.
[14] Thou shalt not take nor remove thy neighbour's landmark, which thy
predecessors have set in thy possession. which the Lord thy God will
give thee in the land that thou shalt receive to possess.
[15] One witness shall not rise up against any man, whatsoever the sin
or wickedness be: but in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word
shall stand.
[16] If a lying witness stand against a man, accusing him of
transgression, [17] Both of them, between whom the controversy is,
shall stand before the Lord in the sight of the priests and the judges
that shall be in those days. [18] And when after most diligent
inquisition, they shall find that the false witness hath told a lie
against his brother: [19] They shall render to him as he meant to do to
his brother, and thou shalt take away the evil out of the midst of
thee: [20] That others hearing may fear, and may not dare to do such
things. [21] Thou shalt not pity him, but shalt require life for life,
eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.
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Chapter 20 - verses 1-20 have been
omitted from the Mass readings.
[1] If thou go out to war against thy enemies, and see horsemen and
chariots, and the numbers of the enemy's army greater than thine, thou
shalt not fear them: because the Lord thy God is with thee, who brought
thee out of the land of Egypt. [2] And when the battle is now at hand,
the priest shall stand before the army, and shall speak to the people
in this manner: [3] Hear, O Israel, you join battle this day against
your enemies, let not your heart be dismayed, be not afraid, do not
give back, fear ye them not: [4] Because the Lord your God is in the
midst of you, and will fight for you against your enemies, to deliver
you from danger.
[5] And the captains shall proclaim through every band in the hearing
of the army: What man is there, that hath built a new house, and hath
not dedicated it? let him go and return to his house, lest he die in
the battle, and another man dedicate it. [6] What man is there, that
hath planted a vineyard, and hath not as yet made it to be common,
whereof all men may eat? let him go, and return to his house, lest he
die in the battle, and another man execute his office. [7] What man is
there, that hath espoused a wife, and not taken her? let him go, and
return to his house, lest he die in the war, and another man take her.
[8] After these things are declared they shall add the rest, and shall
speak to the people: What man is there that is fearful, and faint
hearted? let him go, and return to his house, lest he make the hearts
of his brethren to fear, as he himself is possessed with fear.
[9] And when the captains of the army shall hold their peace, and have
made an end of speaking, every man shall prepare their bands to fight.
[10] If at any time thou come to fight against a city, thou shalt first
offer it peace. [11] If they receive it, and open the gates to thee,
all the people that are therein, shall be saved, and shall serve thee
paying tribute. [12] But if they will not make peace, and shall begin
war against thee, thou shalt besiege it. [13] And when the Lord thy God
shall deliver it into thy bands, thou shalt slay all that are therein
of the male sex, with the edge of the sword, [14] Excepting women and
children, cattle and other things, that are in the city. And thou shalt
divide all the prey to the army, and thou shalt eat the spoils of thy
enemies, which the Lord thy God shall give thee.
[15] So shalt thou do to all cities that are at a great distance from
thee, and are not of these cities which thou shalt receive in
possession. [16] But of those cities that shall be given thee, thou
shalt suffer none at all to live: [17] But shalt kill them with the
edge of the sword, to wit, the Hethite, and the Amorrhite, and the
Chanaanite, the Pherezite, and the Hevite, and the Jebusite, as the
Lord thy God hath commanded thee: [18] Lest they teach you to do all
the abominations which they have done to their gods: and you should sin
against the Lord your God.
[19] When thou hast besieged a city a long time, and hath compassed it
with bulwarks to take it, thou shalt not cut down the trees that may be
eaten of, neither shalt thou spoil the country round about with axes:
for it is a tree, and not a man, neither can it increase the number of
them that fight against thee. [20] But if there be any trees that are
not fruitful, but wild, and fit for other uses, cut them down, and make
engines, until thou take the city, which fighteth against thee.
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Chapter 21 - verses 1-23 have been
omitted from the Mass readings.
[1] Then there shall be found in the land, which the Lord thy God will
give thee, the corpse of a man slain, and it is not known who is guilty
of the murder, [2] Thy ancients and judges shall go out, and shall
measure from the place where the body lieth the distance of every city
round about: [3] And the ancients of that city which they shall
perceive to be nearer than the rest, shall take a heifer of the herd,
that hath not drawn in the yoke, nor ploughed the ground, [4] And they
shall bring her into a rough and stony valley, that never was ploughed,
nor sown: and there they shall strike off the head of the heifer: [5]
And the priests the sons of Levi shall come, whom the Lord thy God hath
chosen to minister to him, and to bless in his name, and that by their
word every matter should be decided, and whatsoever is clean or unclean
should be judged. [6] And the ancients of that city shall come to the
person slain, and shall wash their hands over the heifer that was
killed in the valley, [7] And shall say:
Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it. [8] Be
merciful to thy people Israel, whom thou hast redeemed, O Lord, and lay
not innocent blood to their charge, in the midst of thy people Israel.
And the guilt of blood shall be taken from them: [9] And thou shalt be
free from the innocent's blood, that was shed, when thou shalt have
done what the Lord hath commanded thee.
[10] If thou go out to fight against thy enemies, and the Lord thy God
deliver them into thy hand, and thou lead them away captives, [11] And
seest in the number of the captives a beautiful woman, and lovest her,
and wilt have her to wife, [12] Thou shalt bring her into thy house:
and she shall shave her hair, and pare her nails, [13] And shall put
off the raiment, wherein she was taken: and shall remain in thy house,
and mourn for her father and mother one month: and after that thou
shalt go in unto her, and shalt sleep with her, and she shall be thy
wife. [14] Rut if afterwards she please thee not, thou shalt let her go
free, but thou mayst not sell her for money nor oppress her by might
because thou hast humbled her.
[15] If a man have two wives, one beloved, and the other hated, and
they have had children by him, and the son of the hated be the
firstborn, [16] And he meaneth to divide his substance among his sons:
he may not make the son of the beloved the firstborn, and prefer him
before the son of the hated. [17] But he shall acknowledge the son of
the hated for the firstborn, and shall give him a double portion of all
he hath: for this is the first of his children, and to him are due the
first birthrights.
[18] If a man have a stubborn and unruly son, who will not hear the
commandments of his father or mother, and being corrected, slighteth
obedience: [19] They shall take him and bring him to the ancients of
his city, and to the gate of judgment, [20] And shall say to them: This
our son is rebellious and stubborn, he slighteth hearing our
admonitions, he giveth himself to revelling, and to debauchery and
banquetings: [21] The people of the city shall stone him: and he shall
die, that you may take away the evil out of the midst of you, and all
Israel hearing it may be afraid.
[22] When a man hath committed a crime for which he is to be punished
with death, and being condemned to die is hanged on a gibbet: [23] His
body shall not remain upon the tree, but shall be buried the same day:
for he is accursed of God that hangeth on a tree: and thou shalt not
defile thy land, which the Lord thy God shall give thee in possession.
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Chapter 22 - verses 1-30 have been
omitted from the Mass readings.
[1] Thou shalt not pass by if thou seest thy brother's ox, or his sheep
go astray: but thou shalt bring them back to thy brother. [2] And if
thy brother be not nigh, or thou know him not: thou shalt bring them to
thy house, and they shall be with thee until thy brother seek them, and
receive them. [3] Thou shalt do in like manner with his ass, and with
his raiment, and with every thing that is thy brother's, which is lost:
if thou find it, neglect it not as pertaining to another. [4] If thou
see thy brother's ass or his ox to be fallen down in the way, thou
shalt not slight it, but shalt lift it up with him.
[5] A woman shall not be clothed with man's apparel, neither shall a
man use woman's apparel: for he that doeth these things is abominable
before God.
[6] If thou find as thou walkest by the way, a bird's nest in a tree,
or on the ground, and the dam sitting upon the young or upon the eggs:
thou shalt not take her with her young: [7] But shalt let her go,
keeping the young which thou hast caught: that it may be well with
thee, and thou mayst live a long time.
[8] When thou buildest a new house, thou shalt make a battlement to the
roof round about: lest blood be shed in thy house, and thou be guilty,
if any one slip, and fall down headlong.
[9] Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with divers seeds: lest both the
seed which thou hast sown, and the fruit of the vineyard, be sanctified
together.
[10] Thou shalt not plough with an ox and an ass together.
[11] Thou shalt not wear a garment that is woven of woollen and linen
together.
[12] Thou shalt make strings in the hem at the four corners of thy
cloak, wherewith thou shalt be covered.
[13] If a man marry a wife, and afterwards hate her, [14] And seek
occasions to put her away, laying to her charge a very ill name, and
say: I took this woman to wife, and going in to her, I found her not a
virgin: [15] Her father and mother shall take her, and shall bring with
them the tokens of her virginity to the ancients of the city that are
in the gate: [16] And the father shall say: I gave my daughter unto
this man to wife: and because he hateth her, [17] He layeth to her
charge a very ill name, so as to say: I found not thy daughter a
virgin: and behold these are the tokens of my daughter's virginity. And
they shall spread the cloth before the ancients of the city:
[18] And the ancients of that city shall take that man, and beat him,
[19] Condemning him besides in a hundred sides of silver, which he
shall give to the damsel's father, because he hath defamed by a very
ill name a virgin of Israel: and he shall have her to wife, and may not
put her away all the days of his life.
[20] But if what he charged her with be true, and virginity be not
found in the damsel: [21] They shall cast her out of the doors of her
father's house, and the men of the city shall stone her to death, and
she shall die: because she hath done a wicked thing in Israel, to play
the whore in her father's house: and thou shalt take away the evil out
of the midst of thee.
[22] If a man lie with another man's wife, they shall both die, that is
to say, the adulterer and the adulteress: and thou shalt take away the
evil out of Israel.
[23] If a man have espoused a damsel that is a virgin, and some one
find her in the city, and lie with her, [24] Thou shalt bring them both
out to the gate of that city, and they shall be stoned: the damsel,
because she cried not out, being in the city: the man, because he hath
humbled his neighbour's wife. And thou shalt take away the evil from
the midst of thee.
[25] But if a man find a damsel that is betrothed, in the field, and
taking hold of her, lie with her, he alone shall die: [26] The damsel
shall suffer nothing, neither is she guilty of death: for as a robber
riseth against his brother, and taketh away his life, so also did the
damsel suffer: [27] She was alone in the field: she cried, and there
was no man to help her.
[28] If a man find a damsel that is a virgin, who is not espoused, and
taking her, lie with her, and the matter come to judgment: [29] He that
lay with her shall give to the father of the maid fifty sides of
silver, and shall have her to wife, because he hath humbled her: he may
not put her away all the days of his life. [30] No man shall take his
father's wife, nor remove his covering.
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Chapter 23 - verses 1-25 have been
omitted from the Mass readings.
[1] An eunuch, whose testicles are broken or cut away, or yard cut off,
shall not enter into the church of the Lord.
[2] A mamzer, that is to say, one born of a prostitute, shall not enter
into the church of the Lord, until the tenth generation.
[3] The Ammonite and the Moabite, even after the tenth generation shall
not enter into the church of the Lord for ever:
[4] Because they would not meet you with bread and water in the way,
when you came out of Egypt: hand because they hired against thee
Balaam, the son of Beer, from Mesopotamia in Syria, to curse thee. [5]
And the Lord thy God would not hear Balaam, and he turned his cursing
into thy blessing, because he loved thee. [6] Thou shalt not make peace
with them, neither shalt thou seek their prosperity all the days of thy
life for ever. [7] Thou shalt not abhor the Edomite, because he is thy
brother:
nor the Egyptian, because thou wast a stranger in his land. [8] They
that are born of them, in the third generation shall enter into the
church of the Lord.
[9] When thou goest out to war against thy enemies, thou shalt keep
thyself from every evil thing. [10] If there be among you any man, that
is defiled in a dream by night, he shall go forth out of the camp. [11]
And shall not return, before he be washed with water in the evening:
and after sunset he shall return into the camp.
[12] Thou shalt have a place without the camp, to which thou mayst go
for the necessities of nature, [13] Carrying a paddle at thy girdle.
And when thou sittest down, thou shalt dig round about, and with the
earth that is dug up thou shalt cover [14] That which thou art eased
of: (for the Lord thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp, to deliver
thee, and to give up thy enemies to thee:) and let thy camp be holy,
and let no uncleanness appear therein, lest he go away from thee.
[15] Thou shalt not deliver to his master the servant that is fled to
thee. [16] He shall dwell with thee ill the place that shall please
him, and shall rest, in one of thy cities: give him no trouble.
[17] There shall be no whore among the daughters of Israel, nor
whoremonger among the sons of Israel. [18] Thou shalt not offer the
hire of a strumpet, nor the price of a dog, in the house of the Lord
thy God, whatsoever it be that thou hast vowed: because both these are
an abomination to the Lord thy God.
[19] Thou shalt not lend to thy brother money to usury, nor corn, nor
any other thing: [20] But to the stranger. To thy brother thou shalt
lend that which he wanteth, without usury: that the Lord thy God may
bless thee in all thy works in the land, which thou shalt go in to
possess.
[21] When thou hast made a vow to the Lord thy God, thou shalt not
delay to pay it: because the Lord thy God will require it. And if thou
delay, it shall be imputed to thee for a sin. [22] If thou wilt not
promise, thou shalt be without sin. [23] But that which is once gone
out of thy lips, thou shalt observe, and shalt do as thou hast promised
to the Lord thy God, and hast spoken with thy own will and with thy own
mouth.
[24] Going into thy neighbour's vineyard, thou mayst eat as many grapes
as thou pleasest: but must carry none out with thee: [25] If thou go
into thy friend's corn, thou mayst break the ears, and rub them in thy
hand: but not reap them with a sickle.
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Chapter 24 - verses 1-22 have been
omitted from the Mass readings.
[1] If a man take a wife, and have her, and she find not favour in his
eyes, for some uncleanness: he shall write a bill of divorce, and shall
give it in her hand, and send her out of his house. [2] And when she is
departed, and marrieth another husband, [3] And he also hateth her, and
hath given her a bill of divorce, and hath sent her out of his house or
is dead: [4] The former husband cannot take her again to wife: because
she is defiled, and is become abominable before the Lord: lest thou
cause thy land to sin, which the Lord thy God shall give thee to
possess.
[5] When a man hath lately taken a wife, he shall not go out to war,
neither shall any public business be enjoined him, but he shall be free
at home without fault, that for one year he may rejoice with his wife.
[6] Thou shalt not take the nether, nor the upper millstone to pledge:
for he hath pledged his life to thee.
[7] If any man be found soliciting his brother of the children of
Israel, and selling him shall take a price, he shall be put to death,
and thou shalt take away the evil from the midst of thee.
[8] Observe diligently that thou incur not the stroke of the leprosy,
but thou shalt do whatsoever the priests of the Levitical race shall
teach thee, according to what I have commanded them, and fulfill thou
it carefully. [9] Remember what the Lord your God did to Mary, in the
way when you came out of Egypt.
[10] When thou shalt demand of thy neighbour any thing that he oweth
thee, thou shalt not go into his house to take away a pledge: [11] But
then shalt stand without, and he shall bring out to thee what he hath.
[12] But if he be poor, the pledge shall not lodge with thee that
night, [13] But thou shalt restore it to him presently before the going
down of the sun: that he may sleep in his own raiment and bless thee,
and thou mayst have justice before the Lord thy God.
[14] Thou shalt not refuse the hire of the needy, and the poor, whether
he be thy brother, or a stranger that dwelleth with thee in the land,
and is within thy gates: [15] But thou shalt pay him the price of his
labour the same day, before the going down of the sun, because he is
poor, and with it maintaineth his life: lest he cry against thee to the
Lord, and it be reputed to thee for a sin.
[16] The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, nor the
children for the fathers, but every one shall die for his own sin.
[17] Thou shalt not pervert the judgment of the stranger nor of the
fatherless, neither shalt thou take away the widow's raiment for a
pledge. [18] Remember that thou wast a slave in Egypt, and the Lord thy
God delivered thee from thence. Therefore I command thee to do this
thing.
[19] When thou hast reaped the corn in thy field, and hast forgot and
left a sheaf, thou shalt not return to take it away: but thou shalt
suffer the stranger, and the fatherless and the widow to take it away:
that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the works of thy hands.
[20] If thou have gathered the fruit of thy olive trees, thou shalt not
return to gather whatsoever remaineth on the trees: but shalt leave it
for the stranger, for the fatherless, and the widow.
[21] If thou make the vintage of thy vineyard, thou shalt not gather
the clusters that remain, but they shall be for the stranger, the
fatherless, and the widow. [22] Remember that thou also wast a bondman
in Egypt, and therefore I command thee to do this thing.
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Chapter 25 - verses 1-19 have been
omitted from the Mass readings.
[1] If there be a controversy between men, and they call upon the
judges: they shall give the prize of justice to him whom they perceive
to be just: and him whom they find to be wicked, they shall condemn of
wickedness. [2] And if they see that the offender be worthy of stripes:
they shall lay him down, and shall cause him to be beaten before them.
According to the measure of the sin shall the measure also of the
stripes be: [3] Yet so, that they exceed not the number of forty: lest
thy brother depart shamefully torn before thy eyes.
[4] Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out thy corn on the
floor.
[5] When brethren dwell together, and one of them dieth without
children, the wife of the deceased shall not marry to another: but his
brother shall take her, and raise up seed for his brother: [6] And the
first son he shall have of her he shall call by his name, that his name
be not abolished out of Israel. [7] But if he will not take his
brother's wife, who by law belongeth to him, the woman shall go to the
gate of the city, and call upon the ancients, and say: My husband's
brother refuseth to raise up his brother's name in Israel: and will not
take me to wife. [8] And they shall cause him to be sent for forthwith,
and shall ask him. If he answer: I will not take her to wife: [9] The
woman shall come to him before the ancients, and shall take off his
shoe from his foot, and spit in his face, and say: So shall it be done
to the man that will not build up his brother's house: [10] And his
name shall be called in Israel, the house of the unshod.
[11] If two men have words together, and one begin to fight against the
other, and the other's wife willing to deliver her husband out of the
hand of the stronger, shall put forth her hand, and take him by the
secrets, [12] Thou shalt cut off her hand, neither shalt thou be moved
with any pity in her regard.
[13] Thou shalt not have divers weights in thy bag, a greater and a
less: [14] Neither shall there be in thy house a greater bushel and a
less. [15] Thou shalt have a just and a true weight, and thy bushel
shall be equal and true: that thou mayest live a long time upon the
land which the Lord thy God shall give thee. [16] For the Lord thy God
abhorreth him that doth these things, and he hateth all injustice.
[17] Remember what Amalec did to thee in the way when thou camest out
of Egypt: [18] How he met thee: and slew the hindmost of the army, who
sat down, being weary, when thou wast spent with hunger and labour, and
he feared not God.
[19] Therefore when the Lord thy God shall give thee rest, and shall
have subdued all the nations round about in the land which he hath
promised thee: thou shalt blot out his name from under heaven. See thou
forget it not.
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Chapter 26 - verses 1-3 and 11-15
have been omitted from the Mass readings.
[1] And when thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God will
give thee to possess, and hast conquered it, and dwellest in it: [2]
Thou shalt take the first of all thy fruits, and put then? in a basket,
and shalt go to the place which the Lord thy God shall choose, that his
name may be invocated there: [3] And thou shalt go to the priest that
shall be in those days, and say to him: I profess this day before the
Lord thy God, that I am come into the land, for which he swore to our
fathers, that he would give it us. … [11] And thou shalt feast in all
the good things which the Lord thy God hath given thee, and thy house,
thou and the Levite, and the stranger that is with thee.
[12] When thou hast made an end of tithing all thy fruits, in the third
year of tithes thou shalt give it to the Levite, and to the stranger,
and to the fatherless, and to the widow, that they may eat within thy
gates, and be filled: [13] And thou shalt speak thus in the sight of
the Lord thy God: I have taken that which was sanctified out of my
house, and I have given it to the Levite, and to the stranger, and to
the fatherless, and to the widow, as thou hast commanded me: I have not
transgressed thy commandments nor forgotten thy precepts. [14] I have
not eaten of them is my mourning, nor separated them for any
uncleanness, nor spent any thing of them in funerals. I have obeyed the
voice of the Lord my God, and have done all things as thou hast
commanded me. [15] Look from thy sanctuary, and thy high habitation of
heaven, and bless thy people Israel, and the land which thou hast given
us, as thou didst swear to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and
honey.
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Chapter 27 - verses 1-26 have been
omitted from the Mass readings.
[1] And Moses with the ancients of Israel commanded the people, saying:
Keep every commandment that I command you this day. [2] And when you
are passed over the Jordan into the land which the Lord thy God will
give thee, thou shalt set up great stones, and shalt plaster them over
with plaster, [3] That thou mayst write on them all the words of this
law, when thou art passed over the Jordan: that thou mayst enter into
the land which the Lord thy God will give thee, a land flowing with
milk and honey, as he swore to thy fathers. [4] Therefore when you are
passed over the Jordan, set up the stones which I command you this day,
in mount Hebal, and thou shalt plaster them with plaster: [5] And thou
shalt build there an altar to the Lord thy God, of stones which iron
hath not touched, [6] And of stones not fashioned nor polished: and
thou shalt offer upon it holocausts to the Lord thy God: [7] And shalt
immolate peace victims, and eat there, and feast before the Lord thy
God. [8] And thou shalt write upon the stones all the words of this law
plainly and clearly,
[9] And Moses and the priests of the race of Levi said to all Israel:
Attend, and hear, O Israel: This day thou art made the people of the
Lord thy God. [10] Thou shalt hear his voice, and do the commandments
and justices which I command thee.
[11] And Moses commanded the people in that day, saying:
[12] These shall stand upon mount Garizim to bless the people, when you
are passed the Jordan: Simeon, Levi, Juda, Issachar, Joseph, and
Benjamin. [13] And over against them shall stand on mount Hebal to
curse: Ruben, Gad, and Aser, and Zabulon, Dan, and Nephtali.
[14] And the Levites shall pronounce, and say to all the men of Israel
with a loud voice:
[15] Cursed be the man that maketh a graven and molten thing, the
abomination of the Lord, the work of the hands of artificers, and shall
put it in a secret place: and all the people shall answer and say: Amen.
[16] Cursed be he that honoureth not his father and mother: and all the
people shall say: Amen.
[17] Cursed be he that removeth his neighbour's landmarks: and all the
people shall say: Amen.
[18] Cursed be he that maketh the blind to wander out of his way: and
all the people shall say:Amen.
[19] Cursed be he that perverteth the judgment of the stranger, of the
fatherless and the widow: and all the people shall say: Amen.
[20] Cursed be he that lieth with his father's wife, and uncovereth his
bed: and all the people shall say: Amen.
[21] Cursed be he that lieth with any beast: and all the people shall
say: Amen.
[22] Cursed be he that lieth with his sister, the daughter of his
father, or of his mother: and all the people shall say: Amen.
[23] Cursed be he that lieth with his mother in law: and all the people
shall say: Amen.
[24] Cursed be he that secretly killeth his neighbour: and all the
people shall say: Amen.
[25] Cursed be he that taketh gifts, to slay an innocent person: and
all the people shall say: Amen.
[26] Cursed be he that abideth not in the words of this law, and
fulfilleth them not in work: and all the people shall say: Amen.
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Chapter 28 - verses 1-68 have been
omitted from the Mass readings.
[1] Now if thou wilt hear the voice of the Lord thy God, to do and keep
all his commandments, which I command thee this day, the Lord thy God
will make thee higher than all the nations that are on the earth. [2]
And all these blessings shall come upon thee and overtake thee: yet so
if thou hear his precepts,
[3] Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed in the field.
[4] Blessed shall be the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy
ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the droves of thy herds, and the
folds of thy sheep.
[5] Blessed shall be thy barns and blessed thy stores.
[6] Blessed shalt thou be coming in and going out.
[7] The Lord shall cause thy enemies, that rise up against thee, to
fall down before thy face: one way shall they come out against thee,
and seven ways shall they flee before thee.
[8] The Lord will send forth a blessing upon thy storehouses, and upon
all the works of thy hands: and will bless thee in the land that thou
shalt receive.
[9] The Lord will raise thee up to be a holy people to himself, as he
swore to thee: if thou keep the commandments of the Lord thy God, and
walk in his ways. [10] And all the people of the earth shall see that
the name of the Lord is invocated upon thee, and they shall fear thee.
[11] The Lord will make thee abound with all goods, with the fruit of
thy womb, and the fruit of thy cattle, with the fruit of thy land,
which the Lord swore to thy fathers that he would give thee.
[12] The Lord will open his excellent treasure, the heaven, that it may
give rain in due season: and he will bless all the works of thy hands.
And thou shalt lend to many nations, and shalt not borrow of any one.
[13] And the Lord shall make thee the head and not the tail: and thou
shalt be always above, and not beneath: yet so if thou wilt hear the
commandments of the Lord thy God which I command thee this day, and
keep and do them, [14] And turn not away from them neither to the right
hand, nor to the left, nor follow strange gods, nor worship them.
[15] But if thou wilt not hear the voice of the Lord thy God, to keep
and to do all his commandments and ceremonies, which I command thee
this day, all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee.
[15] "All these curses"... Thus God dealt with the transgressors of his
law in the Old Testament: but now he often suffers sinners to prosper
in this world, rewarding them for some little good they have done, and
reserving their punishment for the other world.
[16] Cursed shalt thou be in the city, cursed in the field.
[17] Cursed shall be thy barn, and cursed thy stores.
[18] Cursed shall be the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy
ground, the herds of thy oxen, and the flocks of thy sheep.
[19] Cursed shalt thou be coming in, and cursed going out.
[20] The Lord shall send upon thee famine and hunger, and a rebuke upon
all the works which thou shalt do: until he consume and destroy thee
quickly, for thy most wicked inventions, by which thou hast forsaken me.
[21] May the Lord set the pestilence upon thee, until he consume thee
out of the land, which thou shalt go in to possess.
[22] May the Lord afflict thee with miserable want, with the fever and
with cold, with burning and with heat, and with corrupted air and with
blasting, and pursue thee till thou perish.
[23] Be the heaven, that is over thee, of brass: and the ground thou
treadest on, of iron.
[24] The Lord give thee dust for rain upon thy land, and let ashes come
down from heaven upon thee, till thou be consumed.
[25] The Lord make thee to fall down before thy enemies, one way mayst
thou go out against them, and flee seven ways, and be scattered
throughout all the kingdoms of the earth. [26] And be thy carcass meat
for all the Fowls of the air, and the beasts of the earth, and be there
none to drive them away.
[27] The Lord strike thee with the ulcer of Egypt, and the part of thy
body, by which the dung is cast out, with the scab and with the itch:
so that thou canst not be healed.
[28] The Lord strike thee with madness and blindness and fury of mind.
[29] And mayst thou grope at midday as the blind is wont to grope in
the dark, and not make straight thy ways. And mayst thou at all times
suffer wrong, and be oppressed with violence, and mayst thou have no
one to deliver thee.
[30] Mayst thou take a wife, and another sleep with her. Mayst thou
build a house, and not dwell therein. Mayest thou plant a vineyard and
not gather the vintage thereof.
[31] May thy ox be slain before thee, and thou not eat thereof. May thy
ass be taken away in thy sight, and not restored to thee. May thy sheep
be given to thy enemies, and may there be none to help thee.
[32] May thy sons and thy daughters be given to another people, thy
eyes looking on, and languishing at the sight of them all the day, and
may there be no strength in thy hand.
[33] May a people which thou knowest not, eat the fruits of thy land,
and all thy labours: and mayst thou always suffer oppression, and be
crushed at all times. [34] And be astonished at the terror of those
things which thy eyes shall see:
[35] May the Lord strike thee with a very sore ulcer in the knees and
in the legs, and be thou incurable from the sole of the foot to the top
of the head.
[36] The Lord shall bring thee, and thy king, whom thou shalt have
appointed over thee, into a nation which thou and thy fathers know not:
and there thou shalt serve strange gods, wood and stone. [37] And thou
shalt be lost, as a proverb and a byword to all people, among whom the
Lord shall bring thee in.
[38] Thou shalt cast much seed into the ground, and gather little:
because the locusts shall consume all.
[39] Thou shalt plant a vineyard, and dig it, and shalt not drink the
wine, nor gather any thing thereof: because it shall be wasted with
worms.
[40] Thou shalt have olive trees in all thy borders, and shalt not be
anointed with the oil: for the olives shall fall off and perish.
[41] Thou shalt beget sons and daughters, and shalt not enjoy them:
because they shall be led into captivity.
[42] The blast shall consume all the trees and the fruits of thy ground.
[43] The stranger that liveth with thee in the land, shall rise up over
thee, and shall be higher: and thou shalt go down, and be lower. [44]
He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him. He shall be as
the head, and thou shalt be the tail.
[45] And all these curses shall come upon thee, and shall pursue and
overtake thee, till thou perish: because thou heardst not the voice of
the Lord thy God, and didst not keep his commandments and ceremonies
which he commanded thee. [46] And they shall be as signs and wonders on
thee, and on thy seed for ever.
[47] Because thou didst not serve the Lord thy God with joy and
gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things: [48] Thou shalt
serve thy enemy, whom the Lord will send upon thee, in hunger, and
thirst, and nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put an
iron yoke upon thy neck, till he consume thee.
[49] The Lord will bring upon thee a nation from afar, and from the
uttermost ends of the earth, like an eagle that flyeth swiftly, whose
tongue thou canst not understand, [50] A most insolent nation, that
will shew no regard to the ancients, nor have pity on the infant, [51]
And will devour the fruit of thy cattle, and the fruits of thy land:
until thou be destroyed, and will leave thee no wheat, nor wine, nor
oil, nor herds of oxen, nor flocks of sheep: until he destroy thee.
[52] And consume thee in all thy cities, and thy strong and high walls
be brought down, wherein thou trustedst in all thy land. Thou shalt be
besieged within thy gates in all thy land which the Lord thy God will
give thee: [53] And thou shalt eat the fruit of thy womb, and the flesh
of thy sons and of thy daughters, which the Lord thy God shall give
thee, in the distress and extremity wherewith thy enemy shall oppress
thee. [54] The man that is nice among you, and very delicate, shall
envy his own brother, and his wife, that lieth in his bosom, [55] So
that he will not give them of the flesh of his children, which he shall
eat: because he hath nothing else in the siege and the want, wherewith
thy enemies shall distress thee within all thy gates. [56] The tender
and delicate woman, that could not go upon the ground, nor set down her
foot for over much niceness and tenderness, will envy her husband who
lieth in her bosom, the flesh of her son, and of her daughter, [57] And
the filth of the afterbirths, that come forth from between her thighs,
and the children that are born the same hour. For they shall eat them
secretly for the want of all things, in the siege and distress,
wherewith thy enemy shall oppress thee within thy gates.
[58] If thou wilt not keep, and fulfill all the words of this law, that
are written in this volume, and fear his glorious and terrible name:
that is, The Lord thy God: [59] The Lord shall increase thy plagues,
and the plagues of thy seed, plagues great and lasting, infirmities
grievous and perpetual. [60] And he shall bring back on thee all the
afflictions of Egypt, which thou wast afraid of, and they shall stick
fast to thee. [61] Moreover the Lord will bring upon thee all the
diseases, and plagues, that are not written in the volume of this law
till he consume thee:
[62] And you shall remain few in number, who before were as the stars
of heaven for multitude, because thou heardst not the voice of the Lord
thy God.
[63] And as the Lord rejoiced upon you before doing good to you, and
multiplying you: so he shall rejoice destroying and bringing you to
nought, so that you shall be taken away from the land which thou shalt
go in to possess. [64] The Lord shall scatter thee among all people,
from the farthest parts of the earth to the ends thereof: and there
thou shalt serve strange gods, which both thou art ignorant of and thy
fathers, wood and stone. [65] Neither shalt thou be quiet, even in
those nations, nor shall there be any rest for the sole of thy foot.
For the Lord will give thee a fearful heart, and languishing eyes, and
a soul consumed with pensiveness: [66] And thy life shall be as it were
hanging before thee. Thou shalt fear night and day, neither shalt thou
trust thy life. [67] In the morning thou shalt say: Who will grant me
evening? and at evening: Who will grant me morning? for the fearfulness
of thy heart, wherewith thou shalt be terrified, and for those things
which thou shalt see with thy eyes.
[68] The Lord shall bring thee again with ships into Egypt, by the way
whereof he said to thee that thou shouldst see it no more. There shalt
thou be set to sale to thy enemies for bondmen and bondwomen, and no
man shall buy you.
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Chapter 29 - verses 1-29 have been
omitted from the Mass readings.
[1] These are the words of the covenant which the Lord commanded Moses
to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab: beside that
covenant which he made with them in Horeb. [2] And Moses called all
Israel, and said to them:
You have seen all the things that the Lord did before you in the land
of Egypt to Pharao, and to all his servants, and to his whole land. [3]
The great temptations, which thy eyes have seen, those mighty signs and
wonders, [4] And the Lord hath not given you a heart to understand, and
eyes to see, and ears that may hear, unto this present day. [5] He hath
brought you forty years through the desert: your garments are not worn
out, neither are the shoes of your feet consumed with age. [6] You have
not eaten bread, nor have you drunk wine or strong drink: that you
might know that I am the Lord your God.
[7] And you came to this place: sand Sehon king of Hesebon, and Og king
of Basan, came out against us to fight. And we slew them.[8] And took
their land, and delivered it for a possession to Ruben and Gad, and the
half tribe of Manasses.
[9] Keep therefore the words of this covenant, and fulfill them: that
you may understand all that you do.
[10] You all stand this day before the Lord your God, your princes, and
tribes, and ancients, and doctors, all the people of Israel, [11] Your
children and your wives, and the stranger that abideth with thee in the
camp, besides the hewers of wood, and them that bring water: [12] That
thou mayst pass in the covenant of the Lord thy God, and in the oath
which this day the Lord thy God maketh with thee. [13] That he may
raise thee up a people to himself, and he may be thy God as he hath
spoken to thee, and as he swore to thy fathers Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob.
[14] Neither with you only do I make this covenant, and confirm these
oaths, [15] But with all that are present and that are absent.
[16] For you know how we dwelt in the land of Egypt, and how we have
passed through the midst of nations, and passing through them, [17] You
have seen their abominations and filth, that is to say, their idols,
wood and stone, silver and gold, which they worshipped. [18] Lest
perhaps there should be among you a man or a woman, a family or a
tribe, whose heart is turned away this day from the Lord our God, to go
and serve the gods of those nations: and there should be among you a
root bringing forth gall and bitterness. [19] And when he shall hear
the words of this oath, he should bless himself in his heart saying: I
shall have peace, and will walk on in the naughtiness of my heart: and
the drunken may consume the thirsty, [20] And the Lord should not
forgive him: but his wrath and jealousy against that man should be
exceedingly enkindled at that time, and all the curses that are written
in this volume should light upon him: and the Lord should blot out his
name from under heaven, [21] And utterly destroy him out of all the
tribes of Israel, according to the curses that are contained in the
book of this law and covenant:
[22] And the following generation shall say, and the children that
shall be born hereafter, and the strangers that shall come from afar,
seeing the plagues of that land and the evils wherewith the Lord hath
afflicted it, [23] Burning it with brimstone, and the heat of salt, so
that it cannot be sown any more, nor any green thing grow therein,
after the example of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrha, Adama and
Seboim, which the Lord destroyed in his wrath and indignation: [24] And
all the nations shall say: Why hath the Lord done thus to this land?
what meaneth this exceeding great heat of his wrath? [25] And they
shall answer: Because they forsook the covenant of the Lord, which he
made with their fathers, when he brought them out of the land of Egypt:
[26] And they have served strange gods, and adored them, whom they knew
not, and for whom they had not been assigned: [27] Therefore the wrath
of the Lord was kindled against this land, to bring upon it all the
curses that are written in this volume: [28] And he hath cast them out
of their land, in anger and in wrath, and in very great indignation,
and hath thrown them into a strange land, as it is seen this day.
[29] Secret things to the Lord our God: things that are manifest, to us
and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.
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Chapter 30 - verses 1-9 have been
omitted from the Mass readings.
[1] Now when all these things shall be come upon thee, the blessing or
the curse, which I have set forth before thee, and thou shalt be
touched with repentance of thy heart among all the nations, into which
the Lord thy God shall have scattered thee, [2] And shalt return to
him, and obey his commandments, as I command thee this day, thou and
thy children, with all thy heart, and with all thy soul:
[3] The Lord thy God will bring back again thy captivity, and will have
mercy on thee, and gather thee again out of all the nations, into which
he scattered thee before. [4] If thou be driven as far as the poles of
heaven, the Lord thy God will fetch thee back from thence, [5] And will
take thee to himself, and bring thee into the land which thy fathers
possessed, and thou shalt possess it: and blessing thee, he will make
thee more numerous than were thy fathers. [6] The Lord thy God will
circumcise thy heart, and the heart of thy seed: that then mayst love
the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, that thou
mayst live.
[7] And he will turn all these curses upon thy enemies, and upon them
that hate and persecute thee. [8] But thou shalt return, and hear the
voice of the Lord thy God, and shalt do all the commandments which I
command thee this day:
[9] And the Lord thy God will make thee abound in all the works of thy
hands, in the fruit of thy womb, and in the fruit of thy cattle, in the
fruitfulness of thy land, and in the plenty of all things. For the Lord
will return to rejoice over thee in all good things, as he rejoiced in
thy fathers:
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Chapter 31 - verses 9-30 have been
omitted from the Mass readings.
[9] And Moses wrote this law, and delivered it to the priests the sons
of Levi, who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all
the ancients of Israel. [10] And he commanded them, saying:
After seven years, in the year of remission, in the feast of
tabernacles, [11] When all Israel come together, to appear in the sight
of the Lord thy God in the place which the Lord shall choose, thou
shalt read the words of this law before all Israel, in their hearing,
[12] And the people being all assembled together, both men and women,
children and strangers, that are within thy gates: that hearing they
may learn, and fear the Lord your God, and keep, and fulfill all the
words of this law: [13] That their children also, who now are ignorant,
may hear, and fear the Lord their God, all the days that they live in
the land whither you are going over the Jordan to possess it.
[14] And the Lord said to Moses:
Behold the days of thy death are nigh: call Josue, and stand ye in the
tabernacle of the testimony, that I may give him a charge.
So Moses and Josue went and stood in the tabernacle of the testimony:
[15] And the Lord appeared there in the pillar of a cloud, which stood
in the entry of the tabernacle. [16] And the Lord said to Moses:
Behold thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, and this people rising up
will go a fornicating after strange gods in the land, to which it goeth
in to dwell: there will they forsake me, and will make void the
covenant, which I have made with them, [17] And my wrath shall be
kindled against them in that day: and I will forsake them, and will
hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured: all evils and
afflictions shall find them, so that they shall say in that day: In
truth it is because God is not with me, that these evils have found me.
[18] But I will hide, and cover my face in that day, for all the evils
which they have done, because they have followed strange gods. [19] Now
therefore write you this canticle, and teach the children of Israel:
that they may know it by heart, and sing it by mouth, and this song may
be unto me for a testimony among the children of Israel. [20] For I
will bring them into the land, for which I swore to their fathers, that
floweth with milk and honey. And when they have eaten, and are full and
fat, they will turn away after strange gods, and will serve them: and
will despise me, and make void my covenant. [21] And after many evils
and afflictions shall have come upon them, this canticle shall answer
them for a testimony, which no oblivion shall take away out of the
mouth of their seed. For I know their thoughts, and what they are about
to do this day, before that I bring them into the land which I have
promised them.
[22] Moses therefore wrote the canticle and taught it to the children
of Israel.
[23] And the Lord commanded Josue the son of Nun, and said:
Take courage, and be valiant: for thou shalt bring the children of
Israel into the land which I have promised, and I will be with thee.
[24] Therefore after Moses had wrote the words of this law in a volume,
and finished it: [25] He commanded the Levites, who carried the ark of
the covenant of the Lord. saying:
[26] Take this book, and put it in the side of the ark of the covenant
of the Lord your God: that it may be there for a testimony against
thee. [27] For I know thy obstinacy, and thy most stiff neck, While I
am yet living, and going in with you, you have always been rebellious
against the Lord: how much more when I shall be dead? [28] Gather unto
me all the ancients of your tribes, and your doctors, and I will speak
these words in their hearing, and will call heaven and earth to witness
against them. [29] For I know that, after my death, you will do
wickedly, and will quickly turn aside from the way that I have
commanded you: and evils shall come upon you in the latter times, when
you shall do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him by the works
of your hands.
[30] Moses therefore spoke, in the hearing of the whole assembly of
Israel, the words of this canticle, and finished it even to the end,
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Chapter 32 - verses 1-52 have been
omitted from the Mass readings.
[1] Hear, O ye heavens, the things I speak, let the earth give ear to
the words of my mouth.
[2] Let my doctrine gather as the rain, let my speech distil as the
dew, as a shower upon the herb, and as drops upon the grass.
[3] Because I will invoke the name of the Lord: give ye magnificence to
our God.
[4] The works of God are perfect, and all his ways are judgments: God
is faithful and without any iniquity, he is just and right.
[5] They have sinned against him, and are nose of his children in their
filth: they are a wicked and perverse generation.
[6] Is this the return thou makest to the Lord, O foolish and senseless
people? Is not he thy father, that hath possessed thee, and made thee,
and created thee?
[7] Remember the days of old, think upon every generation: ask thy
father, and he will declare to thee: thy elders and they will tell thee.
[8] When the Most High divided the nations: when he separated the sons
of Adam, he appointed the bounds of people according to the number of
the children of Israel.
[9] But the Lord's portion is his people: Jacob the lot of his
inheritance.
[10] He found him in a desert land, in a place of horror, and of vast
wilderness: he led him about, and taught him: and he kept him as the
apple of his eye.
[11] As the eagle enticing her young to fly, and hovering over them, he
spread his wings, and hath taken him and carried him on his shoulders.
[12] The Lord alone was his leader: and there was no strange god with
him.
[13] He set him upon high land: that he might eat the fruits of the
fields, that he might suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the
hardest stone,
[14] Butter of the herd, and milk of the sheep with the fat of lambs,
and of the rams of the breed of Basan: and goats with the marrow of
wheat, and might drink the purest blood of the grape.
[15] The beloved grew fat, and kicked: he grew fat, and thick and
gross, he forsook God who made him, and departed from God his saviour.
[16] They provoked him by strange gods, and stirred him up to anger,
with their abominations.
[17] They sacrificed to devils and not to God: to gods whom they knew
not: that were newly come up, whom their fathers worshipped not.
[18] Thou hast forsaken the God that beget thee, and hast forgotten the
Lord that created thee.
[19] The Lord saw, and was moved to wrath: because his own sons and
daughters provoked him.
[20] And he said: I will hide my face from them, and will consider what
their last end shall be: for it is a perverse generation, and
unfaithful children.
[21] They have provoked me with that which was no god, and have angered
me with their vanities: and I will provoke them with that which is no
people, and will vex them with a foolish nation.
[22] A fire is kindled in my wrath, and shall burn even to the lowest
hell: and shall devour the earth with her increase, and shall burn the
foundations of the mountains.
[23] I will heap evils upon them, and will spend my arrows among them.
[24] They shall be consumed with famine, and birds shall devour them
with a most bitter bite: I will send the teeth of beasts upon them,
with the fury of creatures that trail upon the ground, and of serpents.
[25] Without, the sword shall lay them waste, and terror within, both
the young man and the virgin, the sucking child with the man in years.
[26] I said: Where are they? I will make the memory of them to cease
from among men.
[27] But for the wrath of the enemies I have deferred it: lest perhaps
their enemies might be proud, and should say: Our mighty hand, and not
the Lord, hath done all these things.
[28] They are a nation without counsel, and without wisdom.
[29] O that they would be wise and would understand, and would provide
for their last end.
[30] How should one pursue after a thousand, and two chase ten
thousand? Was it not, because their God had sold them, and the Lord had
shut them up?
[31] For our God is not as their gods: our enemies themselves are
judges.
[32] Their vines are of the vineyard of Sodom, and of the suburbs of
Gomorrha: their grapes are grapes of gall, and their clusters most
bitter.
[33] Their wine is the gall of dragons, and the venom of asps, which is
incurable.
[34] Are not these things stored up with me, and sealed up in my
treasures?
[35] Revenge is mine, and I will repay them in due time, that their
foot may slide: the day of destruction is at hand, and the time makes
haste to come.
[36] The Lord will judge his people, and will have mercy on his
servants: he shall see that their hand is weakened, and that they who
were shut up have also failed, and they that remained are consumed.
[37] And he shall say: Where are their gods, in whom they trusted?
[38] Of whose victims they ate the fat, and drank the wine of their
drink offerings: let them arise and help you, and protect you in your
distress.
[39] See ye that I alone am, and there is no other God besides me: I
will kill and I will make to live: I will strike, and I will heal, and
there is none that can deliver out of my hand.
[40] I will lift up my hand to heaven, and I will say: I live for ever.
[41] If I shall whet my sword as the lightning, and my hand take hold
on judgment: I will render vengeance to my enemies, and repay them that
hate me.
[42] I will make my arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour
flesh, of the blood of the slain and of the captivity, of the bare head
of the enemies.
[43] Praise his people, ye nations, for he will revenge the blood of
his servants: and will render vengeance to their enemies, and he will
be merciful to the land of his people.
[44] So Moses came and spoke all the words of this canticle in the ears
of the people, and Josue the son of Nun. [45] And he ended all these
words, speaking to all Israel. [46] And he said to them:
Set your hearts on all the words, which I testify to you this day:
which you shall command your children to observe and to do, and to
fulfill all that is written in this law: [47] For they are not
commanded you in vain, but that every one should live in them, and that
doing them you may continue a long time in the land whither you are
going over the Jordan to possess it.
[48] And the Lord spoke to Moses the same day, saying:
[49] Go up into this mountain Abarim, (that is to say, of passages,)
unto mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab over against Jericho: and
see the land of Chanaan, which I will deliver to the children of Israel
to possess, and die thou in the mountain. [50] When thou art gone up
into it thou shalt be gathered to thy people, as Aaron thy brother died
in mount Her, and was gathered to his people: [51] Because you
trespassed against me in the midst of the children of Israel, at the
waters of contradiction in Cades of the desert of Sin: and you did not
sanctify me among the children of Israel. [52] Thou shalt see the land
before thee, which I will give to the children of Israel, but thou
shalt not enter into it.
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Chapter 33 - verses 1-29 have been
omitted from the Mass readings.
[1] This is the blessing, wherewith the man of God Moses blessed the
children of Israel, before his death.
[2] And he said: The Lord came from Sinai, and from Seir he rose up to
us: he hath appeared from mount Pharan, and with him thousands of
saints. In his right hand a fiery law. [3] He hath loved the people,
all the saints are in his hand: and they that approach to his feet,
shall receive of his doctrine. [4] Moses commanded us a law, the
inheritance of the multitude of Jacob. [5] He shall be king with the
most right, the princes of the people being assembled with the tribes
of Israel.[6] Let Ruben live, and not die, and be he small in number.
[7] This is the blessing of Juda. Hear, O Lord, the voice of Juda, and
bring him in unto his people: his hands shall fight for him, and he
shall be his helper against his enemies.
[8] To Levi also he said: Thy perfection, and thy doctrine be to thy
holy man, whom thou hast proved in the temptation, and judged at the
waters of contradiction: [9] Who hath said to his father, and to his
mother: I do not know you; and to his brethren: I know you not: and
their own children they have not known. These have kept thy word, and
observed thy covenant, [10] Thy judgments, O Jacob, and thy law, O
Israel: they shall put incense in thy wrath and holocaust upon thy
altar. [11] Bless, O Lord, his strength, and receive the works of his
hands. Strike the backs of his enemies, and let not them that hate him
rise.
[12] And to Benjamin he said: The best beloved of the Lord shall dwell
confidently in him: as in a bride chamber shall he abide all the day
long, and between his shoulders shall be rest.
[13] To Joseph also he said: Of the blessing of the Lord be his land,
of the fruits of heaven, and of the dew, and of the deep that lieth
beneath. [14] Of the fruits brought forth by the sun and by the moon.
[15] Of the tops of the ancient mountains, of the fruits of the
everlasting hills: [16] And of the fruits of the earth, and of the
fulness thereof. The blessing of him that appeared in the bush, come
upon the head of Joseph, and upon the crown of the Nazarite among his
brethren. [17] His beauty as of the firstling of a bullock, his horns
as the horns of a rhinoceros: with them shall he push the nations even
to the ends of the earth These are the multitudes of Ephraim and these
the thousands of Manasses.
[18] And to Zabulon he said: Rejoice, O Zabulon, in thy going out; and
Issachar in thy tabernacles. [19] They shall call the people to the
mountain: there shall they sacrifice the victims of justice. Who shall
suck as milk the abundance of the sea, and the hidden treasures of the
sands.
[20] And to Gad he said: Blessed be Gad in his breadth: he hath rested
as a lion, and hath seized upon the arm and the top of the head. [21]
And he saw his pre-eminence, that in his portion the teacher was laid
up: who was with the princes of the people, and did the justices of the
Lord, and his judgment with Israel.
[22] To Dan also he said: Dan is a young lion, he shall flow
plentifully from Basan.
[23] And to Nephtali he said: Nephtali shall enjoy abundance, and shall
be full of the blessings of the Lord: he shall possess the sea and the
south.
[24] To Aser also he said: Let Aser be blessed with children, let him
be acceptable to his brethren, and let him dip his foot in oil. [25]
His shoe shall be iron and brass. As the days of thy youth, so also
shall thy old age be. [26] There is no other God like the God of the
rightest: he that is mounted upon the heaven is thy helper. By his
magnificence the clouds run hither and thither. [27] His dwelling is
above, and underneath are the everlasting arms: he shall cast out the
enemy from before thee, and shall say: Be thou brought to nought. [28]
Israel shall dwell in safety, and alone. The eye of Jacob in a land of
corn and wine, and the heavens shall be misty with dew. [29] Blessed
are thou, Israel: who is like to thee, O people, that art saved by the
Lord? the shield of thy help, and the sword of thy glory: thy enemies
shall deny thee, and thou shalt tread upon their necks.
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Texts Researched and Digitally
Processed by
Mrs. R.M., Puerto Rico
Published on September 9th, 2014
Format improved in July 2022
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