What the Bible Says About the Meaning of the Five Books

Scripture

¹ In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
² The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.
³ And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
⁴ And God saw that the light was good.
⁵ God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.
⁶ And God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.”
⁷ And God made the expanse and separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were above the expanse. And it was so.
⁸ And God called the expanse Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.
⁹ And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so.
¹⁰ God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.
¹¹ And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so.
¹² The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
¹³ And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.
¹⁴ And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years,
¹⁵ and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so.
¹⁶ And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars.
¹⁷ And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth,
¹⁸ to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.
¹⁹ And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.
²⁰ And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.”
²¹ So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
²² And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.”
²³ And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.
²⁴ And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so.
²⁵ And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
²⁶ Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
²⁷ So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
²⁸ And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
²⁹ And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food.
³⁰ And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.
³¹ And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

Genesis 1:1-31

Genesis 2:1-25: ² Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
² And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.
³ So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.
⁴ These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.
⁵ When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground,
⁶ And a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground.
⁷ then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.
⁸ And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed.
⁹ And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
¹⁰ A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers.
¹¹ The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold.
¹² The gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there.
¹³ The name of the second river is the Gihon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Cush.
¹⁴ The name of the third river is the Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.
¹⁵ The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.
¹⁶ And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden,
¹⁷ but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
¹⁸ Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”
¹⁹ Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name.
²⁰ The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field.
²¹ So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh.
²² And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.
²³ Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”
²⁴ Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
²⁵ And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

Genesis 3:1-24: ¹ Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.
² And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden,
³ but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’”
⁴ But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.
⁵ For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.
⁶ So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.
⁷ Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
⁸ And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
⁹ But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”
¹⁰ And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.”
¹¹ He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”
¹² The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.”
¹³ Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
¹⁴ The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life.
¹⁵ I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.”
¹⁶ To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.”
¹⁷ And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
¹⁸ thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field.
¹⁹ By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.
²⁰ The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.
²¹ And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.
²² Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—”
²³ therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken.
²⁴ He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

Exodus 12:1-51: ¹ The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt,
² “This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you.
³ Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household.
⁴ And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb.
⁵ Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old.
⁶ and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight.
⁷ Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it.
⁸ They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it.
⁹ Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts.
¹⁰ And you shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn.
¹¹ In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover.
¹² For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord.
¹³ The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.
¹⁴ “This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast.”
¹⁵ Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven out of your houses, for if anyone eats what is leavened, from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.
¹⁶ On the first day you shall hold a holy assembly, and on the seventh day a holy assembly. No work shall be done on those days. But what everyone needs to eat, that alone may be prepared by you.
¹⁷ And you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day, throughout your generations, as a statute forever.
¹⁸ In the first month, from the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty-first day of the month at evening.
¹⁹ For seven days no leaven is to be found in your houses. If anyone eats what is leavened, that person will be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a sojourner or a native of the land.
²⁰ You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwelling places you shall eat unleavened bread.”
²¹ Then Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and select lambs for yourselves according to your clans, and kill the Passover lamb.
²² Take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning.
²³ For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you.
²⁴ You shall observe this rite as a statute for you and for your sons forever.
²⁵ And when you come to the land that the Lord will give you, as he has promised, you shall keep this service.
²⁶ And when your children say to you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’
²⁷ Then you shall say, ‘It is the sacrifice of the Lord’s Passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians but spared our houses.’” And the people bowed their heads and worshiped.
²⁸ Then the people of Israel went and did so; as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.
²⁹ At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the livestock.
³⁰ And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians. And there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where someone was not dead.
³¹ Then he summoned Moses and Aaron by night and said, “Up, go out from among my people, both you and the people of Israel; and go, serve the Lord, as you have said.
³² Also take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone, and bless me also.
³³ The Egyptians were urgent with the people to send them out of the land in haste. For they said, “We shall all be dead.”
³⁴ So the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading bowls being bound up in their cloaks on their shoulders.
³⁵ The people of Israel had also done as Moses told them, for they had asked the Egyptians for silver and gold jewelry and for clothing.
³⁶ And the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. Thus they plundered the Egyptians.
³⁷ And the people of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children.
³⁸ A mixed multitude also went up with them, and very much livestock, both flocks and herds.
³⁹ And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough that they had brought out of Egypt, for it was not leavened, because they were thrust out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves.
⁴⁰ The time that the people of Israel lived in Egypt was 430 years.
⁴¹ At the end of 430 years, on that very day, all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt.
⁴² It was a night of watching by the Lord, to bring them out of the land of Egypt; so this same night is a night of watching kept to the Lord by all the people of Israel throughout their generations.
⁴³ And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the statute of the Passover: no foreigner shall eat of it,
⁴⁴ but every slave that is bought for money may eat of it after you have circumcised him.
⁴⁵ It shall be eaten in one house; you shall not take any of the flesh outside the house, and you shall not break any of its bones.
⁴⁶ It shall be eaten in one house; you shall not take any of the flesh outside the house, and you shall not break any of its bones.
⁴⁷ All the congregation of Israel shall keep it.
⁴⁸ If a stranger shall sojourn with you and would keep the Passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised. Then he may come near and keep it; he shall be as a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person shall eat of it.
⁴⁹ There shall be one law for the native and for the stranger who sojourns among you.”
⁵⁰ All the people of Israel did just as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron.
⁵¹ And on that very day the Lord brought the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their hosts.

Exodus 20:1-17: ¹ And God spoke all these words, saying,
² “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
³ “You shall have no other gods before me.
⁴ “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
⁵ You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,
⁶ but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
⁷ You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
⁸ “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
⁹ Six days you shall labor, and do all your work,
¹⁰ but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates.
¹¹ For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
¹² “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
¹³ “You shall not murder.”
¹⁴ “You shall not commit adultery.”
¹⁵ “You shall not steal.”
¹⁶ “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”
¹⁷ “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”

Leviticus 16:1-34: ¹ The Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they drew near before the Lord and died,
² and the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron your brother not to come at any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy seat that is on the ark, so that he may not die. For I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat.
³ But in this way Aaron shall come into the Holy Place: with a bull from the herd for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering.
⁴ He shall put on the holy linen coat and shall have the linen undergarment on his body, and he shall tie the linen sash around his waist, and wear the linen turban; these are the holy garments. He shall bathe his body in water and then put them on.
⁵ And he shall take from the congregation of the people of Israel two male goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering.
⁶ “Aaron shall offer the bull as a sin offering for himself and shall make atonement for himself and for his house.
⁷ Then he shall take the two goats and set them before the Lord at the entrance of the tent of meeting.
⁸ And Aaron shall cast lots over the two goats, one lot for the Lord and the other lot for Azazel.
⁹ And Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for the Lord and use it as a sin offering,

¹⁰ But the goat on which the lot fell for Azazel shall be presented alive before the Lord to make atonement over it, that it may be sent away into the wilderness to Azazel.
¹¹ “Aaron shall present the bull as a sin offering for himself, and shall make atonement for himself and for his house.
¹² And he shall take a censer full of coals of fire from the altar before the Lord, and two handfuls of sweet incense beaten small, and he shall bring it inside the veil

¹³ and put the incense on the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is over the testimony, so that he does not die.
¹⁴ And he shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the front of the mercy seat on the east side, and in front of the mercy seat he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times.
¹⁵ “Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering that is for the people and bring its blood inside the veil and do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull, sprinkling it over the mercy seat and in front of the mercy seat.”
¹⁶ Thus he shall make atonement for the Holy Place, because of the uncleannesses of the people of Israel and because of their transgressions, all their sins. And so he shall do for the tent of meeting, which dwells with them in the midst of their uncleannesses.
¹⁷ There shall be no man in the tent of meeting when he enters to make atonement in the Holy Place, until he comes out and has made atonement for himself and for his house and for all the assembly of Israel.
¹⁸ Then he shall go out to the altar that is before the Lord and make atonement for it, and shall take some of the blood of the bull and some of the blood of the goat, and put it on the horns of the altar all around.
¹⁹ He shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times and cleanse it and consecrate it from the uncleannesses of the people of Israel.
²⁰ “And when he has made an end of atoning for the Holy Place and the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall present the live goat.”
²¹ And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins. And he shall put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness.
²² And the goat shall bear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area, and he shall let the goat go free in the wilderness.
²³ Then Aaron shall come into the tent of meeting and shall take off the linen garments that he put on when he went into the Holy Place and shall leave them there.
²⁴ And he shall bathe his body in water in a holy place and put on his garments and come out and offer his burnt offering and the burnt offering of the people and make atonement for himself and for the people.
²⁵ And the fat of the sin offering he shall burn on the altar.
²⁶ And he who lets the goat go to Azazel shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp.
²⁷ And the bull for the sin offering and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the Holy Place, shall be carried outside the camp.
²⁸ And he who burns them shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp.
²⁹ “And it shall be a statute to you forever that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict yourselves and shall do no work, either the native or the stranger who sojourns among you.
³⁰ for on this day shall atonement be made for you to cleanse you. You shall be clean before the Lord from all your sins.
³¹ It is a Sabbath of solemn rest to you, and you shall afflict yourselves; it is a statute forever.
³² And the priest who is anointed and consecrated as priest in his father’s place shall make atonement, wearing the holy linen garments.
³³ and make atonement for the holy sanctuary, and he shall make atonement for the tent of meeting and for the altar, and he shall make atonement for the priests and for all the people of the assembly.
³⁴ And this shall be a statute forever for you, that atonement may be made for the people of Israel once in the year because of all their sins.” And Aaron did as the Lord commanded Moses.

Leviticus 19:1-37: And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
² “Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.
³ Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father, and you shall keep my Sabbaths: I am the Lord your God.
⁴ Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves any gods of cast metal: I am the Lord your God.
⁵ “When you offer a sacrifice of peace offerings to the Lord, you shall offer it so that you may be accepted.
⁶ It shall be eaten the same day you offer it or on the day after, and anything left over until the third day shall be burned with fire.
⁷ You shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God.
⁸ You shall not eat any flesh with the blood in it. You shall not interpret omens or tell fortunes.
⁹ “When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest.
¹⁰ And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God.
¹¹ “You shall not steal; you shall not deal falsely; you shall not lie to one another.”
¹² You shall not swear by my name falsely, and so profane the name of your God: I am the Lord.
¹³ “You shall not oppress your neighbor or rob him. The wages of a hired worker shall not remain with you all night until the morning.”
¹⁴ You shall not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall fear your God: I am the Lord.
¹⁵ “You shall do no injustice in court. You shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor.”
¹⁶ You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not stand up against the life of your neighbor: I am the Lord.
¹⁷ You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him.
¹⁸ You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.
¹⁹ “You shall keep my statutes. You shall not let your cattle breed with a different kind. You shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed, nor shall you wear a garment of cloth made of two kinds of material.
²⁰ “If a man lies with a woman who is a slave, assigned to another man and not yet ransomed or given her freedom, a distinction shall be made. They shall not be put to death, because she was not free;
²¹ But if the man is poor and cannot afford so much, then he shall take one male lamb for a guilt offering to be waved, to make atonement for him, and a tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering, and a log of oil;
²² And the priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering before the Lord for his sin that he has committed, and he shall be forgiven for the sin that he has committed.
²³ “When you come into the land and plant any kind of tree for food, then you shall regard its fruit as forbidden. Three years it shall be forbidden to you; it must not be eaten.”
²⁴ But in the fourth year all its fruit shall be holy, an offering of praise to the Lord.
²⁵ And in the fifth year you shall eat of its fruit, to increase its yield for you: I am the Lord your God.
²⁶ “You shall not eat any flesh with the blood in it. You shall not interpret omens or tell fortunes.
²⁷ You shall not round off the hair on your temples or mar the edges of your beard.
²⁸ You shall not make any cuts on your body for the dead or tattoo yourselves: I am the Lord.
²⁹ “Do not profane your daughter by making her a prostitute, lest the land fall into prostitution and the land become full of depravity.
³⁰ You shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord.
³¹ “Do not turn to mediums or necromancers; do not seek them out, and so make yourselves unclean by them: I am the Lord your God.
³² “You shall stand up before the gray head and honor the face of an old man, and you shall fear your God: I am the Lord.
³³ “When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong.
³⁴ You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.
³⁵ You shall do no wrong in judgment, in measures of length or weight or quantity.
³⁶ You shall have just balances, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin: I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.
³⁷ You shall observe all my statutes and all my rules, and do them: I am the Lord.”

Numbers 6:1-27: ¹ And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
² “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When either a man or a woman makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to separate himself to the Lord,”
³ he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink.
⁴ All the days of his separation he shall eat nothing that is produced by the grapevine, not even the seeds or the skins.
⁵ “All the days of his vow of separation, no razor shall touch his head. Until the time is completed for which he separates himself to the Lord, he shall be holy. He shall let the locks of hair of his head grow long.
⁶ “All the days that he separates himself to the Lord he shall not go near a dead body.
⁷ He shall not make himself unclean for his father or for his mother, for his brother or his sister, when they die, because his separation to God is on his head.
⁸ All the days of his separation he is holy to the Lord.
⁹ “And if any man dies very suddenly beside him and he defiles his consecrated head, then he shall shave his head on the day of his cleansing; on the seventh day he shall shave it.
¹⁰ And on the eighth day he shall bring two turtledoves or two pigeons to the priest to the entrance of the tent of meeting.
¹¹ And the priest shall offer one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering, and make atonement for him, because he sinned by reason of the dead body. And he shall consecrate his head that same day,
¹² And he shall separate himself to the Lord for the days of his separation and bring a male lamb a year old for a guilt offering. But the previous days shall be void, because his separation was defiled.
¹³ “And this is the law for the Nazirite, when the time of his separation has been completed: he shall be brought to the entrance of the tent of meeting,”
¹⁴ and he shall bring his offering to the Lord, one male lamb a year old without blemish for a burnt offering, and one ewe lamb a year old without blemish as a sin offering, and one ram without blemish as a peace offering,
¹⁵ and a basket of unleavened bread, loaves of fine flour mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers smeared with oil, and their grain offering and their drink offerings.
¹⁶ “And the priest shall bring them before the Lord and offer his sin offering and his burnt offering,”
¹⁷ and he shall offer the ram as a sacrifice of peace offering to the Lord, with the basket of unleavened bread. He shall offer also its grain offering and its drink offering.
¹⁸ And the Nazirite shall shave his consecrated head at the entrance of the tent of meeting and shall take the hair from his consecrated head and put it on the fire that is under the sacrifice of the peace offering.
¹⁹ And the priest shall take the shoulder of the ram, when it is boiled, and one unleavened loaf out of the basket and one unleavened wafer, and shall put them on the hands of the Nazirite, after he has shaved the hair of his consecration,
²⁰ And the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before the Lord. They are a holy portion for the priest, together with the breast that is waved and the thigh that is contributed. And after that the Nazirite may drink wine.
²¹ “This is the law of the Nazirite. On the day when the period of his separation is over, he shall be brought to the entrance of the tent of meeting,
²⁴ The Lord bless you and keep you;
²⁴ The Lord bless you and keep you;
²⁴ The Lord bless you and keep you;
²⁵ the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
²⁶ The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
²⁷ “So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.”

Numbers 13:1-33: ¹ The Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
² “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel. From each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, every one a chief among them.”
³ So Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran, according to the command of the Lord, all of them men who were heads of the people of Israel.
⁴ These were the names of the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun Joshua.
⁵ from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori.
⁶ from the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh;
⁷ from the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph.
⁸ from the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea the son of Nun;
⁹ from the tribe of Benjamin, Gaddi the son of Susi;
¹⁰ and bring some of the fruit of the land.
¹¹ from the tribe of Joseph, from the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi the son of Susi;
¹² From the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli.
¹³ from the tribe of Asher, Sethur the son of Michael;
¹⁴ from the tribe of Naphtali, Gaddiel the son of Sodi,
¹⁵ from the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi.
¹⁶ These were the names of the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun Joshua.
¹⁷ Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan and said to them, “Go up into the Negeb and go up into the hill country,
¹⁸ And see what the land is, and whether the people who dwell in it are strong or weak, whether they are few or many,
¹⁹ Whether the land is rich or poor, and whether there are trees in it or not. Be of good courage and bring some of the fruit of the land.” Now the time was the season of the first ripe grapes.
²⁰ And whether the land is rich or poor, and whether there are trees in it or not. Be of good courage and bring some of the fruit of the land.” Now the time was the season of the first ripe grapes.
²¹ So they went up and spied out the land from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, near Lebo-hamath.
²² They went up into the Negeb and came to Hebron.
²³ And they came to the Valley of Eshcol and cut down from there a branch with a single cluster of grapes, and they carried it on a pole between two of them; they also brought some pomegranates and figs.
²⁴ That place was called the Valley of Eshcol, because of the cluster that the people of Israel cut down from there.
²⁵ At the end of forty days they returned from spying out the land.
²⁶ And they came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the people of Israel in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh. They brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land.
²⁷ And they told him, “We came to the land to which you sent us. It flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.
²⁸ However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there.
²⁹ The Amalekites dwell in the land of the Negeb. The Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the hill country. And the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and along the Jordan.”
³⁰ But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.”
¹³ But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.”
¹³ And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.”
³³ And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.”

Deuteronomy 5:1-33: ⁵ And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the rules that I speak in your hearing today, and you shall learn them and be careful to do them.
² The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb.
³ The Lord did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, who are all of us here alive today.
⁴ The Lord spoke with you face to face at the mountain, out of the midst of the fire,
⁵ while I stood between the Lord and you at that time, to declare to you the word of the Lord. For you were afraid because of the fire, and you did not go up into the mountain.
⁶ “‘I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
⁷ “‘You shall have no other gods before me.
⁸ “‘You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
⁹ You shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,
¹⁰ but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
¹¹ You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
¹² “‘Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you.
¹³ Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
¹⁴ but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant, or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you.
¹⁵ You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.
¹⁶ “‘Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may go well with you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
¹⁷ “‘You shall not murder.
¹⁸ And you shall not commit adultery.
¹⁹ And you shall not steal.
²⁰ ‘You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
²¹ And you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. And you shall not desire your neighbor’s house, his field, or his male servant, or his female servant, his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.
²² These words the Lord spoke to all your assembly at the mountain out of the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, with a loud voice; and he added no more. And he wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me.
²³ And as soon as you heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, you came near to me, all the heads of your tribes and your elders.
²⁴ And you said, ‘Behold, the Lord our God has shown us his glory and greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire. This day we have seen God speak with man, and man still live.
²⁵ Now therefore why should we die? For this great fire will consume us. If we hear the voice of the Lord our God any more, we shall die.
²⁶ For who is there of all flesh, that has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of fire as we have, and has still lived?
²⁷ Go near and hear all that the Lord our God will say, and speak to us all that the Lord our God will speak to you, and we will hear and do it.’
²⁸ And the Lord heard your words, when you spoke to me. And the Lord said to me, “I have heard the words of this people, which they have spoken to you. They are right in all that they have spoken.
²⁹ Oh that they had such a heart as this always, to fear me and to keep all my commandments, that it might go well with them and with their descendants forever!
³⁰ Go and say to them, “Return to your tents.”
³¹ But you, stand here by me, and I will tell you the whole commandment and the statutes and the rules that you shall teach them, that they may do them in the land that I am giving them to possess.’
³² You shall be careful therefore to do as the Lord your God has commanded you. You shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.
³³ You shall walk in all the way that the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live, and that it may go well with you, and that you may live long in the land that you shall possess.

Deuteronomy 6:1-25: ¹ “Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the rules—that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it,”
² that you may fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son’s son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long.
³ Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.
⁴ “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.
⁵ You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
⁶ And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.
⁷ You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.
⁸ You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.
⁹ You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
¹⁰ “And when the Lord your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you—with great and good cities that you did not build,
¹¹ and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant—and when you eat and are full,
¹² then take care lest you forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
¹³ It is the Lord your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear.
¹⁴ You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are around you—
¹⁵ for the Lord your God in your midst is a jealous God—lest the anger of the Lord your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth.
¹⁶ “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah.
¹⁷ You shall diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and his testimonies and his statutes, which he has commanded you.
¹⁸ And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may go well with you, and that you may go in and take possession of the good land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers,
¹⁹ to thrust out all your enemies from before you, as the Lord has promised.
²⁰ “When your son asks you in time to come, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and the rules that the Lord our God has commanded you?’”
²¹ then you shall say to your son, ‘We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt. And the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand.
²² And the Lord showed signs and wonders, great and grievous, against Egypt and against Pharaoh and all his household, before our eyes.
²³ And he brought us out from there, that he might bring us in and give us the land that he swore to give to our fathers.
²⁴ And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as we are this day.
²⁵ And it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to do all this commandment before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us.’

Deuteronomy 28:1-68: ¹ “And if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.”
² And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God.
³ Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field.
⁴ Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock.
⁵ Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.
⁶ Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.
⁷ “The Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before you. They shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways.”
⁸ The Lord will command the blessing on you in your barns and in all that you undertake.
⁹ The Lord will establish you as a people holy to himself, as he has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in his ways.
¹⁰ And all the peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be afraid of you.
¹¹ And the Lord will make you abound in prosperity, in the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your livestock and in the fruit of your ground, within the land that the Lord swore to your fathers to give you.
¹² The Lord will open to you his good treasury, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hands. And you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow.
¹³ And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you shall only go up and not down, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, being careful to do them,
¹⁴ and if you do not turn aside from any of the words that I command you today, to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.
¹⁵ “But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you.”
¹⁶ Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the field.
¹⁷ Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.
¹⁸ Cursed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock.
¹⁹ Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.
²⁰ “The Lord will send on you curses, confusion, and frustration in all that you undertake to do, until you are destroyed and perish quickly on account of the evil of your deeds, because you have forsaken me.
²¹ The Lord will make the pestilence stick to you until he has consumed you off the land that you are entering to take possession of it.
²² The Lord will strike you with wasting disease and with fever, inflammation and fiery heat, and with drought and with blight and with mildew. They shall pursue you until you perish.
²³ And the heavens over your head shall be bronze, and the earth under you shall be iron.
²⁴ The Lord will make the rain of your land powder. From heaven dust shall come down on you until you are destroyed.
²⁵ “The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them. And you shall be a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.”
²⁶ Your dead body shall be food for all birds of the air and for the beasts of the earth, and there shall be no one to frighten them away.
²⁷ The Lord will strike you with the boils of Egypt, and with tumors and scabs and itch, of which you cannot be healed.
²⁸ The Lord will strike you with madness and blindness and confusion of mind,
²⁹ and you shall grope at noonday, as the blind grope in darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways. And you shall be only oppressed and robbed continually, and there shall be no one to help you.
³⁰ You shall betroth a wife, but another man shall ravish her.
³¹ Your ox shall be slaughtered before your eyes, but you shall not eat any of it. Your donkey shall be seized before your face, but shall not be restored to you. Your sheep shall be given to your enemies, but there shall be no one to help you.
³² Your sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, while your eyes look on and fail with longing for them all day long, but you shall be helpless.
³³ A nation that you have not known shall eat up the fruit of your ground and of all your labors, and you shall be only oppressed and crushed continually,
³⁴ So you shall be driven mad by the sights that your eyes see.
³⁵ The Lord will strike you on the knees and on the legs with grievous boils of which you cannot be healed, from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head.
³⁶ “The Lord will bring you and your king whom you set over you to a nation that neither you nor your fathers have known. And there you shall serve other gods of wood and stone.”
³⁷ And you shall become a horror, a proverb, and a byword among all the peoples where the Lord will lead you away.
³⁸ “You shall carry much seed into the field and shall gather in little, for the locust shall consume it.”
³⁹ You shall plant vineyards and dress them, but you shall neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes, for the worm shall eat them.
⁴⁰ You shall have olive trees throughout all your territory, but you shall not anoint yourself with the oil, for your olives shall drop off.
⁴¹ You shall father sons and daughters, but they shall not be yours, for they shall go into captivity.
⁴² The cricket shall possess all your trees and the fruit of your ground.
⁴³ The sojourner who is among you shall rise higher and higher above you, and you shall come down lower and lower.
⁴⁴ “He shall lend to you, and you shall not lend to him. He shall be the head, and you shall be the tail.”
⁴⁵ “All these curses shall come upon you and pursue you and overtake you till you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that he commanded you.”
⁴⁶ They shall be a sign and a wonder against you and your offspring forever.
⁴⁷ Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all things,
⁴⁸ therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you, in hunger and thirst, in nakedness, and lacking everything. And he will put a yoke of iron on your neck until he has destroyed you.
⁴⁹ The Lord will bring a nation against you from far away, from the end of the earth, swooping down like the eagle, a nation whose language you do not understand,
⁵⁰ a hard-faced nation who shall not respect the old or show mercy to the young.
⁵¹ It shall eat the offspring of your cattle and the fruit of your ground, until you are destroyed; it also shall not leave you grain, wine, or oil, the increase of your herds or the young of your flock, until they have caused you to perish.
⁵² “They shall besiege you in all your towns, until your high and fortified walls, in which you trusted, come down throughout all your land. And they shall besiege you in all your towns throughout all your land, which the Lord your God has given you.”
⁵³ And you shall eat the fruit of your womb, the flesh of your sons and daughters, whom the Lord your God has given you, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemies shall distress you.
⁵⁴ The man who is the most tender and refined among you will begrudge food to his brother, to the wife he embraces, and to the last of the children whom he has left,
⁵⁵ so that he will not give to any of them any of the flesh of his children whom he is eating, because he has nothing else left, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy shall distress you in all your towns.
⁵⁶ The most tender and refined woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground because she is so delicate and tender, will begrudge the husband she embraces, her son and her daughter,
⁵⁷ her afterbirth that comes out from between her feet and her children whom she bears, because lacking everything she will eat them secretly, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy shall distress you in your towns.
⁵⁸ “If you are not careful to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, the Lord your God,”
⁵⁹ then the Lord will bring on you and your offspring extraordinary afflictions, afflictions severe and lasting, and sicknesses grievous and lasting.
⁶⁰ He will bring upon you again all the diseases of Egypt, of which you were afraid, and they shall cling to you.
⁶¹ Also every sickness and every affliction that is not recorded in the book of this law, the Lord will bring upon you, until you are destroyed.
⁶² Whereas you were as numerous as the stars of heaven, you shall be left few in number, because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God.
⁶³ And as the Lord took delight in doing you good and multiplying you, so the Lord will take delight in bringing ruin upon you and destroying you.
⁶⁴ “And the Lord will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you shall serve other gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known.”
⁶⁵ And among these nations you shall find no respite, and there shall be no resting place for the sole of your foot, but the Lord will give you there a trembling heart and failing eyes and a languishing soul.
⁶⁶ Your life shall hang in doubt before you. Night and day you shall be in dread and have no assurance of your life.
⁶⁷ In the morning you shall say, ‘If only it were evening!’ and at evening you shall say, ‘If only it were morning!’ because of the dread that your heart shall feel, and the sights that your eyes shall see.
⁶⁸ And the Lord will bring you back in ships to Egypt, a journey that I promised that you should never make again; and there you shall offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but there will be no buyer.”